French 1 Chapter 1 Review

French 1 Chapter 1 Grammar Review

Subjects and Verbs

1. A subject is a person, place or thing that is acting or being described:

Ex: My friend has a book

Mon ami a un livre

2. A verb is the action being done by the subject

Ex: My friend has a book

Mon ami a un livre

Subject Pronouns

1. Subject pronouns replace the subject to avoid repetition: Ex: John is fifteen years old. He has a book. Ex: John a quinze ans. Il a un livre.

SINGULAR

PLURAL

I

je

we

nous

you

tu

you (all)

vous

he / she / it il / elle / (on*)

they

ils / elles

* on refers to people in general

Plural Nouns

1. To make a noun plural add an ?s to the end of the nouns. EX: gar?on garcons 2. If the noun ends in ?eu or ?au, then add an ?x instead. EX: tableau tableaux

Indefinite Articles

1. In positive sentences the following are the Indefinite Articles (a, an, some):

Masculine Feminine

POSITIVE

Singular un

une

Plural des

2. In negative sentences, ONLY "de" is used (meaning "any"), whether singular or plural:

NEGATIVE

Masculine

un

Feminine

une

de (d')

Plural

des

3. REMEMBER: de becomes d' before a vowel sound. Ex: Je n'ai pas d'ordinateur.

The Verb Avoir

1. Avoir is the Infinitive (base-form) for the verb "to have". The following are its conjugations.

2. Your conjugation depends on the verb's subject.

je tu il / elle / on

AVOIR

ai

nous

as

vous

a

ils / elles

avons avez ont

3. REMEMBER: je becomes j' before a vowel. Ex: Je + ai = J'ai

4. REMEMBER: Subjects and Subject Pronouns take the same conjugations. Ex: Steven et John ont deux chaises ils ont deux chaises

Negating Verbs

1. To make a sentence negative add ne ... pas around the conjugated verb.

Ex: ?a va bien

?a ne va pas bien

2. REMEMBER: ne becomes n' before a vowel sound.

Ex: J'ai un lecteur de DVD

Je n'ai pas de lecture de DVD.

3. REMEMBER: When you negate a sentence you must change the Indefinite Article too. Ex: J'ai un lecteur de DVD Je n'ai pas de lecteur de DVD

4. REMEMBER: When de is before a vowel sound, it becomes d'.

Ex: J'ai un ordinateur

Je n'ai pas d'ordinateur

French 1 Chapter 2 Grammar Review

Definite Articles

1. Unlike Indefinite Articles (un, une, des) which reference one object out of potentially many, the Definite Articles (le, la, les, l') reference a specific or defined object: Ex: J'ai un livre (I have a book) vs. J'ai le livre (I have the book)

2. In French, you MUST ALWAYS use the definite article before a noun. Ex: J'aime la music = I like music (notice there is no definite article used in English)

SINGULAR PLURAL*

MASCULINE

FEMININE

BEFORE A VOWEL SOUND

le

la

l'

les

les

les

* Notice that the plural form never changes

-ER Verbs

1. To conjugate an ?ER verb, drop the ?ER to get the "Verb Stem." Ex: aimer - er aim (the "Verb Stem")

2. Just like we saw with the verb AVOIR, a conjugation depends on the Subject (the person, place or thing that is "doing" or "being"). Your Subject dictates what ending you add to your Stem.

3. Below is a sample conjugation of the ?ER verb AIMER with the appropriate Verb Endings:

AIMER (to like; to love)

SINGULAR

PLURAL

je

aime

nous

aimons

tu

aimes

vous

aimez

il / elle / on

aime

ils / elles

aiment

4. REMEMBER: "je" and "ne" contract when the next word begins with a vowel sound. Ex: je + aime = j'aime (I like) je + ne + aime + pas = je n'aime pas (I don't like)

5. You ONLY ever conjugate one verb in a phrase. Additional verbs will be the infinitive form. Ex: Il aime manger = He likes to eat (Notice that English also acts the same way!)

6. REMEMBER: The negations (ne ... pas) ONLY go around the conjugated verb. Ex: Il aime manger. Il n'aime pas manger.

Irregular Plural Nouns

1. REGULAR: To make a noun plural add an ?s to the end of the nouns. EX: gar?on garcons

2. IRREGULAR: If the noun ends in ?eu or ?au, then add an ?x instead. EX: tableau tableaux

3. IRREGULAR: If a singular noun ends in ?al, it changes to ?aux. EX: journal journaux

Contractions with "?"

1. The preposition "?" usually means "to" or "at" in English. 2. In French, "?" contracts with the definite articles le and les that follow it. There is no

contraction with la or l'.

Contractions with "?"

Masculine

Before ? + le

After au

Feminine Before Vowel

Plural

? + la ? + l' ? + les

? la

? l' aux

3. Unlike English, where contractions are optional, in French they are REQUIRED! Ex: J'aime aller ? le caf? (ungrammatical) J'aime aller au caf? (grammatical)

Conjunctions

1. You many use conjunctions to connect ideas, such as the following:

et (and): J'aime le foot. J'aime le base-ball. J'aime le foot et le base-ball.

mais (but): J'aime chanter. Je pr?f?re danser. J'aime chanter, mais je pr?f?re danser.

ou (or):

Il pr?f?re chanter? Il pr?f?re danser? Il pr?f?re chanter ou danser?

Est-ce que...

1. Instead of raising your voice at the end of a sentence to ask a question, you can add "est-ce que" to the beginning of an affirmative or negative sentence to make it a question.

2. The "que" in "est-ce que" will contract with any vowel: Ex: Est-ce que il danse? Est-ce qu'il danse?

3. Adding "est-ce que" to a statement turns it into a "DO" question. Ex: Tu aimes la musique? (You like music?) Est-ce que tu aimes la musique? (DO you like music?)

Ex: Il nage bien? (He swims well?) Est-ce qu'il nage bien? (DOES he swim well?)

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