1.

BASIC PHRASES / LES EXPRESSIONS DE BASE

Bonjour Hello / Good day / Good morning Salut /saly/ Hi / Bye Merci (beaucoup) m i ok Thank you (very much) Bienvenu(e) jvn Welcome (also You're welcome in Quebec) A plus tard pl t See you later Bonsoir Good evening Au revoir ()v Goodbye De rien. j You're welcome. Bonne nuit n ni Good night (only said when going to bed) S'il vous plat / S'il te plat il v pl Please (formal / informal) Je vous en prie. v pi You're welcome. (formal) / Go ahead. A tout l'heure t t l See you in a little while A demain m See you tomorrow Excusez-moi ! /ekskyze mwa/ Excuse me! (getting someone's attention) / I'm sorry! (more formal apology) Trs bien / mal / pas mal t j m l p m l Very good / bad / not bad Oui / non i n Yes / no Je m'appelle... m pl My name is... Mesdames et Messieurs /medam/ /mesj/ Ladies and gentlemen Je suis de... / Je viens de... i vj I am from... J'habite ... it I live in...

Allons-y! l i Let's go! A bientt jto See you soon Pardon ! p Excuse me! (pushing through a crowd) / Sorry! (stepped on someone's foot) Je vais bien ve j I'm fine. a va. /sa va/ I'm fine. (informal response to a va ?) Tu t'appelles comment ? t t pl k m What's your name? (informal) Monsieur, Madame, Mademoiselle m j m m m Mister, Misses, Miss

Je suis dsol(e) e le I'm sorry

Comment allez-vous ? k m t le v How are you? (formal) a va ? /sa va/ How are you? (informal) Comment vous appelez-vous ? k m v ple v What's your name? (formal) Enchant(e) te Nice to meet you. Vous tes d'o ? / Vous venez d'o ? v t v vne Where are you from? (formal) O habitez-vous ? /u abite vu/ Where do you live? (formal)

Tu es d'o ? / Tu viens d'o ? t t vj u/ Where are you from? (informal) Tu habites o ? /ty abit u/ Where do you live? (informal)

Quel ge avez-vous ? kl ve v How old are you? (formal) Parlez-vous franais ? / Tu parles anglais ? p le v t p l l Do you speak French? (formal) / Do you speak English? (informal) Comprenez-vous? / Tu comprends? k p ne v t k p Do you understand? (formal / informal) Pouvez-vous m'aider ? / Tu peux m'aider ? /puve vu mede/ /ty p mede/ Can you help me? (formal / informal) Tenez / Tiens tne tj Hey / Here (formal / informal) O est ... / O sont ... ? Where is ... / Where are ... ? Comment dit-on ____ en franais ? k m it How do you say ____ in French? a ne fait rien. n j It doesn't matter. Je suis fatigu(e) / Je suis malade. i tie i m l I'm tired / I'm sick. Je m'ennuie. m ni I'm bored. Ce n'est pas grave. n p v It's no problem. / It's alright. A vos souhaits ! / A tes souhaits ! vo te Bless you! (formal / informal) C'est vous ! / C'est toi ! t v t t It's your turn! (formal / informal)

Tu as quel ge ? t kl How old are you? (informal) Je parle allemand. p l lm I speak German.

J'ai ____ ans. e I am ____ years old.

Je ne parle pas espagnol. n p l p p l I don't speak Spanish.

Je comprends k p I understand

Je ne comprends pas n k p p I don't understand

Bien sr. j Of course. Je sais I know Voici / Voil /vwasi/ /vwala/ Here is/are... / There it is. Qu'est-ce que c'est que a ? k k k What is that? Qu'est-ce qui se passe ? k ki p What's happening? J'ai faim / J'ai soif. e e I'm hungry / I'm thirsty. a m'est gal. / Je m'en fiche. m te l m i It's the same to me / I don't care. (informal) J'ai oubli. e lije I forgot. Flicitations ! eli it j Congratulations! Taisez-vous ! / Tais-toi ! t e v t t Shut up! / Be quiet! (formal / informal)

Comment ? k m What? Pardon? Je ne sais pas n p I don't know Il y a ... / Il y avait... il i il i v There is / are... / There was / were... Qu'est-ce qu'il y a ? k kil i What's the matter? Je n'ai aucune ide. ne ok n i e I have no idea. J'ai chaud / J'ai froid. e o e I'm hot / I'm cold. Ne vous en faites pas. / Ne t'en fais pas. n v t p n t p Don't worry (formal / informal) Je dois y aller. i le I must go. Bonne chance ! n Good luck! Je vous aime / Je t'aime v m tm I love you (formal & plural / informal)

Tu me manques. t m m k I miss you. (informal)

Quoi de neuf ? k n What's new?

Pas grand-chose. p o Not a whole lot.

Notice that French has informal and formal ways of saying things. This is because there is more than one meaning to "you" in French (as well as in many other languages.) The informal you is used when talking to close friends, relatives, animals or children. The formal you is used when talking to someone you just met, do not know well, or someone for whom you would like to show respect (a professor, for example.) There is also a plural you, used when speaking to more than one person. Also notice that some words take an extra e, shown in parentheses. If the word refers to a woman or is spoken by a woman, then the e is added in spelling; but in most cases, it does not change the pronunciation. To make verbs negative, French adds ne before the verb and pas after it. However, the ne is frequently dropped in spoken French, although it must appear in written French. . PRONUNCIATION / LA PRONONCIATION pronunciation, try to the French Phonetics tutorial. French Vowels IPA Phonetic spelling Sample words vie, midi, lit, riz rue, jus, tissu, usine bl, nez, cahier, pied jeu, yeux, queue, bleu lait, aile, balai, reine sur, uf, fleur, beurre bas, ne, grce, chteau eau, dos, escargot, htel sol, pomme, cloche, horloge General spellings i, y u , et, final er and ez eu e, , , ai, ei, ais ,e For a more in-depth look at French

[i] ee [y] ee rounded [e] ay [] ay rounded [] eh [] eh rounded [a] ah [] ah longer [u] oo [o] oh [] aw [] uh

chat, ami, papa, salade a, , a,

loup, cou, caillou, outil ou o, o

fentre, genou, cheval, e cerise

[] is disappearing in modern French, being replaced by [a]. Vowels that do not exist in English are marked in blue.

French semi-vowels IPA [w] [] [j] IPA [ ] [] Phonetic spelling awn ahn Phonetic spelling w ew-ee yuh Sample words fois, oui, Louis lui, suisse French nasal vowels Sample words gant, banc, dent pain, vin, linge General spelling en, em, an, am, aon, aen in, im, yn, ym, ain, aim, ein, eim, un, um, en, eng, oin, oing, oint, ien, yen, en General spelling oi, ou ui

oreille, Mireille ill, y

[ ] [ ]

uhn ohn

brun, lundi, parfum rond, ongle, front

un on, om

[ ] is being replaced with [] in modern French In words beginning with in-, a nasal is only used if the next letter is a consonant. Otherwise, the in- prefix is pronounce een before a vowel. French Consonants ex + vowel ex + consonant ch (Latin origin) ch (Greek origin) ti + vowel (except ) c + e, i, y; or c + a, o, u g + e, i, y g + a, o, u th j qu, final q h vowel + s + vowel x + vowel final x egz eks sh k see s k zh g t zh k silent z z s examen, exercice exceptionnel, expression architecte, archives orchestre, archologie dmocratie, nation cent, ceinture, maon caillou, car, cube genou, gingembre gomme, ganglion maths, thme, thym jambe, jus, jeune que, quoi, grecque haricot, herbe, hasard rose, falaise, casino six ans, beaux arts six, dix, soixante (these 3 only!)

There are a lot of silent letters in French, and you usually do not pronounce the final consonant, unless that final consonant is C, R, F or L (except verbs that end in -r). Liaison: French slurs most words together in a sentence, so if a word ends in a consonant that is not pronounced and the next word starts with a vowel or silent h, slur the two together as if it were one word. S and x are pronounced as z; d as t; and f as v in these liaisons. Liaison is always made in the following cases:

after a determiner: un ami, des amis before or after a pronoun: vous avez, je les ai after a preceding adjective: bon ami, petits enfants after one syllable prepositions: en avion, dans un livre after some one-syllable adverbs (trs, plus, bien) after est

It is optional after pas, trop fort, and the forms of tre, but it is never made after et. Silent e: Sometimes the e is dropped in words and phrases, shortening the syllables and slurring more words.

rapid(e)ment, lent(e)ment, sauv(e)tage pidm tm sovt sous l(e) bureau, chez l(e) docteur sul by o el dkto il y a d(e)... , pas d(e)... , plus d(e)... /yad/ /pad/ / plyd/ je n(e), de n(e) n dn j(e) te, c(e) que t sk (note the ch nge of the pronunci tion of the j as well)

Stress & Intonation: Stress on syllables is not as heavily pronounced as in English and it generally falls on the last syllable of the word. Intonation usually only rises for yes/no questions, and all other times, it goes down at the end of the sentence.

3. ALPHABET / L'ALPHABET

a b c d e f g h i

/a/ /be/ /se/ /de/

j k l m n o p q

i /ka/ l m n /o/ /pe/ /ky/

s t u v w x y z

/te/ /y/ /ve/ lve /iks/ i k

/i/

4. NOUNS, ARTICLES & DEMONSTRATIVES / LES NOMS, LES ARTICLES & LES DEMONSTRATIFS All nouns in French have a gender, either masculine or feminine. For the most part, you must memorize the gender, but there are some endings of words that will help you decide which gender a noun is. Nouns ending in -age and -ment are usually masculine, as are nouns ending with a consonant. Nouns ending in -ure, -sion, -tion, -ence, -ance, -t, and -ette are usually feminine. Articles and adjectives must agree in number and gender with the nouns they modify. And articles have to be expressed even though they aren't always in English; and you may have to repeat the article in some cases. Demonstratives are like strong definite articles. Definite Articles (The) Masculine le lit l li the bed Feminine la pomme l p m the apple Before Vowel l'oiseau /lwazo/ the bird Plural les gants le the gloves

Indefinite Articles (A, An, Some) Masculine un lit li a bed Feminine une pomme np m an apple Plural des gants e some gloves

Demonstrative Adjectives (This, That, These, Those) Masc. ce lit li this/that bed Masc, Before Vowel cet oiseau t o this/that bird Fem. cette pomme t p m this/that apple Plural ces gants e these/those gloves

If you need to distinguish between this or that and these or those, you can add -ci to the end of the noun for this and these, and -l to the end of the noun for that and those. For example, ce lit-ci is this bed, while ce lit-l is that bed.

5. USEFUL WORDS / LES MOTS UTILES It's / That's There is/are and but now especially except of course so so not bad book pencil pen paper dog cat money c'est voil et mais maintenant surtout sauf bien sr pas mal le livre le crayon le stylo le papier le chien le chat l'argent (m) j /pa mal/ l liv l k j l tilo l p pje l j l l /vwala/ /e/ m mtn t /sof/ There is/are Here is/are always often sometimes usually also, too again late almost friend (fem) friend (masc) woman man girl boy job / work il y a voici toujours souvent quelquefois d'habitude aussi encore en retard presque une amie un ami une femme un homme une fille un garon le travail /il i a/ /vwasi/ t v klk /dabityd/ /osi/ k t p k /y nami/ n mi /yn fam/ n m /yn fij/ l t v j

comme ci, comme a k m i, k m

The expression il y a is reduced to y a in everyday speech. When il y a is followed by a number, it meansago. Il y a cinq minutes means five minutes ago. Some common slang words for money include: le fric, le pze, le pognon, des sous and for job/work: le boulot.

6. SUBJECT PRONOUNS / LES PRONOMS SUJETS Subject Pronouns je tu il elle on /ty/ /il/ l I You (informal) He She One nous vous ils elles /nu/ /vu/ /il/ l We You (formal and plural) They (masc.) They (fem.)

Il and elle can also mean it when they replace a noun (il replaces masculine nouns, and elle replaces feminine nouns) instead of a person's name. Ils and elles can replace plural nouns as well in the same way. Notice there are two ways to say you. Tu is used when speaking to children, animals, or close friends and relatives. Vous is used when speaking to more than one person, or to someone you don't know or who is older. On can be translated into English as one, the people, we, they, or you. Tutoyer and vouvoyer are two verbs that have no direct translation into English. Tutoyer means to use tuor be informal with someone, while vouvoyer means to use vous or be formal with someone.

7. TO BE & TO HAVE / ETRE & AVOIR Present tense of tre /t/ - to be

I am You are He is She is One is

je suis tu es il est elle est on est

i t il l n

We are You are They are They are Past tense of tre - to be

nous sommes vous tes ils sont elles sont

n v il l

m t

I was You were He was She was One was

j'tais tu tais il tait elle tait on tait

et t et il et l et net

We were You were They were They were

nous tions vous tiez ils taient elles taient

etj

/vu zetje/ il et l et

Je and any verb form that starts with a vowel (or silent h) combine together for ease of pronunciation. Future Tense of tre - to be I will be You will be He will be She will be One will be je serai tu seras il sera elle sera on sera t e il l We will be You will be They will be They will be nous serons vous serez ils seront elles seront n v e

/il l

Present tense of avoir /avwa/ - to have I have You have He has She has One has j'ai tu as il a elle a on a t il l n e We have You have They have They have nous avons vous avez ils ont elles ont n v

/vu zave/ il l

Past tense of avoir - to have I had You had He had She had One had j'avais tu avais il avait elle avait on avait t v v il v l v n v We had You had They had nous avions vous aviez ils avaient elles avaient n vj

/vu zavje/ il v l v

Future tense of avoir - to have I will have You will have He will have She will have One will have j'aurai tu auras il aura elle aura on aura o e t o il o l o no We will have You will have They will have They will have nous aurons vous aurez ils auront elles auront n v o o e

il o l o

In spoken French, the tu forms of verbs that begin with a vowel contract with the pronoun: tu es = t'es t , tu as = t'as t , etc. In ddition, it is very common to use on (plus 3rd person singular conjugation) to mean we instead of nous.

COMMON EXPRESSIONS WITH AVOIR AND ETRE Avoir and tre are used in many common and idiomatic expressions that should be memorized:

avoir chaud avoir froid avoir peur avoir raison avoir tort avoir faim avoir soif avoir sommeil avoir honte avoir besoin de avoir l'air de avoir l'intention de avoir envie de avoir de la chance

v v v v v v v v v v v v v v t

o p

to be hot to be cold to be afraid to be right to be wrong

tre de retour tre en retard tre en avance tre d'accord tre sur le point de tre en train de tre enrhume nous + tre (un jour)

t t t t t t t

t t n v k l p t me

to be back to be late to be early to be in agreement to be about to to be in the act of to have a cold to be (a day)

to be hungry to be thirsty mj t to be sleepy to be ashamed to need to look like, seem to intend to to feel like to be lucky

t j vi l

J'ai froid. I'm cold. Tu avais raison. You were right. Il aura sommeil ce soir. He will be tired tonight. Elle a de la chance ! She's lucky! Nous aurons faim plus tard. We will be hungry later. Vous aviez tort. You were wrong. Ils ont chaud. They are hot. Elles avaient peur hier. They were afraid yesterday.

Je suis en retard! I'm late! Tu tais en avance. You were early. Elle sera d'accord. She will agree. Nous sommes lundi. It is Monday. Vous tiez enrhum. You had a cold. Ils seront en train d'tudier. They will be (in the act of) studying. Elles taient sur le point de partir. They were about to leave. On est de retour. We/you/they/the people are back.

8. QUESTION WORDS / LES INTERROGATIFS Who What Why When Where How How much / many Which / what Qui Quoi Pourquoi Quand O Comment Combien Quel(le) /ki/ /kwa/ p k /u/ k m k j kl k

9. CARDINAL NUMBERS / LES NOMBRES CARDINAUX Zero One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Zro Un Deux Trois Quatre Cinq Six Sept Huit e o /d/ t k t k /sis/ t it

Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen Nineteen Twenty Twenty-one Twenty-two Twenty-three Thirty Thirty-one Thirty-two Forty Fifty Sixty Seventy (Belgium & Switzerland) Seventy-one Seventy-two Eighty (Belgium & Switzerland) Eighty-one Eighty-two Ninety (Belgium & Switzerland) Ninety-one Ninety-two One Hundred One Hundred One Two Hundred Two Hundred One Thousand Two Thousand Million Billion

Neuf Dix Onze Douze Treize Quatorze Quinze Seize Dix-sept Dix-huit Dix-neuf Vingt Vingt et un Vingt-deux Vingt-trois Trente Trente et un Trente-deux Quarante Cinquante Soixante Soixante-dix Septante Soixante et onze Soixante-douze Quatre-vingts Octante Quatre-vingt-un Quatre-vingt-deux Quatre-vingt-dix Nonante Quatre-vingt-onze Quatre-vingt-douze Cent Cent un Deux cents Deux cent un Mille Deux mille Un million Un milliard

n /dis/ /duz/ t k t k i t i it i n v vt e v v t t t t k t te t t t t i pt t te t k t v kt t k t v t k t v k t v i n n t k t v k t v t /mil/ /d mil/ milj milj t k t

French switches the use of commas and periods. 1,00 would be 1.00 in English. Belgian and Swiss French use septante and nonante in place of the standard French words for 70 and 90 (though some parts of Switzerland use huitante for 80 and octante is barely used anymore). Also, when the numbers 5, 6, 8, and 10 are used before a word beginning with a consonant, their final consonants are not pronounced. Phone numbers in France are ten digits, beginning with 01, 02, 03, 04, or 05 depending on

the geographical region, or 06 and 07 for cell phones. They are written two digits at a time, and pronounced thus: 01 36 55 89 28 = zro un, trente-six, cinquante-cinq, quatre-vingt-neuf, vingt-huit.

ORDINAL NUMBERS / LES NOMBRES ORDINAUX first second third fourth fifth sixth seventh eighth ninth tenth eleventh twelfth twentieth twenty-first thirtieth premier / premire deuxime / second troisime quatrime cinquime sixime septime huitime neuvime dixime onzime douzime vingtime vingt et unime trentime

The majority of numbers become ordinals by adding -ime. But if a number ends in an e, you must drop it before adding the -ime. After a q, you must add a u before the -ime. And an f becomes a v before the -ime.

Listen to the la tlphone : un message mp3 and try the cloze (fill-in-the-blank) exercise from French Listening Resources.

10. DAYS OF THE WEEK / LES JOURS DE LA SEMAINE Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday day week today yesterday tomorrow next last day before yesterday day after tomorrow the following day the day before lundi mardi mercredi jeudi vendredi samedi dimanche le jour la semaine aujourd'hui hier demain prochain / prochaine dernier / dernire avant-hier aprs-demain le lendemain la veille p l o j m p nje v tj p m l l l vj m n nj l i m i v im l ()mn i i /samdi/ i m k i

Articles are not used before days, except to express something that happens habitually on a certain day, such as le lundi = on Mondays. Days of the week are all masculine in gender and they are not capitalized in writing.

Listen to the l'heure & la date : l'emploi du temps mp3 and try the cloze (fill-in-theblank) exercise from French Listening Resources.

11. MONTHS OF THE YEAR / LES MOIS DE L'ANNEE January February March April May June July August September October November December month year decade century millennium janvier fvrier mars avril mai juin juillet aot septembre octobre novembre dcembre le mois l'an / l'anne la dcennie le sicle le millnaire l m v il m ij /u(t)/ pt kt n v e l m /lane/ /deseni/ l jkl milen vje ev ije

To express in a certain month, such as in May, use en before the month as in "en mai." With dates, the ordinal numbers are not used, except for the first of the month: le premier mai but le deux juin. Also note that months are all masculine and not capitalized in French (same as days of the week).

12. SEASONS / LES SAISONS Summer Fall Winter Spring l't l'automne l'hiver le printemps /lete/ lot n liv l p t in the summer in the fall in the winter in the spring en t en automne en hiver au printemps nete not n niv o p t

13. DIRECTIONS / LES DIRECTIONS on the left on the right straight ahead North South East West le nord le sud l'est l'ouest l n l l t l t gauche droite tout droit Northeast Northwest Southeast Southwest le nord-est le nord-ouest le sud-est le sud-ouest t l n ( ) t l n ( ) t t t o t

14. COLORS & SHAPES / LES COULEURS & LES FORMES

Red

rouge on v /bl/ vj l vj lt l m n o e te i i l n v t

square circle triangle rectangle oval cube sphere cylinder cone octagon box light dark

le carr le cercle le triangle le rectangle l'ovale le cube la sphre le cylindre le cne l'octogone la bote clair / claire fonc / fonce

k e kl t ij kt v l /kyb/ il /kon/ kto n /bwat/ kl e l l

Orange orange Yellow jaune Green Blue vert / verte bleu / bleue

Purple violet / violette White Brown Black Pink Gold Silver Gray blanc / blanche brun / brune marron noir / noire rose dor / dore argent / argente gris / grise

Some adjectives of color do not change to agree with gender or number, such as adjectives that also exist as nouns: orange, marron, rose; and compound adjectives: bleu clair, noir fonc remain masculine even if they describe a feminine noun. Remember to place the color adjective after the noun.

15. WEATHER / LE TEMPS QU'IL FAIT What's the weather like? It's nice bad cool cold warm, hot cloudy beautiful mild stormy sunny humid muggy windy foggy snowing raining freezing hailing It is ____ degrees. Quel temps fait-il ? Il fait bon Il fait mauvais Il fait frais Il fait froid Il fait chaud Il fait nuageux Il fait beau Il fait doux Il fait orageux Il fait soleil Il fait humide Il fait lourd Il fait du vent Il fait du brouillard Il neige Il pleut Il gle Il grle Il fait ____ degrs. kl t il il m ve il il il o il n il o il il il il l il il il n /il pl/ /il l il il l e v j lj il mi til

Il pleut des cordes il pl de ko d is common expression me ning it's pouring. Il caille /il kaj/ or a caille /sa kaj/ is slang for it's freezing. And remember that France uses Celcius degrees.

Listen to the le climat: le temps dans les Alpes mp3 and try the cloze (fill-in-the-blank) exercise from French Listening Resources.

16. TIME / LE TEMPS QUI PASSE What time is it? It is... one o'clock two o'clock noon midnight a quarter after three one o'clock sharp four o'clock sharp twelve thirty six thirty a quarter to seven five twenty ten fifty in the morning/AM in the afternoon/PM in the evening/PM Quelle heure est-il ? Il est... une heure deux heures midi minuit trois heures et quart une heure prcise quatre heures prcises midi (minuit) et demi six heures et demie sept heures moins le quart cinq heures vingt onze heures moins dix du matin de l'aprs-midi du soir kl til il n /midi/ mini t ek n p e i k t p ei mi i (mini) e mi i e mi t m l k k v m i m t l p mi i

Official French time is expressed as military time (24 hour clock.) You can only use regular numbers, and not demi, quart, etc. when reporting time with the 24 hour system. For example, if it is 18h30, you must saydix-huit heures trente. The word pile /pil/ is also a more informal way of saying prcise (exactly, sharp).

Listen to the l'heure & la date : l'emploi du temps mp3 and try the cloze (fill-in-theblank) exercise from French Listening Resources.

17. FAMILY & ANIMALS / LA FAMILLE & LES ANIMAUX Family Relatives Parents Grandparents Mom la famille des parents les parents les grandsparents la mre / maman /famij/ p p p m m m lm p op /fij/ /fis/ mi l p p Niece Nephew Grandchildren Granddaughter Grandson Godfather Godmother Godson Goddaughter Distant Relatives Single Married Separated la nice le neveu les petits-enfants la petite-fille le petit-fils le parrain la marraine le filleul la filleule des parents loigns clibataire mari(e) spar(e) nj n()v p()ti p()tit ij p()ti i p m n ijl ijl p el e

Stepmother/Mother-in-Law la belle-mre Dad Stepfather/Father-in-Law Daughter Son Sister Half/Step Sister Sister-in-Law le pre / papa le beau-pre la fille le fils la sur la demi-sur la belle-sur

eli t m je ep e

Stepdaughter/Daughter-inLaw Brother Half/Step Brother Brother-in-Law Stepson/Son-in-Law Twins (m) Twins (f) Uncle Aunt Grandmother Grandfather Cousin (f) Cousin (m) Wife Husband Woman Man Child (m) / (f) Girl Boy

la belle-fille le frre le demi-frre le beau-frre le beau-fils les jumeaux les jumelles l'oncle la tante la grand-mre le grand-pre la cousine le cousin la femme le mari la femme l'homme un enfant / une enfant la fille le garon Le gendre d

l ij mi o

Divorced Widower Widow

divorc(e) veuf veuve le chien / la chienne(m) / (f) le chat / la chatte (m) / (f) le chiot le chaton le cochon le coq le lapin la vache le cheval le canard la chvre l'oie le mouton l'agneau l'ne la souris k

iv v vv

/bo fis/ mo ml kl t t m p /kuzin/ k /fam/ m i /fam/ m

Dog Cat Puppy Kitten Pig Rooster Rabbit Cow Horse Duck Goat Goose Sheep Lamb

jn t

jo t k k l p v ()v l k n v /wa/ m t o n i

/fij/

Donkey Mouse

is nother word for son-in-law.

Listen to the la famille : ma famille mp3 and try the cloze (fill-in-the-blank) exercise from French Listening Resources. Slang words for people and pets: The entire family Grandma Grandpa Children Kid Woman Man toute la smala mm / mamie pp / papi des gosses un gamin / une gamine une nana un mec / type / gars /tut la smala/ /meme/ /mami/ /pepe/ /papi/ m min /nana/ mk tip Sister Son Aunt Uncle Dog Cat la frangine le fiston tata / tatie tonton le cabot / clbard le minou in it /tata/ /tati/ t t /kabo/ kle /minu/

Brother le frangin

Listen to the animaux : chien ou chat ? mp3 and try the cloze (fill-in-the-blank) exercise from French Listening Resources.

18. TO KNOW PEOPLE & PLACES / CONNAITRE & SAVOIR connatre-to know people /knt/ connais connais k n k n connaissons connaissez k n k n e sais sais savoir-to know facts /savwa/ savons savez v /save/

connat

k n

connaissent

k n

sait

savent

/sav/

Connatre is used when you know (are familiar with) people, places, food, movies, books, etc. and savoir is used when you know facts. When savoir is followed by an infinitive it means to know how. There is another form of savoir commonly used in the expressions que je sache that I know (of) and pas que je sache not that I know (of). Je connais ton frre. I know your brother. Je sais que ton frre s'appelle Jean. I know that your brother is named John. Connaissez-vous Grenoble ? Do you know (Are you familiar with) Grenoble? / Have you ever been to Grenoble? Oui, nous connaissons Grenoble. Yes, we know (are familiar with) Grenoble. / Yes, we've been to Grenoble. Tu sais o Grenoble se trouve. You know where Grenoble is located. Ils savent nager. They know how to swim. Connatre can be translated several ways into English: Tu connais le film, Les Enfants ? Have you seen the film, Les Enfants? Tu connais Lyon ? Have you ever been to Lyon? Tu connais la tartiflette ? Have you ever eaten tartiflette?

19. FORMATION OF PLURAL NOUNS / LA FORMATION DES NOMS PLURIELS To make a noun plural, you usually add an -s (which is not pronounced). But there are some exceptions: If a noun already ends in an -s, add nothing. If a noun ends in -eu or -eau, add an x. If a masculine noun ends in -al or -ail, change it to -aux. Some nouns ending in -ou add an -x instead of -s. bus(es) boat(s) horse(s) knee(s) Sing. le bus le bateau le cheval le genou Plural les bus les bateaux les chevaux les genoux

Exceptions: festival, carnaval, bal, pneu, bleu, landau, dtail, chandail all add -s. There are only seven nouns ending in -ou that add -x instead of -s: bijou, caillou, chou, genou, pou, joujou, hibou.There are, of course, some irregular exceptions: un il (eye) - des yeux (eyes); le ciel (sky) les cieux(skies); and un jeune homme (a young man) - des jeunes gens (young men). Notice that the only time the pronunciation will change in the plural form is for masculine nouns that change -al or -ail to -aux and for the irregular forms. All other nouns are pronounced the same in the singular and the plural - it is only the article that changes pronunciation (le, la, l' to les).

20. POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES / LES ADJECTIFS POSSESSIFS Masc. My Your His/Her/Its Our Your Their mon m ton t son notre n t votre v t leur l Fem. ma /ma/ ta /ta/ sa /sa/ notre n t votre v t leur l Plural mes m tes t ses nos /no/ vos /vo/ leurs l

Possessive pronouns go before the noun. When a feminine noun begins with a vowel, you must use the masculine form of the pronoun for ease of pronunciation. Ma amie is incorrect and must be mon amie, even though amie is feminine. Remember that adjectives agree with the noun in gender and number, not the possessor! Sa mre can mean his mother or her mother even though sa is the feminine form, because it agrees with mre and not the possessor (his or her).

