Lecture One Flashcards
The style for capitalizing French headings, titles, and subheadings is to capitalize the initial letter and lowercase everything else (unless it’s a proper noun).
For Le / La / L’ or Un / Une, the following word is also capitalized.
Je contracts to j’
when followed by a vowel
Tu, the common “you”
Indicates closeness and is used among friends and family and with children
Il is “he” (when referring to a person) or it (when referring to a masculine noun / object). Elle is “she” (when referring to a person) or it (when referring to a feminine noun / object). On is the indefinite subject pronoun (literally, “one”). On can also be used to mean “we,” “they,” “you,” or people in general.
Tout le monde means “everyone.”
You’ll use vous when speaking to a person you don’t know well or anyone to whom you want to show respect.
Vous is also “you” in the plural. It keeps you from having to say “you all” when you are addressing a group of people.
Ils is “they” for masculine people and nouns. Elles is “they” for feminine people and nouns
Use ils even if there is at least one male in a group
Singular Subject Pronouns
je [I]
tu [you (informal)]
- *il** [he or it] /
- *elle** [she or it] / on [one]
Plural Subject Pronouns
nous [we]
vous [you (formal)]
ils [they (masculine)] / elles [they (feminine)]
Verbs in French are composed of a stem and endings. Getting used to the idea of stems + endings will make French verbs easier to learn.
A French verb in the present tense can be translated in three ways, depending on the context. Je parle français can mean:
- I speak French
- I do speak French
- I am speaking French
Some verbs are called regular -er verbs. Parler is a regular -er verb.
je parle
tu parles
il / elle / on / tout le monde parle
nous parlons
vous parlez
ils / elles parlent
Some verbs in French do not follow a regular pattern. These are presented as irregular verbs. Here’s an example using être, “to be.”
je suis
tu es
il / elle / on / tout le monde est
nous sommes
vous êtes
ils / elles sont
_____ parlons anglais à Denver
Nous
_____ parlent français à Casablanca
Ils / Elles
_____ parles anglais à Boston
Tu
_____ parlez français à Paris
Vous
