Verbs
-er Verbs
Regular -er Verbs
Regular -er verbs have no change to spelling of the root and the endings form the following pattern:
Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|
First | -e | -ons |
Second | -es | -ez |
Third | -e | -ent |
An example verb ending is “aimer”:
Singular | Plural |
---|---|
j’aime | nous allons |
tu aimes | vous aimez |
il/elle/on aime | ils/elles aiment |
Some important -er verbs to know:
- adorer (“to love”)
- aimer (“to like; to love”)
- arriver (“to arrive”)
- chercher (“to search/look for”)
- commencer (“to start”)
- dessiner (“to draw”)
- détester (“to hate”)
- donner (“to give”)
- étudier (“to study”)
- habiter (à/en) (“to live in”)
- manger (“to eat”)
- oublier (“to forget”)
- parler (“to talk”)
- partager (“to share”)
- penser que/qu’ (“to think that”)
- regarder (“to look at, to watch”)
- rencontrer (“to meet”)
- retrouver (“to meet up with”)
- travailler (“to work”)
- voyager (“to travel”)
- barvader (“to chat”)
- danser (“to dance”)
- déjuener (“to eat lunch”)
- déspenser de l’argent (“to spend money”)
- explorer (“to explore”)
- fréquenter (“to frequent”)
- inviter (“to invite”)
- nager (“to swim”)
- passer chez (“to stop by someone’s house”)
- patiner (“to skate”)
- quitter la maison (“to leave the house”)
Root Change -er Verbs
Some -er verbs have changes made to the root of the verb, but otherwise have no change. The following changes will occur:
- if the verb has an “e” in the second-to-last syllable (as in “acheter”), the “-e” will be turned into an “è”.
- if the verb has an “é” in the second-to-last syllable (as in “célébrer”), the “é” will be turned into an “è”. (i.e. the first-person singular form of “célébrer” is “célèbre”).
- if the verb ends in -yer (as in “essayer”) the “-y” will be changed into an “-i”.
Some -er verbs that have root changes:
- acheter (“to buy”)
- amener (“to bring”)
- célébrer (“to celebrate”)
- considérer (“to consider”)
- emmener (“to take someone”)
- employer (“to use, to employ”)
- envoyer (“to send”)
- espérer (“to hope”)
- essayer (de + inf.) (“to try (to)”)
- nettoyer (“to clean”)
- payer (“to pay”)
- posséder (“to possess, to own”)
- préférer (“to prefer”)
- protéger (“to protect”)
- répéter (“to repeat, to rehearse”)
-ir Verbs
Regular -ir verbs have no change to spelling of the root and the endings form the following pattern:
Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|
First | -is | -issons |
Second | -is | -issez |
Third | -it | -issent |
An example verb ending is “finir”:
Singular | Plural |
---|---|
je finis | nous finissons |
tu finis | vous finissez |
il/elle/on finit | ils/elles finissont |
Some important -ir verbs to know:
- choisir (“to choose”)
- finir (“to finish”)
- grandir (“to grow”)
- grossir (“to gain weight”)
- maigrir (“to lose weight”)
- obéir (à) (“to obey”)
- réagir (“to react”)
- réfléchir (à) (“to think about, to reflect”)
- réussir (“to succeed”)
- vieillir (“to grow old”)
Irregular -ir Verbs
Some of the most commonly used -ir verbs are irregular. The above endings won’t necessarily apply to these verbs. The ending patterns for irregular -ir verbs are still standard, but different, and the roots can change slightly:
dormir (“to sleep”) | sortir (“to go out”) | servir (“to serve”) | sentir (“to feel”) | courir (“to run”) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
je | dors | sors | sers | sens | cours |
tu | dors | sors | sers | sens | cours |
il/elle/on | dort | sort | sert | sent | court |
Nous | dormons | sortons | servons | sentons | courons |
Vous | dormez | sortez | servez | sentez | courez |
Ils/elles | dorment | sortent | servent | sentent | courent |
Other Verbs
There are a few other very important irregular verbs to note:
être (“to be”) | avoir (“to have”) | aller (“to go”) | faire (“to make”) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
je | suis | j’ai | vais | fais |
