Page 24
Point de départ a noun designates a person, place, or thing. as in English, nouns in French have number (singular or plural). However, French nouns also have gender (masculine or feminine). masculine singular masculine plural feminine singular feminine plural un café a café des cafés (some) cafés des bibliothèques (some) libraries une bibliothèque a library
© 2015 by Vista Higher Learning, Inc. all rights reserved. Nouns that designate a male are usually masculine. Nouns that designate a female are usually feminine. Masculine un acteuran actor un amia (male) friend un chanteur a (male) singer un étudiant a (male) student un béliera ram Feminine une actricean actress une amiea (female) friend une chanteuse a (female) singer une étudiante a (female) student une brebisa ewe
© 2015 by Vista Higher Learning, Inc. all rights reserved. 1a.1-4 Some nouns can designate either a male or a female regardless of their grammatical gender.
Nouns for objects that have no natural gender can be either masculine or feminine. Masculine un bureauAn office; desk un lycéea high school un examena test; exam un objetan object un ordinateur a computer un problèmea problem feminine une chosea thing une guitarea guitar une chaisea chair une tablea table une blaguea joke une couleur a color
You can usually form the plural of a noun by adding -s, regardless of gender. However, in the case of words that end in -eau in the singular, add -x to the end to form the plural. For most nouns ending in -al, drop the -al and add -aux. singular typical masculine nounun objetan object typical feminine nounune télévisiona television noun ending in –eauun bureauan office; desk noun ending in –alun animalan animal plural des objetsobjects des télévisionstelevisions des bureauxoffices; desks des animauxanimals
1a.1-7 In English, the singular indefinite article is a/an, and the plural indefinite article is some. although some is often omitted in English, the plural indefinite article cannot be omitted in French.
Use c’est followed by a singular article and noun or ce sont followed by a plural article and noun to identify people and objects.
un, une ou des? 1. _____ bureau 2. _____ classe 3. _____ poster 4. _____ amis 5. _____ amies 6. _____ table 7. _____ ordinateur 8. _____ tableaux Essayez! Select the correct article for each noun. un
Page 25
Page 24 Write in complete sentences.
Page 26
Negating a French verb
* … requires TWO words * … one word BEFORE the verb * … one word AFTER the verb
* … the TWO words are * … ne (or n’) BEFORE the verb * … pas AFTER the verb
* When the verb starts with a vowel or h … * … ‘ne’ changes to n’…
* Je chante. chante = verbe
* Je nechante pas chante = verbe
* Nous avons des cahiers. avons = verbe
* Nous n’avonspas de cahiers.
* Mes amis ont des problèmes. ont = verbe
* Mes amis n’ontpas de problèmes.
Page 27