SRM IST 18LEH103J – FRENCH CT 1 NOTES OF LESSON

PART – A

 

Ecrivez les expressions en français  (Write the expressions in French)

 

Les salutations (Greetings)

 Salut! - Hi

 Bonjour monsieur ! - Good morning sir

 Bonsoir madame ! - Good evening madam

 Bonne nuit  mademoiselle ! – Goodnight miss

 

Les formules de politesse (expressions of politeness)

Bienvenue  (à Paris/à  Chennai/à Delhi) – Welcome (to Paris/to Chennai/to Delhi)

Enchanté(e) – Pleased/nice to meet you

Merci – Thank you;     Merci beaucoup – Thank you very much

Désolé – sorry;            Très désolé – very sorry

Ça va ?/ Comment ça va ? – How are you?

Ça va bien, merci – Fine, thank you

Bien /Très bien, – Fine/very fine

Oui, s’il vous plaît/ s’il te plait – Yes, please

Non, merci – No, thank you

Je te/vous remercie – I thank you

Je t’en prie/Je vous en prie – You’re welcome

De rien – You’re welcome/ no mention/ don’t mention

Excuse-moi/Excusez-moi – Excuse me

Pardon – Pardon me

 

Pour accepter (To accept)

D’accord - OK

Avec plaisir – With pleasure

Volontiers - Willingly

 

Prendre congé (to take leave/departure)

Au revoir - Goodbye

Tchao/Ciao - Bye

A demain – See you tomorrow

A bientôt – See you soon

A plus/ A plus tard – See you later

A ce soir – See you this evening

A la semaine prochaine – See you next week

A lundi – see you on Monday (‘lundi’ can be replaced by any day: mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche)

A tout de suite – See you immediately

A tout à l’heure – See you in a while

Ravi de te/vous connaître – Delighted to meet you

 

Les vœux (wishes)

Bonne journée – Have a nice day

Bonne soirée – Have a nice evening

Bon anniversaire – Happy Birthday

Bonne fête – Happy festival/feast

Bon appétit – Have a nice meal

Bon weekend – Happy weekend

Bon voyage – Happy journey

Bon courage – All the best

Bonnes vacances – Happy holidays

Bonne chance – Good luck

Bonne Année – Happy New Year

Joyeux Noel – Merry Christmas

Bonnes Pâques – Happy Easter

 

Écrivez les nombres en lettres (Write the numbers in words - 0 to 70)

 

0 – zéro           11 – onze         21 – vingt et un           31 – trente et un          51 – cinquante et un

1 – un              12 – douze      22 – vingt – deux        32 – trente – deux       52 – cinquante – deux

2 – deux          13 – treize       23 – vingt – trois                     till                                till

3 – trois           14 – quatorze  24 – vingt – quatre      39 – trente - neuf        59 – cinquante - neuf

4 – quatre        15 – quinze      25 – vingt – cinq         40 – quarante              60 – soixante

5 – cinq           16 – seize        26 – vingt – six           41 – quarante et un     61 – soixante et un

6 – six              17 – dix-sept   27 – vingt – sept         42 – quarante – deux  62 – soixante - deux

7 – sept            18 – dix-huit   28 – vingt – huit                      till                                till

8 – huit            19 – dix-neuf  29 – vingt – neuf         49 – quarante – neuf   69 – soixante - neuf

9 – neuf           20 – vingt        30 – trente                   50 – cinquante             70 – soixante - dix

10 – dix

Rules and shortcuts to remember numbers:

1. Know the multiples of 10 (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70) by-heart. Without knowing the multiples of 10, you cannot go from one multiple of 10 to the next because the same word will be used. For example

10 – dix, 20 – vingt, 30 – trente, 40 – quarante, 50 – cinquante, 60 – soixante, 70 – soixante-dix

2. For numbers 21, 31, 41, 51 and 61 the word ‘et’ is used but no hyphen.

21 – vingt et un, 31 – trente et un, 41 – quarante et un, 51 – cinquante et un, 61 – soixante et un

3. The number 70 is written differently from the other multiples of 10 which have a unique word: 70 – soixante-dix

PART – B

 

Francophone countries

 

