French

External Resources
https://www.reddit.com/r/duolingo/wiki/index#wiki_french

Genders
French has two grammatical genders:  masculine  and  feminine. All nouns have a gender that you must memorize. Sometimes, the gender can be obvious:  une femme  ("a woman") is feminine. Other times, it's not obvious:  une pomme  ("an apple") is also feminine.

Personal Subject Pronouns
In every complete sentence, the  subject  is the person or thing that performs an action or is being described. This is often a noun, but a  personal subject pronoun  (e.g. "I", "you", or "he") can replace that noun. In both English and French, pronouns have different forms based on what they replace.

Subject-Verb Agreement
Notice above that the verb  manger  (as well as its English equivalent, "to eat") changes form to agree grammatically with the subject. These forms are called  conjugations  of that verb. Whenever you want to learn a verb's conjugation, hover your mouse over that word and press the "C" button.

Here are some conjugations for verbs you'll encounter in this unit:

Articles
Articles  (e.g. "the" or "a") provide context for a noun. In English, articles may be omitted, but French nouns almost always have an article. French has three types of articles: Articles have multiple forms, as provided in this table: It is critical to understand that articles must agree with their nouns in both gender and number. For instance,  le femme  is incorrect. It must be  la femme  because  la  is feminine and singular, just like  femme.
 * Definite articles  ("the") are used with specific nouns that are known to the speakers, as in English, but also to indicate the general sense of a noun, unlike in English.
 * Indefinite articles  ("a"/"an"/"one") are used for countable nouns that are unspecified or unknown to the speakers.
 * Partitive articles  ("some"/"any") indicate a quantity of something uncountable.

Elisions
Le  and  la  become just  l'  if they're followed by a vowel sound. This is an example of  elision, which is the removal of a vowel sound in order to prevent consecutive vowel sounds and make pronunciation easier. Elisions are mandatory—for instance,  je aime  is incorrect. It must be  j'aime.

These other one-syllable words can also elide:  je ,  me ,  te ,  se ,  de ,  ne, and  que. Tu  can also be elided in casual speech, but not in writing (including on Duolingo).

Contractions
In a  contraction, two words combine to form one shortened word. For instance, the partitive article  du  is a contraction of the preposition  de  with  le. However, since  du  can create vowel conflicts, when it would appear in front of a vowel sound, it takes the elided  de l'  form instead. This is also the case for  de la.
 * du pain  — (some) bread
 * de l'ananas  [masc.] — (some) pineapple
 * de l'eau  [fem.] — (some) water

Words Beginning with H
The letter H is always mute (silent) in French, but when H starts a word, it can act as a consonant (aspirate) or vowel (non-aspirate). For example, the H in  homme  acts as a vowel. This means that "the man" must be written as  l'homme.

Conversely, an aspirate H doesn't participate in elisions or liaisons (which you'll learn about soon). It's usually found at the beginning of loanwords from German or other languages. For instance, "the hero" is  le héros. Pay attention to this when learning new vocabulary.

Plurals
Many French words have plural forms. Plural nouns and adjectives often end in  -s, though the S is usually silent. There are also plural forms for pronouns and verb conjugations. Consider  parler  ("to speak"):
 * homme  ("man") ⇒  hommes  ("men")
 * femme  ("woman") ⇒  femmes  ("women")
 * chat noir  ("black cat") ⇒  chats noirs  ("black cats")

Tu  or  Vous ?
French has two words for the subject pronoun "you":  tu  and  vous. For a singular "you",  tu should only be used for friends, peers, relatives, children, or anyone else who's very familiar to you. In all other cases and also for plurals, the more polite  vous  should be used to show respect. When in doubt, use  vous.

Agreement
Pronouns, adjectives, and articles must agree with their nouns in both gender and number. Consider the examples below and note how the article and adjective change to agree with each noun. Not all adjectives change forms. For instance,  riche  is the same for both masculine and feminine singular nouns.
 * Masculine singular:  Le chat noir  — The black cat
 * Masculine plural:  Les chats noirs  — The black cats
 * Feminine singular:  La robe noire  — The black dress
 * Feminine plural:  Les robes noires  — The black dresses

Continuous Tenses
English has two present tenses:  simple  ("I write") and  continuous  ("I am writing"), but French has no specialized continuous verb tenses. This means that "I write", "I am writing", and "I do write" can translate to  j'écris  (not  je suis écris ) and vice versa.

However, the idiomatic phrase  « être en train de »  is often used to indicate that someone is in the process of doing something. When translating, remember that English stative verbs have no continuous forms. For instance,  « j'aime un garçon »  cannot be translated as "I am loving a boy".
 * Je suis en train de manger.  — I am [in the process of] eating.

Ah,  L'Amour
Love is tricky in France. For people and pets,  aimer  means "to love", but if you add an adverb, like in  aimer bien, it means "to like". For everything else,  aimer  only means "to like". Adorer  can always mean "to love", though it tends to be more coy than  aimer.

Bonjour!
Bonjour  is a universal greeting that can be spoken to anyone at any time. In France, greeting people is very important, and some will even say  bonjour  aloud when entering a public room or bus. Bon après-midi  is often used as a farewell in the afternoon, while  bonsoir  is an evening greeting.
 * Greetings:  bonjour ,  bonsoir  (plus  bon matin  in Québec only)
 * Farewells:  bonne journée ,  bon après-midi ,  bonne soirée ,  bonne nuit

Idioms
Many words or phrases cannot be translated literally between English and French because their usages are idiomatic. For instance, consider  « Ça va ? », which means "How are you?" The literal translation of the French is "That goes?", but this is nonsensical in English. It is very important to identify idioms in both languages and learn how to translate them properly.

Liaisons
In a  liaison, an otherwise silent ending consonant is pushed to the next word, where it's pronounced as part of the first syllable. Like elisions, this prevents consecutive vowel sounds. Liaisons are possible whenever a silent ending consonant is followed by a word beginning in a vowel sound, but some liaisons are mandatory and others are forbidden.

Here are some mandatory liaisons, along with approximate pronunciations: Liaisons are forbidden: Note that some consonants take on a different sound in liaisons to reduce ambiguity. There are no ironclad liaison rules, especially across regions. Casual speech tends to have fewer than formal speech. Also, when speaking slowly, liaisons are often omitted. This is why liaisons disappear in the slow versions of listening exercises. Be careful of this.
 * Articles and adjectives with nouns. For example,  un homme  ("uh-nohm"),  mon orange  ("mohn-norahnge"), or  deux hommes  ("duh-zohm").
 * Pronouns and verbs. For example,  nous allons  ("noo-zalohn") or  est-il  ("ay-teel").
 * Single-syllable adverbs and prepositions. For instance,  très utile  ("tray-zuteel") or  chez elle  ("shay-zell").
 * Before and after  et  ("and").
 * After singular nouns (including proper nouns and names).
 * After inversions (which you'll learn in "Questions").
 * Before an aspirated H (e.g.  héros  - "hero").
 * After a nasal sound, except that  un ,  on, and  en  do liaise.

Enchaînement
In  enchaînements, ending consonant sounds are pushed onto the next word if it begins in a vowel. This is essentially the same as a liaison, except that the consonant sound wasn't silent beforehand. For instance:
 * elle est  is pronounced like "eh-lay".
 * mange une pomme  is pronounced like "mahn-jun-pom".

The Impersonal Expression  Il Y A
Impersonal expressions  are phrases where there isn't a real subject. For instance, in the phrase "It is snowing" ( Il neige ), "it" doesn't refer to anything. It's a dummy subject that exists just to maintain the sentence structure.

One of the most common impersonal expressions is  il y a, which is an idiom for "there is" or "there are". You will learn more about impersonal expressions in "V. Pres 1".
 * Il y a une fille ici.  — There is a girl here.
 * Il y a un serpent dans ma botte !  — There's a snake in my boot!

The Partitive Article
The partitive article is used for unspecified amounts of uncountable nouns. In English, it can translate to "some", but it's often just omitted. Remember that  du  is a contraction of  de + le  and that partitives can elide. Nouns almost never appear without articles in French, so articles must be repeated in serial lists.
 * Il cuisine du poisson et de la viande  — He cooks fish and meat.

Count Noun, Mass Noun, or Both?
Count nouns  are discrete and can be counted, like  un livre  ("a book"). They can be modified by definite and indefinite articles, but not partitive articles. Mass nouns  like  lait  ("milk") are uncountable, and they can be modified by definite and partitive articles, but not indefinite articles. However, many nouns can behave as both count nouns and mass nouns. This is true for most edible things. For instance, consider  poisson  ("fish") or  vin  ("wine"): Note that some mass nouns can be pluralized in English when they refer to multiple types of the noun, but this usage isn't found in French. For instance, "the fishes" refers to multiple  species  of fish, while  les poissons  just refers to multiple fish.
 * Je lis un livre.  — I am reading a book.
 * Nous avons les livres.  — We have the books.
 * Je bois du lait.  — I am drinking [some] milk.
 * Je bois le lait.  — I am drinking the milk.
 * Count noun:  Le poisson est rouge.  — The fish is red.
 * Mass noun:  Je mange du poisson.  — I eat [some] fish.
 * Count noun:  Le vin est blanc.  — The wine is white.
 * Mass noun:  Je bois du vin rouge ou blanc.  — I drink red or white wine.

Omitted Articles
When an article is missing in an English sentence, it must be added to the French translation. The definite article can be used to fill this void in three situations: If any of the above is true, then use the definite article. Otherwise, use the indefinite or partitive, depending on whether or not the noun is countable. Both articles are missing in the English version of this example. Aimer  expresses fondness for wine, so  le vin  should be used there. However,  boire  is not a verb of appreciation, so the partitive  du  should be used on the uncountable  lait. This is a general truth about cats, but #2 above can only apply to subjects, so only  chats takes a definite article here. Animaux  are countable, so use the plural indefinite  des. This is a tricky example because the meat is the direct object of  manger, not  aimer. Thus, #3 does not apply and  viande  cannot take a definite article.
 * 1) Almost anywhere one would use "the" in English (i.e. when referring to specific things).
 * 2) Before the  subject  of a sentence to state general truths about it.
 * 3) Before the  direct object  of a verb of appreciation (like  aimer ) to express like/dislike.
 * I like wine, but I am drinking milk. —  J'aime  le  vin, mais je bois  du  lait.
 * Cats are animals. —  Les   chats sont  des  animaux.
 * He likes to eat meat. —  Il aime manger  de la  viande.

Also, the French definite article can be ambiguous when translating from French to English. It can often refer to both a specific noun and the general sense of a noun.
 * Les chats sont des animaux.  — Cats are animals. /  The  cats are animals.

De  + Definite Article
De  plus a definite article can also have other meanings. De  means "of" or "from", so this can also indicate possession or association with a definite noun.
 * La copie  du  livre.  — The copy  of the  book.
 * Les copies  des  livres.  — The copies  of the  books.
 * L'enfant  de la  femme.  — The woman 's  child.

Noun Genders
One of the most difficult aspects of learning French is memorizing noun genders. However, by spending some time now memorizing the following patterns, you may be able to guess most nouns' genders and save yourself a lot of trouble in the future.

Some nouns, like  l'élève  ("the student"), have the same spelling and meaning in both forms. Other nouns have the same spelling, but have different meanings. Un tour  is a tour, while  une tour  is a tower. There are also nouns that only have one possible gender. Even a baby girl is  un bébé, for instance. Many masculine nouns can be changed to a feminine form simply by adding an  -e  to the end. Your male friend is  un ami  and your female friend is  une amie.

Some genders depend on a noun's classification. For instance, languages, days of the week, months, seasons, metals, colors, and measurements are mostly masculine.

Otherwise, memorizing word endings is the best way to guess genders. We'll learn these ending patterns in four steps:

First:  Nouns ending in  -e  tend to be feminine. All others, especially nouns ending in consonants, tend to be masculine. This is true for over 70% of all nouns.

Second:  Nouns that have the endings  -ion  and  -son  tend to be feminine, even though they end in consonants.

Third:  Some nouns ending in  -e  are usually masculine, especially nouns with the following endings: Fourth:  Watch out for these complications: That's it! Memorize these, and you'll be able to guess most noun genders.
 * -tre ,  -ble ,  -cle  (think "treble clef")
 * -one ,  -ème ,  -ège  (think "OMG")
 * -age ,  -isme
 * -é  is masculine, but  -té  is feminine.
 * le résumé  (masc) — the resumé
 * la liberté  (fem) — the liberty
 * -de  is masculine, but  -ade ,  -nde, and  -ude  are feminine.
 * le guide  — the guide
 * la parade  — the parade
 * -ste  and  -me  tend to be masculine, but there are dozens of exceptions. Words for people ending in  -ste  are often gender-neutral, e.g.  le/la cycliste.
 * -eur  is masculine for most professions or technical terms, but it's feminine for some emotions and abstract things.
 * le chauffeur  — the driver
 * la peur  — the fear

Feminine Animals
In French, female animal nouns are generally formed as follows by taking the last consonant, doubling it, and adding a mute  -e  to the end. Of course, there are many exceptions. For example:
 * un cha t  ⇒ une cha tte
 * un chie n  ⇒ une chie nne
 * un ours  ⇒  une ourse  (not  une oursse )
 * un cheval  ⇒  une jument  (not  une chevalle )

Tu
Tu  is not pronounced like the English "too". The French [u] (or German [ü]) is a sound that isn't found in English. A tip to learn this sound is to shape your mouth like you're about to say the "oo" (in "too"), but say "ee" (in "tee") instead. Practice this until it feels natural.

ENDINGS
French word endings tend to be particularly difficult for beginners, largely because ending consonants are usually silent, but they do affect preceding vowel sounds. The consonants C, R, F, and L are usually pronounced (you can use the mnemonic "CaReFuL"), with these main exceptions:
 * An ending  -r  is silent in infinitives (e.g.  parler  - to speak).
 * An ending  -fs  is silent (e.g.  œufs  - eggs).
 * The L of an ending  -il  is usually silent (e.g.  fusil  - gun).

THE MUTE E
When a consonant is followed by a mute  -e, then the consonant should be pronounced. This is a way of distinguishing masculine and feminine forms verbally. Any unaccented  -e at the end of a word is always mute except in a single-syllable word like  le, which sounds somewhat like "luh".

The letter E often becomes mute in the middle of a word, especially if it would add a syllable. For instance, most Francophones pronounce  appeler  ("to call") as "app-LAY", not "app-pe-LAY".

Agreement
Unlike English adjectives, French adjectives must agree in number and gender with the nouns that they modify. A black dog is  un chien noir, but a black dress is  une robe noire. Also, remember that some adjectives have the same masculine and feminine form, especially those ending in a silent  -e  (e.g.  riche ).

When used with pronouns, adjectives agree with the noun that has been replaced. This is particularly tricky with the formal  vous : to a singular man, you would say  vous êtes beau, but to plural women, you would say  vous êtes belles.

Adjective Placement
In French, most adjectives appear after the nouns they modify. For instance,  le chat noir. However, some adjectives precede the noun. You can remember these types of nouns using the mnemonic  BANGS. All determiner adjectives (e.g. possessives, interrogatives, and demonstratives) appear before the noun, e.g. mon livre  ("my book") and  ce cochon  ("that pig"). You will learn these later.
 * B  is for beauty.  Une belle femme  — A beautiful woman
 * A  is for age.  Une jeune fille  — A young girl
 * N  is for number.  Deux hommes  — Two men
 * This can also be for rank:  Le premier mot  — The first word
 * G  is for good or bad.  Un bon garçon  — A good boy
 * S  is for size.  Un gros chat  — A fat cat

Figurative Adjectives
A few adjectives can come both before and after the noun depending on their meaning. The most common example is  grand, which is a BANGS adjective for everything but people. For people, it comes before a noun when it means "important" and after the noun when it means "tall". For instance, Napoleon was  un grand homme  ("a great man"), but not  un homme grand  ("a tall man").

Usually, figurative meanings will precede the noun, while literal meanings will follow the noun.
 * un  pauvre  homme  — a pitiful man
 * un homme  pauvre  — a poor man
 * un  certain  nombre  — a certain (particular) number
 * une victoire  certaine  — a certain (guaranteed) victory
 * ma  propre  voiture  — my own car
 * ma voiture  propre  — my clean car
 * un  cher  ami  — a dear friend
 * une montre  chère  — an expensive watch

Euphony
As you have already learned, elisions, contractions, liaisons, and enchaînements are all designed to prevent consecutive vowel sounds (which is called  hiatus ). This quest for harmonious sounds is called  euphony  and is an essential feature of French. It has, however, created some unexpected rules.

For instance, the masculine  beau  ("beautiful") changes to  bel  if its noun begins with a vowel sound. A beautiful man is  un bel homme. The other two common changes are  vieux  to  vieil  ("old") and  nouveau  to  nouvel  ("new").

Note that this doesn't occur to feminine adjectives because they usually end in silent vowels.

Plurals
Most plural forms of nouns and adjectives can be formed by appending an  -s  to the singular, but remember that this  -s  is usually silent. Note: If the noun is preceded by an adjective,  des  becomes  de. Articles must agree with the nouns they modify, so plural nouns require either  les  or  des. This is a great way to tell if a noun is plural. If you hear  les  or  des  (which sound similar to "lay" and "day"), then the noun is plural. If not, it's probably singular.
 * Le chat noir  — The black cat ⇒  Le s  chat s  noir s  — The black cats
 * Un chat noir  — A black cat ⇒  Des   chat s  noir s  — (Some) black cats
 * Un petit chat  — A little cat ⇒  De   petits chats

Remember that verbs change conjugation to agree with their subjects in both grammatical person and number.

Punctuation
There are no quotation marks in French. Instead, the French use  guillemets  (« »). Exclamation marks (!), question marks (?), colons, semicolons and guillemets need to have a space on either side. When writing numbers in French, commas are decimal points, while spaces mark thousands places.
 * Incorrect: "Ça va?"
 * Correct: « Ça va ? »
 * Incorrect: 1,235.8
 * Correct: 1 235,8

To Be and To Have
Être  and  avoir  are the most common verbs in French. Like many common verbs, they have irregular conjugations. There should be a liaison between  ils  or  elles  and  ont  ("il-zon" or "elle-zon"). The "z" sound is essential here to differentiate between "they are" and "they have", so be sure to emphasize it.

