Definite Articles; -er verbs; irregular plurals le français I Chapitre 2 Grammaire 1

MASCULINE (beginning with a consonant) FEMININE (beginning with a consonant) MASCULINE or FEMININE (beginning with a vowel) SINGULAR le la l’ PLURAL les Nathalie aime bien l’école. Tu aimes le chocolat? Patrick adore les bandes dessinées. Elle aime la glace. In French there are four different words for “the”. You have to memorize the gender of the noun. Remember there aren’t any set rules, so memorize each word individually!

-er verbs PARLER JE parle NOUS parlons TU parles VOUS parlez IL ELLE parle ON ILS ELLES parlent There are three groups of verbs in French: verbs that end in -er, -ir, and –re. To form regular verbs that end in –er, drop the –er and add the appropriate ending that goes with each subject. Notice that you ONLY pronounce the s in nous, vous ils, and elles when the verb form begins with a vowel sound.

negative sentences When you want to make a verb negative in French, place ne before the conjugated (changed) verb and pas after it, use n’ before a verb that begins with a vowel. Je ne regarde pas la télé. Elle n’ aime pas les frites. Nous ne dessinons pas. Vous ne chantez pas.

Sentences with one or two verbs If the sentence has one verb, you must conjugate (change) it to agree with the subject. Tu aimes (aimer) la glace? Ils téléphonent (téléphoner) à des amis? Nous ne regardons(regarder) pas la télé. If the sentence contains two verbs, you must only conjugate the first! Elle aime lire.(aimer lire) Vous n’aimez pas dessiner?(aimer dessiner)

You already know that to form the plural of most nouns in French, you add-s to the end of the singular form. le magazine→ les magazines Remember, if the singular noun ends in –eau or –eu, add –x to form the plural. le tableau→ les tableaux If the singular noun ends in –al, replace -al with –aux le journal→ les journaux l’animal→ les animaux Irregular Plurals