Sunday, April 11, 2021

French lesson 1 notes

 

    1.  LA FAMILLE

GRAMMAIRE

1.     LES ARTICLES

a.     Les articles indéfinis

There are three of them. You can translate them as a/an. There is no indefinite article for plural nous in English.

Un – masc.sing.noun     e.g. un chien – a dog, un stylo – a pen

Une – fem.sing.noun      e.g. une fille – a girl, une maison – a house

Des – masc/fem plurals  e.g. des stylos – pens, des maisons – houses

b.     Les articles définis

There are four of them. All can be translated as ‘the’ in English.

Le – masc.sing.noun  e.g. le chien – the dog

La – fem. Sing.noun   e.g. la maison – the house

L’ – masc/fem sing noun starting with ‘a/e/i/o/u/h

Les – masc/fem plurals   e.g. les stylos – the pens, les maisons – the houses

c.      Les articles contractés

The ones which mean ‘ to the/at the/in the’

i)                   Au – masc.sing. noun      e.g. au cinéma – to the cinema hall

ii)                 A la – fem sing noun        e.g. à la plage – to the beach

iii)               A l’ – masc/fem sing noun starting with a/e/i/o/u/h e.g. à l’école – to the school

iv)               Aux – masc/fem plural nouns   e.g. aux villes – to the cities

The ones which mean ‘of the/from the/about the’

i)                   Du – masc.sing.noun  e.g. du village – from the village

ii)                 De la – fem. Sing.noun  e.g. de la piscine – of the swimming pool

iii)               De l’ – masc/fem sing. Noun starting with a/e/i/o/u/h  e.g. de l’école – from the school

iv)               Des – plural nouns   e.g. des parents – about the parents

d.     Les articles partitifs

There are four of them.  They can be translated as ‘some’. They are used when fixed quantity of the noun is not given. Mostly used for food items. Usually verbs like ‘manger, boire, prendre, acheter’ are used in the sentence.

i)                   Du – masc.sing.noun     e.g.du lait – some milk, du thé - some tea

ii)                 De la – fem.sing.noun e.g de la glace – some ice cream

iii)               De l’ – masc/fem sing. Noun starting with a/e/i/o/h  e.g. de l’eau – some water

iv)               Des – masc/fem plural    e.g. des fruits – some fruits

Please don’t get confused with les articles partitifs and les articles contractés as they look same. Look at the notes carefully, it is clear that their roles are different.

 

1st Group verbs: ER verbs - These are the verbs with last two letters as ER. They follow the same type of conjugation.

Examples:  1) tomber –to fall down

                      2) pleurer – to cry

                       3) raconter – to recite

                       4) aimer – to like

                         5) adorer – to love

                         6) détester – to hate

                         7) danser – to dance

                          8) chanter – to sing

                           9) regarder –to see

                          10) penser – to think

                          11) écouter – to listen

There are many more. Above just a few examples. When written in above form they are called infinitives or original verbs.

Now following is called the conjugation of the verb. Here is an example.

                                         Regarder – to see

Je regarde – I see

Tu regardes – you see

Il regarde – he sees

Elle regarde – she sees

On regarde – everybody sees

Nous regardons – we see

Vous regardez – you see (plural, formal)

Ils regardent – they see

Elles regardent – they see (only fem subject)

                                     GER & CER VERBS

1. Till here it is the revision as we already had ER verbs in 6th class. There is a small group of GER verbs. So the last 3 letters we have to see.

e.g. 1) voyager –to travel

         2) manger – to eat

         3) nager – to swim

          4) ranger – to arrange

Note that in above verbs last three letters are GER. The conjugation of these verbs is same as ER verbs except for NOUS. Let us write it.

                                Voyager – to travel

Je voyage – I travel

Tu voyages – you travel

Il voyage – he travels

Elle voyage – she travels

On voyage – everybody travels

Nous voyageons – we travel

Vous voyagez – you travel

Ils voyagent –they travel

Elles voyagent – they travel

Look at the conjugation of nous. It is different than other ER verbs. At the end it has ‘eons and other ER verbs have just ‘ons’.

2. Another small group of verbs is CER verbs. They have last three letters as cer.

e.g. 1) commencer – to start

         2) avancer – to progress

         3) placer – to place

                          Avancer – to progress

J’avance – I progress

Tu avances – you progress

Il avance – he progresses

Elle avance – she progresses

On avance – everybody progresses

Nous avançons – we progress

Vous avancez – you progress

Ils avancent – they progress

Elles  avancent – they progress

Again look at the conjugation of Nous, it has ‘ç’ instead of ‘c’.

VOCABULAIRE

1)    Le grand-père – grandfather

2)    La grand-mère – grandmother

3)    Les grands-parents – grandparents

4)    Le père – father

5)    La mère – mother

6)    Le frère – brother

7)    La soeur – sister

8)    L’oncle – uncle

9)    La tante – aunt

10)                       Le cousin – cousine brother

11)                       La cousine – cousine sister

12)                       Le fils – son

13)                       La fille – daughter

14)                       Le beau-frère – brother in law

15)                       La belle-soeur – sister in law

16)                       Le beau-fils – son in law

17)                       La belle-fille – daughter in law

18)                       Le gendre – son in law

19)                       Aîné –elder

20)                       Plus jeune – younger

21)                       Jumeau – twin

LES NOMBRES YOU CAN LEARN FROM PG 9 OF THE TEXTBOOK.

 

While reading the phone number make small groups of two digits and read.

e.g. 7025390128 – 70.25.39.01.28 – soixant-dix vingt-cinq trente-neuf zéro un vingt-huit

 

Some important abbreviations

SNCF

Société Nationale des chemins de Fer français

Name for French Railway system

TGV

Train à Grande vitesse

The fastest train in french

PDG

President directeur générale

The President General of France

ONU

Organisation des nations unies

United Nations

OMS

Organisation mondiale de la santé

World Health Organisation

 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment