Posted on

etre / avoir simple translation exercise

After you have done the être/avoir conjugation exercise, you may try something more difficult. You need to translate some parts of the sentences from the previous exercise back into French. This is one of the best exercises to make you memory really work and stick those sentences well in you memory ! Try as many times as you need to score 100% in one go. Good luck !

Paris by night
Metro Paris
Paris by night by mustang joe, flickr
Posted on

French Conjugation of Etre and Avoir (Present Tense)

It this lesson you will learn or consolidate, if you have gone through the 1st and 2nd part of my French Lessons for Beginners, the conjugation and use of the two most important verbs in the French language: Etre and Avoir.  

1. French Verbs: Etre / Avoir

Here are some of the advantages of learning etre (to be) and avoir (to have) from the beginning. 

  • They are two the most important verbs in almost any language, but they are particularly useful in learning Romance Languages
  • Thanks to them you will be able to express all the basic things concerning yourself
  • Etre and avoir are essential in constructing most of the grammatical structures of the French language (past, future, conditional, perfect, subjunctive)
  • Two irregular verbs, which means they conjugate differently from other verbs
  • In both verbs, the second ( tu ) and the third( il/elle ) person singular are pronounced in the same way (although they are written in a different way)

Continue reading “French Conjugation of Etre and Avoir (Present Tense)”

Posted on

Lesson 10: What do you like doing in your free time ?

Simple French Lesson 10 on how to say what your hobbies are and what you like doing. Learn how to ask questions and how to answer using “I / You like”.

1. Dialogue : “Qu’est ce que tu aimes faire ?”

Antoine: Qu’est-ce que tu aimes faire Marie ?
Marie: Tu veux dire pendant mon temps libre ?
Antoine: Exactement. Quel est ton passe temps favori ?
Marie: J’aime lire et regarder des films.
Antoine: Quel genre de livres aimes-tu ?
Marie: J’aime les livres d’aventure et de la littérature populaire. Pour les films, j’adore les vieux films français. Et toi, Antoine ?
Antoine: Moi, j’aime la musique. Ecouter, jouer et chanter, ce sont mes passions !

2. Notes

Pronunciation
French word pronunciation
pendant
favori
lire
aventure
littérature
passion
Grammar

! This lesson uses Simple Present Tense (Le présent). It also focuses on the use of the adjective quel

The verb aimer

aimer: to love, to be fond of, to like, to enjoy
J’aime les voitures allemandes.

Tu aimes faire du sport.

Il / Elle aime sortir avec des amis.

Nous aimons la cuisine espagnole.

Vous aimez le café ?

Ils / Elles aiment voyager.

  • Negative sentence:
    • Je n’aime pas le café. ne (or n’ if a vowel comes after it) + verb + pas
    • You need to use definite article (le / la / les) when you want to say that you like or don’t like something in particular.
    • ! Je t’aime ! = I love you ! but J’adore Paris ! = I love Paris !
    • ! Je t’aime bien = I like you.
    • J’aime bien cette couleur. = I (somewhat / kind of) like this colour.    
Vocabulary
French English
aimer to like / to be fond of
dire to say
pendant during / while / in
un passe temps a hobby
lire to read
regarder to look / to watch
quel / quelle which / what
(un) genre type / sort / kind
adorer to really like
écouter to listen to
jouer to play (in instrument or a game (sport / video)
chanter to sing
une passion a passion
Useful expressions

Some Useful Expressions:

  • Qu’est ce que tu veux dire ? What do you mean ?
  • Je suis fou / folle de toi / de basket / de joie  !  I’m crazy about you / basketball /  I’m mad with joy !
Additional Vocabulary

Some  examples of hobbies: 

French English
écouter de la musique to listen to music
l’équitation / monter à cheval horse riding
le cyclisme cycling / bicycling
surfer sur le net to go web surfing / web browsing
jouer de la guitare to play the guitar
le basket basketball
jouer au foot to play football
sortir to go out
parler avec des amis to talk with friends
courir / faire du jogging to run / to go jogging
aller à la pêche / pêcher to go fishing / to fish
jardinage / jardiner gardening / to do some gardening
nager / faire de la natation to swim
cuisiner / faire de la cuisine to cook

3. Exercises

Translate the following sentences:

1. What do you like doing ?
Qu'est-ce que ?
2. What do you mean ?
Qu' ?
3. I love Paris !
!
4. We like Spanish food.
Nous .
5. They (feminine) don't like travelling.
Elles .
6. I somewhat like this car.
cette voiture.

4. Homework

  1. Write what you like doing. Choose 1 or 2 activities that you like, 1 that you like so-so and 1 you don’t like. Do this in the first person singular ( Je ….) and the second person singular (Tu …)
  2. Learn the dialogue by heart. You may replace the activities you like with the ones of your choice.

The cover image by Vincent Anderlucci.

Posted on

Lesson 2: How old are you ?

Learn how to tell your age in French, ask and compare your age with others and speak about other members of your family. You will learn more about the conjugation and the use of the French Present Simple Tense ( Le présent de l’indicatif ), as well as the French comparatives and superlatives.

