French Grammar For Dummies PDF

French Grammar by Véronique Mazet, PhD French Grammar For Dummies® Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River St. Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. 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Library of Congress Control Number: 2013933935 ISBN 978-1-118-50251-8 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-50248-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-50250-1 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-50324-9 (ebk) Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 About the Author Véronique Mazet, PhD, is a professor of French, adjunct, at Austin Community College in Austin, Texas. She’s the author of two other French grammar books: Correct Your French Blunders and Advanced French Grammar (both published by McGraw-Hill). Dedication To my students of all ages: Thanks for believing in the beauty of the French language, and thanks for trusting me. Author’s Acknowledgments Thanks to my agent, Grace Freedson, for calling me, and to my husband, for his super support. Publisher’s Acknowledgments We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions, Editorial, and Vertical Websites Composition Services Senior Project Editor: Georgette Beatty Senior Project Coordinator: Kristie Rees Acquisitions Editor: Michael Lewis Layout and Graphics: Carrie A. Cesavice, Copy Editor: Caitlin Copple Joyce Haughey, Erin Zeltner Assistant Editor: David Lutton Proofreader: The Well-Chosen Word Editorial Program Coordinator: Joe Niesen Indexer: BIM Indexing & Proofreading Services Technical Editors: Eric Laird, Jessica Sturm Editorial Manager: Michelle Hacker Editorial Assistant: Alexa Koschier Cover Photo: © James Gately/iStockphoto.com Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies Kathleen Nebenhaus, Vice President and Executive Publisher David Palmer, Associate Publisher Kristin Ferguson-Wagstaffe, Product Development Director Publishing for Technology Dummies Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher Composition Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services Contents at a Glance Introduction............................................................................. 1 Part I: Getting Started with French Grammar............................. 5 Chapter 1: French Grammar in a Nutshell.......................................................................................... 7 Chapter 2: Sounding Out French Words........................................................................................... 17 Chapter 3: Using Nouns and Determiners........................................................................................ 35 Chapter 4: Describing Nouns with Adjectives................................................................................. 55 Chapter 5: Dealing with Numbers, Dates, and Times...................................................................... 69 Part II: Constructing Sentences, Saying No, and Asking Questions.............................................................. 85 Chapter 6: Acquainting Yourself with the Present Tense.............................................................. 87 Chapter 7: Acting on Oneself and on Each Other: Pronominal Verbs........................................ 107 Chapter 8: Just Say No: Negative Words and Phrases.................................................................. 119 Chapter 9: Handling Questions and Exclamations........................................................................ 131 Part III: Beefing Up Your Sentences....................................... 155 Chapter 10: Saying Where, When, and How with Adverbs........................................................... 157 Chapter 11: Picking Up Prepositions............................................................................................... 171 Chapter 12: It’s All Relative: Making Comparisons........................................................................ 187 Chapter 13: Using Pronouns............................................................................................................. 203 Chapter 14: Adding the Gerund and the Passive to Your Repertoire......................................... 227 Part IV: Talking about the Past or Future............................... 237 Chapter 15: Noting Past Actions with the Present Perfect........................................................... 239 Chapter 16: Reminiscing and Describing Ongoing Past Actions with the Imperfect................ 253 Chapter 17: Projecting Forward with the Future........................................................................... 265 Part V: Expressing Conditions, Subjectivity, and Orders........... 283 Chapter 18: Wondering with the Conditional................................................................................. 285 Chapter 19: Surveying the Subjunctive........................................................................................... 301 Chapter 20: Giving Orders with the Imperative............................................................................. 319 Chapter 21: Discovering Compound Tenses.................................................................................. 333 Part VI: The Part of Tens....................................................... 341 Chapter 22: Ten Common French Grammar Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)................... 343 Chapter 23: Ten (Or So) Useful French Idioms.............................................................................. 349 Index................................................................................... 353 Table of Contents Introduction.............................................................................. 1 About This Book.................................................................................................................. 1 Conventions Used in This Book......................................................................................... 1 What You’re Not to Read.................................................................................................... 2 Foolish Assumptions........................................................................................................... 2 How This Book Is Organized.............................................................................................. 2 Part I: Getting Started with French Grammar......................................................... 3 Part II: Constructing Sentences, Saying No, and Asking Questions..................... 3 Part III: Beefing Up Your Sentences......................................................................... 3 Part IV: Talking about the Past or Future............................................................... 3 Part V: Expressing Conditions, Subjectivity, and Orders..................................... 3 Part VI: The Part of Tens........................................................................................... 4 Icons Used in This Book..................................................................................................... 4 Where to Go from Here....................................................................................................... 4 Part I: Getting Started with French Grammar.............................. 5 Chapter 1: French Grammar in a Nutshell.................................. 7 The Parts of Speech............................................................................................................ 7 Nouns.......................................................................................................................... 7 Articles........................................................................................................................ 8 Adjectives................................................................................................................... 8 Verbs........................................................................................................................... 8 Conjunctions.............................................................................................................. 9 Adverbs....................................................................................................................... 9 Prepositions............................................................................................................. 10 Pronouns................................................................................................................... 10 The Basics of Composing Sentences............................................................................... 11 Starting with a conjugated verb............................................................................. 11 Adding details.......................................................................................................... 12 Fun Stuff You Can Do with Your Sentences................................................................... 12 Going negative.......................................................................................................... 12 Asking questions...................................................................................................... 13 Making comparisons............................................................................................... 13 Many Tenses and Moods.................................................................................................. 13 The past.................................................................................................................... 14 The future................................................................................................................. 14 The conditional........................................................................................................ 14 The subjunctive....................................................................................................... 15 The imperative......................................................................................................... 