tu | es | as | vas | fais |
il/elle/on finit | est | a | va | fait |
Nous | sommes | avons | allons | faisons |
Vous | êtes | avez | allez | faitez |
Ils/elles | sont | ont | vont | font |
Faire, specifically
Faire gets its own section because it’s a special little verb that gets used with a lot of other words to turn into activities you can do:
- faire de l’aérobic = “to do aerobics”
- faire attention (à) = “to pay attention (to)”
- faire du camping = “to go camping”
- faire du cheval = “to go horseback riding”
- faire la connaissance de… = “to meet (someone)”
- faire la cuisine = “to cook”
- faire de la gym = “to work out”
- faire du jogging = “to go jogging”
- faire de la planche à viole = “to go wind-surfing”
- faire une promenade = “to go for a walk”
- faire une randonée = “to go for a hike”
- faire du ski = “to go skiing”
- faire du sport = “to play sports”
- faire une tour (en voiture) = “to go for a walk/for a drive”
- faire du vélo = “to go bike-riding”
Aller, specifically: Le Futur Proche
This is a special tense formed with the verb “aller” which describes something that is about to happen or something that will happen soon. Construction of the futur proche is pretty simple: conjugate aller in the present tense as normal, and then put another verb’s infinitive form right after it. For example:
- Nous allons jouer un match = “We are going to play a match”
- Je vais déjuener sur la terrasse = “I’m going to eat lunch on the terrace”
- Elles vont retrouver Josh à la boîte de nuit = “They’re going to meet Josh at the nightclub”
Articles
Articles are used to modify or indicate nouns. Examples of articles in english are “a/an”, “the”, “some”, etc. There are several kinds of articles in French, much the same as in English.
Definite articles
This is the simplest category of articles in French. They correspond to the definite article “the” in english, but are modified based on count and gender.
- Le (masc. sing.)
- La (fem. sing.)
- les (masc./fem. pl.)
Remember that if a noun starts with a vowel, the article shortened to “l’” and appeneded onto the noun (as in “l’acteur”).
indefinite articles
Indefinite articles don’t point to a single, defined noun. They refer instead to an item in general or in concept (i.e. the chair vs. a chair or some chairs). Again, French takes into account gender, which English does not:
- un (masc. sing.)
- une (fem. sing.)
- des (masc./fem. pl.)
Partitive Articles
Partitive articles refer to nouns that either cannot be counted, or when a quantity isn’t specified (i.e. “some water” or “any chair”).
- du (masc. sing.)
- de la (fem. sing.)
- de l’ (masc./fem. sing. w/ vowel)
- de (any case in a negative sentence)
Pronouns
Disjunctive Pronouns
Disjunctives are used to refer to people—recall Mme. Stanley’s example of “don’t drop I/me.” In this case, a disjunctive pronoun, “me,” is used to refer to the speaker in the first person singular rather than the personal pronoun “I”. The same pronouns exist in French.
- Je -> moi
- Tu -> toi
- elle -> elle
- nous -> nous
- vous -> vous
- ils -> eux
- elles -> elles
Weather
Expressions related to weather and the seasons are below:
- il fait … degrés = “it is … degrees”
- il fait beau = “The weather is nice”
- il fait bon = “The weather is warm/good”
- il fait mauvais = “the weather is bad”
- il fait temps épouvantable = “the weather is dreadful”
- il fait (du) soleil (“it’s sunny”)
- il fait chaud (“it’s hot out”)
- il fait du vent (“it is windy”)
- il fait frais (“it is chilly out”)
- il fait froid (“ it is cold”)
- le temps est orageux = “it is stormy”
- quel temps fait-il? = “How’s the weather?”
- quel température fait-il? = “what’s the temperature?”
- un saison = “a season”
- Seasons:
- en automne = “in autumn”
- en été = “in summer”
- en hiver = “in winter”
- au printemps = “in spring”
- quelle est la date? = “what’s the date?”