C'est ma mre et mon pre. This is my mother and my father. Ce sont vos petits-enfants ? These are your grandchildren? Mes parents sont divorcs. My parents are divorced. Sa grand-mre est veuve. His grandmother is a widow. Notre frre est mari, mais notre sur est clibataire. Our brother is married, but our sister is single. Ton oncle est architecte, n'est-ce pas ? Your uncle is an architect, isn't he? Leurs cousines sont nerlandaises. Their cousins are Dutch. 21. TO DO OR MAKE / FAIRE

Faire - to do, make /f/ Present tense fais fais fait faisons faites font t faisais faisais faisait Past tense (imperfect) faisions faisiez faisaient j je ferai feras fera Future tense ferons ferez feront e

Another past tense (pass compos) uses the present tense forms of avoir plus the past participle of faire: fait. J'ai faittranslates as I did/made whereas je faisais translates as I was doing/making, I used to do/make (continuous action in the past). Faire is used in expressions of weather (il fait beau) and many other idiomatic expressions: faire de (a sport) - to play (a sport) faire le sourd / l'innocent - to act deaf / innocent faire le (subject in school) - to do / study (subject) faire le mnage - to do the housework faire la cuisine - to do the cooking faire la lessive - to do laundry faire la vaisselle - to do the dishes faire une promenade - to take a walk faire un voyage - to take a trip faire les courses - to go (grocery) shopping faire des achats - to go shopping faire de l'exercice - to exercise faire attention - to pay attention faire la queue - to stand in line

22. WORK & SCHOOL / LE TRAVAIL & L'ECOLE Masculine actor / actress singer architect accountant judge business person baker hair dresser computer programmer secretary electrician mechanic cook l'acteur le chanteur l'architecte le comptable le juge l'homme d'affaires le boulanger le coiffeur le programmeur le secrtaire l'lectricien le mcanicien le cuisinier k p m l e m kt t itkt k t l Feminine l'actrice la chanteuse l'architecte la comptable la juge la femme d'affaires la boulangre la coiffeuse la programmeuse la secrtaire l'lectricienne la mcanicienne la cuisinire p m l /kwafz/ m k et elkt i jn mek ni jn ki inj kt i t itkt k t l

k et elkt i j mek ni j ki inje

salesperson fire fighter plumber librarian police officer reporter blue-collar worker banker lawyer postal worker carpenter engineer doctor nurse pharmacist psychologist dentist veterinarian taxi driver writer teacher (primary school) teacher / professor student intern retired person

le vendeur le pompier le plombier le bibliothcaire l'agent de police le journaliste l'ouvrier le banquier l'avocat le facteur le charpentier l'ingnieur le mdecin l'infirmier le pharmacien le psychologue le dentiste le vtrinaire le chauffeur de taxi l'crivain l'instituteur le professeur l'tudiant le stagiaire le retrait

la vendeuse la pompier la plombier la bibliothcaire l'agent de police la journaliste l'ouvrire la banquire l'avocate la factrice la charpentire l'ingnieure la mdecin l'infirmire la pharmacienne la psychologue la dentiste la vtrinaire la chauffeur de taxi l'crivaine l'institutrice la professeur l'tudiante la stagiaire la retraite t k i

p pje pl je i lij tek p li n li t v ije kje v k kt p tje enj m i mje m j p ik l ti t vete in o ek iv tit t p e et j t j t ete

p pje pl je i lij tek p li n li t v ij kj v k t kt i p tj enj m i mj m jn p ik l ti t vete in o ek ivn tit t i p e et j t t j t ete t k i

Notice that some professions are always masculine, even if the person is a woman. There are also words that are always feminine (such as la victime) even if the person is a man. SCHOOL SUBJECTS / LES MATIERES Math Algebra Calculus Geometry Business/Trade Accounting Economics les mathmatiques l'algbre le calcul la gomtrie le commerce la comptabilit les sciences conomiques /matematik/ l /kalkyl/ e met i k m k t ilite j ek n mik l viv t l i tik lite t il i Geography Physics Biology Chemistry Zoology Botany Art Music Dance Drawing Painting Computer Science la gographie la physique la biologie la chimie la zoologie la botanique les arts-plastiques la musique la danse le dessin la peinture l'informatique e pt m tik e /fizik/ j l i imi l i t nik pl tik /myzik/ i

ForeignLanguages les langues vivantes Linguistics Literature Philosophy Psychology la linguistique la littrature la philosophie la psychologie

p ik l i

Political Science History

les sciences politiques l'histoire (f)

j it

p litik

Technology Physical Education

la technologie l'ducation physique(f)

tkn l i e k j fizik/

Notice that you do not use an indefinite article before professions, unless they are preceded by an adjective. Qu'est-ce que vous faites dans la vie ? What do you do for a living? Je suis avocate. I am a lawyer. (fem.) Je suis professeur. I am a professor. Je suis tudiant. I am a student (masc.) O est-ce que vous faites vos tudes ? Where do you study? Je vais l'universit de Michigan. I go to the university of Michigan. Je fais mes tudes l'universit de Toronto. I study at the University of Toronto. Qu'est-ce que vous tudiez ? What do you study? Quelles matires tudiez-vous ? What subjects do you study? J'tudie les langues trangres et la linguistique. I study foreign languages and linguistics. Je fais des mathmatiques. I study/do math. Ma spcialisation est la biologie. My major is biology. Slang words/abbreviations for school: dictionary paper / essay college / faculty quiz to have detention un dico une disserte la fac une interro tre coll(e) avoir une colle /diko/ i t /fak/ t k le /kol/ student book to work to understand to skip (a class) un potache un bouquin bosser piger scher (un cours) pot k e pi e ee

Listen to the le travail : carrossier / vendeur mp3s and try the cloze (fill-in-the-blank) exercises from FrenchListening Resources.

23. PREPOSITIONS & CONTRACTIONS at / to / in from / of / about in for by / through in front of behind before after up down on over / above under / below across from near far from de /a/ e p p v j v p no during since / for among between around against toward through / across with without inside outside outside of o /su/ o p l because of according to pendant depuis parmi entre autour de contre vers / envers travers avec sans dedans / l'intrieur dehors / l'extrieur hors de / en dehors de cause de selon / d'aprs ko l vi m l e k t p lte j lk te j n p pi p mi t ot k t v t v vk nv

at the house of chez dans / en pour par devant derrire avant aprs en haut en bas sur au-dessus de sous / au-dessous de en face de prs de loin de

approximately environ in spite of as for malgr quant

You can also use dessus and dessous as adverbs to mean over it / on top of it and beneath it / underneath it,respectively. They are not followed by nouns or pronouns, unlike prepositions. Prepositional Contractions + le = au + les = aux de + le = du /o/ /o/ /dy/ at / to / in the at / to / in the (pl.) of / from / about the of / from / about the (pl.)

de + les = des /de/

In: Dans vs. En Dans is used to show the time when an action will begin, while en shows the length of time an action takes. Je pars dans quinze minutes. I'm leaving in 15 minutes. Il peut lire ce livre en une demi-heure. He can read this book in a half hour. With: Avec vs. De vs. A vs. Chez Avec implies doing something or going along with someone; de is used in phrases of manner and in many idiomaticexpressions; is used when referring to someone's attributes; and chez is used to mean "as far as (person) is concerned." To describe the way a person carries him/herself, no extra word is used. Je vais en France avec ma sur. I'm going to France with my sister. Elle me remercie d'un sourire. She thanks me with a smile. L'homme aux cheveux roux est trs grand. The man with the red hair is very tall. Chez cet enfant, tout est simple. With this child, everything is simple. Il marche, les mains dans les poches. He walks with his hands in his pockets.

24. COUNTRIES AND NATIONALITIES / LES PAYS ET LES NATIONALITES ik ik n /albani/ l n l e i l e j n me ik tin t in /azi/ /azjatik/ o t li o t lj n ot i ot i j n l ik l ni ni k e il e ilj n l i e /itali/ it lj n p p n k e k e n let ni let lit ni lit nj n l k l k /az/ /masedwan/ m e nj n /malt/ m lt m m pei ne l l k k n n

Africa African Albania Albanian Algeria Algerian America American Argentina Argentine Asia Asian Australia Australian Austria Austrian Belgium Belgian Bosnia Bosnian Brazil Brazilian Bulgaria

l'Afrique (f) africain/e l'Albanie (f) albanais/e l'Algrie (f) algrien/ne l'Amrique (f) amricain/e l'Argentine (f) argentin/e l'Asie (f) asiatique l'Australie (f) australien/ne l'Autriche (f) autrichien/ne la Belgique belge la Bosnie bosniaque le Brsil brsilien/ne la Bulgarie

Hebrew (lang.) Italy Italian Japan Japanese Korea Korean Latvian Lithuania Lithuanian Luxembourg Luxembourger Macedonia Macedonian Malta Maltese Morocco Moroccan Netherlands Dutch Dutch (person) New Zealand

hbreu l'Italie (f) italien/ne le Japon japonais/e la Core coren/ne la Lettonie letton/ne la Lituanie lituanien/ne le Luxembourg luxembourgeois/e la Macdoine macdonien/ne Malte (f) maltais/e le Maroc marocain/e les Pays-Bas nerlandais/e hollandais/e la Nouvelle-

me ik n Latvia

n vl el

Zlande Bulgarian Cambodia Cambodian Canada Canadian China Chinese Croatia Croatian Czech Republic Czech Denmark Danish Egypt Egyptian England English Estonia Estonian Europe European Finland Finnish France French Germany German Great Britain British Greece Greek Hungary Hungarian Iceland Icelandic India Indian Indonesia Indonesian Ireland Irishman Israel Israeli bulgare le Cambodge cambodgien/ne le Canada canadien/ne la Chine chinois/e la Croatie croate la Rpublique Tchque tchque le Danemark danois/e l'Egypte (f) gyptien/e l'Angleterre (f) anglais/e l'Estonie estonien/ne l'Europe (f) europen/ne la Finlande finnois/e la France franais/e l'Allemagne (f) allemand/e la Grande-Bretagne britannique la Grce grec / grecque la Hongrie hongrois/e l'Islande islandais/e l'Inde indien/ne l'Indonsie (f) indonsien/ne l'Irlande (f) irlandais/e l'Isral isralien/ne il il j n ne i k i lm t it nik lm k k /kanada/ k n j n in in k k t i l New Zealander no-zlandais/e Norway j n Norwegian Poland Polish Portugal Portuguese Quebec Quebecker la Norvge norvgien/ne la Pologne polonais/e le Portugal portugais/e le Qubc qubcois/e la Roumanie roumain/e la Russie russe l'Ecosse cossais/e le Sngal sngalais/e la Serbie serbe la Slovaquie slovaque la Slovnie slovne l'Espagne (f) espagnol/e la Sude sudois/e la Suisse suisse le Tawan tawanais/e la Tunisie tunisien/ne la Turquie turc / turcque l'Ukraine ukrainien/ne la Royaume-Uni les Etats-Unis le Vietnam vietnamien/ne le Pays-de-Galles gallois/e ek ek /senegal/ ene l i l v ki l v k l veni l vn p p l e i i /tajwan/ t j n /tynizi/ t ni j n t ki t k k n k nj n jom ni /etazyni/ vitn m vjtn mj n pei l l neo el n v n ve j n p l p l n p t ke k /kebekwa/ /az/ m ni m n i l p t

ep lik t k Romania t k nm k /danwa/ /az/ e ipt e ip j n lt l t ni tonj n p pe n l /finwa/ /az/ Romanian Russia Russian Scotland Scottish Senegal Senegalese Serbia Serbian Slovakia Slovak Slovenia Slovene Spain Spanish Sweden Swedish Switzerland Swiss Taiwan Taiwanese Tunisia Tunisian Turkey Turk Ukraine Ukrainian United Kingdom Vietnam el elj n Vietnamese Wales Welsh

ne j n United States i l i l i i

The masculine forms of the nationalities are also used for the language. Adjectives of nationalities and languages are not capitalized in written French. The definite article is not used before a language when it

follows the verb parler (to speak):Je parle anglais. Notice that French also uses hollandais when referring to Dutch people and sometimes the Dutch language, but this is not exactly correct (just as it is not correct to use Holland when referring to the Netherlands in English). Also notice that you do not use the definite article with Malte.

25. NEGATIVE SENTENCES To make sentences negative, simply put ne and pas around the verb. In spoken French, however, the ne is frequently omitted, but it cannot be omitted in written French. And when you are replying "yes" to a negative question, you use siand not oui (though in Quebec, it is perfectly fine to just use oui). Je suis du Canada. I am from Canada. Je ne suis pas du Mexique. I am not from Mexico. Je suis franaise. I am French (feminine.) Je ne suis pas suisse. I am not Swiss. (masculine or feminine) Il est australien. He is Australian. Elle n'est pas danoise. She is not Danish. Elles sont des Etats-Unis. They are from the United States. Ils ne sont pas du Portugal. They are not from Portugal. Je parle chinois et japonais. I speak Chinese and Japanese. Je ne parle pas sudois. I don't speak Swedish. Vous n'tes pas du Brsil ? You aren't from Brazil? Si, nous sommes du Brsil. Yes, we are from Brazil.

26. TO / IN AND FROM PLACES, CITIES, AND COUNTRIES Places Masc. Fem. Vowel Plural au la l' aux du de la de l' des aux Cities de de d' des au en en aux Countries du de d' des

If the name of a country ends in-e, the gender is feminine. If it ends in anything else, it is masculine. All continents are feminine. The country exceptions are le Cambodge, le Mexique, le Zare, le Zimbabwe, and le Mozambique. Some cities have an article as well, such as La Nouvelle-Orlans (New Orleans). Je vais la boulangerie. I'm going to the bakery. Il vient de Londres. He comes from London. On va en France demain. We're going to France tomorrow. Tu viens du Mexique ? You come from Mexico? Prepositions with Regions, Provinces & States To / In Feminine Islands Masc. w/ Vowel Masc. w/ Consonant en en / dans l' au / dans le From de de / d' d' / de l' du

In general, if a region, province or state ends in -e, it is feminine. Californie, Caroline du Nord / Sud, Floride, Gorgie, Louisiane, Pennsylvanie, and Virginie are the feminine American states; while Maine is masculine. For French rgions or dpartements that begin with Haut(e), the h is an aspirate h, and therefore, there is no elision with preceding words, i.e. de Haut-Rhin, la Haute-Normandie, etc. Elles habitent en Californie. They live in California. Il est de Haute-Savoie. He is from Haute-Savoie.

Ce fromage vient du Nord. This cheese comes from Nord. Je veux voyager dans le Texas. I want to travel in Texas.

27. TO COME & TO GO / VENIR & ALLER Venir-to come vni Present viens viens vient vj vj vj venons venez viennent vn vne vijn venais venait venait Past (Imperfect) vn vn vn venions veniez venaient vnj vnje vn viendrai viendras viendra vijn vijn vijn Future viendrons viendrez viendront vijn vijn vijn e

Aller-to go /ale/ Present vais vas va v /va/ /va/ allons allez vont l /ale/ v j'allais allais allait Past (Imperfect) l l l allions alliez allaient lij /alije/ l j'irai iras ira i i i Future irons irez iront i i e i

Other verbs that are conjugated like venir: tenir - to hold, devenir - to become, obtenir - to get, revenir - to come back. Je viens des Etats-Unis. I come from the United States. Il tient un crayon. He's holding a pencil. Nous allons en Espagne. We're going to Spain. Tu ne vas pas au Brsil cet t. You're not going to Brazil this summer. Aller + an infinitive means "going to do something." Ils vont aller en Angleterre. They are going to go to England. Elle va parler russe. She's going to speak Russian. Je vais devenir professeur. I'm going to become a professor. Aller is also used idiomatically when talking about health. Comment vas-tu ? How are you? Je vais bien. I'm fine. Venir de + an infinitive means "to have just done something." Il vient d'aller en Finlande. He just went to Finland. Vous venez de manger une pomme. You just ate an apple.

28. CONJUGATING REGULAR VERBS IN THE PRESENT INDICATIVE TENSE Verbs in French end in -er, -re, or -ir. The verb before it is conjugated is called the infinitive. Removing the last two letters leaves you with the stem (aimer is the infinitive, aim- is the stem.) The present indicative tense indicates an ongoing action, general state, or habitual activity. Besides the simple present tense (I write, I run, I see); there are two other forms of the present tense in English: the progressive (I am writing, I am running, etc.) and the emphatic (I do write, I do run, etc.) However, these three English present tenses are all translated by the present indicative tense in French. To conjugate verbs in the present tense, use the stem and add the following endings. -er -re 1st -ir 2nd -ir*

-e -es -e

-ons -ez -ent

-s -s -

-ons -ez -ent

-is -is -it

-issons -issez -issent

-s -s -t

-ons -ez -ent

Sample Regular Verbs in the Present tense aimer - to like, love aime aimes aime /em/ /em/ /em/ aimons aimez aiment finir - to finish finis finis finit /fini/ /fini/ /fini/ finissons finissez finissent ini /finise/ /finis/ pars pars part p p p em /eme/ /em/ vends vends vend v v v vendre - to sell vendons vendez vendent partir - to leave partons partez partent p t p te p t v v v e

Notice how several conjugations are pronounced the same. This is why you must use the subject pronouns in French. Regular verbs -er aimer chanter chercher commencer donner tudier fermer habiter jouer manger montrer parler penser travailler trouver /eme/ te e k m e ne /etydje/ me /abite/ e m e m t e p le p e t v je t ve to like, love to sing to look for to begin to give to study to close to live to play to eat to show to speak to think to work to find btir finir choisir punir remplir obir () russir gurir p ni pli ei e i e i vendre attendre entendre perdre rpondre () descendre v t t p ep 1st -ir ti ini i to build to finish to choose to punish to fill to obey to succeed to cure, heal -re to sell to wait for to hear to lose to answer to go down

If a verb is followed by (like rpondre) you have to use the and any contractions after the conjugated verb. Ex: Je rponds au tlphone. I answer the phone. * The 2nd -ir verbs are considered irregular sometimes because there are only a few verbs which follow that pattern. Other verbs like partir are sortir s ti (to go out), dormir d mi (to sleep), mentir m ti (to lie), sentir s ti (to smell, feel) nd servir s vi (to serve.) You can also download a list of the 681 most common verbs in French (available in PDF format.)

29. PRONOMINAL (REFLEXIVE) VERBS These verbs are conjugated like normal verbs, but they require an extra pronoun before the verb. Most indicate a reflexive action but some are idiomatic and can't be translated literally. The pronouns are:

me te se

m t

nous vous se Some Pronominal Verbs

/nu/ /vu/

s'amuser se lever se laver se dpcher se peigner s'habiller se marier se reposer se souvenir de s'entendre bien se coucher

/samyze/ lve l ve epe e pee /sabije/ m je po e vni t k e j

to have fun to get up to wash (oneself) to hurry to comb to get dressed to get married to rest to remember to get along well to go to bed

se brosser se maquiller se casser se rveiller se raser s'ennuyer se promener s'intresser s'entraner se dtendre

k e

to brush to put on makeup to break (arm, leg, etc.) to wake up to shave to get bored to take a walk to be interested in to train/practice to relax

m kije eveje e nije p mne te e e t ene et

When used in the infinitive, such as after another verb, the reflexive pronoun agrees with the subject of the sentence. Je vais me coucher maintenant. I'm going to go to bed. Tu veux t'asseoir ? Do you want to sit down? Sample Irregular Pronominal Verb s'asseoir - to sit down je m'assieds tu t'assieds il s'assied m j t t j il j nous nous asseyons vous vous asseyez ils s'asseyent n n /ilsasej/ ej /vuvusaseje/

Listen to the la routine quotidienne: ma journe mp3 and try the cloze (fill-in-the-blank) exercise from French Listening Resources.

30. IRREGULARITIES IN REGULAR VERBS 1. Verbs that end in -ger and -cer: The nous form of manger isn't mangons, but mangeons. The e has to stay so the g can retain the soft sound. The nous form of commencer isn't commencons, but commenons. The c must have the accent (called a cedilla) under it to make the c sound soft. manger-to eat /m mange manges mange m m m mangeons mangez mangent e/ m m e m commence commences commence ommen er-to egin /k m se/ k m k m k m commenons commencez commencent k m k m e k m

2. Verbs that add or change to an accent grave: Some verbs add or change to an accent grave () in all the forms except the nous and vous. acheter-to buy /ate/ j'achte achtes achte t t t achetons achetez achtent t te t j'espre espres espre esprer-to hope /spee/ p p p esprons esprez esprent pe pe e p

3. Verbs that are conjugated as -er verbs: Some -ir verbs are conjugated with -er endings. Examples: ouvrir-to open uv i , couvrir-to cover kuv i , dcouvrir-to discover dekuv i and souffrir-to suffer suf i offrir-to offer j'offre offres offre offrons offrez offrent e i

4. Verbs that end in -yer: Change the y to an i in all forms except the nous and vous. Examples: nettoyer-to clean /netwaje/, payer-to pay /peje/, and essayer-to try /eseje/ envoyer-to send j'envoie envoies envoie v v v envoyez envoient v je v v v j je

envoyons

5. Verbs that double the consonant: Some verbs, including jeter-to throw all forms except the nous and vous. appeler-to call /aple/ j'appelle appelles appelle pl pl pl appelons appelez appellent pl /aple/ pl

te , double the consonant in

31. PRESENT PERFECT TENSE OR PASSE COMPOSE You have learned the present indicative so far, which expresses what happens, is happening, or does happen now; but if you want to say something happened, or has happened, you use the pass compos. The pass compos is used for actions that happened only once, a specified number of times or during a specified period of time, and as a result or consequence of another action. All you need to learn are the past participles of the verbs. Regular Verbs: Formation of the Past Participle -er -re -ir - -u -i

Then conjugate avoir and add the past participle: J'ai aim le concert. Tu as habit ici ? Nous avons fini le projet. I liked the concert. You lived here? We finished (or have finished) the project.

Il a rpondu au tlphone. He answered (or has answered) the telephone. Elles ont rempli les tasses. They filled (or have filled) the cups.

To make it negative, put the ne and pas around the conjugated form of avoir. Je n'ai pas aim le concert. Il n'a pas rpondu. Elles n'ont pas rempli les tasses. I didn't like the concert. He didn't answer (or hasn't answered). They didn't fill (or haven't filled) the glasses.

32. IRREGULAR PAST PARTICIPLES avoir connatre croire devoir dire crire tre faire lire mettre permettre promettre ouvrir offrir pouvoir prendre apprendre comprendre surprendre recevoir rire savoir voir vouloir to have to know to believe to have to to tell to write to be to do, make to read to put to permit to promise to open to offer to be able to to take to learn to understand to surprise to receive to laugh to know to see to want eu connu cru d dit crit t fait lu mis permis promis ouvert offert pu pris appris compris surpris reu ri su vu voulu i /sy/ /vy/ /vuly/ /y/ k n k /dy/ /di/ ek i /ete/ /ly/ /mi/ p mi p mi v /py/ p i p i k p i p i had known believed had to said written been made read put permitted promised opened offered was able to taken learned understood surprised received laughed known seen wanted

33. ETRE VERBS Seventeen so-called "house" verbs and all pronominal verbs are conjugated with tre, and they must agree in gender and number with the subject. Irregular past participles are highlighted. to go to arrive to go down to become to enter to go up to die to be born to leave aller arriver descendre devenir entrer monter mourir natre partir all / alle arriv / arrive descendu / descendue devenu / devenue entr / entre mont / monte mort / morte n / ne parti / partie to go by / pass to return home to stay to return to come back to go out to fall to come passer rentrer rester retourner revenir sortir tomber venir pass / passe rentr / rentre rest / reste retourn / retourne revenu / revenue sorti / sortie tomb / tombe venu / venue

A mnemonic device to remember these 17 verbs is DR & MRS P VANDERTRAMP. Each letter in the name corresponds to the first letter of the verbs. Five of these verbs (monter, descendre, sortir, rentrer, and passer) are conjugated with avoir if they are used with a direct object.

Je suis sortie. I went out. J'ai sorti la poubelle. I took the trash out. Conjugation of an tre verb Je suis rest(e) Tu es rest(e) Il est rest Elle est reste Nous sommes rest(e)s Vous tes rest(e)(s) Ils sont rests Elles sont restes

Add e for feminine and s for plural. Sometimes adding an -e causes the pronunciation to change, i.e. the preceding consonant that is silent in the masculine form is pronounced in the feminine form: Il est mort m vs. Elle est morte m t To form the negative, place ne...pas around the auxiliary verb: Je ne suis pas rest. Conjugation of a Pronominal Verb Je me suis amus(e) Tu t'es amus(e) Il s'est amus Elle s'est amuse Nous nous sommes amus(e)s Vous vous tes amus(e)(s) Ils se sont amuss Elles se sont amuses

To form the negative of pronominal verbs, place ne before the reflexive pronoun, and pas after the auxiliary verb: Je neme suis pas amus. There are only two cases with pronominal verbs where the past participle does not agree with the subject: 1. When the pronominal verb is followed by a direct object. Compare: Elles se sont laves, but: elles se sont lav les mains. 2. With verbs where the reflexive pronoun is an indirect object, such as se parler, se demander, se dire, s'crire, se sourire, and se tlphoner. Ils se sont tlphon.

34. FOOD AND MEALS / LA NOURRITURE ET LES REPAS Breakfast Lunch Dinner Cup Slice Bowl Glass Fork Spoon Knife Plate Napkin Ice cream Juice Fruit Cheese Chicken le petit djeuner le djeuner le dner la tasse la tranche le bol le verre la fourchette la cuillre le couteau l'assiette (f) la serviette la glace le jus le fruit le fromage le poulet i m p l v l p t kij /kuto/ jt vjt /glas/ v t t l pti e ne e ne /dine/ Egg Cake Pie Milk Coffee Butter Water Ham Fish Tea Salad Jam Meat French fries Beer Wine Sugar Soup l'uf (m) le gteau la tarte le lait le caf le beurre l'eau (f) le jambon le poisson le th la salade la confiture la viande les frites (f) la bire le vin le sucre le potage p /te/ /salad/ k it vj it j v k p t l /kafe/ /o/ to t t

Salt and Pepper le sel et le poivre

Cereal Oil Vinegar Yogurt

des crales l'huile (f) le vinaigre le yaourt

e e l il vin j t

Ketchup Mustard Mayonnaise Pasta

le ketchup la moutarde la mayonnaise des ptes

kt p m t m j n p t

In France, it is common to use djeuner to mean to have breakfast as well as to have lunch. In Canada, Belgium, and Switzerland, the meals are le djeuner, le dner, and le souper. The plural of un uf is des ufs, but fs is not pronounced: f vs. . Food is generally divided into two categories: sucr (sweet/sugary) and sal (savoury/salty).Le pain p is the general word for bread; if you want to specify white bread, use le pain de mie p d mi . Because the French eat dinner so late in the evening (8 pm), young children have l'heure de goter (snack time) after school. Le yaourt refers to fruit yogurts and sweet puddings and they are eaten as desserts in France. La glace is also a common dessert, and you can find several parfums p f (flavors). The word for scoops (of ice cream) is boules /bul/. Many restaurants now offer take out food options, which is called emporter (to take away). The opposite is sur place.

Listen to the les repas : le petit djeuner mp3 and try the cloze (fill-in-the-blank) exercise from French Listening Resources.

35. FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND MEAT fruit apple apricot banana blueberry cherry coconut date fig grape grapefruit lemon lime melon olive orange peach pear pineapple plum prune raisin raspberry strawberry vegetable artichoke asparagus beet un fruit une pomme un abricot une banane une myrtille une cerise une noix de coco une datte une figue un raisin un pamplemousse un citron un citron vert un melon une olive une orange une pche une poire un ananas une prune un pruneau un raisin sec une framboise une fraise un lgume un artichaut des asperges une betterave p tk /legym/ ti o p t v p p /ananas/ p n p no k i p m iko /banan/ mi tij i n /dat/ /fig/ p plm it it ml liv v koko corn cucumber eggplant lettuce mushroom onion peas pepper potato pumpkin rice spinach squash tomato turnip zucchini meat bacon beef chicken duck goat ham lamb liver meatballs pork chop rabbit hamburger le mas un concombre une aubergine la laitue un champignon un oignon les pois un piment une pomme de terre une citrouille le riz des pinards une courge une tomate un navet des courgettes la viande du lard, du bacon le uf le poulet le canard la chvre le jambon l'agneau (m) le foie des boulettes de viande une ctelette de porc le lapin le steak hach o /fwa/ lt vj kotlt p l p tk e /mais/ k k o in lt pi /pwa/ pim p m t it j i epin k t m t n v k vj l p l k n v ek n t

watermelon une pastque

broccoli cabbage carrot cauliflower celery

le brocoli un chou une carotte un chou-fleur un cleri k

k li t l l i

sausage dried sausage turkey veal venison

la saucisse le saucisson la dinde le veau le chevreuil

/sosis/ oi /vo/ v j

Lettuce can also be referred to as la salade verte.

36. TO TAKE, EAT OR DRINK Prendre - to take, eat or drink /p d/ prends prends prend p p p prenons prenez prennent p n p ne p n bois bois boit Boire - to drink / wa/ /bwa/ /bwa/ /bwa/ buvons buvez boivent v /buve/ /bwav/

Other verbs that are conjugated like prendre: apprendre understand and surprendre sy p d - to surprise

- to learn, comprendre kp

- to

When you want to say "I am having wine," the French translation is "Je prends du vin." You must use de and le, la, l', orles and the proper contractions (called partitives) because in French you must always express some. So "je prends de la bire" literally means "I am having some beer" even though in English we would usually only say I am having beer. Manger is a regular verb meaning "to eat," but manger is used in a general sense, such as Je mange du poulet tous les samedis. I eat chicken every Saturday. Boire is literally the verb to drink and is also used in a general sense only.Je bois du vin tout le temps. I drink wine all the time.

37. QUANTITIES assez de une assiette de beaucoup de une bote de une bouteille de un kilo de enough (of) a plate of a lot of a box of a bottle of a kilo of un morceau de un peu de une tasse de une tranche de trop de un verre de a piece of a little (bit) of a cup of a slice of too much, many a glass of une douzaine de un paquet de un panier de une poigne de plus de un bouquet de a dozen of a packet of a basket of a handful of more a bunch of

With quantities and negatives, you never use partitives. The construction is always de or d' + noun. Je voudrais prendre du fromage, mais pas de fruit. I would like to have some cheese, but no fruit. Il prend de la viande. He is eating some meat. Nous prenons du riz et des brocolis. We are having some rice and broccoli. Il y a trop de lait dans la tasse. There is too much milk in the cup. Je voudrais un morceau de tarte. I would like one piece of pie. Est-ce que je peux prendre un verre de vin ? May I have a glass of wine? Je prends du vin. I'm drinking some wine. Je ne prends pas de vin. I am not drinking any wine.

38. COMMANDS

Use the vous, tu and nous forms for commands. Vous form Tu form Nous form Polite and Plural Familiar Let's... Same as verb form Same as verb form, but drop -s for -er verbs Same as verb form Restez ! Regarde ! Allons-y ! Stay! Look/Watch! Let's go!

When using pronominal verbs as commands, the pronoun is placed after the verb connected by a hyphen. Tu te dpches becomes Dpche-toi ! And in negative commands, the pronoun precedes the verb, as in Ne nous reposons pas. Irregular Command Forms tre (be) tu nous vous sois soyons soyez /swa/ j /swaje/ tu nous vous avoir (have) aie ayons ayez j /aje/ tu nous vous savoir (know) sache sachons sachez e

Ne sois pas mchant avec ta sur ! Don't be mean to your sister! N'ayez pas peur ! Don't be afraid! Sachez que j'apprcie votre aide. Know that I appreciate your help.

39. MORE NEGATIVES

ne...plus ne...jamais ne...rien ne...aucun(e) ne...que ne...personne ne...ni...ni ne...nulle part

n...pl n... m n... j n...ok n...k n...p n...n l p n n...ni...ni n

no longer never nothing not a single one only nobody neither...nor nowhere

The que in ne...que is placed directly before the noun it limits. Rien and personne may be used as subjects: Personne n'est ici. Aucun(e) by definition is singular, so the verb and nouns must also be changed to the singular. With ni...ni, all articles are dropped except definite articles. Je n'ai ni camra ni camscope, but Je n'aime ni les chats ni les chiens. Il n'aime plus travailler. He no longer likes to work. (Or: He doesn't like to work anymore) Nous ne voulons faire des achats que lundi. We want to go shopping only on Monday. Elle ne dteste personne. She hates no one. (Or: She doesn't hate anyone.) Negatives with Pass Compos 1. Ne...pas, ne...plus, ne...jamais, and ne...rien Ne comes before auxiliary verb, and the other part is between auxiliary and past participle. Nous n'avons rien fait. We did nothing. Vous ne vous tes pas ennuys. You were not bored. 2. Ne...personne, ne...aucun, ne...ni...ni, ne...nulle part, and ne... que Ne comes before the auxiliary verb, but the other part is after the past participle. Il n'a cout personne. He listened to no one. Il n'a fait aucune faute. He made not a single mistake. * Use of ne ... pas de: In negative sentences, the partitives and indefinite articles become de before the noun (unless the verb is tre, then nothing changes.)

Partitive: Je prends du pain et du beurre. I'm having some bread and butter. Negative: Je ne prends pas de pain ou de beurre. I am not having any bread or butter. Indefinite: J'ai un chien. I have a dog. Negative: Je n'ai pas de chien. I don't have a dog. Verb is tre: C'est une chatte brune. It's a brown cat. Negative: Ce n'est pas une chatte brune. It's not a brown cat.

40. HOLIDAY PHRASES Merry Christmas Happy New Year Happy Thanksgiving Happy Thanksgiving (Canada) Happy Easter Happy Halloween Happy Valentine's Day Happy Birthday Happy Saint Day Happy Holidays Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve New Year's Eve Joyeux Nol Bonne Anne Joyeux Thanksgiving Bonne Action de grces Joyeuses Pques Bonne fte d'Halloween Joyeuse Saint-Valentin Bon Anniversaire Joyeux Anniversaire Bonne Fte Joyeuses Ftes le Rveillon la Saint-Sylvestre

If someone is named after a saint, you can wish them bonne fte on that saint's feast day. In Quebec, bonne fte is used for Happy Birthday. Listen to the les ftes : Nol en France mp3 and try the cloze (fill-in-the-blank) exercises from French Listening Resources.