15 Compound tenses.................................................................................................... 16 x French Grammar For Dummies Chapter 2: Sounding Out French Words.................................. 17 Starting with Vowels......................................................................................................... 18 Pronouncing individual vowels.............................................................................. 18 Combining vowels.................................................................................................... 19 Handling nasal sounds............................................................................................ 20 Considering Consonants................................................................................................... 21 Conquering a few individual consonants............................................................. 22 Mixing consonants................................................................................................... 23 Focusing on final consonants................................................................................. 24 Working with Accents and the Cedilla............................................................................ 25 Checking out different types of accent marks..................................................... 25 Adding the cedilla.................................................................................................... 26 Making Your French Sound Polished with the Liaison................................................. 27 Knowing when you have to use the liaison.......................................................... 28 Figuring out when you shouldn’t use the liaison................................................. 29 Surveying Stress and Syllables........................................................................................ 30 Keeping stress out of French words...................................................................... 30 Breaking words and sentences into syllables...................................................... 30 Answer Key......................................................................................................................... 32 Chapter 3: Using Nouns and Determiners................................. 35 Finding the Gender of Nouns........................................................................................... 35 Identifying masculine nouns.................................................................................. 36 Recognizing feminine nouns................................................................................... 37 Fixing on nouns with fixed gender......................................................................... 38 Deriving feminine nouns from their masculine counterparts............................ 39 Making Nouns Plural......................................................................................................... 40 Applying a simple rule............................................................................................ 40 Examining a few oddballs....................................................................................... 40 Using Articles to Help You with Nouns’ Gender............................................................ 42 Delving into definite articles.................................................................................. 42 Discovering indefinite articles............................................................................... 44 Assessing partitive articles.................................................................................... 46 Selecting the correct article................................................................................... 47 Expressing Possession...................................................................................................... 48 Considering common possessives........................................................................ 48 Discovering other ways to express possession................................................... 50 Pointing at Things with Demonstratives........................................................................ 50 Introducing Things and People........................................................................................ 51 Using c’est and ce sont........................................................................................... 52 Knowing what to do with il/elle est....................................................................... 52 Answer Key......................................................................................................................... 54 Chapter 4: Describing Nouns with Adjectives............................. 55 The Agreement: Matching Adjectives to the Nouns They Describe........................... 55 Forming the feminine singular from the masculine singular............................. 55 Forming the plural from the singular.................................................................... 57 Examining Irregular Adjectives........................................................................................ 58 Dealing with irregular feminine singular endings................................................ 58 Getting a handle on irregular plural endings....................................................... 61 Table of Contents xi Knowing the Proper Place of Adjectives........................................................................ 62 Adjectives that go after the nouns they describe............................................... 62 Adjectives that go before the nouns they describe............................................ 62 Changing the meaning of an adjective by changing its place............................ 63 Answer Key......................................................................................................................... 66 Chapter 5: Dealing with Numbers, Dates, and Times....................... 69 Counting from Zero to a Billion: Cardinal Numbers...................................................... 69 From 0 to 16.............................................................................................................. 69 From 17 to 69............................................................................................................ 70 From 70 to 99............................................................................................................ 71 The big leagues: 100 and beyond........................................................................... 72 A few guidelines for using cardinal numbers....................................................... 73 Putting Things in Order: Ordinal Numbers.................................................................... 73 Discussing Quantities........................................................................................................ 74 Specific expressions of quantities......................................................................... 74 Food-related expressions of quantities................................................................. 75 Talking about Days, Months, Seasons, and Dates......................................................... 76 Days of the week...................................................................................................... 76 Months and seasons................................................................................................ 77 Specific dates............................................................................................................ 78 Telling Time........................................................................................................................ 79 Using the 12-hour clock.......................................................................................... 79 Using the 24-hour clock.......................................................................................... 81 Answer Key......................................................................................................................... 82 Part II: Constructing Sentences, Saying No, and Asking Questions.............................................................. 85 Chapter 6: Acquainting Yourself with the Present Tense................... 87 Understanding French Verb Fundamentals................................................................... 87 Starting with subject pronouns............................................................................. 88 Introducing infinitives and conjugations.............................................................. 90 Conjugating Regular Verbs............................................................................................... 91 Taking on -er verbs.................................................................................................. 91 Investigating -ir verbs.............................................................................................. 92 Working with -re verbs............................................................................................ 92 Dealing with a Few Moody Regular -er Verbs................................................................ 93 Verbs that end in -cer and -ger............................................................................... 93 Verbs that end in -yer.............................................................................................. 94 Verbs that double their final consonant............................................................... 95 Verbs that end in e/é + consonant + -er................................................................ 95 Tackling Irregular Verbs................................................................................................... 96 Revealing oddball -ir verbs..................................................................................... 96 Conquering the fatal four: être, avoir, aller, and faire......................................... 99 Handling even more irregular verbs................................................................... 