- c’et le premier octobre (“it’s the first of October”)
- c’est le deux mai (“it’s the second of May”)
- un aniversaire (“a birthday”)
- Months:
- janiver = January
- février = February
- mars = March
- avril = April
- mai = May
- juin = June
- juillet = July
- août = August
- septembre = September
- octobre = October
- novembre = November
- décembre = december
Questions
There are four primary ways to form a question in French, but really only two of them are relevant. One is to append the phrase “Est-ce que/qu’” to a sentence. The other is to use inversion by switching the order of the subject pronoun (il/elle/etc.) and the verb and placing a hyphen between them, or if connecting a verb that ends in a vowel with a pronoun that begins with a vowel, adding “-t-“ in between them.
Example: “Mange-t-il à midi?” = “Does he eat at noon?”
If your subject is a noun rather than a pronoun, place it at the start of the sentence and then use inversion as normal, as in: “Robert mange-t-il à midi?” = “Does Robert eat at noon?”
A very important phrase to know the inversion form of is “il y a,” which means “there is”. The inversion form is “y a-t-il.” Similarly, the phrase “est-ce” is actually the inverted form of “c’est.”
Other important question words and phrases to know:
- à quelle heure? = “At what hour?”
- quel(le)(s) = “which? what?”
- combien (de) = “How many …?”
- comment = “how?”
- où = “where?”
- pourquoi = “why?”
- quand? = when?
- que/qu’ = “what?”
- qui? = “who/whom?”
- (à/avec/pour) qui? = “to/with/for whom?”
- quoi? = “what?”
Adjectives
There are a butt ton of adjectives and it’s kind of unreasonable to learn all of them, but they’re all here just in case. Study at your own discretion.
Regular Descriptive Adjectives
- bleu(e) = “blue”
- blond(e) “blonde”
- châtain = “brown”
- court(e) = “short”
- grand(e) = “tall, big”
- jeune = “young”
- joli(e) = “pretty”
- laid(e) = “ugly”
- marron = “brown” but cannot be used to describe hair
- noir(e) = “black”
- petit(e) = “small/short”
- raide = “straight (hair)”
- vert(e) = “green”
Irregular Descriptive Adjectives:
Some adjectives are highly irregular. They’ve still got a bit of a pattern to them, though, if that’s any consolation!
Masc. sing. | fem. sing. | masc. pl. | fem. pl. | definition |
---|---|---|---|---|
beau | belle | beaux | belles | beautiful; handsome |
bon | bonne | bons | bonnes | good; kind |
fier | fière | fiers | fières | proud |
heureux | heureuse | heureux | heureuses | happy |
intellectuel | intellectuelle | intellectuels | intellectuelles | intellectual |
long | longue | longs | longues | long |
naïf | naïve | naïfs | naïves | naive |
roux | rousse | roux | rousses | red-haired |
vieux | vielle | vieux | vielles | old |
BRAGS
Some adjectives are called BRAGS adjectives. These are adjectives that describe someone or something’s beauty, rank, age, goodness, or size. They will always come before a noun rather than after, as most other adjectives do. Below are some BRAGS adjectives:
- B: beau, joli(e)
- R: premier, deuxieme (“second”),
- A: nouveau, vieux, jeunne
- G: bon, mauvais
- S: grande, petit, gros, long
Negation
This is one of those concepts in French that shouldn’t be nearly as confusing as it is, but it does get a lot easier once you’ve done it a bunch.
Negation in French is expressed with the phrase “ne … pas” surrounding a verb, or “n’… pas” attached to a verb that starts with a vowel. For example:
- Je ne dessine pas bien = “I don’t draw well”
- Elles n’étudiant pas la french. = “They don’t study french”
Some other somewhat important words that have to do with negation:
- oui = “yes”
- si = “yes” (but is only used when responding in the affirmative to a negated question)
- bien sûr = “of course”
- moi/toi non plus = “me/you neither”
- non = “no”
- mais non = “but of course”
- pas du tout = “not at all”
- peut-être = “maybe, perhaps”
Culture
This is the most hopeless of the sections so I’ve relegated it to its own little place on the bottom of the page where I hopefully never have to look at it in despair. We’ve been told one specific piece of trivia that we’ll have to know for the final, so I’m going to put that here:
Zinédine Zidane (Zizou)
Zizou is a french football player. He’s from Marseille, and was named three times the player of the year by FIFA. During his career, he played for several different french teams, and also played for an Italian team and for Real Madrid, in Spain.
Food
This section is a bit of culture and a lot of vocab.
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