L’Afrique  (Africa) – Le Maroc, Le Benin, Le Burkina Faso, Le Burundi, Le Cameroun, Le Congo, Le Tchad, Les Comores, Djibouti, Le Gabon, La Guinée, La Cote d’Ivoire, Le Mali, Le Niger, Le Rwanda, Le Sénégal, Le Togo

L’Océan indien (The Indian Ocean – african side) – Le Madagascar, les Seychelles,  La Réunion, La Mayotte

L’Amérique du nord (North America) – Le Canada (mainly Québec), Le Haïti

L’Amérique du sud (South America) et Les Antilles (the Caribbean) – La Guyane Française, La Guadeloupe, La Martinique

L’Océan Pacifique (Pacific Ocean)  – La Polynésie Française, Vanuatu,  La Nouvelle- Calédonie

L’Europe (Europe) – La France, Le Luxembourg, La Belgique,  Le Monaco, La Suisse, La Roumanie

 L’Asie (Asia) – Le Vietnam, Le Laos, Le Cambodge,  Le Liban

Les jours de la semaine

Lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche

 

Les mois de l’année

Janvier, février, mars, avril, mai, juin, juillet, août, septembre, octobre, novembre, décembre

 

Les saisons de l’année

Le Printemps (Spring), L’été (summer), L’automne (autumn), L’hiver (winter)

 

PART – C (Grammaire)

 

Gender of nouns in french  (Le masculin et féminin des noms en français)

All french nouns are either masculine or feminine. The gender of a noun is often indicated by the article before it (article défini or indéfini – le, la, un, une), and sometimes by its spelling.  Generally to make a noun feminine, add ‘e’ at its end.

Ex. Un ami (a male friend) – une amie (a female friend).

 

For nouns which already have an ‘e’ at the end, the spelling does not change for feminine. Ex. Un élève (a male student) – une élève (a female student)

 

These are some general rules to turn masculine nouns into feminine nouns and vice-versa:

 

The following are less common noun endings. They have a gender of their own.

Un homme – man                    Une Femme – woman, wife

Un fils – son                Une fille – girl, daughter

Un héros – hero                       Une héroïne – heroine

Un hôte – host                        Une hôtesse – hostess

 

You can often guess the gender of a noun by its ending:

Masculine endings: -acle, -age, -eau, -eme, -isme, -ment, -ier, -ien

Feminin endings: -aison, -nce, -nse, -ee, -ion, -ude, -ure, -elle, -ille

 

1.      In general nouns ending in ‘e’ are feminine. 

                                Ex:– école (school), table (table), porte (door), fille (girl), femme (woman)

2.      Nouns ending in ‘age’ and ‘ege’ are masculine.

        Ex;– village (village), fromage (cheese), collège (college), piège (trap)

Exceptions – cage, page, plage, image, rage, nage  – these  nouns  are  feminine.

3.      Nouns  ending  in ‘eau’, ‘au’, ‘ou’ and ‘eu’  are  masculine.

        Ex;– gâteau (cake), bateau (boat, ship), chou (cabbage) ; trou (hole)

Exceptions – eau (water), peau (skin) – these  are  feminine.

4.      Nouns ending in ‘ble’, ‘cle’, ‘ent’ and ‘ant’ are masculine.

        Ex;–  miracle (miracle), cartable (school bag),  appartement (appartement) ; apprenant (learner)

Exceptions;   table – feminine

5.      Nouns ending in ‘tion’, ‘sion’ and ‘aison’ and ‘té’ are feminine.

Ex:– Attention (attention) ; Passion  (passion) ; Maison (house), Activité (activity),  santé (health)

6.      Nouns ending in pronounced vowels are masculine.

Ex;–  café (coffee), thé (tea), musée (museum)

7.      Nouns ending in ‘o’, ‘on’, and in’are masculine.

Exs :–Vélo (bike, cycle), stylo (pen), zéro(zero), crayon (pencil), taille-crayon (sharpener), salon(parlour), poisson (fish), garcon (boy), avion (aeroplane),jardin (garden), pain (bread), chemin (pathway), vin (wine)

Exceptions : météo (weather), radio, moto (motorbike) are feminine

 

Based on these rules, there are two sub topics :

 

L’Article Défini (le, la, l’, les)

The French definite article corresponds to "the" in English. There are four forms of the French definite article:

1. le   for masculine singular nouns

      Exs.     Le livre – The book

Le cahier – The notebook

Le tableau – The blackboard

2. la   for feminine singular nouns

Exs.     La table – The table

La chaise – The chair

La corbeille – The basket

3. l'    for masc. or fem. singular nouns beginning with a vowel or ‘h’ mute

Exs.     L’homme – The man

L’élève – The student

L’arbre – The tree

4. les  for masc. or fem. plural nouns

Exs.     Les maisons – The houses

Les stylos – The pens

Les rues – The streets

L’Article Indéfini (un, une, des)

The French indefinite article corresponds to "a or an" and “some” in English. There are three forms of the French definite article:

1. un   for masculine singular nouns

      Exs.     Un livre – A book

Un cahier – A notebook

Un tableau – A blackboard

2. une   for feminine singular nouns

Exs.     Une table – A table

Une chaise – A chair

Une corbeille – A basket

3. des   for masc. or fem. plural nouns

Exs.     Les hommes – The men

Les femmes – The women

Les saisons – The seasons

Les Pronoms sujets (Subject pronouns)     

 

Je – I                          

Tu – You       

Il – He/it                     

Elle – She/it               

Nous – We                 

Vous – You               

Ils – They                   

Elles – They               

 

Usage:

Subject pronouns are only used before a verb.

Exs.

 

Nous sommes malades (We are sick)

Vous avez des pommes (You have apples)

Il s’appelle David (His name is David

Elles travaillent toujours (They are always working

 

Conjuguez les verbes entre parenthèses au présent (Conjugate the verbs within parantheses in the present tense)

 

Irregular verbs: These verbs have no rule for conjugation and have to be studied by-heart

Être – To be

Je suis – I am

Tu es – You are

Il est – He/it is

Elle est – She/it is

On est – One is/I am/You are/We are/They are

Nous sommes – We are

Vous ȇtes – You are

Ils sont – They have

Elles sont – They have

 

Avoir – To have

J’ai – I have

Tu as – You have

Il a – He/it has

Elle a – She/it has

On a – One has/I have/You have/We have/They have

Nous avons – We have

Vous avez – You have

Ils ont – They have

Elles ont – They have

 

S’appeler – To tell one’s name

Je m’appelle – My name is

Tu t’appelles – Your name

Il s’appelle – His/its name is

Elle s’appelle – Her/its name is

On s’appelle – One’s name is/Our name(s) is/are/Their name(s) is/are

Nous nous appelons – Our name is/Our names are

Vous vous appelez – Your name is/Your names are

Ils s’appellent – Their name is/Their names are

Elles s’appellent – Their name is/Their names are

 

The first major group of REGULAR VERBS in French: regular verbs with infinitives ending in -er

 

First Group Verbs ending in ‘er’

 

Rule to conjugate these verbs – cut the -er from the infinitive and add the endings ‘-e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent for the subject pronouns je, tu, il/elle/on, nous, vous, ils/elles respectively to form the present tense.

           

Ex. Parler – 'to speak' (this full form of the verb, also known as the ‘to form’ in English, is called the INFINITIVE)

What is below is called the CONJUGATION of the verb (in the present tense)

 

(First person singular)             Je parle                        - I speak, I am speaking

(Second person singular)         Tu parles                      - You speak, you are speaking

(Third person singular)            Il/elle/on parle - He/she/it/one speaks, he/she/it/one is speaking

(First person plural)     Nous parlons   - We speak, we are speaking

(Second person plural)            Vous parlez                 - You speak, you are speaking

(Third person plural)   Ils/elles parlent            - They speak, they are speaking

 

Note - The third person singular pronoun ‘on’, called an indefinite pronoun, can mean ‘one’, ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘we’ or ‘they’

 

Here is a list of common -er verbs:    

Aimer - to like, to love           

Habiter - to live          

Jouer - to play                        

Étudier - to study                   

Écouter - to listen to

Donner – to give

Regarder – to look at

Écouter – to listen to

Téléphoner – to call/telephone

Rencontrer – to meet

Travailler – to work

Penser – to think

 

For verbs beginning with a vowel like ‘Aimer’, ‘Adorer’, ‘Étudier’ and ‘Écouter’, or a silent ‘h’ like ‘Habiter’, the first person singular pronoun ‘Je’ must be changed to J’. Exs. J’aime, J’étudie, J’habite. All these verbs follow the same rule as the above verb ‘Parler’ and have to be conjugated in the same way.