These two verbs are very important because they can act as  auxiliary verbs  in French, but they differ from their English equivalents. In "Basics 2", you learned that "I write" and "I am writing" both translate to  j'écris, not  je suis écris. This is because  être  cannot be used as an auxiliary in a simple tense. It can only be used in compound tenses, which you will learn in the "Passé Composé" unit.

Another important distinction is that  avoir  means "to have" in the sense of "to possess", but not "to consume" or "to experience". Other verbs must be used for these meanings.

C'est  or  Il Est?
When describing people and things with  être  in French, you usually can't use a personal subject pronoun like  elle. Instead, you must use the impersonal pronoun  ce, which can also mean "this" or "that". Note that  ce  is invariable, so it can never be  ces sont. These pronouns aren't interchangeable. The basic rule is that you must use  ce  when  être is followed by any determiner—for instance, an article or a possessive adjective. Note that  c'est  should be used for singulars and  ce sont  should be used for plurals. If an adjective, adverb, or both appear after  être, then use the personal pronoun. As you know, nouns generally need determiners, but one important exception is that professions, nationalities, and religions can act as adjectives after  être. This is optional; you can also choose to treat them as nouns. However,  c'est  should be used when using an adjective to make a general comment about (but not describe) a thing or situation. In this case, use the masculine singular form of the adjective.
 * C'est  un  homme.  — He's a man. / This is a man. / That is a man.
 * Ce sont  des  chats.  — They're cats. / These are cats. / Those are cats.
 * C'est  mon  chien.  — It's my dog. / This is my dog. / That's my dog.
 * Elle est belle . — She is beautiful. (Or "It is beautiful.")
 * Il est très fort.  — He is very strong. (Or "It is very strong.")
 * He is a doctor. —  Il est médecin.  /  C'est  un  médecin.
 * C'est normal ?  — Is this normal?
 * Non, c'est étrange.  — No, this is strange.

Idioms with  Avoir
One of the most common idioms in French is the use of the verb  avoir  in certain places where English would use the verb "to be". This is especially common for states or conditions that a person may experience. French tends to use the verb  faire  ("to do") idiomatically for general conditions like weather. Note that  il fait  is an impersonal expression with no real subject, just like  il y a from "Common Phrases".
 * Elle a chaud.  — She is hot. (Or "She feels hot.")
 * Il a froid.  — He is cold.
 * Elle a deux ans.  — She is two years old.
 * J'ai peur !  — I am afraid!
 * Il fait chaud.  — It is hot (outside).
 * Il fait froid.  — It is cold.
 * Il fait nuit.  — It is nighttime.

Idiomatic Plurals
English has a number of idiomatic plural-only nouns that have to be translated carefully. These are not just nouns that are invariable with number (like "deer"), but rather nouns that cannot refer to a singular thing at all.

For instance, "the pants" can only be plural in English, but the corresponding  le pantalon is singular in French. A single pair of pants is not  les pantalons, which refers to multiple pairs of pants. Similarly, when translating  le pantalon  back to English, you can say "the pants" or "a pair of pants", but "a pant" is not correct. This also applies to  un jean  ("a pair of jeans").

Un vêtement  refers to a single article of clothing, and it's incorrect to translate it as "clothes", which is plural and refers to a collection of clothing. This would have to be  des vêtements.

Diacritics
The acute accent   (é)  only appears on E and produces a pure [e] that isn't found in English. To make this sound, say the word "cliché", but hold your tongue perfectly still on the last vowel to avoid making a diphthong sound.

The grave accent   (è)  can appear on A/E/U, though it only changes the sound for E (to [ɛ], which is the E in "lemon"). Otherwise, it distinguishes homophones like  a  (a conjugated form of  avoir ) and  à  (a preposition).

The cedilla   (ç)  softens a normally hard C sound to the soft C in "cent". Otherwise, a C followed by an A, O, or U has a hard sound like the C in "car".

The circumflex   (ê)  usually means that an S used to follow the vowel in Old French or Latin. (The same is true of the acute accent.) For instance,  île  was once "isle".

The trema   (ë)  indicates that two adjacent vowels must be pronounced separately, like in  Noël  ("Christmas") and  maïs  ("corn").

Nasal Vowels
There are four nasal vowels in French. Try to learn these sounds by listening to native speakers. These aren't always nasalized. If there's a double M or N, or if they are followed by any vowel, then the vowel should have an oral sound instead. For instance,  un  is nasal, but  une  is not. Also,  vin  is nasal, but  vinaigre  is not.

Colors
Colors can be both nouns and adjectives. As nouns, colors are usually masculine. As adjectives, they agree with the nouns they modify except in two cases. First, colors derived from nouns (e.g. fruits, flowers, or gems) tend to be invariable with gender and number. Orange  ("orange") and  marron  ("brown") are the most common examples. Second, in compound adjectives ( les adjectifs composés ) made up of two adjectives, both adjectives remain in their masculine singular forms. Most colors that end in  -e  in their masculine forms are invariable with gender.
 * Le rose.  — The pink.
 * La jupe orange  — The orange skirt
 * Les jupes orange  — The orange skirts
 * Les chiens marron.  — The brown dogs.
 * Sa couleur est vert pomme.  — Its color is apple-green.
 * J'aime les robes rose clair.  — I like light-pink dresses.
 * Un chien rouge  — A red dog
 * Une jupe rouge  — A red skirt

Possessives Match What is Owned
In English,  possessive adjectives  (e.g. "his") match the owner. However, in French, they match the thing being owned.

Consider the example of "her lion". The French translation is  son lion, because lion is masculine and both the lion and the woman are singular. Note that if we hear just  son lion, we can't tell if the lion is owned by a man or woman. It's ambiguous without more context. If two people own a lion, then it is  leur lion.

Possessives have different forms that agree with four things: the number of owners, the number of things owned, the gender of the thing owned, and the grammatical person of the owner (e.g. "his" versus "my").

For one owner, the possessive adjectives are: For multiple owners, genders don't matter: The plural second-person possessive adjectives,  votre  and  vos, should be used when addressing someone formally with  vous.

Examples:

Euphony in Possessives
For the sake of euphony, all singular feminine possessives switch to their masculine forms when followed by a vowel sound.

Femme and Fille
Femme  can mean "woman" or "wife" and  fille  can mean "girl" or "daughter" depending on the context. For example, when  femme  and  fille  are preceded by a possessive adjective, then they translate to "wife" and "daughter", respectively.
 * Une fille et une femme sont dans le restaurant  — A girl and a woman are in the restaurant. (Not: "A daughter and a wife are in the restaurant.")
 * Ma fille  — My daughter. (Not: "My girl".)
 * Ta femme  — Your wife. (Not: "Your woman".)

Conjugations and Infinitives
As you learned in "Basics 1", verbs like  parler  conjugate to agree with their subjects. Parler  itself is an  infinitive, which is a verb's base form. It consists of a root ( parl- ) and an ending ( -er ). The ending can dictate how the verb should be conjugated. In this case, almost all verbs ending in  -er  are  regular verbs  in the  1st Group  that share the same conjugation pattern. To conjugate another 1st Group verb, affix the ending to that verb's root. Every verb belongs to one of three groups: Aller  ("to go") is the only fully irregular verb in Group 1, but a handful of others are slightly irregular.
 * Aimer  ("to love"):  j'aim e, tu aim es , nous aim ons ,  etc.
 * Marcher  ("to walk"):  je march e, tu march es , nous march ons ,  etc.
 * The  1st Group  includes regular  -er  verbs and includes 80% of all verbs.
 * The  2nd Group  includes regular  -ir  verbs like  finir  ('to finish").
 * The  3rd Group  includes all irregular verbs. This includes many common verbs like  être  and  avoir  as well as a handful of less common conjugation patterns.

Spelling-changing  verbs end in  -ger  (e.g.  manger ) or  -cer  (e.g.  lancer, "to throw") and change slightly in the  nous  form, as well as any other form whose ending begins with an A or O. These verbs take a form like  nous mangeons  or  nous lançons.

Stem-changing  verbs have different roots in their  nous  and  vous  forms. For instance, most forms of  appeler  ("to call") have two L's (e.g.  j'appelle ), but the N/V forms are  nous appelons  and  vous appelez.

Semi-Auxiliary Verbs
The only true auxiliary verbs in French are  être  and  avoir, but there are a number of  semi-auxiliary verbs  in French that can be used with other verbs to express ability, necessity, desire, and so on. They are used in  double-verb constructions  where the first verb (the semi-auxiliary) is conjugated and the second is not. Modal verbs are the English equivalents of semi-auxiliaries—for instance, "can", which translates to either  savoir  or  pouvoir. When "can" indicates knowledge, use  savoir. When "can" indicates permission or ability (apart from knowledge), use  pouvoir. One of the most important semi-auxiliary verbs is  aller, which is used to express the near future ( futur proche ), just like the English verb "going to". Note that in verb constructions beginning with non-auxiliary verbs, the verbs must be separated by a preposition.
 * Je veux lire.  — I want to read.
 * Il aime manger.  — He likes to eat.
 * Je sais lire et écrire.  — I know how to read and write.
 * Il sait parler allemand.  — He knows how to speak German.
 * Il peut manger.  — He can (or "may") eat.
 * Il peut parler allemand.  — He is allowed to speak German.
 * Je vais manger.  — I am going to eat.
 * Vous allez lire le livre.  — You are going to read the book.
 * Nous vivons pour manger.  — We live to eat.

Impersonal Expressions
A few defective  impersonal verbs  can only be used in impersonal statements and must be conjugated as third-person singular with  il. Remember that  il  is a dummy subject and does not refer to a person.

Falloir  means "to be necessary", and it often takes the form  il faut  + infinitive. Il faut  can also be used transitively with a noun to indicate that it is needed.
 * Il faut manger.  — It is necessary to eat. / One must eat.
 * Il faut choisir.  — It is necessary to choose. / One must choose.
 * Il faut du pain.  — (Some) bread is needed.

Confusing Verbs
Used transitively,  savoir  and  connaître  both mean "to know", but in different ways. Savoir implies understanding of subjects, things, or skills, while  connaître  indicates familiarity with people, animals, places, things, or situations. Attendre  means "to await", which is why it does not need a preposition.
 * Je sais les mots.  — I know the words.
 * Je connais le garçon.  — I know the boy.
 * Il attend son ami. — He is awaiting (or "waiting for") his friend.

One Each
The indefinite article doesn't always refer to just one thing. Sometimes, it can mean one thing each. Consider these examples:
 * Ils ont un manteau  — They have one coat / They  each  have one coat
 * Ils ont des manteaux  — They have some coats / They  each  have some coats

Demonstrative Adjectives
Demonstrative adjectives  ("this", "that", "these", and "those") modify nouns so they refer to something or someone specific. They can be used in place of articles. Like other adjectives, they must agree with the nouns they modify. The singular masculine  ce  becomes  cet  in front of a vowel sound for euphony. Ce  can mean either "this" or "that". It's ambiguous between the two. To specify, use the suffix  -ci  ("here") or  -là  ("there") on the modified noun. French learners often confuse the demonstrative adjective  ce  with the pronoun  ce  (from "Être-Avoir"). Discerning between them is easy, however: an adjective must modify a noun, while a pronoun can stand alone as a subject or object. Compare: In the first example,  ces  is an adjective that modifies  hommes, but in the second,  ce  is a subject pronoun.
 * Ce   livre est rouge.  — That book is red.
 * Cet   arbre est grand.  — That tree is big.
 * Cette   pomme est rouge.  — That apple is red.
 * Ces   livres et ces pommes sont rouges.  — Those books and those apples are red.
 * Ce livre -ci  est rouge.  — This book is red.
 * Ces chats -là  sont noirs.  — Those cats are black.
 * Adjective:   Ces hommes sont mes amis.  — These men are my friends.
 * Pronoun:   Ce sont mes amis.  — They are my friends.

Ça
The  indefinite demonstrative pronoun   ça  refers to an unnamed concept or thing. When it's used as an object, it usually translates to "this" or "that". Ça  can also be used as a subject, in which case it can also mean "it".
 * Tu manges ça.  — You are eating this.
 * Je veux ça.  — I want that.
 * Ça sent bon.  — It smells good.
 * Ça semble simple.  — This seems simple.

ÇA  OR  CE ?
A simple rule of thumb to follow is that  ce  should be used with  être, including in the double-verb constructions  pouvoir être  and  devoir être. Ça  should be used with all other verbs. However, when an object pronoun comes before  être, then you must use  ça , not  ce. This is relatively rare. Also, note that  ça  is informal and is usually replaced by  cela  ("that") or  ceci  ("this") in writing.
 * C’est un très bon vin !  — This is a really good wine!
 * Ce sont des garçons.  — They are boys.
 * Ce peut être triste en hiver.  — It can be sad in winter.
 * Ce doit être ton fils.  — It must be your son.
 * Ça va bien.  — It's going well.
 * Ça dure un jour.  — That lasts a day.
 * Ça m'intéresse beaucoup.  — That interests me a lot.
 * Ça m'est égal.  — It's all the same to me.

Conjunctions 1
Conjunctions function by hooking up words, phrases, and clauses. This unit focuses on  coordinating conjunctions, which link two or more similar elements in a sentence. For instance,  et  may be used to link two nouns together. It may also link two adjectives or even two clauses. For the most part, French coordinating conjunctions behave very similarly to their English counterparts. The conjunction  car  means "because", and it's usually reserved for writing. The subordinating conjunction  parce que  is preferred in speech; you'll learn this in "Conjunctions 2".
 * Je mange une pomme et une orange.  — I am eating an apple and an orange.
 * Elle a un chien et un chat.  — She has a dog and a cat.
 * La robe est grande et jolie.  — The dress is big and pretty.
 * Le chat est noir et le chien est blanc.  — The cat is black and the dog is white.

Inversions
The most formal way of asking a question is to use an  inversion, where the verb appears before its pronoun and the two are connected by a hyphen. However, if the subject of the sentence is a noun, then the noun should appear before the verb, although a pronoun still needs to appear afterwards. If the verb ends in a vowel, the letter T must be inserted after the verb for euphony. This T is chaîned onto the pronoun and is meaningless. Inverted forms still obey other grammar rules, like those for  il est  vs. c'est. However, the pronoun in an inversion cannot elide.
 * Boit-il ?  — Does he drink? / Is he drinking? / He drinks?
 * Boivent-ils du lait ?  — Do they drink milk? / Are they drinking milk? / They drink milk?
 * Le lait est-il froid ?  — Is the milk cold?
 * Les chats sont-ils noirs ?  — Are the cats black?
 * A- t -il un chien ?  — Does he have a dog?
 * Parle- t -elle anglais ?  — Does she speak English?
 * Est-ce un problème ?  — Is it a problem?
 * Est-elle médecin ?  — Is she a doctor?
 * Puis-je aider les enfants ?  — Can I help the children?

Est-ce Que
Est-ce que  (pronounced like "essk") can be added in front of a statement to turn it into a question. Remember that  que  elides in front of vowel sounds.
 * Est-ce qu' il boit ?  — Does he drink? / Is he drinking?
 * Est-ce que   c'est un problème ?  — Is it a problem?
 * Est-ce qu' il a un chien ?  — Does he have a dog?

Intonation
In informal speech, one of the most common ways to ask a question is simply to raise your intonation at the end of a statement, like you'd do in English.
 * Il boit ?  — Is he drinking?
 * Il pleut ?  — Is it raining?

Interrogatives
An  interrogative  word introduces a question. French has interrogative adjectives, pronouns, and adverbs.

INTERROGATIVE ADJECTIVES
French has one  interrogative adjective  with four forms. It translates to "which" or "what" depending on the context. An interrogative adjective cannot stand alone. It must modify (and agree with) a noun, and that noun must either be adjacent to it or separated by a form of  être. Quel  is also an  exclamatory adjective  in statements.
 * Quelle fille ?  — Which girl?
 * Quel est le problème ?  — What is the problem?
 * Quelle chance !  — What luck!
 * Quel grand garçon il est !  — What a tall boy he is!

INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS
Unlike an adjective, an  interrogative pronoun  can stand alone. For instance, the interrogative pronoun  lequel  can replace  quel  + noun. Note that it agrees with the noun it replaces. The most common interrogative pronouns are  qui  (for people) and  que  (for everything else). However, the construction changes based on a number of factors. Qui  is the only pronoun that can start a question by itself, but both  qui  and  que  can be used with inversion. Both can also use  est-ce, but  est-ce   que  (which you learned above) can only be used in a question with  être  or when the pronoun is the object ("what" or "whom"). When it's the subject,  est-ce   qui  must be used. After prepositions and at the end of questions,  que  becomes  quoi. Qui  and  que  can be very confusing because they can also be relative pronouns. Que  can also be a subordinating conjunction. You will learn these uses later.
 * Qui parle ?  — Who is speaking?
 * Qui es-tu ?  — Who are you?
 * Que fait-il ?  — What is he making?
 * Qui est-ce  qui  parle ?  — Who's speaking? (subj.)
 * Qu'est-ce  qui  se passe ?  — What is going on? (subj.)
 * Qui est-ce  que  tu appelles ?  — Whom are you calling? (obj.)
 * Qu'est-ce  que  c'est ?  — What is it? (question with  être )
 * Le problème est quoi ?  — What's the problem?
 * À quoi pensez-vous ?  — What are you thinking about?

INTERROGATIVE ADVERBS
A number of  interrogative adverbs  can be used to request information Note that when these adverbs are used with intonation-based questions, they can appear at the beginning or the end of the sentence (except  pourquoi ).
 * Pourquoi  ("why"):  Pourquoi manges-tu du pain ?  — Why are you eating bread?
 * Comment  ("how"):  Comment allez-vous ?  — How are you?
 * Quand  ("when"):  Quand est-ce que tu vas manger ?  — When are you going to eat?
 * Combien  ("how many/much"):  Combien d'eau ?  — How much water?
 * Où  ("where"):  Où suis-je ?  — Where am I?
 * Tu vas comment ?  — How are you?
 * Vous êtes d'où ?  — Where are you from?

Group 3 Verbs
As you learned in "Verbs Present 1", Group 3 verbs are considered irregular, but some sparse patterns do exist among the  -ir  and  -er  verbs in this group. Among the G3  -ir  verbs, some conjugate like  dormir, while verbs like  ouvrir  conjugate as though they're  -er  verbs. Note that singular conjugations of  dormir  drop the last letter of the root. Also, while some  -re  verbs (such as  attendre ,  entendre, and  perdre ) conjugate like  vendre , dozens of other conjugation patterns exist, so it's best to memorize each verb's conjugation individually.

