Interaction

Chapitre 1 – Structures I

Some basics….

French verbs change to reflect their subject.

Regular verbs change according to a pattern that makes them easily manageable.

-Er verbs are the most common verbs in the French language.

Making the verb agree…

When making the verb agree with the subject, decide whether the subject is singular or plural and which “person” it is. First person – “I” or “we”

Second person – “you” and “you” plural – “y’all” in the south!Third person – “he”, “she”, “it” or “they”

In French…

Singular Plural1 je nous2 tu vous *3 il/elle ils/elles

* “Vous” is also used to be polite whether talking to one person or more

-ER verbs - the pattern..Take the infinitive: jouerTake off the “-er” ending jouAdd endings according to the

following pattern:

je -e nous -ons

tu -es vous -ez

il/elle -e ils/elles -ent

For the verb “jouer” –je joue nous jouonstu joues vous jouezil/elle joue

ils/ellesjouentIn English –

I play we play you play you play

he/she plays they play

All regular –er verbs follow this pattern in the present tense. You can conjugate a verb even if you do not know its meaning!

The French have recently started using the verb “googler.”

Apply the pattern…

googler – to google je _________ nous ___________

tu __________ vous ___________

il/elle ________ ils/elles __________

Note:

In French, “je google” covers all of the following in English:

I googleI am googlingI do google

To make the negative…

In French, you put ne….. pas around the verb to negate:

Je mange. = I eatJe ne mange pas. = I don’t eat/am

not eating

“On”The pronoun “on” is used a lot in

French, especially informal spoken French. It means “one” as in “you”, “people”, “we”.

Verbs used with “on” have the same ending as verbs used with “il/elle”- il parle/ on parle

Some –er verbs with quirks…When conjugating some –er

verbs, the stem changes slightly for pronunciation reasons.

These verbs are called “stem-changing” verbs.

é to èpréférer – to prefer* The first é is NOT affected!!• The “nous” and “vous” forms are

not affected – giving the “boot” shape.

• je préfère nous préférons• tupréfères vouspréférez• il préfère ils préfèrent

l to llappeler – to call

j’appelle nous appelons

tu appelles vous appelez

il appelle ils appellent

e to è

acheter – to buy

j’achète nous achetons

tu achètes vous achetez

il achète ils achètent

y to i

payer – to pay

je paie nous payons

tu paies vous payezil paie ils paient

t - tt

jeter – to throw

je jette nous jetonstu jettes vous jetezil jette ils jettent

Other changesSome verbs change their stem

but there is no “boot” shape. Only the “nous” form is affected”

g to ge - manger nous mangeons

c to ç - commencer nous commençons

À vous…Je ________ la balleàmon frère.

(jeter)Nous ___________ de la glace.

(manger)Jean-Paul _________ du pain.

(acheter)Moi et ma mère __________.

(payer)Vous ________ le vinblanc.

(préférer)Marie et Philippe m’_________.

(appeler)

The imperativeTo make the imperative

(command form) of –er verbs, just use the verb with no subject:

Vous jouez - Jouez! Play!Nous jouons - Jouons! Let’s

play!BUT in –er verbs you must leave

off the “s” for the “tu” form –Tu joues - Joue! Play!

Negative

To give a negative command (Don’t do it!),

put ne… pas around the verb:

Mange ta soupe!Ne mange pas de gâteau!

Some irregular verbs…Some verbs – mostly very common

verbs – do not follow a strict pattern and must be learned.

To learn a verb: look at it, say it, copy it, try to reproduce it without looking. Review regularly!

Learning present tense forms is an important base for future work because many tenses ( the imperfect, for example) are formed using the present tense as a base.

The four basic verbs…The first four irregular verbs studied

are the basics to communication –être – to beavoir – to havealler – to go

faire – to do, to make

“Être ou ne pas être: telle est la question.”

William Shakespeare

Être – to be

je suis (I am) nous sommes (we are)

tu es (you are) vous êtes (you are)il est (he is) ils sont (they are)elle est (she is) elles sont

(they are)on est

Imperative: sois, soyons, soyez

Avoir – to have

j’ai (I have) nous avons(we have)

tu as (you have) vous avez(you have)

il a (he has) ils ont(they have)elle a (she has) elles

ont(they have)on a

Imperative: aie, ayons, ayez

Aller – to go

je vais( I go) nous allons(we go)tu vas (you go) vous allez(you

go)il va (he goes) ils vont(they go)elle va (she goes) elles vont(they go)on va

Imperative: va, allons, allezNote: Vas-y! (Has “s” for pronunciation)

Faire – to do, to make

je fais (I do) nous faisons (we do)

tu fais (you do) vous faites (you do)

il fait (he/it does) ils font (they do)

elle fait (she/it does) elles font (they do)

on fait

Imperative: fais, faisons, faites

Aller and faire with InfinitivesAller + infinitifTo be going to + infinitiveSubject Aller Infinitive

PredicateJe vais acheter du

lait.I am going to buy

some milk.

Nous allons voir un film.We are going to see a

film

Faire + Infinitive

To have/get something done…

Subject Faire InfinitivePredicate

Je fais préparer le repas.

(I am having the meal prepared.)