Unit 0: Very Basics
Basic French phrases YOU MUST KNOW!!● Bonjour! : Hello!
● Au Revoir : Goodbye(formal) ● Salut : Goodbye(informal)
● Comment allez-vous? : How are you? ● Merci : Thank you
● Je m’appelle ___ : My name is ___ ● Enchante(e) : Nice to meet you ● S’il vous plait : Please/Excuse me ● De rien : It’s nothing/ Your welcome ● Oui : Yes
● Non : No
● Quelle heure est-t’il? : What time is it? ● Desole(e) : Sorry
● Bonsoir : Good evening
● Je ne comprends pas : I don’t understand ● Comment dit-on ___? : How do you say ___? ● Bonne nuit : Good night
Pronouns 1. Je (I) 2. Tu (you)
3. Il/elle/on (he/she/we) 4. Nous (we)
5. Vous (you, formal or plural) 6. Ils/elles (they)
● Difference between using tu and vous is extremely important: use tu in informal situations and vous in formal situations (such as addressing an elder or boss).
Regular and Irregular Verbs
● Just like in English, these regular (with endings -er, -ir, or -re) and irregular verbs will be part of your daily French conversations.
● Unlike English, verbs will have to be conjugated, or changed, to fit a certain pronoun ○ For example, to conjugate the irregular aller (to go):
■ Je vais, tu vas, il/elle/on va, nous allons, vous allez, ils/elles vont ■ I go, you go, he/she goes, we go, they go
■ As you can tell, you will have to memorize each variation of the verb ● Regular verbs: But don’t worry!
○ There are rules to conjugating regular verbs (eg parler (to speak), vendre (to sell), finir (to finish))
○ To actually conjugate it, take off the respective ending and add on the following new endings (since there are three different regular verb endings (-er, -ir, or -re), there are three different set of rules for each one)
■ Je → -e ■ Tu → -es ■ Il/elle/on → e ■ Nous → -ons ■ Vous → -ez ■ Ils/elles → -ent ○ IR endings ■ Je → -is ■ Tu → -is ■ Il/elle/on → it ■ Nous → -issons ■ Vous → -issez ■ Ils/elles → -issent ○ RE endings ■ Je → -s ■ Tu → -s ■ Il/elle/on → -- ■ Nous → -ons ■ Vous → -ez ■ Ils/elles → -ent
○ Unfortunately for irregular verbs such as avoir, être, faire, pouvoir, etc, you will have to memorize it :’)
○ But here are the conjugations for some common ones!
■ Être - to be: Je suis, tu es, il/elle/on est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils/elles sont
■ Avoir - to have: J’ai, tu as, il/elle/on a, nous avons, vous avez, ils/elles ont ■ Faire - to do: Je fais, tu fais, il/elle/on fait, nous faisons, vous faites, ils/elles
font
■ Pouvoir - to be able to: J'peux, tu peux, il/elle/on peut, nous pouvons, vous pouvez, ils/elles peuvent
■ Aller - to go: Je vais, tu vas, il/elle/on va, nous allons, vous allez, ils/elles vont Articles
● The majority of nouns which end in s, z or x do not change when they become plural and can instead be identified by their article. Un virus (a virus), for example, becomes des virus in the plural form.
● Definite article
○ Referring to a specific noun ○ “The”
○ Depends on the gender and the number of nouns
○ Ex/ le livre (the book), la table (the table), l’abricot (the apricot), les tables (the tables)
Singular Plural
Masculine - le Masculine - les
Vowel - l’ Vowel - les ○
● Indefinite article
○ Referring to either an unspecific noun or to one/some of something ○ “a/an”
○ Depends on the gender and the number of nouns ○ Ex/ un abricot (an apricot), une table (a table), des livres
Singular Plural
Masculine - un Masculine - des
Feminine - une Feminine - des
● Partitive article
○ referring to only a portion or some of an uncountable noun, often food or drink ○ “Some”
○ Depends on the gender and the number of nouns ○ Ex/ du beurre (some butter)
Singular Plural
Masculine - du Masculine - des
Feminine - de la Feminine - des
Vowel - de l’ Vowel - des
Plurals
● Most nouns require adding an s to the end of the pluralized noun ○ Fleur (flower) → Fleur (flowers)
● Nouns that end in -au take on an x to become the plural form ○ Bateau (boat) → Bateaux (boats)
● Nouns that end in -al replace that ending with -aux ○ Journal (journal) → Journaux (journals)
● The majority of nouns which end in s, z or x do not change when they become plural and can instead be identified by their article.