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
Sentences can have grammatical objects, which are nouns that are affected by a verb. There are two types of objects:  direct objects, which are nouns acted upon, and  indirect objects , which are nouns that are indirectly affected by the action. In this example, "Ben" is the subject, "the ball" is the direct object, and "him" is the indirect object. You can usually recognize indirect objects in English by looking for a preposition after a verb. Identifying objects is important, especially in French.
 * Ben  threw  the ball  at  him.

Verbs can be transitive, intransitive, or both. Transitive verbs  can have direct objects, while  intransitive verbs  cannot. However, both types of verbs can have indirect objects. Parler  is an interesting example because it's intransitive for everything but language names. French verbs can be tricky for Anglophones because some transitive verbs in French have intransitive English translations and vice versa. Pay attention to this.
 * Transitive:  Je lance une chaussure.  — I throw a shoe.
 * Intransitive:  Je parle à Jacques.  — I am speaking to Jacques.
 * Transitive:  Je parle anglais.  — I speak English.
 * Transitive:  Le chat regarde le chien.
 * Intransitive: The cat is looking at the dog.
 * Intransitive:  Il téléphone à son ami.
 * Transitive: He is calling his friend.

Stative Verbs in English
Unlike dynamic verbs, which describe actions and processes,  stative verbs  describe states of being—physical and mental states, possession, sensations, and so on. The most common stative verb is "to be". Here are some other common examples: The most important detail about stative verbs is that they can't be used in continuous tenses in English. You may have noticed that some verbs can be both stative and dynamic based on context. For instance: Pay attention to this nuance when translating into English. This problem rarely occurs when translating to French because it lacks continuous tenses.
 * Possessing: belong, get, have, own, possess
 * Feeling: hate, like, love, need, want
 * Sensing: feel, hear, see, smell, taste
 * Thinking: believe, know, recognize, think, understand
 * C'est mon fils.  — He is my son. (Not "is being".)
 * Je veux une pomme.  — I want an apple. (Not "am wanting".)
 * Elle aime son chien.  — She loves her dog. (Not "is loving".)
 * On a deux amis.  — We have two friends. (Only cannibals "are having" their friends.)
 * "To have" can be dynamic when it means "to consume".
 * "To feel" is stative, but "to feel sick" or "to feel better" are dynamic.
 * "To be" can be dynamic when it means "to act".

Impersonal Expressions
A number of other impersonal verbs have to do with weather. Chaud  can be replaced with a number of other adjectives, like  froid  ("cold") or  humide ("humid").
 * Pleuvoir  ("to rain"):  Il pleut.  — It is raining.
 * Neiger  ("to snow"):  Il neige.  — It is snowing.
 * Faire chaud  ("to be warm"):  Il fait chaud aujourd'hui.  — It is warm today.

Confusing Verbs
Like their English counterparts,  voir  ("to see") and  regarder  ("to watch") differ based on the subject's intention. If the subject is actively watching or looking for something, use  regarder. Otherwise, use  voir.
 * Le chat regarde le poisson.  — The cat is watching the fish.
 * Elle peut voir la ville.  — She can see the city.

Multiple Adjectives
When multiple adjectives modify a noun, they should come before or after the noun based on the same rules as if they were the only adjective. This means that adjectives may straddle the noun if one is a BANGS adjective. If two adjectives appear on the same side, you can separate them with  et. On the other hand, when there are multiple nouns being described by one adjective, that adjective takes the masculine plural by default. However, if the nouns are all feminine, then they can take the feminine plural.
 * La grande robe rouge  — The big red dress
 * Une jeune fille française  — A young French girl
 * J'ai un chapeau blanc et bleu.  — I have a white and blue hat.
 * L'homme fort et sérieux  — The strong and serious man
 * Un garçon et une fille italiens  — An Italian boy and girl
 * J'ai une chemise et un manteau simples.  — I have a simple shirt and coat.
 * La robe et la jupe vertes  — The green dress and skirt

Grand  or  Gros ?
Grand  and  gros  can both mean "big", but they're only partly interchangeable.

Grand  tends to be used for: Gros  tends to be used for:
 * General size:  La grande robe  — The big dress
 * Height:  L'enfant est grand.  — The child is tall/big.
 * Area:  La ville est grande.  — The city is big.
 * Figurative size:  La grande richesse  — The great wealth
 * Importance:  Un grand homme  — A great man
 * Thickness or volume:  Une grosse boîte de petits-pois  — A big can of peas
 * Fatness:  Un gros chat  — A fat cat
 * Things that are round:  Une grosse pomme  — A big apple
 * Seriousness:  Un gros problème  — A big (serious) problem

Faux Amis
Many English and French words look alike and share meanings. This is because English is heavily influenced by French and Latin. However, there are  faux amis  ("false friends") that look similar but do not have the same meaning. For instance,  gros  looks like "gross", but their meanings are not the same. Be careful before assuming a French word's meaning based on its English lookalike.

On
On  is a versatile and ubiquitous French indefinite subject pronoun. Francophones usually say  on  to refer to "us", "them", or one or more unidentified persons. On  is always masculine and third-person singular, which is why conjugation charts often list  il/elle/on together. On  can also be used more formally in the passive voice or for general statements, much like the English "one".
 * On mange.  — We are eating.
 * On est seul.  (Never  On est seule/seuls/seules. ) — We are alone.
 * On doit dormir assez.  — One must sleep adequately.

Direct Object Pronouns
As you learned in "Verbs: Present 2",  direct objects  are things that are directly acted upon by a verb. For instance, in the sentence "Ben threw the ball", the ball is the direct object. French has a set of pronouns that can be used to refer to a direct object. Direct object pronouns usually come before their verbs. Me / te / le / la  elide, so make sure you notice them when they hide in the first syllable of a verb. Le  and  les  only contract when they're articles, not when they're object pronouns.
 * L'enfant  me  voit.  — The child sees  me.
 * Le lion  le  mange.  — The lion eats  it  (or "him"!).
 * Vous  nous  aimez.  — You love  us.
 * Je  t 'aime.  — I love  you.
 * Elle  m 'attend.  — She is waiting for me.
 * L'enfant  l 'appelle.  — The child calls to him (or "her").
 * Je suis en train de le faire.  (Not  du faire ) — I am in the process of doing it.

En  Replaces  De  + Noun
The adverbial pronoun  en  can be used to replace objects introduced by  de. For instance, it can replace a partitive article + noun. En  may replace nouns or pronouns in verb constructions that use  de, like  parler de  ("to talk about"). Nouns in adverbs of quantity can also be replaced with  en. Notice that  en  always precedes the verb, but adverbs stay in place after the verb.
 * Avez-vous  de l'argent  ?  — Do you have some money?
 * Oui, j' en  ai.  — Yes, I have some.
 * Marc parle  de Peter  ?  — Is Marc talking about Peter?
 * Oui, il  en  parle.  — Yep, he's talking about him.
 * Achetez-vous beaucoup  de livres  ?  — Are you buying a lot of books?
 * Oui, j' en  achète beaucoup.  — Yes, I am buying a lot [of them].

Y  Can Refer to a Place
The adverbial pronoun  y  can refer to a previously mentioned or implied place, in which case it's usually translated as "there". In English, "there" may be omitted, but the same is not true of  y  in French. Je vais  is not a complete sentence without  y.
 * Allez-vous au restaurant ?  — Are you going to the restaurant?
 * Oui, j' y  vais . — Yes, I'm going there.

The Relative Pronouns  Que  and  Qui
Relative pronouns  introduce relative clauses, which are subordinate clauses that elaborate upon a previously mentioned noun (the  antecedent ). Use  que  when the relative pronoun is the direct object ("whom" in English) and use  qui  when it's the subject ("who" in English). If you have trouble figuring out whether to use  qui  or  que, try rephrasing the sentence without the relative pronoun. Use  qui  if the antecedent is the subject; otherwise, use  que.
 * C'est l'homme  que  je connais.  — He's the man whom (or "that") I know.
 * La fille  qui  lit un menu.  — The girl who (or "that") reads a menu.
 * Subject:  La fille  qui  lit un menu.  ⇒  La fille lit un menu.
 * Object:  C'est l'homme  que  je connais.  ⇒  Je connais l'homme.

The Reflexive Pronoun  Se
A  reflexive pronoun  like  se  can be used to indicate that a verb acts upon the subject. Se is used with all third-person subjects, regardless of gender and number. When  se  refers to a plural subject, it can also be reciprocal or mutual ("each other"). Certain pronouns can be added to the end of the sentence to differentiate between reflexive and reciprocal uses if necessary.
 * Il  s 'aime.  — He loves  himself.
 * Il  s 'appelle comment ?  — What's his name? (Lit, "He calls  himself  what?")
 * Elle  se  demande pourquoi.  — She wonders why. (Lit, "She asks  herself  why.")
 * Ils  s 'aiment.  — They love  each other.
 * Les filles  se  parlent.  — The girls speak to  each other.
 * On  se  parle quand ?  — When do we speak to  each other ?
 * On  se  voit bientôt.  — We will see  each other  soon.
 * Ils s'aiment  eux-mêmes .  — They love themselves.
 * Elles s'aiment  elles-mêmes .  — They love themselves.
 * Ils s'aiment  l'un l'autre .  — They love each other.
 * Elles s'aiment  les unes les autres .  — They love one another.

Prepositions 1
French prepositions can be difficult because their meanings and uses don't always line up to what you would expect in English.

DE  AND  À
The most common French prepositions are  de  ("of"/"from") and  à  ("to"/"at"). These prepositions can be used in many ways. For instance, they may indicate movement or location. Notice  au  above. De  and  à  must contract with definite articles whenever they are adjacent. If the contraction is followed by a vowel sound,  du  and  de la  both become  de l'  and  au and  à la  both become  à l'. This change occurs for euphony only; the nouns do not change genders because of it. De  may be found in numerous fixed expressions, especially in adverbs of quantity like  beaucoup de  ("a lot of"). Adding  de  or  à  to the end of certain verbs can change their meanings.
 * Nous allons  à  Paris.  — We are going to Paris.
 * Il vient  de  Bordeaux.  — He is coming from Bordeaux.
 * Je suis  au  restaurant.  — I am at the restaurant.
 * Tu parles  à l' enfant.  (Not  au ) — You are speaking to the child.
 * La Maison  de l' Ours  — The House of the Bear
 * Les copies  des  livres.  — The copies of the books.
 * Le repas  du  chien.  — The dog's meal. (The meal of the dog.)
 * Nous avons beaucoup  de  pommes.  — We have a lot of apples.
 * Rémy a beaucoup  d' amis.  — Remy has a lot of friends.
 * Penser  ("to think"):  Je pense que c'est un homme.  — I think that he is a man.
 * Penser  à  ("to think about"):  Elle pense à son chien.  — She's thinking about her dog.
 * Penser  de  ("to opine about"):  Que pensez-vous de ce repas ?  — What do you think of this meal?

USING ARTICLES AFTER  DE
Most articles can be used immediately after expressions and verbs ending in  de, but they must follow contraction and elision rules. However, no article that already contains  de  may follow an expression, negative term, or verb ending in  de. This includes the partitives  du  and  de la  and the indefinite  des. In this situation, the article is removed so that only the naked  de  remains.
 * Elle parle beaucoup  des  (de + les) pâtes.  — She speaks a lot about  the  pasta.
 * Que pensez-vous de  la  voiture ?  — What do you think of  the  car?
 * Il a besoin d' un  chien.  — He needs  a  dog.
 * Elle mange beaucoup  de  frites.  (Not  de des ) — She eats a lot of fries.
 * Je n'ai pas  de  pain.  (Not  de du ) — I do not have (any) bread.
 * Il a besoin  d' argent (Not  de de l'**) — He needs (some) money.

DES  BEFORE ADJECTIVES
When  des  appears immediately before an adjective, it changes to  de. This only occurs with BANGS adjectives, which come before the noun.
 * Vous êtes  de  jeunes garçons.  — You are young boys.
 * Elle a  de  petits chiens.  — She has small dogs.

Numbers 1
Between 0 and 20, most French numbers are constructed similarly to English numbers. The main difference is that French starts using compound numbers at  dix-sept  (17), while English continues with single-word numbers until 21.

Uses of  Un
The word  un  (or  une  in feminine) can be used in a number of ways: Also, keep in mind that liaisons are forbidden before and after  et.
 * 1) As an indefinite article ("a" or "an"), which is used to modify countable nouns that are unspecified or unknown to the speakers.
 * 2) * un livre  — a book
 * 3) * un éléphant  — an elephant
 * 4) As a numeral ("one"), which is a kind of adjective.
 * 5) * J'ai une seule question.  — I have only one question.
 * 6) As a pronoun ("one"). Like in English, French numbers can be used as pronouns. In general, when you see a preposition like  de  after a number, that number acts as a pronoun.
 * 7) * C'est un de mes enfants.  — He is one of my children.
 * 8) * Je connais un de ces hommes.  — I know one of those men.

Family
Adults should use  père  and  mère  when referring to parents. The juvenile forms,  papa  and  maman, are generally used only by children, much like "papa" and "mama" or "daddy" and "mommy" in English.

Refresher:  C'est  or  Il Est ?
You learned in "Être-Avoir" that you must often use the impersonal pronoun  ce  when describing people and things with  être. In general, use  ce  whenever  être  is followed by any determiner—for instance, an article or a possessive adjective. Remember that  ce  is invariable, so use  c'est  for singulars and  ce sont  for plurals. This rule applies everywhere, including in questions, inversions, and subordinate clauses. The personal pronoun  il  should only be used with  être  when they're followed by an adjective and/or adverb. In the last example, note that  est-ce  still appears because  est-ce que  is a fixed impersonal phrase.
 * C'est  un  homme.  — He's a man.
 * Ce sont  des  chats.  — They're cats.
 * C'est  mon  chien.  — It's my dog.
 * C'est un animal ?  — That's an animal?
 * Est-ce votre petit-fils ?  — Is he your grandson?
 * Vous l'aimez parce que c'est votre fils.  — You love him because he is your son.
 * Il est fort. — He is strong.
 * Est-elle forte ? — Is she strong?
 * Est-ce qu'il est content ? — Is he happy?

Possessives 2
Possessive pronouns  replace a possessive adjective + a noun. Like most other pronouns, they agree in gender and number with the noun they replace. For one owner, the forms of possessive pronouns follow a simple pattern: For multiple owners, the articles vary with gender, but the pronouns do not: The 2nd-person articles for multiple owners can be used for a single owner when speaking formally. Notice that you must use  c'est  with possessive pronouns, not  il est ,  elle est, etc.
 * Est-ce  ton chapeau  ?  — Is that your hat?
 * Oui, c'est  le mien .  — Yes, it's mine.
 * J'ai mon livre. As-tu le tien ?  — I have my book. Do you have yours?
 * Ma ceinture est rouge. La sienne est blanche.  — My belt is red. His (or "hers") is white.
 * Vous mangez vos repas et nous mangeons les nôtres.  — You eat your meals and we eat ours.
 * Vous aimez notre voiture et nous aimons la vôtre.  — You like our car and we like yours.
 * Informal, one owner:  C'est le tien.
 * Formal, one owner:  C'est le vôtre.
 * Multiple owners:  C'est le vôtre.

The definite article at the beginning of a possessive pronoun can contract with  à  or  de.
 * Tu téléphones à ton père et je téléphone  au  mien.  — You are calling your dad and I am calling mine.
 * J'aime mon repas. Qu'est-ce que vous pensez  du  vôtre ?  — I like my meal. What do you think of yours?

Ceci  and  Cela
Ceci  ("this") and  cela  ("that") are the formal versions of the indefinite demonstrative pronoun  ça  ("this" or "that"). These are used when pointing something out, referring to something indefinite (like an idea), or referring back to something already mentioned. Ceci  is usually only used when making a distinction between "this" and "that". Otherwise,  cela  is preferred in writing and  ça  is preferred in speech.
 * Je connais cela.  — I know about that.
 * Je veux ceci.  — I want this.

CE  OR  CELA ?
Remember that  ce  can only be used with  être, including  devoir être  and  pouvoir être. However,  cela  and  ceci  can also be used with  être  for emphasis. Cela/ceci/ça  should be used with all other verbs.
 * C’est un très bon vin !  – This is a really good wine!
 * Ce doit être ton fils.  — It must be your son.
 * C'est le mien.  — It's mine.
 * Non, ceci est le mien. Cela est le tien.  — No, THIS is mine. THAT is yours.
 * Cela arrive souvent.  — It happens often. / That happens often.
 * Ceci contient un bonbon.  — This contains a candy.

Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns  (e.g. "this one", "that one", "these", "those") replace a demonstrative adjective + noun for the sake of avoiding repetition. Like most other pronouns, they agree in gender and number with the noun they replace. Demonstrative pronouns refer to a very specific thing and cannot stand alone. They must be used in one of three constructions.

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN + RELATIVE PRONOUN
A relative pronoun and dependent clause can follow the demonstrative pronoun. For instance, you can use  que  when the relative pronoun is the direct object and use  qui when it's the subject.
 * Celui qui   est dans ma poche.  — The one that is in my pocket.
 * Ceux que   je connais.  — The ones that I know. / The ones whom I know.

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN + PREPOSITION
The preposition  de  can appear after the demonstrative pronoun to indicate possession.
 * À qui est cette balle ?  – Whose ball is this?
 * C'est  celle du  chien.  — It's the dog's. (Literally: "It is the one of the dog.")

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN + SUFFIX
This construction appears in "Demonstratives 3".

USAGE EXAMPLES
Demonstrative pronouns are often used in comparisons or choices between alternatives. They can also be used within prepositional phrases.
 * Ce tableau est moins beau que  celui de  Rembrandt.  — This painting is less beautiful than that by Rembrandt.
 * Quelle robe préfères-tu ?  Celle de  Paris ou  celle de  Tokyo ?  — Which dress do you prefer? The one from Paris or the one from Tokyo?
 * Je pense  à celles qui  sont en vacances.  — I am thinking about the ones who are on vacation.
 * Ce repas est  pour ceux qui  aiment les oignons.  — This meal is for those who like onions.

