FR10 grammar notes
Learning Guide 2
Le présent:
Refer to the French page found in your planner for the endings for regular – er, -re, and –ir verbs along with the most common irregular verbs.
Le passé récent: (to have just done something)
Venir + de + infinitive
Venir is an irregular verb. Its forms are: viens, viens, vient, venons, venez, viennent
Eg. I have just made lunch. = Je viens de faire le déjeuner.
Be sure to change « de » to « d’ » when the infinitive begins with a vowel.
Les verbes pronominaux/les verbes réfléchis:
Here is a list of common reflexive verbs. You will learn how to use these in a later guide.
S’habiller to get dressed
Se déshabiller to get undressed
Se promener to go for a walk
Se lever to get up
Se laver to get washed
Se regarder to look at yourself
Se maquiller to put make up on
Se réveiller to wake up
Se coucher to go to bed
Se doucher to shower
Se brosser to brush
Se peigner to comb
Se baigner to bathe
Se dépêcher to hurry
S’appeler to be named/to call oneself
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Learning Guide 3
Le passé composé:
Le passé compose is a verb tense which is used to describe past events. The event must be “finished”.
Formation: use the correct form of the verb “avoir” or “être” + the “past participle”
Eg. J’ai mangé de la salade.
Or in the negative : Je n’ai pas mangé de salade.
Avoir – j’ai, tu as, il a, nous avons, vous avez, ils ont
Etre – je suis, tu es, il est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils sont
To make a past participle –
“er” verbs usually become – é
“re” verbs usually become – u
“ir” verbs usually become – i
Eg. Manger – mangé
Rendre – rendu
Finir – fini
Irregular past participles: There are many! Here are a few of them.
Avoir becomes eu
Boire- bu
Vouloir- voulu
Savoir- su
Devoir- dû
Voir- vu
Etre- été
Pouvoir- pu
Prendre- pris
Comprendre- compris
Apprendre- appris
Faire- fait
Mettre- mis
Promettre- promis
Admettre- admis
Lire- lu
Dire- dit
Ecrire- écrit
Décrire- décrit
Venir- venu
Devenir- devenu
Revenir- revenu
Naitre-né
Avoir ou être ? How do you choose between the two verbs when making passé composé?
If the verb is on the DRMRSVANDERTRAMP list you use être as the first verb and then write the past participle. The only other verbs that use être as the first verb are the verbs on the reflexive verb list! (se + verb)
The “être” verbs must also have “extra endings” put onto the past participle when the subject is either “fs”, “mpl” or “fpl”.
Endings: ms - -, fs – e, mpl – s, fpl – es
Eg. Marie est arrivée à l’école pour étudier le français. (Marie is feminine and so we add an « e » to « arrivé ».)
L’imparfait:
L’imparfait is used to describe past events also. However, it refers to “was -ing”, “were -ing” or “used to do something” in English. The actions often occur over a long period of time in the past.
Formation: Begin with the present tense verb in the “nous” form. Remove the “ons” and then add the “imparfait” endings.
Je ais Nous ions
Tu ais vous iez
Il/elle ait ils/ells aient
Eg. Finir : Je finiss ais = je finissais
Tu finiss ais = tu finissais
Il finiss ait = il finissait
Nous finiss ions = Nous finissions
Vous finiss iez = vous finissiez
Ils finiss aient = Ils finissaient
The only irregular verb for imparfait is « être » because the nous form does not have « ons » on the end of it.
Eg. Sommes – Etre starts with the stem: ét____ Add the ending onto the “ét”.
Eg. J’étais malade. = I was sick.
NOTE: When c + a OR c + o occur: Put a “cedilla” under the “c”. === Je commençais.
When g + a OR g + o occur: Put an “e” before the “ending”. === Je mangeais. (it makes the “g” soft)
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Learning Guide 5
Le pronom “en” :
“en” refers to “of it, of them, some of it, some of them, any”
You use the pronoun “en” when you are replacing either a “partitive article” or a “number”.
- “du, de la, des, de l’, de, d’”
- 1, 2, 3, 4,5, etc. or a quantity expression (beaucoup de, assez de, un panier de…..)
Position in the sentence: « en » goes before all verbs except if 1) there is an infinitive 2) a positive command.
If there is an infinitive then the “en” goes before the LAST infinitive.
If the sentence is actually a positive command, the “en” goes after the verb.
Eg. Tu veux de la crème? -- Oui, j’en veux.
