Posts tagged with "French grammar"

French Language – Semi Auxiliaries

Posted by Transparent Language No Comments
Mar 27 2009

In the French language, semi-auxiliaries are the same as in the English language.  They are multi-word verbs that occur before main verbs.  In English, these semi-auxiliaries include: have to, get to, be about to, used to, mean to, be going to, etc.

In French, many of the semi-auxiliaries are the same as the English ones.

To express the future:
ALLER + infinitive (near future)
Mon bébé va s’endormir.  (My baby is going to go to sleep).
J’allais partir quand mon copain est arrivé.  (I was going to leave when my boyfriend arrived.)

***Be careful though as aller + infinitive can be used to express movement and in that case, it is not considered a semi-auxiliary.  Ex: El bébé va marcher.

ÊTRE SUR LE POINT DE + infinitive (immediate future)
Nous sommes à table ; nous sommes sur le point de manger.  (We are at the table.  We are about to eat.)

DEVOIR + infinitive
Mes amis doivent arriver à la gare ce soir à 8 heures. (My friends should be arriving at the station this evening at 8 o’clock.)

To express the past:
VENIR DE + infinitive (recent past)
Mon mari n’est pas là ; il vient de sortir. (My husband is not here; he just left.)

To express duration:
ÊTRE EN TRAIN DE + infinitive
J’étais en train de faire le linge quand le lave-linge s’est brisé. (I was doing the laundry when the washer broke down.)

To express the beginning of an action:
COMMENCER À / SE METTRE À + infinitive
Les gens commencent à arriver.  (The people are starting to arrive.)
Tout le monde s’est mis à rire.  (Everybody started to laugh.)

To express the end of an action:
FINIR DE / CESSER DE / S’ARRÊTER DE + infinitive
J’ai fini d‘écrire le livre.  (I’ve finished writing the book.)
La neige a cessé de tomber.  (The snow has stopped falling.)
Je lui ai demandé de s’arrêter de fumer ; donc, il a éteint sa cigarette.  (I asked him to stop smoking so he put out his cigarette.)

**Be careful, cesser de and arrêter de in the negative form express duration.
Ex: La neige ne cesse de tomber.  (The snow keeps falling.)
Il n’arrête pas de fumer.  (He smokes all the time.)

To express probability:
DEVOIR + infinitive
J’ai faim; il doit être environ midi. (I’m hungry.  It must be around noon.)
POUVOIR + infinitive
La salle est pleine; il peut y avoir 500 personnes. (The hall is full; there could be 500 people here.)

To express obligation:
DEVOIR + infinitive
On doit éteindre les portables. (Cell phones must be turned off.)

But, be careful, some of these multi-word verbs may occur in other contexts in which they are not considered to be semi-auxiliaries.  You will know this when there is no other main verb.  For example:

DEVOIR: Je dois beaucoup à mes parents. (I owe a lot to my parents.)

French Language – Voilà or Il y a

Posted by Transparent Language No Comments
Mar 17 2009

Voilà is one of my favorite expressions in French.  It just seems so French and much more appealing than its English equivalents: ‘there is’ and ‘there are’.  However, you must be careful because Il y a has the same English translation so to speak, but the meaning or useage is different.  Voilà is used as if you are pointing to the object(s) you are talking about, whereas Il y a simply states the existence of the object(s) you are talking about.  One practical example that you can use in an email is: Voilà, ci-joint la liste. (You can replace the underlined part with anything you are attaching).  Here are some other examples to show the difference between the two expressions.

Il y a beaucoup de couples ici. (There are a lot of couples here.)
Regardez, voilà, Madame et Monsieur Dupont.  (Look, there’s Mrs. and Mr. Dupont.)

Il y a un magasin de chaussures par ici.  (There’s a shoe store nearby.)
Est-ce qu’il y a des grandes chaussures ?  (Are there large-size shoes?)
Voilà, la pointure que vous cherchez. (There’s the size you’re looking for.)

Il y a des marchés en France.  (There are markets in France.)
Voilà, le marché aux pouces de la Port de Vanves.   (There’s the Port de Vanves flea market.)

Auxiliaries Être and Avoir

Posted by Transparent Language 1 Comment
Nov 17 2008

In French, the verbs être and avoir are considered auxiliaries when followed by a past participle and, thus, used to form the perfect tenses much like have/has/had are auxiliaries in English.  Just as have/has/had, être and avoir are also regular, normal verbs as well.

AVOIR is the auxiliary that is used with most verbs.

