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Marie de France

God, abortion and climate change

GigaFrench

GigaFrench {~}

gigafrench.com

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Marie de France

GigaFrench

2016 Edition

This PDF is the second edition ofGigaFrench 2016, presenting Level 1–3. More

levels will be published in May 2016. Forfuture updates, please check

www.GigaFrench.com/updates.

You’ll find many xxx in this manual. Theseare links to future chapters.

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Marie de France

GigaFrenchGod, abortion and climate change

2016 Edition

Flying Publisher

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4 | Cover Design:

Oliver Barbagallo – Milan

Illustration:

N. Allan – New York

Copy-Editing:

N.N. – Boston

Disclaimer

Language and grammar is an ever-changing field. The publishers andthe author of GigaFrench have made every effort to provide informationthat is accurate and complete as of the date of publication. However, inview of the rapid changes occurring in language teaching, as well as thepossibility of human error, this guide may contain technicalinaccuracies, typographical or other errors. The information containedherein is provided “as is” and without warranty of any kind. Thecontributors to this book, including Flying Publisher and the author,

cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions or for resultsobtained from the use of information contained herein.

This work is protected by copyright both as a whole and in part.

© 2016 by Flying Publisher & MDF

ISBN: 978-3-924774-97-4

Published on April 6, 2016

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AboutGigaFrench is for dedicated students. The free multimedia fasttrack course right into the heart of French and the Frenchpeople offers a refreshingly new approach to one of the mostbeautiful languages in the world. Your enthusiasm for exploringnew worlds will finally meet up with efficiency. If you devote atleast 30 minutes daily to serious study sessions, GigaFrench willbe yours.

Of all language skills, reading is the crucial skill becauseeverything else springs from that - writing is a direct result ofreading, listening can be outsourced to almost effortlessexercises (see page 151), and speaking is the consequence ofreading and listening. GigaFrench’s focus is therefore on

accelerating your transformation from a French illiterate to aFrench “scholar”. Our goal: to put you into an orbit ofindependent reading as quickly as possible. Whatever yourfavourite subject is – biology, medicine, earth sciences, literature,economics, law, architecture, history, psychology, sociology, orany other topic – you’ll be able to read any text about it withinmonths.

GigaFrench is free. In addition to the free PDF, you have freeaccess to the website www.GigaFrench.com and all audio files.

Welcome to France, welcome to the French language!

Marie de France

2 Germinal 224 – 22 March 2016

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6 | GigaFrench.com

How to use GigaFrenchFrance is one of the most beautiful countries and French one ofthe most beautiful languages in the world – wonderfully preciseand pleasing to the ear. If you plan a trip to France, don’t missout on the opportunity to acquire some language skills.

GigaFrench (www.GigaFrench.com) is a versatile multimedia

language course. Depending on your time and previousknowledge, you can choose between a short overview and fullimmersion:

1. If you learned French earlier in life and if your time islimited, go through the main text at the beginning of eachLevel (page 19, 109, and 185) and listen to the audio until youunderstand every single words.

2. If you have time for an in-depth discovery of the Frenchlanguage, go through each level until the end.

Use GigaFrench if…

1. You learned French in the past.

GigaFrench will complete your knowledge with a vast rangeof subjects (God, climate change, abortion, junk food etc).New and powerful vocabulary will enable you to havepassionate discussions with friends, family and colleagues.

2. You learned French many years ago but feel that you haveforgotten almost everything.

Things we’ve learned in the past never disappear. They leavetraces in your brain you can quickly reactivate. GigaFrench will help you retrieve your past knowledge, explainingeverything from the beginning, though progressing at a pacethat is never boring.

http://www.gigafrench.com/http://www.gigafrench.com/http://www.gigafrench.com/http://www.gigafrench.com/http://www.gigafrench.com/http://www.gigafrench.com/http://www.gigafrench.com/

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3. You have never learned French before but you are Spanish,Portuguese or Italian or you are fluent in one of theselanguages.

French is a Romance language that descended primarilyfrom Vulgar Latin – as did Spanish, Portuguese, Italian andRumanian. The differences between the four languages arecertainly important, but the similarities are more important

yet. For example, if you are familiar with Spanish,Portuguese or Italian, you know or can guess the meaning ofmore than 7,000 French words. Grammar, too, has moresimilarities than differences. In other words: GigaFrench’sfast track approach will suit your needs and help you makequick progress.

4. You have never learned French before but you have learnedEnglish (because you are Chinese, Indian, Russian,Indonesian, Egyptian etc) and you are fluent in English.

As you have become fluent in English over the years, youknow about the time scales, difficulties and pitfalls oflearning a second or third language. With GigaFrench’srationale and economic approach of French words and

grammar, you will make extensive use of the language skills you have developed throughout your life.

Don’t use GigaFrench if you are a native English speaker and havenever learned another language. GigaFrench’s fast-track grammarpresentation is too fast for you. We recommend you to use firstother language manuals and come back later.

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Table of Contents1

God ................................................................................................ 19

Words ................................................................................... 21

1.1

Timeline and Sextets ................................................. 28

1.2

First steps .................................................................... 33

1.3

Avoir ............................................................................ 37

1.3.1

Avoir: Présent ( present tense)................................ 37

1.3.2

All you can have… ................................................. 38

1.3.3

Action word timeline ............................................ 40

1.3.4

Avoir: Imparfait (imperfect tense) ......................... 40

1.3.5 Avoir: Futur ( future tense) ..................................... 42

1.3.6

Avoir: Présent conditionnel (hypothetical “whatif”) 43

1.3.7

Avoir: Subjonctif présent (present subjunctivetense) 44

1.3.8

Summary ................................................................ 45

1.3.9

Avoir (table) ........................................................... 46

1.4

Toolbox........................................................................ 48

1.5

Intermezzo .................................................................. 49

1.5.1

‘on’ (1) ..................................................................... 49

1.5.2 Stranger vs. Family (1) .......................................... 49

1.6 Avoir: Composed tenses ............................................ 50

1.6.1

Introduction ........................................................... 50

1.6.2

Faire to do/make ................................................... 53

1.6.3

Expressions with faire .......................................... 56

1.6.4

Past participles: how to get them ........................ 57

1.6.5

Forty-nine action words ....................................... 59

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1.6.6

eu ............................................................................. 61

1.6.7

Toolbox 2 ................................................................ 65

1.7

Full timeline ............................................................... 66

1.8 Présent ........................................................................ 66

1.9

Negation (I) ................................................................. 68

1.10

Summary + Outlook ................................................... 69

1.11

Word classes ............................................................... 71

1.12

One-word sentences .................................................. 72

1.13 Adjectives and Nouns ................................................ 73

1.13.1

Possessive adjectives ........................................ 74

1.13.2

Adjectives .......................................................... 75

1.13.3

Nouns ................................................................. 77

1.14

Articles ........................................................................ 78

1.14.1

Definite article .................................................. 78

1.14.2

Indefinite article ............................................... 80

1.14.3

Partitive article ................................................. 81

1.14.4

Pronunciation Pitfalls ...................................... 82

1.15

Outlook: Nouns and Adjectives ................................ 83

1.16

Jokers ........................................................................... 83