Tu vas acheter beaucoup de fraises pour le gâteau ? -- Oui, je vais en acheter beaucoup pour le gâteau.
Achète des fraises ! ==== Achètes-en ! (Note: we leave the « s » on the end of achète because « achète » ends with a vowel and the pronoun “en” also begins with a vowel.)
Les articles partitifs:
These words refer to a portion of something. Go to the store and buy some strawberries does not mean buy ALL of the strawberries. We mean to buy some of the strawberries.
The partitive articles are:
Ms – du
Fs – de la
Mpl – des
Fpl – des
Vowel (singular) de l’
In a negative sentence use: de or d’ + vowel
L’inversion:
Inversion is another way of asking a question without using the word “est-ce que”. You create the question by switching the verb with the pronoun and by adding a hyphen between the two words. If the verb ends with a “vowel” and the pronoun begins with a “vowel” add a “t” between the two words.
Eg. Regardez-vous la télé? BUT Regarde-t-il la télé ?
Est-ce que tu vas au magasin ? --- becomes --- Vas-tu au magasin ?
If your sentence has a noun as a subject and not a pronoun, you must add a pronoun into the sentence and keep the noun.
Eg. Est-ce que Marie va au magasin? – Becomes --- Marie va-t-elle au magasin ? (You add the pronoun after the verb and put the hyphen(s) in. In this example there are two hyphens because we also had to add a “t” into the question because of the two vowels.)
Eg. Est-ce que les enfants jouent avec les jouets? --- Becomes --- Les enfants jouent-ils avec les jouets ?
(only 1 hyphen occurs here).
An example of a negative for inversion:
Est-ce qu’elle ne travaille pas? -- becomes -- Ne travaille-t-elle pas ?
If you have a « question word » at the beginning of the question leave it at the beginning of the inversion form. Eg. Quand est-ce que tu vas au magasin? --- Becomes --- Quand vas-tu au magasin ?
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Learning Guide 8 & 9
Le pronom « y » :
The pronoun « y » is used to replace a noun in a sentence. The noun must be preceded by:
Préposition + place (à contraction, chez, dans, en, a côté de, derrière, devant, …)
Préposition + noun (but not a person)
The position in the sentence is the same as for the pronoun “en”:
Position in the sentence: « y » goes before all verbs except if 1) there is an infinitive 2) a positive command.
If there is an infinitive then the “y” goes before the LAST infinitive.
If the sentence is actually a positive command, the “y” goes after the verb.
Eg. Tu vas au cinéma? -- Oui, j’y vais.
Tu vas acheter beaucoup de fraises au supermarché ? -- Oui, je vais y acheter beaucoup de fraises.
Achète des fraises à l’épicerie ! ==== Achètes-y des fraises ! (Note: we leave the « s » on the end of achète because « achète » ends with a vowel and the pronoun “y” also begins with a vowel.)
2 pronouns in a sentence:
If you are going to use the pronouns “en” and “y” in the same sentence they must always go in the order of
“y en”. “en” never goes before the pronoun “y” in a sentence.
Eg. Tu achètes du chocolat au magasin?
Oui, j’y en achète. Or Non, je n’y en achète pas.
Les adjectifs :
Adjectives are the words that describe a noun. The red house – ‘red’ is the adjective which is describing the ‘house’ which is the noun.
In French the adjective must agree with the noun. This means that if the noun is feminine, the adjective must also be written in the feminine form.
Eg. La maison bleue
For regular adjectives the endings are as follows:
Ms: - petit
Fs: e petite
Mpl: s petits
Fpl: es petites
There are some very common irregular adjectives. Here are some of them:
ms fs mpl fpl
Handsome, good looking, beautiful beau/bel belle beaux belles
New nouveau/
nouvel nouvelle nouveaux nouvelles
Old vieux/
vieil vieille vieux vieilles
Sporty/athletic sportif sportive sportifs sportives
Purple violet violette violets violettes
Good bon bonne bons bonnes
Happy heureux heureuse heureux heureuses
There is a more complete list of irregular adjectives found in your worksheets package. (LG9)
NOTE:
Some adjectives come before the noun when writing descriptions while others come after.
Adjectives that represent: size, age, beauty, bon, mauvais, plusieurs, and nombreux come BEFORE the noun. All other adjectives come after the noun.
Eg. Le tableau coloré - the colourful painting
Le petit tableau – the small painting
Le petit tableau coloré – the small colourful painting
(mrslryan/mrsdpreddy – 2012)
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