French For Beginners par Olivier Malet

 

Chapter One

English and French are using the same alphabet; even better English and French are using several hundred words that have the same spelling and meaning in both languages.

Here are one hundred examples!

rage, bandit, banquet, Bible, bizarre, boulevard, avenue, bracelet, budget, capable, capital, torture, tradition, train, triple, type, union, urgent, vacant, vague, vengeance, zone, information, conversation, menace, minute, municipal, muscle, nation, national, lion, indulgent, installation, inspection, instrument, grain, horizon, imitation, humble, final, fortune, golf, motion, existence, durable, date, destruction, construction, dispute, docile, contact, concentration, cage, canal, canon, cigarette, client, code, colonel, combat, art, article, aspect, pigeon, portrait, biscuit, circuit, piano, rail, rural, air, plateau, change, orange, tribunal, taxes, fruits, assassin, absence, accent, accident, accusation, acquisition, action, adoption, affection, agent, agriculture, album, alliance, allusion, ambition, amusement, anecdote, angle, animal, aptitude, volume, tunnel, style, sublime.

You might assume from this that you have less to learn than you anticipated. In a way it is true for if you did see these words in writing you would guess correctly their meaning. However if you only heard them you probably would not recognize them because their French pronunciation is very different from the English one.

> Now listen to the following words and see (or rather hear) for yourself:

Durable, date, destruction, muscle, change, national, lion, indulgent, installation, amusement, anecdote, angle, combat, art.

Therefore you need to be able to associate a spelling - you might be familiar with - with a new sound. In this book we are going to use terms such as sound, syllable, stress and intonation. It is important you understand exactly what they mean.

What is a sound?

In languages there are two kinds of sounds consonant sounds (p,t,k,b,d,g,f,v,s,z, etc…) and vowel sounds ( a e i o u ).

A word like in has two sounds: (the vowel /i/ + the consonant /n/),

bean has three sounds (/b/ + /ea/ + /n/),

pinned has four sounds (/p/ + /i/+/n/ + /d/),

skilled has five sounds (/s/ + /k/ +/i/ + /l/ + /d/)

The idea is this: the number of letters does not necessarily match the number of sounds. Two written vowels might give only one vowel sound (bean) and two consonants might only give one consonant sound (pinned & skilled). Sometimes a letter is not pronounced at all like the letter p in psychology or the letter e in charge.

What is a syllable?

A word like Spanish has two syllables: Span-ish; intensive has 3 syllables: in-ten-sive.

A syllable must contain a vowel sound to be counted as one. It is important that you understand what a syllable is because French is a syllable-timed language. In other words syllables are the rhythmic elements of French sentences…We shall come back to this matter later on in this course.

What is a stress?

A stress is an emphasis put on a syllable. For instance in the 3 syllable word pho-to-graph the syllable pho is pronounced with more strength than the other two. We could show the stress in photograph like this: photogragh. From the examples you are about to hear, you can easily see how stress is used in French (as opposed to English). French stress is one of duration rather than intensity and it is always placed on the last syllable of a word or group of words. In the French word photographe the syllable graphe will be made longer (but not really louder as it is in English). Stress in English depends on the words; they have most of the time the stress placed on the first syllable, but not always. The vowel in a non-stressed syllable may disappear in English it is never the case in French (Compare the words ‘Adresse’ where the vowel A is still heard and ‘Address’ where it has changed into a schwa.)

> Now listen to the following :

FRENCH ENGLISH

province province

substance substance

effort effort

contexte context

Adresse address

Respect respect

Regard regard

Divorce divorce

You are going to learn how to pronounce French vowel sounds and how to match them with their French spelling. Be careful not to pronounce them the English way.

Intonation refers to the notes on which the syllables are pronounced.

For example, listen to Are you going home? (5 syllables) This question is said to have a rising intonation because the sequence of notes on which the syllables are pronounced goes up:

> Listen to I want to stay here (5 syllables). This sentence is said to have a falling intonation because the sequence of notes on which the syllables are pronounced goes down:

> Listen to these four French sentences. State whether the intonation is rising or falling;

Rising intonation: ^Falling intonation: v

FRENCH ENGLISH

Bonjour ! v Hello!

Ça va? ^ How are you?

Pardon? ^ Pardon me? I beg your pardon?

Bonsoir! v Good evening!

Summary:

French & English have many words in common but their pronunciation differs greatly. A sound is a vowel or a consonant; these sounds do not necessarily match one letter or

the same letter. A syllable is a rhythmic unit; in French a syllable must contain a vowel sound. A stress is the way to pronounce a syllable: - louder in English, longer in French - the last

syllable of a word or group of words is always the one stressed in French. Intonation refers to the notes on which the syllables are pronounced the melody goes up

or down.

A. FROM SOUND TO SPELLING

I. VOWELS

a. Listen to the French vowels:

a / e / i / o / u

Now these are only the vowel we have for written French (or English) but in fact there are more vowel sounds than letters to represent them. In English we will use two letters to represent the other vowels; for instance, we use the letters ou as in you or ey as in obey because we don’t have a single letter to represent these vowels. In French a similar (but not identical) system will be used.

b. Listen to the following combinations and try to imitate them as precisely as you can:

ou / oi / an / in / on

The last 3 vowel sounds are nasal sound, the sound AN for instance is close the British pronunciation of the word ‘ France’ with this difference: The N is always mute in French.

Compare the 2 pronunciations of the word "France" in English then in French.

