French I: Assignment 20
Voilà vos devoirs pour le 11 février :
• Review the grammar and memorize the vocabulary in this assignment.
• Continue preparing for the test, as described in assignment 19.
• Do the reading on pages 294–295. As you read, you should know the words glossed in the
margin well enough to read the passage comfortably – it will make comprehension easier!
Answer the questions on page 295 and hand them in.
• Practice saying and writing the following verse (track 43).
Si vous m’aimez, vous garderez mes commandements.
( Jean 14.15)
Vocabulary
demain
dəәmɛ̃
tomorrow
c’est ça ?
sɛ sa
is that it? right?
pouvoir
puvwar
to be able (can)
vouloir
vulwar
to want to
Unlike n’est-ce pas, which can only be used with a positive sentence, c’est ça can be used with both
positive and negative sentences.
Conjugation
pouvoir
je peux
tu peux
il peut
nous pouvons
vous pouvez
ils peuvent
ʒəә pø
ty pø
il pø
nu puvɔ̃
vu puve
il pøv
ʒəә vø
ty vø
il vø
nu vulɔ̃
vu vule
il vœl
The past participle of pouvoir is pu [py].
vouloir
je veux
tu veux
il veut
nous voulons
vous voulez
ils veulent
The past participle of vouloir is voulu [vuly].
Assignment 20
1
Adverbial pronouns
In assignment 12, you learned about the adverbial pronoun y, which often substitutes for
prepositional phrases beginning with à. It comes before the verb, just like direct object pronouns.
There is one other adverbial pronoun: en. It substitutes for prepositional phrases beginning with de –
including the articles du, de la, and des.
Est-ce que Tante Éloïse mange des sandwich ? Oui, elle en mange.
Is Aunt Eloise eating sandwiches? Yes, she is (eating some).
Est-ce que Tante Éloïse mange de la glace ? Non, elle n’en mange pas.
Is Aunt Eloise eating ice cream? No, she isn’t (eating any).
Est-ce que Tante Éloïse vais boire du vin ? Oui, elle vais en boire.
Is Aunt Eloise going to drink any wine? Yes, she is going to (drink some).
See the website for a link to more reading about en.
More to come
You’ve recently learned about the passé composé, and this week you learned that some verbs use être as
the helping verb instead of avoir. Over the next few weeks, you will get used to choosing which
helping verb to use. You will also learn about making the past participle agree in number and gender
– something we haven’t done yet but should!
Note that we will not meet on February 26. Instead, I will be sending a special set of exercises
similar to what you did on November 6.
Assignment 20
2