The Close Future
In French, the present tense can often be used to describe something that will happen soon. This also occurs in English, albeit less frequently.
 * Je vous appelle demain.  — I [will] call you tomorrow.
 * On se voit demain.  — We [will] see each other tomorrow.
 * Ça commence demain.  — That begins tomorrow.

Describing Dates
The most formal way to express a date in French is with  c'est. (Never use  il est .) However, the most common way is to use  nous sommes  or  on est. This construction is idiomatic and does not directly translate to English. Note that while "today" is a noun and adverb in English,  aujourd'hui  cannot be used as a noun to give a date, so you cannot say  Aujourd'hui est mardi. However,  hier ,  aujourd'hui, and  demain  can be used as nouns when qualified by an adjective or another noun. This construction can be used to express the month, though you must add  en. Months aren't capitalized in French. When denoting specific dates, put  le  and the date before the month. Also, French date abbreviations take the form DD/MM/YY. However, for the first day of the month, you must use the word  premier. To express a relative time in the past, you can use  il y a.
 * C'est dimanche.  — It's Sunday.
 * Nous sommes vendredi.  — It is Friday.
 * Aujourd'hui, on est mardi.  — Today is Tuesday.
 * Demain est un autre jour.  — Tomorrow is another day.
 * Hier était férié.  — Yesterday was a holiday.
 * Nous sommes en juillet.  — It's July.
 * 27/11/14 —  C'est le 27 novembre 2014.  — It's November 27, 2014.
 * 02/10 —  Nous sommes le 2 octobre.  — It's October 2nd.
 * 01/04 —  C'est le premier avril.  — It's April 1st.
 * il y a huit jours  — eight days ago
 * il y a deux ans  — two years ago

Jour  or  Journée ?
A few words for dates and times have both masculine and feminine forms that are used in different contexts. Consider the meaning of the whole sentence when deciding between the two. Some pairs are more flexible than others. Jour  and  journée  can often be interchangeable, but  matin  and  matinée  are very strictly separate.

The masculine forms are used for countable units of time and specific dates or moments. For instance: The feminine forms are used to express or emphasize a duration or the passing of time. They're also used with most adjectives. For instance: Deciding between forms with  un  depends on whether  un  acts as a numeral or article. If you can translate  un  as "one" in English, then go with the masculine.
 * With numerals (except  un  in some cases).
 * deux ans  — two years
 * trois jours  — three days
 * With  tous  ("all"),  chaque  ("every"), and  ce  ("this"/"that").
 * chaque matin / tous les matins  — every morning
 * With temporal adverbs (e.g.  demain  and  hier ).
 * demain matin  — tomorrow morning
 * hier soir  — yesterday evening / last night
 * When emphasizing a duration.
 * Je vais lire toute la matinée.  — I am going to read all morning.
 * la journée de 8 heures  — the 8-hour day
 * With adjectives (except  tous/chaque/ce ).
 * une belle soirée  — a beautiful evening
 * Cette année est mémorable.  — This year is memorable.

Notice that  chaque matin  doesn't require an article but  tous les matins  does. This is because  chaque ,  ce, and articles are all examples of determiners, which are words that give context to nouns. You will learn more about determiners in "Adjectives 3".

Verbs: Infinitive
Verb conjugations are classified in two ways:  tense  and  mood. Tenses reflect a time frame (e.g. present tense), while moods reflect a speaker's attitude. So far, you've mainly used the  indicative mood  (for facts and certainties), but it is only one of seven moods.

The Infinitive Mood
The  infinitive mood  is an impersonal mood that isn't conjugated nor associated with any subject pronoun. It can be used in a variety of constructions, either with or without prepositions.

WITHOUT PREPOSITIONS
Infinitives are often the objects of conjugated semi-auxiliary verbs such as  vouloir ,  pouvoir, and  aimer. You learned this in "Verbs: Present 1". Infinitives can also act like nouns and can be used as subjects. Here, note that French infinitives can often be translated as English gerunds (with an -ing ending), especially when they're subjects.
 * Ça va  venir .  — It is going to come.
 * Je veux  danser .  — I want to dance.
 * J'aime  avoir  un chat.  — I like having a cat.
 * Faire   du café est facile.  — Making coffee is easy.
 * Cuisiner   et  nettoyer  sont ses responsabilités.  — Cooking and cleaning are his responsibilities.

AFTER VERBS + PREPOSITIONS
As you learned previously, some verbs must be followed by a preposition to complete their meaning (e.g.  penser à ). An infinitive can be used as an object when it follows such prepositions. Since infinitives can act like nouns, they can follow  être  +  de  to describe or define a subject (as a subject complement). The preposition  pour  ("for" or "in order to") can come before an infinitive to express the purpose of an action. Keep in mind that conjugated verbs should never come after prepositions.
 * Elle parle  de cuisiner  le poulet.  – She is talking about cooking the chicken.
 * Je pense  à changer  de job.  – I am thinking about changing jobs.
 * Je vous remercie  de laver  les verres.  – I thank you for washing the glasses.
 * Mon travail  est de cuisiner .  – My job is to cook.
 * L'objectif  est d'apprendre le francais .  – The goal is to learn French.
 * Je lis  pour apprendre .  — I read [in order] to learn.
 * Je viens  pour parler .  — I am coming [in order] to talk.

AFTER NOUNS
An infinitive can also modify a noun when used with  de  or  à. It may take practice to decide which preposition should be used, but in general, use  de  whenever the infinitive has an object. Use  à  when the verb in the sentence is  avoir  (with the translation "to have"). À  can also be used to indicate the purpose of a noun.
 * Merci de laver les verres.  — Thanks for washing the glasses.
 * Il prend le temps de manger une pomme.  — He takes the time to eat an apple.
 * J'ai une décision à prendre.  — I have a decision to make.
 * Il a un examen à préparer  — He has an exam to prepare.
 * une maison à vendre  — a house for sale
 * l'eau à boire  — drinking water

AFTER ADJECTIVES
Infinitives can be used with the construction  il est  + adjective +  de  to create impersonal expressions. Remember from "Common Phrases" that an impersonal statement is one with a dummy subject instead of a real one. However, if the subject  il  is a real thing instead of just a dummy subject, then you must use  à  instead of  de. To further illustrate the difference, consider these two different translations of "It is fun to read." The first is a general statement, while the second is a statement about a real subject.
 * Il est possible  de  manger maintenant.  — It is possible to eat now.
 * Il est nécessaire de boire  de  l’eau.  — It is necessary to drink water.
 * Cette tâche est facile  à  faire.  — This task is easy to do.
 * C'est bon  à  savoir.  — That's good to know.
 * Il est amusant de lire.  (Impersonal) — It is fun to read. / Reading is fun.
 * Il est amusant à lire.  (Real) — It (e.g. a book) is fun to read.

Causative Faire
Faire  often appears before a verb to indicate that the subject causes something to happen instead of performing it. It's often used in relation to foods. It can also be used to indicate that the subject has directed someone else to perform an action.
 * Il  fait bouillir  le thé.  — He boils the tea.
 * J'aime  faire griller  du poulet.  — I like grilling chicken.
 * Je le fais  réparer .  — I am having it fixed.
 * Je fais  partir  mon ami.  — I am making my friend leave.

Adverbs 1
Adverbs are invariable words that can modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, and more.

Adverb Placement
If an adverb modifies a verb, it usually follows right after it. An adverb comes before an adjective or other adverb that it modifies. A long adverb that modifies a phrase can usually be relegated to the beginning or end of a sentence.
 * Il parle  vite .  — He speaks quickly.
 * Elle mange  souvent  de la soupe.  — She often eats soup.
 * J'aime  bien  l'hiver.  — I like the winter.
 * Je suis  très  heureux.  — I am very happy.
 * Ma cuillère est  trop  grande !  — My spoon is too big!
 * Ton fils est un homme  maintenant .  — Your son is a man now.
 * Généralement ,  je sais quoi faire.  — Generally, I know what to do.

Adverbs of Quantity
Imprecise quantities are expressed using  adverbs of quantity, which are usually followed by the preposition  de. Recall that  du ,  de la, and  des  cannot be used after expressions ending in  de , such as adverbs of quantity. Thus,  des  does not appear before  chiens  and  de la  does not appear before  bière. However, other articles can follow adverbs of quantity when the noun is specific.
 * Il a  beaucoup de  chiens.  — He has a lot of dogs.
 * Il boit  trop de  bière.  — He is drinking too much beer.
 * Beaucoup des   (de + les) amis de mon frère sont là.  — Many of my brother’s friends are here.
 * Je veux  plus du  (de + le) même.  — I want more of the same.

Comparatives and Superlatives
The adverbs  plus  ("more") and  moins  ("less") can be used with the conjunction  que  in comparisons. To express equivalence, use  aussi...que  ("as...as"). Adding a definite article before  plus  or  moins  creates a superlative. The definite article agrees with the noun being modified. If the adjective should follow the noun, then the definite article must be repeated.
 * Ta sœur est  plus  jolie  qu 'elle.  — Your sister is prettier than her.
 * Ils mangent  moins que  nous.  — They are eating less than us.
 * Je suis  aussi  timide  que  mon père.  — I am as shy as my father.
 * C'est  la plus  jolie robe.  — That's the prettiest dress.
 * Le plus   grand arbre du monde est là.  — The biggest tree in the world is there.
 * Je veux acheter le pain  le moins  cher.  — I want to buy the least expensive bread.
 * C'est le livre  le plus  difficile à comprendre.  — That's the most difficult book to understand.

Bon ,  Bien ,  Mauvais, and  Mal
In French, we have to deal with the good ( bon  and  bien ), the bad ( mauvais  and  mal ), and the ugly (trying to decide which to use). Luckily, in most cases,  bon  and  mauvais  are adjectives while  bien  and  mal  are adverbs. There are also a number of fixed expressions or special usages for  bien. You are familiar with some of these from "Common Phrases". Also, remember that  aimer  normally means "to love" when directed at people and animals, but adding  bien  reduces its meaning to "to like".
 * C'est un  bon  chanteur.  — He is a good singer.
 * Il chante  bien .  — He sings well.
 * Elle est  bonne  étudiante.  — She's a good student.
 * Elle étudie  bien .  — She studies well.
 * C'est un  mauvais  homme.  — He's a bad man.
 * Mon frère lit très  mal .  — My brother reads very badly.
 * Tu bois le  mauvais  vin !  — You're drinking the wrong wine!
 * L'anglais, ce n'est jamais que du français  mal  prononcé.  (Georges Clemenceau) — English is nothing but mispronounced French.
 * Bien !  — Good!
 * C'est très bien !  — That's very good!
 * Bien sûr.  — Of course.
 * Elle l'aime.  — She loves him.
 * J'aime bien mon ami.  — I like my friend.

Occupations
Remember that occupations (along with nationalities and religions) can act as adjectives when used with  être  or  devenir, so unlike in English, the French often drop the indefinite article ( un ,  une , etc.) before an occupation. However, if any specification follows the occupation, then the indefinite article must be added. Omitting the indefinite article is optional. However, if it's included in the third-person, then you must use  c'est  or  ce sont.
 * Je suis juge.  — I am a judge.
 * Elle va devenir avocate.  — She is going to become a lawyer.
 * Tu es un juge respecté par tous.  — You are a judge respected by all.
 * Il veut devenir un professeur pour adultes.  — He wants to become a teacher for adults.
 * C'est un juge.  — He's a judge.
 * C’est une dentiste bien connue.  — She is a well-known dentist.
 * Ce sont des journalistes.  — They are journalists.

Genders in Occupations
Some occupations have the same form in both masculine and feminine. Other occupations have a feminine form that's derived from the masculine:
 * un/une docteur  — a doctor
 * un/une juge  — a judge
 * un/une journaliste  — a journalist
 * un/une pédiatre  — a pediatrician
 * un/une dentiste  — a dentist
 * un/une auteur  — an author
 * un/une secrétaire  — a secretary
 * un/une ingénieur  — an engineer

Negatives
A negation changes the meaning of a statement to its negative. Most French negations are constructed out of two words that surround a conjugated verb. Note that the particle  ne  elides before vowel sounds. Along with  ne...pas, there are a number of other negations you can use. Note that in negations, indefinite and partitive articles change to  de. Of course, there's an exception: when negating  être, all articles may be used.
 * Je  ne  comprends  pas .  — I don't understand.
 * Il  ne  parle  pas  anglais.  — He doesn't speak English.
 * Vous  n' avez  pas  de chien.  — You don't have a dog.
 * Ils  n' aiment  pas  le menu.  — They don't like the menu.
 * Ne...plus:  not any more/no more/not any longer/no longer
 * Elle n'a plus de lait.  — She has no more milk.
 * Il ne peut plus marcher.  — He can't walk any longer.
 * Ne...jamais:  not ever/never
 * Je ne sais jamais.  — I never know.
 * Je ne gagne jamais.  — I don't ever win.
 * Ne...rien:  not anything/nothing
 * Je n'ai rien.  — I have nothing.
 * Elles ne voient rien.  — They don't see anything.
 * Ne...personne:  not anybody/nobody/not anyone/no one
 * Je ne vois personne.  — I don't see anybody.
 * Il ne veut voir personne.  — He doesn't want to see anyone.
 * Elle n'a pas  de  lait.  — She doesn't have milk. (Not  du lait .)
 * Je n'entends plus  de  bruit.  — I don't hear a sound anymore. (Not  un bruit .)
 * Je n’entends plus  d’ oiseaux.  — I don’t hear birds anymore. (Not  des oiseaux .)
 * Ce liquide n'est pas  du  lait.  — This liquid isn't milk.
 * Ce n'est pas  un  couteau.  — That's not a knife.

Negative Pronouns and Conjunctions
In addition to the negative adverbs above, you also have the option of starting a sentence with a negative adverb, which acts like a masculine subject. Both  personne  and  rien  can also be negative pronouns if you put  ne  after them.

Personne ne  means "nobody". Rien ne  ("nothing") is the pronoun version of  ne...rien. The negative conjunction  ni  can be used to add something to a negation and is similar to the English "nor". Think of it as a negative form of  et  ("and"). Ni  can be used instead of negative adverbs or in addition to them. When  ni  coordinates multiple conjugated verbs, each verb must be preceded by  ne.
 * Personne ne sait.  — Nobody knows.
 * Personne n'aime cela.  — Nobody likes that.
 * Rien n'est parfait.  — Nothing is perfect.
 * Rien n'est si dangereux qu'un ignorant ami.  (Jean de La Fontaine) — Nothing is so dangerous as an ignorant friend.
 * Elle  ne  connaît  ni  toi  ni  moi.  — She knows neither you nor me. (Or "She doesn't know you or me.")
 * Je  ne  veux  ni  ce repas  ni  cette boisson.  — I want neither this meal nor this drink.
 * Il  ne  fait  pas  chaud  ni  froid.  — It is neither hot nor cold.
 * Je  ne  lis pas,  ni n' écris.  — I don't read or write.
 * Il  ne  veut  ni ne  peut manger de la colle.  — He neither wants nor is able to eat glue.

Word Order
When the negated verb has a pronoun object, it belongs right after  ne. When a negation is used with an inversion (to ask a question), the whole inversion must remain inside the negation. Unconjugated verbs like infinitives must come after the negation. Extra adverbs that modify the verb usually come after the negation. Otherwise, they follow the rules from "Adverbs 1".
 * Je ne  l' aime pas.  — I don't like it.
 * Je n' en  ai pas.  — I don't have any. (Lit: "I do not have some of it.)
 * Ne  comprenez-vous  pas ?  — Don't you understand?
 * Pourquoi ne l' as-tu  pas ?  — Why don't you have it?
 * Ne pas  toucher .  — Do not touch.
 * Elle choisit de ne pas  manger .  — She chooses not to eat.
 * On ne marche pas  vite .  — We aren't walking quickly.
 * Elle ne vient jamais  ici .  — She never comes here.

Other Notes
In English, two negatives may make a positive, but in French, they usually don't. For instance, consider  ne...jamais rien, which is "never...anything", not "never...nothing". The particle  ne  is often skipped or slurred in casual speech. It's also omitted for short phrases that lack a verb. Remember that verbs of appreciation (e.g.  aimer ) require the definite article in French. Negations are no different.
 * Ils ne vont jamais rien perdre.  — They will never lose anything.
 * Elle ne mange jamais rien.  — She never eats anything.
 * Pas si vite !  — Not so fast!
 * Pas de problème.  — No problem.
 * I don't like fish. —  Je n'aime pas le poisson.  (Not  Je n'aime pas de poisson. )

Subordinating Conjunctions
In "Conjunctions 1", you learned about coordinating conjunctions, which link similar elements that have equal importance in a sentence. However, in complex sentences, one clause may be dependent on another. In this example,  parce qu'il a faim  ("because he is hungry") is a  dependent clause  because it gives more information about the  independent clause   il mange  ("he eats"). The dependent clause is introduced by  parce que, which is a  subordinating conjunction. Many subordinating conjunctions end in  que.
 * Il mange parce qu'il a faim.  — He eats because he is hungry.

Unlike coordinating conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions can begin sentences.
 * Lorsque le garçon mange, la fille mange.  — When the boy eats, the girl eats.
 * Pendant que je lis, il écrit.  — While I read, he is writing.

TEMPORAL CONJUNCTIONS
Quand  and  lorsque  both mean "when", but they aren't always interchangeable. Both can be used for temporal correlations, but  lorsque  refers to one particular instance, while  quand  can refer to one or multiple instances. Quand  is also an adverb, so it can be used in questions. When in doubt, use  quand. Alors que ,  pendant que, and  tandis que  can indicate simultaneity. Alors que  and  tandis que  can also indicate a contrast or contradiction, though this is rare for  tandis que.
 * Je sortais quand/lorsque tu arrivais.  — I was leaving when you were arriving.
 * Je mange quand j'ai faim  — I eat when (whenever) I am hungry.
 * Quand mangez-vous ?  — When do you eat?
 * Je mange alors que tu manges.  — I eat while you eat.
 * Pendant que tu bois, je bois.  — While you drink, I drink.
 * Elle est grande, alors que je suis petit.  — She is tall, whereas I am short.
 * Je mange alors que je n'ai pas faim.  — I am eating even though I am not hungry.

CAUSAL CONJUNCTIONS
Parce que ,  car, and  puisque  all mean "because" and describe some kind of cause-and-effect relationship, but they aren't completely interchangeable.

