Understanding Spoken French & Basic Grammar

(text Lesson)

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Bonjour and welcome back for Day 2 of the Rocket French 6 Day course!

This is the second lesson in your Rocket French course. The mission today is to help you make
sense of the grammar and vocabulary you learned in the previous audio lesson.

Remember, you can always revisit the first lesson by using the link at the very bottom of
this page!

The complete Rocket French package includes a variety of materials to supplement each
audio lesson, including MegaVocab, MegaAudio, MegaVerbs and lots more. But, for now, this part of
the course will suffice to fill in the gaps between the audio lessons.

Here’s the conversation that you learned in the last lesson:

Paul Salut Claire.

Claire Salut, Paul. Comment ça va?
Paul Bien merci, et toi?
Claire Je vais très bien.

his is nuts and bolts stuff for sure - but that's all the more reason to get it straight from the start. Say
it over and over again, and notice how the pronunciation you heard in the last lesson matches up with
the French letters you see here. You'll notice also how they don't necessarily match up in the same
way you would expect English letters to sound.

Now, have a look at the same conversation through familiar eyes...

English Translation

Paul Hi Claire.
Claire Hi Paul. How's it going?
Paul Good thanks, and you?
Claire I'm going very well.
Now it's time for a quick and painless detour into the world of grammar. Some of this stuff may not be
what you've been most looking forward to, but we need to come to terms with a few simple
grammatical concepts before you blossom into a fully fledged French speaker. And we're going to start
with articles. After all, where would we all be without the word THE!

Making things really clear with Articles!

Articles are the little words that make language really clear: “The,” “A,” “Some,” “Several,” “Of,” “Of
the” and “Any.”

As you work through this Lesson, you will inevitably come across new words and new expressions. You
may feel that you’re having to deal with a lot of new material and unpredictable rules. Not all of it will
make sense at first!

But if we dissect the rules too much, you will find yourself caught up by the technical side of the
language. Rather, allow yourself the benefit of enjoying the experience even when you have questions
left un-answered... for the time being! You will see that by the time you reach the end of this Lesson,
the exercises and activities will clarify and reinforce your progress.

Define it ….

In English the word “the” is what we call a definite article. That is because the word “the” points to a
very specific thing. For example, you may tell someone, “I want the mug” assuming that they will
bring you the mug you have in mind.

Or not!

If you tell them, “I want a mug,” you will get whichever mug they choose to hand you! That is
because the words “a” or “an” or “some” are indefinite articles and point to a general group of items,
things, people or places.

Making Things Specific (Definite) in French

In French, the short defining word before the noun is really part of the noun. For instance, “le
musicien” and “la musicienne” for musician.

In French, “the” is not just one word. Rather there are a total of 4 versions of “the,” depending on the
gender and quantity of the noun to which you are referring.

The French word for “the,” if followed by a masculine noun, is “Le.” If followed by a feminine noun, it
is “La,” and when followed by any noun in the plural, it is “Les.” For example, if there is one (male)
cat, we say “Le chat.” If there are two or more cats, we say “Les chats.” If there is one woman, we
say “La femme.” If there are two or more women, we say “Les femmes.”

Le chat Les chats

Any singular noun beginning with a vowel or an “h” is always preceded by an apostrophe after the
definite article: “ L’” - for example, “ L’homme,” “ L’hiver,” “ L’escalier.” The apostrophe is inserted in
between the article and the noun. This is because two vowel sounds in French cannot follow from one
word to another.

In summary:

The + masculine noun = le

The + feminine noun = la
The + any noun beginning with a vowel = l’
The + any plural noun = les

Le garçon
The boy

Les garçons
The boys

La fille
The girl

Les filles
The girls

L’invité
The guest (a man)

Les invités
The guests

L’enfant
 The child

Les enfants
The children

Le livre
The book

Les livres
The books

La pomme
The apple

Les pommes
The apples

La librairie
The bookstore

Les librairies
The bookstores

Le jeu
The game

Les jeux
The games

L’hôtel
The hotel

Les hôtels
The hotels

Making Things General (Indefinite) in French

The previous section referred to making things specific using “ the” in French, in the form of “ Le,” “
La,” “ Les” and “ L’.” In this section, we talk about the ways to make things general, or indefinite. In
French, there are 3 ways of using the indefinite articles “ a,” “ an,” “ some” or “ several.”