The French National Anthem: La Marseillaise by Claude-Joseph Rouget de L'Isle Allons enfants de la Patrie, Le jour de gloire est arriv. Contre nous, de la tyrannie, L'tendard sanglant est lev, l'tendard sanglant est lev. Entendez-vous dans les campagnes Mugir ces farouches soldats. Ils viennent jusque dans nos bras gorger vos fils, vos compagnes. Aux armes citoyens! Formez vos bataillons, Marchons, marchons ! Qu'un sang impur Abreuve nos sillons. Amour sacr de la Patrie, Conduis, soutiens nos bras vengeurs. Libert, libert chrie, Combats avec tes dfenseurs; Sous nos drapeaux, que la victoire Accoure tes mles accents; Que tes ennemis expirants Voient ton triomphe et notre gloire !

Aux armes citoyens ! Formez vos bataillons, Marchons, marchons ! Qu'un sang impur Abreuve nos sillons. Ye sons of France, awake to glory, Hark, hark, what myriads bid you rise: Your children, wives and grandsires hoary, Behold their tears and hear their cries, see their tears and hear their cries! Shall hateful tyrants mischief breeding with hireling hosts, a ruffian band Affright and desolate the land, while peace and liberty lie bleeding? To arms, to arms, ye brave! Th'avenging sword unsheathe! March on! March on! All hearts resolved on victory or death. O sacred love of france, undying, Th'avenging arm uphold and guide Thy defenders, death defying, Fight with Freedom on their side. Soon thy sons shall be victorious When the banner high is raised; And thy dying enemies, amazed, Shall behold thy triumph, great and glorious. To arms, to arms, ye brave! Th'avenging sword unsheathe! March on! March on! All hearts resolved on victory or death.
Translation by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1st verse) and Mary Elizabeth Shaw (2nd verse) (This is not a literal translation.)

The Canadian National Anthem: O Canada O Canada, terre de nos aeux, Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux. Car ton bras sait porter l'pe, Il sait porter la croix. Ton histoire est une pope Des plus brillants exploits. Et ta valeur, de foi trempe, Protgera nos foyers et nos droits. O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love in all thy sons command. With glowing hearts we see thee rise, The True North strong and free! From far and wide, O Canada, We stand on guard for thee. God keep our land glorious and free! O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

The Belgian National Anthem: La Brabannone Noble Belgique, jamais terre chrie, toi nos curs, toi nos br s, Par le sang pur rpandu pour toi, Patrie! Nous le jurons d'un seul cri: tu vivras! Tu vivras toujours grande et belle Et ton invincible unit Aura pour devise immortelle Le Roi, la Loi, la Libert! Le Roi, la Loi, la Libert! La Libert! Noble Belgium, forever beloved land, Thine our hearts, thine our arms, By the pure blood shed for you Fatherland! We swear it in a single shout: thou shalt live!

Thou shalt live, ever great and beautiful And thy invincible unity Shall have for everlasting motto: The King, the Law, Liberty! The King, the Law, Liberty! Liberty!

The Swiss National Anthem: Cantique suisse by Charles Chatelanat Sur nos monts, quand le soleil Annonce un brillant rveil, Et prdit d'un plus beau jour le retour, Les beauts de la patrie Parlent l'me attendrie; Au ciel montent plus joyeux Les accents d'un cur pieux, Les ccents mus d'un cur pieux. Lorsqu'un doux rayon du soir Joue encore dans le bois noir, Le cur se sent plus heureux prs de Dieu. Loin des vains bruits de la plaine, L'me en paix est plus sereine, Au ciel montent plus joyeux Les accents d'un cur pieux, Les ccents mus d'un cur pieux. Lorsque dans la sombre nuit La foudre clate avec bruit, Notre cur pressent encore le Dieu fort; Dans l'orage et la dtresse Il est notre forteresse; Offrons-lui des coeurs pieux: Dieu nous bnira des cieux, Dieu nous bnira du haut des cieux. Des grands monts vient le secours; Suisse, espre en Dieu toujours! Garde la foi des aeux, Vis comme eux! Sur l'autel de la patrie Mets tes biens, ton cur, t vie! C'est le trsor prcieux Que Dieu bnira des cieux, Que Dieu bnira du haut des cieux.

Go on to French III

41. IMPERFECT TENSE This past tense corresponds to "was, were or used to." This tense is used for repeated, continuous, or ongoing actions; as well as for verbs that describe background and circumstances, such as weather, time, and physical, mental, and emotional states. (Use the pass compos for actions that happened once and are done.) Verbs that express mental and emotional states that are descriptive in nature are generally used in the imperfect more than the pass compos. These verbs are: aimer, avoir, croire, dtester, esprer, tre, penser, and prfrer. To form the stem, use the nous form of the present tense and drop the -ons. Then add these endings: -ais -ais -ions -iez j /je/

-ait

-aient

The only exception is tre for which you must use the stem t-, but still the same endings. Verb stems that end in -c must use a cedilla () under the c to make it soft. Verb stems ending in -g keep the e before all forms except nous and vous. tre tais tais tait commenais commenais commenait k m k m k m et et et commencer commencions commenciez commenaient k m j k m je k m mangeais mangeais mangeait m m m tions tiez taient etj /etje/ et manger mangions mangiez mangeaient m j m je m

Avoir, Devoir, Pouvoir, Savoir, and Vouloir These verbs change meanings, according to whether they are used in the imperfect or the pass compos. Imperfect avoir devoir pouvoir savoir vouloir j'avais je devais je pouvais je savais je voulais I had I was supposed to I was capable I knew I wanted to j'ai eu j'ai d j'ai pu je n'ai pas pu j'ai su j'ai voulu je n'ai pas voulu Pass Compos I got, received I must have, I had to (and did) I was able to (and did), succeeded I couldn't, failed I found out, discovered I tried, decided, insisted I refused

The imperfect tense is also used with these constructions: tre en train de + infinitive = to be in the middle of doing something J'tais en train d'tudier quand vous tes arrivs. I was (in the process of ) studying when you arrived.

tre sur le point de + infinitive = to be just about to do something J'tais sur le point de vous rappeler. aller + infinitive = going to do something J'allais sortir quand le tlphone a sonn. venir de + infinitive = to have just done something Je venais de manger, alors je n'avais plus faim. I had just eaten, so I wasn't hungry anymore. I was going to leave when the phone rang. I was just about to call you back.

42. PLACES / LES ENDROITS school bathroom locker drinking fountain store library office l'cole (f) les toilettes (f) le casier la fontaine le magasin la biblio(thque) le bureau m o ek l t lt tn i lij tk k je university bank train station airport telephone apartment hotel l'universit (f) la banque la gare l'aroport (m) le tlphone l'appartement (m) l'htel (m) e p tele n p tm otl niv ite k

stadium cafe cafeteria movie theater church museum pool countryside beach theater park restaurant hospital post office home city supermarket delicatessen

le stade le caf la caftria le cinma l'glise (f) le muse la piscine la campagne la plage le thtre le parc le restaurant l'hpital (m) la poste la maison la ville le supermarch la charcuterie

/stad/ /kafe/ k ete j /sinema/ /egliz/ /myze/ /pisin/ k p pl te t p k t pit l p t m /vil/ p m k t i e

village factory garden castle cathedral zoo bakery monument pharmacy butcher shop candy store police station town hall square bookstore grocery store pastry shop fish market

le village l'usine (f) le jardin le chteau la cathdrale le zoo la boulangerie le monument la pharmacie la boucherie la confiserie la gendarmerie la mairie la place la librairie l'picerie (f) la ptisserie la poissonnerie

vil /yzin/ to k te /zo/ l i m n m m i i k i i m() i m i /plas/ li i epi i p ti i p n i l

Nowadays, la mdiathque medj tk is replacing bibliothque because most libraries also have DVDs and CDs to lend, not just books. You may also hear la cantine k tin to refer to the cafeteria in a school. Listen to the les magasins : la boulangerie mp3 and try the cloze (fill-in-the-blank) exercise from French Listening Resources.

43. TRANSPORTATION by bike by bus by moped by car by motorcycle by subway on foot by plane by train by boat en vlo (m) en bus (m) en scooter (m) en voiture (f) en moto (f) en mtro (m) pied (m) en avion (m) en train (m) en bateau (m) k t v t moto met o /a pje/ n vj t bato/ velo

Instead of using a specific verb of movement (drive, fly, walk) before a location, French actually uses a more general verb + the location + the manner of movement. I walk to school. = Je vais l'cole pied. (I go to school on foot.) I'm flying to New York. = Je vais New York en avion. (I go to New York by plane.) Common slang words for car/automobile are une bagnole b l or une caisse ks . In Quebec, it's un char .

44. TO WANT & TO BE ABLE TO

vouloir vulw Present veux /v/ voulons veux /v/ voulez veut /v/ veulent v l /vule/ vl voulais voulais voulait

-to want and pouvoir puvw Imperfect v l v l v l voulions vouliez voulaient v lj /vulje/ v l p vj /puvje/ p v

- to be able to, can Future voudrai voudras voudra v v v p p p voudrons voudrez voudront v v v p p p e e

peux /p/ pouvons p v peux /p/ pouvez peut /p/ peuvent /puve/ pv

pouvais p v pouvais p v pouvait p v

pouvions pouviez pouvaient

pourrai pourras pourra

pourrons pourrez pourront

Voulez-vous? can mean Do you want? or Will you? The past participles are voulu and pu and both are conjugated with avoir. The conditional forms of vouloir are used in the expression "would like" i.e. I'd like = je voudrais, you'd like = tu voudrais, he'd/she'd like = il/elle voudrait, we'd like = nous voudrions, you'd like = vous voudriez, they'd like =ils/elles voudraient. You do not need to use pouvoir fter verbs th t involve the senses, such as voir (to see) and entendre (to hear). Je ne vois pas / Je n'entends pas can mean I don't see or I can't see / I don't hear or I can't hear depending on the context.

45. THE HOUSE AND YARD / LA MAISON ET LE JARDIN House Apartment Bedroom Hallway Kitchen Storeroom Stairs Floor Living Room Closet Room Ground Floor Dining Room Bathroom Terrace, patio Attic Chimney Roof Garage Driveway Sidewalk Porch Basement Cellar la maison l'appartement (m) la chambre le couloir la cuisine le dbarras l'escalier (m) l'tage (m) le living / le salon la penderie la pice le rez-de-chausse la salle manger la salle de bains la terrasse le grenier la chemine le toit le garage l'alle (f) le trottoir le porche le sous-sol la cave /kav/ /ale/ t t p l t t nje ()mine k l ki in e k lje et livi p pj oe l m e l i l m p tm Yard Shrub Lawn/grass Bush Tree Lawn mower Hose Watering can Rake Hoe Clippers Shovel Sprinkler Lock (door) Lock (bolt) Padlock Hinges Key Keychain Keyhole Doorknob Tile roofing Clapboard/Shingle Slate roofing le jardin l'arbuste (m) le gazon / la pelouse le buisson l'arbre (m) la tondeuse gazon le tuyau d'arrosage l'arrosoir (m) le rteau la bche le cisaille la pelle l'arroseur (m) la serrure le verrou le cadenas la charnire la cl le porte-cl le trou de la serrure la poigne de porte les tuiles (f) les bardeaux (m) l'ardoise (f) e v /kadna/ nj /kle/ p tkle e p til o e p t i j pl o t tijo o to o i t p()l

You may also see the words la loggia ld j (small room off a large room - sometimes like a pantry) and la veranda ve d (enclosed porch/balcony), as well as les toilettes tw lt (a separate room just for the toilet), for parts of a house or apartment. Listen to the le logement : dcrire son appartement mp3 and try the cloze (fill-in-theblank) exercise from French Listening Resources.

46. FURNITURE AND APPLIANCES / LES MEUBLES ET L'ELECTROMENAGER Furniture Shelf Desk Chair Dresser Curtain Curtain rod Shutters Blinds Window Bed Door Closet Rug Lamp Nightstand Answering machine Stereo Television VCR Computer Radio Fridge Refrigerator Freezer (Coffee) Table Sink Bathtub Stove Oven Dishwasher Microwave Shower Pillow Mirror Ceiling les meubles l'tagre (f) le bureau la chaise la commode le rideau la tringle les volets (m) les stores (m) la fentre le lit / le plumard la porte le placard le tapis la lampe la table de nuit le rpondeur la chane hi fi la tl(vision) le magntoscope l'ordinateur (m) la radio le frigo le rfrigrateur le conglateur la table (basse) l'vier (m) la baignoire la cuisinire le four le lave-vaisselle le four microondes la douche l'oreiller le miroir le plafond pl je mi l vv l mik o k m i o t l v l t nt li pl m p t pl k /tapi/ l p t l ni ep n i i televi j m et k p telek m in t jo i o e i e t k el t /tabl bas/ /evje/ ki inj m l et o Appliances Thermostat Fan Rocking chair Stool Cushion Carpet Blender Can opener Toaster Coffee maker Coffee press Kettle Sheet Blanket Mattress Bunkbeds Lightswitch Lampshade Faucet Drain/Piping Towel bar Laundry room Bleach Clothespin Washing Machine Clothes Dryer Iron Ironing board Hanger Vacuum Broom Dustpan Mop l'lectromnager le thermostat le ventilateur le fauteuil bascule le tabouret le coussin la moquette le mixeur l'ouvre-botes (m) le grille-pain la caftire le moulin caf la bouilloire le drap la couverture le matelas les lits superposs (m) l'interrupteur (m) l'abat-jour (m) le robinet la canalisation le porte-serviettes la buanderie la javel la pince linge la machine laver / le lave-linge le sche-linge le fer repasser la planche repasser le cintre l'aspirateur (m) le balai la pelle la serpillire in k n li vl /panje a l p l m in l ve l vl l pl t pi t l pl pij p e p e i j p t vjt k v t /matla/ li p po e te pt t k m kt t elkt ik mik v ijp k tj m l n k e j t elkt omen e t m t klim ti v til t otj k l

Air Conditioner le climatiseur

Mixer / Beater le batteur lectrique

Remote Control la tlcommande

Laundry basket le panier linge

Floor Armchair Clock Bedspread Vase Bathroom sink Futon couch

le plancher le fauteuil la pendule le couvre-lit le vase le lavabo le clic-clac

pl e otj p v /lavabo/ /klik klak/ l k v li

Garbage Garbage bag Garbage can Flyswatter Clothes Dryer Hair Dryer Couch/Sofa DVD Player

les ordures (f) le sac poubelle la poubelle la tapette mouche le schoir le sche-cheveux le canap / le sofa le lecteur de DVD p e e v /kanape/ lkt eve e kp l l

t pt m

Monte le son. / Baisse le son. Turn up the volume. / Turn down the volume. Allume la lumire. / Eteinds la tl. Turn on the light. / Turn off the television.

47. COMPARATIVES & SUPERLATIVES Comparatives aussi (adj or adv) que moins (adj or adv) que plus (adj or adv) que plus de (noun) que autant de (noun) que moins de (noun) que as (adj or adv) as less (adj or adv) than more (adj or adv) than more (noun) than as many (noun) as less (noun) than

Sample Sentences She is taller than Colette. I am smarter than you. Peter runs less quickly than me. The kitchen is as big as the living room. I have more books than she. We have as many cars as he. Elle est plus grande que Colette. Je suis plus intelligente que toi. Pierre court moins rapidement quemoi. La cuisine est aussi grande que le salon. J'ai plus de livres qu'elle. Nous avons autant de voitures que lui.

Verbs can also be compared with plus/aussi/moins (+ que): Il travaille moins qu'elle. He works less than she. Ils dorment plus. They sleep more. Superlatives Simply add le, la or les before the comparative if you are using an adjective. With adverbs, always use le. After a superlative, de is used to mean in. If the adjective follows the noun, the superlative follows the noun also, surrounding the adjective. Sample Sentences It's the biggest city in the world. She is the most beautiful woman in this room. This neighborhood is the least expensive in Paris. It's the most dreaded punishment in the world. C'est la plus grande ville du monde. Elle est la plus belle femme de cette salle. Ce quartier est le moins cher de Paris. C'est la punition la plus redoutabledu monde.

She works the most courageously of everyone.

Elle travaille le plus courageusement de tous.

In French, sometimes you don't use any articles, as compared to English: Plus a change, plus c'est la mme chose. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

48. IRREGULAR FORMS Adjective bon mauvais petit good bad small Adverb bien beaucoup mal peu well much badly little Comparative meilleur/e pire moindre better worse less Superlative le/la meilleur/e le/la pire le/la moindre best worst least

Comparative mieux plus pis moins better more worse less le mieux le plus le pis le moins

Superlative best most worst least

Only use the irregular forms of mauvais in the abstract sense. If the idea is concrete, you may use plus/moins mauvais and le/la mauvais.

49. CLOTHING / LES VETEMENTS pajamas jewelry necklace jeans pants sweater turtleneck raincoat blouse bra slip coat tennis shoes swimsuit shorts bracelet charm t-shirt hat ring chain earrings le pyjama le bijou le collier le jean le pantalon le pull le col roul l'impermable (m) le chemisier le soutien-gorge le jupon le manteau des tennis (m) le maillot de bain le short le bracelet le porte-bonheur le tee-shirt le chapeau la bague la chanette les boucles d'oreilles (f) boxer shorts briefs panties tuxedo bowtie vest/cardigan flip flops sleeve pocket decorative scarf man's suit woman's suit slippers jacket underwear gloves mittens belt cap skirt dress sandal le caleon le slip la culotte le smoking le nud papillon le gilet les tongs la manche la poche la foulard le costume le tailleur des pantoufles (f) le blouson les sous-vtements les gants (m) les moufles (f) la ceinture la casquette la jupe la robe la sandale

pin sock shoe man's shirt hooded jacket sneakers track suit size (clothes)

l'pingle (f) la chaussette la chaussure la chemise l'anorak des baskets le jogging la taille

boots blazer/coat scarf tie slipper shoes high heels long shorts size (shoes)

des bottes (f) la veste l'charpe (f) la cravate des chaussons des escarpins le bermuda la pointure

Les bas (stockings) and les collants (tights) are popular in France. Chaussures talons hauts are high-heeled shoes, while chaussures talons plats are flat shoes. Chaussures de ville are dress shoes. A slang word forclothes is les fringues.

50. TO WEAR Mettre /mt/ - to put, to put on, wear Present mets mets met m m m mettons mettez mettent mt mte mt mettais mettais mettait Imperfect mt mt mt mettions mettiez mtj mtje mettrai mt mettras mt mettra mt Future mettrons mettrez mettront mt mt e mt

mettaient mt

Other verbs that are conjugated like mettre: promettre - to promise and permettre - to permit. The past participle of mettre is mis and it is conjugated with avoir. Porter is actually the verb to wear, but the French use mettre also. Il / Elle te va bien. Il / Elle vous va bien. Ils / Elles te vont bien. Ils / Elles vous vont bien. It looks good on you. (informal) It looks good on you. (formal) They look good on you. (informal) They look good on you. (formal)

51. FUTURE TENSES: SIMPLE AND ANTERIOR The futur simple expresses an action that will take place [will + infinitive]. The futur antrieur expresses an action that will have taken place before another future action [will have + past participle]. The future tense is used just like it is in English, however, in French, the future is always used after quand or lorsque (when), ds que or aussitt que (as soon as) and tant que (as long as.) To form the future tense, use the infinitive and add these endings that resemble those of avoir. However, you drop the -e from -re verbs. -ai -as -a /a/ /a/ -ons -ez -ont /e/

parler parlerai parleras parlera parlerons parlerez parleront choisirai choisiras choisira

choisir choisirons choisirez choisiront perdrai perdras perdra

perdre perdrons perdrez perdront

And of course, there are exceptions. Here are the irregular stems for the future tense (these will also be used in the conditional tense): Irregular Stems aller avoir courir devoir envoyer tre faire falloir mourir iraurcourrdevrenverrserferfaudrmourrpleuvoir pouvoir recevoir savoir tenir valoir venir voir vouloir pleuvrpourrrecevrsaurtiendrvaudrviendrverrvoudr-

tre serai seras sera serons serez seront j'irai iras ira

aller irons irez iront

Other exceptions: For appeler and jeter, double the consonant. For nettoyer and payer, change the y to i. For acheter, add an accent grave. For prfrer, the accents all remain the same. jeter jetterai jetteras jettera jetterons jetterez jetteront paierai paieras paiera payer paierons paierez paieront acheter achterai achteras achtera achterons achterez achteront prfrer prfrerai prfreras prfrera prfrerons prfrerez prfreront

To form the futur antrieur (will have + past participle), use the future of either avoir or tre (whichever the main verb takes) and the past participle of the main verb. Quand ils reviendront, ils auront chang. When they come back, they will have changed. Ds qu'ils seront revenus, ils voudront repartir. As soon as they have returned, they will want to leave again.

52. PRECEDING & PLURAL ADJECTIVES Masculine Adjective beautiful good dear crazy nice big large young pretty Singular beau (bel) bon cher fou (fol) gentil grand gros jeune joli Plural beaux bons chers foux gentils grands gros jeunes jolis Singular belle bonne chre folle gentille grande grosse jeune jolie Feminine Plural belles bonnes chres folles gentilles grandes grosses jeunes jolies

long bad better, best soft new little old

long mauvais meilleur mou (mol) nouveau (nouvel) petit vieux (vieil)

longs mauvais meilleurs moux nouveaux petits vieux

longue mauvaise meilleure molle nouvelle petite vieille

longues mauvaises meilleures molles nouvelles petites vieilles

The masculine singular and plural are pronounced the same, as are the feminine singular and plural. These are the most common adjectives that go before the noun. An acronym to remember which ones go before the noun is BRAGS: Beauty, Resemblance (mme and autre), Age/Order (premier and dernier), Goodness, and Size. All other adjectives, except numbers, go after the noun. The five words in parentheses (bel, fol, mol, nouvel, and vieil) are used before masculine singular words beginning with a vowel or a silent h. A few adjectives can be used before or after the noun, and the meaning changes accordingly. When used before the noun, they take a figurative meaning; and when used after, they take a literal meaning. Before plural adjectives preceding plural nouns, you use de instead of des to mean some. Ex: Some old monuments. De vieux monuments.

53. ADJECTIVES: FORMATION OF FEMININE Almost all adjectives must agree in number and gender with the noun they modify. Most adjectives are given in the masculine form, so to change to the feminine forms, follow these rules: Masculine Add -e If it already ends in -e, add nothing -x changes to -se brun fatigu jeune gnreux Exceptions: faux roux doux -il, -el, and -eil change to -ille, -elle, and -eille -et changes to -te naturel inquiet Exceptions: muet coquet -en and -on change to -enne and -onne -er changes to -re -f changes to -ve -c changes to -che Italien cher actif blanc Exceptions: public grec -g changes to -gue -eur changes to -euse if adjective is derived from verb long menteur Feminine brune fatigue jeune gnreuse fausse rousse douce naturelle inquite muette coquette Italienne chre active blanche publique grecque longue menteuse tired young generous false red (hair) sweet, soft natural worried silent stylish Italian dear, expensive active white public Greek long liar Adjective brown

-eur changes to -rice if adjective is not same as verb -eur changes to -eure with adjectives of comparison And a few completely irregular ones:

crateur infrieur pais favori frais

cratrice infrieure paisse favorite frache

creator inferior thick favorite fresh, cool

54. FORMING PLURALS: ADJECTIVES To form the feminine plural, just add an -s, unless it already ends in an s, then add nothing. To form the masculine plural, just add an -s, except in these cases: -al becomes -aux (exceptions: banal banals; final - finals); and if it ends in an x or s already, add nothing. Masculine Singular national general national general national gnral Feminine Singular nationale gnrale Masculine Plural nationaux gnraux Feminine Plural nationales gnrales

And of course there are more exceptions... some adjectives are invariable and do not have feminine or plural forms. Compound adjectives, such as bleu clair (light blue) and vert fonc (dark green), adjectives that are also nouns, such as or (gold), argent (silver), marron (chestnut), and the words chic (stylish), bon march or meilleur march(inexpensive) never change.

55. MORE ADJECTIVES short (length) loud, noisy elegant tight, narrow several pointed bright cute perfect ready sad clever lazy generous famous decorated court/e bruyant/e lgant/e troit/e plusieurs pointu/e vif/vive mignon/ne parfait/e prt/e triste malin/maligne paresseux/euse gnreux/euse clbre dcor/e different situated big curious nervous only amusing touching funny heavy careful dirty tired angry annoyed old diffrent/e situ/e gros/se curieux/euse nerveux/euse seul/e amusant/e mouvant/e drle, marrant/e lourd/e prudent/e sale fatigu/e fch/e irrit/e g/e boring crazy interesting sensitive athletic stubborn shy hard-working optimistic pessimistic tolerant pretentious ambitious pleasant enthusiastic honest ennuyeux/euse fou/folle intressant/e sensible sportif/sportive ttu/e timide travailleur/euse optimiste pessimiste tolrant/e prtentieux/euse ambitieux/se agrable enthousiaste honnte

Remember the first word is the masculine and the second is the feminine. The addition of an e for the feminine form allows the last consonant to be voiced. These adjectives go after the noun.

Normally, the verb rendre means to give something that you owe to someone, such as On rend ses devoirs au professeur. It can also be used in the sense of to represent. But rendre + adjective means to make someone or something + adjective. Tu me rends si heureuse ! You make me so happy! Le fait qu'il ne possde pas de voiture le rend triste. The fact that he doesn't have a car makes him sad. Some common slang adjectives that are used constantly in everyday speech: chouette con / conne dbile dgueu(lasse) extra gnial impec great, good stupid, dumb idiotic disgusting, bad extraordinary very interesting perfect minable moche sensass super sympa tarte tocard mediocre ugly, unpleasant sensational marvellous nice, pleasant inane ridiculous, deplorable

The intensifiers vachement and drlement are also used often, meaning very or really. Il est vachement sympa. = He is really nice. Elle est drlement triste. = She is very sad. Listen to the le caractre : une jeune fille trs heureuse mp3 and try the cloze (fill-inthe-blank) exercise from French Listening Resources.

56. PROBLEM VERBS Some verbs in French present problems because they have several translations in English. Other verbs can have several translations in French, but fewer meanings in English. visiter - to visit places rendre visite - to visit people apporter - to bring things to some place emporter - to take things from some place amener - to bring someone to some place emmener - to take someone from some place apprendre quelque chose - to learn something apprendre quelque chose quelqu'un - to teach someone something rencontrer - to meet faire la connaissance de - to meet someone for the first time retrouver - to meet (for an appointment) partir - to leave (from or for a place) quitter - to leave (a person or place) sortir - to go out s'en aller - to go away laisser - to leave something behind retourner - to go back (to where speaker is not) revenir - to come back (to where speaker currently is) rentrer - to come or go home rendre - to return or give something back faire - to make fabriquer - to produce obliger - to make someone do something rendre - to make someone + adjective

 After some verbs, the word ne is required, but this does not imply negation: craindre, redoter, empcher Je crains qu'il ne fasse trop froid. I'm afraid that it's too cold. And few verbs only require ne and not pas in the negative, but this is elevated or literary language: cesser, oser, pouvoir, savoir Je ne peux vivre sans toi. I cannot live without you.

57. C'EST / IL EST + ADJECTIVE + A / DE + INFINITIVE C'est + adjective + + infinitive is used when the idea has already been mentioned; while il est + adjective + de + infinitive is used when the idea has not yet been mentioned. Also, the c'est construction is used when you do not use a direct object after the infinitive of the transitive verb, and the il est construction is used when you do. Est-ce qu'on peut apprendre le chinois en un an ? Can you learn Chinese in one year? Non, c'est impossible apprendre en un an ! No, it's impossible to learn in one year! (The idea, Chinese, has already been mentioned, and there is no direct object.) OR: Non, il est impossible d'apprendre le chinois en un an ! (This sentence contains the direct object after the infinitive.) Il est facile d'apprendre l'italien. It is easy to learn Italian. (The idea has not already been mentioned, and the direct object is used.) Adjectives th t express cert in emotion require de before the infinitive: content, dsol, furieux, heureux, triste Je suis contente de vous voir. I am happy to see you. Other djectives require before the infinitive: agrable, pnible, terrible, amusant, intressant, ennuyeux, lger, lourd, lent, rapide, premier, dernier, prt, seul Il est prt partir. He is ready to leave. A longer list of adjectives that require or de before an infinitive can be found at 91. on French V. In ddition, when quelque chose is followed by an adjective, de is inserted between the two. quelque chose d'intressant = something interesting

58. SPORTS & INSTRUMENTS Soccer Hockey Football Basketball Baseball Horse-back riding Tennis Skiing Volleyball Wrestling Jogging Ice-skating Swimming Track and Field Bowling le football le hockey le football amricain le basket le base-ball l'quitation; du cheval le tennis le ski le volley la lutte / le catch le jogging le patin glace la natation l'athltisme le bowling Softball Golf Bicycling Surfing Dirt/Motor biking French horn violin guitar drum tuba flute trombone clarinet cello harp le softball le golf le vlo le surf le bicross le cor d'harmonie le violon la guitare le tambour le tuba la flte le trombone la clarinette le violoncelle la harpe

La lutte is regular wrestling (the real Greco-Roman sport), while le catch is professional/fake wrestling. Faire de + a sport means to play. Jouer + a sport also means to play, as does jouer de + an instrument.

Tu fais du foot. You play soccer. J'aime jouer au tennis. I like to play tennis. Je peux jouer de la guitare. I can play the guitar. Nous jouons de la clarinette. We play the clarinet. Il veut jouer du tuba. He wants to play the tuba. Listen to the les sports: la ptanque mp3 and try the cloze (fill-in-the-blank) exercise from French Listening Resources.

59. NATURE air archipelago bank bay barn beach branch bridge bud bush cape cave city climate cloud coast comet country current daffodil daisy darkness desert dew dust earth east farm field flower foam fog foliage forest l'air (m) l'archipel (m) la rive la baie la grange la plage la branche le pont le bouton le buisson le cap la caverne la ville le climat le nuage la cte la comte le pays le courant la jonquille la marguerite l'obscurit (f) le dsert la rose la poussire la terre l'est (m) la ferme le champ la fleur l'cume (f) le brouillard le feuillage la fort frost grass gulf hail hay high tide hill ice island isthmus jungle lake leaf light lightning lily low tide moon mountain mouth (river) mud nature north peninsula plain planet plant pond rain rainbow river rock root la gele l'herbe (f) le golfe la grle le foin la mare haute la colline la glace I'le (f) l'isthme la jungle le lac la feuille la lumire l'clair (m) le lis la mare basse le pr la lune la montagne l'embouchure (f) la vase la nature le nord la pninsule la plaine la plante la plante l'tang (m) la pluie l'arc-en-ciel (m) le fleuve le rocher la racine rose sand sea shadow sky snow soil south star stem storm strait stream street sun sunflower thaw thunder tornado trunk tulip valley view water fresh water salt water waterfall wave weather west wind world la rose le sable la mer l'ombre (f) le ciel la neige la terre le sud l'toile (f) la tige l'orage (f) / la tempte le dtroit le ruisseau la rue le soleil le tournesol la fonte le tonnerre la tornade l'arbre (m) le tronc la tulipe la valle la vue l'eau (f) l'eau douce l'eau sale la cascade la vague / l'onde (f) le temps l'ouest (m) le vent le monde

spring (water) la source

constellation la constellation meadow country(side) la campagne

mountain range la chane de montagnes tree

watering can l'arrosoir (m)

pot (for plants) le pot de fleurs

60. TO LIVE

vivre - to live, be alive (vee-vruh) Present vivons vivez vivent Imperfect vivions viviez vivaient Future vivrons vivrez vivront

vis vis vit

vivais vivais vivait

vivrai vivras vivra

The past participle of vivre is vcu and it is conjugated with avoir. Habiter is another verb that means to live, but it means to live in a place. Vivre is used to mean the state of being alive. A subjunctive form of vivre, vive, is often used in exclamations. Vive la France ! Long live France!

