Basic future tense

Hi guys. This post is all about how to form the future tense (the immediate future) to say that you are going to do something. It's not too tricky so don't worry!

If you want to say: I am going to... then you need a basic stem. You can add anything you want afterwards which just depends on how wide your vocab is. e.g. I am going to play; i am going to eat; or I am going to sing.

The main stem is whichever person you want (in this case it's Je = I) + the correct form of the verb aller = to go. (this is an irregular verb by the way, so won't follow the pattern mentioned in my previous post) Here's the verb for you:

Je vais
Tu vas
Il / Elle / On va

Nous allons
Vous allez
Ils / Elles vont

So, if i wanted to say: I am going to eat:

Je vais manger (with the verb to eat being manger)

Here are some other examples:

Il va chanter (He is going to sing)
Nous allons jouer (we are going to play)

P.S notice how the main verb to play, to sing, to eat is left in the infinitive. You don't need to change it to match the patterns in the older posts because here you're not saying I play, you're saying I am going to play. And Jouer means to play.   :-)

Regular -re verbs

Hi guys! You'll be pleased to know that this is pretty much the last main regular type of verb you need to know. We'll look at the example of attendre, which means to wait.

J'attends
Tu attends
Il / Elle / on attend_ (the underscore represents nothing there)

Nous attendons
Vous attendez
Ils / Elles attendent (silent -ent again. It's just attend, but pronounce the d.)

You take the stem, which is attendre minus the last 2 letters, so attend, and add the relevant ending. With the il / elle / on form, you don't actually add anything on the end. You just use the stem of attend. Here's another example. Vendre, which means to sell.

Je vends
Tu vends 
Il / Elle / on vend_

Nous vendons
Vous vendez
Ils / Elles vendent

Regular -ir verbs

Hi everyone :) Just like with the -er verbs, I'm going to show you the basic pattern for -ir verbs. We'll look at the example of finir, which means to finish.

Je finis
Tu finis
Il / Elle / on finit

Nous finissons
Vous finissez
Ils / Elles finissent (pronounced finisse. silent -ent)

Just as with -er verbs, you take the main bit of the verb (the stem), which is finir minus the last 2 letters (so fin) and add on the different endings depending on which person you're using.

Here's how it applies ot another regular -ir verb. Choisir, which means to choose.

Je choisis
Tu choisis
Il / Elle / on choisit

Nous choisissons
Vous choisissez
Ils / Elles choisissent  (again a silent -ent. pronounced choisisse)

The stem here is choisir minus the last 2 letters, so chois. You then add on the relevant endings. And that's all you have to do :)

Regular -er verbs

Most verbs tend to fall in 3 categories. Regular -er, regular -ir or regular -re. The regular bit means that the way you form the verb is very similar for most verbs in that category. This posts just for -e verbs like manger. Manger means to eat.

Je mange     (I eat)
Tu manges     (You eat)
Il mange        (He eats)
Elle mange   (She eats)
On mange     (one/we eat)

Nous mangeons  (we eat)
Vous mangez       (you eat [plural])
Ils mangent           (they eat)
Elles mangent      (they eat, where everyone is feminine)

The bits that have been highlighted represent the common endings. Whichever -er verb you have, you take the stem of the verb (in this case it's mang which is basically manger without the -er. For any verb, just take off the -er and you'll have your main bit). You then add the highlighted endings to the main bit depending on who is doing the action. Here's another regular -er verb, aimer = to like.

J'aime
Tu aimes
Il / Elle / On aime  (these have been grouped because they have the same ending)

Nous aimons
Vous aimez
Ils / elles aiment

See the similarities. The endings are the same (the ones in bold), they've just been added to the different main bit (or stem). Just like with manger, I've taken the -er off aimer to form the stem or main bit of the verb aim, which you then add the endings to.

Numbers

Here are the numbers in french from 1 to 20.

1 - un        
2 - deux   
3 - trois
4 - quatre  (said as catre)
5 - cinq
6 - six        (said as sees)
7 - sept     (silent p - set)
8 - huit
9 - neuf
10 - dix     (said as dees)

11 - onze
12 - douze
13 - treize
14 - quatorze  (said as catorze)
15 - quinze
16 - seize
17 - dix sept
18 - dix huit
19 - dix neuf
20 - vingt

Le, la and les

This is just a super quick post for all of those eager beavers out there about the difference between le, la and les.

Le is used with a masculine word. Like le chat or le fromage. (as I'm sure you all know, pretty much every french word has a gender. Most of them you just have to learn but there are a few tricks I know that can help you tell whether a word is masculine of feminine. These will be revealed in an upcoming post...) 


La is used with a feminine word. Like la table, or la piscine.

Les is used when something is plural, regardless of its gender. E.g. les tables, or les chats or les piscines.

All of them (le, la and les) mean 'the' or 'a'. (The cat, the tables, the cheese, the cats etc.)

Hope this answers some of the question I've been asked! :)

Basic sentences

If you've been following my posts and my blog and have reached this stage...then well done! Congratulations on getting past tjose icky verbs. Now that you have, you can pretty much start forming basic sentences. 

