Home
FRENCH
Posted by Chester Morton / Thursday 9 February 2017 / No comments
The verb ÊTRE
Do
as the Natives Do
As
you get to know a native speaker of French, a good rule of thumb for the non-native
is to wait until your new friend addresses you with tu, before starting
to use tu with him or her.
•
Il and ils; elle and elles. The English subject
pronouns he, she, it (singular), and they (plural)
are expressed by ils (for masculine nouns) and elles (for
feminine nouns).
Elles
sont formidables! They
are fantastic! (fem. persons or things)
Il
est drôle. He/It
(The puppy[?]) is funny.
The
plural ils (they, m. pl.) refers to any group that
includes at least one masculine noun.
Voilà Marie, Anne et Patrick. There’s
Marie, Anne, and Patrick.
—Ils sont en
retard! —They’re
late!
•
On. The subject pronoun on (third-person singular) is used in
French to convey the English indefinite subjects one, we, people,
and they.
Alors, on est d’accord? O.K.,
so we agree?
Le matin, on est en bonne In
the morning, they (we, people)
forme.
feel
good.
Modern
speech often replaces nous (we) by on. The adjective can
be spelled in the singular or the plural.
Vous êtes fatigués?
You’re
tired?
Oui, on est très
fatigué(s)! /
(Oui, nous sommes très fatigué[e]s!) Yes,
we’re all (everybody’s)very tired!
Uses of être
As you
know, être is the equivalent of to be in English.
Nous
sommes français.
We’re French.
Tu es au
restaurant? You’re (Are you) at the restaurant?
• Être is
often followed by an expression of location (using a preposition) or a
descriptive adjective.
Marianne
est à la campagne. Marianne is
in the countryside
Nous
sommes en voiture. We
are in the car.
• When a
form of être is followed by an adjective, the adjective agrees with the
subject of the sentence in gender and number.
Les
roses rouges sont belles. Red
roses are beautiful.
Mon
appartement est assez grand. My
apartment is rather large.
• The
French definite article (le/la/les) or indefinite article
(un/une/des)is omitted after forms of être for
simple (unmodified) identification of nationality, religion, or profession.
Je
suis dentiste. I’m
a dentist.
Elles
sont protestantes? Are
they (f.) Protestant?
Chantal
est sénégalaise. Chantal is Senegalese.
Adjectives
of religion, such as protestant(e)(s), and nationality,
for example,
sénégalais(e),
are not capitalized in French.
• With
nouns that are modified (accompanied by an adjective or other descriptor),
use the indefinite subject pronoun ce (c’est.../ce sont...).
With c’est and ce sont, articles or possessive adjectives are always used before a noun. At times, the
context will identify the person.
C’est
un professeur
d’histoire. He’s/She’s a history teacher.
Ce
sont mes amies
françaises. These/Those are my French
friends.
C’est
le médecin
de mon fi ls. He’s/She’s/That’s my
son’s doctor.
• When you
use c’est or ce sont to describe nationalities, be sure to
include
the
article and capitalize the noun of nationality.
Voici
Bill. C’est un Américain. Here’s
Bill. He’s an American.
Ce
sont des Suisses,
de Lausanne. They’re Swiss, from Lausanne.
Key Vocabulary
These
common words (adverbs and conjunctions) help link ideas and enliven adjectives,
nouns, and verbs. Their placement in a sentence closely resembles that of their
English equivalents.
Conjonctions,
qualificatifs, et adverbes (Conjunctions, Qualifiers,
and Adverbs)
assez
(fairly, rather) et (and)
assez de
(enough) ici
(here)
aujourd’hui (today)
là-bas
(over there)
aussi
(also) maintenant
(now)
beaucoup
(de) (much, many, a lot)
mais
(but) bien (very, well)
ou (or)
donc (therefore, so) parfois (sometimes)
peu (hardly, not very) souvent (often)
plutôt (rather) toujours (always)
quelquefois (sometimes) très (very)
rarement (rarely) trop
(de) (too, too much [many])
si (if) un peu (de) (a little)
check out these
examples
Je
suis de Bruxelles, mais Sylvie I’m from Brussels, but Sylvie is
. est de Paris from Paris.
Claude est professeur, donc il Claude is a teacher, so he’s on
est en vacances. vacation.
Nous sommes parfois mécontents. We are sometimes unhappy.
Tu
es un peu fatiguée? Are
you a little tired?
Les repas sont trop chers ici. The meals are too expensive here.
Negation
with ne... pas
To make a sentence negative
in French, ne is placed before a conjugated verb and pas after
the verb. Ne becomes n’ before a vowel or vowel sound.
Je ne
suis pas français. I am not French.
Elle n’est
pas à l’université. She isn’t at the university.
Nous
ne sommes pas catholiques. We aren’t Catholic..
Labels:
FRENCH
Related Posts