1.16.1 Adverbs .............................................................. 84

1.16.2 Conjunctions ..................................................... 85

1.16.3 Prepositions ....................................................... 87

1.16.4

Pronouns ............................................................ 89

1.16.5

Outlook: Adv., Conj., Prep. and Pron. ............. 94

1.17

Bits and Pieces ............................................................ 94

1.17.1

Telling the hour ................................................ 94

1.17.2

Cardinals and Ordinals ..................................... 95


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1.17.3

Silent Letters (1) ............................................... 96

1.17.4

Toolbox 3 ........................................................... 97

1.18

Reading the newspaper ............................................. 98

1.18.1 Words ............................................................... 100

1.19

Deconstructing God ................................................. 101

1.20

Bonjour ...................................................................... 102

1.21

Free-Climbing ........................................................... 103

2 Climate Change ......................................................................... 109

2.1

être to be (Introduction) ........................................ 119

2.1.1

Présent .................................................................. 121

2.1.2

Il est / Elle est ...................................................... 122

2.1.3

C’est / Ce sont ...................................................... 122

2.2

The Être Biotope ...................................................... 122

2.3

Être Timeline ............................................................ 126

2.3.1

Être: Imparfait (imperfect tense) ......................... 127

2.3.2

Être: Futur ( future tense) ..................................... 128

2.3.3

Être: Présent conditionnel ................................. 130

2.3.4

Summary .............................................................. 131

2.3.5

Être (table) ........................................................... 133

2.4

Être: Composed tenses ............................................ 134

2.4.1 Overview ............................................................... 134

2.4.2 Sexual connotation ............................................. 137

2.5

Passé composé versus imparfait ............................ 138

2.6

Forty-nine action words (2) .................................... 139

2.7

Preview of Group 1 action words ........................... 144

2.8

Irregular Future Stems (1) ...................................... 145

2.9

‘on’ (2) ........................................................................ 146

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2.10

Negation (2) .............................................................. 147

2.11

Y avoir: There is… .................................................... 150

2.12

Articles (2)................................................................. 153

2.13 Nouns (2) ................................................................... 154

2.13.1

Nationalities and languages .......................... 154

2.13.2

Feminine nouns .............................................. 157

2.13.3

–s, –x, or –z ...................................................... 161

2.13.4

-eau, -eu, or –au .............................................. 161

2.14 Adjectives (2) ............................................................ 163

2.14.1

Adjectives ending with a consonant ............ 163

2.14.2

Adjectives ending in -e ................................... 165

2.14.3

Irregular adjectives: Categories .................... 166

2.14.4

Irregular plural of adjectives ........................ 166

2.15

Jokers (2) ................................................................... 167

2.15.1

Adverbs (2)....................................................... 167

2.15.2

Conjunctions (2) .............................................. 168

2.15.3

Prepositions (2) ............................................... 169

2.15.4

The word “de” ................................................. 170

2.16

Numbers 13-79 ......................................................... 172

2.17 Asking a question ..................................................... 173

2.17.1 Raise the pitch ................................................. 173

2.17.2 Est-ce que ......................................................... 173

2.17.3

Inversion .......................................................... 173

2.18

Bits and Pieces .......................................................... 175

2.18.1

Question words ............................................... 175

2.18.2

Magic Words .................................................... 176

2.18.3

Silent letters (2) .............................................. 177


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2.18.4

Toolbox 4 ......................................................... 177

2.18.5

Social Vocabulary ........................................... 178

2.19

Reading...................................................................... 179

3

Abortion ..................................................................................... 185

Words ................................................................................. 188

3.1

Faire ........................................................................... 194

3.1.1

Expressions with faire (2) ................................... 196

3.2

Subjonctif .................................................................. 197

3.3

Action words, Group 1: Petting .............................. 198

3.3.1

Présent .................................................................. 199

3.3.2

Imparfait............................................................... 200

3.3.3

Futur ..................................................................... 201

3.3.4

Conditionnel présent .......................................... 202

3.3.5

Subjonctif présent ............................................... 203

3.3.6

Passé simple ......................................................... 206

3.3.7

Subjonctif imparfait ............................................ 207

3.3.8

24 Endings ............................................................ 212

3.3.9

Caresser: simple tenses ....................................... 213

3.3.10

Caresser: composed tenses ............................ 214

3.3.11

Most frequent Group 1 action words ........... 215

3.3.12 Mental acrobatics ........................................... 215

3.4 Forty-nine action words (3) .................................... 216

3.5

Irregular Future Stems (2) ...................................... 219

3.6

Importance of the Présent ...................................... 220

3.7

Présent: Ten Action Words (1) ............................... 220

3.8

Stranger vs. Family (2) ............................................ 226

3.8.1

Adjectives ............................................................. 227

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3.8.2

Past Participles .................................................... 227

3.9

Possessive adjectives ............................................... 228

3.9.1

Singular ................................................................ 228

3.9.2 Plural ..................................................................... 230

3.9.3

Exception .............................................................. 230

3.10

Personal pronouns ................................................... 231

3.10.1

Personal subject pronouns ............................ 231

3.10.2

Personal object pronouns .............................. 232

3.11 Nouns (3) ................................................................... 239

3.11.1

Masculine nouns ............................................. 239

3.11.2

Plural: –ou, –al, –ail ........................................ 241

3.12

Adjectives (3) ............................................................ 243

3.13

Jokers (3) ................................................................... 244

3.13.1

Adverbs (3)....................................................... 244

3.13.2

Conjunctions (3) .............................................. 246

3.13.3

Prepositions (3) ............................................... 248

3.14

Numbers 80-100 ....................................................... 248

3.15

Bits and Pieces .......................................................... 249

3.15.1

Days of the Week............................................. 249

3.15.2 Months of the Year ......................................... 250

3.15.3 Silent letters (3) .............................................. 251

3.16 Reading...................................................................... 252

4

Junk Food ................................................................................... 257

5 Appendix .................................................................................... 259

5.1 Aller ........................................................................... 260

5.2

Action words, Group 1 ............................................. 261

5.3

Dormir ....................................................................... 263


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5.4

Venir .......................................................................... 264

5.5

Agir: simple tenses ................................................... 266

5.6

Vouloir ...................................................................... 267

5.7 Group 3: Prendre ...................................................... 268

5.8

Dire ............................................................................ 270

5.9

Group 3: Ouvrir ........................................................ 271

5.10

Savoir ......................................................................... 272

5.11

Group 3: Attendre .................................................... 273

5.12 Group 1: sucer........................................................... 274

5.13

S’en aller ................................................................... 275

5.14

Pouvoir ...................................................................... 276

5.15

Group 3: Recevoir ..................................................... 277

5.16

Group 1: Manger ...................................................... 278

5.17

Voir ............................................................................ 281

5.18

Group 1: Mener ......................................................... 282

5.19

Croire ......................................................................... 284

5.20

Group 1: Préférer ..................................................... 285

5.21

Connaître .................................................................. 290

5.22

Group 1: Appeler ...................................................... 291

5.23 Mettre ........................................................................ 293

5.24 Group 1: Jeter............................................................ 294

5.25 Boire .......................................................................... 296

5.26

Group 1: Acheter ...................................................... 297

5.27

Conduire .................................................................... 299

5.28

Group 1: Payer .......................................................... 300

5.29

Vivre .......................................................................... 302

5.30

Group 1: Envoyer...................................................... 303

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5.31

Craindre .................................................................... 306

5.32

Rire ............................................................................ 307

5.33

Courir ........................................................................ 308

5.34 Feminine nouns ending in –ion .............................. 309

5.35

Masculine nouns ending in –ism............................ 311


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Pronunciation rules for word endings{AUDIO} 1. ə

or mute-e

2. e -é-és

-ée-ées

-er (verb)-ez-ai (verb)

