Lesson 3: Basics of French Grammar

In the lesson 3 we will learn some basics of French grammar and it is now time to introduce French dialogues.

First part: Basic grammar 1: article and noun
In French, all words have gender: masculine or feminine gender
Un garçon. (a boy)
Une fille. (a girl)
The French articles agree with the noun in gender and number: masculine or feminine and plural forms.

There are 3 kinds of articles in French:
1.Definite articles
2.Indefinite articles
3.Partitive articles

1. Definite articles
Here is a simple tab to explain the definite articles
English – anglais
French – français

The
Le garçon (masc.) the boy

La fille (fem.) the girl

Les enfants (pl.) the children

As we saw, French makes a distinction between masculine and feminine gender. So in French, you have to use le for masculine persons or things and la for feminine persons or things.
Warning before a voyel you have to use l’ instead of “le” or “la”
In the plural, only les is used for both of masculine and feminine forms.

2. Indefinite articles
Here is a simple tab to explain the indefinite articles
English – anglais
French – français
a
Un garçon (masc.) a boy

Une fille (fem.) a girl

some

Des enfants (pl.) some children

Un is used for masculine persons or things and Une is used for feminine persons or things.
In the plural, only des is used for both of masculine and feminine forms.

3. Partitive articles
The partitive articles in French correspond to “some” or “any” in English. There are 4 forms of the French partitive article:
1.du masculine singular
2.de la feminine singular
3.de l’ masc. or fem. in front of a vowel or h muet
4.des masc. or fem. Plural

The partitive indicates that the quantity is unknown or uncountable. When the quantity is known/countable, use the indefinite article (or a number):
Le garçon mange du gâteau. The boy is eating some cake
La fille mange un gâteau. The girl is eating a cake

Second part: Introducing dialogues: Family

Vocabulary about family:
Père/papa Father/dad /daddy
Mère/maman Mother/Mum/mummy
Frère Brother
Sœur Sister
Oncle Uncle
Tante Aunt
Neveu nephew
Nièce Niece
Grand père/papy Grandfather/ granddaddy
Grand-mère/mamy Grandmother/ granny
Petit fils Grandson
Petite fille Granddaughter

Dialogue about family
Deux homes sont assis dans un train. Le voyage est long. L’un des deux commence une conversation :
Two men are sitting in a train. The journey is long. One of them begins a conversation:
Pierre : Bonjour, je m’appelle Pierre et vous ? (good morning, my name is Pierre, and you what’s your name ?)
Jean ¨Paul : Je m’appelle Jean Paul. (my name is Jean Paul)
Pierre : Ravi de vous rencontrer. (nice to meet you)
Jean Paul : Avez-vous des enfants ? (have you got children ?)
Pierre : Oui, j’ai trois enfants. Deux garçons et une fille. Et vous ? (yes, i have three children. Two boys and a girl. And you, have you got children ?)
Jean ¨Paul : J’ai aussi des enfants. Un garçon et une fille. Ils sont grands et j’ai cinq petits enfants : 3 petites filles et deux petits fils. (I have also some chidren. A boy and a girl. They are old and i have five grandchildren: three granddaughters and two grandsons.)
Pierre : Vous avez une grande famille. J’ai beaucoup de frères et sœurs. J’ai trois frères et trois sœurs. Ils ont tous des enfants. J’ai donc beaucoup de neveux et de nièces. (you have a big family. I have lots of brothers and sisters. I have three brothers and three sisters. They all have children. So I have a lot of nephews and nieces)
Jean Paul : j’aime les grandes familles. Le train entre en gare. Merci pour cette conversation. Au revoir Pierre. (I like the big families. The train is coming in the station. Thank you for this conversation. Good Bye Pierre)
Pierre : Au revoir.(Good Bye)

2 thoughts on “Lesson 3: Basics of French Grammar”

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