Parce que  is a subordinating conjunction that provides an explanation, motive, or justification. Car  is similar to  parce que, but it's a coordinating conjunction and thus cannot begin a sentence or clause. Puisque  is a subordinating conjunction that means "because" or "since" and gives an already-known or obvious reason or justification.
 * Elle lit parce qu'elle a un livre.  — She is reading because she has a book.
 * Parce qu'elle est jeune, elle est jolie.  — She is pretty because she is young.
 * Je mange du poulet, car j'aime la viande.  — I am eating chicken because I like meat.
 * Puisque il pleut, j'ai un parapluie.  — Since it's raining, I have an umbrella.

ELISIONS WITH SI AND QUE
Usually, only one-syllable words ending in  -e  can be elided, but the main exceptions are  elle ,  si, and words ending in  que. However,  si  only elides before  il  and  ils, so you must write  s'il , but cannot write  s'elle.

Constructing Adverbs
In English, many adverbs are constructed from adjectives by adding "-ly" to the end. For instance, "quick" becomes "quickly". In French, add  -ment  to feminine adjectives to create adverbs. However, if the masculine form ends in  -nt, replace that ending with  -mment  instead.
 * facile  (easy) ⇒  facilement  (easily)
 * forte  (strong) ⇒  fortement  (strongly)
 * grande  (great) ⇒  grandement  (greatly)
 * constant  (constant) ⇒  constamment  (constantly)
 * prudent  (prudent) ⇒  prudemment  (prudently)

Adverbs with Negations
In negative clauses, adverbs that would otherwise follow the verb usually appear after the negation.
 * Nous ne vivons pas  ensemble .  — We don't live together.
 * Ce n'est pas  si  mauvais.  — That isn't so bad.

Cognates
As you may have noticed, a lot of English vocabulary ( vocabulaire ) comes from French. This has created many etymological patterns that you can use to your advantage when learning new words. Consider the following suffix patterns:
 * -aire  ⇒ -ary
 * ordinaire  — ordinary
 * dictionnaire  — dictionary
 * -eur  ⇒ -er
 * chargeur  — charger
 * serveur  — server (waiter)
 * -tion  /  -sion  ⇒ -tion
 * invitation  — invitation
 * condition  — condition
 * -ment  ⇒ -ment
 * le document  — the document
 * le gouvernement  — the government
 * -ment  (adverb) ⇒ -ly
 * probablement — probably
 * evidemment — evidently
 * -ique  ⇒ -ical
 * logique  — logical
 * électrique  — electrical
 * -able  ⇒ -able / -ible
 * responsable  — responsible
 * indispensable  — indispensable

Noun Adjuncts
Unlike English, French does not have  noun adjuncts, which are nouns that modify other nouns. Instead, you must use  de  or another preposition to make one noun modify another.
 * l'album de photos  — photo album
 * la soupe de poulet  — chicken soup
 * le hockey sur gazon  — field hockey

Determiners
You learned in "Basics 1" that almost all nouns must be preceded by an article. This isn't entirely accurate. Rather, almost all nouns must be preceded by a  determiner, which is a word that puts a noun in context. As of this unit, you will have encountered every type of determiner. There are very few exceptions to the rule that nouns must have a determiner. A few are verb-based. For instance: names of professions, religions and a few nouns expressing a status with  être ; names of languages with  parler ; and most nouns with  devenir. Determiners are also omitted after some prepositions. Recall that French does not have noun adjuncts, which are nouns that qualify other nouns. Instead, use  de  between two nouns to qualify the first one.
 * Articles, as in  le   pantalon  ("the pants").
 * Possessive adjectives, as in  ton   cochon  ("your pig").
 * Cardinal numbers, as in  deux   chevaux  ("two horses").
 * Interrogative adjectives, as in  quel   chat ?  ("which cat?").
 * Exclamation adjectives, as in  quelle   chance !  ("what luck!").
 * Negative adjectives, as in  aucune   chance  ("no chance!").
 * Indefinite adjectives, as in  plusieurs   jouets  ("several toys").
 * Je suis médecin.  — I am a doctor.
 * Il est bon élève.  — He is a good student.
 * Elle est victime de son succès.  — She is a victim of her own success.
 * Paul était témoin à mon mariage.  — Paul was a witness at my wedding.
 * Je parle anglais.  — I speak English.
 * Il devient roi du Nord.  — He becomes King of the North.
 * Je ne peux pas vivre  sans  eau.  — I cannot live without water.
 * Nous le transportons  par  avion  — We transport it by aircraft.
 * C'est une feuille  de  papier.  — This is a sheet of paper.
 * C'est un album  de  photos.  — That's a photo album. (Lit, "album of photos.")
 * Je vais à l’agence  de  voyage.  – I am going to the travel agency.
 * Il a un couteau  de  cuisine.  – He has a kitchen knife.

INDEFINITE ADJECTIVES
Indefinite adjectives  like  plusieurs ,  certains ,  quelques, and  chaque  references nouns in a non-specific sense, akin to the way indefinite articles reference nouns.
 * L'enfant a  plusieurs  jouets.  — The child has  several  toys.
 * Certains   hommes sont mauvais.  —  Some  (or "certain") men are bad.
 * J'ai  quelques  livres.  — I have a  few  (or "some") books.
 * L’automne est un deuxième printemps où  chaque  feuille est une fleur.  (Albert Camus) — Autumn is a second spring where  every  leaf is a flower.

Comparatives and Superlatives
In "Adverbs 1", you learned that you can use  plus  as a comparative and  le/la/les plus  as a superlative. Bon  ("good"),  bien  ("well"), and  mauvais  ("bad") also have comparative and superlative forms, but they're irregular, just like their English counterparts.
 * C'est une plus jolie robe.  — That's a prettier dress.
 * C'est la plus jolie robe.  — That's the prettiest dress.

Bon
To say "better" when referring to a noun, you can't just say  plus bon. Instead, use  meilleur, which is a BANGS adjective with four inflections. For the superlative, just add a definite article before the adjective that agrees with it.
 * Elle cherche un meilleur emploi.  — She is looking for a better job.
 * Je veux de meilleures robes.  — I want better dresses. (Remember that  des becomes  de  when immediately followed by an adjective.)
 * Paul est le meilleur.  — Paul is the best.
 * Ses filles sont les meilleures.  — Her daughters are the best.

Bien
When "better" modifies an action or state of being, you must use  mieux. Add a definite article to create a superlative.
 * Il parle mieux japonais.  — He speaks better Japanese.
 * Ça va mieux.  — It is going better.
 * C'est Paul qui cuisine le mieux.  — It's Paul who cooks the best.
 * Il les connait le mieux.  — He knows them the best.

Mauvais
Unlike  bon  and  bien, comparative and superlative forms of  mauvais  can either be regular (with  plus ) or irregular (with  pire ).
 * C'est une plus mauvaise situation.  — That's a worse situation.
 * Ça peut être pire.  — That might be worse.
 * Ce sont les pires choix.  — Those are the worst choices.

Temporal Prepositions
Choosing a preposition for time depends on the situation, but multiple choices may be appropriate.

DURATIONS
Pendant  and  durant  are interchangeable and mean "during" or "for". These are versatile and can be used for most expressions of duration. Depuis  ("since" or "for") can be used for things that are still happening, and it's usually followed by a start date or a duration. It's tricky because a French present-tense verb with  depuis  often translates to an English present perfect verb. En  ("in") indicates the length of time an action requires for completion and can be used with any tense. Pour  ("for") is the most limited choice and is only used with  aller  or  partir  for future events.
 * Pendant l'été, il fait chaud.  — During the summer, it is hot.
 * Je veux dormir pendant une semaine !  — I want to sleep for a week!
 * Elles peuvent rester durant un jour.  — They can stay for a day.
 * Chaque matin, je cours pendant une heure.  — Every morning, I run for an hour.
 * Il pleut depuis hier.  — It has been raining since yesterday.
 * Je te connais depuis deux ans.  — I have known you for two years.
 * Je peux le finir en deux heures.  — I can finish it in two hours.
 * Elle va lire le livre en une heure.  — She is going to read the book in an hour.
 * Il est en vacances pour une semaine.  – He is on vacation for a week.
 * Je vais chez moi pour la nuit.  — I am going home for the night.

Puzzling Prepositions
Chez  can be combined with a pronoun or noun to refer to someone's home or workplace. Entre  means "between", both literally and figuratively. Parmi  means "among" and indicates that something is part of a larger group of assorted people, animals, or things. However, if the larger group is uniform in some specific way,  entre  can also mean "among". There are some situations where both  entre  and  parmi  are acceptable. Devant  and  avant  both mean "before", but  devant  is spatial while  avant  is temporal.
 * Je vais chez le dentiste.  — I am going to the dentist's.
 * Elle est chez Kristy.  — She's at Kristy's house.
 * Il est entre deux fougères.  — He is between two ferns.
 * Je te le dis, mais c'est entre nous.  — I can tell you, but it's between us.
 * Des lions sont parmi les animaux du zoo.  — Lions are among the zoo animals.
 * Le chat dort parmi les chiens.  — The cat sleeps among the dogs.
 * Ici, nous sommes entre femmes.  — Here, we are among women.
 * Nous pouvons parler librement entre collègues.  — We can speak freely among colleagues.
 * Il choisit entre/parmi les options.  — He chooses between the options.
 * Je suis devant vous.  — I stand before you.
 * Il mange avant nous.  — He eats before us.

PEU
Using the word  peu  ("few"/"little") can be surprisingly complicated. By itself,  peu  is usually an adverb that diminishes what it modifies and is generally translated using "not very/much/well". Appending  de  creates an adverb of quantity that modifies nouns. However,  peu  can also be a noun, especially when preceded by an article.
 * Elle parle peu.  — She doesn't talk much.
 * Il est peu probable.  — It is not very likely.
 * Je vous connais peu.  — I don't know you well.
 * Ce phénomène est peu fréquent.  – This phenomenon is infrequent.
 * peu après  — not long after
 * Peu de femmes disent ça.  — Few women say that.
 * Peu d'eau sur la Terre est potable.  — Little of the water on Earth is drinkable.
 * Elle parle un peu de français.  — She speaks a bit of French.
 * Tu veux manger un peu de fraises ?  — Do you want to eat a few strawberries?
 * Oui, j'en veux un peu.  — Yes, I want a few. (Or "a little".)

Spatial Prepositions
Expressing locations in French can be tricky because many English prepositions don't have one-to-one French translations. This is especially true for "in", which can be  dans ,  en, or  à  depending on how specific the location is.

Dans  means "in" for specific, known locations. It is especially appropriate when the location name has an article or possessive. Use  à  and its contractions for unspecific or vague locations. When describing a location that doesn't require a determiner (usually a type of place), use  en.
 * Il mange dans le restaurant.  — He's eating in the restaurant.
 * Un chat est dans ma chambre.  — A cat is in my room.
 * On vit à la campagne.  — We live in the country.
 * C'est dangereux à la frontière.  — It's dangerous at the frontier.
 * Nous sommes en classe.  — We are in class.
 * Elle est en prison.  — She is in prison.

SPECIAL RULES
For all cities (and islands), use  à  for "to" or "in" and  de  for "from". Countries, provinces/states, and continents have gender-based rules. For feminine ones,  en  means "to" or "in" and  de  means "from". Luckily, all continents are feminine, as are most countries ending in  -e. For masculine countries, provinces, and states that start with a consonant sound, use  au and  du. If they start with a vowel sound, switch back to  en  and  de  for euphony. For countries with pluralized names (mainly the USA), use  aux  and  des.
 * Le roi vit à Versailles.  — The king lives in Versailles.
 * Nous allons à Paris.  — We are going to Paris.
 * Napoléon vient de Corse.  — Napoleon comes from Corsica.
 * Je l'envoie d'Orléans.  — I am sending it from Orleans.
 * Bordeaux est en France.  — Bordeaux is in France.
 * Il reste en Europe.  — He is staying in Europe.
 * On vient de Californie.  — We come from California.
 * Elle part d'Asie.  — She is departing from Asia.
 * Je veux aller au Québec.  — I want to go to Quebec.
 * Elles partent du Japon.  — They are departing from Japan.
 * Il y a une guerre en Irak.  — There is a war in Iraq.
 * J'arrive d'Ontario.  — I am coming from Ontario.
 * On travaille aux États-Unis.  — We work in the United States.

Using the Present for the Future
In both French and English, the present tense can often be used to express the near future ( le futur proché ). In French, this usage is basically equivalent to  aller  + infinitive.
 * Je vais à Paris demain.  — I am going to Paris tomorrow.
 * Demain c'est samedi.  — It's Saturday tomorrow.
 * La fête commence demain.  — The party begins tomorrow.

Irregular Plurals
Most French nouns and adjectives can be pluralized by adding an ending  -s, like in English. Those that can't be pluralized like this normally will have plural forms that end in  -x. For instance, most nouns ending in  -al  or  -ail  change to  -aux. Similarly, masculine singular adjectives ending in  -al  take on  -aux  endings in the plural. However, feminine singular adjectives ending in  -ale  simply add an ending  -s. Add  -x  to the end of most nouns that end in  -au ,  -eau, and  -eu  to pluralize them. The plural forms of  -au ,  -eau, and  -eu  words are homophones of their singular forms. In general, the best way to tell if a noun is plural is to listen carefully to its article. If you hear  les  or  des, it's plural. Otherwise, it's probably singular.
 * un animal  ⇒  des animaux  ("animals")
 * le travail  ⇒  les travaux  ("work")
 * général  ->  généraux  ("general")
 * générale  ->  générales  ("general")
 * idéal  ->  idéaux  ("ideal")
 * idéale  ->  idéales  ("ideal")
 * un tuyau  ⇒  des tuyaux  ("pipes")
 * mon chapeau  ⇒  mes chapeaux  ("my hats")
 * le feu  ⇒  les feux  ("fires")

People
French nouns for persons of a certain nationality are capitalized, but in French, national adjectives and language names are not capitalized. Remember that nouns for nationalities (and also professions and religions) can appear after  être  without a determiner. In this usage, they act like adjectives and are not capitalized.
 * C'est une Anglaise.  — She's an Englishwoman.
 * C'est une voiture anglaise.  — It's an English car.
 * Ce sont des Françaises.  — They are Frenchwomen.
 * Elles parlent français.  — They speak French.
 * Je suis chinois.  — I am Chinese. / I am a Chinese man.
 * Mon oncle est italien.  — My uncle is Italian. / My uncle is an Italian man.

Refresher: Stative Verbs
Because French lacks continuous tenses, most French verbs can translate to either simple or continuous tenses in English (and vice versa). However, as you learned in "Verbs: Present 2", English stative verbs cannot be used in continuous tenses. You can only use them in simple tenses. Generally, if a verb refers to a process, it's a dynamic verb; if it refers to a state or condition, it's a stative verb. The most common stative verb is "to be", but here are some other common examples: However, some verbs can be either stative or active depending on context. For instance: This restriction on using stative verbs in English continuous tenses will be particularly important in the next few units.
 * Mes amis dorment.  — My friends sleep. / My friends are sleeping.
 * Il parle le russe.  — He speaks Russian. / He is speaking Russian.
 * Mes amis aiment dormir.  — My friends like to sleep. (Not "are liking".)
 * Il sait parler russe.  — He knows how to speak Russian. (Not "is knowing".)
 * Possessing: belong, get, have, own, possess
 * Feeling: hate, like, love, need, want
 * Sensing: feel, hear, see, smell, taste
 * Thinking: believe, know, recognize, think, understand
 * "To have" can be dynamic when it means "to consume".
 * "To feel" is stative, but "to feel sick" or "to feel better" are dynamic.
 * "To be" can be dynamic when it means "to act".

Pronominal Verbs
A  pronominal verb  requires a  reflexive pronoun, which is a special kind of pronoun that agrees with and refers back to the subject. They're identical to direct object pronouns except for the third-person  se. One type of pronominal verb, the  reflexive verb, describes an action being done by the subject to the subject. Reflexive verbs include  se  in their infinitive forms (e.g.  se promener ). It isn't necessary to include the reflexive pronoun in the English translation. Also, the reflexive verb should come after  ne  in negations. The other kinds of pronominal verbs are reciprocal, passive, and subjective. You will learn these later.
 * Je  me  dis que ce n'est pas possible.  — I tell myself that it isn't possible.
 * Vous  vous  levez.  — You are getting up. (Lit, "You raise yourself".)
 * La femme  se  promène . — The woman goes for a walk. (Lit, "walks herself".)
 * Ils se rasent.  — They are shaving.
 * Elle ne se rase pas.  — She doesn't shave.

Pronoun Order
When two object pronouns modify the same verb, they always appear in a predefined order:  me/te/nous/vous/se  >  le/la/les  >  lui/leur  >  y  >  en.
 * Je vous la laisse.  — I am leaving it for you.
 * Nous nous la réservons.  – We reserve it for ourselves.
 * Ils nous le donnent.  — They are giving it to us.
 * Ils le lui donnent.  — They are giving it to him.

Verbs with  À  and  De
As you learned previously,  à  or  de  can appear after a verb to introduce an infinitive or object. You should consider such a preposition to be an integral part of the verb that completes or changes its meaning. However, recall from "Verbs: Present 1" that semi-auxiliary verbs can introduce other verbs without needing a preposition.
 * Je commence  à  manger.  — I am starting to eat.
 * Ma nièce essaie  de  dormir.  — My niece is trying to sleep.
 * Je pense  à  des éléphants roses.  — I am thinking about pink elephants.
 * Que pensez-vous  de  ce film ?  — What do you think of that film?
 * Il pense  qu 'elle est belle.  — He thinks that she is beautiful.
 * Je veux lire.  — I want to read.
 * Il aime manger.  — He likes to eat.

Y  REPLACES  À  + THING
For verbs appended with  à  (like  penser à ), the adverbial pronoun  y  can replace  à  + a thing. To replace  à  + a person or animal, use an indirect object pronoun instead.
 * Tu penses à l'examen ?  — Are you thinking about the test?
 * Oui, j' y  pense encore.  — Yeah, I'm thinking about it again.
 * Il croit aux fantômes ?  — Does he believe in ghosts?
 * Oui, il  y  croit.  — Yes, he believes in them.
 * Je  lui  pense.  — I am thinking about him/her.
 * Elle  me  téléphoné maintenant.  — She is calling me right now.

Venir De
In "Places", you learned that the present tense can be used to express the near future. Similarly, the present tense can also express the recent past in the construction  venir de + infinitive, but these should be translated to the simple past or present perfect in English.
 * Je viens de voir cela.  — I just saw that.
 * Il vient de déjeuner.  — He has just had lunch.