Go on to French IV 61. PERSONAL PRONOUNS Subject je tu il elle nous vous ils elles I you he she we you they they me te le la nous vous les les Direct Object me you him her us you them them me te lui lui nous vous leur leur Indirect Object to me to you to him to her to us to you to them to them moi toi lui elle nous vous eux elles Disjunctives me you him her us you them them

You have already learned the subject pronouns. They go before the conjugated verb forms. The Direct and Indirect Object pronouns go before the verb even though in English they go after it. They also go after the ne in a negative sentence and right before the verb. The disjunctive always go after prepositions, or can be used alone for emphasis. Sample Sentences: J'achte des pantalons. Je les achte. Je vous donne la bote. Je vous la donne. Aprs toi. Nous allons avec elle. Il ne la quitte pas. Il la quitte. Je t'aime. or Je vous aime. Elle ne l'aime pas. I buy some pants. I buy them. I give the box to you. I give it to you. After you. (familiar) We go with her. He doesn't leave her. He leaves her. I love you. She doesn't love him.

When you have more than one pronoun; me, te, nous, or vous come first, then le, la, or les, then lui or leur. Me, te, le,and la contract to m', t', and l' when they precede a vowel, the same way je does. In commands, the pronouns go after the verb, connected with a hyphen. And the pronoun order changes a little too: Le, la, or les come first; then moi, toi,(Me and te become moi and toi in commands) nous, or vous; then lui, or leur. If you have pronouns, they go before the complete verb in regular sentences; but after the ne and before the form ofavoir in negative sentences. Nous lui avons parl. We spoke to him/her.

Vous en avez cout trois. Je t'ai demand du pain. Il ne l'a pas aim. Tu n'y as pas habit. Je ne vous ai pas parl. Nous ne l'avons pas fini.

You've listened to three of them. I asked you for some bread. He didn't like it/her/him. You didn't live there. I didn't speak (or haven't spoken) to you. We didn't finish (or haven't finished) it.

In the pass compos with avoir, direct object pronouns only must agree in gender and number with the past participle. Je les ai aims. Il l'a regarde. Elles nous ont cout(e)s. I liked them. He watched her. They listened to us.

Add an e if the pronoun is feminine, and an s if it is plural. The l' could mean him or her, so you might not need to put the extra e on the past participle. The same for nous and vous. They must have an s because they are plural, but it is unclear as to whether they are masculine or feminine.

62. PARTS OF THE BODY / LES PARTIES DU CORPS Standard French head hair face forehead cheek ear eye/s beard mustache mouth lip nose tongue tooth neck eyebrows eyelashes chin throat skin blood bone shoulder chest waist belly button back heart lungs la tte les cheveux la figure / le visage / la face le front la joue l'oreille l'il / les yeux la barbe la moustache la bouche la lvre le nez la langue la dent le cou les sourcils les cils le menton la gorge la peau le sang l'os l'paule la poitrine la taille le nombril le dos le ur les poumons les crocs le blair / le pif la gueule / la bote les esgourdes les mirettes la barbouse Slang la caboche / le crne les tifs

brain liver kidney bladder rib arm elbow wrist fist hand fingers stomach / belly butt body hip leg knee foot toes ankle thigh shin calf thumb nails tattoo piercing blond brunette red-head light brown

le cerveau le foie le rein la vessie la cte le bras le coude le poignet le poing la main les doigts l'estomac / le ventre les fesses le corps la hanche la jambe le genou le pied les orteils la cheville la cuisse le tibia le mollet le pouce les ongles le tatouage le piercing blond/e brun/e roux/rousse chtain le penard / les arpions le buffet / le bide les miches

To s y something hurts or th t you h ve n che, you c n use avoir mal (body part): J'ai mal la tte. I have a headache. J'ai mal l'estomac. I have a stomach ache. Elle a mal au bras. Her arm hurts. Tu as mal au genou? Your knee hurts? Il a mal aux orteils. His toes hurt. However, if someone is causing you pain, use faire mal (to hurt) plus the indirect pronoun. Tu me fais mal. You're hurting me. Ne lui faites pas mal. Don't hurt him / her. When describing h ir color or eye color, you use blonds, chtain, bruns, roux for hair; and bleus, verts, marron, noirs for eyes. Notice that chtain and marron do not agree in gender or number. Elle a les cheveux roux. Elle est rousse. She has red hair. She is a red-head. Il a les yeux marron. He has brown eyes. Combien msures-tu ? / Combien fais-tu ? How tall are you? Combien pses-tu ? How much do you weigh? Je fais 1m60. I am 1 m 60 cm. Je pse 50 kilos. I weigh 50 kilos.

Listen to the l'apparence physique : un copain moi mp3 and try the cloze (fill-in-theblank) exercise from French Listening Resources.

63. ASKING QUESTIONS

1) Invert the subject and verb form and add a hyphen. Instead of Vous parlez anglais? use Parlez-vous anglais? But if you invert il, elle, or on, you must put a t between the verb form (if it ends in a vowel) and the subject for ease of pronunciation. Parle-il anglais? is incorrect and must become Parle-t-il anglais? And je is usually only inverted with pouvoir or devoir. However, if je is inverted with pouvoir, you don't use peux, but puis. Puis-je ? (pweezh) is Can I? 2) Add n'est-ce pas ? (ness pah) to the end of the sentence. It is equivalent to isn't it, don't you, aren't we, won't you, etc. 3) If the question requires a yes or no answer, put Est-ce que (ess kuh) at the beginning. It contracts to Est-ce qu'before a word beginning with a vowel, such as elle, il or on. You can also use interrogative words (quand, comment, o, etc.) at the beginning of the sentence and then add est-ce que. 4) With interrogative words, you can also use inversion: Quand tes parents partent-ils en vacances ? Or you can use an interrogative with est-ce que and normal word order: Pourquoi est-ce que vous tes ici ? 5) Quel / Quelle / Quels / Quelles (which, what) agrees with the noun it modifies. It precedes the noun or the verb tre, it may follow a preposition, and it can be used with inversion or with est-ce que. Quelle est la date ? A quelle heure partez-vous ? Quels bagages est-ce que vous prenez ? Notice that the forms of quel can also be used in exclamatory sentences. Quel beau jour ! / Quelle belle journe ! What a beautiful day! 6) With negative questions, negative expressions remain in their usual place (i.e. around the verb, or verb and subject if inverted). Tu ne travailles pas ? Est-ce que te ne travailles pas ? Ne travaillestu pas ? Pourquoi n'as-tu pastravaill ? Asking Questions with the Pass Compos Only the auxiliary verb (avoir or tre) and the subject pronoun are inverted. The past participle follows. A-t-il t surpris ? Was he surprised? T'es-tu amus ? Did you have fun?

64. INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS

To ask about people: Long Form Subject Direct Object Object of Preposition Qui est-ce qui Qui est-ce qui est venu? Qui est-ce que Qui est-ce que tu as vu? Preposition + qui est-ce que A qui est-ce que tu as parl? Short Form Qui Qui est venu? Qui Qui as-tu vu? Preposition + qui A qui as-tu parl? Translation Who came? Whom did you see? Whom did you speak to?

To ask about things: Long Form Subject Direct Object Qu'est-ce qui Qu'est-ce qui est arriv? Qu'est-ce que Qu'est-ce que tu as fait? Short Form No short form Que Qu'as-tu fait? Translation What happened? What did you do?

Object of Preposition

Preposition + quoi est-ce que De quoi est-ce que tu as parl?

Preposition + quoi What did you talk about? De quoi as-tu parl?

Use of Inversion when Subject is Noun: a. With qui and quoi, inversion pattern is regular. Qui Marie a-t-elle vu? Whom did Marie see? De quoi Marc a-t-il besoin? What does Marc need? b. With que, the noun subject must be inverted directly. Que veut Jean? What does Jean want? Que font les autres? What are the others doing? c. However, if the sentence contains more than a subject and verb, or if the verb is in a compound tense (such as the pass compos), the short form is not used. Qu'est-ce que Luc veut faire aujourd'hui? What does Luc want to do today? Qu'est-ce que les autres ont fait? What did the others do? Verb Agreement: a. Interrogative pronouns are usually masculine singular. Les voitures font du bruit. Qu'est-ce qui fait du bruit? Cars make noise. What makes noise? Les enfants sont arrivs. Qui est arriv? The children arrived. Who arrived? b. Exception: when qui is followed by a conjugated form of tre, the verbs agrees with the noun that follows. Qui taient Les Trois Mousquetaires? Who were the three Musketeers? Qu'est-ce que (or qui) vs. Quel: a. Qu'est-ce que c'est que is used to ask for a definition, and quel asks for specific information. Qu'est-ce que c'est que le camembert? What is "camembert"? Quel est le problme? What is the problem? b. When followed by a conjugated form of tre, quel is used if tre is followed by a noun and qu'est-ce qui is used if tre is followed by anything other than a noun. Quelle est la date? What is the date? Qu'est-ce qui est bon? What is good? Written vs. Spoken French with Questions In spoken French, inversion and the use of est-ce que are usually dropped, but they must be used in written French. Additionally, some forms are contracted or the word order may differ. It's also very common to use qui c'est qui in place of qui or qui est-ce qui. Written forms Parlez-vous franais ? Est-ce que vous parlez franais ? Comment l'avez-vous appris ? Comment est-ce que vous l'avez appris ? Quand es-tu arriv ? Quand est-ce que tu es arriv ? De quoi parlent-ils ? De quoi est-ce qu'ils parlent ? Pourquoi me regardes-tu ? Pourquoi est-ce que tu me regardes ? Qui t'a dit a ? Qui est-ce qui t'a dit a ? Spoken forms Vous parlez franais ? Vous l'avez appris comment ? Quand t'es arriv ? T 'es arriv quand ? De quoi ils parlent ? Ils parlent de quoi ? Pourquoi tu me regardes ? Qui c'est qui t'a dit a? Translation Do you speak French? How did you learn it? When did you arrive? What are they talking about? Why are you looking at me? Who told you that?

65. FORMS OF LEQUEL Lequel is a pronoun that replaces the adjective quel and the noun it modifies. It expresses Which one? as a question, but which in a statement (usually preceded by a preposition).

Adjective Singular Masculine Quel livre lis-tu? Feminine Plural Quels livres lis-tu? Singular

Pronoun Plural Lesquels lis-tu?

Lequel lis-tu?

Quelle page lis-tu? Quelles pages lis-tu? Laquelle lis-tu? Lesquelles lis-tu?

Lequel contracts with and de in the plural and masculine singular forms: Singular Masculine + lequel = auquel de + lequel = duquel + laquelle = laquelle de + laquelle = de laquelle Plural + lesquels = auxquels de + lesquels = desquels + lesquelles = auxquelles de + lesquelles = desquelles

Feminine

Voil le portrait sans retouche de l'homme auquel j'appartiens. - That's the unaltered portrait of the man to which I belong. [Edith Piaf - La Vie en Rose] Et des amours desquelles nous parlons. - And the loves about which we talk. [by Jean-Denis Bredin] You c n lso use nother preposition + form of lequel to translate preposition + which: on which, to which, in which, etc. La table sur laquelle j'ai mis la bouteille est l-bas. - The table on which I put the bottle is over there. Le btiment dans lequel j'habite est trs vieux. - The building in which I live is very old.

66. RELATIVE PRONOUNS Relative pronouns join sentences together. These words signal a relative clause which explains the noun, called the antecedent. If the relative pronoun is the subject of the clause (a verb immediately follows), use qui. If the relative pronoun is the direct object of the clause (subject + verb follows), use que. If the verb of the dependent clause requires the preposition de, use dont to replace it. Also use dont to mean whose. Qui, que, and dont can all mean that or who, depending on the sentence. If the antecedent is a place or time, use o to mean where or when. When there is no specific antecedent, ce is added as an artificial one before que, qui or dont; but it can refer to only things, not people. Ce qui, ce que and ce dont generally mean what. Je mange des choses qui sont bonnes. Je mange des choses que j'aime. C'est ce que je disais. La femme dont le mari est mort... Voici ce dont j'ai besoin. C'est un restaurant o on sert du poisson. I eat things that are good. I eat things that I like. That's what I said. qui is subject que is object no antecedent

The woman whose husband is dead... whose Here is what I need. It's a restaurant where they serve fish. avoir besoin is followed by de restaurant is a place

Dont can also be translated as including or of which. Sept morts, dont 6 civils, dans l'attentat. Seven dead, including six civilians, in the attack. After verbs of decl r tion or opinion (dire, ffirmer, prtendre, jurer, dcl rer, reconn tre, vouer, penser, croire), you do not need to use a relative pronoun or to repeat the subject. As long as the subject is the same in both clauses, you can replace que + subject + conjugated verb with the infinitive. Je pense que je peux le faire. = Je pense pouvoir le faire. I think that I can do it. Elle dit qu'elle le connais. = Elle dit le connatre. She says that she knows him. Vous avouez que vous avez menti. = Vous avouez avoir menti. You admit that you lied.

67. DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS Demonstrative pronouns translate to the one(s), or that/those when replacing a noun. There are four forms, but they are not often used alone. De, qui, que, dont and -ci or -l usually follow them. Masc. Singular Plural celui ceux Fem. celle celles

Donnez-moi mon billet et celui de Guillaume. Give me my ticket and William's. (or: the one of William) Il porte ses propres livres et ceux de s sur. He is carrying his own books and his sister's. (or: those of his sister) Quelles fleurs aimes-tu, celles-ci ou celles-l? Which flowers do you like, these (ones) or those (ones)? Ceux qui travaillent dur russissent. Those who work hard succeed. C'est celui dont je parle. That's the one I'm talking about. The indefinite demonstrative pronouns ceci (this), cela (that) and a (this/that) refer to indefinite things or ideas. J'aime a. I like that. Prenez ceci. Take this.

68. TO READ, TO SAY / TELL, & TO LAUGH lire-to read lis lis lit lisons lisez lisent dis dis dit dire-to say/tell disons dites disent ris ris rit rire-to laugh rions riez rient

The past participles are: lu, dit and ri, and all three are conjugated with avoir.

69. DISJUNCTIVE PRONOUNS 1. As mentioned above, disjunctives are mostly used after prepositions and can only replace people, not things. However, if the preposition is , there are two possible rules: + person = indirect pronoun + person + = disjunctive pronoun, in these cases: se fier s'habituer s'intresser penser rver to trust to get used to to be interested in to think about to dream about

2. They can also be used alone, to emphasize a subject, with tre (to belong to) or in compound subjects. Moi, j'ai faim. Me, I am hungry. Ses amis et lui, ils aiment manger. His friends and he, they like to eat. Ce livre est moi ! That book is mine! 3. They can be added to -mme to mean -self. elle-mme = herself 4. They are also used with ne...que.

Ce n'est que lui. It's only him.

70. Y & EN Y and en are both pronouns that go before the verb. Y (ee) means it or there. En (awn) means some or some (of them),or of it. They replace prepositional phrases. In French, the phrases will begin with (or any contraction of it), en, sur, sous, chez, devant, derrire, dans, etc. for y; and de (or any contraction of it) or a number for en. They cannot replace people unless the person is introduced with an indefinite article, partitive, number or quantity. Sometimes y anden have no direct translation in English. Remember that they go before the verb, except in a command, in which they follow the verb and are connected with a hyphen. The -er verbs also add the -s they lost when forming the you (familiar) command. Sample Sentences Do you want some apples? Do you want some? I have three sisters. I have three (of them). It is in the drawer It is there. I am going to Detroit. I am going there. I am going to go to Atlanta. I am going to go there. Answer the telephone! Answer it! (formal) Stay there! (familiar) Don't stay there! (familiar) Voulez-vous des pommes? En voulez-vous? J'ai trois surs. J'en ai trois. Il est dans le tiroir. Il y est. Je vais Dtroit. J'y vais. Je vais aller Atlanta. Je vais y aller. Rpondez au tlphone ! Rpondez-y ! Restes-y ! N'y reste pas.

Y and en can also replace a phrase or clause, especially with verbs that require or de after them: I think a lot about these stories. I think about them a lot. He obeyed the rules. He obeyed them. We don't need this book. We don't need it. She's using the computer. She's using it. Je rflchis beaucoup ces histoires. J'y rflchis beaucoup. Il a obi aux rgles. Il y a obi. On n'a pas besoin de ce livre. On n'en a pas besoin. Elle se sert de l'ordinateur. Elle s'en sert.

Notice y and en don't go after the verb in negative commands. Treat them like pronouns. Ne or Je plus y or en all contract to N'y, J'y, N'en, and J'en. When you have a conjugated verb plus an infinitive (vais and aller), the y or en go in between the two verbs.

71. TO SEE, TO BELIEVE, & TO WRITE Verbs take a direct object if they do not need a preposition to connect it to the noun. Verbs that take indirect objects use prepositions after the verb. Voir-to see (vwahr) and croire-to believe (krwahr) take a direct and crire-to write (ay-kreer) takes an indirect. voir-to see croire-to believe crire-to write

vois (vwah) vois voit

voyons (vwah-yohn) voyez (vwah-yay) voient (vwah)

crois (krwah) crois croit

croyons (krwah-yohn) croyez (krwah-yay) croient (krwah)

cris (ay-kree) cris crit

crivons (ay-kree-vohn) crivez (ay-kree-vay) crivent (ay-kreev)

The past participles are: vu, cru, and crit. You can sometimes tell if a verb takes a direct or indirect object by using the verbs in English. We say "I see her" or "She believes him" or "He writes to them." In French, it would be "Je la vois" (direct), "Elle le croit" (direct) and "Il leur crit." (indirect) But don't always count on English to help you out. Tlphoner () and obir () both take indirect objects in French but you can't tell that in English. In this case, you can tell by the that follows the infinitive. Writing Vocabulary writing punctuation period comma colon semi-colon l'criture (f) la ponctuation le point la virgule les deux points (m) le point-virgule le point d'interrogation le point exclamation point d'exclamation quotation marks les guillemets (m) parentheses la parenthse apostrophe l'apostrophe (f) hyphen le trait d'union question mark "at" sign (@) asterisk brackets slash uppercase lowercase l'arobase (f) l'astrisque (m) le crochet la barre majuscule minuscule

When typing in French, you must leave an extra space before a punctuation mark that has two components, such as a colon, semi-colon, question mark, exclamation point, etc.

72. ANIMALS ant antelope antenna bat beak bear bee bird blackbird bull butterfly calf cat caterpillar cheetah chicken chimpanzee claw cockroach cod cocoon cow crab crayfish crocodile la fourmi l'antilope l'antenne la chauve-souris le bec l'ours (m) l'abeille (f) l'oiseau (m) le merle le taureau le papillon le veau le chat la chenille le gupard le poulet le chimpanz la griffe la cafard la morue le cocon la vache le crabe l'crevisse (f) le crocodile giraffe goat goose gorilla grasshopper hamster hare hen herring hoof horn horse hummingbird iguana insect jellyfish kitten ladybug lamb lark lion lizard lobster (spiny) louse mackerel la girafe la chvre l'oie (f) le gorille la sauterelle le hamster le livre la poule la hareng le sabot la corne le cheval le colibri l'iguane l'insecte (m) la mduse le chaton la coccinelle l'agneau (m) l'alouette (f) le lion le lzard la langouste le pou le maquereau pig pigeon pike pony puppy rabbit raccoon rat rooster salmon scale scorpion sea gull seal shark sheep shrimp slug snail snake sparrow spider squid squirrel starfish le cochon le pigeon le brochet le poney le chiot le lapin le raton laveur le rat le coq le saumon l'caille (f) le scorpion la mouette le phoque le requin le mouton la crevette la limace l'escargot (m) le serpent le moineau l'araigne (f) le calamar l'cureuil (m) l'toile de mer

crow deer dog donkey dragonfly duck eagle eel elephant feather fin fish flea fly fox frog gill sit

le corbeau le cerf le chien l'ne (m) la libellule le canard l'aigle (m) l'anguille (f) l'lphant (m) la plume la nageoire le poisson la puce la mouche le renard la grenouille la branchie lie down shake dog/cat food leash collar to take/let dog out to climb on

mole monkey mosquito moth mouse mule mussel nest nightingale octopus ostrich owl ox oyster parrot partridge penguin assis couche-toi donne la patte les croquettes la laisse le collier sortir le chien grimper sur

la taupe le singe le moustique le papillon de nuit la souris le mulet la moule le nid le rossignol la pieuvre l'autruche le hibou le uf l'hutre (f) le perroquet la perdrix le pingouin to bark to growl to pant to whine/whimper to drool to meow to scratch to pounce on

swallow swan tadpole tail tiger toad trout tuna turkey turtle wasp weasel whale wing wolf worm zebra aboyer grogner haleter gmir baver miauler griffer

l'hirondelle (f) le cygne le ttard la queue le tigre le crapaud la truite le thon le dindon la tortue la gupe la belette la baleine l'aile (f) le loup le ver le zbre

se jeter sur

73. PLAIRE & MANQUER plaire-to please, enjoy plais plais plat plaisons plaisez plaisent manque manques manque manquer-to miss, be lacking manquons manquez manquent

The past participle of plaire is plu. To say that someone likes something, you have to switch the subject and object around, so that literally it translates to "something or someone pleases." As a reflexive verb, se plaire means to enjoy being somewhere. Faire plaisir can also be used to mean "to delight or to like." Cette chienne plat Dominique. Dominique likes this dog. (Literally: This dog is pleasing to Dominique.) a t'a plu? Did you like it? Ils se plaisent Londres. They enjoy being in London. Cela me fait plaisir de vous revoir. I am happy to see you again. Manquer has several meanings: to miss, to lack, or to regret the absence (miss). The last meaning uses inverted word order just like plaire. Manquer means "to fail to do." Elle a manqu le train. She missed the train. Vous manquez de courage. You lack courage. Tu me manques. I miss you. (Literally: You are missing to me) Ils ont manqu aux devoirs. They failed to do the homework.

74. PLUPERFECT (PAST PERFECT)

This compound tense is used for flashbacks or anything that had happened before the time of the narration. It's formed with the imperfect tense of avoir or tre and the past participle of the main verb. This tense is comparable to the pass compos. Imperfect of avoir or tre avais avais avait avions aviez avaient tais tais tait tions tiez taient + past participle

Je n'avais pas fini mon travail quand il est arriv. I had not finished my work when he arrived. Vous aviez faim parce que vous n'aviez pas du tout mang. You were hungry because you hadn't eaten at all. Nous avions manqu le rendez-vous parce que le bus tait en retard. We had missed the meeting because the bus was late.

75. INDEFINITE PRONOUNS Indefinite pronouns refer to no one or nothing in particular, such as someone or something. someone/body something some somewhere several some...others another quelqu'un quelque chose (de + adjective) quelques-uns / quelques-unes quelque part plusieurs certains...d'autres un(e) autre each not one, none anything anyone anywhere any time nowhere chacun(e) aucun(e) n'importe quoi n'importe qui n'importe o n'importe quand nulle part

Do not confuse chacun with chaque (each, every). Chacun is a pronoun and replaces a noun, while chaque is an adjective that describes a noun.

76. SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD If a sentence expresses a subjective statement of opinion, the subjunctive mood is used rather than the indicative. The subjunctive is used in dependent clauses introduced by the word que. The main clause must express personal opinions or feelings and have a different subject from the dependent clause. If the two subjects are the same, the infinitive is used. Je doute que Marc soit l. I doubt that Marc is here. (shows judgment and opinion) Je veux venir. NOT: Je veux que je vienne. (use infinitive, same subject) To form the subjunctive, use the ils/elles form of the present indicative tense. This is also the form for the ils/elles form of the subjunctive. For je, tu, il/elle, drop the -ent and add -e, -es, and -e. Nous and vous use the imperfect forms.

-e -es -e

-ions -iez -ent

Conjugations in the Subjunctive avoir aie aies ait ayons ayez aient vouloir veuille veuilles veuille voulions vouliez veuillent puisse puisses puisse sois sois soit tre soyons soyez soient pouvoir puissions puissiez puissent sache saches sache fasse fasses fasse faire fassions fassiez fassent savoir sachions sachiez sachent pleuve aille ailles aille aller allions alliez aillent pleuvoir

These verbs and conjunctions are followed by the subjunctive: Verbs douter suggrer vouloir proposer avoir peur regretter craindre tre content(e)/triste/dsol(e)/surpris(e), etc. penser/croire/trouver
(negative and interrogative forms only)

Verbal Expressions il faut que il vaut mieux que il est important que il se peut que il est possible que il est temps que c'est dommage que

Conjunctions avant que pour / afin que jusqu' ce que moins que bien que / quoique sans que en attendant que

Je veux que tu viennes avec moi. I want you to come with me. Il est content que nous soyons l. He's happy that we are here. Est-ce que vous pensez qu'elle puisse le faire ? Do you think that she can do it? Il faut que je fasse la vaisselle. I have to do the dishes. Elle sera l jusqu' ce que vous partiez. She will be there until you leave. However, douter, jusqu' ce que, moins que, and bien que / quoique use the subjunctive whether there is a change in subject or not. And when using avant before an infinitive, the construction is avant de + infinitive. Note, also, that the subjunctive is not used with esprer or il est probable, although the subjunctive may be used with these words in other Romance languages. The word ne is used after certain conjunctions (most notably avant que and moins que) that take the subjunctive, but this does not make the phrase negative: Finissez le travail avant que la classe ne se termine. Finish the work before class ends.

77. FALLOIR & VALOIR Falloir (to be necessary) and valoir (to be worth) are two very common impersonal verbs used in several phrases and situations. Their conjugations are: imperfect present perfect present future conditional il fallait il a fallu il faut il faudra il faudrait il valait il a valu il vaut il vaudra il vaudrait

Falloir can be translated as must, have to, be required to, etc. It can be followed directly by an infinitive, or a subject and the subjunctive mood. Il faut rester la maison aujourd'hui. You must stay at home today. Il faut pas le faire ! You must not do it! Il faut qu'il parte 8h. He must leave at 8. In addition to worth, valoir mieux is used in translating "it's better." a ne vaut pas la peine. It's not worth it. Il vaut mieux en rire quen pleurer. It's better to laugh about it than cry.

78. ADVERBS bien mieux mal peu dj bientt ici l dedans dehors souvent d'habitude well better badly little already soon here there inside outside often usually quelquefois toujours vite donc encore quelque part maintenant tt tard peut-tre jamais nulle part sometimes always quickly therefore yet somewhere now early late maybe (n)ever nowhere

To form an adverb, simply take the feminine form of an adjective and add -ment to the end. If the masculine form ends in -e, you just add the -ment to that. Adjectives ending in -ent or -ant take the endings -emment and -amment. Masculine naturel heureux lent facile probable intelligent brillant rcent Feminine naturelle heureuse lente facile probable intelligente brillante rcente Adverb naturellement heureusement lentement facilement probablement intelligemment brillamment rcemment

Some adverbs such as actuellement (currently, now) and ventuellement (possibly, perhaps) can be deceiving. A Few Irregular Adverbs vrai gentil profond bref prcis vraiment gentiment profondment brivement prcisment

Adverbs are placed right after the verb in a simple tense. Adverbs of opinion and time usually go at the beginning or end of the sentence. When peut-tre and sans doute begin a sentence or clause, they are usually followed by que. With the pass compos, most adverbs are placed between the auxiliary verb and past participle. In negative sentences, pas precedes the adverb, except with peut-tre, sans doute, srement, and probablement. Adverbs of time and place generally follow the past participle.

79. TOOLS & HOBBIES

tools toolbox hammer screwdriver nail screw wrench adjustable wrench bolt nut pliers saw blade handle anvil clamp / vise shovel pick axe drill drill bit

les outils la bote outils le marteau le tournevis le clou la vis la cl la cl molette le boulon l'crou (m) les pinces (f) la scie la lame le manche l'enclume (f) l'tau (m) la pelle la pioche la perceuse la mche

chisel measuring tape chainsaw file do-it-yourself handicrafts embroidery cross-stitch needlework needle thread painting jewelry making gardening knitting photography woodworking pottery drawing cooking

le ciseau le mtre la trononneuse la lime le bricolage l'artisanat la broderie le point de croix la couture l'aiguille (f) le fil peindre faire des bijoux le jardinage le tricot la photographie la menuiserie la poterie le dessin la cuisine

Other expressions related to hobbies/leisure time: bavarder - to chat bronzer - to tan faire la grasse matine - to sleep in late faire la sieste - to take a nap faire une pause - to take a break faire une promenade - to take a walk faire un tour - to go out for a while prendre un bain de soleil - to sunbathe prendre un verre - to go out for a drink se dtendre - to relax se reposer - to rest

80. FALSE COGNATES Les faux-amis or false cognates are a common pitfall among language students. The following are some common words that you may be deceived by: Abus is used to mean excess or overindulgence, and usually not abuse. Disposer means to arrange or to have available, not to dispose of. Une injure is an insult, not an injury. Actuel and actuellement mean current and currently. Avertissement is a warning, not an advertisement. Une recette is a recipe, not a receipt. Fournitures refers to supplies, not furniture. Original means new or innovative. Humeur means mood, not humor. Formel is used to mean strict, not formal.

Djeuner du matin

Breakfast

Jacques Prvert Il a mis le caf Dans la tasse Il a mis le lait Dans la tasse de caf Il a mis le sucre Dans le caf au lait Avec la petite cuiller Il a tourn Il a bu le caf au lait Et il a repos la tasse Sans me parler Il a allum Une cigarette Il a fait des ronds Avec la fume Il a mis les cendres Dans le cendrier Sans me parler Sans me regarder Il s'est lev Il a mis Son chapeau sur sa tte Il a mis Son manteau de pluie Parce qu'il pleuvait Et il est parti Sous la pluie Sans une parole Et moi j'ai pris Ma tte dans ma main Et j'ai pleur.

Jacques Prvert He put the coffee In the cup He put the milk In the cup of coffee He put the sugar In the caf au lait With the coffee spoon He stirred He drank the caf au lait And he set down the cup Without a word to me He lit A cigarette He made smoke-rings With the smoke He put the ashes In the ashtray Without a word to me Without a look at me He got up He put His hat upon his head He put his raincoat on Because it was raining And he left In the rain Without a word And I, I took My head in my hand And I cried.

Translated by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, from Paroles by Prvert

Le Corbeau et le Renard Jean de la Fontaine Matre corbeau, sur un arbre perch, Tenait en son bec un fromage, Matre renard, par l'odeur allch, Lui tint peu prs ce langage: <<Eh bonjour, Monsieur du Corbeau. Que vous tes joli ! que vous me semblez beau ! Sans mentir, si votre ramage Se rapporte votre plumage, Vous tes le phnix des htes de ces bois.>> A ces mots, le corbeau ne se sent pas de joie; Et pour montrer sa belle voix, Il ouvre un large bec, laisse tomber sa proie. Le renard s'en saisit, et dit: <<Mon bon monsieur, Apprenez que tout flatteur Vit aux dpens de celui qui l'coute. Cette leon vaut bien un fromage sans doute.>> Le corbeau, honteux et confus, Jura, mais un peu tard, qu'on ne l'y prendrait plus.