3. ɛ èê

-ais-ait-aient-aie

-aies4. ɥ -u

-us

-ue-ues

5. o -au-aux-eau-eaux

6. u -ou-oup

-oups-out-ous

7. ø -eu-eux

-eue-eues8. i -ie9. ɥi -ui10. ø or œ eu, œu

11. wa -oi-ois

-oix-oie

-oit12. œr -eur

-eurs13. ɛr -ère

-air-aire-airs

14. ɑ ̃ -an-en-ant-ants-ent

-ents

-and-ands-end-ends

15. ɔ ̃ -on-om-ons

-ond-ont

16. jɔ ̃ -ion-ions

17. ɛ ̃ -un-in-ain-ein

19. jœ ̃ -ien

-iens-ient

20. uœ ̃ -uin

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God | 19

2016 Edition

1 God

Copyright © 2016 N. Allan – Paris

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{AUDIO1} {AUDIO2} Dieu | Dieuexiste-t-il ? Inégalités,injustices, violences, tortures,viols, meurtres, guerres,génocides, la shoah,l’esclavage… Impardonnable,n’est-ce pas ? On vous dira que

Dieu se planque pour mettreles hommes à l’épreuve et lesamener à choisir entre le bienet le mal. En tout cas, si moi jevous jouais des tours pareils,vous me traiteriez de sadique !

Does God exist? Inequality,injustice, violence, torture,rape, murder, war, genocide,the Holocaust, slavery...Unpardonable, isn’t it? Peoplewill tell you that God hides toput men to the test and get

them to choose between goodand evil. In any case, if I playedthose tricks on you, you wouldcall me a sadist.

Regardez l’histoire de

l’humanité et les innombrablescrimes commis au nom deDieu ! Et regardez le présent :des États qui persécutent aunom d’un Dieu, torturent ettuent au nom d’un Dieu, etrefusent aux femmes le droit

d’avorter, toujours au nomd’un Dieu.

Look at the history of

humanity and the countlesscrimes committed in the nameof God! And look at thepresent: States that persecutein the name of a God, tortureand kill in the name of a God,and deny women the right to

abortion, always in the nameof a God.

Pauvre Dieu, nom de Dieu,aurait-il tout foiré ?Souhaitons-lui – à ce petit Dieuqui ne serait qu’un pauvrediable – de ne pas exister carnous le jugerions pour crimescontre l’Humanité. Nous avonsguillotiné Louis XVI pourmoins que cela.

Poor God, bloody hell, wouldhe have screwed it up all? Let’swish him – this little God whowould just be a poor devil – notto exist because we would puthim on trial for crimes againsthumanity. We guillotined LouisXVI for less than that.

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God | 21

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Words{AUDIO} le dieu godexister to exist

existe-t-il? does he exist?une inégalité disparityune injustice injusticela violence violence

la torture torture

le viol rapele meurtre murderla guerre warle génocide genocidela shoah holocaustl’esclavage (m.) slavery

impardonnable unpardonablen’est-ce pas? isn’t it?

on here: peoplevous youon vous dira people will tell

youque that

se planquer(fam.)

to hide

pour in order to, tomettre àl’épreuve

to put to thetest

un homme manles hommes here: people

les here: themamener here: to getà here: tochoisir to chooseentre between

le bien the goodet andle mal the evilen tout cas in any casesi ifsi moi je if I (stressed)

ouer to play

ouer des tours to play trickssi je vous jouaisdes tours

if I playedtricks on you

pareil such, like thatme metraiter de to call

vous metraiteriez de

you would callme

le sadique sadist

regarder to look atregardez ! look!une histoire history; storyde of

l’humanité f. humanityinnombrable countlessle crime crime

commis committedau nom de in the name ofle présent presentun tat state

qui whopersécuter to persecutetorturer to torture

refuser to denyla femme woman


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By Marie de France

le droit right

avorter to aborttoujours alwayspauvre poornom de Dieu !(fam., vulg.)

bloody hell!

foirer to screw uptout everything

souhaiter to wishsouhaitons-lui let’s wish himce thispetit littleil ne serait que he would only

be

le diable devil

car as, because

pour foruger to put on trialnous le jugerions we would put

him on trialguillotiner to guillotine,

decapitateLouis XVI (1754-1793)

King of Franceuntil 1791

moins lessmoins que cela less than that

Cloud 1.1. The most frequent words


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God | 23

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For each text, we recommend that you

1. Download the corresponding audio file (seehttp://www.gigafrench.com/audio) to your mobiledevice.

2. Put your earphones on.

3. Start the audio.

4. Activate the replay button (or ‘loop button’) on youraudio player that repeats the audio continuously.

While hearing the audio again and again (at first, you don’t needto listen attentively, just use the audio as ‘background music’),perform the following steps, either in this order or in any order

you prefer:

1. Read the English translation at least once.

2. Read the word list at least once.

3. Read the French text at least once.

4. Listen to the text without reading it.

The last point is the most important one because you’ll probablyneed quite a few listening rounds – today, tomorrow, nextweek – until you can distinguish every single word! Don’t be

surprised if you need to listen 10, 20 or even 50 times – suchintense repetition is perfectly normal. In the meantime, checkand re-check the word list until you know all the words (yes,100%).

If you just want to expand your French vocabulary, you can go

straight ahead to the next level and find a text about climatechange (see page 109). This is GigaFrench light . If you are moreserious about learning French, go through the following pages.Again, listen to the audios until you can discern every singleword and you know the examples and dialogues by heart. Burn

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the sentences into your brain. Being at ease with hundreds ofsentences will soon make French feel strangely familiar to you…

Further reading

• Moralistic gods, supernatural punishment and theexpansion of human sociality. Nature 2016.http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v530/n7590/full/n

ature16980.html – accessed 18 March 2016.• Why big societies need big gods. Science Magazine 2015.

http://news.sciencemag.org/archaeology/2015/08/feature-why-big-societies-need-big-gods – accessed 18 March 2016.

• Complex societies evolved without belief in all-powerfuldeity. Nature 2015. http://www.nature.com/news/complex-

societies-evolved-without-belief-in-all-powerful-deity-1.17040 – accessed 18 March 2016

Global Strategies (1)

You are anxious to start and you want to know it all – but hold

on a minute. First, step back and look at the language mountainin front of you. Learning French can be split into three distincttasks:

1. Learning 5,000 to 10,000 words: 90%

2. Managing action words (‘verbs’): 7%

3. Studying the ‘rest of grammar’: 3%

(nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions,prepositions etc)

The percentages indicate roughly how much time you willdedicate to each of these tasks. The bulk of your study time,around 90%, will be dedicated to learning thousands of new

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words. Far behind, at 7%, ranges the management of verbs, oraction words as we prefer to call them. The ‘rest of grammar’ shrinks to a mere 3%. That the management of nouns, adjectives,articles, pronouns, adverbs, conjunctions, and prepositions shouldaccount for only 3% of your total effort seems counter-intuitive,especially if you remember years of grammar exercises at school,but you will understand...

Learning 5,000 to 10,000 words will take you between 500 and1,000 hours. That’s an awful lot of time and you’ll need strategiesto memorize 20, 30, 50 or more new words every day. You willalso have to find a way to check that these new words are firmlyanchored in your memory. We’ll help you to devise thesestrategies.

Please realize that you will spend most of your study time

alone (!) over books, tablets or smartphones. French will enter your brain via your eyes and be processed at the back of yourhead in the so-called occipital brain area. As you will soon see,this anatomical detail has important and far-reachingimplications.