100 Answer Key....................................................................................................................... 106 xii French Grammar For Dummies Chapter 7: Acting on Oneself and on Each Other: Pronominal Verbs........ 107 Introducing Pronominal Verbs in the Present Tense................................................. 107 Discovering reflexive pronouns........................................................................... 108 Putting together a reflexive pronoun and a verb............................................... 108 Dealing with stem-changing pronominal verbs................................................. 109 Mirror, Mirror: Acting on Oneself with Reflexive Verbs............................................. 110 Back and Forth: Expressing Reciprocal Actions.......................................................... 112 Talking about communication............................................................................. 113 Making your own reciprocal verbs...................................................................... 114 Idiomatic Verbs: Expressing Neither Oneself nor Each Other.................................. 115 Answer Key....................................................................................................................... 117 Chapter 8: Just Say No: Negative Words and Phrases.................... 119 Discovering the Basics of Negative Words and Phrases............................................ 119 Starting with a few common negative words and phrases............................... 119 Making a double negative..................................................................................... 120 Building a triple negative...................................................................................... 121 Using negative expressions by themselves........................................................ 122 Keeping a Few Handy Guidelines for Negatives in Mind............................................ 122 Talking about quantities in negative ways......................................................... 123 Negating an infinitive............................................................................................. 124 Dealing with a verb plus a preposition............................................................... 124 Handling object pronouns.................................................................................... 124 Using negative words as subjects........................................................................ 125 Knowing rules for neither/nor.............................................................................. 126 Responding Negatively................................................................................................... 127 Answer Key....................................................................................................................... 130 Chapter 9: Handling Questions and Exclamations........................ 131 Composing and Answering Yes/No Questions............................................................ 131 Using est-ce que..................................................................................................... 132 Using inversion...................................................................................................... 133 Answering a yes/no question............................................................................... 137 Asking for Specific Information with Question Words................................................ 138 Useful French question words............................................................................. 138 The basics of using question words.................................................................... 139 Discovering the Various Ways of Asking “What”........................................................ 141 Untangling qu’est-ce que and qu’est-ce qui........................................................ 141 Knowing when to use quel.................................................................................... 142 Asking “Who?”.................................................................................................................. 144 “Who” as the subject............................................................................................. 144 “Who” as the object............................................................................................... 145 Including Prepositions in Questions............................................................................. 146 A preposition plus “who”...................................................................................... 146 A preposition plus “what”.................................................................................... 146 Expressing Surprise and Enthusiasm with Exclamations.......................................... 148 Including a noun.................................................................................................... 149 Including just an adjective.................................................................................... 149 Answer Key....................................................................................................................... 151 Table of Contents xiii Part III: Beefing Up Your Sentences....................................... 155 Chapter 10: Saying Where, When, and How with Adverbs................. 157 When, Where, and How Much: Getting to Know Adverbs of Time, Place, and Quantity................................................................................................................. 157 Adverbs of time...................................................................................................... 158 Adverbs of place.................................................................................................... 159 Adverbs of quantity............................................................................................... 159 That’s the Way: Examining Adverbs of Manner.......................................................... 161 Forming regular adverbs of manner.................................................................... 161 Recognizing and forming irregular adverbs of manner.................................... 163 Knowing when no adverb of manner can work................................................. 165 Putting Adverbs in Their Place...................................................................................... 165 With verbs in a simple tense................................................................................ 165 With verbs in the near future tense..................................................................... 166 With verbs in a compound tense......................................................................... 166 With adjectives and other adverbs..................................................................... 166 In the end: Certain adverbs of time..................................................................... 167 Answer Key....................................................................................................................... 168 Chapter 11: Picking Up Prepositions.................................... 171 Introducing the Basics of Prepositions......................................................................... 171 Presenting common prepositions....................................................................... 171 Using common prepositions properly................................................................ 173 Figuring Out Some Tricky Prepositions........................................................................ 176 Examining à............................................................................................................ 176 Understanding de.................................................................................................. 178 A Geography Lesson: Using Prepositions with Destinations and Locations........... 181 Dealing with a preposition + a city...................................................................... 181 Handling a preposition + a state or a country................................................... 182 Answer Key....................................................................................................................... 184 Chapter 12: It’s All Relative: Making Comparisons........................ 187 Comparing Two Elements: The Basics......................................................................... 187 Using three basic types of comparisons............................................................. 187 Understanding unusual comparisons................................................................. 189 More or Less: Using Adjectives and Adverbs in Comparisons.................................. 189 Comparisons with adjectives............................................................................... 189 Comparisons with adverbs................................................................................... 192 Good Stuff: Comparing Quantities................................................................................. 193 Quantities of an item............................................................................................. 194 Quantities of an action.......................................................................................... 194 Stressed Out: Using Stress Pronouns in a Comparison.............................................. 195 The Best of All: Superlatives.......................................................................................... 196 Superlatives with adjectives................................................................................. 196 Superlatives with adverbs and quantities.......................................................... 199 Answer Key....................................................................................................................... 201 xiv French Grammar For Dummies Chapter 13: Using Pronouns........................................... 203 Digging into Direct Object Pronouns............................................................................ 