Contents
Irregular verbs
| Totally Irregular | Nous & Vous Stand Out | Similarities between 1st Three and Last Three | Similar Pattern All The Way |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avoir – to have | Aller – to go | Connaître – to know/be acquainted with | Courir – to run |
| Être – to be | Boire – to drink | Écrire – to write | Lire – to read |
| Faire – to do/make | Croire – to believe/think | Dormir – to sleep | Offrir – to offer |
| Dire – to say | Devoir – to have to/to owe | Mettre – to put (on) | Ouvrir – to open |
| Pleuvoir – to rain | Venir – to come | Partir – to leave | Rire – to laugh |
| Falloir – to have to | Voir – to see | Savoir – to know | Sourire – to smile |
| Vouloir – to wish/want | Sortir – to go (or come) out | ||
| Tenir – to hold | Suivre – to follow | ||
| Pouvoir – to be able | Prendre – to take | ||
| Recevoir – to receive | Vivre – to live |
Note that all compounds of these verbs are conjugated in a similar manner:
- revoir (to see again),
- devenir (to become),
- revenir (to come back),
- reconnaître (to recognise),
- poursuivre (to follow up/pursue), etc.
In chapter I of the Didier story, the following verbs are employed in the order in which they appear below: être, vivre, connaître, mettre, falloir, conduire, vouloir, pouvoir and sourire.
Can you locate these verbs and translate the sentences in which they occur?
Also, you might try and use the verbs in different sentences of your own in French.
Here’s a start: Il vit seul avec ses chats – He lives alone with his cats.
Negative forms of the French sentence
Good news: The negative is SIMPLE.
You put ‘NE’ in front of the verb and ‘PAS’ after it.
Examples:
– Les chats n’aiment pas la mer – Cats don’t like the sea.
– Vous ne finissez pas vos devoirs? – You are not finishing your homework?
Try out a few negatives in this game
Adjectives
Adjectives are used to describe nouns.
In English they are quite straightforward.
Order of adjectives: Also, all adjectives in English come before the noun. In French, the majority of them come after the noun.
Adjectives agreement: We talk about a ‘tall’ man, or a ‘pretty’ house and the adjectives stay the same regardless of whether the noun you’re describing is masculine or feminine, singular or plural.
In French, adjectives agree in gender and number with the nouns they are describing.
Formation of adjectives: For regular adjectives, you just add an extra ‘e’ to indicate it’s feminine and you add ‘s’ when it’s plural.
– La fille intelligente – The intelligent girl
– L’homme méchant – The threatening man
– Les bâtiments noirs – The black buildings
– Les écoles locales – The local schools Of course, not all adjectives are regular in French.
Some of those coming before the noun (grand, petit, joli, beau, certain, nouveau, vilain) have irregular feminines and take an unusual form when coming before a masculine noun beginning with a vowel or a silent ‘h’.
Examples:
– La nouvelle usine est située dans la banlieue – The new factory is located in the suburbs.
– Le bel homme se lève – The handsome man gets up.
– Tu vois la petite fille ? – Do you see the little girl?
In chapter I of Didier’s story, there are 7 adjectives used. Can you locate them and perhaps explain whether they are masculine or feminine, singular or plural?
Once more, here’s a start: Didier Larmousse est un homme d’un certain âge – masculine singular Il habite dans un petit village – masculine singular
Allez-y maintenant en cliquant ici !!!!