Chapitre 1 – Structures I Interaction Chapitre 1 – Structures I

Some basics…. French verbs change to reflect their subject. Regular verbs change according to a pattern that makes them easily manageable. -Er verbs are the most common verbs in the French language.

Making the verb agree… When making the verb agree with the subject, decide whether the subject is singular or plural and which “person” it is. First person – “I” or “we” Second person – “you” and “you” plural – “y’all” in the south! Third person – “he”, “she”, “it” or “they”

In French… Singular Plural je nous tu vous * il/elle ils/elles * “Vous” is also used to be polite whether talking to one person or more

-ER verbs - the pattern.. Take the infinitive: jouer Take off the “-er” ending jou Add endings according to the following pattern: je -e nous -ons tu -es vous -ez il/elle -e ils/elles -ent

For the verb “jouer” – je joue nous jouons tu joues vous jouez il/elle joue ils/ellesjouent In English – I play we play you play you play he/she plays they play

All regular –er verbs follow this pattern in the present tense All regular –er verbs follow this pattern in the present tense. You can conjugate a verb even if you do not know its meaning! The French have recently started using the verb “googler.”

Apply the pattern… googler – to google je _________ nous ___________ tu __________ vous ___________ il/elle ________ ils/elles __________

Note: In French, “je google” covers all of the following in English: I google I am googling I do google

To make the negative… In French, you put ne….. pas around the verb to negate: Je mange. = I eat Je ne mange pas. = I don’t eat/am not eating

“On” The pronoun “on” is used a lot in French, especially informal spoken French. It means “one” as in “you”, “people”, “we”. Verbs used with “on” have the same ending as verbs used with “il/elle” - il parle/ on parle

Some –er verbs with quirks… When conjugating some –er verbs, the stem changes slightly for pronunciation reasons. These verbs are called “stem-changing” verbs.

é to è préférer – to prefer * The first é is NOT affected!! The “nous” and “vous” forms are not affected – giving the “boot” shape. je préfère nous préférons tupréfères vouspréférez il préfère ils préfèrent

l to ll appeler – to call j’appelle nous appelons tu appelles vous appelez il appelle ils appellent

e to è acheter – to buy j’achète nous achetons tu achètes vous achetez il achète ils achètent

y to i payer – to pay je paie nous payons tu paies vous payez il paie ils paient

t - tt jeter – to throw je jette nous jetons tu jettes vous jetez il jette ils jettent

Other changes Some verbs change their stem but there is no “boot” shape. Only the “nous” form is affected” g to ge - manger nous mangeons c to ç - commencer nous commençons

À vous… Je ________ la balleàmon frère. (jeter) Nous ___________ de la glace. (manger) Jean-Paul _________ du pain. (acheter) Moi et ma mère __________. (payer) Vous ________ le vinblanc. (préférer) Marie et Philippe m’_________. (appeler)

The imperative To make the imperative (command form) of –er verbs, just use the verb with no subject: Vous jouez - Jouez! Play! Nous jouons - Jouons! Let’s play! BUT in –er verbs you must leave off the “s” for the “tu” form – Tu joues - Joue! Play!

Negative To give a negative command (Don’t do it!), put ne… pas around the verb: Mange ta soupe! Ne mange pas de gâteau!

Some irregular verbs… Some verbs – mostly very common verbs – do not follow a strict pattern and must be learned. To learn a verb: look at it, say it, copy it, try to reproduce it without looking. Review regularly! Learning present tense forms is an important base for future work because many tenses ( the imperfect, for example) are formed using the present tense as a base.

The four basic verbs… The first four irregular verbs studied are the basics to communication – être – to be avoir – to have aller – to go faire – to do, to make “Être ou ne pas être: telle est la question.” William Shakespeare

Être – to be 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 Imperative: sois, soyons, soyez

Avoir – to have j’ai (I have) nous avons(we have) tu as (you have) vous avez(you have) il a (he has) ils ont(they have) elle a (she has) elles ont(they have) on a Imperative: aie, ayons, ayez

Aller – to go je vais( I go) nous allons(we go) tu vas (you go) vous allez(you go) il va (he goes) ils vont(they go) elle va (she goes) elles vont(they go) on va Imperative: va, allons, allez Note: Vas-y! (Has “s” for pronunciation)

Faire – to do, to make je fais (I do) nous faisons (we do) tu fais (you do) vous faites (you do) il fait (he/it does) ils font (they do) elle fait (she/it does) elles font (they do) on fait Imperative: fais, faisons, faites

Aller and faire with Infinitives Aller + infinitif To be going to + infinitive Subject Aller Infinitive Predicate Je vais acheter du lait. I am going to buy some milk. Nous allons voir un film. We are going to see a film

Faire + Infinitive To have/get something done… Subject Faire Infinitive Predicate Je fais préparer le repas. (I am having the meal prepared.)