Prerequisite Knowledge

In order to be ready for the first half unit of French II, you must know and be able to do the following:

I. Verbs

A. Regular Verbs

You should know all regular verbs (-er, -ir, -re) in the present tense, the imperative (command) forms, the past (passé composé), and the near future (present of aller plus the infinitive).

B. Irregular Verbs

You should have mastered many of the most important irregular verbs. Here is a checklist:

Know irregular past participles:

II. Adjectives

A. Basic Rule

Every adjective must agree in number and gender with the word or words it modifies. Adjectives ending in -e have two forms, singular and plural. Other regular adjectives add -e for feminine singular and -es for feminine plural, -s for masculine plural.

B. Adjective Placement

Placement is important. Most adjectives follow the noun modified, but the BAGS adjectives (for Beauty, Age, Goodness, and Size) come before the noun.

C. Irregular Adjectives

Some adjectives are irregular. These include:

1. demonstrative (adjectives that point out): ce, cet, cette, ces.
2. interrogative (question): quel, quels, quelle, quelles.
3. possessive (showing ownership): mon, ma, mes, ton, ta, tes, son, sa, ses, notre, notre, nos, votre, votre, vos, leur, leur, leurs.

The following adjectives change their masculine singular form in front of a vowel:

III. Pronouns

You are responsible for several categories of pronouns.

A. Subject Pronouns

Subject pronouns are used as the subject of the verb: je, tu, il, elle, on, nous, vous, ils, elles.

B. Stress Pronouns

Stress pronouns are used as objects of prepositions and for emphasis: moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles.

C. Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are used when the subject and object are the same person: me, te, se, nous, vous, se.

D. Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative pronouns ask a question: qui, quoi, que:

Qui est à la porte?
Avec quoi écris-tu?
Que faites-vous?
Qu'est-ce que tu fais?
Chez qui va-t-il?

IV. Structure

A. Declarative Sentences

Declarative sentences are those that make a statement.

Example:
Le français est une bonne langue.

B. Interrogative Sentences

Questions may start with a question word: Qui, Où, Quand, Comment, Pourquoi.

Examples:
Pourquoi étudies-tu?
Comment danse-t-elle?
Quand arrive-t-il?
Où habitez-vous?
Qui est en classe?

Remember the three most common ways to make a question:

1. Put Est-ce que in front of a statement: Est-ce que tu parles français?
2. Inversion: Parles-tu français?
3. Voice raised at the end: Tu parles français?

C. Negation

Negative comes on each side of the verb. Il n'aime pas le poisson. The ne will always be before the verb (stuck to the subject) but the other part of the negative may change places, depending on the sentence.

With passé composé, always put the negative around the helping verb (avoir or être).

Example:
Il ne s'est pas levé de bonne heure.

D. The Partitive

Review your rules for the partitive. Watch for the meaning of the verbs. For example, aimer, détester, and adorer always take the definite article because you like or hate the entire category. Verbs such as acheter, vendre, manger, and boire take the partitive because you are speaking of only a part, a quantity.

Attention! With the negative partitive, use only de or d' rather than the entire partitive. Je ne mange pas de chocolat means "I don't eat any..."

E. Contractions

The prepositions à and de are also found in contractions when possession is shown. You know that "My grandmother's house" in French is La maison de ma grand-mère. "The boy's bike" is Le vélo du garçon. This contraction looks just like the partitive.

With à, the contraction looks like this "We speak to the child" in French is Nous parlons à l'enfant, but "We go to the restaurant" is Nous allons au restaurant. Review the rules for forming contractions:

F. Elision and Liaison

The vowels e and a in French are weak letters and will drop and be replaced by an apostrophe when another vowel starts the next word, as in l'élève, l'enfant, or l'école. Other vowels (u, o, i) are stronger and do not elide, as in Tu es but J'ai un livre.

The letter i is strong but, as usual, there are exceptions! S'il vous plaît is an exception. It is an example of two i's coming together and resulting in elision. This is rare.

Liaison is what gives French its smooth flow:

Words that have a close relationship (subject and verb, noun and adjective) are pronounced together, much as though they were single words.

V. French Idiom

When we discuss French idioms, we are talking about ways in which French speakers express ideas that are similar to those we also express in English, but the word-for-word translation may be quite different.

A. Introductions and Names

While English uses the verb "to be" to give names, French uses s'appeler, a reflexive construction that literally translates "to call oneself."

B. Age

While English uses the verb "to be" to tell someone's age, French uses the verb avoir (to have). A literal, word-for-word translation would be, "How many years do you have? I have _____ years."

C. Weather

While English uses the verb "to be" to describe the weather, French uses the verb faire (to make or to do).

Attention! There are other verbs also. For example, neiger means "to snow": En janvier il neige. And pleuvoir is the infinitive for "to rain": Il pleut means "It's raining." These are called "defective" verbs because they can be used only in the one form, the third-person singular, "it."

There are many more idiomatic expressions to know. Here are a few of the most important:

VI. Other Important Things to Know

A. Months of the Year

Il y a douze mois dans l'année: janvier, février, mars, avril, mai, juin, juillet, août, septembre, octobre, novembre, décembre.

B. Days of the Week

Les jours de la semaine sont lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche.

C. Cardinal Numbers

Les nombres cardinaux: un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix.

D. Ordinal Numbers

Les nombres ordinaux: premier, deuxième, troisième, quatrième, cinquième, sixième, septième, huitième, neuvième, dixième.

E. Seasons

Les saisons de l'année: le printemps (au printemps), l'été (en été), l'automne (en automne), l'hiver (en hiver).

The list is not complete but I've tried to include the most important things. Watch out for accents! There is a great difference between a, the verb form, and à the preposition! There is not a great difference in the pronunciation between the third-person singular form of the verb être, Il est, and the conjunction that means "and," et. You must always check to see that you are using the proper part of speech. Rely on your knowledge of grammar as well as on your ear.

La liste n'est pas complète, mais j'ai essayé de noter les choses les plus importantes. Attention aux accents! Il y a une grande difference entre à et a!