Unlike English, French uses accents on top of the vowel e to change its pronunciation. There are 3 main types of accents:

The acute accent: é The grave accent: è The circumflex accent: ê

The last two accents (2 & 3) give the same pronunciation. The acute accent can only be found on the letter e and the other two can be found on the other vowels but they do not, however, change their pronunciation. In other words the letters a, à and â are pronounced the same way the same goes for i and î or u and ù or û.

c. Listen to the following combinations and try to imitate them as precisely as you can.

a / é / è / e / i / o / u

d. Dictation: write down the vowel sounds you hear.

You should have written: A, O, U, I, E, É, OU, OI, AN, IN .

In these notes, we will use terms such as: syllables, sounds, vowels, consonants, and intonation. It is important you understand exactly what they mean.

In English the same sound can have different spellings:

Machine eve feet field leave people key

They all contain the same vowel sound but the spelling is different. In French the same phenomenon occurs:

The vowel E is also written EU and OEU

The vowel É is also written ET and …EZ and …ER (at the end of a verb)

The vowel È is also written Ê, AI and EI

The vowel O is also written AU and EAU

The vowel IN is also written UN, AIN and EIN

The vowel AN is also written EN

As we have seen some letters in English are not pronounced at all. The same is true for French:

The consonant letters S T D X Z are generally mute at the end of a word.

The vowel letter E is mute at the end of a word.

We will learn to pronounce these spellings gradually as we learn some more vocabulary.

e. Now try to see if you can pronounce these words correctly. Remember that the stress is placed always on the last syllable.

budget, capital, vacant, zone, menace, minute, final, golf, date, dispute, docile, canal, canon, plateau, taxes, assassin, absence, accent, accident, animal, aptitude, volume.

II. CONSONANTS

Consonants do not differ dramatically in French and in English.

Pronunciation differences: The French difference is based on voiced as opposed to unvoiced consonants. The English (and Cantonese) difference is based on aspiration.

English English English

Kate Skate Gate

  French French

Aspirated Unaspirated Unaspirated

Unvoiced Unvoiced Voiced

P’ P B

T’ T D

K’ K (QU) G (GU)

  F V

  S, ÇZ, S (in betweenvowels)

  CH J

Note :

Cantonese does not differentiate between unvoiced & voiced consonants Beware of the letter J pronounced as in the word MEASURE (as opposed to MAJOR ) L (ONLY ONE ARTICULATION IN FRENCH) LOOK NOT COOL R EXISTS IN CANTONESE BUT NOT IN ENGLISH M, N SIMILAR TO ENGLISH

> SELECT THE WORD YOU HEAR :

 1. PAS - BAS

2. TOUT - DOUX

3. FOU - VOUS

4. CAS - GARS

5. COU - GOÛT

6. CHOU - JOUE

 

ANSWERS: You should have selected the following words : pas, tout, vous, cas, goût, chou

SEMI CONSONANT ALSO EXISTS IN ENGLISH BUT THE SPELLING DIFFERS FROM FRENCH:

/ j / as in yesFrench spelling:

y + vowel voyage (trip)

      i + vowel Reliez (link, put together)

      ill travaillez (work!)

/ wa / as in What French spelling:

oi quoi? (what?)

/ ui / French only French spelling:

ui huit (eight)

 

> Listen : THE ALPHABET

The alphabet is used to spell words, your name, the name of a place etc…

Of course the pronunciation differs from English. Instead of giving you the alphabet in the traditional order we classified the letters according to the vowel sound they contain.

A H K are pronounced with the vowel / a /

B, C, D, G, P, T, V, W are pronounced with the vowel / e / = é (in French spelling)

Eis pronounced with the vowel / O / = e (in French spelling)

F, L, M, N, R, S, Zis pronounced with the vowel / E / = è or ê (in French spelling)

I, J, X, Yare pronounced with the vowel / i / = i (in French spelling)

O is pronounced with the vowel / o /

note :

U, Q : are pronounced with the vowel / y / = u (in French spelling)

F, L, M, N, R, S, Z : are pronounced with a similar vowel in English and in French.

O : is pronounced with a similar vowel in English and in French.

BEWARE OF:

G & J : THE VOWELS ARE INVERTED

W IS PRONOUNCED : DOUBLE V

Y IS PRONOUNCED : I GREC

 

> Dictation: write down the letters you hear

 

You should have written : A, G, U, V, C, B, E, D, F, H, I, J, L, K, O, M, N, P, Q, R

NUMBERS:

Instead of giving you the numbers in the traditional order we classified the numbers according to the vowel sound they contain:

> listen to the numbers

UN - 1 CINQ - 5QUINZE - 15 VINGT - 20

QUATRE - 4 QUATORZE - 14

HUIT - 8

DEUX - 2 NEUF - 9

ZÉRO - 0

SIX - 6 DIX - 10

ONZE - 11

TROIS - 3

SEPT - 7 TREIZE - 13 SEIZE - 16

DOUZE - 12

> Dictation: write down the numbers you hear.

You should have written : 1, 6, 10, 16, 2, 4, 3, 15, 7, 9, 11, 5, 8, 12, 14, 13, 20, 0, 13, 16

KEY PHRASES:

> Listen & repeat (make sure you reproduce their pronunciation as accurately as you can)

1. Bonjour! Hello! / Good Morning! 2. Au revoir! Goodbye! (The e in Au revoir is not pronounced – There are only 2 syllables) 3. Salut! Hi! / Bye! (The t in Salut is not pronounced) 4. Bonsoir! Good evening! 5. Désolé! Sorry! 6. Pardon! Pardon me! / Excuse me! (Do not pronounce the n at the end of pardon) 7. Merci! Thanks! / Thank you! 8. Ça va? How are you? You’re ok? (the ç is pronounced like s ) 9. Oui. Yes. (Pronounced as the English word ‘wee’) 10. Non. No. (Do not pronounce the last n)

 

> VERB COMMANDS : LOOK & LEARN!