203 Meeting the direct object pronouns.................................................................... 203 Knowing when to use direct object pronouns................................................... 205 Writing a sentence with a direct object pronoun.............................................. 205 Investigating Indirect Object Pronouns........................................................................ 206 Introducing the indirect object pronouns.......................................................... 206 Knowing the verbs that require an indirect object........................................... 206 Putting together a sentence with an indirect object pronoun......................... 208 Working with Pronouns that Replace Phrases............................................................ 209 Using y to replace a variety of prepositional phrases...................................... 209 Using en to replace expressions of quantities and certain prepositional phrases........................................................................................ 211 Positioning Pronouns Properly...................................................................................... 214 In affirmative and negative sentences................................................................. 214 In a sentence that has more than one verb........................................................ 216 In a sentence in the passé composé.................................................................... 216 In affirmative and negative commands............................................................... 217 In a sentence or command that needs two pronouns...................................... 218 Staying Strong with Stress Pronouns............................................................................ 220 Replacing a noun.................................................................................................... 220 Reinforcing a noun................................................................................................. 221 Answer Key....................................................................................................................... 223 Chapter 14: Adding the Gerund and the Passive to Your Repertoire......... 227 While Doing Something: The Gerund............................................................................ 227 Comparing gerunds in English and French........................................................ 227 Forming present participles................................................................................. 228 Creating and knowing when to use gerunds...................................................... 229 Building Sentences in a Different Way: The Passive Construction........................... 231 Pairing être with a past participle in a passive construction.......................... 232 Uncovering the mysterious agent........................................................................ 234 Answer Key....................................................................................................................... 235 Part IV: Talking about the Past or Future................................ 237 Chapter 15: Noting Past Actions with the Present Perfect................. 239 Forming the Past Participle............................................................................................ 239 Regular past participles........................................................................................ 240 Irregular past participles...................................................................................... 241 Adding the Auxiliaries Être and Avoir.......................................................................... 242 Entering the house of être.................................................................................... 242 Conjugating everything else with avoir.............................................................. 245 Considering verbs that can take either être or avoir........................................ 247 Using the Passé Composé Correctly............................................................................. 249 Knowing the basic uses......................................................................................... 249 Saying no................................................................................................................. 249 Answer Key....................................................................................................................... 251 Table of Contents xv Chapter 16: Reminiscing and Describing Ongoing Past Actions with the Imperfect.................................................... 253 Forming the Imperfect Properly.................................................................................... 253 Getting acquainted with imperfect endings....................................................... 253 Working with verbs ending in -cer and -ger....................................................... 255 Tackling verbs with irregular stems in the present tense................................ 257 Forming the imperfect of être.............................................................................. 258 Putting the Imperfect to Work in Everyday Situations............................................... 258 Talking about past habits..................................................................................... 258 Telling a story......................................................................................................... 260 Noting continuous past actions........................................................................... 261 Discussing hypothetical situations..................................................................... 262 Offering suggestions.............................................................................................. 262 Answer Key....................................................................................................................... 264 Chapter 17: Projecting Forward with the Future.......................... 265 Forming the Simple Future Tense of Regular Verbs................................................... 265 The future tense of -er and -ir verbs.................................................................... 265 The future tense of -re verbs................................................................................ 267 Dealing with Irregular Forms of the Simple Future Tense.......................................... 268 Creating the future tense of -yer and -ayer verbs.............................................. 268 Handling appeler and jeter in the future............................................................ 269 Knowing what to do with verbs ending in e/é + consonant + -er..................... 270 Introducing verbs with a completely irregular stem in the future.................. 271 Exploring Other Ways of Talking about the Future.................................................... 273 Adding expressions of time.................................................................................. 273 Combining aller and an infinitive when the future is certain........................... 275 Using the present tense in certain cases............................................................ 276 Discovering Other Uses of the Future Tense............................................................... 277 Describing a cause-effect relationship................................................................ 277 Expressing what you’ll do when something else happens............................... 278 Discussing hopes and predictions....................................................................... 279 Answer Key....................................................................................................................... 280 Part V: Expressing Conditions, Subjectivity, and Orders............ 283 Chapter 18: Wondering with the Conditional............................. 285 Forming the Conditional of Regular Verbs................................................................... 285 Regular -er and -ir verbs........................................................................................ 285 Regular -re verbs.................................................................................................... 286 Tackling Irregular Forms in the Conditional................................................................ 287 Verbs ending in -yer and -ayer............................................................................. 287 The verbs appeler and jeter................................................................................. 288 Verbs ending in e/é plus a consonant plus -er................................................... 289 Verbs with completely different stems in the conditional............................... 290 xvi French Grammar For Dummies Knowing When to Use the Conditional......................................................................... 292 Daydreaming about different situations............................................................. 292 Giving friendly advice............................................................................................ 294 Making a polite request......................................................................................... 294 Expressing offers and wishes............................................................................... 295 Discussing the future in a past context.............................................................. 296 Answer Key....................................................................................................................... 298 Chapter 19: Surveying the Subjunctive.................................. 301 Familiarizing Yourself with Subjunctive Forms........................................................... 302 Forming the subjunctive of regular verbs.......................................................... 302 Creating irregular subjunctive conjugations...................................................... 304 Recognizing Phrases That Trigger the Subjunctive.................................................... 