ÊTRE is used to form the perfect tense of certain “passage” verbs (that will take you from one place to another) like naître, décéder and mourir; entrer, rester and sortir; arriver, partir and repartir; aller and retourner; monter, descendre, tomber and retomber; passer, venir and all similar verbs like devenir, revenir, etc.
Exceptions:
- prévenir is conjugated with avoir
- convenir can be conjugated with être, but is usually conjugated with avoir.
- descendre, monter, passer, rentrer, retourner and sortir are conjugated with avoir when they are transitive or in other words, when they have a direct object associated to them, and in those cases, the subject is not really moving in passage, but rather the objects are.

It is also used to form the perfect tense of pronominal verbs – reflexive verbs (where a person does something to him/herself including personal accidents), reciprocal verbs (two or more people do something interactively) and idiomatic verbs (a regular ole verb that takes on a different meaning when the reflexive pronoun is added).
se promener (reflexive)
Nous nous sommes promenés. (We took a walk.)
s’écrire (reciprocal)
Nous nous sommes écrit. (We wrote to each other.)
s’intéresser (idiomatic)
Je me suis intéressé aux langues. (I’m interested in languages.)

And finally, the auxiliary être is used in the passive voice.  For example:
J’ai été invité à la fête.  (I was invited to the party.)

Remember, the verb être is conjugated with the auxiliary avoir as in:
J’ai été professeur dans une école de langues.
(I was a teacher at a language school.)

And the verb avoir is conjugated with the auxiliary avoir as well as in:
Je n’ai pas eu assez de temps pour finir l’examen de français.
(I didn’t have enough time to finish the French exam.)

Since these auxiliaries are so important, you must make sure to memorize how to conjugate them in the present before you learn anything else about French grammar.
AVOIR

J’ ai Nous avons
Tu as Vous avez
Il/Elle/On a Ils/Elles ont

ÊTRE

Je suis Nous sommes
Tu es Vous êtes
Il/Elle/On est Ils/Elles sont

Maintenant vous êtes expert(e) des auxiliaires!

Complex Sentences (La Phrase Complexe)

Posted by Transparent Language No Comments
Oct 27 2008

 Just like in English, a complex sentence in French is a sentence with more than one clause. These are often used and many times we don’t even realize they’re so complex because several of them so easily come rolling off our tongues. To begin our discussion, there are two kinds of clauses: main clauses and subordinate clauses. Main clauses can stand alone and can be completed with one or more other clauses to provide more information in a sentence. And these subordinate clauses that complete main clauses can not stand alone as they are dependent on the main clauses and function like nouns, adjectives or adverbs. Let’s take a look at some sample sentences and break the clauses down.

Le chien est un animal qui souvent habite avec l’homme.
MAIN CLAUSE                                  SUBORDINATE CLAUSE

Bien que Christèle et Julia soient jumelles, elles ne se ressemblent pas parce qu’elles ont des personnalités très distinctes.

Above, we have two subordinate clauses (in bold) and the main clause (underlined).

Now, let’s talk about four different types of subordinate clauses.

1. LA SUBORDONNÉE RELATIVE – Relative clauses that modify noun phrases and begin with a relative pronoun (qui, que, dont, etc.)

Ex: J’ai un professeur qui est américain.

2. LA SUBORDONNÉE COMPLÉTIVE – Complement clauses that are arguments of a predicate and begin with the conjunction que. In English, these are sometimes known as “nominal that-clauses”.

Ex: Je pensais que ce magasin restait ouvert toute la nuit.

3. LES SUBORDONNÉES CIRCONSTANCIELLES – Adverbial clauses that modify other clauses just like adverbs do.

a. DE CAUSE (cause)

Ex: Je suis triste parce que mon mec m’a quitté.

b. DE CONSÉQUENCE (consequence)

Ex: Il a tellement crié qu’il a mal à la gorge.

c. DE TEMPS (time)

Ex: Quand j’ai mal à la gorge, j’aime bien manger de la glace.

d. DE BUT (purpose)

Ex: Je ferai tout pour que tu m’aimes encore.

e. DE CONDITION (condition)

Ex: Tu peux venir avec moi à condition que tes parents le sachent.

f. D’OPPOSITION (opposition)

Ex: Bien qu’elles sont soeurs, elles ont des goûts très différents.

g. DE COMPARAISON (comparison)

Ex: Elle parle à sa mère comme si c’était sa copine.

4. LA SUBORDONNÉE INTERROGATIVE INDIRECTE – Interrogative clauses that function like nominal clauses and begin with interrogative words.

Ex: Ma mère m’a demandé si j’avais fait mes devoirs. 

Okay, that’s complex enough for now, right?

C’est déjà assez complexe pour aujourd’hui, n’est-ce pas?

