French 1101
Chapitre préliminaire - Bienvenue
Cognates
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Train
Station
Table
Machine
Banque
Restaurant
Université
Cours
Classe
Calme
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Blond(e)
Film
Division
Client
Education
Patient
Château(x)
Personne
Zéro
Campus
 Differences Between
French and English
 Greetings
 Politeness
Introduction
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Je m’appelle Jean
Je suis de Paris
Je suis en 2e année
J’étudie la biologie
Alphabet
 French Alphabet - L'Alphabet français
 The French alphabet has the same 26
letters as the English alphabet, but they are
pronounced differently. You can listen to the
entire alphabet by clicking on Alphabet.
Les Accents
1. Les accents
01. L’accent aigu
02. L’accent grave
03. L’accent circonflexe
04.La cédille
Grammaire 1
 Pour parler de nos origines
 Le verbe être / Les pronoms sujets / Les
questions
Le verbe être
 In French, the verb être means to be. One
very common use of être is to express one’s
place of origin. In this case, it is used with
the preposition de + a city, which means
from in this particular expression.
Le verbe être
Exemples:
 Céline Dion est de Charlemagne, au
Québec.
– Céline Dion is from Charlemagne, Quebec.
 Catherine Deneuve est de Paris, en France.
– Catherine Deneuve is from Paris, France.
Le verbe être
Another common use of être is to express one’s occupation.
 Voici Monsieur Leroux. Il est professeur.
– Here is Mr. Leroux. He is a professor.
 Nathan est étudiant.
– Nathan is a student.
 Catherine est étudiante.
– Catherine is a student.
Le verbe être
 The following are the present tense forms of
the verb être and the subject pronouns (I,
you, he, she, it, we, and they).
je
suis
nous
sommes
tu
es
vous
êtes
il/elle est
ils/elles sont
Les pronoms sujets
There are formal and informal ways to
address people in French. When talking to
someone whom you do not know well, who
is older, or who is in a position of respect,
use vous (formal). When talking to a friend,
family member, or a child, use tu (informal).
When talking to more than one person, use
vous (plural, formal, and informal).
Les pronoms sujets
When talking about several persons or a group of people, use
elles if everyone is female. Use ils if at least one person is
male.
 Carole et Sarah, elles sont de Paris.
– Carole and Sarah, they are from Paris.
 Ahmed et Nourdine, ils sont de Nice.
– Ahmed and Nourdine, they are from Nice.
 Antoine et Marie, ils sont de Montréal.
– Antoine and Marie, they are from Montreal
Les questions
To ask a yes/no question in French, you can make a
statement and raise the pitch of your voice at the end. This
is called rising intonation. Such questions are considered
informal.
 Pauline est étudiante?
– Is Pauline a student?
 Oui, elle est étudiante.
– Yes, she’s a student.
Les questions
You can also place est-ce que (est-ce qu’ before a vowel
sound) in front of a statement. Your voice also rises at the
end of these questions.
 Est-ce qu’elle est de Chicago?
– Is she from Chicago?
 Non, elle est de Cleveland.
– No, she is from Cleveland.
Grammaire 2
Pour être précis(e)
Les articles indéfinis / Le genre et le nombre
Les articles indéfinis / Le genre et le nombre
As in English, French nouns have number
(le nombre): singular or plural. Unlike
English, French nouns also have
grammatical gender (le genre). Every noun
(a person, an animal, a place, a thing, or an
idea) is classified as being either masculine
or feminine.
Les articles indéfinis / Le genre et le nombre
Sometimes nouns that refer to females are
feminine (une femme a woman, une fille a girl)
and nouns that refer to males are masculine (un
homme a man, un garçon a boy). However, in
most cases, especially with inanimate nouns,
gender is unpredictable. Therefore, you must learn
the gender along with the noun. Gender is often
expressed not only in the noun, but also in the
article that introduces it.
Les articles indéfinis / Le genre et le nombre
Les articles indéfinis / Le genre et le nombr
The indefinite articles (les articles
indéfinis) mean a, an, or some. Un is used
before masculine singular nouns; une is
used before feminine singular nouns; and
des is used before plural nouns. While
some is often omitted in English, des cannot
be omitted in French.
Les articles indéfinis / Le genre et le nombre
In most cases, an s, which is not pronounced, is
added to a singular noun to make it plural. Nouns
that end in -eau like un tableau and un bureau
add an x: des tableaux, des bureaux.
Nouns that have been borrowed from the English
language are usually masculine: un CD, un iPod®,
un DVD.