307 Expressing wants, needs, and advice.................................................................. 308 Discussing feelings about what’s happening..................................................... 309 Showing doubt....................................................................................................... 311 Keeping the Number of Subjects in Mind..................................................................... 312 Sticking with the subjunctive in two-subject sentences................................... 312 Using the infinitive rather than the subjunctive in one-subject sentences......313 Avoiding a Few Pitfalls.................................................................................................... 314 Picking out false triggers...................................................................................... 314 Staying aware of turncoat verbs.......................................................................... 315 Answer Key....................................................................................................................... 316 Chapter 20: Giving Orders with the Imperative........................... 319 Making Affirmative Commands...................................................................................... 319 Grasping the three forms...................................................................................... 319 Forming the imperative of regular verbs............................................................ 320 Introducing irregular forms.................................................................................. 322 Dealing with pronominal verbs............................................................................ 325 Forming Negative Commands........................................................................................ 327 Adding an Object Pronoun to Your Command............................................................ 328 In affirmative commands...................................................................................... 328 In negative commands.......................................................................................... 329 Answer Key....................................................................................................................... 331 Chapter 21: Discovering Compound Tenses.............................. 333 A Long Time Ago: The Pluperfect.................................................................................. 334 Back to the Future: The Future Perfect........................................................................ 335 Missed Opportunities: The Past Conditional............................................................... 336 Reacting to the Past: The Past Subjunctive................................................................. 338 Answer Key....................................................................................................................... 340 Table of Contents xvii Part VI: The Part of Tens........................................................ 341 Chapter 22: Ten Common French Grammar Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)............................................. 343 Using Definite Articles Incorrectly................................................................................ 343 Confusing Indefinite and Partitive Articles.................................................................. 344 Using the Wrong Word for “Time”................................................................................. 344 Incorrectly Translating Means of Transportation....................................................... 344 Trying to Find an Equivalent for the -ing Verb Form in French................................. 345 Using Possessives with Pronominal Verbs to Refer to Body Parts........................... 345 Putting the Wrong Verb Form after Avoir or Être....................................................... 346 Mixing Up Similar Verbs................................................................................................. 346 Confusing Connaître and Savoir.................................................................................... 347 Being Tricked by False Cognates................................................................................... 347 Chapter 23: Ten (Or So) Useful French Idioms............................ 349 Faire le pont..................................................................................................................... 349 Ce n’est pas la mer à boire............................................................................................. 350 Ça me prend la tête......................................................................................................... 350 Faire la tête....................................................................................................................... 350 Avoir la gueule de bois................................................................................................... 350 Comme un cheveu sur la soupe..................................................................................... 351 Au pif................................................................................................................................. 351 Donner sa langue au chat............................................................................................... 351 Être sur les charbons ardents........................................................................................ 351 Bête comme ses pieds.................................................................................................... 352 Tirer le diable par la queue............................................................................................ 352 Index.................................................................................... 353 xviii French Grammar For Dummies Introduction I deas, needs, and feelings are expressed with words. If you want to express yourself in any language, you need to know the right words, but words alone are not enough. If I say dehors (outside) to you, you can’t guess if I want you to go outside, look outside, or something else. I need to add a verb like allez (go) and use it in the correct way to make my meaning clear. In order to put words together in a coherent way, you need grammar. Unlike the English lan- guage, in which you can often string words together with minimum linking, French requires more formal structure. In this book I show you how the parts of French grammar work together so you can express what you need, how you feel, and even what you think, in French. About This Book French Grammar For Dummies tackles specific French grammar topics in detail, with plenty of examples and practice problems. An answer key at the end of each chapter allows you to check your work. I start you off with basic French grammar on nouns, articles, adjectives, numbers, dates, and times. Then you move to verbs so you can build simple sentences in the present tense. From that point, you find out how to embellish simple French sentences with more detailed phrasing that makes you sound like a native speaker, thanks to adverbs, prepositional phrases, and pronouns. Then you’re ready to move in time with different verb tenses, like the past and the future. You don’t have to read this book from cover to cover; you can simply read the sections or chapters that interest you. Put the book away until you need it again — it’ll be ready and waiting for you! Conventions Used in This Book I use the following conventions to make this book easier for you to navigate: ✓ French words and sentences appear in boldface. ✓ English equivalents in italics follow French words and sentences. ✓ I usually present the English equivalent of French expressions, which is not always the literal translation. For example, you can translate the French phrase de rien literally as of nothing, but in English, the correct equivalent is you’re welcome. This book usually gives you the you’re welcome version of the translation, but in some spots, I provide the literal translation as well. ✓ An answer key at the end of every chapter provides the correct answers to all the prac- tice questions in the chapter. 2 French Grammar For Dummies To make verbs stand out, I usually present verb conjugations in tables like this one: aimer (to like, to love) j’aime nous aimons tu aimes vous aimez il/elle/on aime ils/elles aiment The top of the table notes a French verb and its English translation, followed by six verb forms that vary according to who or what is performing the action: I; you (singular informal); he, she, or one; we; you (singular formal or plural formal and informal); and they (masculine and feminine plural). Note: This book doesn’t feature pronunciations after French text (with the exception of Chapter 2, which is about sounding out French words). It concentrates on grammar and written communication. Be sure to check out a French dictionary for any pronunciation questions you have. What You’re Not to Read If you don’t have a lot time, or if you need more help with certain grammatical topics, you can skip around to stuff that most interests you. For instance, if you’re already familiar with the gender of nouns but would like to put them in action with verbs, skip directly to Chapter 6. If you know right away what an exercise wants you to do, you can skip the examples and just dive into the exercise questions themselves. Also, if I present several examples to illustrate a particular grammar rule and you understand the rule after reading the first example, you don’t need to bother with the rest of them. After all, this book is here to help you go at your own pace. Foolish Assumptions As I wrote this book, I made the following assumptions about you, dear reader: ✓ You want to be able to communicate more creatively in French, especially in writing — even if you already have a background in French and can carry on a conversation. ✓ You want to practice French grammar so you can be sure you can retain your newly acquired knowledge. ✓ You love