The Crow and the Fox Jean de la Fontaine Master Crow perched on a tree, Was holding a cheese in his beak. Master Fox attracted by the smell Said something like this: "Well, Hello Mister Crow! How beautiful you are! how nice you seem to me! Really, if your voice Is like your plumage, You are the phoenix of all the inhabitants of these woods." At these words, the Crow is overjoyed. And in order to show off his beautiful voice, He opens his beak wide, lets his prey fall The Fox grabs it, and says: "My good man, Learn that every flatterer Lives at the expense of the one who listens to him. This lesson, without doubt, is well worth a cheese." The Crow, ashamed and embarrassed, Swore, but a little late, that he would not be taken again.

Go on to French V

81. COLLOQUIAL EXPRESSIONS Il faut + infinitive (it is necessary, one must) Il faut tourner gauche. It is necessary to turn left. Il faut faire les devoirs. One must do homework. Il lui faut aller l'cole. He must go to school. Il faut + noun (need) Il faut du fromage. You need some cheese. Il faut un jeton. You need a token. Il me faut un stylo. I need a pen. Il reste (there remains) Il reste une chambre. There is one room left. Il n'en reste plus. There are no more left. Il me reste trois jours. I have three days left. Notice that il faut and il reste can both take an object pronoun to indicate a person. Il vaut mieux + infinitive (it is better) Il vaut mieux prendre le bus. It is better to take the bus. Il vaut mieux apprendre les langues que la politique. It's better to learn languages than politics. Il s'agit de (it's a question of, it's a matter of, it's about) De quoi s'agit-il ? What's is about? Il ne s'agit pas de a ! That's not the point! Il s'agit de ton avenir. It's a matter of your future. Avoir beau (although, despite the fact, however much) J'ai beau tudier cette langue, je ne la parle pas. Although I study this language, I don't speak it. Il a beau faire froid, nous sortirons. Although is it cold, we will go out. Avoir l'air + adjective (to seem/look) a a l'air dlicieux. That looks delicious. Vous avez l'air fatigu. You seem tired. a n'a pas l'air d'aller. Things don't look so good. a vous dit ? / a vous dirait de... ? (Would you like to? / How would you feel about...? / Does that interest you? / Does that ring a bell?) a vous dirait de regarder un film ce soir ? Are you interested in watching a movie tonight? / Would you like to watch a movie tonight? Non, a me dit rien. No, that doesn't interest me. / No, I don't want to. a te dit quelque chose ? Does that ring a bell? / Does that remind you of anything? Non, a me dit rien. No, that doesn't ring a bell. / That doesn't remind me of anything. a ne me dit pas grande chose. That does nothing for me. a parle de quoi / qui ? (What / Who is it about?) a parle de quoi, le livre que tu cris ? What's the book about that you're writing? a y est ! ( There! That's it ! It's done!) a a t (How did it go? / It went well.) Ton examen, a a t ? How did your exam go? Oui, a a t. It went well. On dirait... [a ressemble ] (It seems / it looks like / it tastes like / it smells like / it feels like / it sounds like) On dirait un chat. It looks like a cat. pas terrible (terrible actually means terrific in this phrase) C'est pas terrible, ce film. This movie is not very good. pas mal de (a lot of, lots of, tons of - synonym of beaucoup) J'ai pas mal de trucs faire aujourd'hui. I have lots of things to do today.

82. CONJUNCTIONS & CONNECTING WORDS auparavant before de mme similarly par exemple for example

d'abord ensuite / puis plus tard aprs alors ainsi donc finalement / enfin quand / lorsque

first then later after so thus therefore finally when

en/de plus d'ailleurs plutt surtout quand mme au fait en fait c'est--dire en d'autres termes c'est pour a que parce que car puisque / comme

moreover / furthermore besides rather especially anyway by the way actually that is to say in other words that's why because for / because since because of

pour / afin de par contre / en revanche d'autre part

in order to on the contrary

on the other hand at least au moins malgr / en dpit de in spite of except sauf cependant / pourtant however / yet even if mme si par consquent comme si nanmoins soit... soit en conclusion en bref consequently as though nevertheless either... or in conclusion in brief / in short

aussitt / ds que as soon as tant que depuis bien que as long as since although

alors / tandis que while / whereas cause de

The word soit has several meanings. It is also the third person singular form of tre in the present subjunctive. Je veux qu'il soit l. I want him to be here. It can also be used to mean i.e. or that is when introducing a clause. Le contenu du CD est bilingue, soit franais et anglais. The contents of the CD are bilingual, i.e. French and English.

83. FORMS OF TOUT As an adjective, tout precedes and agrees with the noun. masc. sing. fem. sing. masc. pl. fem. pl. tout le train toute la journe tous les enfants toutes les mres the whole train the whole day all the kids all the moms

As pronoun, tout c n be used lone; it then me ns everything nd is inv ri ble. Tout va bien. Everything's fine. Je ne peux pas tout faire. I can't do everything. It c n lso reinforce the subject. (The s of tous is pronounced when tous is Ils sont tous l. They are all here. pronoun.)

Tout c n lso be used with direct object pronouns. The forms of tout follow the verb in a simple tense and go between the auxiliary and past participle in a compound tense. Je les ai toutes. I have them all. Je ne les ai pas tous eu. I didn't have them all. Idiomatic Expressions with Tout en tout cas tout le monde tout de suite in any case everyone right away

de toute faon tout fait toutes sortes de pas du tout malgr tout tout l'heure

anyway completely all kinds of not at all in spite of it all in a little while

84. BABIES & CHILDREN baby fetus diaper safety pin rattle pacifier bottle carriage stroller high chair bib crib cradle kids slide seesaw swing le bb le ftus la couche l'pingle nourrice (f) le hochet la ttine le biberon le landau la poussette la chaise haute le bavoir le lit de bb le berceau les gosses (m) le toboggan la balanoire bascule la balanoire carousel toys ball marbles doll stuffed animals teddybear blocks top puppet kite balloon rollerblades rollerskates wagon maze hopscotch le mange les jouets (m) le ballon les billes (f) la poupe les peluches (f) le nounours les cubes (m) la toupie la marionnette le cerf-volant le ballon les rollers (m) le patin roulettes le petit chariot le labyrinthe la marelle

A doudou refers to anything that babies like to hold to feel safe, such as a security blanket or a favorite stuffed animal.

85. PRIMARY & SECONDARY SCHOOL school teacher (m) teacher (f) elem. teacher (m) elem. teacher (f) secondary teacher chalkboard chalk desk student l'cole (f) l'enseignant l'enseignante l'instituteur l'institutrice le professeur le tableau la craie le pupitre l'lve pencil mechanical pencil pen eraser ink ink jar pencil sharpener glue scissors ruler le crayon le porte-mine le stylo la gomme l'encre (f) l'encrier (f) le taille-crayons la colle les ciseaux (m) la rgle

university student book backpack schoolbag locker globe diploma school supplies pencil case

l'tudiant(e) le livre le sac dos le cartable le casier le globe terrestre le diplme les fournitures scolaires la trousse

highlighter crayons marker piece of paper spiral notebook folder notebook binder notepad

le surligneur les crayons de couleur (m) le marqueur la feuille le carnet de notes spirale la chemise le cahier le classeur le bloc-notes

Students of all ages use a trousse in France. They're not just for elementary students!

86. PASSIVE VOICE As in English, the passive voice in French is composed of a tense of the verb to be and a past participle. However, only a direct object in French can become the subject of the passive form. The active form, le chat mange la souris is made passive thus: La souris est mange par le chat. The cat eats the mouse becomes the mouse is eaten by the cat. The subject in the active sentence (le chat) becomes the object of the passive. The direct object of the active sentence (la souris) becomes the subject of the passive sentence preceded by "par." The verb of the active sentence is changed into a past participle (mange becomes mange, notice the agreement!) preceded by a form of tre. Elle est porte par Jean. She is carried by John. Elles ont t inspires par Van Gogh. They were inspired by Van Gogh. Il avait t tu par les soldats franais. He had been killed by French soldiers. Notice how pronominal verbs change from active to passive: Active: Je me suis rveille. I woke up. Passive: J'ai t rveille par quelque chose. I was awakened by something. Passive is Not Possible If verb takes an indirect object, it cannot be transformed into the passive voice in French. In this case, on is used in the active construction, as long as the agent is not specified and the action is performed by a human being (i.e. no natural forces, such as weather). On a donn un cadeau ma mre. My mother was given a present. [Someone gave a present to my mother.] On lui a dit de retrouver le conservateur au muse. He was told to meet the curator at the museum. [Someone told him to meet the curator at the museum.] Alternatives to the Passive In ddition to using on as the subject of an active construction to replace the passive, you can also use the pronominal constructions: se voir [to see oneself], s'entendre [to hear oneself], se faire [to get oneself] and se laisser [to let oneself] + infinitive. These verbs can be used when the agent is specified, unlike the active construction with on. Je me suis vu promettre une augmentation. I have been promised a raise. Elle s'est entendu dire qu'il allait mourir. She was told that he was going to die. Jean s'est fait arrter. John got arrested. Ils se sont laiss tomber malade. They let themselves get sick. You c n lso use pronomin l verb to tr nsl te the p ssive, s long s the gent is not specified. However, this does not work for all verbs. a s'crit comment? How is that written? a ne se dit plus. That is not said anymore. Use tre + infinitive to translate must + English passive: Ce monument est voir ! This monument must be seen! Ce rapport est refaire. This report must be redone.

87. DEPUIS, IL Y A, & PENDANT IN PAST CONTEXTS 1. To express an action that has been going on, depuis (or il y a ... que) is used with the present tense. Depuis quand avez-vous votre ordinateur ? Depuis combien de temps avez-vous votre ordinateur ? How long have you had your computer ? Je conduis depuis longtemps. Je l'ai depuis deux ans. a fait deux ans que je l'ai. Il y a deux ans que je l'ai. I've had it for two years. I have been driving for a long time.

2. But to express an action that had been going on for some time when something else happened, depuis is used with the imperfect. Nous conduisions depuis deux heures, quand j'ai propos de prendre le volant. We had been driving for two hours when I volunteered to drive.

3. To express an action that you have not done for some time, use depuis with the pass compos. Je n'ai pas conduit depuis mon mariage. I haven't driven since I've been married.

4. To express an action that was done for a period of time, pendant is used, usually with the pass compos. But for an action that was completed some time ago, use il y a, also with the pass compos. J'ai lou une voiture pendant deux semaines. J'ai appris conduire il y a deux ans. I rented a car for two weeks. I learned to drive two years ago.

88. POST OFFICE & BANK post office letter postcard stamp phone booth mailbox mail slot address label packing tape package postmark rubber band ink pad string la poste la lettre la carte postale le timbre la cabine tlphonique la bote lettres la fente l'adresse l'tiquette le ruban adhsif le paquet le cachet de la poste l'lastique le tampon encre la ficelle bank teller bill check checkbook ATM key lock filing cabinet safety deposit box notepad credit card security camera security guard drive-thru window safe la banque le caissier / la caissire le billet le chque le chquier le guichet automatique la cl la serrure le classeur le coffre le bloc-notes la carte de crdit la camra de surveillance le gardien le drive-in le coffre-fort

return address l'expditeur

89. TO RECEIVE Recevoir-to receive reois reois recevons recevez

reoit

reoivent The past participle of recevoir is reu.

90. VERBS + A OR DE + INFINITIVES OR NOUNS Some verbs require or de before an infinitive: Verb + + infinitive to help aider to have fun s'amuser to learn apprendre to manage arriver to look for chercher to begin commencer to consist consister to continue continuer to give donner to encourage encourager to teach enseigner to practice/learn s'exercer to get used to s'habituer to hesitate hsiter to insist insister to invite inviter to give up renoncer to succeed russir to consider songer to apply to s'appliquer to become attached s'attacher to decide se dcider to use s'employer to incite inciter to insist s'obstiner to succeed parvenir to persist in persister to push pousser to provoke provoquer to risk se risquer to look after veiller to aim viser accepter de arrter de avoir envie de avoir honte de avoir peur de avoir raison de avoir tort de choisir de dcider de dfendre de demander de se dpcher de dire de empcher de essayer de tre heureux de tre oblig de viter de s'excuser de finir de interdire de menacer de oublier de permettre de promettre de refuser de regretter de remercier de rver de risquer de venir de cesser de Verb + de + infinitive to accept conseiller de to stop convenir de to feel like craindre de to be ashamed dsesprer de to be afraid dissuader de to be right entreprendre de to be wrong envisager de to choose s'tonner de to decide se garder de to forbid ngliger de to ask persuader de to hurry up prier de to say recommander de to prevent reprocher de to try to be happy to be required to avoid to apologize to finish to forbid to threaten to forget to permit to promise to refuse to regret to thank to dream to risk to have just to stop to advise to agree upon to fear to despair to dissuade to undertake to contemplate to astonish to keep oneself to neglect to persuade to beg to recommend to reproach

Venir de + infinitive me ns "to h ve just" + p st p rticiple in English. Je viens de manger. I just ate. Some verbs require or de before nouns: Verb + + noun aller assister demander dire to suit to attend to ask (someone) to tell (someone) s'apercevoir de s'approcher de avoir besoin de changer de Verb + de + noun to notice to approach to need to change

convenir jouer nuire obir penser plaire renoncer rpondre resister ressembler songer survivre tlphoner

to suit to play (sport/game) to harm to obey to think of to please to give up to answer to resist to resemble to consider to survive to phone

dpendre de douter de hriter de jouer de jouir de manquer de se mfier de penser de remercier de rire de se servir de se souvenir de vivre de

to depend on to doubt to inherit to play (instrument) to enjoy to lack to distrust to think/have an opinion about to thank for to laugh at to use to remember to live on

And some verbs require no prepositions in French, while others use different prepositions from English: No prepositions in French approuver to approve of attendre chercher couter esprer payer rappeler regarder sentir viser to wait for to look for to listen to to hope for to pay for to remind of to look at to smell of/like to aim at Different prepositions from English entrer dans consister en se fcher contre to enter to consist of to get angry with

demander to ask for

Tu me rappelle mon pre. You remind me of my father. a sent la pluie. It smells like rain.

91. ADJECTIVES + A OR DE + INFINITIVES Adjective + + infinitive accessible agrable amusant antrieur attach conforme contraire dernier ennuyeux tranger expos favorable infrieur intressant accessible pleasant fun previous/earlier attached standard contrary last boring foreign exposed favorable inferior/lower interesting accus de assur de capable de certain de charg de connu de conscient de content de dnud de dsireux de dsol de diffrent de digne de exempt de Adjective + de + infinitive accused assure/insured capable certain charged/loaded known conscious content/satisfied naked/bare desirous sorry different fit/worthy exempt

lger lent lourd oppos pnible premier prt rapide semblable seul suprieur terrible utile

light slow heavy opposite difficult first ready fast similar only superior/higher terrible useful

furieux de heureux de honteux de impatient de plein de priv de proche de rempli de soucieux de sr de triste de vide de

furious happy ashamed impatient full private close/near full worried sure sad empty

92. TO FOLLOW Suivre-to follow suis suis suit suivons suivez suivent

The past participle of suivre is suivi. Suivre can also be used with school subjects to mean "to take a course." Suivez le guide ! Follow the guide! Suivez les instructions. Follow the instructions. Je suis un cours de maths. I'm taking a math class.

93. FAIRE CAUSATIVE Faire + an infinitive is called the faire causative. It translates to "have something done by someone or cause something to be done by someone," or "to cause someone to do something." Je rpare la voiture. I'm fixing the car. Je fais rparer la voiture. I'm having the car fixed. Il peint son appartement. He's painting his apartment. Il fait peindre son appartement. He's having his apartment painted. Le bb mange. The baby is eating. Elle fait manger le bb. She's feeding the baby. When repl cing the object with participle remains invariable. pronoun, the pronoun precedes f ire. And in past tenses, the past

Je la fais rparer. I'm having it fixed. Il leur a fait apprendre les verbes. He had them learn the verbs. Il les leur a fait apprendre. He had them learn them. Se f ire + infinitive is usu lly translated as "to get" + (oneself) + verb. Tu vas te faire tuer. You're going to get yourself killed. Il va se faire casser la gueule. He's going to break his neck. Se faire soigner sans se faire arrter. Get treated/looked after without getting arrested. vitez de vous faire piquer. Avoid getting stung.

94. DIRECT & INDIRECT DISCOURSE

Direct discourse relates exactly what someone has said or written, using quotation marks and the original wording. Indirect discourse relates indirectly, without quotation marks, what someone has said or written. It works the same way in French as it does in English. Direct Discourse Main verb is present Main verb in past Il me dit: <<Je pars en vacances et ma famille a lou une villa.>> Il m'a dit: <<Je pars en vacances et ma famille a lou une villa.>> Indirect Discourse Il me dit qu'il part en vacances et que sa famille a lou une villa. Il m'a dit qu'il partait en vacances et que sa famille avait lou une villa.

Note that if the main verb is in the present tense, no tense changes occur when using indirect discourse. However, if the main verb is in a past tense, the following tense changes occur: Present Imperfect Pass Compos Pluperfect The Imperfect and Pluperfect do not change. Remember to use que to introduce each dependent clause, and adjust personal pronouns and possessive adjectives. In questions, the following (rather uncomplicated) changes occur: 1. Yes/no questions = si + declarative sentence Je t'ai demand si tu avais faim. 2. O, quand, comment, etc. = interrogative word + declarative sentence Il m'a demand quelle heure j'allais revenir. 3. Interrogative pronouns are a little trickier: qui est-ce qui qui est-ce que qu'est-ce qui qu'est-ce que qui ce qui ce que Il m'a demand qui tait rest. Elle m'a demand qui j'avais vu. Ils m'ont demand ce qui s'tait pass. Elles m'ont demand ce que j'avais dit.

95. COMPUTERS & INTERNET computer disk document CD-ROM monitor keyboard mouse printer memo fax machine photocopier typewriter software file cabinet memory card flashdrive external HD attachment to attach l'ordinateur la disquette le document le cdrom l'cran le clavier la souris l'imprimante la note de service le tlcopieur la photocopieuse la machine crire le logiciel le dossier le placard la carte mmoire la cl USB le disque dur externe la pice jointe joindre scanner laptop internet internet user online link bookmark e-mail password search engine chat room bulletin board homepage website web browswer cable DSL to sign on / off to scroll up / down to download le scanner le portable l'internet l'internaute en-ligne le lien le signet le courriel / le mail le mot de passe le moteur de recherche la salle de tchatche le forum la page d'accueil le site le navigateur le cble l'ADSL se connecter / dconnecter drouler le texte tlcharger

French uses portable to refer to a laptop computer and a cell phone.

96. NE EXPLETIF Sometimes ne must be inserted in a phrase even when it is not expressing the negative. (However, do not confuse the use of ne expltif with the verbs that can exist in the negative with only using ne and not pas in formal, written language: cesser, daigner, oser, pouvoir, savoir). It is used 1) after certain conunctions: avant que, moins que; 2) after expressions and verbs of fear: de crainte que, de peur que, craindre que, avoir peur que, redouter que, trembler que, empcher que, viter que; 3) before a verb that follows a comparison of inequality: plus, moins, autre; and 4) after adverbs of doubt and negation used in the negative to express a positive idea. Je sors ce soir moins qu'il ne pleuve. I'll go out this evening unless it rains. Il craint que tu ne sois fatigu aprs le voyage. He's afraid that you'll be tired after the trip. Nous sommes plus forts qu'elle ne pense. We are stronger than she thinks. Je ne doute pas que vous ne fassiez des progrs. I don't doubt that you are making progress.

97. CONDITIONAL TENSES: PRESENT & PAST The present conditional tense corresponds to "would." It is used after the imperfect in a conditional sentence. Most conditionals sentences begin with si (if). However, do not confuse the conditional would with the would that expresses a repeated action in the past. If would means used to, then the imperfect tense is used. Another use of the conditional is in news reports to indicate that the information is not confirmed. Si j'tais (imperfect) dans une autre famille, est-ce que je serais (conditional) plus heureuse ? If I were in another family, would I be happier? Quand nous tions (imperfect) en vacances, nous dormions (imperfect) jusqu' midi. When we were on vacation, we would (used to) sleep until noon. Un otage tranger serait mort en route pour l'hpital. A foreign hostage (probably) died on the way to the hospital. To form the conditional, use the infinitive and add the imperfect endings (but remember to drop the -e on -re verbs). You use the same irregular stems and exceptions for the conditional that are used for the future tense. -ais -ais -ait -ions -iez -aient

The past conditional is formed by using the conditional of avoir or tre and a past participle. It corresponds to "would have" and is used in hypothetical sentences. Il n'aurait jamais dit a ! He would have never said that! If... sentences: When si (if) is used in sentences of condition, the verb tenses change. These pretty much correspond to English usage. 1. Si + present tense + present, imperative, or future Si je suis fatigue, je me repose. If I'm tired, I rest. Repose-toi si tu es fatigu. Rest if you're tired. Si je suis fatigu demain, je me reposerai. If I am tired tomorrow, I will rest. 2. Si + imperfect + present conditional Si j'tais riche, je pourrais acheter un chteau. If I were rich, I would buy a castle. Il deviendrait roi s'il avait plus de courage. He would become king if he had more courage. 3. Si + pluperfect + past conditional Si j'avais su, j'aurais compris. If I had known, I would have understood. It is possible to have past conditional with the imperfect, and it is also possible to have present conditional with pluperfect. However, you can never have the future or conditional tenses directly following si. They must be in the other clause. Translating Would, Could, Should

In general, you use the conditional tense of a verb to express would + infinitive, such as je dirais I would say. Again, make sure to use the imperfect of the verb if you're referring to repeated actions in the past (i.e. used to). You can also use the conditional of pouvoir to mean could, as long as the meaning is something that is yet to happen. Il pourrait m'aider. He could help me. Otherwise, you use the imperfect or pass compos to mean could if you're referring to the past of can (i.e. was/were not able to). Elle ne pouvait pas s'arrter de rire. She couldn't stop laughing. Should is usually translated by using the conditional of devoir. Tu ne devrais pas dire a. You shouldn't say that. For would have, could have and should have, you use the past conditional of the verb, past conditional of pouvoir + infinitive, and past conditional of devoir + infinitive, respectively. Just remember that would and would have are not followed by infinitives in French.

would could should would have could have should have

conditional of verb conditional of pouvoir + infinitive conditional of devoir + infinitive past conditional of verb past conditional of pouvoir + infinitive past conditional of devoir + infinitive

il dirait il pourrait dire il devrait dire il aurait dit il aurait pu dire il aurait d dire

he would say he could say he should say he would have said he could have said he should have said

"You shouldn't have" or "that wasn't necessary" when someone gives you a gift is il ne fallait pas. Listen to the le conditionnel : si tu gagnais au loto mp3 and try the cloze (fill-in-theblank) exercise from French Listening Resources.

98. PARTS OF A CAR & AT THE GAS STATION horn hood brake steering wheel windshield wipers dashboard accelerator headlights windshield motor trunk body (of car) driver's license gasoline traffic lights oil hubcap air hose le klaxon le capot le frein le volant les essuie-glaces le tableau de bord l'acclrateur les phares le pare-brise le moteur le coffre la carrosserie le permis de conduire l'essence les feux l'huile l'enjoliveur la pompe air directional signal license plate brake light (on car) car window door gas tank wheel tire bumper fender door handle air conditioning heater battery gas cap gas pump le clignotant la plaque d'immatriculation le stop la voiture la vitre la portire le rservoir la roue le pneu le pare-chocs l'aile la poigne de portire la climatisation le chauffage la batterie le bouchon de rservoir d'essence la pompe essence

The most common types of cars in France are Peugeot, Clio, Renault, and Fiat, and the majority are manual drive. Automatic cars in Europe are generally reserved for handicapped people. The driving age in France is 18, and young drivers who have just gotten their licenses have a red A sticker on their car.

99. TO DRIVE Conduire-to drive conduis conduis conduit conduisons conduisez conduisent

The past participle of conduire is conduit. Other verbs conjugated like conduire are: traduire - to translate, produire - to produce, and construire - to construct.

100. TRAVELLING & AT THE AIRPORT suitcase clothes passport diary traveler's checks dictionary flight baggage Euro bill coin change cent arrival departure Where is/are... currency exchange passport check customs entrance lost and found information exit taxi stand restroom la valise les vtements le passeport le journal les chques de voyage le dictionnaire le vol les bagages l'euro le billet la pice la monnaie le centime l'arrive le dpart O est / O sont... le bureau de change le contrle des passeports la douane l'entre les objets trouvs les renseignements la sortie les taxis les toilettes

When asking Where is/are..., O est is the singular form and O sont is the plural form, even if it's singular in English. Where is the entrance? would be O est l'entre ? and Where is the lost and found? would be O sont les objets trouvs ? Directional Words right there here over there to the right of juste l ici l-bas droite de zhoost lah ee-see lah bah ah dwaht duh across from between next to near en face de entre ct de prs de awn fawz duh awn-truh ah koh-tay duh preh duh

to the left of straight ahead in front of behind

gauche de tout droit devant derrire

ah gohsh duh too dwah duh-vawn dare-ee-air

far (from) at the end of at the top of

loin de au fond de en haut de

lwahn duh oh fohn duh awn oh duh

Go on to French VI

101. CAMPING camping shelter tent spike sleeping bag flashlight lantern torch compass map binoculars campfire le camping l'abri (m) la tente la sardine le sac de couchage la lampe torche la lanterne le flambeau la boussole la carte les jumelles (f) le feu de camp axe stump canteen hammock backpack path bench rock stone pebble canoe oar la hache la souche le bidon le hamac le sac dos le chemin / le sentier le banc le rocher la pierre le caillou le cano la pagaie

102. SPECIAL USES OF DEVOIR Devoir is one of the trickiest verbs to translate and use in French. The following is a list of the different meanings of devoir used in various tenses. Present Tense Pass Compos Imperfect Future Conditional must, have to probably had to (and did), must have was supposed to, used to have to will have to should Je dois tudier. Il doit tre malade. Il a d partir. Elle devait chanter ce soir. Tu devras payer l'argent. Vous devriez manger les fruits. Ils auraient d jouer. I must (have to) study. He's probably sick. He had to leave. She was supposed to sing tonight. You will have to pay money. You should eat fruits. They should have played.

Past Conditional should have

In the present tense, you can also express I am supposed to with Je suis cens + infinitive. To express you don't have to instead of you must not, use vous ntes pas oblig de instead of vous ne devez pas or il ne faut pas. 103. COSMETICS & TOILETRIES toothbrush la brosse dents hair spray la laque blush le blush

toothpaste dental floss hair brush comb shampoo curling iron shaving cream razor mousse

le dentifrice le fil dentaire la brosse le peigne le shampooing le fer friser la crme raser le rasoir la mousse

hair dryer nail polish mascara lipstick powder soap makeup perfume cologne

le sche-cheveux

foundation

le fond de teint l'eye liner l'ombre paupires le bain moussant le gel douche le dodorant la lotion / la crme les serviettes hyginiques les tampons

le vernis ongles eye liner le mascara le rouge lvres la poudre le savon le maquillage le parfum l'eau de Cologne eye shadow bubble bath shower gel deodorant lotion pads tampons

104. MEDICINE & HOSPITAL AIDS ambulance anesthetic antidote bandage band-aid cancer cane capsule cast chicken pox cold crutches cure diabetes diagnosis disease doctor first aid kit flu le sida l'ambulance (f) l'ansthsie (f) l'antidote le bandage le pansement le cancer la canne la capsule le pltre la varicelle le rhume les bquilles (f) le remde le diabte le diagnostic la maladie le mdecin la trousse de secours la grippe food poisoning hospital infection intensive care medecine medication nurse pills pneumonia poison sling stethoscope stretcher surgeon surgery syringe tablet tumor wheelchair X-ray l'intoxication alimentaire (f) l'hpital (m) l'infection (f) la ranimation la mdecine le mdicament l'infirmier (m) les cachets (m) la pneumonie le poison l'charpe (f) le stthoscope la civire le chirurgien la chirurgie la seringue le comprim la tumeur le fauteuil roulant la radio

105. PRESENT PARTICIPLE Present participles can be used as adjectives, as verbs, or like a qui clause. When an adjective, it agrees with the noun it modifies. When it functions as a verb, it is invariable. Preceded by en, (equivalent to while, by, upon or in), it corresponds to the English -ing gerund form. Used without en, the present participle can act like a qui clause. To form this participle, drops the -ons ending of the nous form in the present tense and add -ant. (There are only three irregular present participles: ayant, tant, sachant - having, being, knowing.) Je me suis cass le poignet en tombant. I broke my wrist by falling. C'est en forgeant que l'on devient forgeron. Practice makes perfect. Ce restaurant ne propose pas d'eau ptillante. This restaurant doesn't serve sparkling water.

