Important Grammar Flashcards
How do you say ‘He is not watching’?
Il ne regarde pas
- So you form basic negatives by doing ne + verb + pas
- The continuous (watching) is just the normal present tense
How do you say ‘I never go to the cinema’?
Je ne vais jamais au cinéma
You replace the “pas” with the another negative word, ‘plus’ can also be used for example to be ‘I no longer…’
How do you say “I must learn” “I want to learn” and “I can learn”
- Je dois apprendre
- Je veux apprendre
- Je peux apprendre
As you can see, for modal verbs, you always use the infinitive
How do you form the present participle and what does it mean?
- Use the nous form of the present tense
- Add “ant” to the end
- Add “en” before it
- It means “by doing…..”
- Eg: En jouant = By playing…
When do you use le, la or les?
- They are definite articles, so when you want to say “the” or often just when you are referring to a specific noun (even if you wouldn’t say the in English)
- La is for feminine nouns
- Le is for masculine nouns
- Les is for plural nouns
When do you use un, une or des?
- They are indefinite articles, so when you want to say “a” or “some” in the case of des)
- Un is for feminine nouns
- Une is for masculine nouns
- Des is for plural nouns (and essentially means “some”)
Basically the same as la, le and les except it is indefinite instead of definite
How can you tell if a noun is masculine or feminine?
- If it ends with “e” or “ion” it is probably femine
- The only exceptions are nouns ending with “age”, “ège” or “isme”
- All other nouns are masculine
What are all the possessive adjectives for the different genders?
- Mon (m), ma (f), mes (pl) - My
- Ton (m), ta (f), tes (pl) - Your (informal)
- Son (m), sa (f), ses (pl) - His/her/its
- Notre (s), Nos (pl) - Our
- Votre (s), Vos (pl) - Your (formal)
- Leur (s), Leurs (pl) - Their
Does the adjective come before or after the noun?
- The majority of adjectives come after the noun
- However, there are some which come after the noun which will be addressed in another card
What are the main adjectives which come before the noun?
- Grand - Big
- Petit - Small
- Gros - Big/Fat
- Jeune - Young
- Noveau - New
- Vieux - Old
- Mauvais - Bad
- Premier - First
- Bon - Good
- Beau - Beautiful
When do you use au vs à la vs aux?
These words mean “to the”
- Au is a contraction of ‘à le’ and is used for masculine nouns
- À la is used for feminine nouns
- Aux is used for plural feminine nouns
- Au is also used for plural masculine nouns
How do you say ‘I am going to the cinema’ and ‘I am going to the kitchen’ and ‘I am going to the kitchens’
- Je vais au cinéma
- Je vais à la cuisine
- Je vais aux cuisines
What are the general rules of adjectival agreement?
- Add nothing to adjectives describing masculine nouns
- Add e to adjectives describing feminine nouns
- Add s to adjectives describing masculine plural nouns
- Add es to adjectives describing feminine plural nouns
What are the different ways adjectives agree for adjectives ending in ‘eux’
Eg. Ennuyeux
- Masculine - Eux
- Feminine - Euse
- Masculine Plural - Eux
- Feminine Plural - Euses
What are the different ways adjectives agree for adjectives ending in ‘f’
Eg. Sportif
- Masculine - F
- Feminine - Ve
- Masculine Plural - Fs
- Feminine Plural - Ves
What are the different ways adjectives agree for adjectives ending in ‘c’
Eg. Blanc
- Masculine - ‘c’
- Feminine - ‘che’
- Masculine Plural - ‘cs’
- Feminine Plural - ‘ches’
What are the direct object pronouns for each pronoun and when do you use it?
- Je - Me
- Tu - Te
- Il - Le
- Elle - La
- Nous - Nous
- Vous - Vous
- Elles/Ils - Les
- You use it when an object is receiving the action of the verb (I love him). You put it before the verb
How do you say ‘I know him’, ‘We saw them’ and ‘I would like it’
- Je le connais
- Nous les avons vu
- Je le voudrais
In passe compose, the avoir/etre part goes after the direct object pronoun
What are the indirect object pronouns for each pronoun and when do you use it?
- Je - Me
- Tu - Te
- Il/Elle - Lui
- Nous - Nous
- Vous - Vous
- Elles/Ils - Leur
- You use it when an object is receiving the action of the verb after a preposition like ‘to’ or ‘for’ (I spoke to him)
How do you say ‘I spoke to her’, ‘I can come to them’, and ‘I can give it to him’
- Je lui ai parlé
- Je peux leur venir
- Je peux le lui donner
How do you use ‘en’?