French and find grammar fascinating... maybe? How This Book Is Organized French Grammar For Dummies is divided into six parts. The following sections introduce the parts and their contents. Introduction 3 Part I: Getting Started with French Grammar This part is for beginners, or those of you who want a brief refresher on French basics. Here you find out how to pronounce French words; handle gender and number with nouns, articles, and adjectives; practice counting and telling time; and brush up on dates, days of the week, and months of the year. Part II: Constructing Sentences, Saying No, and Asking Questions In this part you find out how to put together a subject and a verb in the present tense to create a basic sentence, express reflexive or mutual actions with pronominal verbs like se lever (to get up) and se parler (to talk to each other), say no using words like jamais (never) and rien (nothing), and ask questions. Part III: Beefing Up Your Sentences In this part, I explain how to make sentences more informative by adding adverbs and preposi- tional phrases. You discover how to compare all kinds of things and how to replace nouns with pronouns to avoid repetition. And you find out how to use gerunds to explain how something is done and use the passive to insist on the doing rather than the doer of an action. Part IV: Talking about the Past or Future In these chapters I show you how you can move a sentence in time by changing the conjuga- tion of the verb from present tense to past tense and future tense. French has many more verb tenses than this book covers, but I limit the tenses to the ones that you’re the most likely to use daily. Here I focus on the present perfect, the imperfect, and the future. Part V: Expressing Conditions, Subjectivity, and Orders In this part, I present the conditional, the subjunctive, and the imperative. ✓ Conditional statements go something like this: Je viendrais avec toi si j’avais le temps. (I would come with you if I had time.) The conditional allows you to express a daydream, a wish, or a hypothetical situation. ✓ The subjunctive and its triggers allow you to express surprise, fear, or joy at something. For example: Nous sommes contents que vous veniez nous voir. (We are happy that you’re coming to see us.) ✓ The imperative is what you need to give orders or forbid things, just like signs you see in a park: Ne marchez pas sur la pelouse. (Don’t walk on the grass.) 4 French Grammar For Dummies As a bonus in this part, I explain how to use the auxiliary verbs avoir (to have) and être (to be) to form tenses called compound tenses like the pluperfect, the future perfect, and the past conditional. Part VI: The Part of Tens Every For Dummies book has a Part of Tens — why break with tradition? In this part, you find ten typical French grammar mistakes (and how to avoid them) and a list of ten French idioms to help you sound like a native French speaker. Icons Used in This Book The following icons make certain kinds of information easier for you to find. This icon points out information that you should recall long after you finish reading this book. If you read anything here, it should be the text marked with this icon. This icon highlights pointers for understanding French grammar quickly and more easily. This icon points to the pitfalls of French grammar — beware! This icon highlights practice problems that you can use to sharpen your French grammar skills. Where to Go from Here Beginners and anyone else who wants a refresher on French grammar basics can start with Chapter 2, on sounding out French words, or Chapter 5 on numbers, dates, and times. Chapters 3 and 4 help you make sure your nouns, articles, and adjectives all agree in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (one or more than one). If you’re ready to start com- posing sentences, jump to Chapter 6, where you’ll find out how to put subjects and verbs together. Otherwise, feel free to dive in wherever you’d like. Every chapter is a stand-alone module. The more modules you complete, the more fluent you’ll become in French grammar. Bonne chance (good luck)! Part I Getting Started with French Grammar Visit www.dummies.com for great (and free!) Dummies content online. In this part... ✓ Discover how to sound out French words. ✓ Get the scoop on nouns, including their gender and the articles to use with them. ✓ Match adjectives to the nouns they describe and place them properly in sentences. ✓ Start counting with cardinal and ordinal numbers, and then talk about dates and times. Chapter 1 French Grammar in a Nutshell In This Chapter ▶ Getting to know French parts of speech ▶ Building and embellishing sentences ▶ Moving through verb tenses and moods F rench grammar is somewhat complex, and this book gives you plenty of material to dig into, little by little. I start you off easy in this chapter, providing an overview of what’s to come so you’ll feel a little more familiar with the topics throughout the book. If you take the time to read this chapter, you get a good grammar primer to help you through the jour- ney you’re about to embark on. The Parts of Speech Learning a language is easier if you know what it’s made of. To grasp the fundamentals of any language, your native language as well as French, you need to recognize the parts of speech, the various types of words that compose a language and how they work. The follow- ing sections give you the scoop. Nouns You should know three essential things about a French nom (noun): ✓ It refers to people, places, things, or concepts. ✓ It has a gender (masculine, he, or feminine, she), and a number (singular or plural). You need to know the noun’s characteristics to make other elements of a sentence match it. That’s called agreement in gender and number. ✓ It can have different roles (called functions) in a sentence: It can be the subject of the verb, as the noun professeur in this sentence: Le professeur parle. (The professor speaks.) It can be the object of the verb, as the noun lune in: Nous regardons la lune. (We watch the moon.) See Chapter 3 for full details on French nouns. 8 Part I: Getting Started with French Grammar Articles An article (un article) is a small but essential little word that introduces a noun and takes its gender and number. Articles come in three types: ✓ The definite articles: le, la, l’, and les (the). For example: les enfants (the children). ✓ The indefinite articles: un and une (a/an), des (some), and de and d’ (no/not any). For example: un chat (a cat). ✓ The partitive articles: du, de la, de l’, and des (some). For example, de l’eau (some water). Chapter 3 covers these articles in more detail and explains how to choose the correct article for any sentence. Adjectives An adjective adds some color to a noun. For example: un étudiant sérieux (a hard-working student). To use les adjectifs correctly in French, you need to know a couple of things: ✓ An adjective is a chameleon; it changes to match the noun it describes. It can be mas- culine singular, masculine plural, feminine singular, or feminine plural. Matching an adjective to the noun it describes is called the agreement of the adjective. ✓ Most French adjectives are placed after a noun, not before like in English. For example you say une voiture rouge (a red car). Rouge (red) goes after voiture (car). Get the lowdown on adjectives in Chapter 4. Verbs Verbs (les verbes) are the core element of a sentence because they provide essential infor- mation. They take many different forms to do so. They indicate: ✓ What action is being performed, through the choice of the infinitive ✓ Who performs it, through the choice of the subject ✓ When it is performed, through the choice of the tense Identifying the infinitive The infinitive is like the name of the verb. It also tells you the type of a verb: regular verbs are grouped into three types, according to the ending of their infinitive. They are: ✓ Verbs ending in -er, like parler (to talk) ✓ Verbs ending in -ir, like finir (to finish) ✓ Verbs ending in -re, like vendre (to sell) And then there are the irregular verbs, like avoir (to have), aller (to go), faire (to do, to make), and être (to be), to name only a few. These verbs follow different patterns when they’re Chapter 1: French Grammar in a Nutshell 9 c onjugated (changed to reflect the subject and tense). (See the later section “Starting with a conjugated verb” for more information.) Establishing subject-verb agreement To start putting a verb into action (to conjugate it) you need a subject (who or what is doing the action). In French, you always say who the subject is, except in commands (English is the same way). Each subject corresponds to a matching form of the verb. These differences in the forms happen at the end of the verb itself. For example, you say tu chantes (you [singular infor- mal] sing) but nous chantons (we sing), changing the form of the verb on the ending, according to the subject. Moving an action in time An action can be expressed in a variety of tenses, such as the past tense, future tense, condi- tional tense, and many more. Here are some examples of different tenses for parler (to speak): ✓ Present: nous parlons (we speak/are speaking) ✓ Imperfect: nous parlions (we used to speak) ✓ Future: nous parlerons (we will speak) Tenses come in two types: simple tenses and compound tenses. ✓ A simple tense is a one-word verb form, like vous parlez (you speak). ✓ A compound tense involves two words, like tu as parlé (you spoke). Some tenses express a mood, like the conditional and the subjunctive. But to simplify, you can just look at those so-called moods as other tenses. See the later section “Many Tenses and Moods” for more information. Conjunctions Conjunctions (les conjonctions) are small invariable words used to link parts of a sentence or just words. For instance, in Tu sors ou tu rentres? (Are you going out or are you coming in?), ou (or) is a conjunction. Adverbs An adverb (un adverbe) is a little word that can modify a verb (usually), an adjective, or another adverb by telling you how the action in question is done: slowly, quickly, seriously (lentement, vite, sérieusement). Here’s an example of what adverbs can do to a sentence: ✓ Without adverbs: Julie parle et Paul écoute. (Julie talks and Paul listens.) ✓ With adverbs: Julie parle lentement et Paul écoute attentivement. (Julie talks slowly and Paul listens attentively.) Get the scoop on adverbs in Chapter 10. 