Confusing Verbs
Demander à  means "to ask to" when followed by an infinitive. However, when used with nouns,  demander  is particularly confusing because its direct and indirect object are the opposite of its English counterpart, "to ask". Écouter  means "to listen" in the literal sense of intentionally listening or paying attention to something. Entendre  can mean "hear", "listen", or (rarely) "understand". Manquer  means "to miss", but the pronouns are flipped from its English counterpart. If it helps, you can think of  manquer  as "to be missed by". Plaire à  is commonly translated as "to like", but for grammatical purposes, think of it as "to please" or "to be pleasing to". The pronominal verb  se lever  ("to get up") means to physically get up from a non-standing position, not to wake up.
 * Elle demande à payer avec des dollars.  — She asks to pay with dollars.
 * Je demande une baguette.  — I ask for a baguette. (Not "I ask a baguette.")
 * Je demande une baguette à la boulangère.  — I ask the baker for a baguette.
 * Je lui demande de me donner une baguette.  — I ask her to give me a baguette.
 * J'écoute de la musique.  — I am listening to music.
 * Elle écoute la voix de la sagesse.  — She listens to the voice of reason.
 * J'entends du bruit.  — I hear noise.
 * Elle ne veut rien entendre.  — She won't listen.
 * Vous me manquez.  — I miss you.
 * Je vous manque.  — You miss me.
 * La jupe plaît aux filles.  — The girls like the skirt. / The skirt is pleasing to the girls.
 * Ça me plaît.  — I like it. / That is pleasing to me.

Conjugating the Imperfect
French has a few past tenses, one of which is the  imperfect  ( imparfait ). You can construct it by taking the present indicative  nous  form of any verb and replacing the  -ons  with the imperfect ending. Notice that all the conjugated forms except the  nous  and  vous  forms have the same sound. The only irregular imperfect verb is  être, which takes on an  ét-  root. However, for spelling-changing verbs that end in  -ger  or  -cer  (e.g.  manger ), add an "e" to the root so the consonant remains soft.
 * Kilroy  était  ici.  — Kilroy was here.
 * Elle  mangeait  avec ses amis.  — She was eating with her friends.

Translating the Imperfect
Translating the past tense between English and French can be difficult because there is no simple mapping between the English past tenses and the two main French past tenses, the  imparfait  and the  passé composé  (taught in the next unit). When choosing a tense, pay close attention to what you're trying to express.

The imperfect describes situations, states of mind, and habits in the past. In a story, it sets the scene or background; thus, it often translates to and from the English past continuous tense. For repeated actions or habits, you can also use constructions with "used to" or "would". A lot of confusion stems from the versatile English preterit (simple past), which overlaps both French tenses. For instance, the preterit can also be used for habits. As you learned in "Verbs: Present 2", stative verbs (e.g. "to be", "to think") usually can't be used in English continuous tenses. When used in past tenses, they should translate to the preterit.
 * Il  allait  chez lui.  — He was going home.
 * Dis donc ! Je  mangeais  ça !  — Hey! I was eating that!
 * Nous  visitions  chaque semaine.  — We used to visit every week.
 * À l'époque, elle  chantait  souvent.  — Back then, she would often sing.
 * Nous  visitions  chaque semaine.  — We visited every week.
 * À l'époque, elle  chantait  souvent.  — Back then, she often sang.
 * Il  croyait  son père. — He believed his father. (Not "was believing".)
 * Nous  avions  trois cousins. — We had three cousins. (Using "were having" would make you a confessed cannibal.)

Using the Imperfect
The Imperfect conveys three things from the past:

STATES OR SITUATIONS
Use the preterit here to describe mental or physical conditions, scenes, dates or times, weather, etc. Remember that you should never use English continuous tenses for stative verbs. In the examples below, "looked", "smelled", and "understood" are stative verbs. Also, when using  il y a  in other tenses, conjugate  avoir  to match. For the Imperfect, it becomes  avait.
 * Il  était  malade.  — He  was  sick.
 * Elle  avait  froid.  — She  was  cold.
 * Nous  avions  vingt ans.  — We  were  twenty.
 * Tu  semblais  heureux.  — You  looked  happy. (Not "were looking".)
 * Il  était  trois heures.  — It  was  3:00.
 * Vos fleurs  sentaient  si bon !  — Your flowers  smelled  so nice! (Not "were smelling".)
 * Elle  comprenait  mes sentiments.  — She  understood  my feelings. (Not "was understanding".)
 * Il y  avait  du vent.  — It  was  windy.

ACTIONS OR PROCESSES
The continuous past can be used here to set up a scene by describing an action or process. Note that "was" and "were" are the preterit forms of "to be", but they are also auxiliary verbs for the continuous past when used before another verb in gerund.
 * Je  marchais  lentement.  — I  was walking  slowly.
 * Vous  regardiez  la mer.  — You  were watching  the sea.
 * Elles  pensaient  à leurs enfants.  — They  were thinking  of their children. ("Thinking" is a process here.)
 * Il  pleuvait  fort.  — It  was raining  hard.

A HABIT OR REPEATED ACTION
Note that you shouldn't use the past continuous here, but as mentioned before, you may use the preterit, "used to", or "would".
 * Nous nous  entraînions  chaque semaine.  - We  used to train  every week.
 * Il  récitait  des poèmes.  — He  would  (or)  used to recite  poems.
 * Je  ressentais  souvent de la douleur.  — I frequently  felt  pain.

Compound Past
Compound verbs  contain at least two words: a conjugated auxiliary and a participle. In this unit, we will cover the  passé composé  ( PC ), which can translate to the English present perfect. In both languages, the compound verb begins with a conjugated auxiliary verb ( avoir and "to have" here) that agrees with the subject. A past participle (e.g.  vu  or "seen") follows the auxiliary.
 * Elle  a vu  ce chien.  — She  has seen  that dog.
 * Ils  ont dit  la verité.  — They  have told  the truth.

Auxiliaries
In English, the active present perfect has only one auxiliary verb ("to have"), but the  PC has two:  avoir  and  être. Most verbs use  avoir. A handful of verbs use  être. The mnemonic "ADVENT" may help you remember these. The remaining verbs are  passer  (pass),  rester  (stay),  retourner  (return), and  accourir  (run up). Notice that  être  verbs involve movement or transformation. Also, all pronominal verbs use  être. Object pronouns, negations, and inversions appear around the auxiliary.
 * J' ai  été malade.  — I have been sick.
 * Il  a  appelé un docteur.  — He has called a doctor.
 * Il est venu.  — He has come.
 * Septembre est passé.  — September has passed.
 * Je suis devenu roi.  — I have become king.
 * Il s'est souvenu de ses amis.  — He has remembered his friends.
 * Il s'est rasé.  — He has shaved.
 * Je  l 'ai entendu.  — I have heard him.
 * Il  ne m 'a  pas  trouvé.  — He has not found me.
 * Avez- vous  vu les robes ?  — Have you seen the dresses?
 * Pourquoi  l'avez - vous fait ?  — Why have you done it?

Past Participles
A participle is a special non-conjugated form of a verb. Most participles are formed by adding an ending to a verb's root. Unfortunately, most irregular verbs have irregular participles. For instance, the past participle of  venir  is  venu. Note that participles vary with gender and number just like adjectives. Adverbs appear right before the participle.
 * Il est venu.  — He has come.
 * Les filles sont venues.  — The girls have come.
 * Je l’ai  souvent  entendu.  — I often heard him/her/it.
 * Je vous en ai  déjà  parlé.  — I already talked to you about it.

PARTICIPLE AGREEMENT
A participle that follows  avoir  is usually invariable. However, if a direct object appears before  avoir, its participle agrees with the direct object. Below,  vues  agrees with the plural feminine  robes  because  les  precedes the verb. A participle that follows  être  agrees with the subject. However, if a pronominal verb is intransitive, then the participle is invariable. For instance, compare  s'appeler  (transitive) to  se telephoner  (intransitive).
 * L'homme a mangé.  — The man has eaten.
 * Les femmes ont mangé.  — The women have eaten.
 * Tu as vu les robes ?  — Have you seen the dresses?
 * Oui, je  les  ai vues.  — Yes, I have seen them.
 * L'homme est venu.  — The man has come.
 * Les hommes sont venus.  — The men have come.
 * La femme est venue.  — The woman has come.
 * Les femmes sont venues.  — The women have come.
 * Nous nous sommes appelé s .  — We called each other. (For a masculine  nous .)
 * Nous nous sommes téléphoné.  — We called each other. (For both genders of  nous .)

Using the  PC
Translating the past tense can be difficult because the English simple past (preterit) overlaps the French  passé composé  and  imparfait  (taught in the previous unit). The  PC can translate to the preterit when it narrates events or states that began and ended in the past. In this usage, the  PC  often appears with expressions of time or frequency like  il y a, which means "ago" when followed by a duration. The  PC  can also translate to the present perfect for actions and states that started in the past and are still true.
 * La fille  a mangé  il y a cinq minutes.  — The girl  ate  five minutes ago. (A single specific event.)
 * Les enfants  ont eu  froid hier.  — The children  were  cold yesterday. (A state on a specific date.)
 * Je  suis tombé(e)  plusieurs fois.  — I  fell  several times. (Multiple specific actions.)
 * Je  suis  déjà  tombé(e) . — I already fell. (An event in an undetermined time frame.)
 * Il n’ a jamais  mangé de pâtes.  — He  has  never  eaten  pasta.
 * Tu  as perdu  tes clés.  – You  have lost  your keys.

Combining Tenses
The  imparfait  and  passé composé  can work together in the same sentence. A verb in the  imparfait  may be used as a background for an action given by a verb in the  passé composé. Remember that while you shouldn't use English continuous tenses for stative verbs (such as "to be"), any French verb can take the  imparfait. Thus, you may often need to translate the  imparfait  into the English preterit when dealing with verbs that describe background feelings or states.
 * Elle  chantait  quand elle  est arrivée .  — She was singing when she arrived.
 * Vous m' avez téléphoné  pendant que  je dînais .  — You called me while I was having dinner.
 * Il  dormait  quand il  a entendu  un bruit.  — He was sleeping when he heard a noise.
 * Je  marchais  quand je  suis tombé .  — I was walking when I fell.
 * Je le  savais  mais je l’ai oublié.  — I  knew  it but I forgot it. (Not "was knowing".)
 * Je  connaissais  l’histoire qu’elle a racontée hier.  — I  knew  the story she told yesterday.
 * Je le  comprenais, alors je l'ai accepté.  — I  understood  it, so I accepted it.

Être  Verbs + Direct Objects
Six  être  verbs can be used transitively with a direct object:  monter ,  descendre ,  sortir ,  rentrer ,  retourner, and  passer. When used transitively, they switch from  être  to take  avoir as an auxiliary. Notice that the transitive versions of these verbs have a different meaning than the intransitive versions.
 * Je suis monté(e).  — I went up.
 * J'ai monté les valises.  — I brought up the suitcases.
 * Il est sorti.  — He left.
 * Il a sorti son portefeuille.  — He took out his wallet.
 * Septembre est passé.  — September has passed.
 * J'ai passé trois heures ici.  — I spent three hours here.

Past Participles as Adjectives
Just like in English, past participles can be used as adjectives in French.
 * La baguette  grillée  — The toasted baguette
 * Des biens  vendus  — Sold goods
 * Elle est  mariée .  — She is married.
 * C'est du temps  perdu .  — It is lost time.

Advanced Participle Agreement
You learned in the first compound verb lesson that participles that follow an  avoir auxiliary are invariable unless a direct object (often a pronoun) precedes the verb. An  avoir  participle also agrees with any form of  quel  + a noun as long as the noun is the object of the compound verb. This is also true for  lequel  (plus its other forms) and  combien. Participles do not agree with indirect objects,  y, nor  en.
 * Voici nos livres. Je  les  ai achetés hier.  — Here are our books. I bought them yesterday.
 * Où est leur voiture ? Ils  l 'ont vendue ?  — Where is their car? Did they sell it?
 * C’est  la fille  que j’ai vue.  – She is the girl that I saw.
 * Quelle femme   avez-vous vu e  ?  — Which woman did you see?
 * Quels bonbons   a-t-il acheté s  ?  — Which candies did he buy?
 * Laquelle   des   filles   as-tu vu e  ?  — Which of the girls did you see?
 * Lesquelles   de ces  chemises  a-t-il aimé es  ?  — Which of those shirts did he like?
 * Combien de robes   ta fille a-t-elle acheté es ?  — How many dresses did your daughter buy?
 * Je leur ai parlé.  — I talked to them.
 * J'y ai pensé.  — I thought about it.
 * Nous en avons vendu.  — We have sold some.

C'est  in the  PC
In the present indicative tense,  c'est  can be used to identify or describe nouns. In the  passé composé ,  être  takes  avoir  as an auxiliary. One consequence of this is that  ce actually becomes  ç'  because it must elide before the vowel beginnings of all forms of  avoir  while still retaining its original soft consonant sound. Since this form is somewhat awkward, many Francophones prefer to use the  imparfait instead. In informal writing, you may also see the ungrammatical form  Ça a été. When spoken, both "A" sounds fuse into one long vowel. Erudite Francophones may also use  ce fut  as a subsitute. This alternative uses the  passé simple  tense, one of French's literary tenses.
 * Ç'a été un succès !  — This has been a success!
 * Ç'a été un désastre !  — This has been a disaster!
 * C'était très agréable.  — That was very pleasant.
 * C'était très bon pour l'économie.  — This was very good for the economy.
 * Ce fut bref mais intense !  — That was short but intense!
 * Ce fut une année très intéressante.  — This has been a very interesting year.

Numbers 2
In French, most numbers are structurally similar to their English counterparts. They start as single words. After  seize  (16), French starts combining a multiple of ten (e.g.  dix ) with a single digit (e.g.  sept ) to form a compound number (e.g.  dix-sept ). English also does this starting after 20. This pattern remains in French numbers up to 60, but notice the  et  in the middle of 21, 31, 41, and 51. For 60 through 79, French combines  soixante  (60) with the numbers from 1 to 19. There is no separate word for 70. The same thing happens from 80-99, except notice that  quatre-vingts  (80) has an ending  -s  while the rest of the set does not. Also, notice that there is no  et  in 81. This pattern does not appear in Swiss French, which instead uses  septante  (70),  huitante or  octante  (80), and  nonante  (90) with the original pattern.

From 100 to 999, put the number of hundreds first, just like in English. Notice that multiples of 100 have an ending  -s, but there is no ending  -s  if  cent  is followed by another number. Numbers in the thousands are also similar to English in structure. Note that French separates every three digits with a space or period instead of a comma and that  mille  is never pluralized. Million  (million) and  milliard  (billion) do pluralize, and they keep their ending  -s  even when followed by other numbers. Also, unlike  cent  and  mille ,  million  and  milliard  must be preceded by a number. A noun can usually directly follow a number, but  de  must appear before nouns for  million  and  milliard.
 * Il est distant de milliards d'années-lumières.  — It is billions of light-years away.
 * Il y a soixante-cinq millions d'années  — Sixty-five million years ago

Possessives 3
Possessive pronouns  replace a possessive adjective + a noun. Like most other pronouns, they agree in gender and number with the noun they replace. You first encountered these in "Possessives 2". Possessive pronouns take different forms depending on how many things are possessed. First, let's take another look at the forms used when a single thing is possessed. To change these to the forms used when multiple things are possessed, simply add an  -s to the end of the pronoun and change the definite article to  les. Note that the plural forms here are invariable with gender. Possessive pronouns act like modified nouns, so you must use  ce / c'  when referring to them with  être.
 * Est-ce ton chapeau ?  — Is that your hat?
 * Oui, c'est  le mien .  — Yes, it's mine.
 * Ces enfants sont  les miens .  — These (or "those") children are mine.
 * Ce sont  les tiens .  — Those are yours.
 * Ces photos sont  les siennes .  — These photos are his (or "hers").
 * Ces jupes sont  les leurs .  — Those skirts are theirs.
 * Est-ce ton fils ?  — Is he your son?
 * Oui, c’est le mien.  (Not  il est ) — Yes, he is mine.

Demonstratives 3
Demonstrative pronouns  (e.g. "this one" or "those") replace and agree with a demonstrative adjective + noun. You learned four such pronouns in "Demonstratives 2". Demonstratives like  ce  and  celui  are ambiguous and can mean either "this" or "that". To remove this ambiguity, you can add a suffix to the end of each pronoun. Add  -ci  for "this/these" and  -là  for "that/those". These suffixes can also be used with demonstrative adjectives in many situations. In conversations, be aware that using demonstrative pronouns like  celui-là  to refer to people who aren't present can be considered condescending.
 * Tu veux celui -ci .  — You want  this  one.
 * Je préfère celle -là .  — I prefer  that  one.
 * Celles -ci  sont noires.  —  These  are black.
 * Elle n'aime pas celles -là .  — She doesn't like  those.
 * Je suis très occupé  ces jours-ci .  — I am too busy  these days.
 * Ils vous ont vus  ce jour-là  — They saw you  that day.
 * Le magasin est-il sur  ce côté-ci  de la rue ?  — Is the store on  this side  of the street?
 * Elle connaît  ce type-là .  — She knows  that guy.

The Participle as an Adjective
The French past participle, which you learned in "Verbs: Compound Past", can often be used as an adjective. Conveniently, this also occurs in English, though we may sometimes use the present participle instead of the past.
 * L'homme  fatigué  veut dormir.  — The tired man wants to sleep.
 * L'examen est  terminé .  — The test is finished.
 * Je ne suis pas  occupé .  — I am not busy.
 * On va parler avec les parties  intéressées .  — We will speak with the interested parties.

Neuf
The adjective  neuf  ("new") describes something that has just been created or manufactured. Don't confuse it with  nouveau, which describes something that has just been acquired by a new owner but may already be quite old. Remember that  nouveau becomes  nouvel  in front of vowel sounds. While  neuf  (new) and  neuf  (9) are homonyms, you can often distinguish them based on context. For instance,  neuf  (9) comes before its noun, isn't accompanied by any articles, and is invariable.
 * J'achète seulement des sous-vêtements  neufs .  — I only buy new underwear.
 * Cette voiture est  flambant neuve .  — This car is brand-new.
 * Voici ma  nouvelle  montre ancienne.  — Here's my new antique watch.
 * J'aime ton  nouvel  appartement.  — I like your new apartment.
 * J'ai  neuf  livres.  — I have nine books.
 * J'ai  des  livres neuf s .  — I have new books.