In the complex grammar structure, not ‘En Angleterre’
To replace de+noun in the next clause after the object has already been stated
Since it replaces sentences with ‘de’, it is often used for quantities (I would like 5 of them = J’en voudrais cinq)
How do you say: ‘One must eat vegetables, so I eat them everyday’ using the en structure
Il faut manger des légumes, donc j’en mange tous les jours
How do you use ‘y’?
To replace ‘there’
How do you say (using the y structure):
* I go there by foot
* We go there everyday
- J’y vais à pied
- Nous y allons tous les jours
What are emphatic pronouns used for?
- They are used after prepositions
- They are also used to add emphasis directly before je, tu, il, elle ect.
However they are not used after prepositions like ‘to’ or ‘for’ where the verb is being done to them, as this is what indirect obejct pronouns are for. They would more likely be used after prepositions such as ‘with’ and ‘without’
What are the emphatic pronouns?
- Moi, Je
- Toi, Tu
- Lui, Il
- Elle, Elle
- Nous, on
- Nous, Nous
- Vous, Vous
- Eux, Ils
- Elles, Elles
How would you say: ‘I could not live without him’ and ‘Me, I do not download illegal music’
Illegal = illégalement
- Je ne pourrais pas vivre sans lui
- Moi, je ne télécharge pas de musique illégalement
What are the reflexive pronouns?
- Je - me
- Tu - te
- Il/elle/on - se
- Nous - nous
- Vous - vous
- Ils/elles - se
How do you form reflexive verbs?
- Place the reflexive pronoun before the verb, but after the normal pronoun
- Conjugate the verb as usual
- Je me leve = I wake up
What are some common reflexive verbs?
- S’habiller - to get dressed
- S’assesoir - to sit down
- Se lever - to wake up
- S’amuser - to have fun
- Se sentir - to feel
- Se coucher - to go to bed
- Se doucher - to shower
- S’interesser - to interest
How do you say: Good, better, best, bad, worse (all in masculine)
- Bon
- Meilleur
- Le Meilleur
- Mauvais
- Pire
Note that these adjectives are some of the ones which come before the noun
How do you form comparatives (Less/more…than, as…as, not as… as)?
- (Noun) est plus/moins (adjective) que (Noun)
- (Noun) est aussi (adjective) que (Noun)
- (Noun) ne (être conjugated) pas aussi (adjective) que (Noun)
- The adjective needs to agree with the first noun
- You can also use it with adverbs in a logical way
How do you say:
* Sport is more interesting than school
* He speaks French as well as me, but not as well as the teacher
- Le sport est plus intéressant que l’ecole
- Il parle Français aussi bien que moi, mais pas aussi bien que le professeur
How do you form superlatives?
Same as comparatives, but add le/la/les depending on the noun
How do you say:
* The most interesting country is England
* I believe that the best film I’ve seen recently is Notre Dame of Paris
- Le pays le plus intéressant est l’Angleterre
- Je crois que le meilleur film que j’ai vu récemment est Notre Dame de Paris
When do you use ce qui and ce que, and when do you use qui and que?
- Translates to ‘which’
- You use ce qui and ce que when describing the entire sentence, whereas qui and que is just for a noun
- Qui is when a verb follows, que is when a noun or subject pronoun follows
How do you say:
* I argue often with my parents which I do not like
* I am learning English which is interesting
* It is a book which I know very well
Argue = s’disputer
- Je me dispute souvent avec mes parents ce que je n’aime pas
- J’apprends l’Anglais ce qui est intéressant
- C’est un livre que je connais très bien
How do you say:
* I only have 5 euros
* I only study maths
* I only run for three hours
- Je n’ai que cinq euros
- Je n’étudie que les mathématiques
- Je ne cours que (pendant) trois heures
You could say ‘J’ai seulement cinq euros’ but this is more advanced
What is the difference between ce, cette, ces, ça and cela
- Ce is the masculine ‘this’, cette is the feminine ‘this’, and ces is the plural ‘this’
- Cela and ça both mean it or that
How would you say, ‘I like that’ informally and ‘I know that’ formally?
- J’aime ça
- Je sais cela
- So ça means ‘that’ because ‘I like it’ is of course ‘Je l’aime’
- If there was a clause following it such as ‘I like that he is tall’ you would use que: ‘J’aime qu’il est grand’
