le français IChapitre 2

Grammaire 1

In French there are four different words for “the”. You have to memorize the gender of the noun. Remember there aren’t any set rules, so memorize each word individually!

MASCULINE (beginning

with a consonant)

FEMININE (beginning

with a consonant)

MASCULINE or FEMININE

(beginning with a vowel)

SINGULAR le la l’

PLURAL les les les

Nathalie aime bien l’école. Tu aimes le chocolat?

Patrick adore les bandes dessinées. Elle aime la glace.

There are three groups of verbs in French: verbs that end in-er, -ir, and –re. To form regular verbs that end in –er, dropthe –er and add the appropriate ending that goes with each subject. Notice that you ONLY pronounce the s in nous, vous ils, and elles when the verb form begins with a vowel sound.

JE parle NOUS parlons

TU parles VOUS parlez

ILELLE parleON

ILSELLES parlent

PARLER

negative sentencesWhen you want to make a verb negative in

French, place ne before the conjugated (changed) verb and pas after it, use n’ before a verb that begins with a vowel.

Je ne regarde pas la télé.Elle n’ aime pas les frites.Nous ne dessinons pas.Vous ne chantez pas.

Sentences with one or two verbsIf the sentence has one verb, you must

conjugate (change) it to agree with the subject.

Tu aimes (aimer) la glace?Ils téléphonent (téléphoner) à des amis?Nous ne regardons(regarder) pas la télé.If the sentence contains two verbs, you must

only conjugate the first!Elle aime lire.(aimer lire)Vous n’aimez pas dessiner?(aimer dessiner)

Irregular PluralsYou already know that to form the plural of

most nouns in French, you add-s to the end of the singular form.le magazine→ les magazines

Remember, if the singular noun ends in –eau or –eu, add –x to form the plural. le tableau→ les tableaux

If the singular noun ends in –al, replace -al with –auxle journal→ les journauxl’animal→ les animaux