ÉCOUTEZ! LISTEN! S’IL VOUS PLAÎT! PLEASE!

PARLEZ! TALK! (SPEAK!)

REGARDEZ! LOOK! (WATCH!)

CHANTEZ! SING!

DANSEZ! DANCE!

ENTOUREZ! CIRCLE!

COCHEZ! TICK!

ENTREZ! COME IN (ENTER)

OBSERVEZ! OBSERVE! (LOOK CLOSELY!)

RELIEZ! LINK – PUT TOGETHER!

TRAVAILLEZ! WORK!

ÉTUDIEZ! STUDY!

RÉPÉTEZ! REPEAT!

COMPLÉTEZ! COMPLETE!

ÉCRIVEZ! WRITE!

LISEZ! READ!

SORTEZ! GO OUT!

RÉPONDEZ! ANSWER!

 

> The inclusive form:

 In English if you want to include yourself in the action, you do not say Dance but rather let’s dance. To include yourself in the command in French you change the vowel sound at the end of the verb:

Dansez! becomes Dansons!

Dance! Let’s dance

 

Translate orally in English:

PARLONS! LET’S TALK!

REGARDONS! LET’S WATCH!

CHANTONS! LET’S SING!

DANSONS! LET’S DANCE!

ÉTUDIONS! LET’S STUDY!

TRAVAILLONS! LET’S WORK!

ÉCRIVONS! LET’S WRITE!

LISONS! LET’S READ!

SORTONS! LET’S GO OUT!

THE FAMILIAR FORM:

In English, if you want to tell a stranger to listen you say Listen; if you want to tell your mother to listen, you also say Listen. In French, you do not use the same form; to tell your mother to listen, you use this familiar form (fam). Compare the regular form and the familiar form.

To use the familiar form in the command in French you remove the vowel sound at the end of the verb:

> Listen & repeat:

Dansez! (Dance!) becomes :Danse! (Dance!) (familiar form)

Use the familiar form only when the command is followed by (fam) 

Note : The familiar form is used when speaking to ONE person only. Someone you are very close to (a parent, a relative, a friend of long standing) and when speaking to a small child.

We obtain the familiar form by dropping the final vowel sound. Listen to these commands in the regular form and in the familiar form. Listen to it again hide the French and translate orally using both the Polite form & the familiar form.

> Listen to the polite and the familiar forms :

Look! Regardez! > Regarde! Listen! Écoutez! > Écoute! Swim! Nagez! > Nage! Study! Étudiez! > Étudie! Speak! Parlez! > Parle! Walk! Marchez! > Marche! Stop! Arrêtez! > Arrête!

Sing! Chantez! > Chante! Dance! Dansez ! > Danse! Ask! Demandez! > Demande! Eat! Mangez! > Mange! Start! commencez! > commence! Work! Travaillez! > Travaille! Stay! Restez! > Reste! Come in! Entrez! > Entre!

In the commands you have learned, you obtained the familiar command by dropping the final vowel sound. We’ll call the verbs following this pattern TYPE I VERBS.

TYPE I : VERBS with special spelling for the inclusive form: For these two verbs the inclusive form has a special spelling due to the nature of the

consonant ‘g’ : Swim! > Nagez! / Let’s swim! > Nageons! Eat! > Mangez! / Let’s eat > Mangeons! To keep the soft ‘g’ sound (a sound you get in English in the word ‘vision’) we have to

add an ‘e’ before the vowel ‘o’ otherwise we would get the ‘hard’ sound ‘g’ (a sound you can find in English in the word ‘go’)

A similar problem occurs with the verb below, but this time we have to add a cedilla under the letter ‘c’ to keep the sound ‘s’

Move forward! > Avancez! > Let’s move forward! > Avançons! All the verbs ending in … GEZ or … CEZ for the Polite Form will follow the same

pattern. > Listen : THE NEGATIVE FORM – NEGATIVE COMMAND So far, we have used only affirmative commands. Our next step is to learn how to express

these commands in the negative. In English, the negative is formed as follows: Sing! > Don't sing! Let's sing! > Let’s not sing! In French, the negative is formed by adding ne before the command and pas after it. Chantez! > Ne chantez pas! Don’t sing! Chante! > Ne chante pas! Chantons! > Ne chantons pas! Let’s not sing! The letter ‘e’ of ne is replaced with an apostrophe when the verb begins with a vowel

sound. Écoutez! > N’ écoutez pas! Don’t listen! Écoute! > N’écoute pas! Écoutons! > N’écoutons pas! Let’s not listen!

> The unstable ‘e’ sound

The vowel sound of ne is said to be unstable; it is automatically dropped before another vowel sound which is reflected in the spelling (ne becomes n’). The vowel of ne is unstable because its retention or fall depends on the nature of the following sound.

The final e of reste and entre is also an unstable vowel sound; it must be pronounced when the commands are followed by a consonant sound.

Reste - 1 syllable

Ne reste pas - 1 2 3 4 (4 syllables)

Entre - 1 syllable

N’entre pas - 1 2 3 (3 syllables)

The following commands contain the unstable vowel sound in the first syllable. When these commands are shifted to the negative form, we have two consecutive unstable vowels:

Look! Regarde

Don’t look! Ne regarde pas

Look! Regardez

Don’t look! Ne regardez pas

Let’s look! Regardons!

Let’s not look! Ne regardons pas

It is customary in such cases not to pronounce the second unstable vowel.

> Exercise: Translate the following commands orally into French

Don’t look! (fam) Ne regarde pas! Listen! Écoutez! Let’s swim! Nageons! Don’t talk! Ne Parlez pas! Walk! Marchez! Don’t stop! (fam) N’arrête pas! Don’t sing! Ne chantez pas! Dance! Dansez ! Don’t ask! Ne demandez pas! Let’s not eat! Ne mangeons pas! Let’s not start! Ne commençons pas! Study! (fam) Étudie! Work! (fam) Travaille! Don’t stay! Ne restez pas! Don’t come in! (fam) N’ entre pas!