A or An + masculine noun = un
A or An + feminine noun = une
Some or Several + any plural noun = des

Une fleur
A flower

Des fleurs
 Some flowers

Une copine
A friend (a woman)

Des copines
Several friends (women)

Un crayon
A pencil

Des crayons
Several pencils

When Indefinite and Definite Work Together in French

"Some" and "several" in French are interchangeable with "any" and "of the." We refer to words like
"some" and "several" as articles. These articles help to define words and quantities, and just like
everything else in French, they have to follow gender rules.

This means that almost everything new you learn in French will be subject to the following questions:

Is it a female group of words?

Is it a male group of words?
Is it singular or plural?
Does it begin with a vowel?

A Versatile Word: “De”

The next group of defining words, “ of the,” “of,” “ some,” “ several,” or “ any” have lots of different
uses, and once again, they change according to whether the thing or things you are talking about are
masculine or feminine, singular or plural. The root word “ de” is very versatile indeed , and generally
changes form as follows to mean “of” and “of the.”

of or of the + masculine noun = de or du

of or of the + feminine noun = de la
of or of the + any noun starting with a vowel = d’ or de l’
of or of the + any plural noun = des

Sounds in Pronunciation

Before we carry on, it’s worth discussing some points of pronunciation, because the word “ de” can be
a slippery one and tends to change its own sound and the sound of surrounding words when they all
get together. When speaking French, words must be linked to one another by sound so that they
flow. When there are too many vowel sounds together, they are simply eliminated. In French, the
expression that’s used to explain this principle is “ faire la liaison entre les mots,” which means, “
to make connections between words.”

As you get used to the various forms of “ de,” as it is used in “of,” and “of the,” you’ll start noticing
lots of examples of “ la liaison.”

Vowels can’t follow straight on from one word to another, so if you see a word ending in a vowel, and
the next word beginning with a vowel, be alert! We have given you two examples so far:

L’i nvité and l’enfant start with a L’ instead of a Le. This is because Le would be followed by the
sound i in invité, and by the sound e in enfant, and would be grammatically and phonetically
incorrect. Try saying “Le invite ”and “Le enfant ”and you’ll notice how jerky it sounds.

A very similar principle applies when using “of” and “ of the ” with a noun like “ Le garçon.” The word
“of” is “ de” and the word “boy” is “ le garcon.” But “of the boy,” meaning “belonging to the boy” isn’t
“ de le garçon” as you might expect, but “ du garçon.” “ De le” always gets shortened to “ du.” It’s
really because “ de” and “ le” sound odd so close together.

In other words, when the sound of two vowels together clashes, such as “ de le,” a kind of shortcut
rule applies, making it “ du” for the purpose of sounding more fluid. For feminine words, “ de la”
doesn’t change, unless the word begins with a vowel, when “ de la” becomes “ de l’.”

You will also note from the following examples that a literal translation has been included in brackets,
because there is no equivalent in French for the use of the apostrophe as it is used in English. The
children’s game, for example, is literally translated as the game of the children. This is where “ de,” in
its various forms as explained above, comes into action.

Le jeu des enfants.

The children’s game. (The game of the children)

Le jeu de l’enfant.
The child’s game. (The game of the child)

Le jeu de la fille.
The girl’s game. (The game of the girl)

Le jeu du garçon.
The boy’s game. (The game of the boy)

Le jeu de l’invité.
The guest’s game. (The game of the guest)

Le goût du fromage. (masculine)

La couleur du vin
The taste of the cheese.
 La couleur du vin. (masculine)
The color of the wine.

La fraîcheur du pain. (masculine)

The freshness of the bread.

La qualité de la confiture. (feminine)

The quality of the jam.

La beauté de l’actrice. (feminine + vowel)

The beauty of the actress.

As well as being used to say “of” or “of the” in the plural, as we saw above, du, de la, d’, de l’ and des
are also used to mean “some” and “several.” In effect, this is when the article “a” or “an” becomes a
plural, to mean more than just one.

Du fromage (masculine)
Some cheese

Du vin (masculine)
Some wine

Du pain (masculine)
Some bread

De la confiture (feminine)
Some jam

De l’argent (masculine + vowel)

Some money
Du vin
De l’omelette (feminine + vowel)
Some omelet

That's more than enough technical stuff for one day. I have to mention that you've been a most
excellent student for sticking through the tricky bits. Next time we'll be back on the conversational
side of things!

In tomorrow's lesson you'll find out all about how to introduce yourself in French, ask someone's
name, and tell them your own. You'll also be able to explain to people how much - or how little -
French you know. Don't miss this one - we all know how important first impressions are!

Á plus tard! (See you later!)

Marie-Claire

P.S. Don't forget to check out my special bonus offer only available for 6 Day Course
subscribers:
http://www.rocketlanguages.com/french/6day_special.php

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