10 Part I: Getting Started with French Grammar Prepositions A préposition (preposition) is a little word placed between a verb and a noun or between two nouns to indicate a relationship of space/direction, time, or manner. A preposition introduces a prepositional phrase that adds information to the sentence, as in Nous allons au cinéma (We go to the movies). In this example, au is the preposition. A French preposition keeps its meaning, no matter what surrounds it, unlike English prepo- sitions that can adopt a different meaning with different verbs. For instance, the English preposition after indicates time — unless you join it to the verb to look, and to look after has nothing to do with time! Check out Chapter 11 for help with using prepositions. Pronouns A pronoun (un pronom) can replace a noun when you want to avoid repetition. A pronoun is also a chameleon word that must match not only the gender (most of the time) and number of the noun it replaces but also its function in the sentence: subject or object. Here’s a list of all the pronoun types you may come across in this book: ✓ The subject pronouns precede a conjugated verb, like this: tu parles (you speak) and nous écoutons (we listen). They are je (I), tu (you [singular informal), il (he), elle (she), on (one), nous (we), vous (you [singular formal or plural formal and informal), ils (they, masculine), and elles (they, feminine). ✓ The direct object pronouns replace nouns that are the direct object of the verb. For example: je l’ai vu (I saw it/him). The DOPs are: me (me), te (you), le (him/it), la (her/ it), l’ (him/her/it before a vowel), nous (us), vous (you), and les (them). ✓ The indirect object pronouns replace nouns that are indirect objects of the verb. For example: tu lui parles (you speak to him/her). They are: me (to me), te (to you), lui (to him/her/it), nous (to us), vous (to you), and leur (to them). ✓ The direct object y replaces a noun that indicated a place (most of the time). For exam- ple: elle y va (she’s going there). Y is alone in its kind. ✓ The object pronoun en replaces a noun that was the object of the verb and indicated a quantity. For example: tu en manges beaucoup (you eat a lot of it). En is also one of a kind. ✓ The stress pronouns replace nouns that refer to people, after certain prepositions. For example: viens avec moi (come with me). They are: moi (me), toi (you), lui (him/it), elle (her/it), nous (us), vous (you), eux (them, masculine), and elles (them, feminine). ✓ The reflexive pronouns help conjugate pronominal verbs that express an action done to oneself. For example: elle se regarde dans le miroir (she looks at herself in the mirror). The reflexive pronouns are: me (myself), te (yourself), se (himself/herself/itself), nous (ourselves), vous (yourselves), and se (themselves). Chapter 13 has more information on most of these pronouns; in addition, check out Chapter 6 for details on subject pronouns and Chapter 7 for details on reflexive pronouns. Chapter 1: French Grammar in a Nutshell 11 The Basics of Composing Sentences After you know the parts of speech in French, you can put them together to compose a sen- tence. The following sections explain how to start with a verb and then add embellishment. Starting with a conjugated verb To function properly in a sentence, a verb needs to be conjugated, which means: ✓ Matching the subject in person (first, second, or third) and number (plural or singular) ✓ Expressing when the action takes place through the use of a tense (now, in the past, in the future, and so on) To do either one of those two operations, you need to know the pattern of conjugation for your verb. It is usually made up of a stem and an ending. Here’s an example: To get the pres- ent tense pattern of a regular verb with an -er infinitive, drop the -er and replace it with the following endings that correspond to the subjects: ✓ For je, add -e to the stem. ✓ For tu, add -es to the stem. ✓ For il/elle/on, add -e to the stem. ✓ For nous, add -ons to the stem. ✓ For vous, add -ez to the stem. ✓ For ils/elles, add -ent to the stem. Here they are for the verb danser (to dance). danser (to dance) je danse nous dansons tu danses vous dansez il/elle/on danse ils/elles dansent All regular -er verbs follow this pattern for the present tense, so if you memorize it, you’ve mastered about 80 percent of French present tense conjugation, because -er verbs count for over 80 percent of French verbs. For regular -ir and -re verbs, the endings to use for the present tense are different but their stem is formed the same way, by dropping the infinitive endings -ir and -re. (Check out Chapter 6 for the scoop on the present tense.) Other tenses, like the present perfect, the imperfect, and the future, use different stems and endings but also follow conjugation patterns. Parts IV and V talk about the conjugation patterns of other tenses in detail. 12 Part I: Getting Started with French Grammar Adding details You can develop your sentences by adding as much information as you want. Saying les enfants chantent (the kids sing) is a good start on conveying information, but it’s lacking in detail, don’t you think? What are they singing? Where? And when exactly do they sing? ✓ To say what they sing, use a direct object like une chanson de Noël (a Christmas carol) and place it after the verb, like this: Les enfants chantent une chanson de Noël. (The kids sing a Christmas carol.) ✓ To say where they sing, use a prepositional phrase like à l’école (at school), or an adverb like ici (here): Les enfants chantent une chanson de Noël à l’école. (The kids sing a Christmas carol at school.) ✓ To say when they sing, use a prepositional phrase like après le goûter (after the after- noon snack), or an adverb like maintenant (now), like this: Les enfants chantent une chanson de Noël à l’école, après le goûter. (The kids sing a Christmas carol at school after the afternoon snack.) You can also beef up the nouns with adjectives, but make sure they match the nouns they describe in gender and number. For example: Les petits enfants chantent une jolie chanson de Noël à l’école, après le bon goûter. (The little kids sing a pretty Christmas carol at school after the good afternoon snack.) Fun Stuff You Can Do with Your Sentences You can jazz up your French sentences in a few more ways. You can make them negative, turn them around to ask questions, and compare all their elements. Going negative To make a negative sentence in French, you don’t need to change or add anything to the verb (like I just did in English with don’t). All you need are two little negative words: ne and pas (which together mean not) in basic negations, or a more specific one, like jamais (never), rien (nothing), personne (no one), or nulle part (nowhere) instead of pas. Here are a few examples that illustrate where these words go in the sentence. Pierre n’écoute pas le prof. (Pierre doesn’t listen to the teacher.) Tu ne prends jamais le bus. (You never take the bus.) Elle ne fait rien. (She doesn’t do anything.) Nous n’irons nulle part pour les vacances. (We will not go anywhere for the holidays.) Chapter 8 has more information about negative words and expressions. Chapter 1: French Grammar in a Nutshell 13 Asking questions Like in English, you can ask a simple yes-no question like Aimez-vous les huitres? (Do you like oysters?). If you need more information, use question words like quand (when), qui (who), où (where), pourquoi (why), comment (how), or qu’est-ce que (what). Both types of questions can be phrased in two ways: ✓ Inverting the normal word order of subject-verb to verb-subject (called inversion), as in Aimez-vous les huitres? (Do you like oysters?) which doesn’t exist in English, as opposed to Vous aimez les huitres (You like oysters). ✓ Keeping the normal word order and using the tag est-ce que at the beginning of the question or right after the question word, if there is one. For example: Est-ce que vous parlez français? (Do you speak French?) or Où est-ce que vous parlez français? (Where do you speak French?) Check out Chapter 9 for more on handling questions. Making comparisons French makes the same kinds of comparisons that English does. ✓ Comparative of superiority: For example, Il est plus grand que moi. (He is taller [more tall] than me.) ✓ Comparative of inferiority: For example, Il est moins intéressant que toi. (He is less interesting than you.) ✓ Comparative of equality: For example, Il est aussi grand que moi. (He is as tall as me.) Flip to Chapter 12 for more about making comparisons. Many Tenses and Moods When you need to move beyond the present, you need new tenses! French has about 18 tenses/moods to choose from. In this book I focus only on the ones you will use the most: present, imperfect, future, conditional, subjunctive, and imperative for the simple tenses; and the present perfect, pluperfect, future perfect, and past conditional for the compound tenses. 