 

SUMMARY:

Verb command s : Present tense – imperative mood – how to give an order

INCLUSIVE FORM POLITE &PLURAL FORM FAMILIAR FORM

ENGLISH

TYPE I VERBSArrêtons! Arrêtez! Arrête! Stop Chantons! Chantez! Chante! Sing Cochons! Cochez! Coche! Tick Commençons! Commencez! Commence! Start Complétons! Complétez! Complète! Complete Dansons! Dansez! Danse! Dance Demandons! Demandez! Demande! Ask Écoutons! Écoutez! Écoute! Listen Entourons! Entourez! Entoure! Circle Entrons! Entrez! Entre! Come in / enter Étudions! Étudiez! Étudie! Study Mangeons! Mangez! Mange! Eat Marchons! Marchez! Marche! Walk Nageons! Nagez! Nage! Swim Observons! Observez! Observe! Look closely Parlons! Parlez! Parle! Talk / Speak Regardons! Regardez! Regarde! Look Relions! Reliez! Relie! Put together Répétons! Répétez! Répète! Repeat Restons! Restez! Reste! Stay  

TYPE II VERBSÉcrivons! Écrivez! Écris! Write Lisons! Lisez! Lis! Read Répondons! Répondez! Réponds! Answer Sortons! Sortez! Sors! Go out  

Note :

► There are special spelling for TYPE I VERBS ending in -CEZ or -GEZ for the inclusive form:

Mangeons! Nageons! Commençons!

► The negative form : Ne parle pas! / N’écoute pas!

► The unstable ‘e’ : Ne regarde pas / N’entre pas

 

Do not proceed further unless you master all the commands & key phrases very well.

Now you need to know how to understand and form sentences containing a subject, a verb and a modifier (adverb) as in the English sentence: He works well.

> We’ve seen 3 commands for the verbs we’ve learned so far:

Travaille! (fam) Travaillez! : Work!

Travaillons : Let’s work!

We have 3 oral forms (Familiar, Polite & Inclusive) These 3 oral forms will be used for the present tense indicative of the verbs we’ve seen.

Je travaille : I work / I am working

Tu travailles : You work / You are working

Il, Elle travaille : He, she works / He, she is working

Ils, elles travaillent : They work / They are working

For these 4 personal pronoun the familiar oral form of the verb is used (In other words the verb always sounds the same, the endings –e, -es, ent are silent)

Nous travaillons : We work / We are working

Vous travaillez : You work / You are working

French has two equivalents for the English pronoun you. As already learned before, the familiar form is used when speaking to a person you are very close to (a parent, a relative, a friend of long standing) and when speaking to a small child. It cannot be used if you are speaking to more than one person.

In English, the pronoun they can refer to:

(1) several men (2) several women (3) a group of men and women

In French, a distinction is made.

(1) They eat (men alone or men and women mixed) : Ils mangent

(2) They eat (women alone) : Elles mangent

In the translation exercises, we will use they when referring to men alone or men and women mixed; we will use they (f) when referring to women alone.

Note : French uses the same form for he eats and he is eating, we eat and we are eating, you eat and you are eating, etc…

Note also that there is no oral distinction between:

Il travaille | Ils travaillent

Elle travaille | Elles travaillent

They sound the same. This is characteristic of TYPE I VERBS.

TYPE 2 VERBS

> These verbs have 4 oral forms, they distinguish the singular from the plural by adding a consonant.

familiar form : Écris! Write!polite form : Écrivez! Write!inclusive form : Écrivons! : Let’s write!

For the singular the oral form of the familiar form is used: Écris!

J’ écris : I write / I am writingTu écris : You write / You are writingIl, Elle écrit : He, she writes / He, she is writing

Note that t he written endings are different :

The ending is ‘-s’ for the personal pronouns je and tu and the ending ‘-t’ is used for the personal pronouns il & elle. However they are silent endings.

Plural forms :

Nous écrivons : We write / We are writing Vous écrivez : You write / You are writing Ils, elles écrivent : They write / They are writing

 

> Here are the TYPE 2 VERBS we’ve seen so far:

TYPE II VERBSÉcrivons! Écrivez! Écris! Write Lisons! Lisez! Lis! Read Répondons! Répondez! Réponds! Answer Sortons! Sortez! Sors! Go out

 

ADVERBES

Adverbs are modifiers, they modify the meaning of the verb; they do not change their spelling and somehow they are always placed right after the verb they modify.

> Listen & Learn!

rarement (rarely) bien (well) ici (here) beaucoup (a lot)trop (too much)vite (fast/quickly) parfois (sometimes) mal (badly) là (there) peu (a little)trop peu (too little)lentement (slowly)souvent (often) ensemble (together) là-bas (over there) tout (everything) très (very) tout de suite (right away)

> Listen to the following sentences and translate them orally:

1. Elles sortent souvent. They (f) often go out 2. Vous répondez bien. You answer well. 3. Nous lisons beaucoup. We read a lot. 4. Tu écris mal. You write badly. 5. Je lis beaucoup. I read a lot. 6. Nous sortons ensemble. We go out together.7. Tu ne sors pas souvent! You don’t go out often!

MORE TYPE 2 VERBS…

> The verb ‘Répondez’ is a type 2 verb adding the consonant ‘d’ for the plural

Je réponds : I answer / I am answering Tu réponds : You answerIl, elle répond : He, she answers

Nous répondons : We answer Vous répondez : You answer Ils, elles répondent : They answer

You have probably noticed that the ‘-t’ ending is not there for the personal pronouns Il and elle.