In the following lessons, we will present you more tips andtricks. If you want a detailed preview, open

www.thewordbrain.com and download the free 81-page PDF ofthe outstanding Word Brain, a ‘short guide to fast languagelearning’. If you don’t have an entire afternoon to read the fulltext, download the Short Edition (PDF, 10 pages) or theMicroEdition (PDF, 1 page).

Finally, let me say that language learning is daily learning of atleast 30 minutes (better one to five hours). If you cannot arrange

for daily study time, GigaFrench won’t be for you.

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Outlook

Your very first task will be to deconstruct the French language.If you take a sledgehammer and smash a text into single words,

you’ll find that you can divide them into 8 different classes (or‘parts of speech’). These classes are action words (‘verbs’), nouns,adjectives, articles, pronouns, adverbs, conjunctions and

prepositions:

1. Action word 4. Article 7. Conjunction

2. Noun 5. Pronoun 8. Preposition

3. Adjective 6. Adverb

An example from Le Monde, France’s best newspaper, shows thedisconcertingly chaotic result of such sledgehammering:

{AUDIO} C'est fait. Après sept mois de débats intenses, la France est devenue, avec le vote solennel du mardi 23 avril, àl'Assemblée nationale, le 14e pays au monde à autoriser deuxpersonnes de même sexe à se marier.

La loi sur le mariage et l'adoption marque une nouvelle étapedans la banalisation d'une orientation sexuelle, autrefois jugéecontre-nature, aujourd'hui reconnue "autre mais normale",selon l'expression de l'anthropologue Maurice Godelier. Elle est toujours réprimée dans 80 pays, dont 7 la punissent de

mort. La mesure restera certainement comme l'une des plus marquantes du bilan de François Hollande.

© Le Monde 2013. Find the entire text athttp://abonnes.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2013/04/23/vote-historique-de-la-

loi-sur-le-mariage-pour-tous_3164513_3224.html – Accessed March 30,2016.

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Don’t worry, you are not meant to understand these twoparagraphs now. Currently, chaos reigns, and over the next 70+pages we’ll help you put order into the chaos. One by one, we’llwork our way through all 8 classes of words. At the end ofLevel 1 you will be familiar with the meaning and function ofaction words (‘verbs’), nouns, adjectives, articles, pronouns, adverbs,

conjunctions and prepositions.Follow me.

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1.1 Timeline and SextetsQui es-tu?

D’où viens-tu?

Que fais-tu ici?

Who are you?

Where do you come from?

What are you doing here?

These are the questions you are likely to hear at the beginning of your French genesis as soon as the people around you notice that you speak some French. To answer them, you will end up talking

not only about your present, but also about past experiences and your future projects. Past, Present, Future – your life is atimeline.

Past Present Future

Of course, life has been, is and will be a succession of entangledand complex events, and you’ll need precise instruments tonarrate them. French action words (or verbs) have 14 timeslots to describe the events of your life. Fortunately, only 9 areused in conversational French. You will see them all soon enough.


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To populate your timeline, you need people. Divide all the peopleon Earth into three groups: In Group 1, the pole position, there isnobody other than yourself and you refer to yourself as ‘I’. Nowdivide the 7 billion other human beings into Groups 2 and 3. InGroup 2, put the person you are currently talking to (you refer tohim or her as ‘you’), whereas in Group 3 you’ll put the rest of theworld, the people you may be talking about with your

conversation partner (you’ll refer to them as ‘he/she’).

The result is a triangle. ‘I’ talks to ‘you’, ‘you’ responds; and ‘I’and ‘you’ talk about ‘he/she/it’ (see the hollow arrows).

In these cases, only one person is involved, so we call I, you,he/she/it singular personal pronouns. Here they are with theirFrench counterparts:

1. I 2. you

3. he/she/it

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e I

tu youil/elle he/she (it)

A second triangle describes situations with more than oneperson. ‘We’ talk to ‘you’, ‘you’ responds, and together, ‘we’ talkabout ‘them’. In these cases, we use the so-called plural personal

pronouns (we, you, they). Please note that the English

they translates into ils when talking about boys and men(masculine) and into elles when talking about girls and women( feminine):

1. we 2. you

3. they


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nous we

vous youils/elles they

Taken together, the three singular forms and the three pluralforms condense into a sextet . Later, you will meet hundreds ofthese sextets, so try to become familiar with their structure: firstthe three singular forms je I – tu you – il/elle he/she and then

the three plural forms nous we – vous you – ils/elles they.

Singular

1s person singular e/j’* [ʒə/ʒ] I2n person singular tu [ty] you3r person singular il/elle [il/ɛl] he/she (it*)

Plural

1s

person plural nous [nu] we2n person plural vous [vu] you3rd person plural ils/elles [il/ɛl] they

* Whenever one of the two-letter words je, ce, de, le, me, ne, que, se, te comes before a vowel (a,e,i,o,u,y) or a mute h, the final – e is replaced by anapostrophe: j’, c’ , d’ , l’, m’, n’, qu’, s’ , t’ . ** The French language has no true equivalent for it. Animals and inanimateobjects are all either feminine or masculine.

{AUDIO} Please memorize je-tu-il/elle | nous-vous-ils/elles.You have learned your first 8 French words.


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If you want to discover some more words, look at this:

{AUDIO} Je lis, j’écoute, j’écris, je questionne, je réponds, je narre, je nomme, je discute, j’interpelle, je prie, je pense, j’apprends, j’enseigne, je jouis, je ris, je vis, donc je suis. (Stéphane Zagdanski )

I read, I listen, I write, I question, I answer, I narrate, I name, Idiscuss, I call out, I pray, I think, I learn, I teach, I enjoy, I laugh, Ilive, therefore I am.

* * *

Now, let’s start for real. In Level 1 – the most demanding part ofthis manual – you will

1) discover action words and the most important French

word avoir to have 2) appreciate the essential tenses of the French timeline

(Présent, Passé composé, Imparfait, Futur, Conditionnel)and ‘fuck the rabbit’

3) explore the other 7 word classes: nouns, adjectives,articles, pronouns, adverbs, conjunctions, and prepositions

The next 70 pages are a fast-track into the heart of Frenchgrammar. Fast doesn’t mean nonchalance, but efficiency. Fastdoesn’t necessarily mean fun either, but conquering astronghold from where to explore the rest of French grammar. If

you get stuck, go back to the beginning and start all over again.You may also ask your friends and teachers for help. In any case,don’t abandon. If your teacher tells you that you can’t do it, fire

her.

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I. Action Words

1.2 First stepsWith action words you’ll discover words that change the world,for example faire to do/to make, vouloir to wish, savoir to know, vivre to live. In grammar, these words are known as ‘verbs’. We’ll

call them action words and include in this category the so-called‘auxiliary action words’ avoir to have and être to be.

{AUDIO} Avoir to have is the most important word in French.Please listen to the audio and learn the following four sextets(the first 4 of about 100 you’ll need). First learn every single form,then memorize the 6-word sequences (for example j’ai – tu as –il/elle a | nous avons – vous avez – ils/elles ont

).

Le Louvre | © Copyright: Marie de France

If you don’t know (or don’t remember) what j’ai – tu as – il/ellea | nous avons – vous avez – ils/elles ont mean, be patient –

you’ll discover it in a few moments. For now just burn the

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sextets into your brain. If you are new to French, memorize thefirst two sextets. If you learned French before, memorize themall.