106. ABBREVIATIONS In everyday speech, it is common to shorten some words: advertisement afternoon apartment car cinema college demonstration dictionary drink before dinner extraordinary friendly have a good meal intellectual laboratory microphone owner photography raincoat slide soccer television terrific usually la publicit l'aprs-midi l'appartement l'automobile le cinma la facult la manifestation le dictionnaire l'apritif extraordinaire sympathique bon apptit intellectuel le laboratoire le microphone le propritaire la photographie l'impermable la diapositive le football la tlvision sensationnel d'habitude 107. PAST INFINITIVE The past infinitive is used to express something that has already happened. Verbs such as s'excuser, regretter, and remercier are often used in this tense. It is formed with the infinitive of the auxiliary verb (avoir or tre) and the past participle of the main verb. And the past participle can have agreement as well, with either the subject or the object, depending on the sentence. Whenever aprs is followed by a verb, it is always a past infinitive. And note that negative expressions precede an infinitive. Je vous remercie d'tre venus. Excusez-moi d'tre arriv(e) en retard. Aprs avoir fini mes tudes, je veux devenir professeur. Elle regrette de ne pas avoir pos de questions. 108. IN THE OCEAN barnacle bubble wet suit fishing line jellyfish flipper la bernacle la bulle la combinaison de plonge la ligne de pche la mduse la palme crab fish hook mask scuba diver sand treasure chest le crabe le hameon le masque le plongeur sous-marin le sable le trsor I thank you for coming (or having come.) Excuse me for arriving (or having arrived) late. After finishing (or having finished) my studies, I want to become a teacher. She regrets not asking (or having asked) any questions. la pub l'aprm l'apparte l'auto le cin la fac le manif le dico l'apro extra sympa bon app intello le labo le micro le proprio la photo l'imper la diapo le foot la tl sensas d'hab

clam wave anchor oxygen tank seashell coral

la palourde la vague l'ancre le ballon d'oxygne le coquillage le corail

snorkel shipwreck seaweed starfish sea horse sea urchin helm

le tuba l'pave les algues l'toile de mer l'hippocampe l'oursin la barre

109. TO DIE Mourir-to die meurs meurs meurt mourons mourez meurent

The past participle is mort / morte and it is conjugated with tre. You will most likely use this verb in the past tense, but it is used in some present tense sayings. Je meurs de faim ! I'm dying of hunger / I'm starving! 110. IN SPACE alien asteroid astronaut beaker comet constellation control panel crater Earth galaxy laboratory landing capsule lunar rover meteor shower moon l'extra-terrestre (m) l'astrode (m) l'astronaute (m) le gobelet la comte la constellation le tableau de bord le cratre la terre la galaxie le laboratoire la capsule d'atterrissage la jeep lunaire la pluie de mtores la lune nebula planet rings robot rocket satellite solar panel solar system space shuttle space station space suit spaceship star sun test tube la nbuleuse la plante les anneaux le robot / l'automate la fuse interplantaire le satellite le panneau solaire le systme solaire la navette spatiale la station spatiale le scaphandre de cosmonaute la soucoupe volante l'toile (f) le soleil l'prouvette (f)

111. POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS Possessive pronouns replace nouns used with possessive adjectives. They agree in gender and number with noun they replace as well. Singular Masc. mine yours his/hers/its ours yours le mien le tien le sien le ntre le vtre Fem. la mienne la tienne la sienne la ntre la vtre Masc. les miens les tiens les siens les ntres les vtres Plural Fem. les miennes les tiennes les siennes les ntres les vtres

theirs

le leur

la leur

les leurs

les leurs

C'est ma pomme. Voil la tienne. That's my apple. Here's yours. Il a son sac. Elle a le sien. He has his bag. She has hers. C'est le mien, pas le tien ! That's mine, not yours! Ils aiment leur voiture. Nous aimons la ntre. They like their car. We like ours. 112. SIMPLE PAST TENSE The simple past tense is used in works of literature in place of the pass compos and is very rarely spoken. You most likely will never need to form this tense, but you should be able to recognize it for reading purposes. Add the following endings to the stem: -er -ai -as -a -mes -tes -rent -is -is -it -ir / -re -mes -tes -irent

Irregular verbs that follow a pattern: Some verbs use their past participle as a stem, and then add endings for the simple past. In this case, the six endings are -s, -s, -t, -^mes, -^tes, -rent. avoir croire lire lmes ltes lurent dire dormir devoir recevoir vivre

eus emes crus crmes lus eus etes crus crtes lus

dis dmes dormis dis dtes

dormme du dme reu reme vcu vcme s s s s s s s du reu vcu dtes retes vctes s s s reuren vcuren vcut t t

dormis dormtes

eut eurent crut crurent lut

dit dirent dormit dormirent dut durent reut

prendre

sortir

vouloir

mettre

connatre

savoir

pouvoir pmes ptes purent

pri prme sorti sortme voulu voulme mi mme connu connme sus smes pus s s s s s s s s s s pri sorti voulu mi connu prtes sorttes voultes mtes conntes sus stes pus s s s s s prit prirent sortit sortiren vouluren connuren voulut mit mirent connut sut surent put t t t

Other verbs do not use their past participles as stems (but they still take the same endings), so you should memorize these forms. tre fus fus fut fmes ftes furent mourir fis fis fit faire fmes ftes firent natre crire crivis crivmes vins crivis crivtes vins crivit crivirent vint ouvrir venir vnmes vntes vinrent craindre vis vis vit voir vmes vtes virent battre conduire conduisis conduismes conduisis conduistes conduisit conduisirent

mourus mourmes naquis naqumes ouvris ouvrmes craignis craignmes battis battmes mourus mourtes naquis naqutes ouvris ouvrtes craignis craigntes battis batttes mourut moururent naquit naquirent ouvrit ouvrirent craignit craignirent battit battirent 113. MAKE-BELIEVE & FANTASY archer armor l'archer (m) l'armure fairy fantasy la fe la fantasie moat monster les douves (f) le monstre

arrow ax bow cackle castle cauldron caveman cemetery coffin crown demon devil dragon dungeon dwarf elf

la flche la hache l'arc (m) ricaner le chteau le chaudron le cimetire le cercueil la couronne le dmon le diable le dragon le donjon le nain le lutin

fork genie ghost giant grave

la fourche le gnie le fantme le gant la tombe la pierre tombale le lutin le bossu le fou le roi le chevalier la lampe la lance la sirne le mnestrel gmir

mummy pillory pirate prince princess queen shield spear squire sword throne tower

la momie le pilori le pirate le prince la princesse la reine le bouclier la lance l'cuyer (m) l'pe (f) le trne la tour la licorne la sorcire le sorcier le mort vivant

haunted house la maison hante hobgoblin humpback jester king knight lamp lance magic wand mermaid minstrel moan

l'homme des cavernes (m) headstone

scarecrow l'pouvantail (m)

drawbridge le pont-levis

troubadour le troubadour witch wizard zombie

la baguette magique unicorn

executioner le bourreau 114. RELIGION altar angel baptism bell Bible bishop bliss Buddhism candle cathedral choir Christian Christianity church convent cross dome faith fast God gold ring Gospel heaven hell Islam Jew l'autel (m) l'ange (m) le baptme la cloche la Bible l'vque (m) la batitude le bouddhisme le cierge la cathdrale la chorale le chrtien le chrtient l'glise le couvent la croix la coupole la foi le jene le Dieu l'aurole (f) l'Evangile (m) le ciel / le paradis l'enfer (m) l'islam (m) le juif / la juive

Judaism mass minaret monastery mosque munk Muslim nun organ pillar Pope prayer priest prophet Protestant religion reverend rosary saint sermon sin suffering temple torture vow worship/service

le judasme la messe le minaret le monastre la mosque le moine le musulman la religieuse / onne sur l'orgue (m) le pilier le pape la prire le prtre le prophte le protestant la religion le cur le chapelet le saint le sermon le pch la souffrance le temple le supplice le vu le culte

115. MUSIC & ART accordion bagpipe band bass clef conductor conductor's stick drum drumstick flute French horn guitar guitar strings harp horns keyboard music music stand orchestra piano piano keys saxophone sheet music tambourine treble clef trombone trumpet tuba tuning fork cello violin violin bow l'accordon (m) la cornemuse la bande la clef de fa le chef d'orchestre le bton le tambour la baguette la flte le cor d'harmonie la guitare les cordes (f) la harpe (f) les cors (m) le synthtiseur la musique le pupitre musique l'orchestre (m) le piano les touches (f) le saxophone la partition le tambourin la clef de sol le trombone la trompette le tuba le diapason le violoncelle le violon l'archet (m) xylophone acteur actress applaud art audience boo bust canvas director easel film film bob frame light mask model museum paint paintbrush painter painting pallette pedastel projector screen sculptor stage star statue tickets le xylophone l'acteur l'actrice les applaudissements (m) l'art (m) le public la hue (f) le buste la toile le metteur en scne le chevalet le film la bobine le cadre le projecteur le masque le modle le muse la peinture le pinceau le peintre le tableau la palette le pidestal le projecteur l'cran (m) le sculpteur la scne la vedette, la star la statue les billets (m)

viola - l'alto (m) 116. ACQUERIR - TO ACQUIRE & RESOUDRE - TO RESOLVE acquiers acquiers acquiert acqurir - to acquire acqurons acqurez acquirent rsous rsous rsout rsoudre - to resolve rsolvons rsolvez rsolvent

The past participles are acquis and rsolu, and both verbs are conjugated with avoir. 117. IMPERFECT & PAST SUBJUNCTIVE

The subjunctive in past tenses is not used very often in French in everyday speech, but grammatically, it should be used if the verb in the main clause is in the past tense. The imperfect subjunctive is formed from the simple past, while the the past and pluperfect subjunctive forms are composed of two elements: the present subjunctive of avoir or tre + past participle for the past subjunctive and the imperfect subjunctive of the avoir or tre + past participle for the pluperfect subjunctive. Use the il/elle form of the simple past to form the imperfect subjunctive endings. Sometimes, the only difference between the il/elle forms of the simple past and the imperfect subjunctive is the circumflex for the imperfect subjunctive. avoir il eut eusse eusses et eussions eussiez eussent il fut fusse fusses ft fussions fussiez fussent tre il coupa coupasse coupasses coupt coupassions coupassiez coupassent couper il finit Imperfect Subjunctive finisse finisses fint finissions finissiez finissent lusse lusses lt lussions lussiez lussent tinsse tinsses tnt tinssions tinssiez tinssent finir il lut lire il tint tenir

Use the simple past to form the stems

118. TRANSLATING PHRASAL VERBS: ENGLISH TO FRENCH Most English phrasal verbs translate as one verb without any prepositions or adverbs in French. Make sure to pay attention to the correct meaning of the phrasal verb in English, however, before deciding on the correct French translation. add up back up beat up bend down bend over blow out blow up break down break in break up breathe in breathe out brighten up bring back bring up bump into burst into call back call off call on call round calm down care about additionner soutenir / sauvegarder tabasser se baisser se pencher souffler gonfler / sauter / faire sauter tomber en panne / enfoncer entrer par effraction rompre / se terminer inspirer expirer s'claircir / se dgager rapporter / ramener lever / soulever clater / fondre (en larmes) rappeler annuler rendre visite passer se calmer se soucier de make up make up for mess around mess up miss out miss out on mix up mouth off move in move off move out move over muddle up note down part with pass for pass on pass out pay back pay for peel off inventer / se rconcilier compenser / rattraper faire l'imbcile / s'amuser / toucher mettre en dsordre / gcher / bcler omettre / sauter laisser passer / louper confondre / embrouiller / mlanger se vanter / parler tort et travers emmnager se mettre en route dmnager se pousser mlanger / embrouiller noter avouer se sparer de se faire passer pour transmettre s'vanouir / distribuer rembourser payer dtacher

move forward avancer

rentrer dans / renconter par hasard own up

care for carry on catch up chase after chase away check in check out check over cheer up chop down clean up clear off clear out clear up climb down climb over climb up cloud over come around come back come down come in come off come out come over come to come up come up to cool down cross off cross out cross over cry out cut off cut out deal with dig up

s'occuper de / aimer continuer rattraper courir aprs chasser se prsenter l'enregistrement / la rception rgler sa note / regarder vrifier / examiner remonter le moral / retrouver le moral abattre nettoyer dgager / filer vider ranger / s'claircir descendre passer par-dessus monter se couvrir / s'assombrir venir / reprendre connaissance revenir descendre / baisser entrer se dtacher sortir / partir venir reprendre connaissance monter / soulever / tre soulev arriver / s'approcher de refroidir / refrachir rayer barrer traverser pousser un cri couper dcouper s'occuper de / traiter de dterrer fermer / attacher / boutonner / retaper se passer de se dguiser / s'habiller passer

phone back pick on pick up pile up plug in point out pop in pull ahead pull down pull in pull out pull over pull through pull together pull up pump up push in put away put back put down put off put on put out put together put up put up with reach out read out read up on rely on ring back ring up roll up rub out rule out run away run out run over save up scare away search for see off see to

rappeler s'en prendre / harceler ramasser / chercher / apprendre / draguer s'entasser / s'empiler / s'accumuler brancher montrer / faire remarquer passer prendre la tte dmolir / baisser s'arrter arracher / retirer se ranger / se garer sur la ct s'en sortir faire un effort remonter / s'arrter gonfler resquiller ranger remettre poser remettre plus tard / dissuader / dgoter / dranger / teindre mettre / allumer / prendre / monter / faire marcher teindre / tendre / sortir / dranger monter riger / monter / mettre / augmenter / hberger supporter tendre la main lire haute voix parcourir / lire en entier compter sur rappeler appeler / tlphoner rouler / retrousser effacer exclure s'enfuir s'puiser renverser / craser mettre de l'argent de ct faire fuir / effrayer chercher dire au revoir s'occuper de

come up with proposer / suggrer

do away with se dbarasser / supprimer do up do without dress up drop by

drop off end up face up to fall apart fall down fall off fall out fall over fight back figure out fill in fill out fill up find out finish off flick off flick on flip through fly away get away get back get down get in get off get on get out get up give in give out give up go away go back go down go in go off go on go out go under go up go without grow up hand in hand out hand over hang on hang out hang up

dposer / laisser finir / se retrouver faire face s'effondrer tomber tomber tomber / se brouiller tomber / trbucher sur se dfendre comprendre / calculer remplir / boucher remplir remplir se renseigner / dcouvrir terminer / finir teindre allumer feuilleter s'envoler s'chapper / partir / s'en aller rentrer / rcuperer / reculer descendre entrer / monter dans descendre (de) monter dans / s'entendre sortir / descendre se lever cder distribuer abandonner / arrter partir retourner / rentrer descendre / baisser entrer exploser / sonner / partir / tourner continuer / se passer sortir / s'teindre couler monter / augmenter se passer de grandir rendre distribuer remettre / cder attendre frquenter / traner accrocher / suspendre / raccrocher

send back send for send off set off set out set up settle down show off show up shut up sit down slave away sleep in sleep over slip off slow down sort out speak out speed up spin around split up spread out stand for stand out stand up stand up for start off/out stay away stay in stay out stay up step forward stick out stretch out sum up swell up switch off switch on take after take apart take aside take away take back take down take off take on take out

renvoyer appeler / faire venir expulser partir / se mettre en route / faire partir / faire exploser / dclencher partir / se mettre en route crer / installer / monter se calmer / s'installer frimer arriver se taire s'asseoir trimer faire la grasse matine passer la nuit chez quelqu'un filer / s'clipser ralentir ranger / rgler / s'occuper de parler en faveur / dfendre aller plus vite tourner / se retourner se sparer se disperser vouloir dire / tolrer ressortir se lever dfendre partir ne pas s'approcher rester chez soi ne pas rentrer ne pas se coucher avancer dpasser / tirer tendre / allonger / s'allonger rsumer enfler / gonfler teindre / arrter allumer / mettre en marche tenir de dmonter prendre part enlever / emporter / emmener rapporter dmonter / enlever / noter dcoller / enlever embaucher / prendre sortir / retirer

head for hear from hear of heat up help out hold on hold out hold up hurry up join in jump in keep out keep up knock down knock out knock over know about laugh at lean over leave aside leave out let down let in let off lie down lift off line up lock in lock out log in/on look after look at look down look for look forward to look out look out for look round look up look up to make out

se diriger vers avoir des nouvelles de entendre parler de faire rchauffer / (faire) chauffer venir en aide attendre / s'accrocher tendre lever / retarder / attaquer se dpcher participer () sauter dedans / plonger ne pas entrer dans suivre / continuer renverser assommer / liminer renverser se moquer de se pencher laisser de ct oublier laisser tomber faire entrer / laisser entrer ne pas punir / faire partir, tirer s'allonger / se coucher dcoller faire la queue enfermer enfermer dehors se connecter s'occuper de regarder baisser les yeux chercher attendre avec impatience faire attention chercher / s'occuper de se retourner / regarder / visiter lever les yeux / chercher admirer

take over take up talk through tear down tear out tear up tell off think about think of throw away throw out throw up tidy up tie up tip off tip over track down try on/out turn around turn back turn down turn into turn off turn on turn over turn up wait for wake up walk out warm up wash up watch out wear out weigh down well up wind up wipe up work out wrap up write back

remplacer / prendre la relve se mettre / prendre expliquer / prvenir dmolir arracher dchirer gronder penser / penser de / rflchir penser de jeter jeter / mettre la porte vomir ranger ficeler / attacher prvenir / avertir renverser / se renverser retrouver essayer se retourner / faire demi-tour / tourner (dans l'autre sens) faire demi-tour rejeter / baisser changer en / transformer en / se transformer en teindre allumer retourner / se retourner mettre plus fort / venir / arriver attendre rveiller / se rveiller partir rchauffer / faire rchauffer / se rchauffer / s'chauffer faire la vaisselle (UK) / se laver (US) faire attention user / s'user / puiser alourdir avoir les larmes aux yeux se retrouver / se terminer / remonter essuyer trouver / rsoudre / calculer / comprendre / se passer / faire de l'exercice emballer / envelopper / rcapituler / se couvrir rpondre noter

tre au courant de / s'y connatre en toss away/out jeter

look down on regarder de haut

dchiffrer / comprendre / prtendre write down

119. OTHER TRANSLATION DIFFICULTIES: ENGLISH TO FRENCH be getting / going + adjective do nothing but forgive somebody for [verb]-ing how come...? devenir + adjective ne faire que excuser quelqu'un de + infinitive comment se fait-il que...? let somebody know let's just hope that faire savoir pourvu que

let's [verb] / how about we Et si on...? [verb]? may / might may... no matter il se peut / pourrait que puisse... peu importe n'avoir pas si tt veiller ce que jusqu' prsent La faon dont + subject + verb Il n'y a pas de moyen de Il se trouve que tre assis, debout, allong Que dirais tu de + infinitive ? et si? quel que soit quoi que chaque fois o que + subjunctive

get oneself + past participle se faire + infinitive however / no matter (much) avoir beau I can't help [verb]-ing I hate/loathe/can't stand [verb]-ing I miss + [verb]-ing I was going to / I had planned to I wish (regret) I wish + imperfect I wish + past perfect I'd rather that In order (not) to It's about time it's no use / you needn't It's typical of him/her It's usual for

Je ne peux pas m'empcher de + no sooner... infinitive J'ai horreur de + infinitive a me manque de ne pas J'avais prvu de Je regrette de ne pas si seulement + imperfect see to it that so far The way + subject + verb There is no + [verb]-ing There/it happens to

J'aurais aim que + subjunctive to sit, stand, lie J'aimerais mieux que + subjunctive dans le but de (ne pas) + infinitive il serait grand temps il est inutile que a lui ressemble il est d'usage que What / How about + [verb]-ing? What if? whatever whatever whenever wherever

le simple fait que... ne veut pas just because... doesn't mean dire keep on [verb]-ing let (permission) ne cesser pas de + infinitive Que + subjunctive 120. QUEBECOIS FRENCH Differences in vocabulary: Quebec l'arrt un breuvage une broue des bbelles un bcyque des bidoux / du foin un bleuet ma blonde une buanderie une calotte une canneberge France le stop une boisson une bire des jouets une bicyclette de l'argent une myrtille ma petite amie une blanchisserie une casquette une airelle Quebec

Whether you like it or not Que a te plaise ou non. whoever You just have to + infinitive quiconque Tu n'as qu' + infinitive

France embter quelqu'un cette heure avoir l'air fatigu de rien piquer une crise a tombe bien a n'a aucun sens a ne te regarde pas donner une racle c'est cher c'est pas terrible

achaler / gosser quelqu'un asteure avoir les yeux dans la graisse de binnes bienvenu brailler a adonne bein a pas d'allure a pas de tes affaires clisser une vole c'est dispendieux c'est pas fort

un char une chicane le djeuner un dpanneur le dner la fin de semaine un frigidaire la gang une gunille la job une joke une lampe de poche une laveuse un melon d'eau un minou le nettoyeur une patente un pitou une scheuse le souper la tabagie une vadrouille

une automobile une dispute le petit djeuner un petit magasin le djeuner le week-end un rfrigrateur la bande d'amis un chiffon le boulot une blague une lampe-torche

chauffer dbarquer (d'un char) embarquer (dans un char) tre tann faire dur faire la baboune faire son picerie il mouille jaser magasiner marquer maudit niaiseux !

conduire un vhicule descendre (d'une voiture) monter (dans une voiture) en avoir marre avoir mauvaise mine bouder faire ses courses il pleut causer / bavarder se promener dans les magasins inscrire / noter espce de crtin ! caresser pas du tout attraper / tripoter / avoir du succs faire une promenade pied maintenant ficher le camp commander / appeler zut ! c'est d'accord tu es gentil il y a foule

une machine laver minoucher un pastque un chat le pressing une chose un chien une machine scher le dner le tabac une serpillire pantoute pogner prendre une marche prsentement sacrer son camp se cler (une pizza / un taxi) tabernacle / tabarnak ! tiguidou tu es fin y a du monde la messe

une piastre/piasse un dollar

Differences in pronunciation: 1. An affrication of the consonants "t" and "d" before the vowels "u" and "i." For example, "tu es parti" is pronounced "tsu es partsi." 2. There is a reduction of the pronoun "il" to"y": Y'est malade, Y'a pas le temps; as well as a reduction of "elle" to "a" ("elle a" becomes "aa"): Aa pas le temps, aa mal au dos. 3. "Chu" is a contraction for "je suis": Chu fatigu, chu en retard. 4. A "t" sound still exists in the expressions: "il fait frette" (froid), "mon litte" (lit), "viens icitte" (ici). And the old pronunciation for the "oi" sound (as o) is still used sometimes: moi, toi, and verb forms such as bois, boit, vois, voit, reoit, etc. are pronounced mo, to, bo, etc. 5. "Tu" is often added after questions: Il en veut-tu ? Tu m'coutes-tu ? Je l'ai-tu ? 6. Many people end their statements with: T'sais ? (a reduction of: tu sais) 7. The verb pogner is a very popular word with several translations: to catch, to get, to grab, to be successful, to come, to get caught, to take, to be stuck, etc. Quoss qui't'pogne, toi? What's going on with you? Arrte de pogner les nerfs. Stop getting worked up. Some examples of Anglicisms used in Quebec: Bummer, spinner, slaquer, kiquer, faker, domper, frencher, puncher, backer, rusher, spotter, tripper, checker, avoir un good time, tre cheap, tre opne, faire son show, etc.

Go on to French VII

CONFUSIONS The following are sentences that initially confused me because I was translating them literally into English. C'est pas du franais. It's not grammatically correct, formal French. [not the French language in general] La Norvge n'est pas en Europe. Norway is not in the European Union. [not Europe as a continent] J'ai laiss un petit mot pour toi. I left a little note for you. [not word] Tu djeunes pas ? You aren't eating breakfast? [not lunch] Normalement, elle arrive 15h. If everything goes as planned, she will arrive at 3 PM. [not normally or usually] Tes parents s'ennuient de toi ? Do your parents miss you? [not get bored with] Tu veux te baigner aujourd'hui ? Do you want to go swimming today? [not take a bath] J'ai mal aux reins. My lower back hurts. [not kidneys] On a dj donn manger au chat. We've already fed the cat. [not give to eat] Elle l'a connu en Italie. She met him in Italy. [not known]

FILLING OUT FORMS contact information last name first name address birthdate place of birth Signed [city] ... date birth certificate les coordonnes nom prnom adresse date de naissance lieu de naissance Fait ... le l'acte de naissance passport visa residency card receipt application enrollment form to apply (for a job) to apply/enroll (in university) le passeport le visa la carte de sjour le rcpiss le formulaire / la candidature la demande d'inscription postuler s'inscrire

Remember the date format in France is day/month/year instead of month/day/year and that you generally capitalize your last name, but not your first name: Jean-Paul BOUCHER.

ASKING FOR CLARIFICATION OR HELP Excusez-moi de vous dranger, monsieur/madame, mais j'ai un problme. Sorry for bothering you, mister/miss, but I have a problem. Est-ce que je peux vous poser une question ? Can I ask you a question? Qu'est-ce que vous avez dit ? What did you say? Pourriez-vous rpter, s'il vous plat ? Can you repeat that, please? Je n'ai pas entendu ce que vous avez dit. I didn't hear what you said. Comment est-ce qu'on crit a ? / a s'crit comment ? How is that written? Comment est-ce qu'on prononce a ? / a se prononce comment ? How is that pronounced? Qu'est-ce que a veut dire? / a veut dire quoi ? What does that mean?

FOOD & EATING

cold cuts raw vegetables salad (with bacon) onion soup melted cheese (w/ potatoes & cold cuts) cheese, ham & potato casserole melted cheese (with bread) grilled ham and cheese grilled ham & cheese with egg

la charcuterie les crudits (f) une salade (avec des lardons) la soupe l'oignon la raclette la tartiflette la fondue le croque-monsieur le croque-madame

beefstew with carrots beefstew in red wine chicken in red wine Steak & French fries potatoes au gratin ham & cheese quiche dumplings (flavored w/ meat or fish) vegetarian vegan

du uf-carottes du uf ourguignon du coq au vin un steak-frites le gratin dauphinois la quiche lorraine les quenelles vgtarien/ne vgtalien/ne

Qu'est-ce que je vous offre ? / Qu'est-ce que je vous sers ? What can I get you? Quelque chose boire ? Something to drink? J'ai la dalle ! J'ai les crocs ! Je meurs de faim ! I'm starving! J'ai trop mang. / J'ai trop bouff. I ate too much.

ON THE PHONE / AU TELEPHONE All, est-ce que je pourrais parler ... ? Hello, may I speak to...? C'est de la part de qui ? Who is calling? Qui est l'appareil ? Who is on the phone? Un instant, s'il vous plat. One moment, please. Ne quittez pas. Please hold. Je vous la passe. I'm putting you through to her. Il ne rpond pas. He is not answering. Il n'est pas l. He is not here. Est-ce que vous voulez laisser un message ? Do you want to leave a message? Pouvez-vous rappeler plus tard ? Can you call back later? La ligne est occupe. The line is busy. Vous vous tes tromp(e)(s) de numro. You have the wrong number. Je me suis tromp(e) de numro. I got the wrong number. Cell Phone Vocabulary pay as you go plan credit/minutes to recharge your account contract plan extra charges payment plan land line voicemail account summary empty / no credit sans engagement le crdit recharger votre compte le forfait hors forfait le plan tarifaire la ligne fixe la messagerie vocale le suivi conso puis text message photo message call waiting caller ID unlimited calls PIN code SIM card locked to download ringtone SMS MMS le double appel la prsentation du numro les appels illimits le code PIN / secret la carte SIM bloqu tlcharger la sonnerie

Le suivi conso is short for le suivi de consommation.

GOING SHOPPING / FAIRE LES MAGASINS department store outlet store second-hand shop discount store (such as la grande surface le magasin d'usine la boutique d'articles d'occasion le magasin hard discount fitting room club/loyalty card heels flip-flops la cabine d'essayage la carte de fidelit des talons des tongs

Aldi) flea market department to go window-shopping to go grocery shopping mini market supermarket (food) super store (everything) shopping center

le march aux puces le rayon faire du lche-vitrine faire les courses la suprette le supermarch l'hypermarch (m) le centre commercial

tank/halter top underwire bra thong spotted flowery frilly glittery striped

le dbardeur le balconnet le string pois fleurs frous-frous paillettes rayures

Est-ce que je peux vous aider ? / Je peux vous renseigner ? / Vous dsirez ? Can I help you? Non, je regarde seulement. No, I'm just looking. Je vais rflchir. I'll think about it. Quelle est votre taille ? Vous faites du combien ? What is your size? What size do you wear? Quelle est votre pointure ? Vous chaussez du combien ? What is your shoe size? What size shoe do you wear? a va, la taille ? Cest la bonne taille ? Is the size right? Cest trop grand. / C'est trop serr. Its too big too sm ll. a cote combien ? How much does this cost? C'est en solde ? Is it on sale? Quelle escroquerie ! / Quelle arnaque ! What a rip-off! Avez-vous une carte de fidlit ? Do you have a club card? Vous rglez comment ? / Vous payez comment ? How are you paying? En espces/par carte bleue. Cash/with a bank card. A good way to increase your vocabulary is to look at ads for stores that are available online, such as Carrefour,Gant, Monoprix, etc. Listen to the le shopping: les soldes mp3 and try the cloze (fill-in-the-blank) exercise from French Listening Resources.

GOING TO THE DOCTOR / CHEZ LE DOCTEUR allergy illness cold fever flu migraine bump itching poisoning sting / bite scratch scar scab blister sprain ear infection l'allergie (f) la maladie le rhume la fivre la grippe la migraine la bosse les dmangeaisons (f) l'intoxication (f) la piqre l'gratignure (f) la cicatrice la crote l'ampoule (f) la foulure l'otite (f) swollen dizziness drops pills tablet ointment bandage prescription medicine vitamins lozenge sleeping pills to skin to sprain to crush to break enfl/e le vertige les gouttes (f) les pilules (f) le cachet la pommade le sparadrap l'ordonnance (f) les mdicaments (m) les vitamines (f) la pastille les somnifres (m) s'corcher se fouler s'craser se casser

Je voudrais prendre rendez-vous, s'il vous plat. I'd like to make an appointment, please. O est-ce que vous avez mal ? Where does it hurt? Est-ce que vous tes allergique quelque chose ? Are you allergic to anything? Je me suis corch la main en tombant. I skinned my hand by falling. Je me suis fait mal. I hurt myself.

The French health care system (called la Scurit Sociale) generally reimburses 70% of your health costs (including dentist and eye doctor visits). If you want to be reimbursed for the other 30%, you have to join a mutuelle and pay a monthly fee. Everyone covered by la Scu receives a Carte Vitale to use at the doctor's consultation and when filling prescriptions at any pharmacie. If you are a recent immigrant to France and have not yet received your Carte Vitale, you will receive feuille de soins forms to fill out in order to be reimbursed. The emergency medical service in France is called SAMU (Service d'aide mdicale d'urgence) and the phonenumber is 15. You can dial 17 to reach the police, and 18 to reach the pompiers (firefighters). The general emergency number used throughout the European Union is 112. In Belgium, you can also dial 100 for emergency services; in Switzerland, it's 144, and in Canada, it's 911.

GOING TO THE DENTIST OR EYE DOCTOR / CHEZ LE DENTISTE OU L'OPHTALMOLOGISTE cavity wisdom tooth baby tooth gums jaw crown filling cleaning root canal to pull out, remove (tooth) la carie la dent de sagesse la dent de lait la gencive la mchoire la couronne le plombage le dtartrage le canal dentaire arracher glasses frames glasses case contact lenses cleaning solution contact case near-sighted far-sighted clear blurry les lunettes la monture l'tui de lunettes (m) les lentilles la solution de nettoyage l'tui de lentilles (m) myope hypermtrope net flou

Getting your eyes checked and then choosing your frames are two different processes in France. You go to anophtalmologiste to get your eyes checked and you will receive a prescription for your glasses/contacts. Then you must go to an opticien in order to choose your frames and turn in your prescriptions. They are not in the same office like in the US.

AT THE HAIR SALON / CHEZ LE COIFFEUR bangs highlights hair cut blowdry curly wavy frizzy straight dyed lightened layered la frange les mches / le balayage la coupe de cheveux le brushing boucls onduls friss / crpus raides teints dcolors dgrad braid ponytail barette head band hair clips hairband hairpin buzz cut completely shaved head bald part la natte / les tresses la queue-de-cheval la barrette le serre-tte les pinces cheveux l'lastique (m) l'pingle cheveux (f) la coupe en brosse la boule zro chauve la raie

There is a slight difference between se couper les cheveux (to cut one's hair - by oneself) and se faire couper les cheveux (to get one's hair cut - by someone else). The same is true of se teindre les cheveux (to dye one's hair - by oneself) and se faire teindre les cheveux (to get one's hair dyed - by someone else).

OPENING A BANK ACCOUNT / OUVRIR UN COMPTE BANCAIRE savings account checking account le compte d'pargne le compte-chques bank / debit card ATM la carte bancaire / la carte bleue le distributeur / le guichet (automatique)

deposit direct deposit cash credit card loan debt wages estimate automatic payment to deposit to withdraw to earn to spend

le dpt le dpt direct les espces / du liquide la carte de crdit l'emprunt (m) / le prt la dette le salaire le devis le prlvement dposer / remettre retirer gagner dpenser

check checkbook balance sum, amount bank statement salary raise payment transfer/deposit to write a check to cash a check to pay cash to save money

le chque le carnet de chques le bilan le montant le relev de compte le traitement l'augmentation de salaire (f) le versement le virement faire un chque encaisser / toucher un chque payer en espces faire des conomies

Je voudrais ouvrir un compte. I would like to open an account. Bordereau de remise de chques. Checks deposited slip.

POST OFFICE / LA POSTE accus de rception avis de rception adresse de l'expditeur adresse de rexpdition colis destinataire expditeur envoi en nombre acknowledgement of receipt notice of receipt return address forwarding address parcel / package addressee sender bulk mail imprims lettre recommande mandat cash par avion port pay retour l'envoyeur tarifs postaux trier printed matter registered letter money order air mail postage paid return to sender postage rate to sort

Currently, the price of timbres (stamps) is 58 Euro cents to send mail within France, 75 cents within the EU & Switzerland, and 87 cents to the rest of the world (for a letter or postcard under 20 grams).