Topic 1: Most common
french words
● 1. à => to, at, in
● 2. avoir (verb) => to have ● 3. avec => with
● 4. autre => other, another ● 5. avant => before
● 6. aussi => too, also/ as ● 7. aller (verb) => to go
● 8. aucun => none, either, neither, not any
● 9. au / aux => to, at, in, the ● 10. alors => then, so ● 11. après => after ● 12. aujourd’hui => today ● 13. aimer => to love, to like
● 14. bon => good; (un bon: a coupon, a voucher)
● 15. beaucoup => a lot, plenty ● 16. bien => well; (un bien: a good) ● 17. ça => this /that
● 18. ce => this, that ● 19. cela => that, it
● 20. celui => that, the one, he, him ● 21. comme => like, as
● 22. chose => a thing, something ● 23. dans => in, into, from ● 24. demain => tomorrow ● 25. depuis => since
● 26. demander (verb) => to ask for ● 27. de => some, any / of, from ● 28. déjà => already
● 29. donner (verb) => to give ● 30. deux => two
● 31. difficile => hard, difficult ● 32. dire (verb) => to say, to tell ● 33. devoir (verb) => to have to, to
owe; (le devoir: duty) ● 34. dernier => last ● 35. et => and
● 36. encore => again, yet
● 37. en => in, by ● 38. elle => she, her
● 39. être (verb) => to be; (un être humain: a human being)
● 40. faire (verb) => to do, to make ● 41. grand => big, tall, great ● 42. heure => hour ● 43. il => he, it ● 44. jamais => never ● 45. je => I ● 46. jour => day ● 47. le => the
● 48. lequel => who, whom, which ● 49. lui => him
● 50. leur => their, theirs, them ● 51. mais => but
● 52. me => me, myself, to me ● 53. moins => less / minus ● 54. mon => my (masculine) ● 55. minute => minute ● 56. maintenant => now
● 57. même => same; (adv.) even ● 58. mettre (verb) => to put, to place ● 59. nous => we, us
● 60. ne => not ● 61. non => no, not ● 62. on => we ● 63. où => where ● 64. ou => or ● 65. par => by
● 66. pas => not; (means also footstep) ● 67. parfois => sometime
● 68. pouvoir (verb) => to be able to, can; (le pouvoir: power)
● 69. pour => for, in order to ● 70. petit => small, little ● 71. passer (verb) => to pass ● 72. peu => little, few
● 73. pendant => during, for ● 74. plus => more / no more ● 75. prendre (verb) => to take ● 76. quand => when
● 77. que => that, which, who, whom ● 78. quelque => some
● 79. qui => who, whom
● 81. rien => nothing
● 82. rester (verb) => to stay ● 83. sans => without
● 84. savoir (verb) => to know (le savoir: knowledge)
● 85. semaine => week
● 86. suite => rest, result, follow-up ● 87. se => oneself, himself, herself,
itself, themselves 88. si => if, whether; (adv.) so
● 89. sur => on, upon
●
90. son => his, her, its; (un son: a sound)●
91. temps => time●
92. toujours => always, still●
93. tout => all, every●
94. très => very●
95. un => a, an (masculine) ; (also meaning:Topic 2: Counting 1-100
● 1 – un ● 2 – deux ● 3 – trois ● 4 – quatre ● 5 – cinq ● 6 – six ● 7 – sept ● 8 – huit ● 9 – neuf ● 10 – dix ● 10 – dix ● 11 – onze ● 12 – douze ● 13 – treize ● 14 – quatorze ● 15 – quinze ● 16 – seize ● 17 – dix-sept ● 18 – dix-huit ● 19 – dix-neuf ● 20 – vingtTo write the numbers from 20 to 69 in French, you just add the single number (units) to the tens number.
A hyphen is used to join the two numbers together.
● vingt (20) + deux (2) = vingt-deux (22) ● trente (30) + sept (7) = trente-sept (37) ● quarante (40) + neuf (9) = quarante-neuf (49) ● 70 – soixante-dix ● 71 – soixante-onze ● 72 – soixante-douze ● 73 – soixante-treize ● 74 – soixante-quatorze ● 75 – soixante-quinze ● 76 – soixante-seize ● 77 – soixante-dix-sept ● 78 – soixante-dix-huit ● 79 – soixante-dix-neuf
● 80 – quatre-vingts (notice vingts ends in an S)
● 81 – quatre-vingt-un (notice vingt does not end in an S) ● 82 – quatre-vingt-deux ● 83 – quatre-vingt-trois ● 84 – quatre-vingt-quatre ● 85 – quatre-vingt-cinq ● 86 – quatre-vingt-six ● 87 – quatre-vingt-sept ● 88 – quatre-vingt-huit ● 89 – quatre-vingt-neuf ● 90 – quatre-vingt-dix ● 91 – quatre-vingt-onze ● 92 – quatre-vingt-douze ● 93 – quatre-vingt-treize ● 94 – quatre-vingt-quatorze ● 95 – quatre-vingt-quinze ● 96 – quatre-vingt-seize ● 97 – quatre-vingt-dix-sept ● 98 – quatre-vingt-dix-huit ● 99 – quatre-vingt-dix-neuf ● 100 – cent ● 200 - deux-cents ● 300 - trois-cents ● 400 - quatre-cents ● 500 - cinq-cents ● 600 - six-cents ● 700 - sept-cents ● 800 - huit-cents ● 900 - nuit-cents ● 1000 - mille
Topic 3: Days & Months
Days ● Monday – lundi ● Tuesday - mardi ● Wednesday - mercredi ● Thursday - jeudi ● Friday - vendredi ● Saturday - samedi ● Sunday - dimanche Months ● January - Janvier ● February - Fevrier ● March - Mars ● April - Avril ● May - Mai ● June - Juin ● July - Juillet ● August - Aout ● September - Septembre ● October - Octobre ● November - Novembre ● December - DecembreTopic 4: Feelings
● Amazed - ebahi● Angry - fache ● Annoyed - ennuye ● Ashamed - honteux ● Bored - ennuye ● Calm - tranquille ● Cheerful - gai ● Confident - assure ● Confused - desoriente ● Delighted - ravi ● Depressed - deprime ● Distressed - navre ● Embarrassed - gene ● Excited - emballe ● Exhausted - epuise ● Frustrated - frustre ● Happy - heureux ● Horrified - horrifie ● Irritated - agace ● Lonely - solitaire ● Nervous - nerveux ● Pleased - content ● Sad - triste ● Tired - fatigue ● Unhappy - malheureux ● Worried - inquiet ● 98 – quatre-vingt-dix-huit ● 99 – quatre-vingt-dix-neuf ● How to use: I am… Je suis
