Mr Kidman's Classroom
Revise the key ideas
Nouns and articles
- Gender and number — Learn a noun with its article: le livre is masculine, la maison feminine. Gender is grammatical; it does not describe the object as male or female. Before a vowel or silent h, le/la becomes l': l'école. The plural definite article is les for both genders.
- Person nouns — Common feminine patterns include ami/amie, élève/élève, vendeur/vendeuse, acteur/actrice and citoyen/citoyenne. The pattern depends on the word; do not turn every -eur into -euse. Learn irregular pairs and accepted forms from the prescribed list.
- Plural nouns — Most nouns add -s: livre/livres. Many masculine -(e)au and -eu nouns add -x: châteaux, jeux. Nouns already ending -s or -x do not change: pays, prix. Irregular forms such as œil/yeux need separate learning; hear number from articles as endings may be silent.
- Article choices — Un/une means a/an; des means some plural items. Le/la/les can express a general liking: j'aime les pommes. French keeps an article in la santé est importante and le lundi for Mondays. Do not delete it simply because English has no the.
- Partitives and quantity — Du/de la/de l'/des can describe amounts: du pain, de la musique, de l'eau. Faire du sport and jouer du piano use de with the definite article. After a quantity use de/d': beaucoup de pain. After a negative normally use de: je n'ai pas de vélo; c'est un vélo retains the article after être.
- Adjectives used as nouns — Le seul can mean the only one; l'anglais names the language from an adjective without changing its form. Une Anglaise names an English woman and takes a capital as a nationality noun. An infinitive can also be a noun: lire est utile, reading is useful.
Determiners and description
- Possessives — Mon/ma/mes, ton/ta/tes and son/sa/ses agree with the thing possessed. Notre/nos, votre/vos and leur/leurs distinguish one or several possessions. Mon amie uses mon before a feminine vowel-initial noun. Sa mère may mean his mother or her mother: use context.
- Pointing and asking — Ce garçon, cet ami, cette fille and ces livres show demonstratives. Cet replaces ce before a masculine vowel/silent h; cette is feminine. Quel/quelle/quels/quelles agrees in questions: Quelle heure est-il ? Quels livres préfères-tu ?
Ce/cet/cette mean this; ces means these. Quel and its agreeing forms ask which or what: Quelle heure est-il ? means What time is it? Quels livres préfères-tu ? means Which books do you prefer?
- Indefinite determiners — Chaque élève means each pupil and takes a singular noun/verb. Plusieurs élèves means several pupils. Même/mêmes, autre/autres, tout/toute/tous/toutes and quelque/quelques agree where required: toutes les filles, tous les garçons. Do not assume tous always takes a singular verb.
- Feminine adjectives — Regular adjectives add -e: grand/grande. Mute -e stays unchanged: calme. Patterns include heureux/heureuse, naturel/naturelle, ancien/ancienne, sportif/sportive and léger/légère. Learn irregular forms such as bon/bonne and nouveau/nouvelle rather than guessing.
- Plural and position — Adjectives normally add -s in the plural; masculine -s/-x stays unchanged. Masculine -al often becomes -aux: national/nationaux. Beau/nouveau give beaux/nouveaux. Most adjectives follow the noun, but a defined group precedes it: une petite maison, un beau jardin. Learn positions with the word.
- Comparing descriptions — Plus grand que, moins grand que and aussi grand que mean taller, less tall and as tall as. Meilleur/meilleure/meilleurs/meilleures means better as an adjective: une meilleure idée. Pire means worse. Plus de and moins de compare quantities: plus de temps, more time.
Pronouns and links
- Subjects and emphasis — Je/tu/il/elle/on/nous/vous/ils/elles normally precede the verb; on takes a singular verb. Vous can be formal singular or plural. After a preposition use moi/toi at Foundation: avec moi, pour toi, not avec je. Higher adds lui/elle/nous/vous/eux/elles.
- Direct objects — Je vois Paul → je le vois; je vois Léa → je la vois. Me/te/vous can also be singular direct objects. Before a vowel, le/la becomes l': je l'aime. Place the pronoun before the conjugated verb; before an infinitive it belongs to: je vais le voir.
In je vois Paul → je le vois, the meaning changes from I see Paul to I see him. Paul is the direct object: the person being seen. Le replaces Paul.
- Indirect and reflexive objects — Je parle à Léa → je lui parle; lui means to him or to her. Je me lave and elle se lave are reflexive. Me/te/se contract before a vowel or silent h: je m'habille. Foundation does not require stacking direct and indirect object pronouns.
Je parle à Léa means I speak to Léa; je lui parle means I speak to her. Because the verb uses à for the person spoken to, lui replaces that indirect object.
- Relative subject qui — J'ai un ami qui habite à Lyon means I have a friend who lives in Lyon. Qui replaces the subject of habite, so the verb agrees with ami. Mes amis qui habitent… requires plural habitent. Do not insert another il after qui.
- Adverbs — Souvent (often), ici (here), demain (tomorrow) and rapidement (quickly) express frequency, place, time and manner. Je travaille bien describes how I work; un bon travail describes a noun. Many short adverbs follow the conjugated verb; exact position depends on the expression. Mieux is better for an action: je chante mieux.
Prepositions and reading morphology
- Contractions and possession — À + le = au, à + les = aux; de + le = du, de + les = des. À la/de la and à l'/de l' remain separate. Le sac de Léa means Léa's bag; French uses de rather than an English possessive apostrophe-s.
- Verb and place links — Some verbs require a preposition before another verb or noun: finir de travailler, dépendre de quelqu'un, arriver à comprendre. Learn the combination because a preposition may change meaning. Use à Paris/en France/au Canada/aux États-Unis for common place patterns.
- Purpose and absence — Pour apprendre means in order to learn; sans parler means without speaking. Pour and sans take an infinitive. Do not automatically translate English speaking as parlant here. Les élèves travaillent pour réussir links the work to its purpose.
- Reading word families — At Foundation, recognise ordinal -ième (deuxième; quatrième drops final e), negative in-/im- where the meaning permits it, adjective -able/-eable, noun -ion/-ation and adverb -ment. Possible/impossible, préparer/préparation and rapide/rapidement illustrate patterns. Do not assume every invented derivative exists.
- Adverb formation in reading — Many -ment adverbs use the feminine adjective: lent/lente → lentement. Adjectives in -ant/-ent often give -amment/-emment: courant → couramment, patient → patiemment. These derivations are receptive Reading requirements: recognise and understand the derived words when reading. If a derived form is required in speaking, writing or listening, it must be included in the prescribed vocabulary list.
- Worked translation — Translate My friends have a small house as Mes amis ont une petite maison. Choose plural mes and ont for friends, then feminine une/petite for maison. Check determiner, noun number, verb subject and adjective position separately; agreement with amis does not make petite plural.