RENTING AN APARTMENT / LOUER UN APPARTEMENT housing apartment rent rent receipt utilities / fees expenses (rental) charges agency fees private landlord security deposit guarantor needed le logement l'appartement le loyer la quittance de loyer les charges / les frais les dpenses les charges (locatives) les honoraires / frais d'agence le particulier la caution / le dpt de garantie le garant exig lease bill (telephone, etc.) insurance conditions / evaluation of apt. taxes furnished building landlord renting renter renting with roommates roommate / flatmate / housemate le bail la facture l'assurance (f) l'tat des lieux (m) les impts (m) meubl immeuble le propritaire location locataire (m) / locatrice (f) colocation colocataire (m) / colocatrice (f)

short-term rental location courte

Apartments are generally listed as F1/T1, F2/T2, F3/T3, etc. regarding the number of rooms. This number does not include the kitchen or bathroom, but it does include the living room. If a kitchen is quipe, it will probably have a refrigerator and burners, but may or may not have an oven. If a kitchen is non-quipe, there will be no appliances at all. Some apartments do not have ovens, but they

might have plaques lectriques / plaquettes (burners, similar to a stove). A cuisinire is also electric burners without an oven. J'habite en colocation. I live with roommates. Je cherche un colocataire pour un appartement avec 2 chambres. I'm looking for a roommate for a 2 bedroom apartment. Le bail sera sign ds votre arrive la rsidence. The lease will be signed as soon as you arrive at the dorms. Les charges sont comprises dans le prix (eau, lctricit, chauffage). Utilities are included in the price (water, electricity, heat). You can download a sample contrat de location, tat des lieux, and quittance de loyer at this site.

COOKING & KITCHEN UTENSILS to chop / grind to grate to peel to pit to mix to stir to beat to whip to sift to pour to cook to roast to fry to steam to boil to simmer to melt to stew to broil / grill to moisten to soften to sprinkle to drain hacher rper peler / plucher dnoyauter mlanger remuer battre fouetter tamiser verser cuire rtir frire cuire l'touffe / faire cuire la vapeur bouillir mijoter fondre cuire en ragot griller mouiller faire revenir saupoudrer goutter cooking pot lid saucepan frying pan skillet casserole dish baking sheet cooling rack cake tin pie tin mixing bowl strainer / colander peeling knife slotted spoon / skimmer ladle spatula (cheese) grater whisk rolling pin can opener aluminum foil plastic wrap wax paper la marmite le couvercle la casserole la pole la sauteuse la cocotte / daubire la plaque gteaux la grille de refroidissement le moule gteaux la tourtire le bol mixer / le saladier la passoire l'conome (m) l'cumoire (f) la louche la spatule la rpe ( fromage) le fouet le rouleau ptisserie l'ouvre-bote (m) le papier d'aluminium le film transparent le papier cuisson

For verbs that involve cooking methods, you add faire before them when they are transitive verbs (when they take a direct object). So to cook something is faire cuire, to fry something is faire frire, to boil something is faire bouillir, etc. If you bake American foods in France, you will most likely need to look for certain ingredients that are not used very often in French cooking: condensed milk - lait concentr sucr; evaporated milk - lait concentr non-sucr; baking soda - bicarbonate alimentaire; baking powder - levure chimique and yeast - levure du boulanger. It is also very common to use le sopalin instead of essui-tout for paper towel.

CHRISTMAS VOCABULARY Merry Christmas! angel bell bow bulb Joyeux Nol ! lange (m) la cloche / la clochette le nud la boule

candle candy cane chimney Christmas card Christmas carols Christmas Eve Christmas Eve dinner Christmas market Christmas tree decorations egg nog elf fake tree garland holly lights mistletoe nativity scene North Pole present present name tags reindeer ribbon Santa Claus S nt h t S nt S nt sleigh sleigh bell snow snowflake snowman star stocking toy wrapping paper wreath Yule log ck o k hop

la bougie / la chandelle la canne en bonbon la chemine la carte de Nol les chansons de Nol la veille de Nol le rveillon de Nol le march de Nol le sapin de Nol les dcorations le lait de poule le lutin le sapin artificiel la guirlande le houx la guirlande lectrique / lumineuse le gui la crche le ple nord le cadeau les tiquettes le renne le bolduc / le ruban le Pre Nol le bonnet de Nol la hotte du Pre Nol latelier du Pre Nol le traineau le grelot la neige le flocon de neige le bonhomme de neige ltoile (f) la chaussette de Nol le jouet le papier dem allage la couronne la bche de Nol

TRANSPORTATION connection track platform restaurant car intersection la correspondance le quai la voie le wagon-restaurant le carrefour subway map book of ten tickets monthly pass subway/bus line bus ticket le plan de mtro le carnet la carte orange la ligne le ticket

sedan (4 door) coupe (2 door) station wagon convertible semi-truck

la berline le coup le break le cabriolet le camion

van minivan pick-up truck SUV / large truck trailer

la camionnette le monospace le pick-up le 4x4 (quatre-quatre) le remorque

Merci d'oblitrer votre ticket. Thank you for validating your ticket. O est l'arrt de bus le plus proche ? Where is the closest bus stop? Pour aller au centre-ville ? How do I get downtown? Vous vous installez ici, madame ? Do you want to sit here, ma'am? Vous descendez ? Are you getting off here? Je descends ici. I'm getting off here.

SCHOOL & EDUCATION school district urban district department / division region / area town pre-school elementary education elementary student secondary education middle school middle school student high school high school student higher education university student university prestigious universities library l'acadmie (f) l'arrondissement (m) le dpartement la rgion la commune l'cole maternelle l'cole primaire colier/re secondaire le collge collgien/ne le lyce lycen/ne suprieur tudiant/e l'universit / la facult les grandes coles le CDI middle school principal high school principal exam after middle school exam after high school mathematics economics & sociology living/foreign language physics chemistry biology life/earth science engineering history/geography philosophy literature research project/seminar P.E. / Gym report card principal proviseur brevet baccalaurat mathmatiques sciences conomique et sociale (SES) langue vivante (LV) physique chimie biologie sciences de la vie et de la terre (SVT) sciences de l'ingnieur (SI) histoire-gographie philosophie littrature travaux personnels encadrs (TPE) ducation physique et sportive (EPS) le bulletin scolaire

La rentre scolaire a lieu dbut septembre. The return to school takes place at the beginning of September. Les vacances d't s'appellent les grandes vacances. The summer vacation is called the big vacation. Il a eu de mauvais rsultats et il a d redoubler. He got bad marks and he had to stay in the same grade. Cette anne, il passe dans la classe suprieure. This year, he's passing into the next grade. Si je rate / Si j'choue mon bac, je suis oblig de redoubler ma terminale. If I fail my final exam, I have to do my last year of school over again. Ils ont sech les cours aujourd'hui. They skipped classes today. Tu as eu combien ? What (grade) did you get? J'ai eu 13, pas mal. I got a 13, not bad. Note: In French schools, the grades/marks range from 1 to 20 (though 10 is considered passing, so it cannot be easily changed into percentages); and the grades/years descend instead of increasing: sixime is the first year of collge, while troisime is the last year. Ecole maternelle is ages 2-6, cole lmentaire is ages 6-11 (CP, CE1, CE2, CM1, CM2), collge is ages 11-15 (6e, 5e, 4e, 3e), and lyce is ages 15-18 (2nde, 1re, T). LG = Lyce Gnral LT= Lyce Technique LPO= Lyce Polyvalent LGT= Lyce Gnral et Technique Bac = baccalaurat L = Littraire ES = conomique et sociale S = scientifique

CLG= Collge EE= Ecole Elmentaire IA= Inspecteur Acadmique IEN= Inspe teur dEdu ation Nationale IUFM = Instituts Universitaires de Formation des Matres CP = Cours prparatoire CE1 = Cours lmentaire 1re anne CE2 = Cours lmentaire 2e anne CM1 = Cours moyen 1re anne CM2 = Cours moyen 2e anne T = Terminale Premier degr = maternelle & lmentaire

STT = sciences et technologies tertiaires STI = sciences et technologies industrielles STL = sciences et technologies de laboratoire SMS = sciences mdico-sociales CAP = certificat d'aptitudes professionnelles BEP = brevet d'tudes professionnelles BTS = brevet de technicien suprieur CPGE = classes prparatoires aux Grandes Ecoles CDI = centre de documentation et d'information CPE = conseillers principaux d'ducation COP = conseiller d'orientation psychologue Second degr = collge & lyce

NEWS news news shows current events weather report protest demonstration earthquake hurricane flood tsunami drought burglary assault crime robbery military army navy air force invasion battle retreat treaty truce les informations / le journal le magazine d'actualits l'actualit (f) la mto la protestation la manifestation le tremblement de terre l'ouragan (m) l'inondation (f) le tsunami / le raz-de-mare la scheresse le cambriolage l'agression (f) le dlit le vol les militaires (m) l'arme (f) la marine les forces ariennes l'invasion (f) la bataille la retraite le trait la trve poverty homeless murder genocide riot curfew harassment epidemic plague cloning drug addiction drug trafficking trial testimony evidence ceasefire gun rifle troops soldier hostage casualty winners losers la pauvret les sans-abri le crime / le meurtre le gnocide l'meute (m) le couvre-feu le harclement (m) l'pidmie (f) la peste le clonage la toxicomanie le trafic de drogue le procs le tmoignage la preuve le cessez-le-feu le revolver le fusil les troupes (f) le soldat l'otage (m) les pertes (f) les vainqueurs (m) les vaincus (m)

POLITICS prime minister president vice president dictator nationality community society le premier ministre le prsident le vice-prsident le dictateur la nationalit la communaut la socit citizen senator representative mayor law bill policy le citoyen le snateur le dput le maire la loi le projet de loi la politique

government election referendum vote environment democracy anarchy capitalism socialism communism

le gouvernement l'lection (f) le rfrendum le vote l'environnement (m) la dmocratie l'anarchie (f) le capitalisme le socialisme le communisme

proposal grant legislation negotiation regulation democrat liberal conservative socialist communist

la proposition la subvention la lgislation la ngociation la rglementation dmocrate libral/e conservateur/trice socialiste communiste

The current major political parties in France include: Parti Socialiste (PS) and Parti Communiste Franais (PCF) - left-wing, Union pour la Dmocratie Franaise (UDF) - centrist, Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP) - right-wing, and Front National (FN) - far right-wing.

TELEVISION the news series/program soap opera tv movie documentary channel remote control subtitles commercials actor/actress director comedian les infos la srie le feuilleton le tlfilm le documentaire la chane la tlcommande les sous-titrages les publicits (pub) le/la comdien/ne le ralisateur l'humoriste to be on (TV) to act (in) to channel surf to turn on the TV to turn off the TV push the button turn up the volume turn down the volume to plug in to unplug what's it about? to be continued passer jouer zapper allumer la tl teindre la tl appuyer sur le bouton monter le son baisser le son brancher dbrancher a parle de quoi ? suivre

Programs do not start at the hour or half hour in France, and the majority of "prime time" shows begin at 8:50 pm (20h50) with more than one episode each week. The nightly new is always on at 8 pm (20h). Commercials are rarely shown during the programs, but more likely between the shows. There are a few French channels that you can watch without subscribing to a cable provider: TF1, France 2, France 3, France 5, Arte, M6, and depending on where you live, there are local channels as well as foreign channels of bordering countries. Canal+ is available at some times, but you must subscribe and pay extra if you want to watch it at all times. There are of course several other channels: France 4, France , W9, TMC, NRJ, Paris Premire, Tva,RTL9, AB 1, NT1, etc. Most American television shows are eventually broadcast in France, though several months later than in the US and dubbed in French. (You will find that almost every foreign program is dubbed rather than subtitled). Not all programs or channels support subtitling/closed captioning, but if your TV is equipped with tltexte, you should be able to read the subtitles in French as well. And a series does not have to be a hit in the US to be broadcast in France; several shows that were cancelled after one year in the US are still shown here. A lot of programs have the same names in French (Bones, Heroes, Desperate Housewives, etc.) while others have French words added (Lost, les disparus). Here are a few programs that are different in French: Baywatch - Alerte Malibu; Seventh Heaven - 7 la Maison; CSI - Les Experts; Without a Trace - FBI: Ports Disparus; The Young & the Restless - Les Feux de l'Amour; One Tree Hill - Les Frres Scott; Crossing Jordan - Preuve l'appui. And because I watch several shows that involve solving crime, here is some specialized vocabulary that you probably won't ever use, but you'll need to recognize if you watch crime dramas: assault blackmail l'agression (f) le chantage prosecutor rape le procureur le viol

blackmailer criminal record defendant evidence federal case gun handcuffs homicide investigation kidnapping laundering lead loaded (gun) murder paperwork

le matre-chanteur le casier judiciaire l'accus (m) la pice conviction dlit fdral le flingue les menottes (f) l'homicide (f) l'enqute (f) l'enlvement (m) le blanchiment la piste / l'indice charg le meurtre la paperasse

sketch stabbed strangled surveillance suspect to arrest to con/cheat to harass to press charges to report missing to run away to shoot warrant weapon witness

le portrait-robot poignard trangl la filature le suspect arrter escroquer harceler porter plainte porter disparu s'enfuir tirer le mandat l'arme (m) le tmoin

SOCCER ball captain captain armband cleats coach coin toss corner kick defense fans final forward foul/penalty game goal goal post goalie goalie box group (in tournaments) header jersey kickoff midfield net off-sides out of bounds (behind the goals) out of bounds (on the sides) le ballon le capitaine un brassard de capitaine les crampons l'entraneur / le selectionneur un tirage pile ou face un corner un dfenseur les supporters la finale un attaquant une faute un match un but les cages un gardien de but la surface de rparation la poule / le groupe une tte un maillot un coup d'envoi / un engagement un milieu de terrain le filet hors-jeu une sortie de but en touche pass penalty kick player playoffs quarter-finals red card referee replacement semi-finals shinguards shorts shot slide tackle socks standings starter player team tie game to pass to score to shoot to throw in the ball tournament wave What's the score? yellow card une passe un penalty un joueur le tableau final les quarts de finale carton rouge l'arbitre le remplaant les demi-finales les protge-tibias la culotte un tir un tacle les chausettes les classements le titulaire une quipe un match nul passer marquer tirer faire une touche le tournoi la ola Quel est le score? carton jaune

ZODIAC SIGNS

signs of the Zodiac horoscope astrology Aries Taurus Gemini Cancer Leo Virgo Libra Scorpio Sagittarius Capricorn Aquarius Pisces

les signes du zodiaque l'horoscope (m) l'astrologie (f) Blier Taureau Gmeaux Cancer Lion Vierge Balance Scorpion Sagittaire Capricorne Verseau Poissons

MARRIAGE & CIVIL UNIONS couple date relationship civil union engagement wedding wedding announcement honeymoon le couple le rendez-vous la relation le PACS (Pacte Civile de Solidarit) les fianailles (f) le mariage le faire-part de mariage la lune de miel to enter a PACS contract to get engaged to get married to break up / leave to get divorced to cheat on to meet to separate se pacser se fiancer se marier rompre / quitter divorcer tromper se rencontrer se sparer

Ils sont tombs amoureux l'un de l'autre. They fell in love with each other. Ils vivent en concubinage / en union libre. They live with each other (without being married). C'est mon copain / ma copine. This is my boyfriend / girlfriend. J'ai une grande amiti pour lui. I have a great friendship with him. Il a de l'affection pour elle. He has affection for her. Mais elle n'prouve aucun sentiment pour lui. But she has no feelings for him. On se disputait sans cesse. We fought all the time. Tu m'en veux ? Are you mad at me? Je t'aime bien. / Je t'aime. I like you. / I love you Si on allait au cinma ce soir ? How about if we go to the movies tonight? Tu es libre, samedi soir ? Are you free Saturday night? Je n'ai rien de prvu pour ce week-end. I have no plans for this weekend. When pulling petals off of a daisy, the French have 5 sayings instead of just He/she loves me; He/she loves me not: 1. Il/Elle m'aime. He/She loves me. 2. Un peu. A little. 3. Beaucoup. A lot. 4. A la folie. Like crazy. 5. Pas du tout. Not at all.

ENGLISH USED IN FRENCH There are many, many English words used in French, but some of them have a different meaning than in English. Sometimes the French pronunciation is radically different from the English pronunciation, so you may only be able to understand the word in writing but not in speech. Almost all English nouns borrowed

into French are masculine, unless otherwise noted below. I've marked which words are used as adjectives in French, even though the original English word may be a noun. agenda baby-foot barman basket baskets bermudes black (adj. / noun) body bowling break brushing caddie camping camping-car catch clean (adj.) clip cornflakes dancing dressing drive entourage fashion (adj.) fast-food flipper foot footing hard discount (adj.) jogging lifting light (adj.) look lov (adj.) planner / calendar foosball bartender basketball sneakers bermuda shorts refers to skin color onesie / body suit bowling alley station wagon blowdry (shopping) cart campground motorhome / camper pro wrestling sober music video cereal dance hall walk-in closet drive-thru group of friends trendy fast food restaurant pinball soccer jogging discount jogging suit facelift diet style cuddly / snuggly mail meeting nickel parking people planning play-back pom-pom girl pressing radio (f) recordman relax relooking rollers scotch self (adj.) shorty slip smoking speed (adj.) string sweat tennisman tongs le top trench tube tuning type volley zapping zen (adj.) e-mail rally clean / perfect parking lot celebrities schedule lip-synching cheerleader dry cleaner's X-ray record holder lounge chair makeover rollerblades tape self service boy shorts boxers / briefs / underwear tuxedo hectic, busy thong underwear sweatshirt tennis player flip-flops the best trench coat hit song tune up guy volleyball channel surfing cool / laid-back

ACRONYMS Those marked in color are pronounced as a word, rather than each letter individually. ANAEM ANPE* Agence Nationale de l'Accueil des Etrangers et des Migrations Agence nationale pour l'emploi PC PDG PJ PS PTT QG Parti communiste prsident-directeur gnral pices joints Parti socialiste Postes, tlgraphes et tlphones quartier gnral

Association pour l'emploi dans l'industrie et le ASSEDIC* commerce BCBG BD BN BNP bon chic bon genre bande dessine Bibliothque nationale Banque nationale de Paris

RATP Rgie autonome des transports parisiens

BP CAF CDD CDI CDS DALF DEA DELF DOMTOM EDF ENA FLQ FNAC GDF HLM INSEE MGEN MJC MLF MRAP OMI ONU OTAN OVNI PV

bote postale Caisse d'allocations familiales Contrat dure dtermine Contrat dure indtermine Carte de sjour diplme approfondi de langue franaise diplme d'tudes approfondies diplme d'tudes en langue franaise Dpartements d'outre-mer et Territoires d'outre-mer Electricit de France Ecole Nationale d'Administration Front de la libration du Qubec Fdration nationale des achats de cadres Gaz de France Habitation loyer modr Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques Mutuelle Gnrale de l'Education Nationale Maison des Jeunes et de la Culture Mouvement pour la libration de la femme Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l'amiti entre les peuples Office des Migrations Internationales Organisation des Nations Unies Organisation du trait de l'Atlantique du Nord Objet volant non identifi procs-verbal

RDC rez-de-chausse RER RF RMI RV SDF Rseau express rgional Rpublique franaise Revenu minimum d'insertion rendez-vous Sans domicile fixe Salaire minimum interprofessional de croissance

SIDA syndrome immunodficitaire acquis SMIC

SNCF Socit nationale de chemin de fer SPA SVP TER TGB TTC TVA UE UDF Socit protectrice des animaux s'il vous plat Transport express rgional Trs grande bibliothque toutes taxes comprises taxe la valeur ajoute Union europenne Union pour la dmocratie franaise

TGV Train grande vitesse

UMP Union pour un Mouvement Populaire VF VO VTT X version franaise version originale vlo tout terrain l'cole Polytechnique

VOST version originale sous-titre

* ANPE and ASSEDIC no longer exist. They were merged together in 2009 to form Ple Emploi.

REGIONS & DEPARTMENTS OF FRANCE

Rgions de France mtropolitaine Alsace Aquitaine Auvergne Basse-Normandie Bretagne Bourgogne Centre Champagne-Ardenne Corse Franche-Comt Haute-Normandie Ille-de-France Alsace Aquitaine Auvergne

English Translations

Lower-Normandy Brittany Burgundy Center Champagne-Ardenne Corsica Franche-Comte Upper-Normandy Paris-Isle-of-France

Languedoc-Roussillon Limousin Lorraine Midi-Pyrnes Nord-Pas-de-Calais Pays-de-la-Loire Picardie Poitou-Charentes Provence-Alpes-Cte d'Azur Rhne-Alpes Rgions/Dpartements d'outre-mer Guadeloupe Martinique Guyane La Runion

Languedoc-Roussillon Limousin Lorraine Midi-Pyrenees North-Calais Pays-de-la-Loire Picardy Poitou-Charentes Provence-Alpes-Azur Rhone-Alps Overseas Regions/Departments Guadeloupe Martinique French Guiana Reunion

Each rgion is divided into dpartements, except for the overseas regions (they exist as rgions as well as dpartements.) Each dpartement is assigned a two-digit number that begins the zip code (the numbers somewhat correspond to alphabetical order). For example, the dpartement of Ain is 01 and the dpartement of Vosges is 88. DOM-TOM means dpartements d'outre-mer and trritoires d'outre-mer. French territories (also called collectivities) include Polynsie franaise, Mayotte, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, Wallis-et-Futuna, Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthlemy. Nouvelle Caldonie has a special status (sui generis) and will vote for independence from France in the next ten years. The 96 departments of mainland France, grouped according to their region, are: 67 Bas-Rhin 68 Haut-Rhin Alsace 11 Aude 30 Gard 34 Hrault 48 Lozre 66 Pyrnes-Orientales 19 Corrze 23 Creuse 87 Haute-Vienne 54 Meurthe-et-Moselle 55 Meuse 57 Moselle 88 Vosges 09 Arige 12 Aveyron 31 Haute-Garonne 32 Gers 46 Lot 65 Hautes-Pyrnes 81 Tarn 82 Tarn-et-Garonne 59 Nord

Languedoc-Roussillon

24 Dordogne 33 Gironde Aquitaine 40 Landes 47 Lot-et-Garonne 64 Pyrnes-Atlantiques 03 Allier 15 Cantal 43 Haute-Loire 63 Puy-de-Dme 14 Calvados 50 Manche 61 Orne 21 Cte-d'Or 58 Nivre 71 Sane-et-Loire 89 Yonne 22 Ctes-d'Armor 29 Finistre

Limousin

Auvergne

Lorraine

Basse-Normandie

Midi-Pyrnes

Bourgogne

Bretagne

Nord-Pas-de-Calais

35 Ille-et-Vilaine 56 Morbihan 18 Cher 28 Eure-et-Loir 36 Indre 37 Indre-et-Loire 41 Loir-et-Cher 45 Loiret 08 Ardennes 10 Aube 51 Marne 52 Haute-Marne 2A Corse-du-Sud 2B Haute-Corse

62 Pas-de-Calais 44 Loire-Atlantique 49 Maine-et-Loire 53 Mayenne 72 Sarthe 85 Vende 02 Aisne 60 Oise 80 Somme Champagne-Ardenne 16 Charente 17 Charente-Maritime 79 Deux-Svres 86 Vienne

Pays de la Loire

Centre

Picardie

Poitou-Charentes

Corse

25 Doubs 39 Jura Franche-Comt 70 Haute-Sane 90 Territoire de Belfort 27 Eure 76 Seine-Maritime 75 Paris 77 Seine-et-Marne 78 Yvelines 91 Essonne 92 Hauts-de-Seine 93 Seine-Saint-Denis 94 Val-de-Marne 95 Val-d'Oise

04 Alpes-de-Haute-Provence 05 Hautes-Alpes 06 Alpes-Maritimes Provence-AlpesCte d'Azur 13 Bouches-du-Rhne 83 Var 84 Vaucluse 01 Ain 07 Ardche 26 Drme 38 Isre 42 Loire 69 Rhne 73 Savoie 74 Haute-Savoie

Haute-Normandie

Rhne-Alpes

le-de-France

Listen to the la gographie : les DOM-TOMs mp3 and try the cloze (fill-in-the-blank) exercise from French Listening Resources.

MAJOR CITIES & GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES OF FRANCE The 50 most populous cities in France (including the DOM-TOMs) are: City Paris Marseille Lyon Toulouse Nice Nantes Strasbourg Montpellier Department Paris Bouches-du-Rhne Rhne Haute-Garonne Alpes-Maritimes Loire-Atlantique Bas-Rhin Hrault Region le-de-France Provence-Alpes-Cte d'Azur Rhne-Alpes Midi-Pyrnes Provence-Alpes-Cte A Pays de la Loire Alsace Languedoc-Roussillon

Bordeaux Lille Rennes Reims Le Havre Saint-tienne Toulon Grenoble Angers Dijon Brest Nmes Le Mans Aix-en-Provence Clermont-Ferrand Saint-Denis Tours Limoges Villeurbanne Amiens Metz * Besanon Perpignan Orlans Mulhouse Caen Boulogne-Billancourt Rouen Nancy Argenteuil Montreuil Saint-Paul Roubaix Saint-Denis Avignon Tourcoing Fort-de-France Crteil Poitiers Nanterre Versailles Courbevoie

Gironde Nord Ille-et-Vilaine Marne Seine-Maritime Loire Var Isre Maine-et-Loire Cte-d'Or Finistre Gard Sarthe Bouches-du-Rhne Puy-de-Dme La Runion Indre-et-Loire Haute-Vienne Rhne Somme Moselle Doubs Pyrnes-Orientales Loiret Haut-Rhin Calvados Hauts-de-Seine Seine-Maritime Meurthe-et-Moselle Val-d'Oise Seine-Saint-Denis La Runion Nord Seine-Saint-Denis Vaucluse Nord Martinique Val-de-Marne Vienne Hauts-de-Seine Yvelines Hauts-de-Seine

Aquitaine Nord-Pas-de-Calais Bretagne Champagne-Ardenne Haute-Normandie Rhne-Alpes Provence-Alpes-Cte A Rhne-Alpes Pays de la Loire Bourgogne Bretagne Languedoc-Roussillon Pays de la Loire Provence-Alpes-Cte A Auvergne La Runion Centre Limousin Rhne-Alpes Picardie Lorraine Franche-Comt Languedoc-Roussillon Centre Alsace Basse-Normandie le-de-France Haute-Normandie Lorraine le-de-France le-de-France La Runion Nord-Pas-de-Calais le-de-France Provence-Alpes-Cte A Nord-Pas-de-Calais Martinique le-de-France Poitou-Charentes le-de-France le-de-France le-de-France

People who live in Metz pronounce the city more like mess, whereas most other French people pronounce it metz. Geographical Features of France: la Loire Loire river

la Garonne le Rhne la Seine les Alpes (f) le Mont-Blanc le Jura les Pyrnes (f) le Massif Central les Vosges (f) la mer Mditerrane l'ocan Atlantique (m) la Mer du Nord la Manche le Golfe de Gascogne

Garonne river Rhne river Seine river the Alps Mont Blanc (highest mountain in W. Europe) the Jura the Pyrenees the Massif Central the Vosges Mediterranean Sea Atlantic Ocean North Sea English Channel Bay of Biscay

WRITING LETTERS Your name and address should be placed in the top left corner. The receiver's address is placed below yours, on the right. The city you are in and the date is placed below the addresses, and on the left. (Remember to use French date formats: le 7 octobre 2008). Your name Your address Zip Code & City Receiver's Name Receiver's Address Zip Code & City City, le # mois 2009 Madame ou Monsieur, Common formal endings:

D ns l ttente de votre rponse, je vous prie d grer, Monsieur, lexpression de mes sentiments respectueux. Veuillez agrer, Madame, Monsieur, lexpression de mes s lut tions distingues. Je vous prie de croire, Monsieur, l'assurance de mes sentiments distingus.

Notice that you should not use sentiments with Madame because it's considered rude. In less formal situations, such as in certain e-mails, you can just use cordialement.

Go on to Informal French & Slang

INFORMAL WAYS OF SPEAKING Similar to the reduced forms in English (wanna, gonna, doncha, etc.), there are several informal ways of speaking inFrench. You will hear these forms very often, but you do not have to speak this way if you

don't want to. However, you must be able to understand reduced forms in order to understand real spoken French. You may see these forms in informal written French (such as on blogs or in chat rooms), but you should still write the formal way.

1. Tu + verb beginning with a vowel

The most common contractions with tu are t'as and t'es, which replace tu as and tu es. You can also contract tu + other verbs that begin with a vowel, such as t'aimes or t'ouvres, which replace tu aimes and tu ouvres. T'as fini de manger ? Have you finished eating? T'es fatigu ou quoi ? Are you tired or what? T'as beau essayer, t'y arrives pas. No matter how much you try, you won't succeed. T'as rien compris ! Laisse-moi t'expliquer. You didn't understand! Let me explain it to you.

2. Unstressed e
The letter e is often dropped between two consonants (e caduc) if it is unstressed, such as in samedi, and also at the end of short words, such as ce, de, je, le, me, que, se, te. It's also common in future and conditional tenses of verbs: donnerai = donn'rai; aimerais = aim'rais Il s'lve de bonne heure. He gets up early. C'est c'que je veux. That's what I want. Faut que j'parte maintenant. I have to leave now. Avec ce travail, je ne manqu'rai pas d'argent. With this job, I won't lack money.

3. Reduced forms: il(s), elle(s), puis, parce que, quelque

The pronouns il and ils reduce to y, while elle and elles reduce to when followed by a consonant. When followed by a vowel, il and elle reduce to l' whereas ils becomes y z' or just z' and elles becomes 'z'. The word puis is more commonly pronounced pis, parce que is pronounced pasque, and quelque is pronounced quque. Y pense qu'elle l'aime, mais c'est pas le cas. He thinks that she loves him, but that's not the case. On va aller au restaurant, et pis aprs on se fera un cin. We'll go to the restaurant, and then after we'll go to the movies. Pourquoi tu dois m'obir ? Pasque je suis ton pre ! Why must you obey me? Because I'm your father! Y a quque chose la-dessous ! Regarde voir ! There's something down there! Look!

4. Use on instead of nous

The pronoun on is used much more often to mean we than nous. It always take the third person singular form of the verb even though it's always plural in English. On peut y aller ? Tout le monde est l ? Can we go ? Is everybody here ? C'est pasqu'on est frres que je te fais confiance. It's because we are brothers that I trust you. Pourrait-on acclrer ? On va pas assez vite ! Could we speed it up? We're not going fast enough!

5. Drop ne in negatives
Although the ne in negatives should always be written, it is very rarely used in informal speech. a va pas ! C'est nul ! That doesn't work! That's stupid! Si tu veux pas voir ce film, lequel veux-tu voir ? If you don't want to see this movie, which one do you want to see? Je peux pas m'acheter cette voiture. C'est pas possible. I can't buy myself this car. It's not possible.

6. Drop -re at end of words

You usually do not pronounce -re at the end of a word, whether it's a verb (mettre) or adjective (notre). Allez, bientt ! A un de ces quat' ! See you soon one of these days! C'est pas vot' problme, c'est not' problme. It's not your problem, it's our problem. Y faut pas t' si bte. You shouldn't be so stupid.

7. Word order in questions

Word order in questions is less difficult to master in informal spoken French. Inversion and estce que aregenerally not used, and word order is simply subject - verb - question word OR question word - subject - verb. Tu fais quoi ? What are you doing? On va o ? Where are we going? Il parle de quoi ? What's he talking about? Pourquoi t'as dit a ? Why did you say that? Quand elle va arriver ? When is she going to arrive? Quelle heure il est ? What time is it? In addition, a frequently follows an interrogative to add emphasis, such as in qui a ? or c'est quoi, a ?