{AUDIO}

Présent Imparfait

j’ ai [e] avais [avɛ]

tu as [a] avais [avɛ] il/elle a [a] avait [avɛ]

nous avons [avɔ ]̃ avions [avjɔ ]̃ vous avez [ave] aviez [avje]ils/elles ont [ɔ ]̃ avaient [avɛ]

Futur Conditionnel prés.

j’ aur ai [oʁe] aur ais [oʁɛ] tu aur as [ɔʁa] aur ais [oʁɛ] il/elle aur a [ɔʁa] aur ait [oʁɛ]

nous aur ons [oʁɔ ]̃ aur ions [oʁjɔ ]̃ vous aur ez [oʁe] aur iez [oʁje]ils/elles aur ont [oʁɔ ]̃ aur aient [oʁɛ]

Alternative presentation:Présent

j’ai – tu as – il/elle a nous avons – vous avez – ils/elles ont

Imparfait

j’avais – tu avais – il/elle avait nous avions – vous aviez – ils/elles avaient

Futur

j’aurai – tu auras – il/elle aura nous aurons – vous aurez – ils/elles auront

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Conditionnel présent

j’aurais – tu aurais – il/elle aurait nous aurions – vous auriez – ils/elles auraient

Action words are the most important word class. They describeactions (lire to read, écrire to write, baiser to fuck), feelings orsensory perceptions (sentir to feel, entendre to hear ),occurrences (devenir to become), or states of being (être to be,exister to exist ).

Note that action words are denser than other words becausethey convey three layers of information: 1) the action, 2) thetime of the action and 3) the person who does it. They are alsoperfidious because when you see them in a word list – for

example avoir to have, être to be, caresser to caress – all you seeis the tip of an iceberg. What you don’t see and sense, at least notduring your first weeks of French training, is the iceberg’shidden part – which is immense! For example, the hidden part ofavoir to have consists of 40 different forms, 34 of which areessential: eu, ayant, ai, as, a, avons, avez, ont, avais, avait,avions, aviez, avaient, aurai, auras, aura, aurons, aurez,

auront, aurais, aurait, aurions, auriez, auraient, aie, aies,ait, ayons, ayez, aient, eus, eut, eûmes, eûtes, eurent, eusses,eût, eussions, eussiez, eussent.

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Cloud 1.2. The 14 most important French action words

In the coming hours you will learn the 34 words shown in bold1) because they are the heart of French action words and2) because action words are the heart of French grammar. You

will do it step by step and

1. Discover the biotope of avoir

2. Check the simple tenses of avoir and realize the beauty of your first summary table

3. Use avoir to build the hugely powerful composed tenses

and ‘fuck the rabbit’4. Investigate the fabulous action word faire to do/make

5. Discover the all-important participes passé past participles


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6. Revisit your avoir biotype with the power of composedtenses

7. Put 12 important French tenses (‘time slots’) on atimeline

8. Explore in more detail the présent present tense of a fewimportant French action words.

Just 40 pages of action words basics. You can!

1.3 Avoir{AUDIO} As all action words, avoir to have has different tenses (dimensions of time, time slots; see below). Let’s start with themost important one, the present tense, in French présent. The

présent, like all other tenses you’ll come across later, has threeforms for the singular (when you name only one person: I, you, sheor he) and three forms for the plural (when you talk about morethan one person: we, you, they).

1.3.1 Avoir: Présent ( present tense)Singular

’ ai I havetu as you haveil/elle a he/she has

Plural

nous avons we havevous avez you haveils*/elles** ont they have

* ils is masculine and used for boys, men or other masculine words** elles is feminine and used for girls, women or other feminine words

This 2 x 3 scheme – we’ll call it a sextet – is all-important because you’ll have to become familiar with around 100 of them (20 by

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the end of Level 1 and 40 by the end of Level 3). If you feel uneasywith it, check page 28 again, ‘Timeline and Sextets’.

1.3.2 All you can have…Let’s briefly check the biotope of avoir. You’ll use avoir todesignate family and friends, material goods, helpful people,problems etc. In the following examples, you will find a lot of

new words such as pénis, sœur, amant, maîtresse, chat, chien,etc. Try and memorize as many of them as you can – and comeback later for the words that won’t enter your brain immediately.In any case, concentrate on j’ai – tu as – il/elle a | nous avons –vous avez – ils/elles ont.

1. Family, friends, pets etc’ai un petit pénis I have a small penistu as deux sœurs you have two sistersil /elle a trois amants he/she has three lovers

nous avons quatre maîtresses we have four mistressesvous avez cinq chats you have five catsils /elles ont six chiens they have six dogs

2. Material goods

’ai sept voitures I have seven carstu as huit appartements you have eight apartmentsil /elle a neuf portables he/she has nine cell phones

nous avons dix mille euros we have ten thousand eurovous avez onze tablettes you have eleven tabletsils /elles ont douze jeux vidéo they have twelve video games


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3. Helpful people

’ai un boulangerextraordinaire

I have an extraordinarybaker

tu as un médecin compétent you have a skilful doctoril /elle a un boucher de

confiancehe/she has a trusted butcher

nousavons

un pharmacien toutprès

we have a pharmacistnearby

vous avez le meilleur chocolatierdu monde

you have the best chocolatemaker in the world

ils /elles ont un marchand de fruitset légumesexceptionnel

they have a remarkablegreengrocer

4. Hunger, thirst, fear etc

’ai* faim I am* hungry

tu as soif you are thirstyil /elle a du retard he/she is late

nousavons

peur we are afraid

vous avez raison you are rightils /elles ont tort they are wrong

* In these expressions, French uses avoir to have while English uses to be.

5. Problems etc

’ai’ai

un problèmemes règles

I haveI have

a problemmy menstrualperiod

tu as une hépatite you have hepatitisil /elle a le sida he/she has AIDS

nous

avons

une dépression we have a depression

vous avez une névrose religieuse you have a religious neurosisils /elles ont une intoxication

alimentairethey have food poisoning

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Remember that in French, inanimate objects are all eitherfeminine or masculine.

1.3.3 Action word timelineNow let’s do some time travel. The most fascinating aspect ofaction words is their extension in time. With action words, youtime travel from things happening in the present, here and now,

back to your experiences in the past, and fast-forward to yourideas for the future. Imparfait, présent, futur andconditionnel présent (hypothesis) are the most important timeslots on your life timeline.

Imparfait Présent Futur Hypothèse

Let’s make a short trip into the past , the future and the “what if”(the hypothetical). All you need is brain storage capacity foranother 18 words. Are you ready? Let’s travel back into the past.

1.3.4 Avoir: Imparfait (imperfect tense){AUDIO} The imparfait expresses habits, states of mind,environmental descriptions and how people and the world werein the past:


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’avais un petit pénis I had a small penis

tu avais deux sœurs you had two sistersil/elle avait trois amants he/she had three lovers

nous avions quatre maîtresses we had four mistressesvous aviez cinq chats you had five catsils/elles avaient six chiens they had six dogs

The last letters of the avoir forms appear in bold, they are called

fittingly enough endings. For the imparfait, these endings are –ais, - ais, - ait | -ions, -iez, -aient. All you need to do is attachthem to the stem av–.

While reading and listening to the imparfait of avoir you’llestablish the following rules:

1. The first-person singular (j’avais) and the second-

person singular (tu avais) are identical.2. The pronunciation of the three singular forms (avais–

avais–avait) and the third-person plural (avaient) isidentical [avɛ].