This is due to a spelling rule: a ‘d’ cannot be followed by a ‘t’ therefore the ‘t’ is omitted if the stem of the verb ends with a ‘d’. It also seems that the verb has only one stem: répond. But if this is true in writing, orally we have two stems; one, for the singular where the ‘–d’ is silent, one for the plural when it is heard.

> Here are verbs following the same pattern as ‘répondez’

Attendez! Attends! : Wait! Descendez! Descends! : Go downstairs! Get off (a car, a train…) Entendez! Entends! : Hear! Vendez! Vends! : Sell! Perdez! Perds! : Lose!

> Translate orally in French :

You don’t hear well. Vous n’entendez pas bien. Get off now! Descendez maintenant! Don’t lose! (fam) Ne perds pas! I don’t sell a lot! Je ne vends pas beaucoup! Wait here! Attendez ici! They sell everything! Ils vendent tout! I hear everything! J’entends tout! Answer now! (fam) Réponds maintenant! Don’t go downstairs!(fam) Ne descends pas! I’m losing everything! Je perds tout!

> The verb ‘Sortez’ is a type 2 verb adding the consonant ‘t’ for the plural

Je sors : I go out / I am going out Tu sors : You go out … Il, elle sort : He, she goes out Nous sortons : We go out Vous sortez : You go out Ils, elles sortent : They go out

> Other verbs following the same pattern are:

Partez! Pars! Leave! Ne mentez pas! Ne mens pas! Don’t lie! (truth)

> The verb ‘lisez’ is a type 2 verb adding the consonant ‘s’ for the plural (the sound is / z /)  

Je lis: I read / I am reading Tu lis : You read … Il, elle lit : He, she reads Nous lisons : We read Vous lisez : You read Ils, elles lisent : They read

> Other verbs following the same pattern are:

Traduisez! Traduis! Translate! Conduisez! Conduis! Drive! Construisez! Construis! Build! Détruisez! Détruis! Destroy!

Exercise: Translate orally in English

Vous lisez beaucoup! You read a lot! Elles conduisent mal! They drive badly! Nous construisons ici! We build here! Ne détruis pas tout! Don’t destroy everything! Je traduis très bien! I translate very well! Sors tout de suite! Go out right away! Tu lis très vite! You read very fast! Ne partez pas tout de suite! Don’t leave right away! Ne lisez pas tout tout de suite! Don’t read everything right away! Tu conduis très bien! You drive very well! Tu mens! You’re lying! Tu écris trop lentement! You write too slowly!

 

LINKING & LIAISON

Linking is a phenomenon we find in English. It consists of linking the consonant at the end of a word with the vowel of the next word:

Far from it : the ‘m’ of from becomes the initial consonant of the word ‘it’ as if you were reading ‘mit’. The same phenomenon is observed with Fire away or Far away etc.

In French the same thing occurs especially between the personal pronoun and the verbs starting with a vowel:

> Il écoute bien is read :i-lé-coute-bien

> Elle écoute bien is read :è-lé-coute-bien

This is what we call a linking. The liaison is not found in English. But it is not difficult to understand or reproduce because it is a kind of linking, except that the consonant at the endf of the word is not normally pronounced unless the next syllable starts with a vowel.

> On mange bien en France. People eat well in France

The ‘n’ of on is not pronounced.

But if the verb starts with a vowel, then we hear it as an initial :

> On écoute bien is read :on-né-coute-bien

We listen well

With the personal pronouns ending with an ‘s’ (nous, vous, ils, elles) the sound ‘z’ is heard.

For instance with the TYPE I verb ‘arrivez’ (arrive)

> Nous arrivons aujourd’hui is read: nous-za-rri-vons-au-jour-d’hui

> Vous arrivez aujourd’hui is read: vous-za-rri-vez-au-jour-d’hui

> Ils attendent là-bas is read: ils-za-ttendent-là-bas

> Elles attendent là-bas is read: elles-za-ttendent-là-bas

We’ve seen that TYPE I verbs do not distinguish orally the singular and the plural form

> Il travaille sounds the same as:ils travaillent

But if the verb starts with a vowel sound, then a difference is heard due to the liaison:

Il écoute - Ils écoutent Elle écoute - Elles écoutent

EXERCISE

Now listen to the following sentences and decide if they are singular or plural, circle the sentence you hear. Then translate orally in English.

1. Il arrive demain - Ils arrivent demain They're arriving tomorrow 2. Elle écoute bien - Elles écoutent bien She listens well 3. Il habite à Paris - Ils habitent à Paris They live in Paris 4. Elle aime ça - Elles aiment ça She likes that 5. Il arrive aujourd’hui - Ils arrivent aujourd’hui They arrive today 6. Il arrête maintenant - Ils arrêtent maintenant He stops now 7. Il entre ici - Ils entrent ici He enters here 8. Elle arrive ici - Elles arrivent ici She arrives here 9. Elle entre maintenant - Elles entrent maintenant They are coming in now 10. Elle arrête aujourd’hui - Elles arrêtent aujourd’hui She stops today

THE PERSONAL PRONOUN ‘ON’  

‘ON’ is like the English personal pronoun ‘ONE’. It is rarely used in English. We’d rather use ‘People’ or the impersonal pronoun ‘you’ (e.g., To succeed you need to work)

In France, (one speaks) / people speak French - En France, on parle français.

At school, (one writes) / you write a lot - À l’école, on écrit beaucoup.

In France, (one eats) / people eat well - En France, on mange bien

On, therefore has an impersonal meaning but it is also used as a substitute for the personal pronoun ‘Nous’ :

- Vous partez quand? When are you leaving?