Pronouns 2
French has three sets of personal object pronouns: direct object pronouns (from "Pronouns 1"), indirect object pronouns, and disjunctive pronouns. Notice that only the third-person pronouns differ between direct and indirect objects.

Indirect Objects
As you learned in "Verbs: Present 2",  indirect objects  are nouns that are indirectly affected by a verb; they are usually introduced by a preposition. A personal indirect object pronoun can replace  à  + indirect object. For instance, the first two examples above could be changed to the following: Also,  il faut  can take an indirect object pronoun to specify where the burden falls.
 * Il écrit une lettre  à Mireille .  — He is writing a letter to Mireille.
 * Vous pouvez parler  aux juges .  — You can talk to the judges.
 * Elle parle  de son amie.  — She is talking about her friend.
 * Il  lui  écrit une lettre.  — He is writing a letter  to her.
 * Vous pouvez  leur  parler.  — You can talk  to them.
 * Il  lui  faut manger.  — He has to eat. / She has to eat.
 * Il  nous  faut le croire.  — We have to believe it/him. / It is necessary for us to believe it/him.

Disjunctive Pronouns
Disjunctive pronouns  (a.k.a. stressed or tonic pronouns) must be used in certain situations. For instance, only disjunctive pronouns can follow prepositions. Note that  lui  can be masculine or feminine when it's an indirect object, but it can only be masculine when it's disjunctive. The construction  être  +  à  + disjunctive pronoun indicates possession. However, using  à  + pronoun is incorrect when a verb can accept a preceding pronoun. Disjunctive pronouns are also used for emphasis, for multiple subjects, or in sentence fragments without a verb.
 * Il parle avec  toi .  — He speaks with you.
 * Elle pèse moins que  moi .  — She weighs less than me.
 * Ils sont rentrés chez  eux .  — They returned home.
 * C'est pour  lui .  — This is for him.
 * Je  lui  parle.  (indirect object) — I am talking to him/her.
 * Je parle de  lui .  (disjunctive) — I am talking about him.
 * Je parle d' elle .  (disjunctive) — I am talking about her.
 * Le livre est  à moi .  — The book is mine.
 * Celui-là est  à toi .  — That one is yours.
 * Ceux-là sont  à eux .  — Those are theirs.
 * Incorrect:  Je parle  à lui.
 * Correct:  Je  lui  parle.
 * Moi   ? Je l'aime.  — Me? I love him.
 * Lui   et  elle  mangent.  — He and she are eating.
 * Vous   aussi.  — You, too.

Indirect Objects and  Y
For most verbs, personal indirect object pronouns like  lui  can only refer to people or animals, but you can use the  adverbial pronoun   y  for inanimate things. Some verbs allow personal pronouns like  lui  to be used with anything you can personify. These verbs are  dire à ,  demander à ,  donner à ,  parler à ,  téléphoner à, and  ressembler à. Some French expressions don't allow any preceding indirect objects, notably  être à ,  faire attention à ,  s’habituer à ,  penser à ,  revenir à, and  tenir à. Remember that  y  can also refer to locations.
 * Elle ressemble  à sa mère .  ⇒  Elle  lui  ressemble.  — She resembles her.
 * Ça ressemble  à un robot .  ⇒  Ça  y  ressemble.  — It resembles it.
 * L’enfant parle à son jouet.  ⇒  L’enfant  lui  parle.
 * Je demande un renseignement à la banque.  ⇒  Je  lui  demande un renseignement.
 * Tu fais attention à elle.  (Not  Tu lui fais... ) – You are paying attention to her.
 * Il pense à elle.  (Not  Il lui pense... ) – He thinks of her.
 * J' y  vais.  — I'm going there.
 * Il  y  était.  — He was there.

Quelque
The indefinite adjective  quelque  ("some") can be combined with pronouns or nouns to create indefinite pronouns. For instance,  chose  means "thing", so  quelque chose  means "something". Quelque  can combine and elide with  un  ("one") to give  quelqu'un  ("someone"), which is singular. For multiple people or things, use the plural forms  quelques-uns  (masc) and  quelques-unes  (fem), which are normally translated as "a few", or perhaps "some". While  quelqu'un  only refers to people,  quelques-un(e)s  can refer to anything.
 * Nous écrivons quelque chose.  — We are writing something.
 * Je veux manger quelque chose.  — I want to eat something.
 * Quelqu'un est ici.  — Someone is here.
 * Je connais quelqu'un au restaurant.  — I know someone at the restaurant.
 * Ce sont quelques-uns de nos meilleurs amis.  — These are a few of our best friends.
 * Quelques-unes de ces questions sont difficiles.  — Some of these questions are difficult.

Infinitives 2
As you learned in "Verbs: Infinitive 1", verbs in the  infinitive mood  are not conjugated and are not paired with a subject pronoun. The infinitive is more versatile in French than in English. For instance, an infinitive can act as a noun (where gerunds might be used in English). In French, the infinitive is also used for generalized instructions like those in product manuals, public notices, recipes, and proverbs. Conjugated verbs are the only verbs that can appear inside a negation, so when a negation is used with an infinitive, both parts of the negation come before the infinitive. An infinitive can also be used to pose a question. These sentences may not translate literally to English.
 * Faire   du café est facile.  — Making coffee is easy.
 * Cuisiner   et  nettoyer  sont ses responsabilités.  — Cooking and cleaning are his responsibilities.
 * Lire   le mode d'emploi avant utilisation.  — Read the instructions before using.
 * Garder   hors de la portée des enfants.  — Keep out of reach of children.
 * Battre   les œufs.  — Beat the eggs.
 * Vaut mieux  prévenir  que  guérir .  — It is worth more to prevent than to cure.
 * Ne pas   entrer.  — Do not enter.
 * Ne rien   administrer par la bouche.  — Do not administer by mouth.
 * Comment  obtenir  ça ?  — How does one obtain that?
 * Qui  croire  ?  — Whom should I believe?
 * Quoi  faire  ?  — What can we do?
 * Comment ne pas  tomber  amoureux d'elle ?  — How can I not fall in love with her?

Impersonal Expressions
Recall that the subject in the impersonal construction  il est  + adjective +  de  must be a dummy subject. If it's a real subject, you must use  à  instead of  de.
 * Il est impossible  de  vivre sur cette île.  — It is impossible to live on that island.
 * Il est facile  de  comprendre le livre.  — It is easy to understand the book.
 * Il est amusant  de  cuisiner.  — It is fun to cook. / Cooking is fun.
 * Je n'aime pas ce livre. Il est difficile  à  comprendre.  — I don't like this book. It's difficult to understand.
 * Ce plat est bon parce qu'il est facile  à  cuisiner.  — This dish is good because it is easy to cook.
 * Il est difficile  à  faire.  — It is difficult to do.

Register
Communication in French can occur at several different levels of formality, which are called  registers. Different registers may vary in word choice, sentence structure, and even pronunciation. For instance, the use of liaisons is relatively formal. By comparison, English verbal formality is arguably less intricate.

The most obvious indication of register is pronoun choice. As you know by now, addressing someone with the pronoun vous is considered more formal. This is described by the French verb  vouvoyer. The more familiar tu form should be used with friends, peers, relatives, or children. If you're not sure who's a vous and who's a tu, consider matching the register of your interlocutor. Alternatively, you can directly ask if you can speak informally by using the verb tutoyer. Question structure is another key ingredient of register. Inversions are considered formal. Use the conditional forms of aimer and vouloir for polite requests. More on this in the "Verbs: Conditional" unit.
 * Il doit  vouvoyer  son professeur.  — He must speak formally with his professor.
 * Je ne veux pas  vouvoyer  mes amis.  — I don't want to address my friends formally.
 * On peut se  tutoyer  ?  — Can we be on familiar terms?
 * Je peux  tutoyer  mes amis.  — I can be on familiar terms with my friends.
 * Pouvons-nous nous tutoyer ?  — Can we be on familiar terms? (Very formally.)
 * Comment allez-vous ?  — How are you?
 * J'aimerais une tasse de café, s'il vous plaît.  — I would like a cup of coffee, please.
 * Je voudrais vous remercier.  — I would like to thank you.

Faire  vs  Rendre
In "Verbs: Present 1", you learned about the causative  faire, which can indicate that the subject has directed someone to perform an action. Notice that  faire  is followed by an infinitive here. The verb  rendre  ("to make") can also indicate that the subject has caused something to happen, but it's used with adjectives instead of verbs.
 * Je le fais  réparer .  — I am having it  fixed.
 * Elle lui a fait  perdre  5 kilos.  — She made him/her/it  lose  5 kilos.
 * Je leur ai fait  faire  de l’exercice.  — I made them (get some)  exercise.
 * Elle le  rend  heureux.  — She makes him happy.
 * Ça me  rend  fou !  — That drives me crazy!
 * L'erreur a  rendu  le texte incomprehensible.  — The error rendered the text incomprehensible.

Abstract Objects
There are many different ways to express need or obligation in French, but there is no single expression that works in all situations. In "Verbs: Present 1", you learned the essential semi-auxiliary verb  devoir, which means "must", "have to", or "need to" when placed before another verb. Remember that the impersonal expression  il faut  + infinitive can also express a need or obligation. You can also use the impersonal construction from the last unit,  il est  + adj +  de. Another way to express obligation is  avoir à, though this is rarely used by French speakers because it tends to create vowel conflicts. What about when you want to say that you need something (instead of having to do something)? One way you learned previously is to use  il faut  with a noun instead of a verb. A more common expression for need is  avoir besoin de quelque chose. While this literally translates as "to have need of something", a better translation is "to need something". You can also use this expression with verbs. Notice that  besoin  is invariable in this expression, but the noun  besoin  ("need") is just a standard masculine noun that does have a plural form. Consider the difference between "I don't have to" and "I must not". The former expresses a lack of obligation, while the latter expresses an obligation to avoid an action. In French, to express a lack of obligation, use a negation with  avoir besoin de  or  avoir à. To express "must not" in French, use a negation with  devoir  or  il faut.
 * Je  dois  manger plus de légumes.  — I must eat more vegetables.
 * Ils  doivent  acheter plus de livres.  — They need to buy more books.
 * Il faut   manger.  — It is necessary to eat.
 * Il   nous  faut  payer des taxes.  — We have to pay taxes.
 * Il est nécessaire de reprendre le travail.  — It is necessary to return to work.
 * Il est nécessaire de faire attention.  — It is necessary to pay attention.
 * Je sais ce que j' ai à  faire.  — I know what I have to do.
 * J' ai  quelque chose  à  vous dire urgemment.  — I have something to tell you urgently.
 * Il faut du lait.  — Milk is needed.
 * Il faut un début à tout.  — A beginning is needed for everything.
 * J' ai besoin d 'un stylo.  — I need a pen.
 * Il  a besoin d 'eux.  — He needs them.
 * Elles  ont besoin de  magazines en anglais.  — They need magazines in English.
 * Vous  avez besoin de  ce produit.  — You need this product.
 * Vous avez besoin de  gagner  plus d'argent.  — You need to earn more money.
 * Mes amis ont besoin de  manger .  — My friends need to eat.
 * Il a des  besoins  importants.  — He has important needs.
 * Il y a un  besoin  urgent d'agir.  — There is a pressing need to act.
 * Je  n'ai pas besoin d 'un stylo.  — I don't need a pen.
 * Nous  n'avons pas besoin de  votre permission !  — We don't need your permission!
 * Elle  n'a pas à  parler.  — She doesn't have to speak.
 * On  n'a pas à  manger maintenant.  — We don't have to eat right now.
 * Elle  ne doit pas  manger de poisson.  — She must not eat fish.
 * Nous  ne devons pas  nous mentir.  — We must not lie to each other.
 * Il ne faut pas   réfrigérer les tomates.  — One must not refrigerate tomatoes.
 * Il ne faut jamais   oublier les leçons de l'histoire.  — We must never forget the lessons of history.

Adverbs 3
In a compound tense like the  passé composé, adverbs normally come between the auxiliary verb and its participle. Also, in expressions of quantity not all adverbs are paired with "de".
 * J'ai  rapidement  fini mon travail.  — I finished my work quickly.
 * Ils ont  trop  mangé.  — They ate too much.
 * J'ai environ deux litres de lait.  — I have around two liters of milk.
 * Ça dure seulement trois heures.  — It only lasts three hours.

Confusing Words
Be careful about the  faux amis  that appear in this unit. Many of them look like English adverbs with a different ending, but they may have an entirely different meaning.

Actuellement
The French adverb  actuellement  means "currently" or "at the moment", not "actually". To translate "actually", use  en fait  ("in fact") or  en réalité  ("in reality"). This conveys the notion that the rest of the sentence should be surprising to the listener. Alternatively,  effectivement  or  réellement  can translate as "actually", but these are more confirmatory than contradictory in tone.
 * Il est actuellement fermé.  — It is currently closed.
 * Mon mari est sans emploi actuellement.  — My husband is unemployed currently.
 * Nous lisons très rarement, en fait.  — We read very rarely, actually.
 * En réalité, il va en Amérique.  — Actually, he is going to America.
 * Effectivement, ton gâteau est très bon.  — Indeed, your cake is very good.
 * Cet animal existe réellement.  — That animal does really exist.

Effectivement
Effectivement  is also misleading because it means "really" or "indeed". To say "effectively" or "efficiently", use  efficacement.
 * On n'utilise pas cet outil efficacement.  — We aren't using this tool effectively.
 * Vous pouvez apprendre plus efficacement avec Duolingo.  — You can learn more efficiently with Duolingo.

Définitivement
There is a difference between the adverbs "definitively" and "definitely". Most commonly, "definitively" describes a conclusive ending or final resolution. The French adverb  définitivement  also carries this meaning. "Definitively" and  définitivement  can also describe an authoritative action. Conversely, "definitely" is used for conditions that are true beyond a doubt. For this, use  certainement  or a close synonym, like  absolument  or  sûrement.
 * Elle part définitivement.  — She is leaving for good.
 * Ils ont conclu définitivement la negotation.  — They concluded the negotiation definitively.
 * Le juge détermine définitivement le verdict.  — The judge determined the verdict definitively.
 * Ce livre donne définitivement la réponse.  — That book definitively gives the answer.
 * Elle est certainement française.  — She is definitely French.
 * Oui, j'en suis sûr, absolument.  — Yes, I am sure, definitely.

Reflexive Verbs
A  pronominal verb  is always paired with a  reflexive pronoun  that agrees with the subject and (almost) always precedes its verb. In "Verbs: Present 3", you learned about  reflexive verbs, which describe actions being done by the subject to the subject. Pronominal verbs always take  être  as an auxiliary in compound tenses like the  passé composé. When a pronominal verb is inverted in a formal question, its reflexive pronoun stays before the verb.
 * La femme  se  promène . — The woman goes for a walk. (Lit, "walks herself".)
 * Vous  vous  levez.  — You are getting up. (Lit, "You raise yourself.")
 * Elle s' est  levée tôt.  — She got up early.
 * Ils se  sont  rasés hier.  — They shaved yesterday.
 * S'est-elle lavée ?  — Did she wash?
 * Mon frère se rase-t-il encore ?  — Is my brother still shaving?

RECIPROCAL VERBS
Another type of pronominal verb, the  reciprocal verb, is used with plural subject pronouns and describes when multiple people act upon each other. Recall from "Pronouns 1" that you can distinguish between reflexive and reciprocal meanings by appending certain pronouns.
 * Ils  s 'aiment.  — They love each other.
 * Les filles  se  parlent.  — The girls speak to each other.
 * Vous  vous  embrassez.  — You are kissing each other.
 * Nous  nous  téléphonions souvent dans ce temps-là.  — We used to call each other often back then.
 * Ils s'aiment  eux-mêmes .  — They love themselves.
 * Elles s'aiment  les unes les autres .  — They love one another.
 * Nous nous parlions à  nous-mêmes .  — We were speaking to ourselves.

SUBJECTIVE PRONOMINAL VERBS
Subjective  (or  idiomatic ) pronominal verbs have a reflexive pronoun because they are idiomatic; they do not have a reflexive or reciprocal meaning. Examples include  se souvenir ,  se taire ,  se marier, and  s'enfuir.
 * Elle  s'est souvenue .  — She remembered.
 * Parfois, il faut  se taire .  — Sometimes, it is necessary to keep quiet.
 * Ils vont  se marier  le mois prochain.  — They are going to get married next month.
 * Veut-il  s'enfuir  ?  — Does he want to run away?

PASSIVE PRONOMINAL VERBS
A pronominal verb can be used in a  passive  sense with an inanimate subject in the third-person, often the indefinite pronoun  ça. This construction may sound unusual to Anglophones, but it is a common alternative to using the passive voice when one wishes to avoid naming an agent.
 * Ça se voit.  — It shows. (Lit, "It sees itself.")
 * Ça se peut.  — It is possible.
 * Le sol se nettoie facilement.  — The floor can be cleaned easily.
 * La réunion s'est bien passée.  — The meeting went well.
 * Les vers se sont écrits ainsi.  — The verses have been written this way.
 * Ce mot, comment se prononce-t-il ?  — How is this word pronounced?

Objects and Agreement
Pronominal verbs have the same transitivity as their non-pronominal forms. For instance,  appeler  is transitive, so  s'appeler  is also transitive. When a pronominal verb is transitive, the reflexive pronoun is its direct object. When a pronominal verb is intransitive,  se  is its indirect object. Some verbs can have both direct and an indirect objects, in which case the reflexive pronoun is the indirect object. When describing actions on parts of the body, Francophones avoid using possessive pronouns; instead, they use reflexive verbs with definite articles whenever possible. Notice that the past participles of the previous two examples do not agree with the reflexive pronoun. While pronominal verbs take  être  as an auxiliary, they behave like  avoir  verbs because their participles actually only agree with preceding direct objects. In those examples and the next two, the reflexive pronouns are indirect objects and the direct objects follow the verb, so the participles are still invariable. In the next examples, the participles agree with preceding direct objects.
 * Elles se sont appelées.  — They called each other.
 * On se lève maintenant.  — We are getting up now.
 * Elles  se  sont téléphoné.  — They called each other.
 * Ces trois rois  se  sont succédé.  — These three kings succeeded each other.
 * La fille s'achète  des jupes .  — The girl is buying herself some skirts.
 * On se donnait  des fleurs .  — We gave each other flowers.
 * Elle  s' est lavé  les cheveux .  — She washed her hair.
 * Nous  nous  sommes brossé  les dents .  — We brushed our teeth.
 * La fille s'est  acheté  des jupes.  — The girl bought herself some skirts.
 * Elles se sont  lavé  les cheveux.  — They washed their hair.
 * Il  se les  est acheté(e)s.  — He bought them (for himself).
 * Ce sont  les robes  qu'elle s'est achetées.  — Those are the dresses that she bought (herself).