14 Part I: Getting Started with French Grammar The past To express a past action, French has two main tenses to choose from. The passé composé (pres- ent perfect) names past actions that occurred, and the imparfait (imperfect) describes what it was like when the past action occurred. The imparfait also describes how things used to be, in your childhood for example, without focusing on a specific date. Here they are in action: ✓ Passé composé: Naming a past action: Hier nous sommes allés au ciné. (Yesterday we went to the movies.) ✓ Imparfait: What it was like when something happened: Quand je suis sorti ce matin, il faisait beau. (When I went out this morning, the weather was nice.) ✓ Imparfait: How things used to be: Quand nous étions petits, nous jouions au parc. (When we were little, we used to play in the park.) Head to Chapter 15 for more about the present perfect and Chapter 16 for more about the imperfect. The future The future tense (le futur) describes what will probably happen down the road, like Je finirai ça plus tard. (I will finish this later.) To describe a future event that is certain to happen, and is almost imminent, French uses the futur proche (immediate future). For example: Il est 6h30, elle va préparer le diner. (It’s 6:30; she’s going to prepare dinner.) The future is probably the easiest tense to conjugate because its stem is the infinitive. The future endings are: -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont. Here’s the complete conjugation of a regular -er verb in the future. manger (to eat) je mangerai nous mangerons tu mangeras vous mangerez il/elle/on mangera ils/elles mangeront Chapter 17 has what you need to know about the future tense. The conditional The conditional is a simple tense, and its stem is derived from the infinitive, like the future tense (see the preceding section), so it’s a fairly easy one to conjugate, too. The conditional endings are: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, and -aient. Chapter 1: French Grammar in a Nutshell 15 French uses le conditionnel (the conditional) to express: ✓ Daydreams/hypothetical situations, in combination with the imperfect (see the earlier section “The past” for details). For example: S’il pleuvait, je resterais à la maison. (If it were raining, I would stay home.) ✓ Friendly advice, using the verb devoir (must). For example: Tu devrais manger moins de sucre. (You should eat less sugar.) ✓ Polite requests, using the verb pouvoir (can). For example: Pourriez-vous m’indiquer la poste s’il vous plait? (Could you please show me the post office?) ✓ Wishes, using the verb vouloir (want) or aimer (like). For example: Nous aimerions gagner le loto. (We would like to win the lottery.) ✓ The future in a past context. For example: Sherlock pensait qu’il découvrirait l’assassin. (Sherlock thought he would discover the murderer.) Check out more of the conditional in Chapter 18. The subjunctive Le subjonctif (the subjunctive) is commonly used in French to say that you want someone to do something, that you’re happy or sad that something is happening, or that you fear some- thing may happen. The subjunctive may seem difficult to native English speakers because it pretty much doesn’t exist in English. Here are some examples of the subjonctif: Pierre veut que vous partiez. (Pierre wants you to leave.) Il faut que tu prennes une décision. (It’s necessary that you make a decision.) Les enfants sont contents que l’école finisse. (The children are happy that school is over.) A sentence with a verb in subjunctive begins with a trigger phrase and has two different subjects. ✓ In the three preceding examples, veut que, Il faut que, and sont contents que are examples of triggers for the subjunctive. There are quite a few different triggers, and I give you a long list of the most useful ones in Chapter 19. ✓ The three preceding examples are sentences with two clauses (parts) and two different subjects: Pierre and vous in the first example; il and tu in the second, and les enfants and l’école in the third. Chapter 19 has the full scoop on the subjunctive. The imperative Use the imperative to tell one or several persons what to do or what not to do. It is not a regular tense, because the subject is not expressed, and it has only three forms that are borrowed almost exactly from the present tense conjugation for most verbs. (For details and exceptions flip to Chapter 20.) 16 Part I: Getting Started with French Grammar For example, here are the three imperative forms for -er verbs: ✓ From the present tense tu form (you [singular]) of parler: Parle! (Speak!) ✓ From the present tense nous (we) form: Parlons! (Let’s speak!) ✓ From the present tense vous form (that is, the plural you): Parlez! (Speak!) The negative commands are formed the same way. You just add ne before the imperative and pas after it, like this: ✓ From the affirmative command parle (speak) to ne parle pas (don’t speak). ✓ From the affirmative command parlons (let’s speak) to ne parlons pas! (let’s not speak). ✓ From the affirmative command parlez (speak) to ne parlez pas (don’t speak). Compound tenses French compound tenses are two-word verb forms that always express an action that is more past than the main action. For instance, in He had already gotten up when his alarm finally went off, the pluperfect verb phrase is had gotten up. French has several compound tenses, and the most commonly used are: the present perfect, which I discuss earlier in this chapter, the pluperfect, the future perfect, and the past conditional. A French compound tense is formed by putting together a conjugated form of one of the two auxiliary verbs (also called helper verbs) — être (to be) and avoir (to have) — and the past participle of the main verb. (Chapter 15 has full details on how to form past participles.) English and French compound tenses are different in their form (English may use three- word forms) and in their usage. They occur more strictly and frequently in French. Here are some examples of compound tenses in French, with nonliteral English translations: ✓ The pluperfect: Il était déjà allé à la boulangerie. (He had already gone to the bread shop.) ✓ The future perfect: Je m’amuserai quand j’aurai fini mon travail. (I will play when I am finished with my work.) ✓ The past conditional: Si elle avait su, elle aurait choisi l’autre solution. (If she had known, she would have chosen the other solution.) See Chapter 21 for full details on compound tenses. Chapter 2 Sounding Out French Words In This Chapter ▶ Pronouncing vowels and consonants ▶ Adding accents and cedillas in the right places ▶ Getting the hang of the liaison ▶ Understanding French stress and syllables F rench and English share the same alphabet, but the way each language pronounces letters, especially vowels, is very different. When you learn a language, mastering the pronunciation is crucial because all the vocabulary in the world won’t mean a thing if it isn’t pronounced correctly! The main challenges of French pronunciation are ✓ The articulation of the vowels, including u and the nasal sounds ✓ The relationship between spelling and sound, including how the same sound can have different spellings and how accents and other diacritical marks can change the way some letters are pronounced ✓ The rhythm of a sentence, or how syllables are grouped and how words link to one another through sounds that sometimes don’t even appear in the written text This chapter explains how to pronounce vowels and consonants in French, gives you the scoop on different accent marks (including the cedilla), introduces the concept of the liaison for pronunciation, and helps you understand French stress and syllables. You have several wonderful tools at your disposal as you discover how to sound out French words, some of which you may not even know about! I’m talking of your own vocal organs. Every time you say hi or good morning to someone, you’re moving your jaws, your tongue, your lips, and your vocal cords, all at the same time. Your jaws can open more or less depend- ing on the sounds you want to produce; your lips can shape different sounds when puckered, rounded, or stretched out; your tongue helps direct air flow by going up or down against your palate; and your throat releases more or less air to produce various sounds. As you work on sounding out words, I suggest you use a mirror so you can look at the articulation of your mouth and your lips. Also, you can check out numerous websites where you can hear French words (such as www.frenchlanguageguide.com/french/pronunciation/lettere. asp or www.forvo.com/languages-pronunciations/fr), as well as books on French phonetics (the official term for the rules of pronunciation). 18 Part I: Getting Started with French Grammar Starting with Vowels French vowels are all pure and short. (French doesn’t have diphthongs, which are modula- tions of sounds, kind of like a wave, as in the English words face and mule.) In fact, French has no long sounds at all like you hear in the English words beach and freeze. The following sections review the pronunciation of each vowel and then move on to combining vowels to create new sounds. I even throw in the nasal sounds — I think you can handle them. Pronouncing individual vowels Each of the vowels in French has one or more sounds, as you find out in the following sections. The vowel a The French a has the sound ah, as in father, with the jaws slightly tenser but the mouth very open (your jaw should go lower than when you say the a in father). It never sounds like the diphthongued (modulated) a of the word face. French words that feature this sound include machine (mah-sheen) (machine), madame (mah-dahm) (Mrs.), and façade (fah-sahd) (facade). The vowel e The letter e has several sounds in French, To pronounce it by itself, bring your lips almost together and slightly forward, with the tip of your tongue inside your lower front teeth, like for the e of the (not thee). It’s used in two main ways in French: ✓ e is mostly silent when it ends a singular or plural word, like la table or les tables (the table; the tables), and all the -er verb endings of the present tense, like je parle (I speak), tu manges (you eat), il joue (he plays), and elles écoutent (they listen). You stop your voice just before the e when you say these words. So for instance, the word table is pronounced tah-bl in French. (Flip to Chapter 6 for more about -er verbs in the present tense.) ✓ e is pronounced as uh, like the, in two situations: At the end of eight short French words: de (of), le (the), je (I), me (me), se (one- self), que (that), ce (this), and ne (not). In the middle of words. Examples of words that feature this sound include: venir (vuh-neer) (to come), jeter (zhuh-tey) (to throw away), and leçon (luh-soh) (lesson). ✓ e is pronounced as eh, like in the word get, when it precedes a double consonant. Examples of words that feature this sound include: belle (behl) (beautiful), cette (seht) (this), and chaussette (shoh-seht) (sock). The vowel i The French i has the sound ee, like in ski or sea but very brief and with the lip

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