- Nous partons demain = On part demain. We leave tomorrow.

THE NEGATION & THE UNSTABLE ‘E’

We’ve seen both the negative form for a verb & the unstable ‘e’. The rule of pronunciation of the unstable ‘e’ goes as follow. If the syllable preceding an unstable ‘e’ ends with a vowel sound the unstable ‘e’ is not pronounced.

The following personnal pronouns end with a vowel sound: Je, Tu, On, Nous, Vous

Therefore if they are followed by ‘ne’ the ‘e’ of ‘ne’ is not pronounced, you pronounce all these personal pronouns as if they were ending with the consonant ‘n’

> Écoutez & répétez:

Je parle français - Je ne parle pas français I don’t speak French Tu travailles beaucoup - Tu ne travailles pas beaucoup You don’t work a lot On part aujourd’hui - On ne part pas aujourd’hui We don’t leave today Nous lisons beaucoup - Nous ne lisons pas beaucoup We don’t read a lot Vous conduisez bien - Vous ne conduisez pas bien You don’t drive well

ADVERBS OF TIME

hier - yesterday

aujourd'hui - today

demain - tomorrow

INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS:

qui? - who?

quoi? what?

quand? when?

où? where?

comment? how?

pourquoi? why?

ASKING A QUESTION IN FRENCH & NOUNS OF LANGUAGES

Vous parlez français? (The last syllable has a high pitch)

> Listen & repeat & translate in English orally both the question and the answer:

Vous parlez français? Do you speak French? Non, je ne parle pas français. No, I don’t speak French. Vous parlez anglais? Do you speak English? Non, je ne parle pas anglais. No, I don’t speak English . Vous parlez portugais? Do you speak Portugese? Non, je ne parle pas portugais. No, I don’t speak Portugese. Vous parlez cantonais? Do you speak Cantonese?

Non, je ne parle pas cantonais. No, I don’t speak Cantonese. Vous parlez chinois? Do you speak Chinese? Non, je ne parle pas chinois. No, I don’t speak Chinese. Vous parlez danois? Do you speak Danish? Non, je ne parle pas danois. No, I don’t speak Danish. Vous parlez allemand? Do you speak German? Non, je ne parle pas allemand. No, I don’t speak German. Vous parlez espagnol? Do you speak Spanish? Non, je ne parle pas espagnol. No, I don’t speak Spanish. Vous parlez italien? Do you speak Italian? Non, je ne parle pas italien. No, I don’t speak Italian.

IRREGULAR VERBS

Irregular verbs have to be learnt by heart, they have more oral forms than other regular verbs:

1. THE VERB ‘BE’ IMPERATIVE MOOD – PRESENT TENSE

Familiar form: Sois sympathique! Be nice!

Polite form: Soyez sympathique!

Plural form: Soyez sympathiques!

Inclusive form: Soyons sympathiques! Let’s be nice!

3 oral forms : Sois, soyez, soyons.

2. THE VERB ‘BE’ INDICATIVE MOOD – PRESENT TENSE

Je suis sympathique I am nice

Tu es sympathique You are nice

Il est sympathique He is nice

Elle est sympathique She is nice

On est sympathique People are nice

Nous sommes sympathiques We are nice

Vous êtes sympathiques You are nice

Ils sont sympathiques They are nice

Elles sont sympathiques They are nice

Five oral forms and 6 different spellings :

suis

es, est (sounds like è)

sommes

êtes

sont

Impersonal:

It’s stupid! - C’est stupide!

It isn’t nice! Ce n’est pas sympathique!

As you have probably noticed the adjective ‘sympathique’ takes an ‘s’ for the plural form.

The ‘s’ is mute though so orally there is only one form for the adjective. Adjectives agree in number (you add an ‘s’ if the noun or pronoun it qualifies is plural).

> Listen & repeat & translate in English orally both the question and the answer:

Vous êtes Russes? Are you Russians? Non, nous sommes Belges. No, we are Belgians. Tu es Suisse? Are you Swiss? Non je suis Belge! No, I’m Belgian! Il est journaliste? Is he a journalist? Non, il est architecte! No, he is an architect! Elle est secrétaire? Is she a secretary? Non, elle est architecte! No, she is an architect!

Note : In French we don’t say : She is a secretary but: *she is _ secretary : Elle est secrétaire.

MORE ON THE UNSTABLE ‘E’

The vowel ‘e’ is said to be unstable because sometimes it pronounced and sometimes it isn’t.

If the syllable preceding it ends with a vowel sound it is not pronounced:

Tu ne parles pas français? You don’t speak French? The ‘e’ of ne is not pronounced

In the word ‘maintenant’ (now) the ‘e’ is not pronounced because the syllable ‘main’ ends with a vowel sound; similarly in the adverbial expression tout de suite (right away) the ‘e’ of de is not pronounced because the word ‘tout’ ends with a vowel sound (the ‘t’ is mute)

In the sequences: Tu ne, vous ne, nous ne, on ne, the ‘e’ of ne is not pronounced.

In Je ne the ‘e’ of Je is pronounced but the ‘e’ of ne is not pronounced.

> Listen and repeat and translate orally in English.

- Tu ne sors pas maintenant? You’re not going out now?

- Non, je ne sors pas maintenant. No, I’m not going out now.

- Tu ne pars pas tout de suite? You’re not leaving right away?

- Non, je ne pars pas tout de suite. No, I’m not leaving right away.

- Tu ne mens pas? You’re not lying?

- Non, je ne mens pas! No, I’m not lying!

- Tu ne réponds pas tout de suite? You’re not answering right away?

- Non, je ne réponds pas tout de suite. No, I’m not answering right away.

- Tu ne vends pas ça maintenant? Don’t you sell that now?