Please memorize the endings –ais, - ais, - ait | -ions, -iez, -aient now! The investment is worth it 1) because they are identical for

all French action words in theimparfait

tense; and 2) because you’ll soon use them again to build the conditionnel présent (the hypothetical; see below, page 43). In synthesis:

Singular

’ avais I hadtu avais you had

il/elle avait he or she hadPlural nous avions we hadvous aviez you hadils/elles avaient they had

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Now combine j’avais – tu avais – il/elle avait | nous avions –vous aviez – ils/elles avaient with everything you’ve seen above(material goods, helpful people, hunger, problems, etc; see page38) – and let’s fast-forward into the future.

1.3.5 Avoir: Futur ( future tense)

{AUDIO} The futur describes events that have not happened yet,but are expected to happen:

’aur ai sept voitures I’ll have seven carstu aur as huit appartements you’ll have eight apartmentsil/elle aur a neuf portables he/she’ll have nine cell phones

nous aur ons dix mille euros we’ll have ten thousand eurovous aur ez onze tablettes you’ll have eleven tabletsils/elles aur ont douze jeux vidéo they’ll have twelve video games

The endings of the future tense are –ai, -as, -a | -ons, -ez, –ontand you’ll attach them to aur-, the future stem of avoir (moreabout future stems later).

While reading and listening to the futur of avoir you’ll find that

1. The first-person singular (j’aurai) and the second-person plural (vous aurez) sound identical [oʁe].

2. The second-person singular (tu auras) and the third-person singular (il/elle aura) sound identical [oʁa].

3. The first-person plural (nous aurons) and the third-person plural (ils/elles auront) sound identical [oʁɔ]̃.

Memorize the 6 future endings –ai, -as, -a | -ons, -ez, –ont now,because they are identical for all French action words in thefutur. In synthesis:


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Singular

’ aur ai I will havetu aur as you will haveil/elle aur a he or she will have

Plural nous aur ons we will havevous aur ez you will haveils/elles aur ont they will have

Again, you can combine j’aurai – tu auras – il/elle aura | nousaurons – vous aurez – ils/elles auront with the words youdiscovered earlier (family, friends, pets, helpful people, hunger,problems, etc; see page 38).

By the way, have you noticed the similarity between the future endings –ai, -as, -a | -ons, -ez, –ont and the present tense of

avoir: j’ai – tu as – il/elle a | nous avons – vous avez – ils/elles ont?

1.3.6 Avoir: Présent conditionnel (hypothetical“what if”)

{AUDIO} Sometimes we talk about things that haven’t happened

and aren’t real but could happen or become real in the future.The French présent conditionnel expresses these hypotheticalsituations. Si c’était vrai… if it were true…

’aur ais un problème I would have a problemtu aur ais une hépatite you would have hepatitisil/elle aur ait le sida he/she would

haveAIDS

nous aur ions une dépression we would have a depressionvous aur iez une névrose

religieuseyou would have a religious neurosis

ils/ellesaur aient

une intoxicationalimentaire

they wouldhave

food poisoning


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The endings of the présent conditionnel are the same –ais, - ais,- ait | -ions, -iez, –aient you used with the imparfait. The onlydifference is that now you’ll attach them to the future stem aur–.

While reading and listening to the conditionnel présent ofavoir you’ll find that

1. The first-person singular (j’aurais) and the second-person singular (tu aurais) are identical.

2. The pronunciation of the three singular forms (aurais–aurais–aurait) and the third-person plural (auraient) isidentical [oʁɛ].

In synthesis:

Singular

’ aur ais I would have

tu aur ais you would haveil/elle aur ait he/she would have

Plural nous aur ions we would havevous aur iez you would haveils/elles aur aient they would have

Combine j’aurais – tu aurais – il/elle aurait | nous aurions – vousauriez – ils/elles auraient with everything you saw earlier(family, friends, pets, material goods, helpful people, etc; page38).

1.3.7 Avoir: Subjonctif présent (presentsubjunctive tense)

{AUDIO} Now take a one-minute look at the subjonctif présent.We can’t tell you now why French needs it or what it means. Justmake sure to have seen the sextet que j’aie – que tu aies –qu’il/elle ait | que nous ayons – que vous ayez – qu’ils/ellesaient.


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Singular

que j’ aie that I haveque tu aies that you haveque il/elle ait that he/she has

Plural que nous ayons that we haveque vous ayez that you haveque ils/elles aient that they have

Note that the pronunciation of the three singular forms (aie–aies–ait) and the third-person plural form (aient) is identical: ssimple [ɛ].

1.3.8 SummaryLet’s summarize the first four avoir sextets. The 24 words are apillar of the French language, so no need to wait until tomorrow,memorize them now! Remember also to still know them in aweek, and a month from now!

Présent

j’ai – tu as – il/elle a | nous avons – vous avez – ils/elles ont

I have, you have, he or she has | we, you, they have

Imparfait

j’avais – tu avais – il/elle avait | nous avions – vous aviez –ils/elles avaient

I, you, he or she had | we, you, they had I, you, he or she used to have | we, you, they used to have

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Futur

j’aurai – tu auras – il/elle aura | nous aurons – vous aurez –ils/elles auront

I, you, he or she will have | we, you, they will have

Conditionnel présent

j’aurais – tu aurais – il/elle aurait | nous aurions – vous auriez –

ils/elles auraient I, you, he or she would have | we, you, they would have

1.3.9 Avoir (table)Let’s put présent, imparfait, futur and conditionnel présent in

a table. The table shows you also the subjonctif présent and thepassé simple, two tenses we’ll discuss later. Just take a quickglimpse at them. For the sake of completeness we also includethe subjonctif imparfait, which is extremely rare.


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{AUDIO} PrésentPresent: I have

ImparfaitImperfect:I had, I used tohave

Passé simpleSimple past

j’ ai avais eustu as avais eusil/elle a avait eut

nous avons avions eûmesvous avez aviez eûtes

ils/elles ont avaient eurent

FuturFuture: I willhave

Conditionnelprés.Present conditionalI would have

j’ aur ai aur ais tu aur as aur ais

il/elle aur a aur ait

nous aur ons aur ions vous aur ez aur iez ils/elles aur ont aur aient

Subjonctifprésent

Presentsubjunctive

Subjonctifimparfait

Imperfectsubjunctive(extremely rare)

que j’ aie eusseque tu aies eussesqu’il/elle ait eût

que nous ayons eussionsque vous ayez eussiez

qu’ils/elles aient eussent


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1.4 ToolboxSimple tenses

{AUDIO} You cannot continue studying French without beingfamiliar with these 7 technical terms:

1 Présent Present2 Imparfait Imperfect

3 Passé simple Simple past4 Futur Future5 Conditionnel présent Present conditional6 Subjonctif présent Present subjunctive7 Subjonctif imparfait Imperfect subjunctive

In a dialogue with your friends and colleagues you’ll hear oruse these tenses either every minute (présent, imparfait,

futur) or at not even 5-minute intervals (conditionnelprésent, subjonctif présent).

The Passé simple and subjonctif imparfait are used inwriting only; the latter is rare even in writing.

Outlook

Go briefly back to the avoir table and familiarize yourself withthe layout. ‘Fully dressed’ action words are the cornerstone ofGigaFrench and require an exceptional degree of flexibility andvivacity. To be in total control of French action words, you’llhave to know around a hundred action words and their tables.Fortunately, they are only apparently hostile and forbidding.

The more you see of them, the easier it will be to memorize thedistinguishing features.

Progression will be dynamic. In Level 2, you’ll repeat the time-line exercise with être to be; in Level 3 comes caresser tocaress; in Level 4 sucer to suck. The earlier you are able to sense


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(without thinking) the tenses (présent – imparfait – passésimple – futur – conditionnel présent – subjonctif présent),the faster will you master French. Invest now and startharvesting as soon as tomorrow!