Le genre et le nombre
Some nouns that refer to people can be changed
from masculine to feminine by adding an e.
– un étudiant (m.) a student
– un ami (m.) a friend
– un Français a French man
une étudiante (f.) a student
une amie (f.) a friend
une Française a French woman
C’est vs. Ce sont
To identify objects or people, use c’est (this is) followed by a
singular article and noun and ce sont (these are) followed by
a plural article and noun.
Qu’est-ce que c’est?
What is this?
C’est un stylo Montblanc.
This is a Montblanc pen.
Ce sont des classeurs.
These are folders.
Grammaire 3
Pour décrire
Les articles définis / Les adjectifs qualificatifs
Les articles définis
As you saw in Vocabulaire 3, French has
four definite articles: le (m., sing.), la (f.,
sing.), l’ (sing. before a vowel sound), and
les (m. pl. and f. pl.). They are often used to
refer to nouns that were previously
mentioned or to talk about specific nouns. In
this usage, the definite article is equivalent
to the in English.
Les articles définis
 C’est qui?
– Who is that?
 C’est le professeur.
– That’s the professor.
 Voici l’agrafeuse.
– Here’s the stapler.
 J’aime le stylo rouge.
– I like the red pen (as opposed to the blue pen).
Les articles définis
Another use of definite articles is to designate
nouns in a general sense. In this case, no
article is used in English.
– J’étudie les langues.
 I study languages.
– Ma spécialisation est le chinois.
 My major is Chinese.
Les articles définis
Definite articles are also used to indicate possession with the
preposition de and the name of a person. When the
person’s name begins with a vowel sound, de becomes d’.
– C’est le professeur de Paul.
 This is Paul’s professor.
– Ce sont les stylos de Paul et de Guy.
 These are Paul and Guy’s pens.
– Voici la table d’Anne.
 Here is Anne’s table.
 Communication
Reactions: Words often evoke positive, negative, or
neutral feelings. Using the scale, indicate your attitudes
toward each of the following words.
Exemples:
J’aime bien le cinéma.
J’adore les vacances.
Je déteste
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
J’aime bien
le football
le cinéma
le chocolat
la nature
la musique
J’aime beaucoup
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
les sports
les vacances
la politique
la télévision
la solitude
J’adore
Les adjectifs qualificatifs
Adjectives are words used to describe people,
places, things, and ideas: serious student,
intelligent young woman. In French, adjectives
must agree with the noun or pronoun they modify.
This means that they must agree in gender and
number, just as articles (le, la, les, un, une, des)
do. Descriptive adjectives (les adjectifs
qualificatifs) normally follow the nouns they
modify.
Les adjectifs qualificatifs
For most adjectives, an e is added to the masculine
form to create the feminine form. Add an s to the
masculine and feminine forms to make them
plural.
Les adjectifs qualificatifs
 Tom est intelligent.
 Sylvie est intelligente.
 Ils sont charmants.
 Elles sont charmantes.
Les adjectifs qualificatifs
When an adjective of this type describes a
group of males and females or objects that
are both masculine and feminine in
grammatical gender, use the masculine
plural form.
– Tom et Sylvie sont intelligents.
– L’art (m.) et la musique sont importants.
Les adjectifs qualificatifs
In the masculine singular form of adjectives of
this type, the final consonant is silent. In the
feminine singular form, the final consonant
is pronounced. The final s of the plural
forms is silent.
– Pierre est intelligent. Claire est intelligente.
– Ils sont intelligents. Elles sont intelligentes.
Les adjectifs qualificatifs
Some adjectives have the same feminine and
masculine forms.
Most adjectives of this type end in e.
Les adjectifs qualificatifs
 Le journalisme est utile.
 La biologie est difficile.
 Mon professeur est dynamique.
 Norah Jones est célèbre.
Les adjectifs qualificatifs
Examples:
Je suis optimiste. Et vous?
Moi, Je suis pessimiste.
Est-ce que le prof est sympa?
Non, il est sévère.
Vous êtes très modeste(s).
Monsieur Gate est très riche et célèbre.
Les sales de classe sont modernes.
La vie n’est pas facile.
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Using the following adjectives tell where you fit
on the scale from never “jamais” to always
“toujours”
Exemples:
Je suis toujours honnête.
Je suis rarement injuste.
jamais
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2.
3.
4.
5.
rarement
optimiste
désagréable
modeste
injuste
Sévère
quelquefois toujours
6. pessimiste
7. honnête
8. triste
9. irrésistible
10. sympathique