- Non, je ne vends pas ça maintenant. No, I’m not selling that now .

- Tu ne descends pas maintenant? Aren’t you getting off now?

- Non, je ne descends pas maintenant. No, I’m not getting off now.

- Tu ne conduis pas? You don’t drive?

- Non, je ne conduis pas. No, I don’t drive.

- Tu ne traduis pas tout de suite? You don’t translate right away?

- Non, je ne traduis pas tout de suite. No, I don’t translate right away.

- Vous ne sortez pas? You’re not going out?

- Non, nous ne sortons pas maintenant. No,we’re not going out now.

- Vous ne partez pas tout de suite? You’re not leaving right away?

- Non, nous ne partons pas maintenant. No, we’re not leaving now.

- Vous ne mentez pas? You’re not lying?

- Non, nous ne mentons pas! No, we’re not lying!

- Vous ne répondez pas tout de suite? You’re not answering right away?

- Non, nous ne répondons pas tout de suite. No, we’re not answering right away.

- Vous ne vendez pas ça maintenant? Don’t you sell that now?

- Non, nous ne vendons pas ça maintenant. No, we’re not selling that now .

ON THE UNSTABLE ‘E’ (cont'd)

- Vous ne descendez pas maintenant? Aren’t you getting off now?

- Non, nous ne descendons pas maintenant. No, we’re not getting off now.

- Vous ne conduisez pas? You don’t drive?

- Non, nous ne conduisons pas. No, we don’t drive.

- Vous ne traduisez pas tout de suite? You don’t translate right away?

- Non, nous ne traduisons pas tout de suite. No, we don’t translate right away.

In the sequence: Je n’ it is customary not to pronounce the ‘e’ of Je

- Je n’attends pas ici I’m not waiting here

- Je n’entends pas bien I don’t hear well

- Je n’aime pas ça I don’t like that

- Je n’arrive pas demain I’m not arriving tomorrow

- Je n’habite pas ici. I don’t live here.

- Je n’écoute pas bien I don’t listen well

In the sequence: Ce n’est pas it is customary not to pronounce the ‘e’ of Ce

- Ce n’est pas bien It’s not good! (well)

- Ce n’est pas ça! That’s not it!

- Ce n’est pas maintenant. It’s not now!

- Ce n’est pas là. It’s not there!

- Ce n’est pas beaucoup! It’s not a lot!

- Ce n’est pas trop! It’s not too much!

- Ce n’est pas mal! It’s not bad!

- Ce n’est pas loin! It’s not far!

- Ce n’est pas tout! That’s not all!

- Ce n’est pas sympa! That’s not nice!

ASKING A QUESTION

To ask a question in French the intonation is used as we have seen previously. (The last syllable is pronounced on a high pitch) In the previous exercise you did just that.

- Tu aimes quoi? What do you like?

- Tu arrives quand? When do you arrive?

- Tu voyages comment? How do you travel? By what means of transportation?

QUESTION and NEGATION

If you are asked a negative question and the answer is yes or no, French makes another distinction that English doesn’t make:

- Tu parles français? - Oui, je parle français.- Non, je ne parle pas français. Do you speak French? Yes I speak French; No, I don’t speak French

- Tu ne parles pas français? - Si, je parle français. - Non, je ne parle pas français.Don’t you speak French? Yes, I speak French; No, I don’t speak French

> Listen to the following questions and answer them using 'si'

- Tu ne parles pas anglais?- Si, je parle anglais! Don’t you speak English? Yes, I speak English!

- Tu n’attends pas? - Si, j’attends! Aren’t you waiting? Yes, I’m waiting!

- Tu ne réponds pas? - Si, je réponds! Don’t you answer? Yes, I answer!

- Tu n’arrives pas demain? - Si, j’arrive demain! Aren’t you arriving tomorrow? Yes, I’m arriving tomorrow!

- Tu n’entres pas?- Si, j’entre!Aren’t you coming in? Yes, I’m coming in!

- Tu ne pars pas tout de suite? - Si, je pars tout de suite!Aren’t you leaving right away? Yes, I’m leaving right away!

- Tu ne sors pas maintenant? - Si, je sors maintenant! Aren’t you going out now? Yes, I’m going out now!

- Tu ne descends pas ici? - Si, je descends ici! Aren’t you getting off here? Yes, I’m getting off here!

- Tu n’es pas Belge? - Si, je suis Belge! Aren’t you Belgian? Yes, I am Belgian!

- Tu n’es pas suisse? - Si, je suis suisse! Aren’t you Swiss? Yes, I am Swiss!

- Tu n’habites pas ici? - Si, j’habite ici! Don’t you live here? Yes, I live here!

- Tu n’aimes pas ça? - Si, j’aime ça! Don’t you like that? Yes, I like that!

QUESTION WITH EST-CE QUE

'Est-ce que' means litterally Is it that; it is used to change an affirmation into a question without having to change the intonation:

- Est-ce que tu parles français? Do you speak French?

- Est-ce qu’il est français? Is he French?

Note : The ‘e’ of que is dropped if the next word starts with a vowel.

> Change the following affirmation into questions using 'Est-ce que' :

- Vous chantez bien. You sing well> Est-ce que vous chantez bien? Do you sing well?

- Vous sortez souvent. You often go out> Est-ce que vous sortez souvent? Do you often go out?

- Elle aime beaucoup ça! She likes that a lot> Est-ce qu’elle aime beaucoup ça? Does she like that a lot?

- Ils répondent mal! They answer wrongly > Est-ce qu’ils répondent mal? Do they answer wrongly?

- J’écris beaucoup. I write a lot> Est-ce que j’écris beaucoup? Do I write a lot?

 C’est maintenant ? It’s now> Est-ce que c’est maintenant? Is it now?