Infinitives 3
As you learned before, an infinitive can act as a noun (where gerunds might be used in English).
 * Faire   du café est facile.  — Making coffee is easy.
 * Cuisiner   et  nettoyer  sont ses responsabilités.  — Cooking and cleaning are his responsibilities.

Impersonal Expressions
When you use the impersonal construction  il est  + adjective +  de, keep in mind that  il must be a dummy subject. If it's a real subject, you must use  à  instead of  de. In informal usage,  c'est  can replace the impersonal  il est.
 * Il est impossible  de  vivre sur cette île.  — It is impossible to live on that island.
 * Il est facile  de  comprendre le livre.  — It is easy to understand the book.
 * Ce problème est difficile  à  résoudre.  — That problem is difficult to solve.
 * Écrire un livre ? Il est difficile  à  faire.  — Writing a book? It is difficult to do.
 * C'est difficile de terminer ce travail en une journée.  — It's hard to finish that work in one day.
 * C'est mieux d'éviter cette zone.  — It's better to avoid that area.

Causative Faire
Recall from "Verbs: Infinitive 1" that  faire  may precede a verb to indicate that the subject causes that action to happen. This is especially common when describing food preparation. Faire  can also be used to indicate that the subject has caused someone else to perform an action.
 * Il  fait bouillir  le thé.  — He boils the tea.
 * J'aime  faire griller  du poulet.  — I like grilling chicken.
 * Ils  font  pousser des fruits et des légumes.  — They grow fruits and vegetables.
 * Je fais  partir  mon ami.  — I am making my friend leave.
 * Désolé, je vous  fais  subir mon humeur.  — Sorry, I am making you put up with my mood.

Past Participle Usage
As you learned in "Verbs: Compound Past", the  passé composé  is formed with an auxiliary verb (e.g.  avoir ) and a past participle (e.g.  terminé ). Normally, auxiliaries should be conjugated to agree with their subjects. However, if an auxiliary is part of a double-verb construction with a semi-auxiliary (e.g.  sembler ), the auxiliary verb will be an infinitive. However, past participles can sometimes also act as adjectives in both French and English. Keep this in mind for the next unit, where you will learn the passive voice.
 * Il a terminé son travail.  — He finished his work.
 * Nous avons aimé ce repas.  — We liked that meal.
 * Il  semble avoir  terminé son travail.  — He seems to have finished his work.
 * Ces lettres  semblent avoir  confirmé nos craintes.  — Those letters seem to have confirmed our fears.
 * Elle est  mariée .  — She is married.
 * C'est du temps  perdu .  — It is lost time.
 * C'est  ouvert  au public.  — It is open to the public.
 * Il est actuellement  fermé .  — It is currently closed.

Confusing Verbs
Remember from "Verbs: Present 3" that  manquer  means "to miss", but with flipped pronoun positions as compared to English. If it helps, you can think of  manquer  as "to be missed by".
 * Vous me manquez.  — I miss you.
 * Je vous manque.  — You miss me.

Passive Voice
The most common grammatical voice is the  active voice, which describes a clause whose subject is also the agent of the verb in the clause. For instance, when "Hugo throws a ball", Hugo is both the subject of the clause and the agent that performs the verb.

On the other hand, the  passive voice  describes any clause where the subject is not the agent of the verb in the clause. For instance, when "The ball is thrown by Hugo", the subject ("the ball") is actually the direct object of the verb. The passive voice in both English and French is constructed using the copula "to be" and the past participle of the action verb. The past participle must agree with the subject here. Notice that the agent of a verb in the passive voice can be introduced by the preposition  par  ("by"). However, you can also use  de  with verbs expressing emotions or feelings, like  aimer  or  respecter. The passive voice is useful for emphasizing a verb's object or avoiding naming a verb's agent. However, Francophones often avoid the passive voice by using the imprecise pronoun  on  in the active voice.
 * L'ennemie  est battue .  — The enemy  is beaten.
 * Le pain  est mangé .  — The bread  is being eaten.
 * La balle  est lancée  par Hugo.  — The ball  is thrown  by Hugo.
 * C' est fait  par ordinateur.  — It  is done  by computer.
 * La princesse est aimée  de  ses amis.  — The princess is loved by her friends.
 * Je suis respecté  des  citoyens.  — I am respected by the citizens.
 * Le magicien est adoré  des  enfants.  — The magician is loved by children.
 * La grand-mère est entourée  de  sa famille.  — The grandmother is surrounded by her family.
 * Tout est fait par ordinateur ces jours-ci.  — Everything is done by computer these days.
 * L'histoire était oubliée.  — The tale was forgotten.
 * L'histoire n'est pas écrite à l'avance.  — History is not written in advance.
 * Le travail est loin d'être terminé.  — The work is far from being finished.
 * On fait tout avec des ordinateurs.  — We/They do everything with computers.
 * On oublie souvent les règles.  — We often forget the rules.
 * On va mener une étude.  — We/They will conduct a study.
 * On est en train de perdre du temps.  — We are wasting time.

The Passive  Passé Composé
Remember that when multiple verbs are combined in a single construct, only the first verb can be conjugated; any following verbs must be infinitives or participles. When using the passive voice in the  passé composé  (or another compound tense),  être  takes  avoir  as an auxiliary. Thus,  avoir  must be conjugated, followed by  être  and the action verb in past participle form. Note that the past participle of the action verb still must agree with the subject (as usual for  être  verbs). Note that  être  is intransitive and cannot have a direct object, so its past participle  été  is always invariable.
 * Ce document  a été lu  par mon père.  — That document has been read by my father.
 * Ce chat  a été adopté  par des gens gentils.  — That cat was adopted by some nice people.
 * Un rapport  a été demandé .  — A report has been requested.
 * Tes sacs  ont été mis  devant.  — Your bags were put in front.
 * La recette a été écrit e  par le chef.  — The recipe has been written by the chef.
 * Les robes ont été vendu es .  — The dresses have been sold.
 * La clé a été perdu e .  — The key was lost.
 * Les portes ont été ouvert es .  — The doors were opened.

Present Participle
You have already seen the past participle, which is used in compound tenses, in the  passé composé  units. The other type of participle in French is the present participle ( participe présent ), which is formed by taking the present indicative  nous  form of a verb and switching the  -ons  ending to  -ant. The verbs  être ,  avoir, and  savoir  have irregular present participles:  étant ,  ayant , and  sachant , respectively.

Although English also has present participles, they're used differently and more often than their French counterparts, so it would be wise to avoid trying to make comparisons between the two languages here. In particular, the French present participle cannot be used after another verb, including the auxiliary  être.

The French present participle can be used as an adjective; a noun; a verb; or a gerund (when combined with the preposition  en ).

PRESENT PARTICIPLES AS ADJECTIVES OR NOUNS
Present participles can be used as adjectives that agree with the noun they describe. Many nouns are derived from the present participle of a verb.
 * J’ai vu un film intéressant.  — I saw an interesting film.
 * C’est une histoire amusante.  — That's an amusing story.
 * Il y a des couleurs changeantes.  — There are changing colors.
 * étudier  — to study ⇒  un étudiant / une étudiante  — a student
 * enseigner  — to teach ⇒  un enseignant / une enseignante  — a teacher
 * gagner  — to win ⇒  un gagnant / une gagnante  — a winner

PRESENT PARTICIPLES AS VERBS
Present participles are invariable when used as verbs. When used as a simple verb, the present participle expresses a state or action that is simultaneous with and performed by the same subject as the main verb. Past participles and present participles can be combined in two ways: the perfect participle and the passive voice.
 * Sachant   la réponse, elle a levé la main.  — Knowing the answer, she raised her hand.
 * Ne voyant personne à la porte, il est parti.  — Seeing no one at the door, he left.
 * Mangeant   des fruits, il est en bonne santé.  — (By) eating fruits, he is healthy.

Perfect Participle
The perfect participle indicates that one action was completed before another. In this compound tense, a past participle follows the present participle of its usual auxiliary— étant  for  être  verbs and  ayant  for  avoir  verbs. This is basically a present participle version of the  passé composé. Remember that all compound tenses (including the perfect participle and the passé composé) follow the same agreement rules. Refer to the "Compound Past" lessons for more information.
 * Ayant accepté   d'aider, ils ont commencé leur travail.  — Having agreed to help, they began their work.
 * Ayant vendu   sa maison, elle était presque riche.  — Having sold her house, she was almost rich.
 * Étant arrivée   tôt, elle a attendu les autres.  — Having arrived early, she waited for the others.
 * Marc, s'étant souvenu de ton avis, a quitté ce lieu.  — Marc, having remembered your advice, left that place.

Passive Voice
When used in the passive voice, the past participle always follows a form of the passive marker  être. In the present tense, this form will be  étant. In the past tense,  être  usually takes its perfect participle form, which is  ayant été.
 * Étant respecté   de tous, il reste confiant.  — Being respected by all, he remains confident.
 * Cela étant dit, vous avez raison.  — That being said, you are right.
 * La boîte ayant été bien fermée, le produit est resté intact.  — The box having been tightly closed, the product remained intact.
 * Le travail ayant été fini plus tôt, ils sont partis.  — The work having been finished earlier, they all left.

GERUNDS
Adding  en  before a present participle creates a gerund ( gérondif ) that can describe how one action is related to another. They might be related by time, condition, manner, or cause.
 * Time:  Elle est tombée en faisant ses exercices.  — She fell while doing her exercises.
 * Condition:  Tu peux réussir en faisant un effort.  — You can succeed by making an effort.
 * Manner:  Elle parle en articulant les mots.  — She speaks by articulating the words.
 * Cause:  En partant   seule, elle a pris des risques.  — By leaving alone, she took risks.

Weights and Measurements (no notes provided)
Whenever an expression of measurement is used with the verb  être, the preposition  de  must follow it.
 * La longueur est de 10 centimètres.  — The length is 10 centimeters.
 * La contenance est de 2 litres.  — The capacity is 2 liters.
 * La distance est de 4 kilomètres.  — The distance is 4 kilometers.
 * La température est de 10 degrés.  — The temperature is 10 degrees.

Medical (no notes provided)
As you learned in "Verbs: Reflexive", Francophones avoid using possessive pronouns with parts of the body. Whenever a specific person who has the body part has already been mentioned, the definite article is used instead of a possessive adjective and the verb of the sentence becomes reflexive.
 * Je me lave les mains.  (Not  Je lave mes mains. ) — I am washing my hands.
 * Il s'est casse la jambe.  (Not  Il a casse sa jambe. ) — He broke his leg.

Subjunctive Present
Unlike the English subjunctive, the French subjunctive mood is common and required, in writing and in speech, even in informal conversations.

Rules and trends :
Je   suis désolé qu' il soit  ici. — I am sorry that he is here. Je   regrette qu' il soit  ici. — I regret that he is here. (Subject differs => Subjunctive) Je   déteste  être  ici. — I hate being here. (Subject is the same => Infinitive)
 * A subjunctive is required if the main clause has one of the following verbs : all verbs of likes and dislikes, and verbs expressing fear, wish, doubt, regret, order, obligation or necessity.
 * The verb's subject in the subordinate clause is different from that in the main clause.
 * Usually, the subordinate clause is introduced by the conjunction  que, or other conjunctions, like  avant que, bien que, afin que, pour que, quoique.
 * Some impersonal expressions automatically prompt a subjunctive, the most common being  il faut que . Others include :  il est bon que, c’est bien que, il est nécessaire que, il est important que.
 * Some verbs that are usually constructed with the indicative switch to the subjunctive when they are in the negative, like  penser  and  croire.
 * Some relative clauses can be found in subjunctive, when the main clause has such expressions as  le seul qui/que, le premier qui/que, le dernier qui/que.

Conjugation:
The French subjunctive has 4 tenses : present, imperfect, past and pluperfect. There is no future tense and among the 3 past tenses, only the subjunctive past is commonly used.

The subjunctive present  endings are the same for all verbs: In most cases, the subjunctive is formed by removing the –ent ending from the  ils/elles indicative present form, and then adding the subjunctive endings.

-er verbs:

For  je, tu, il, elle, on, ils, elles, the subjunctive present form and pronunciation are identical to those of the indicative present :

manger — stem =  mang - ent For  nous, vous, the subjunctive present form and pronunciation are similar to those of the indicative imperfect : -ir and –re verbs:

For  je, tu, il, elle, on, the subjunctive present is different from the indicative present, because the stem is different. Yet the pronunciation is the same as that of the  ils/elles indicative present.

finir — stem =  finiss - ent dormir — stem =  dorm - ent comprendre — stem =  comprenn - ent For  nous, vous, the subjunctive present form and pronunciation are similar to those of the indicative imperfect :

finir — stem =  finiss - ent dormir — stem =  dorm - ent comprendre — stem =  comprenn - ent Other common and irregular verbs:

Imperative (no notes provided)
The imperative ( l'impératif ) mood is used to give orders or to make a suggestion or a request.

Formation of the imperative
To form the imperative, simply take the present tense forms of  tu ,  nous, or  vous. See the chart below. For  -er  verbs, the  -s is dropped for the  tu  form.

Note that according to French typographic rules, an extra space is required before the exclamation mark at the end of a sentence in the imperative. Note that the  nous  form of the imperative corresponds to the command in English "let's" + verb.
 * Mange les fraises !  — Eat the strawberries!
 * Finissons notre repas !  — Let's finish our meal!
 * Buvez du vin rouge !  — Drink red wine!

Imperative with object pronouns
In affirmative commands, object pronouns are placed after the verb and connected with a hyphen. You will need back the  -s  in the  tu  form of  -er  verbs if the verb is followed by the pronoun  en  or  y. The  -s  creates a Z-sound liaison and avoids the vowel sound conflict.
 * Donne-lui ton adresse !  — Give him your address!
 * Mettons-les sur la table !  — Let's put them on the table!
 * Excusez-le !  — Excuse him!
 * Achète des journaux ! Achètes-en !
 * Va au musée ! Vas-y !

Irregular forms
There are some commonly used irregular forms of the imperative, namely the imperative forms for  être ,  avoir ,  savoir, and  vouloir. The imperative form  veuillez, which comes from  vouloir , is very polite and formal. This is translated in English with the word "please." Veuillez  is common in official letters, public signage, and correspondence, for example.
 * Veuillez rappeler plus tard !  — Please call back later!
 * Veuillez patienter !  — Please wait!
 * Veuillez accepter mes excuses !  — Please accept my excuses!

Negative imperative
In the negative form, the negation elements  ne  and  pas  are placed around the verb. Object pronouns are placed before the verb.
 * Ne sois pas trop triste !  — Don't be too sad!
 * N'ayons pas peur !  — Let's not get scared!
 * Ne lui donnez pas votre adresse !  — Don't give him your address!

Imperative with pronominal verbs
For pronominal verbs, the pronouns are placed after the verb. The reflexive pronoun "te" takes the stressed pronoun form "toi" in this case. However, in the negative imperative, the reflexive pronoun is placed before the verb, and the "te" remains as "te." Observe how the imperative of  se lever  is formed below. Note that for the formal singular or plural "vous", just like for "nous", the subject, object, reflexive and stressed pronoun forms are the same. Here is another example: the  nous  form of  s'arrêter.
 * Statement:  Tu te lèves.  — You get up.
 * Imperative:  Lève-toi !  — Get up!
 * Negative imperative:  Ne te lève pas !  — Don't get up!
 * Statement:  Vous vous asseyez.  — You sit down.
 * Imperative:  Asseyez-vous !  — Sit down!
 * Negative imperative:  Ne vous asseyez pas !  — Don't sit down!
 * Statement:  Nous nous arrêtons.  — We stop.
 * Imperative:  Arrêtons-nous !  — Let's stop!
 * Negative imperative:  Ne nous arrêtons pas !  — Let's not stop!

Past Subjunctive
From the Tips and Notes in Subj. Pres, you have already learned that :
 * Unlike the English subjunctive, the French subjunctive is common and required, in writing and in speech, even in informal conversations.
 * A subjunctive is required if the main clause has verbs of likes/dislikes, fear, wish, doubt, regret, order, obligation or necessity.
 * In most cases, the subject in the subordinate clause is different from that in the main clause (otherwise you will use an infinitive).
 * Usually, the subordinate clause is introduced by the conjunction  que, or other conjunctions, like  avant que, bien que, afin que, pour que, quoique . (Yet  après que needs an indicative.)
 * Some impersonal expressions automatically prompt a subjunctive, like:  il faut que, il est bon que, c’est bien que, il est nécessaire que, il est important que.
 * Some verbs that are usually constructed with the indicative switch to the subjunctive when they are in the negative, like  penser  and  croire.
 * Some relative clauses can be found in subjunctive, when the main clause has such expressions as  le seul qui/que, le premier qui/que, le dernier qui/que.
 * The French subjunctive has 4 tenses : Present, Imperfect, Past and Pluperfect. There is no future tense and of the 3 past tenses, only the Subjunctive Past is commonly used.

Conjugation
The  Subjunctive Past  is a  compound tense  and as such, the verb uses the same auxiliary  être  or  avoir  as in the indicative mood, and the same rules of agreement are applied in the past participle (Re. Tips and Notes in V Compound Past & V Compound Past 2).

To form a subjunctive past, the auxiliary is conjugated in subjunctive present, and the past participle of the verb is added.

Avoir  verb: Être  verb:

Sequence of events
Since there is no Subjunctive Future and the Subjunctive Imperfect and Pluperfect are no longer used in contemporary French, you will have to use : To pick the suitable subjunctive tense in the subordinate clause, you will compare the subordinate clause’s  time of event  with that of the main clause.
 * the present tense for future and present events;
 * the present tense instead of the imperfect tense;
 * the past tense instead of the pluperfect tense.

Let's compare with the indicative: