‘Grammar is the way that words make sense. It is a code or set of rules accepted by any community who share a language.’
(Language into Languages Teaching, University of Glasgow, Scottish Executive Education Department, 2001)
Nouns and Articles
- Nouns in French are either masculine or feminine.
- Masculine: le livre (the book), un chien (a dog)
- Feminine: la maison (the house), une voiture (a car)
- Definite Articles (the):
- Masculine singular: le
- Feminine singular: la
- Plural (both genders): les
- Before a vowel or mute ‘h’: l’ (e.g., l’hôtel)
- Indefinite Articles (a, an):
- Masculine singular: un
- Feminine singular: une
- Plural (both genders): des
Verbs are employed to declare or express what is occurring or what the situation is. Although they are often referred to as ‘doing words’ or ‘action words,’ they do not always indicate action. Additionally, verbs indicate the timing of events, known as the verb’s tense.
Verbs
- Present Tense of Regular Verbs:
- -er verbs (e.g., parler – to speak):
- je parle
- tu parles
- il/elle/on parle
- nous parlons
- vous parlez
- ils/elles parlent
- -ir verbs (e.g., finir – to finish):
- je finis
- tu finis
- il/elle/on finit
- nous finissons
- vous finissez
- ils/elles finissent
- -re verbs (e.g., vendre – to sell):
- je vends
- tu vends
- il/elle/on vend
- nous vendons
- vous vendez
- ils/elles vendent
- -er verbs (e.g., parler – to speak):
Adjectives
- Agreement: Adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they modify.
- Masculine singular: grand (tall)
- Feminine singular: grande
- Masculine plural: grands
- Feminine plural: grandes
Questions
- Inversion: Inverting the subject and verb.
- Parlez-vous français ? – Do you speak French?
- Using “Est-ce que”:
- Est-ce que vous parlez français ? – Do you speak French?
- Intonation: Raising the pitch at the end of the sentence.
- Vous parlez français ? – You speak French?
Common Prepositions
- à – to, at
- de – from, of
- avec – with
- sans – without
- pour – for
- dans – in
- sur – on
- sous – under
Possessive Adjectives
- My:
- Masculine singular: mon
- Feminine singular: ma
- Plural: mes
- Your (informal):
- Masculine singular: ton
- Feminine singular: ta
- Plural: tes
- His/Her/Its:
- Masculine singular: son
- Feminine singular: sa
- Plural: ses
Pronouns
- Subject Pronouns:
- I: je
- You (informal): tu
- He/It: il
- She/It: elle
- We: nous
- You (formal/plural): vous
- They (masculine): ils
- They (feminine): elles
‘Tu’ is traditionally used to address close friends, immediate family members, close relatives, children, animals, and pets. Outside of these contexts, using ‘tu’ can be seen as condescending.
‘Vous’, though technically second person plural, serves as the polite form of address for someone the speaker is not closely acquainted with. It is the formal way to address a single person. Additionally, ‘vous’ is used when speaking to more than one close friend, family member, or person who is not well known to the speaker.
‘On’, translated as ‘one’, is used much more often in French than in English and does not imply a specific social class as it might in English. It can express ‘we’, ‘you’ in a general sense, and ‘they’ in a general sense. It can even be used to mean ‘I’. However, young children should be encouraged to use it primarily to mean ‘we’. ‘On’ can refer to either one person or several people.
Basic Sentence Structure
- Word Order: Subject-Verb-Object (SVO)
- Je (subject) mange (verb) une pomme (object). – I eat an apple.
- Negative Sentences: ne…pas around the verb.
- Je ne mange pas de pomme. – I do not eat an apple.