Let’s Talk About Present Tense Verbs

Posted by Transparent Language 5 Comments
Oct 10 2008

Je travaille.

In French, this short sentence has several translations in English and we would need more context to decide exactly what is meant.  It could be translated as “I work” or “I’m working” and if we add more to the sentence without changing the verb structure in any way, it could take on even more meanings.  For example, Je travaille depuis plusieurs mois.  This same verb structure is now being used as an English present perfect verb, thus the translation is “I’ve worked for several months”.  With this in mind, let’s talk about le présent français.

There are different verb endings depending on the verb group.

Verbs in the First Group (the -ER verbs):

Stem + -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent

These verbs are regular as far as their conjugation, but some of them have spelling and phonetic changes.  Almost 90% of all French verbs fall under this category.

For example, TRAVAILLER

Je travaille Nous travaillons
Tu travailles Vous travaillez
Il / Elle / On travaille Ils / Elles travaillent

Verbs in the Second Group (the -IR verbs):

Stem + -s, -s, -t, -ons, -ez, -ent

These verbs are regular as far as their conjugation and you have to double the final -s before vowels for nous, vous, ils, elles.  There are only about 300 of these verbs in the French language.

For example, FINIR

Je finis Nous finissons
Tu finis Vous finissez
Il / Elle / On finit Ils / Elles finissent

Verbs in the Third Group (the -RE, -OIR and some -IR verbs):
Stem (often variable for same verb)      + -s, -s, -t / d, -ons, -ez, -ent
                                                      + -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent
                                                      + -x, -x, -t, -ons, -ez, -ent

This is the ‘all other verbs’ category.  These verbs are irregular as they can have many different stems as well as different endings.  However, you must learn (hence, memorize) them as they are often used in the French language and there are about 370 of them.

For example, FAIRE

Je fais Nous faisons
Tu fais Vous faites
Il / Elle / On fait Ils / Elles font

For example, BOIRE

Je bois Nous buvons
Tu bois Vous buvez
Il / Elle / On boit Ils / Elles boivent

For example, COMPRENDRE

Je comprends Nous comprenons
Tu comprends Vous comprenez
Il / Elle / On comprend Ils / Elles comprennent

For example, POUVOIR

Je peux / puis Nous pouvons
Tu peux Vous pouvez
Il / Elle / On peut Ils / Elles peuvent

For example, COUVRIR

Je couvre Nous couvrons
Tu couvres Vous couvrez
Il / Elle / On couvre Ils / Elles couvrent

 

Now that we’ve got the form down pat (right???), what about meaning?

Well, you can use the present simple to talk about an action that is in progress at the time of speaking (much like present progressive in English).  For example,

Mes enfants dorment (en ce moment).  This means that ‘my children are sleeping’ and I can add the ‘right now’ part or another time expression to better specify the context so as not to give the impression they sleep all the time, but it is not necessary.

The present simple can be used to talk about an event that began in the past (much like our present perfect).  For example,

J’habite à Paris depuis deux ans.  (I’ve lived in Paris for two years.)

Or you can use the present simple to talk about an event that will begin in the very, very near future much like we use the present progressive/continuous in English.  For example,

Cet été, nous allons aux États-Unis.  (This summer, we’re going to the United States.)

Just as in English, you can use the present simple to express repetitive actions.  For example,

Vous prenez le métro tous les jours.  (You take the metro every day.)

You also find the simple present used in factual texts to talk about the past in order to make events livelier (narrating present) or simply to state facts that continue to be true.  For example,

En 1928,  Fleming découvre le premier antibiotique.  (Fleming discovered the first antibiotic in 1928.)

The present simple is also used in French to express a general truth or a proverb.  For example,

L’eau bouille à 100º C.  (Water boils at 100º C.)
Au besoin on connaît l’ami. (A friend in need is a friend indeed.)

Finally, you can use the present simple when making a hypothesis or a conditional statement.  For example,

Si tu vas en France, tu apprendras sûrement le français. (If you go to France, you will surely learn French.)

If you want to make any of these present tense sentences negative, just place ne before the verb and pas after it.  Questions basically follow the same structure as the affirmative; you just add a question mark at the end and change your intonation.  For example,

Tu comprends l’espagnol?  Non, je ne comprends pas l’espagnol. (Do you understand Spanish?  No, I don’t understand Spanish.)

Since French verbs can be quite complicated with their different endings and groups and spelling and other irregularities, I recommend getting your hands on a copy of a good verb reference book listing all the verbs and their group numbers as well as other verb-significant grammatical information.

Bon week-end!

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