1.5

IntermezzoBefore cashing in your fresh knowledge of j’ai – tu as – il/elle a etc and discover sexually promising composed tenses, let’squickly deal with two of French’s important and easyeccentricities.

1.5.1 ‘on’ (1)

{AUDIO} The two-letter word ‘on’ is a so-called indefinitepronoun. Most often, it means we. Note that it is alwaysaccompanied by the 3rd person singular (in red):

On a faim !(children coming home)

We are hungry!

On y va ? Shall we go?On a eu de la chance. We were lucky..

Qu’est-ce qu’on peut faire ? What can we do?

See more uses of on at page 144.

1.5.2 Stranger vs. Family (1)You is not only you, and if you have learned any other languagethan English, you’ll know that. In French, when you speak to just

one person, ‘you’ is tu, but when you speak to more than oneperson, ‘you’ becomes vous. Thus, you are crazy translates into tues fou [ty ɛ fu] when you talk to a crazy man and vous êtes fous [vuz-ɛt fu] when you deal with two or more crazy men.


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In French, things are even more complicated because tu is forfamily members, children or close friends only. When speakingto a person you don’t know (especially older people), or informal situations, you must always use vous (+ the 2nd personplural of the action word) for both male and female, singular orplural: vous avez [vuz-ave] you have, vous êtes [vuz-ɛt] you are, vous caressez [vu kaʁese] you caress, vous aimez [vuz-eme] you

love, vous faites [vu f ɛt] you do.Find more on talking to strangers at page 226.

1.6 Avoir: Composed tenses

1.6.1 Introduction

Now make a giant leap forward. The action word avoir has adouble life. First, as we have seen after page 38, you’ll use it todesignate family and friends, material goods, helpful people,problems etc. More often, however, you will use avoir incombination with so-called past participles, for example faitdone/made, vu seen, pris taken, été been. The trick is hilariouslyproductive: take any of the forms from the avoir table above(j’ai, tu as, il/elle a etc on page 46) and combine them with thepast participle of ANY French action words.

How powerful this procedure is can be seen from the followingtable. With just 9 past participles (connu known, embrassé kissed,déshabillé undressed, chatouillé tickled, baisé fucked, oublié

forgotten, etc) and 7 professions you can form 4.032 sentences orclauses.


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{AUDIO} Participepassé

Passécomp.

Plus-que-parfait

Cond.présent

Subj.passé

j’aitu asil aelle a

nous avonsvous avezils ont

elles ont

j’avaistu avaisil avaitelle avait

nous avionsvous aviezils avaientelles avaient

j’auraistu auraisil auraitelle aurait

nous aurionsvous auriez

ils auraientelles auraient

Dommage…It’s a pity that… que j’aieque tu aiesqu’il aitqu’elle ait

que nous ayonsque vous ayezqu’ils aientqu’elles aient

I haveyou havehe hasshe has

we haveyou havethey have

they have

I hadyou hadhe hadshe had

we hadyou hadthey hadthey had

I wouldhave etc.

we wouldhave etc.

I haveyou havehe hasshe has

we haveyou havethey havethey have

connu known

embrassékissed

caressé caressed

déshabilléundressed

chouchouté pampered

chatouillétickled

aimé loved

baisé fucked

oublié forgotten

le lapinthe rabbit

la lapinethe lady rabbit

le profthe teacher (m.)

la profthe teacher (f.)

le directeurthe director (m.)

la directricethe director (f.)

le journalistethe journalist (m.)

la journalistethe journalist (f.)

le boulangerthe baker

la boulangèrethe lady baker

le boucherthe butcher

la bouchèrethe lady butcher

le fromagerthecheesemonger

la fromagèrethe ladycheesemonger


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You may find it useful to open the webpagewww.hiv.net/pastparticiple, which will gradually introduce youto the magic of the ‘rabbit’ table.

To get the full power out of the remarkable composed tenses,let’s again procede step by step:

1. Explore the full picture of avoir + fait (past participle of

faire to do/make)2. Discover frequent expressions with faire

3. Finding out how to produce past participles

4. Inspect the famous 7x7, the 49 most frequent actionwords

5. Complete the picture with the composed tenses of avoir

Attention

Please note that the past participle is the single mostimportant feature of French grammar. It must therefore be asfamiliar to you as milk, bread and butter. So please repeatthree times:

• past participle participe passé



!

http://www.gigafrench.com/http://www.gigafrench.com/http://www.gigafrench.com/http://www.hiv.net/pastparticiplehttp://www.hiv.net/pastparticiplehttp://www.hiv.net/pastparticiplehttp://www.gigafrench.com/

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1.6.2 Faire to do/makeThe next table shows the so-called ‘composed tenses’ for theaction word faire. The past participle of faire is fait done/made.

Concentrate on the three highlighted boxes showing the tensesof prime importance: the passé composé, the plus-que-parfait and the conditionnel passé.

Composed tenses consist of

1) derivatives of avoir (ai-as-a | avons-avez-ont etc) or,rarely, être (see Level 2, page 119) +

2) a past participle participe passé.

You have previously seen the simple avoir tenses présent,imparfait, conditionnel présent etc. The corresponding

composed tenses are passé composé, plus-que-parfait andconditionnel passé. It won’t take you more than a minute to getfamiliar with them.

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{AUDIO} Passé composéPerfect:I have done+ I did

Plus-que-parfaitPast perfect: I had done

Passé antérieurPreterit perfect: I had done(only in writing)

j’ ai fait avais fait eus faittu as fait avais fait eus faitil/elle a fait avait fait eut fait

nous avons fait avions fait eûmes faitvous avez fait aviez fait eûtes fait

ils/elles ont fait avaient fait eurent fait

Futur antérieurFuture perfect: I will have done

ConditionnelpasséPast conditional: I would have done

j’ aur ai fait aur ais faittu aur as fait aur ais fait

il/elle aur a fait aur ait fait

nous aur ons fait aur ions faitvous aur ez fait aur iez faitils/elles aur ont fait aur aient fait

Subjonctifpassé

Pastsubjunctive: that I did

Subjonctifplus-que-parfait

Past perfectsubjunctive: that I had done(extremely rare)

que j’ aie fait eusse faitque tu aies fait eusses faitqu’il/elle ait fait eût fait

que nous ayons fait eussions faitque vous ayez fait eussiez faitqu’ils/elles aient fait eussent fait

In other words: As you become familiar with the présent,imparfait and conditionnel présent of the auxiliary actionword avoir


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• j’ai – tu as – il/elle a | nous avons – vous avez – ils/ellesont

• j’avais – tu avais – il/elle avait | nous avions – vous aviez – ils/elles avaient

• j’aurais – tu aurais – il/elle aurait | nous aurions – vousauriez – ils/elles auraient

you can build immediately the passé composé, the plus-que-

parfait and the conditionnel passé of faire by just adding‘fait’…

• Passé composé : j’ai fait – tu as fait – il/elle a fait nous avons fait – vous avez fait – ils/elles ont fait I, you, he/she did/made | we, you, they did/made+

I, you have done/made, he/she has done/made |we, you, they have done/made

• Plus-que-parfait : j’avais fait – tu avais fait – il/elle avait fait nous avions fait – vous aviez fait – ils/elles avaient faitI, you, he/she had done/made | we, you, they had done/made

