French Grammar Essentials: Adjectives, Prepositions, and Tenses
Possessive Adjectives
Je (My/Mine): mon / ma / mon (Note: ‘month’ seems incorrect, likely meant ‘mes’ for plural)
Tu (Your/Yours, singular informal): ton / ta / tes
Il/Elle/On (His/Her/Its): son / sa / ses
Prepositions of Place
- Au-dessus de: above
- Au-dessous de: below
- Dans: into
- Derrière: behind
- Entre: between
- À côté de: next to
- À droite de: to the right of
- À gauche de: to the left of
- Au milieu: in the middle
- En face de: in front of
- À l’intérieur: inside
- Près de: near
- Loin de: far from
- Au fond de: at the bottom of
Adjectives (Gender Agreement)
Masculine = Feminine (No change)
- maigre (thin)
- sympathique (nice)
Masculine changes to Feminine (+e)
- petit / petite
- grand / grande
- blond / blonde
- brun / brune
- laid / laide
Irregular Gender Pairs
- beau / belle
- fou / folle
- gros / grosse
- bon / bonne
- sportif / sportive
- acteur / actrice
Common Questions and Equivalents
- Pourquoi? (Why?): parce que (because)
- Qu’est-ce que? (What?): (The translation ‘than’ seems incorrect; this is used for asking ‘what?’)
- Est-ce que? (Is it that?): Used to form questions (often translated as simply forming a question)
- Où? (Where?): where
- Quoi? (What?): (The translation ‘than’ seems incorrect)
- Quand? (When?): When
- Comment? (How?): how (The translation ‘as’ seems incorrect)
- Combien? (How much/many?): How much/many (The translation ‘As / s’ seems incorrect)
Verbs: Jouer DE / FAIRE DE / Jouer À
- Jouer de: to play an instrument (e.g., Je joue du piano)
- Faire: to do a sport (e.g., Je fais du football)
- Jouer à: to play something (usually a game) (e.g., Je joue au tennis)
Near Future Tense (Futur Proche)
Conjugation: aller + infinitive verb
Example: Je vais sortir dans la rue (I am going to go out into the street)
Conjugation of Aller
- Je vais
- Tu vas
- Il/Elle/On va
- Nous allons
- Vous allez
- Ils/Elles vont
The Partitive Article (Le Partitif)
The function of the partitive in French does not exist in Spanish. In function, it is used to express that you take one part of a whole (an unspecified quantity).
- Je mange du pain (I eat some bread)
- Je mange de la confiture (I eat some jam)
- Je bois de l’eau (I drink some water)
- Je mange des fruits (I eat some fruits)
Important: Verbs like aimer (love), détester (hate), and préférer (prefer) DO NOT take the partitive!
Country Prepositions
Use prepositions based on the gender and number of the country name:
- En: Used for feminine countries (ending in -e, singular).
- Au: Used for masculine singular countries (starting with a consonant).
- Au: Used for masculine singular countries starting with a vowel.
- Aux: Used for plural countries.
- À: Used for cities.
Negation Rules
These rules show how to negate specific question words or adverbs:
- Quelque chose? (Something) $\rightarrow$ Ne rien (nothing)
- Quelqu’un? (Someone) $\rightarrow$ Personne (no one/anyone)
- Encore (still) $\rightarrow$ Ne… plus (no longer)
- Quand? (When?) $\rightarrow$ Ne… jamais (never)
Tips: Impersonal Expression (Il faut)
- Imperative (Affirmative): Il faut + infinitive (It is necessary to…)
- Imperative (Negative): Il ne faut pas + infinitive (It is not necessary to…)
Example 1: Faites les devoirs $\rightarrow$ Il faut faire les devoirs (Do the homework $\rightarrow$ One must do the homework)
Example 2: Ne parle pas $\rightarrow$ Il ne faut pas parler (Don’t speak $\rightarrow$ One must not speak)
Passe Composé
Is formed with the auxiliary verbs AVOIR or ÊTRE, followed by the past participle of the main verb. If using ÊTRE, the past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject.
- Elle est arrivée (Feminine singular agreement)
- Vous êtes partis (Plural agreement)
- Elles sont sorties (Feminine plural agreement)
- On est descendus (If ‘on’ refers to a group of males/mixed group)
Verbs Requiring Prepositions (RIGUEN)
- Aller: $\rightarrow$ à (Where to?)
- Venir: $\rightarrow$ de (Where from?)
General Negation Structure
The basic structure for negating a verb is ne… pas. (Note: ‘ne pas de’ is incomplete; it should be ‘ne… pas de’ when negating a partitive or indefinite article).
Direct Object Pronouns (C. DIRECT)
- Affirmative: Je cherche un livre $\rightarrow$ Je le cherche (I am looking for it)
- Negative: J’écoute mes amis $\rightarrow$ Je ne les écoute pas (I am not listening to them)
- Imperative (Affirmative): J’écoute votre prof $\rightarrow$ Écoute-le (Listen to him!)
Auxiliary Verbs and Past Participles
ÊTRE (Used for verbs of motion/state change)
- Né: Naître (Born)
- Parti: Partir (Left)
- Monté: Monter (Gone up)
- Arrivé: Arriver (Arrived)
- Entré: Entrer (Entered)
- Sorti: Sortir (Gone out)
- Descendu: Descendre (Gone down)
- Tombé: Tomber (Fallen)
- Mort: Mourir (Died)
- Venu: Venir (Come)
- Resté: Rester (Stayed)
- Verbes pronominaux: (e.g., se laver, se promener)
AVOIR (Used for most other verbs)
Common Past Participles with AVOIR
- Avoir: eu
- Être: été
- Faire: fait
- Boire: bu
- Voir: vu
- Entendre: entendu
- Mettre: mis
- Prendre: pris
- Connaître: connu
- Lire: lu
- Dire: dit
- Recevoir: reçu (Summary seems incorrect)
- Ouvrir: ouvert
- Sortir: sorti (Note: Can use ÊTRE or AVOIR depending on context, but usually ÊTRE for motion)
- Finir: fini
- Descendre: descendu (Note: Can use ÊTRE or AVOIR depending on context, but usually ÊTRE for motion)
- Venir: venu (Note: Always uses ÊTRE)
- Pouvoir: pu
- Vouloir: voulu
- Devoir: dû
- Croire: cru (believe)
- Répondre: répondu
- Savoir: su (its/knowing seems incorrect)
- Vendre: vendu (knowing seems incorrect)
- Choisir: choisi (choose)
- Écrire: écrit
- Vivre: vécu (live)