- C’est très loin. It’s very far> Est-ce que c’est très loin? Is it very far?

- Ce n’est pas bien. It’s not good (well)> Est-ce que ce n’est pas bien? Isn’t it good?

- Tu ne sors pas aujourd’hui. You’re not going out today> Est-ce que tu ne sors pas aujourd’hui? Aren’t you going out today?

- Elle est secrétaire. She is (a) secretary > Est-ce qu’elle est secrétaire? Is she a secretary?

- Il est architecte. He is (an) architect> Est-ce qu’il est architecte? Is he an architect?

INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS and THE QUESTION WITH EST-CE QUE

qui? - who?

quoi? what?

quand? when?

où? where?

comment? how?

pourquoi? why?

The interrogative pronoun is placed at the beginning, before ‘Est-ce que’ The question words retain the high pitch. Listen.

Note : the first sentence has a upward intonation (UI) while the second has a downward intonation (DI).

Tu aimes qui? (UI) Qui est-ce que tu aimes? (DI)Who do you love?

Tu arrives quand? (UI) Quand est-ce que tu arrives? (DI)When do you arrive?

Tu travailles où? (UI) Où est-ce que tu travailles? (DI)Where do you work?

Tu voyages comment? (UI) Comment est-ce que tu voyages? (DI) How do you travel?

Note : There is a liaison between quand and est-ce que, but the letter ‘d’ is pronounced like a ‘t’. However, there is no liaison between comment and est-ce que.

Special cases :

Pourquoi tu pars? (UI) Pourquoi est-ce que tu pars? (UI) Why are you leaving?

Pourquoi is placed at the beginning even in the question using the intonation alone. The first syllable ‘pour’ retains the high pitch.

Tu manges quoi? (UI) Qu’est-ce que tu manges? (DI) What are you eating?

Quoi is abbreviated to qu’ in front of Est-ce que.

> Translate the following sentences into French.

- What are you eating? Qu’est-ce que vous mangez?

- Where are you working? Où est-ce que vous travaillez?

- What is it? Qu’est-ce que c’est?

- When is it? Quand est-ce que c’est?

- Why is she here? Pourquoi est-ce qu’elle est ici?

- What is he writing? Qu’est-ce qu’il écrit?

What are you (fam) reading? Qu’est-ce que tu lis?

- What are they (f) translating? Qu’est-ce qu’elles traduisent?

- Who are they driving? Qui est-ce qu’ils conduisent?

- Why is he there? Pourquoi est-ce qu’il est là?

TYPE I VERBS WITH A CHANGE OF STEM

A vowel change in the stem of a verb is a phenomenon that occurs both in English and French. Sometimes there is a change in the spelling: I see - I saw. Sometimes there isn’t: I read - I read (past tense)

In French a vowel change in the stem occurs when the ending is mute:

Stop! Arrêtez! (fam) Arrête!

There is no change in the spelling for this verb but in the familiar form the vowel ê is open (as in è) but in the polite form ‘arrêtez’ ê is pronounced as if it was spelt ‘é’.

In the verb ‘Répétez’ (Repeat) there is a vowel change in the spelling as well:

Répétez (fam) Répète

We still have 3 oral forms (Familiar, Polite and Inclusive) but the é is changed to è when the endings are mute. Therefore we have:

Je répète I repeat; I’m repeating

Tu répètes you repeat

Il, elle répète he/she repeats

Ils, elles répètent they repeat

The endings –e, -es, ent are silent

For nous & vous the endings are not mute, therefore there is no vowel change in the stem:

Nous répétons We repeat

Vous répétez You repeat

TYPE I VERBS with a spell change:

Complétez! Complète! (é becomes è) Complete!

Achetez! Achète! (e becomes è) Buy!

Appelez! Appelle! (the letter ‘l’ is doubled) Call!

> Translate into French.

- Don’t buy that! (fam) - N’achète pas ça!

- Call me! (fam) - Appelle-moi!

- Repeat that! (fam) - Répète ça!

- I’m calling now! - J’appelle maintenant!

- Complete everything! (fam) - Complète tout!

REFLEXIVE VERBS

A reflexive (or pronominal) verb expresses an action done to oneself :

He killed himself, I wash myself etc..

In French the reflexive pronouns are placed before the verb and not after like in English:

For instance if we use the TYPE I verb ‘lavez’ (wash) we can use it reflexively thus:

Je me lave : I (myself) wash I wash myself

Tu te lavesYou wash yourself

Il, elle se lave He, She washes himself/herself

Ils, elles se lavent They wash themselves

Nous nous lavonsWe wash ourselves

Vous vous lavezYou wash yourself

In the sequences Je me & tu te the unstable ‘e’ of ‘me’ & ‘te’ is not pronounced

Attention : For the imperative we will use tonic pronouns (me, you, us) :

Lave-toi! Wash yourself!

Lavez-vous! Wash yourself!

Lavons-nous! Let’s wash ourselves!

If the verb starts with a vowel the ‘e’ of the reflexive pronouns me, te, se is removed:

Je m’habille I get dressed

Tu t’habilles you get dressed

Il / elle s’habille he/she gets dressed

Ils / elles s’habillent they get dressed

Nous nous habillons we get dressed

Vous vous habillez you get dressed

Habille-toi! Get dressed!

Habillez-vous! Get dressed!

Habillons-nous! Let’s get dressed!

In French we don’t say ‘my name is’ but rather : I call myself.

Je m’appelle Olivier

Nous nous appelons…

Tu t’appelles …

Vous vous appelez…

Il, elle s’appelle…

Ils, elles, s’appellent…

Vous vous appelez comment ?What’s your name?

Comment est-ce que vous vous appelez?How do you call yourself?