The great thing about french is that a lot of words (for places or objects) are pretty similar to the words used in english. For example (par exemple) , cinema in french is cinéma. Pretty much the same. It's just said with a french accent :) (avec un accent français.) Your first sentence:


I have a cat  =  J'ai un chat

The 'I' bit of the sentence is shown by Je or in this case J', and the have bit is 'ai. A cat is shown by un chat. See how we've used the 'I' bit of avoir (see previous posts for help with this verb) along with the word for cat. This is your first simple sentence! Second sentence:


I am very small  =  Je suis très petit(e)

Here we've used the verb être. With the word petit(e), you add the extra e on the end depending on whether you're feminine or masculine. If you're a guy, then you leave the e off. If you're a girl, then you add the e on. This rule pretty much applies to most things. Anytime you're describing something, if it's feminine add the e, if it's masculine take off the e. 

The bit about the 'e' is more advanced stuf and to be honest, if you don't get it right all the time, it doesn't matter too much. Everyone will still understand what you mean. I've just included it because of a special request from someone...so hopefully this helps you.

I've purposely created this post about basic sentences now (at this eary stage) just so you can see how sentences are formed and how easy it really is. You have your verb like avoir and then you just add on whatever you're talking about (or the object). The 2 examples given are simple ones so you can see how the sentence is made up. In the next couple of posts i'll focus more on vocab so that you have the words to create the sentences. 

You can use the words that i'll give you along with the verbs that you've already learned to practice basic sentences yourself at home. 

I hope this has helped you guys. Keep watching this space for regular updates! :)

Another basic verb

être means to be

This is used when you want to say 'I am' or 'you are' etc. Here's the verb table:

Je suis         (I am)                                Nous sommes     (We are)
Tu es           (You are)                           Vous êtes            (You are)
Il est             (He is)                                Ils sont                 (They are)
Elle est        (She is)                              Elles sont            (They are)
On est         (We are/one is)


As with avoir, similar rules apply. Tu es is used for speaking to friends or to just one person and the vous part is used when talking to lots of people or someone older than you that you maybe don't know. Ils sont is used if you're talking about a group of people when at least one of them is a guy and elles sont is used when you're talking about a group of people where evryone is feminine.

Basic verbs

I have to admit, verbs are just...yuck. They can be a pain in the bum to learn. The good news is that once you've learned the general pattern of one, the rest don't really seem as hard. It's just getting the hang of it that's a bit tricky.

The first main verb the french use is avoir which means to have.Here's the verb table:

J'ai        I have                                              Nous avons   We have 
Tu as    You have (friend / one person)       Vous avez     You have ( Many people)
Il a         He has                                            Ils ont           They have (masculine)
Elle a    She has                                           Elles ont       They have (feminine)
On a      One has / they have

A couple of things to mention. Tu as is used when you're speaking to a friend or someone you know fairly well or just one person. It's more informal. Vous avez is used if you're talking to a group of people (like a class) or if you're talking to someone older than you (Vous is a sign of respect). On a can be used more informally to mean we so you don't have ot use the nous avons bit. Ils ont is used when talking about a group of people where at least one of them is masculine. If every single one of them is feminine, then you can use Elles ont.

Whew! Told you it was a bit tricky. This is one of the main verbs used though so once you get the hang of it, you can start putting together simple phrases. It is also, i will admit, one of the slightly harder ones to learn. A lot of the others do just follow a normal pattern. I gave you this one first though because of how common and useful it is. It doesn't take that long to learn. 

To help you along, I'll include some links on the blog to other sites that have french (verb) games and tutorials on so that you can practice. Some of them should have a sound facility as well so you can hear what each french word should sound like. 

Have fun with verbs and keep watching this space for regular updates! :)

P.S please feel free to leave me any comments about how you're finding these mini tutorials and if there's anything in particular you would like me to cover. Thank you!

Basic french greetings

Bonjour! Salut! 

So you've decided to take on the challenge that is the french language...well you've definitely come to the right place! I'm still learning and perfecting it at the moment but I do know the basics. A couple of my friends have been nagging me to teach them bits here and there so I've decided to set up a blog to (hopefully) help them and anyone else who's interested.

This 1st post will be about the main greetings used and I'll cover verbs, genders, common phrases etc in upcoming posts. J'espère que vous les aimez bien (I hope you like them)!

Main phrases used (pronunciation tips are in brackets) :

Bonjour - Hello or good day (bon - jure)

Salut - Hi. This tends to be used between friends or people you know. Otherwise just stick to bonjour. (Sa - loo)

Bonsoir - Good evening (Bon - swa)

Au revoir - Bye (say it how you see it...sorry...can't really help much with this one)

Allo - Hello. Surprisingly a lot of french people actually say this instead of bonjour. it's just like hello...but with a french accent!

Ça va? - How are you? This is a key 1st phrase in most conversations. Again, pretty much say it how you see it.


Bien merci - Good thank you. 


Mal - Bad (If you're having a particularly offish kind of day.)


This is just one of many posts to come which literally covers the basics. I'll cover some more interesting stuff in the next posts! :)