8. Forget grammatical rules

Sometimes you can forget the grammar rules that you have learned when speaking informally. An example of this is using to show possession (in grammatically correct French, you should use de). On est dans la chambre Cyril. We are in Cyril's room. Another example is using (r)amener to mean to bring things (back) to some place. In grammatically correctFrench, you should only use (r)amener with people, and (r)apporter with things. J'ai ramen les livres la mdiathque. I brought the books back to the library.

FILLERS IN SPEECH Fillers in speech are words that don't add any real meaning to the sentence, except for maybe emphasis. Examples in English include uh, um, well, I mean, I guess, you know?, so, ok, etc. You should get used to just ignoring these words when you hear them, so that you can focus on the key words in the sentence.

1. Quoi is the most common filler that I hear in everyday speech. It can be used to add emphasis to emotions or thoughts or to show impatience. It is usually said at the very end of the sentence. 2. Voil is often used with quoi at the end of the sentence. 3. A la limite is mostly used by young people, and can be translated as I suppose or I mean. 4. Tu vois ? is the closest approximation for you know? 5. Bon begins or ends a thought, similar to ok. It also can express anger or impatience, similar to fine! (Ah, bon ?actually means "really?" and not "good.")

6. Ben (pronounced liked bain) adds emphasis to questions, statements, commands and yes or no. 7. Bon ben is used to wrap up a thought or conversation. Translated as ok or well. 8. Donc emphasizes a question or command. 9. Alors emphasizes an interjection and yes or no. 10. Moi is commonly added to commands involving the senses. The closest translation in English is "just." Regarde-moi-a ! Just look at that! 11. Eh bien means well... at the beginning of a sentence or thought. 12. Hein ? is similar to eh? at the end of a sentence.

INTERJECTIONS Ae ! / Oue ! / Ouille ! Ouch ! Beurk ! Berk ! Yuck! Boum ! Boom! Bang! Chiche ! I dare you! Go ahead! Chut ! Shush! Be quiet! Gla gla! Brrrrrrr! Ho ! / H ! Wow! or Hey! Hol ! Hey! Whoa! Hop l ! Got it! There ya go! Whoopsie-daisy! Merde ! Shit! [not as strong as in English] / Break a leg! Miam miam ! Yum yum! Mince ! / Zut ! Darn! Dang it! Ouf ! Phew! Oups ! Oops! Pan ! Bang! Putain ! [the general all-purpose swear word in French] Toc, toc ! Knock knock! Vlan ! Slam! Youpi ! Yay!

RECOGNIZING FRENCH SLANG WORDS Several suffixes are commonly used to form slang words from regular words. This may help you determine themeaning of the slang word, which you probably cannot find in a dictionary, by identifying the root word, which you can find in a dictionary. For example, folle is a regular adjective meaning crazy. Follasse is the slang word derived from the adjective that means crazy woman. - aille (r) - os - ard - osse - ars - ouille - asse - ouse - ace - ouze - oche - uche

COMMON EXPRESSIONS Je n'en reviens pas - I can't believe it C'est du gteau ! - It's a piece of cake! Revenons nos moutons - Let's get back to the subject a saute aux yeux - That's obvious C'est dans la poche - It's a sure thing Quand les poules auront des dents - When pigs fly a ne tourne pas rond - Something's wrong C'est pas vrai ! - You're kidding!

Ce n'est pas la mer boire - It's not the end of the world C'est pas sorcier - It's not rocket science Je vais jeter un il - I'll take a look a n'a rien voir avec... - That has nothing to do with... a vaut le coup - It's worth it On voit que dalle - You can't see anything a va tre chaud ! It's going to be tough! Tu dois me tirer de l ! - You gotta help me out! 'est parti ! Here we go / we're off ! a gaze ? How are things? What's up? Oh pure ! Oh my goodness! a fait un bail ! It's been a long time ! a craint ! / C'est nul ! - That sucks! Fais voir - Show me / Let me see Je suis prems ! - I'm first! Rien que den parler... - Just talking about it... If you can't remember the name of a thing, you can use ce truc, ce machin, ce bidule or cet engin similarly to the English thingy, thingamajig, whatchamacallit, etc. What's-his-name is Monsieur Untel and what's-her-name is Madame Unetelle. You can also use Machin but it has a more derogative meaning, as if you are saying the person is merely an object.

COMMON VERBS balancer - to throw (away) en baver - to have a hard time bosser - to work bouffer - to eat bourrer - to stuff, cram bousiller - to break, damage chialer - to cry chopper - to get, to catch dbarquer - to arrive without notice dgoter - to find, come up with, dig up encarrer - to enter engueuler - to yell pater / scier - to astonish, surprise tre deux doigts (de faire quelque chose) - to be on the verge (of doing something) tre la bourre - to be in a hurry tre mourir d'ennui - to be very boring faire gaffe - be careful, pay attention farfouiller - to rummage filer - to give, hand over filer l'anglaise - to leave without saying goodbye / to take a French leave flipper - to go crazy, flip out fourrer - to cram, stick, shove foutre - to put, throw / to give / to do foutre le bordel - to make a mess gaver - to be sick of gerber - to puke gober - to believe naively / to fall for gonfler - to annoy louper - to miss mater / zieuter - to look papoter - to chatter, gossip paumer - to lose piger - to understand piquer - to steal planquer - to hide poireauter - to wait repcher - to find

rigoler / se marrer - to laugh roupiller - to sleep schlinguer - to stink se planter - to make a mistake se pointer / radiner - to show up se tirer / se barrer / se casser - to leave vadrouiller - to rove around

THE VERB FOUTRE This slang verb has several meanings in French: to put, to give, to do, etc. It is conjugated thus: fous fous - fout - foutons - foutez - foutent. The pronominal verb s'en foutre means to not care, while the adjective foutu(e) usually means screwed/screwed up. Fiche is a milder verb that is very common too. It is conjugated: fiche - fiches - fiche - fichons - fichez - fichent and the past participle is fichu(e). Je m'en fous / Je m'en fiche. I don't care. Qu'est-ce qu'il fout l-bas ? What's he doing over there? / What the hell is he doing over there?? J'en ai rien foutre. I don't care. [stronger] / I don't give a damn. Je m'en fous de tes problmes. I don't care about your problems. Tu t'en fous de ce que les autres pensent. You don't care about what others think. On s'en fout de foot ! We don't care about soccer! Ils s'en foutent des jeunes. They don't care about young people. Fous-moi la paix ! Leave me alone! / Give me a break! Fous le camp ! F you! Va te faire foutre ! Go to hell! The adjective foutu does not always have a negative connotation, however: un mec bien foutu a well-built/muscular guy

COMMON ADJECTIVES bidon - phoney, fake chapeau - bravo, hats off! chelou - shady, suspicious chiant - annoying collant - clingy cradingue / crado - filthy dbile - pathetic, stupid dgueulasse - disgusting djant - oddball dingue / cingl / timbr / givr / barjo / loufoque - crazy farfelu - eccentric fut - cunning, crafty, sly gnial / chouette - great godiche - silly, awkward gratos- free impec - great, terrific kif-kif - same difference; it's the same mal barr / mal foutu - "in dire straits" / screwed marrant / rigolo - funny moche - ugly nickel - very clean nunuche - silly, stupid pas terrible - not good radin - cheap roublard - devious, cunning sal - expensive sympa - nice, likable vache - mean zinzin - nuts

COMMON INTENSIFIERS / ADVERBS carrment - completely rudement - very, terribly pas mal de / un paquet de - a lot of super / mega / hyper - very, ultra vachement - very, really foutrement - extremely Oh la vache ! - Oh wow! espce de + adjectif - stupid + adjective adjectif + de chez + adjectif - really, completely + adjective Ce livre est nul de chez nul. This book majorly sucks. nom + de malheur - darned + noun nom + d'enfer - really good + noun

VERLAN Verlan is a popular form of slang that involves reversing the syllables in regular words. mre - reum pre - reup femme - meuf mec - keum fte - teuf flic - keuf louche - chelou cher - reuch nerv - vnre boudin - doubin capote - poteca toi - ouat moi - ouam

HEALTH & BODY babines (f) - lips barbouze (f) - beard bide / bidon (m) - belly Mon chat a un bide norme ! My cat has a huge belly! caillou / ciboulot (m) - head carcasse (f) - body couille / roubignole (f) - testicle esgourdes (f) - ears gueule (f) / bec (m) - mouth Ferme ta gueule ! Shut up! jambons / gigots (m) - thighs mirettes (f) - eyes nichons (m) - breasts palpitant / battant (m) - heart paluche / pince (f) - hand panard / ripaton (m) - foot patte / gambette / guibole / quille (f) - leg pif / blair (m) - nose riquiqui (m) - pinkie finger tifs (m) - hair tignasse (f) - mop of hair Jai une tignasse frise qui marrive en bas du dos. I have curly hair that goes all the way down my back. tronche (f) - face, head

se casser la gueule - to break one's neck passer sur le billard - to have an operation avoir la pche / la patate - to be on top of the world, to feel good avoir mal au cur - to feel nauseated / to feel like vomiting gerber / dgueuler - to puke crever / clamser - to die (figuratively), to "croak" avoir mauvaise / bonne mine - to look bad / good tre maigre comme un clou - to be really skinny attraper la crve - to catch a terrible cold tomber dans les pommes / les vapes - to pass out requinquer - to perk up se dbarbouiller - to wash your face l'article de la mort - at death's door bien roule - good body mal fichu - sick l'hosto [l'hpital] - hospital

EMOTIONS & PERSONALITIES crev / lessiv / nase / mort / cass / vann / HS [hors-service] - really tired, exhausted avoir le cafard / le blues / le spleen - to be sad, depressed tre de mauvais poil - to be in a bad mood en avoir marre / en avoir ras-le-bol / en avoir soup - to be fed up, angry J'en ai marre de ces pubs ! I'm so sick of these ads! avoir les boules / les glandes / les nerfs / la haine - to be really angry raffoler de quelque chose - to be crazy about something tre accro quelque chose - to be addicted to something avoir le mal du pays - to be homesick se barber - to get bored avoir la trouille / la frousse / le trac - to be scared fiche la trouille / frousse quelqu'un - to scare somebody C'est la premire fois qu'une BD me fiche la frousse. That's the first time a comic book scared me. dconner - to joke / mess around se planter - to make a mistake / to fall pter les plombs / pter un cable - to go crazy perdre la boule / les pdales - to lose one's mind s'engueuler / bagarrer - to fight, yell rififi (m) / bagarre (f) - fight racle / sauce / trempe (f) - scolding filer une baffe / une claque / une beigne quelqu'un - to slap someone coller un pain / une mandale / une chataigne / un marron quelqu'un - to punch someone coquard (m) - black eye furax - furious, angry blairer quelqu'un - to not be able to stand someone ne pas sentir quelqu'un - to not like, not be able to stand someone casser les pieds quelqu'un / prendre la tte quelqu'un - to annoy someone tre casse-bonbons / casse-pieds / casse-couilles - to be a pain in the neck/ass cafter quelqu'un - to tell on someone, to snitch faire du ptard - to make a fuss Il fait du ptard quand les choses ne vont pas comme il veut. He makes a fuss when things aren't how he wants them to be. rouscailler - to complain gonfler quelqu'un / emmerder quelqu'un - to get on someone's nerves, be a pain faire chier quelqu'un - to really annoy someone, to piss someone off a me fait chier de refaire une anne, puis encore deux annes en BTS. That pisses me off to repeat a grade, and then still have two more years of BTS. monter sur ses grands chevaux - to get angry se mettre en ptard - to get crabby, angry se faire de la bile - to get all worked up en faire toute une salade - to make a big deal about it taper sur les nerfs quelqu'un - to get on someone's nerves

chambrer / taquiner quelqu'un - to tease, bother someone Tu te fous de ma gueule ? - Are you kidding me? / Do you think I'm an idiot? Tu me prends pour qui ? - Who do you think you're dealing with? / Do you think I'm stupid? Lche-moi les baskets ! - Give me a break! Leave me alone! Ce sont pas tes oignons ! / T'occupe ! - Mind your own business! Laisse bton ! - Nevermind! Forget it! Ta gueule ! / La ferme ! - Shut up! avoir la cosse / flemme - to be lazy avoir un poil dans la main - to be really lazy avoir la bougeotte - to be fidgety flemmard / feignant - lazy glander / glandouiller - to waste time, to bum around Il glande tous les jours chez lui. He does nothing all day at home. se pavaner - to strut about, show off frimer - to show off frimeur (m) - showoff C'est un mec qui a l'air sympathique ; c'est pas un frimeur ce que je sache ! He seems like a nice guy; he's not a showoff as far as I know! lche-bottes (f) - suckup, brown-noser rat (m) - loser dbile / tar - stupid, idiotic con (m) / conne (f) - idiot "Casse-toi, pauvre con !" Get lost, stupid idiot! - quote from French president, Nicolas Sarkozy quiche (f) - stupid person bourrique (m/f) - a blockhead avoir l'air vaseux - to seem dazed bte noire (f) - pet peeve galre (f) - problem, difficulty donner un coup de main - to give someone a hand / to help someone dpanner quelqu'un - to do someone a favor retirer une pine du pied quelqu'un - to do someone a big favor pot (m) - luck / drink bol (m) - luck J'ai vachement de bol, j'ai pas de gosses et j'ai une voiture. I'm really lucky, I don't have kids and I have a car. guigne / dveine / poisse (f) - bad luck guignard(e)(m/f) - unlucky person avoir de la veine - to be lucky branch - with it, hip, cool peinard / pnard - calm, tranquil Cette anne, c'est pnard, mais l'anne prochaine, le bac ! This year is calm, but next year is the bac [final exam]! zen - cool, calm, laid-back

SCHOOL bahut (m) - school (also truck, taxi) Mon bahut est en grve ! My school is on strike! bizut (m) - freshman / pledge (to a fraternity/sorority) bizutage (m) - hazing bouquin (m) - book bcher / potasser - to study hard, to cram cal en - good/smart in cartonner un examen - to ace an exam chouchou (m) - teacher's pet colle (f) - difficult question coller un lve - to punish a student / give a student detention Mon fils est coll deux heures par son prof de math. My son got two hours of detention from his math teacher. tre coll - to have detention fac (f) - university

piger - to understand, to get (it) plancher - to be grilled/interrogated by a teacher potache (m) - student se faire tendre / coller un examen - to flunk a test scher un cours - to skip class

WEATHER & TIME cailler - to freeze cramer - to burn flotter - to rain flotte (f) - water froid de canard - really cold weather temps de chien - lousy weather tomber des cordes - to rain heavily, to pour il pleut comme vache qui pisse - it's pouring / it's really coming down sauce (f) - shower se peler les miches - to freeze one's ass off Je suis frileuse et je me ple les miches t comme hiver. I'm always cold and I freeze my ass off in summer like in winter. entre chien et loup - at dusk, sunset il y a des lustres - a long time ago pige (f) - year un de ces quat' - one of these days

TALKING & CHATTING avoir de la tchatche - to talk a lot avoir un mot sur le bout de la langue - to have a word on the tip of your tongue baratin (m) - nonsense baratiner - to sweet talk bavarder / causer - to chat Elle aime causer et tout le monde la connat. She likes to chat and everyone knows her. blaze (m) - name casser les oreilles quelqu'un - to talk someone's ear off chanter comme une casserole - to sing really badly charabia (m) - gibberish charrier - to exaggerate dgoiser - to talk a lot, rattle on djanter - to talk nonsense, to go crazy donner un coup de fil - to call, telephone et patati et patata - blah blah blah jacter - to speak, chatter parler une langue comme une vache espagnole - to speak a language really badly passer du coq l'ne - to quickly change the subject quand on parle du loup - speak of the devil ragots - rumors, gossip, the "dirt" Si quelqu'un dit des ragots sur moi, alors je m'en fous. If someone spreads rumors about me, I don't care. rouspter - to complain, moan tchatcher - to chat tuyau (m) / astuce (f) - tip, piece of advice

EATING & DRINKING avoir la dalle - to be starving J'ai la dalle et je sais pas quoi faire manger. I'm starving and I don't know what to make to eat. avoir la gueule de bois - to have a hangover avoir les crocs - to be very hungry avoir un petit creux - to be a little hungry

arroser - to drink to celebrate something barbaque / bidoche (f) - bad meat Berk ! - Yuck! blonde (f) - ale boire un verre / un coup / un pot - to have a drink bouffe / boustifaille (f) - food bouffer - to eat boui-boui (m) - dive, bad restaurant bourr / pt / rond / saoul / dfonc / plein - drunk a fouette - that stinks (said of cheese) casser la crote - to have a snack On a cass la crote avec une vue magnifique depuis le nord au sud du Mont-Blanc. We had a snack with a magnificent view from the north to south of Mont Blanc. chaud - tipsy, buzzed chopine (f) - bottle of wine dgueulasse - disgusting gav - stuffed (ate too much) se goinfrer / s'empiffrer / se taper - to pig out gueuleton (m) - feast, huge spread of food Miam ! - Yum! pter - to fart (also: to burst, blow up, snap) picole (f) - alcohol, booze picoler - to drink alcohol picoleur, picoleuse - drinker pinard (m) - cheap wine pochtron / poivrot (m) - drunkard prendre une cuite - to get wasted/plastered pression (f) - draft beer rgaler - to treat, pay repu - full (of food) roter - to burp tituber - to stumble (drunkenly) Il titubait et hurlait dans les couloirs, compltement bourr. He was stumbling and yelling in the hall, completely drunk. tourne (f) - round of drinks trinquer - to toast, to drink to [this can also mean to be devastated, to suffer: Dans un divorce, ce sont toujours les enfants qui trinquent. In a divorce, it's always the children who suffer.]

PEOPLE & ANIMALS beauf (m) - brother-in-law / lower-class Frenchman belle-doche (f) - mother-in-law canaille (f) - rascal, scoundrel copain / copine (m/f) - friend, pal fiston (m) - son frangin (m) - brother frangine (f) - sister gamin/e (m/f) - kid, brat gars (m) - boy gosse (m/f) - kid [be careful: this means testicles in Quebecois French!] loulou / loulotte - boyfriend / girlfriend mec / keum / type (m) - guy meuf [Verlan for femme] - wife mme (m/f) - kid, brat moutards / lardons / marmots / morveux (m) - kids nana / gonzesse (f) - girl, chick pote (m) - buddy, mate racaille (f) - scum reum [Verlan for mre] - mother reup [Verlan for pre] - father ricain(e) - American

vieux (m) - parents voyou / gouape - punk, hooligan clbard (m) - mutt, hound piaf (m) - bird

PLACES & TRANSPORTATION piaule / crche (f) - bedroom pieu / plumard / pageot (m) - bed crcher - to crash, to live pioncer / roupiller - to sleep truc / machin (m) - a thing, thingamajig bordel (m) / bazar (m) / galre (f) - mess C'est quoi ce bordel ? What is all this mess? bagnole / caisse (f) - car baraque (f) - shed, stand, house bled perdu (m) - nowheresville, in the boonies Je viens du fin fond de la Bretagne dans un bled perdu o il n'y a rien faire. I come from the boonies at the far end of Brittany, where there's nothing to do. coin (m) - place in general se taper 10 bornes pied - to walk 10 kilometers borne (f) - kilometer

WORK & MONEY arnaquer - to rip off, cheat arnaqueur (m) - con artist balle (f) - franc (many French people still think in francs instead of euros) BCBG [bon chic bon genre] - posh, stylish, preppy bo-bo [Bourgeois Bohme] - person with good job and Bohemian lifestyle bote (f) - company bosser / taffer - to work boulot (m) - work, job bourge (n) - bourgeois, middle class claquer - to blow money clodo / clochard (m) - bum, homeless person douloureuse (f) - bill (that you know is going to be high) Diplme de comptabilit - accounting degree tre plein aux as - to have a lot of money fric / pognon / bl / des sous / pze / l'oseille (m) - money fauch / sec / raide / dans la dche - broke faux jeton (m) - two-sided, hypocritical (politician) flic / keuf / poulet (m) - cop grippe-sou (f) - penny pincher gyneco [gyncologue] - gynecologist kin [kinsithrapeute] - physiotherapist mettre au clou - to hock, pawn prolo (m) - working class proprio [propritaire] - landlord, landlady psy [psychologue] - psychologist radin - cheap reuch - expensive richard (m) - very wealthy man rmiste (m) - someone who earns the jobseeker's allowance (RMI) sal - expensive (a bill) se faire arnaquer - to get ripped off smicard (m) - someone who earns minimum wage (SMIC) taffe (m) - job, work thune (f) - money / coin toubib (m) - doctor turbin (m) - job, daily grind

a cote la peau des fesses ! / a douille ! - That's really expensive!

LOVE & DATING amourettes (f) - passing love affairs avoir le bguin pour / craquer pour / en pincer pour / flasher sur quelqu'un - to have a crush on someone avoir le coup de foudre - to be in love at first sight avoir un cur d'artichaut - to be fickle (in love) brancher quelqu'un - to try to seduce someone bombe (f) - attractive woman boudin / thon / pou (m) - ugly person [these are mean words!] canon (m) - hot, very attractive person capote (f) / chapeau / gant (m) - condom choper / emballer / embarquer quelqu'un - to succesfully seduce / pick up someone draguer / flirter - to flirt en cloque - pregnant / "knocked up" se faire jeter / se prendre une veste - to get denied, turned down gars / mec / type / bonhomme / keum - guy, man jules - boyfriend, lover kiffer - to like lov - cuddly, snuggly larguer / plaquer - to leave, dump (a person) mater quelqu'un - to check out (someone) moche - ugly nana / nnette / minette / gonzesse / meuf - woman, girl, chick se remettre de quelqu'un - to get over someone rencard (m) - date rouler un patin / une pelle quelqu'un - to French kiss someone poser un lapin quelqu'un - to stand someone up (for a date) tripoter / peloter - to grope, fondle

FASHION & SHOPPING baskets (m) - tennis shoes / sneakers bermuda (m) - knee-length shorts body (m) - bodysuit/onesie for a baby costard (m) - suit fringues (f) - clothing futal (m) - pants godasse (f) - shoe jogging / survt / training (m) - jogging suit pbroc / ppin / chamberlain (m) - umbrella pompe (f) - shoe shorty (m) - "boy short" underwear for women string (m) - thong underwear sweat (m) - sweatshirt brushing (m) - blowdry fringu / sap - dressed lifting (m) - face lift rabais - discount relooking (m) - makeover ringard - old fashioned, out of style

ENTERTAINMENT & TECHNOLOGY clope / sche (f) - cigarette came (f) - drugs dfonc - high bote (f) - nightclub, bar

court-jus (m) - short circuit boum / teuf (f) - party resto (m) - restaurant se faire un resto - to go out to eat s'clater - to have fun se marrer - to laugh mater la tloche - to watch TV se faire un cin / se faire une toile - to go to the movies cinoche (m) - movie theather faire un tabac - to be a hit, success (a film, a song, etc.) tube (f) - hit song play-back (m) - lip-synching zapping (m) - channel surfing buter - to bump off, kill taule / calche (f) - jail, slammer maton (m) - prison guard se faire la belle / se carapater - to run away, escape cavale (f) - escape (from prison) ptard (m) - gun / joint potin (m) - gossip people / pipol (m) - celebrities casting (m) - audition book (m) - portfolio (for a model, actor, etc.)

BABY TALK faire dodo - to go beddy-bye avoir un bobo - to have a booboo faire pipi - to go peepee faire caca - to go poopoo mamie / mm - grandma pappy / pp - grandpa tata / tatie - aunt tonton - uncle doudou (m) - favorite stuffed animal / blankie joujoux (m) - toys nounours (m) - teddy bear toto (m) - car lolo (m) - milk minet (m) - kitty toutou (m) - doggy dada (f) - horsie

PROPER NAMES A la tienne, Etienne ! Cheers! a glisse, Alice ! It's slippery! Tu parles, Charles ! You bet! Tranquille, Emile ! Calm down!

IDIOMS & PROVERBS C'est en forgeant qu'on devient forgeron. Practice makes perfect. Si jeunesse savait, si vieillesse pouvait. If the young knew, if the old could. Tout comprendre, c'est tout pardonner. To understand is to forgive. Vouloir, c'est pouvoir. Where there's a will, there's a way. Un de perdu, dix de retrouvs. There's other fish in the sea. L'habit ne fait pas le moine. Clothes doesn't make the man.

Animals
avoir d'autres chats fouetter - to have better things to do; other fish to fry avoir un chat dans la gorge - to have a frog in your throat doux comme un agneau - soft/gentle like a lamb un froid de canard - very cold appeler un chat un chat - to call a spade a spade s'entendre comme chien et chat - to get along like cats and dogs un mal de chien - difficulties une vie de chien - difficult life passer du coq l'ne - to change subjects quickly avoir une mmoire d'lphant - to have a good memory avoir une faim de loup - to be starving marcher pas de loup - to walk silently revenir ses moutons - to get back to the subject avoir la chair de poule - to have goosebumps quand les poules auront les dents - when pigs fly une peau de vache - a mean person une langue de vipre - a person who often speaks badly of others chercher la petite bte - to nitpick, split hairs avoir le cafard - to be down, depressed entre chien et loup - at dusk, sundown avaler des couleuvres - to swallow one's pride la brebis galeuse de la famille - black sheep of the family le bouc missaire / le dindon de la farce - scapegoat avoir une araigne au plafond - to have bats in the belfry tre heureux comme un poisson dans l'eau - to be as happy as a clam at high tide il y a anguille sous la roche - I smell a rat il faut mnager la chvre et le chou - you have to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds jetter quelqu'un dans la fosse aux lions - to throw someone to the wolves se jetter dans la gueule du loup - to put one's hand in the lion's mouth courir deux livres la fois - to ride two horses at the same time mettre la charue avant les bufs - to put the cart before the horse ce n'est pas un vieux singe qu'on apprend faire des grimaces - you can't teach an old dog new tricks tre hardi comme un coq sur son fumier - to be a showoff avoir une fivre de cheval - to have a high fever

Body Parts
se creuser la tte - to think really hard se croire sorti de la cuisse de Jupiter - to think oneself is better than everyone else se mettre le doigt dans l'il - to make a mistake rester bouche cousue - to not say anything; keep a secret avoir le coeur sur le main - to wear one's heart on one's sleeve avoir un cheveu sur la langue - to lisp ne pas avoir la langue dans sa poche - to be talkative avoir la langue bien pendue - to know how to answer/talk faire la tte - to pout garder la tte froide - to keep one's calm ne pas avoir froid aux yeux - to not be scared avoir/mettre l'eau la bouche - to want/drool over something rester bouche be - to be speechless ne rien faire de ses dix doigts - to be lazy avoir l'estomac dans les talons - to be hungry prendre ses jambes son cou - to leave quickly ne pas lever le nez - to concentrate on something l'il - without paying, for free faire la sourde oreille - to not listen/hear tre bte comme ses pieds - to be stupid mettre les pieds dans le plat - to say/do something stupid coter les yeux de la tte - to cost an arm and a leg se payer la tte de quelqu-'un - to pull someone's leg donner sa langue au chat - to give up

avoir les dents longues - to be ambitious avoir le bras long - to have influence, connections tre au bout de la langue - to be at the tip of your tongue avoir un poil dans la main - to be lazy, to avoid work casser les pieds quelqu'un - to get on someone's nerves manger sur le pouce - to grab a bite to eat enlever une pine du pied quelqu'un - to help someone out dormir sur les deux oreilles - to sleep soundly prendre la lune avec les dents - to try to do the impossible rebattre les oreilles - to repeat the same story over and over

Numbers
en moins de deux - very quickly chercher midi quatorze heures - to make things complicated comme deux et deux font quatre - sure, certain les deux font la paire - both are the same jamais deux sans trois - something that's happened twice, will happen a third time ni une ni deux - without hesitating, very fast quatre quatre - quickly dire des quatre vrits quelqu'un - to say what you think of someone se mettre en quatre - to give oneself a hard task un de ces quatre - one of these days tre tir quatre pingles - to be dressed well tourner sept fois sa langue dans sa bouche - to take time to think before speaking voir trente-six chandelles - to see stars faire les cent pas - to pace back and forth, come and go faire les quatre cents coups - to have a hectic and chaotic life; to sow one's wild oats se mettre sur son trente et un - to be dressed to kill

Colors
blanc bonnet et bonnet blanc - the same thing tre blanc comme un linge - to be white from fear passer une nuit blanche - to spend a sleepless night donner carte blanche quelqu'un - to let someone do what they want tre un cordon bleu - to be a good cook tre fleur bleu - to be sentimental avoir une peur bleue - to be scared stiff tre la bete noire - to be the person that no one likes avoir des ides noires - to be sad voir la vie en rose - to see the good side of things, to be optimistic donner le feu vert - to give the green light to someone se mettre au vert - to rest in the countryside devenir pourpre - to get red with embarassment

Food
appuyer sur le champignon - to go very fast, accelerate tre haut comme trois pommes - to be small ne pas tre dans son assiette - to not feel yourself sucrer les fraises - to be senile, crazy tomber dans les pommes - to faint, pass out couper la poire en deux - to meet halfway jeter de l'huile sur le feu - to add fuel to the fire tondre des ufs - to be cheap, a skinflint pdaler dans la semoule - to become insane, senile c'est la goutte d'eau qui fait dborder la vase - it's the straw that broke the camel's back mettre du beurre dans les pinards - to help financially casser du sucre sur son dos - to spread lies about someone, talk about someone behind his/her back tre dans le ptrin - to be in a jam

Other
tre dans ses petits souliers - to not feel comfortable avoir des oursins dans la poche - to be stingy, cheap

faire d'une pierre deux coups - to kill two birds with one stone ne pas tre de la dernire pluie - to not be born yesterday pendre la crmaillre - to have a house-warming party vendre la mche - to let the cat out of the bag, to tell a secret n'y voir que du feu - to be taken in / to be had ne pas y aller avec le dos de la cuillire - to not be subtle about something faire un chque en bois - to write a bad check manger les pissenlits par la racine - to push up daisies, to be dead and buried tourner autour du pot - to beat around the bush se mettre table - to confess, come clean mettre des btons dans les roues de quelqu'un - to throw a monkey wrench in someone's business reprendre ses billes - to renege on a deal un coup d'pe dans l'eau - a wasted effort tre au four et au moulin - to be in two places at once faire le pont - to take a long weekend tirer les plans sur la comte - to count one's chickens before they have hatched ce n'est pas la mer boire - it's not as bad as all that c'est au bout du monde - it's halfway around the world ce n'est pas le Prou - it's nothing to write home about / it's no great fortune tirer le diable par la queue - to barely get by, have a hard time il ne faut pas dshabiller Pierre pour payer Paul - you shouldn't rob Paul to pay Peter parler quelqu'un brle-pourpoint - to ask someone point-blank raconter des histoires dormir debout - to tell tall tales prendre la poudre d'escampette - to leave quickly tirer son pingle du jeu - to get out of a difficult situation mener en bateau - to lead someone on, to lie

Each exercise will open in a new window. Matching Exercises Adjectives Nouns 1 / Nouns 2 / Nouns 3 Verbs 1 / Verbs 2 / Verbs 3 School Body Parts Dating Entertainment Multiple Choice Exercises Eating & Drinking Work & Money People Emotions & Personality Random Vocabulary Gap-Fill Exercises Animal Idioms Body Part Idioms Colors & Numbers Idioms Food Idioms Other Idioms