• Conditionnel passé : j’aurais fait – tu aurais fait – il/elle aurait fait nous aurions fait – vous auriez fait – ils/elles auraientfaitI, you, he/she would have done/made |we, you, they would have done/made

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1.6.3 Expressions with faire{AUDIO} The French faire is used in a huge variety ofexpressions. As you see, faire is often used in combination withlove, sport, housework – no need to say which action the Frenchprefer.

faire l’amour to make lovefaire la sieste to take a nap

faire un pompier to give a blow jobfaire les devoirs to do homeworkfaire du sport to do sportsfaire du vélo to go bikingfaire du bateau to go boatingfaire des courses to go shoppingfaire la cuisine to cookfaire la vaisselle to do the dishes

faire la lessive to do the laundryfaire le ménage to clean the housefaire le lit to make the bedfaire une promenade to go for a walkfaire la fête to partyfaire le plein to refuel

Let’s do a final check of the three most important composedtenses – passé composé, plus-que-parfait, conditionnel passé – in France’s preferred action:


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{AUDIO} Passé composéPerfect: I have madelove (+ I made love)

Plus-que-parfaitPast perfect: I had made love etc

j’ ai fait l’amour avais fait l’amourtu as fait l’amour avais fait l’amouril/elle a fait l’amour avait fait l’amour

nous avons fait l’amour avions fait l’amourvous avez fait l’amour aviez fait l’amourils/elles ont fait l’amour avaient fait l’amour

Conditionnel passéPast conditional: I would have madelove

j’ aur ais fait l’amourtu aur ais fait l’amouril/elle aur ait fait l’amour

nous aur ions fait l’amourvous aur iez fait l’amourils/elles aur aient fait l’amour

1.6.4 Past participles: how to get them

{AUDIO} As explained earlier, you will hear in a 10-minutedialogue the single elements of the various avoir sextet dozensof times, most often in combination with past participles. It istherefore crucial to understand how to form the past participles.As so often in French, you will just change the endings. For thebiggest group of action words, those of Group 1 which end in –er (there are more than 6,000 of them!), remove the –er to obtain

the so-called root; then add –é. (Note that this does not changethe pronunciation.) Some examples:

http://www.hiv.net/l.php?id=116http://www.hiv.net/l.php?id=116http://www.hiv.net/l.php?id=117http://www.hiv.net/l.php?id=117http://www.hiv.net/l.php?id=116

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Infinitive Root Past participle

to love aimer aim- aimé lovedto excuse excuser excus- excusé excusedto hope espér er espér- espér é hoped

Je l’ai aimé. I loved him.Elle l’a excusé. She excused him.Nous l’avons espér é. We hoped so.

For Group 2 action words (fewer than 300 words which comprisesome of the words ending in –ir, see 266), cut the –r.

Infinitive Past participle

to think, to reflect réfléchir réfléchi reflected, thoughtto react réagir réagi reactedto succeed réussir réussi succeeded

J’ai bien réfléchi. I thought well about it.I have given it some thought.

Elle a très mal réagi. She reacted very badly.Nous avons réussi en tout. We succeeded in everything.

Group 3 actions words are heterogeneous (see page xxx) and

have many different past participles. There are about 350 wordsin this third group.

Infinitive Past participle

to want vouloir voulu wantedto put mettre mis putto open ouvri r ouvert opened

Je l’ai voulu et je l’ai eu. I wanted it and I got it.

J’ai mis le pain sur la table. I put the bread on the table.Avez-vous ouvert la fenêtre ? Have you opened the window?


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1.6.5 Forty-nine action wordsNow for the cherry on top. If you have the power anddetermination to learn the 49 most frequent French actionwords, do it now because soon you must know them all (yes,100%). The following 7x7 words represent about 10% of theaction words you will have to learn over the next months. Therelative importance of the Top 49 is shown in the word cloud.

Cloud 1.3. The Top 49 action words

{AUDIO} If you are tired, learn at least 2x7 words because theyrepresent 30% of all French action words you will hear througout

your entire life. The percentages in the table indicate thecumulative frequency. Group 3 participes passé are shown in

blue.


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Group* Infiniti ve Past participle Infinit ive Past participle

3 faire fait to do/make done/made3 dire dit to say said3 aller (être**) allé to go gone3 pouvoir pu can could3 voir vu to see seen3 savoir su to know known3 vouloir voulu to want wanted

20.9%

3 venir (être) venu to come come3 prendre pris to take taken3 devoir dû must must3 falloir fallu to have to had to1 passer passé to pass passed1 parler parlé to speak spoken3 mettre mis to put put

29.5%

1 regarder regardé to look looked1 demander demandé to ask asked1 trouver trouvé to find found3 suivre suivi to follow followed3 croire cru to believe believed1 donner donné to give given

1 penser pensé to think thought35.9%

1 laisser laissé to leave left1 aimer aimé to love loved1 rester (être) resté to stay stayed3 tenir tenu to hold held1 arriver (être) arrivé to arrive arrived

3 entendre entendu to hear heard3 sentir senti to feel/smell felt/smelled

41.0%


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3 attendre attendu to wait waited

3 connaître connu to know knew3 sortir (être) sorti to get out got out3 comprendre compris to understand understood1 sembler semblé to seem seemed3 devenir (être) devenu to become become3 ouvrir ouvert to open opened

45.1%

3 revenir (être) revenu to come back come back3 partir (être) parti to leave leaved1 porter porté to carry carried3 rendre rendu to give back given back3 répondre répondu to answer answered1 appeler appelé to call called1 arrêter arrêté to stop stopped

48.3%

3 vivre vécu to live lived1 chercher cherché to search for searched for3 paraître paru to appear appeared1 tomber (être) tombé to fall fallen1 lever levé to raise risen1 commencer commencé to begin begun2 finir fini to end ended

51.2%

* The Top 10 French action words are all from Group 3 although this groupcomprises only around 350 words. Group 2 action words are rare.** These action words form the composed tenses with être. See the detailsat page 134.

1.6.6 eu

Finally, we’ll complete our past participle exercise with j’ai eu (Ihad, I have had). Eu is the past participle of avoir. A quick look issufficient. Don’t spend more than a minute on the followingtable:

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{AUDIO} Passé composéPerfect: I had or I have had

Plus-que-parfaitPast perfect: I had had

Passé antérieurPreterit perfect: I had had(only in writing)

j’ ai eu avais eu eus eu tu as eu avais eu eus eu il/elle a eu avait eu eut eu

nous avons eu avions eu eûmes eu vous avez eu aviez eu eûtes eu

ils/elles ont eu avaient eu eurent eu

Futur antérieurFuture perfect: I will have had

ConditionnelpasséPast conditional: I would have had

j’ aur ai eu aur ais eu tu aur as eu aur ais eu

il/elle aur a eu aur ait eu

nous aur ons eu aur ions eu vous aur ez eu aur iez eu ils/elles aur ont eu aur aient eu

Subjonctifpassé

Pastsubjunctive: that I had

Subjonctifplus-que-parfait

Past perfectsubjunctive: that I had had(extremely rare)

que j’ aie eu eusse eu que tu aies eu eusses eu qu’il/elle ait eu eût eu

que nous ayons eu eussions eu que vous ayez eu eussiez eu qu’ils/elles aient eu eussent eu


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Again: having seen the simple tenses of the auxiliary action wordavoir

• j’ai – tu as – il/elle a | nous avons – vous avez – ils/ellesont

• j’avais – tu avais – il/elle avait | nous avions – vous aviez – ils/elles avaient

• j’aurais – tu aurais – il/elle aurait | nous aurions – vous

Documents

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