1. Dialogue: Quel âge as-tu ?

Quel âge as-tu ?
– J’ai 25 ans. Et toi?
Moi, j’ai 3 ans de moins que toi.
– Alors, tu as 22 ans.
C’est exact. Je suis plus jeune que toi.
– Tu veux dire que je suis vieux ?
Bien sûr que non ! 25 ans c’est le meilleur âge !
– Et quel âge a ta sœur ?
Elle a 15 ans. Je suis plus âgé qu’elle.
– Oui, ça fait 10 ans de différence entre vous deux.

simple french lessons, audio diaologue in a café
Paris-Louvre-Luc-Mercelis-Flickr

2. Notes

Notes on French grammar, vocabulary, phonetics and language in general.

Dialogue Vocabulary
French English
de moins que less than
alors so, then
exact correct, right
jeune young
(être) plus jeune que (to be) younger than
vouloir (Tu veux …) to want
dire to say
Bien sûr of course
(être) le meilleur the best
une sœur a sister
(être) plus âgé que older than
faire (ça fait …) to make, to do
Additional Vocabulary
French English
1. Groupes d’âge 1. Age groups:
les personnes agées the elderly / the seniors.

Eg. Beaucoup de personnes agées vivent seules.
les adultes the adults
les adolescents the teenagers
les enfants the children
2. Membres de la famille 2. Family members
le père father

Mon père est brun.

la mère mother

Ma mère est infirmière.

un frère brother

Eg. J’ai deux frères.

une sœur sister

Eg. Je n’ai pas de sœur.
un fils son

Eg. J’ai un fils et une fille.
une fille daughter

Eg. Bénédicte est ma fille.

un mari husband

Eg. Voici Jean-Claude, mon mari.

une femme wife

Eg. Je vous présente Hélène, ma femme.

Grammar

A. Etre / Avoir: Le Présent de l’indicatif ( Present Tense)

être ( to be ) avoir ( to have )
  • je suis français.
  • tu es vieux
  • il / elle / on est jeune
  • nous sommes désolés
  • vous êtes en retard
  • ils sont beaux
  • elles sont belles
  • j’ai un ami
  • tu as une jolie voiture
  • il / elle / on a plein d’amis
  • nous avons des livres intéressants
  • vous avez votre passeport
  • ils ont deux enfants

B. être plus que (+) / être moins que (-)

Je suis plus jeune que toi. I am younger than you.
On est moins riche que les autres. We are less rich than the others.

Je suis plus agé qu‘elle. In French, there can’t be two vowels next to each other. That’s why the two words “que” and “elle” become one word in a way. It is pronounced as one word.

C. avoir …. de moins que

J’ai trois ans de moins que toi. I am 3 years younger than you.

D. être le plus … (the most … )

25 ans c’est le meilleur âge ! 25 is the best age ! 
Je suis le plus jeune. I’m the youngest.
Elle est la plus agée. She is the oldest. 

Pronunciation

Pronunciation of eu, ue, on, an sounds

/œ/ jeune 
/ɛ/ quel 
/œ/ meilleur 
/ɔ̃/ non 
/ɑ̃/ ans 

3. Exercise: Translate into French

Click for more information about this exercise
Type in the French translation of the sentence in English. If you are stuck or need a suggestion, look closely into the dialogue above. Some detail might have escaped your attention.
  The punctuation marks have already been added there for you. Don't add the punctuation mark ( " . ", " ? ", " ! ") at the end of the sentence as it won't validate your answer ! Sometimes you may be asked to add a comma ( " , ") inside a sentence.
  For the French characters, if you don't know how to type them on your keyboard, please use the virtual keyboard provided below the exercise. The French characters are necessary for the sentences to be correctly completed. Otherwise, your sentence won't be validated.
  Please, remember: this kind of exercise, that is reading the lesson first and then trying to retrieve it from your memory and / or helping yourself by looking back into the lesson is EXTRAORDINARILY efficient. You will be surprised how fast you will learn and how quickly you will actually build your own sentences.
1. How old are you ?
?
2. I'm 25 years old.
.
3. I'm 3 years younger than you. (lit. I have 3 years less than you).
.
4. Then, you are 22 years old.
.
5. That's right. (That's correct.)
.
6. I'm younger than you.
.
7. You want to say that I'm old ? (You mean I'm old ?)
?
8. Of course not !
!
9. 25 is the best age !
25 ans !
10. And how old is your sister ?
Et ?
11. She is 15 years old.
.
12. I'm older than her.
Je .
13. There is (lit. It makes) 10 years of difference between you two.
.

4. Homework

  1. Read the dialogue aloud 3 times. Do it slowly, be careful with your pronunciation. You need to feel your facial and tongue muscles work. This will do miracles to your pronunciation and will make your speech more automatic and fluent.
  2. Write about your age. Compare yourself to your siblings. If you are the only child, compare yourself to your parents or cousins (les cousins).
  3. Get 100% of correct answers in the translation exercise.