Madame ou mademoiselle?

TIME article I mentioned here.

Tes yeux se moquent - Louise Attaque

se moquer = to mock, to tease

How to recognize nasal vowels

If a vowel is followed by an N or an M at the end of the word (ex. pain, faim)…

or

If a vowel is followed by an N or an M and another consonant that is NOT an N or an M (ex. vingt, sont, ont)…

…then it is a nasal vowel.

Which of these are nasal vowels?

bain blâme rien madame bien femme

piano vont en quinze bonjour prenne


(hint: there are 7)

When pronouncing nasal vowels, the air should be forced through the nose, not the mouth, which causes the nasal sound, and the consonants after the nasal vowel are NOT pronounced.

Pronunciation Tips

We talked tonight about how "ill" is pronounced like a "y" sound in French. Fille, famille, brilliant, travailler, maquiller, réveiller and gentille are all "y" pronunciations. The three exceptions to this rule are "Mille villes tranquilles" or "A thousand tranquil cities" who all have an "l" sound instead.

We also talked about how final consonant sounds are released at the end of a word. In English we can say "train" or "tram" or "cat" or other words that end in a consonant and we can leave our mouth in exactly the same position; with final "m"s like "tram", we don't even have to open our mouth at the end of the word. In French, however, you have to release the consonant sound at the end. After making the final sound, return your mouth to normal; there is usually a slight "e" sound that you'll hear as a result. This can lead people to think that we're pronouncing final "e"s in words like aime or faites or mange but it's actually the consonant being pronounced à la française- that is, with a clear beginning and end.

Irregular Verbs and Négation

This is the powerpoint from last week that never got posted.... until now...

Irregular Verbs and Negation 2011

Passé Composé and Négation powerpoint

We didn't get to all of these activities, so we'll revisit the poème and the nécrologies next week.


Pass� Compos� and N�gation Powerpoint

Sympathique by Pink Martini & Non à la violence by Annie-Flore Batchiellilys

Here's a link to the song played at the beginning of class that introduced basic vocabulary and regular -er verbs.

Sympathique - Pink Martini

Here is the song by the Gabonese singer Annie-Flore Batchiellilys that played at the beginning of class. It's called "Non à la violence".

Some Regular -ir and -re Verbs

The same sort of math applies to -ir and -re verbs, but their endings are different.

Subject endings for regular -ir verbs:

je -is
tu -is
il/elle/on -it
nous -issons
vous -issez
ils/elles -issent

So choisir conjugated for nous looks like this:

choisir - ir = chois + issons = choisissons

Nous choisissons.

Subject endings for regular -re verbs:

je -e
tu -es
il/elle/on ---
nous -ons
vous -ez
ils/elles -ent

Notice that there is no addition for the 3rd person singular form.

So rendre conjugated for il looks like this:

rendre - re = rend + --- = rend

Il rend.


Here are some regular verbs that you can use to practice:


Regular -ir and -re verbs -

Some Regular -er Verbs

Conjugation in French is a lot like basic math. We start with the infinitive, subtract the ending and then add new endings according to the subject.

Subject endings for regular -er verbs:

je -e
tu -es
il/elle/on -e
nous -ons
vous -ez
ils/elles -ent

So parler conjugated for tu looks like this:

parler - er = parl + es = parles

Tu parles.

Here are some regular -er verbs that you can use to practice conjugations.


Regular -er Verbs -

How to form questions

One way not mentioned on the handout below but talked about in class was the question tag, "n'est-ce pas?" which you can use at the end of a sentence to turn it into a question. The assumption is that the person you're talking to will agree with you, so use this for yes or no questions for which you expect a "yes" answer. The question ends up looking like an intonation formation.

Ex. Il est malade. Il est malade, n'est-ce pas? Oui, il est malade.

Some other questions you can practice asking in different forms:

1. What is your name?
2. How are you doing?
3. Where do you work?
4. With whom do you speak French?
5. What time is French class?
6. What do you do on weekends?
7. When do you eat dinner?
8. What do you eat for breakfast?
9. Do you like coffee?
10. How many brothers and sisters do you have?



How To Form Questions -

Beginning French 2 syllabus

Beginning French 2 Syllabus -

L'effet Papillon

Online Resources: Dictionary and Grammar Guide

Wordreference.com is an excellent online dictionary with a forum for more complicated questions.

Tex's French Grammar is a great resource for English explanations of French grammar points as well as for self-correcting online exercises.

Bienvenue à Beginning French 2!

Welcome to Beginning French 2! On this blog I will link to videos, resources, and other online things of interest for our class. If there's something in particular you would like to see, just let me know!

Martha