FRENCH GRAMMAR Flashcards
direct object pronouns
me
te
le/ la/ l’
nous
vous
les
indirect object pronouns
me
te
lui
nous
vous
leur
reflected object pronouns
me
te
se/ s’
nous
vous
se/ s’
tonic object pronouns
moi
toi
lui/ elle
nous
vous
eux/ elles
soi
when to use y pronoun
- replace a thing, abstract noun, geographical noun preceded by à
when to use lui following à
- replacing the noun of a person preceded by à
- use lui (for feminine or masculine singular)
- use leur (for feminine or masculine plural)
- it’s used without à and comes before the verb e.g. je lui téléphone
when to use ‘en’ pronoun
- replacing a noun preceded by a partitive article (de/ du/ de la des) or indefinitve articles (un/ une/ des)
- when quantity is undetermined
- to replace a thing, abstract noun, geographic noun preceded by preposition ‘de’
example of using ‘en’
e.g. j’ai peur de la mort and être content de quelquechose
- j’ai peur de la mort –> j’en ai peur
- être contente de qch –> j’en suis contente
what are pronominal verbs
- verbs that need a reflexive pronoun before the verb
when to use tonic forms w/ pronominal verbs
- for request:
- have to use the inversion of the pronoun and use the tonic form e.g. se promener–> promène-toi
- in negative form don’t use inversion or tonic pronoun form
how to translate «what»
- it can be translated by two words the demostrative pronoun “ce “ and relative pronoun que
when to use “quoi” as a pronoun e.g. He has nothing to hang on to
- when antecedent is an indefinite pronoun e.g. rien, quelque chose, tout etc. or has “ce” as a demostrative
- use “quoi” after the preposition Ex: Il n’a rien à quoi s’accrocher
when to use “dont”
- when relative pronoun replaced is an object of the preposition de.
- used with verbs followed by de e.g.parler de
- to show possession e.g.Voici le livre dont je t’ai parlé
when can’t you use “dont”
When the relative pronoun is the complement of a noun preceded by a preposition, we use the form duquel, de quoi, etc.
order of french sentences w/ prepositions and antecedent
- Antécédent + préposition + nom + duquel/de laquelle
what preposition goes before islands
à + island
conjugating verbs ending in -cer
- c becomes a cedilla (ç) in the 1st person plural – the nous form
passé simple/ historic endings
-ER: -IR: -RE:
-ai -is -us
-as -is -us
-a -it -ut
-âmes -îmes -ûmes
-âtes -îtes -ûtes
-èrent -irent -urent
when is the passé simple usually used
-It is mainly used in narratives where a succession of actions is reported
what is the plus-que-parfait
- similar to English equivalent (Had + past participle)
- conjugate w/ imperfect stem + past participle
- used to indicate an action or an event which precedes in time another past action/event
what is the passé antérieur
- used only in texts that use the passé simple
- it is in written French only
- It is mainly used in clauses of time introduced by conjunctions e.g. when, when, as soon as, as soon as, after and barely … that.
- has the same value as the past perfect.
- can only use this tense when the verb in the main one is in the past simple
what is the futur antérieur
- it is a tense used to express a future action that precedes another future action
- tells us what the subject will or shall have done
how to conjugate futur antérieur
- conjugate the future tense of the helping verb ( avoir or être) + the past participle of the action being performed
does exiger que take the subjunctive or the indicative
exiger que + subjunctive
