# French/Lessons/Print version

* Introductory lessons
* Level one lessons
* Level two lessons
* Level three lessons

# Introductory

* Lesson 0.01 - Introduction
* Lesson 0.02 - The Alphabet
* Lesson 0.03 - Greetings
* Lesson 0.04 - Formal Speech
* Lesson 0.05 - Numbers
* Lesson 0.06 - The Date
* Lesson 0.07 - Telling Time
* Lesson 0 Review
* Lesson 0 Test

# Lesson 0.01 - Introduction

French (Français, /fʁɑ̃sɛ/) is a Romance language spoken as a first language by around 136 million people worldwide. A total of 500 million speak it as either a first, second, or foreign language. Moreover, some 200 million people learn French as a foreign language. French speaking communities are present in 56 countries and territories. Most native speakers of the language live in France, the rest live essentially in Canada, particularly the province of Quebec, with minorities in the Atlantic provinces, Ontario, and Western Canada, as well as Belgium, Switzerland, Monaco, Luxembourg, and the U.S. states of Louisiana and Maine. Most second-language speakers of French live in Francophone Africa, arguably exceeding the number of native speakers.
French is a descendant of the Latin language of the Roman Empire, as are national languages such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian and Catalan, and minority languages ranging from Occitan to Neapolitan and many more. Its closest relatives however are the other langues d'oïl and French-based creole languages. Its development was also influenced by the native Celtic languages of Roman Gaul and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders.
It is an official language in 29 countries, plus the Vatican City, which form what is called, in French, La Francophonie, the community of French-speaking countries. It is an official language of all United Nations agencies and a large number of international organizations. According to the European Union, 129 million (or 26% of the Union's total population), in 27 member states speak French, of which 65 million are native speakers and 69 million claim to speak French either as a second language or as a foreign language, making it the third most spoken second language in the Union, after English and German. Twenty-percent of non-Francophone Europeans know how to speak French, totaling roughly 145.6 million people.
In addition, from the 17th century to the mid 20th century, French served as the pre-eminent international language of diplomacy and international affairs as well as a lingua franca among the educated classes of Europe. The dominant position of French language has only been overshadowed recently by English, since the emergence of the USA as a major power.
As a result of extensive colonial ambitions of France and Belgium, between the 17th and 20th centuries, French was introduced to America, Africa, Polynesia, South-East Asia, and the Caribbean.

## History

During the Roman occupation of Gaul, the Latin language was imposed on the natives. This Latin language (Classic Latin) eventually devolved into what is known as Vulgar Latin, which was still very similar to Latin. Over the centuries, due to Celtic and Germanic influences (particularly the Franks), la langue d'oïl was developed. A dialect of la langue d'oïl known as le francien was the language of the court, and thus became the official language of what was to become the Kingdom of France, and later the Nation-State of France.
From medieval times until the 19th century, French was the dominant language of diplomacy, culture, administration, trade and royal courts across Europe. Due to these factors, French was the lingua franca of this time period.
French has influenced many languages world wide, including English. It is through French (or more precisely Norman, a dialect of la langue d'oïl) that English gets about one third of its vocabulary.

## Extent of the language

In modern times, French is still a significant diplomatic language: it is an official language of the United Nations, the Olympic Games, and the European Union. It is also the official language of 29 countries and the Vatican City. Spoken in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal, Haiti, the Ivory Coast, Madagascar, the Congo, Algeria, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Gabon, the Seychelles, Burundi, Chad, Rwanda, Djibouti, Cameroon, Mauritius, and Canada (mostly in the province of Québec where it is the primary language, but it is also used in other parts of the country). All consumer product packages in Canada are required by law to have both English and French labels.

## Advice on studying French

    See also: How to learn a language
French tends to have a reputation among English speakers as hard to learn. While it is true that it poses certain difficulties to native English-speakers, it may be noted that English is also considered 'difficult' to learn, and yet we learned it without the benefit of already knowing a language. In fact, the French language can be learned in only 10 months, if only for the specific purpose of passing a standardized test, such as the Test d'Evaluation de Français. According to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, in order to reach the level of 'Independent User' (after completing Level B2), you must complete 400 hours of effective learning (so if you study 4 hours a week, every single week of the year, you would need two years to achieve it). Any way you look at it, learning any new language requires a long-term commitment. Remember, that like any skill, it requires a certain amount of effort. And it is likely that if you do not practice your French regularly, you will begin to forget it. Try to make French practice a part of your routine; even if it's not daily, at least make it regular.
Also remember that you are learning a new skill. Try to master the easier concepts before moving on to the more complex. We all have to add and subtract before we can do calculus. French is a complete language; thus, while this book can teach you to read and write in French, these are only half of the skills that make up fluency. A written document cannot teach much about listening to and speaking French. You must train on all of these skills, and they will then reinforce one another.
The very best way to learn French is to visit France or another French-speaking country. This allows you to start with a clean slate, as babies do. However, since most of us are unwilling or unable to take that step, the next best option is immersion. If you are serious about learning French, a period of immersion (during which you live in a Francophone culture) is a good idea once you have some basic familiarity with the language. If you can't travel to a French-speaking country, then try listening to French-language programs on the radio, TV, or the Internet. Rent or buy French-language movies (many American and U.K. movies have a French language option). Pay attention to pronunciation. Grab a French speaker you meet and talk to him or her in French. Listen, speak, and practice. Read French newspapers and magazines. Google's news page, which links to French-language news stories, is an excellent source that will enrich your vocabulary.

## Written versus modern spoken French

While the French written language is highly standardized, and hasn’t changed much in over two hundred years, the same cannot be said of the spoken language. This book, like all French training material, is oriented towards the written language. The speaking examples are straight from the standardized written language. If you were to become an expert in this French, you would probably be completely confused when you arrive in a French speaking country. Unlike the written language, the spoken language is very dynamic. The French people would not readily understand you, and you would not understand them. You can picture in your mind, a person learning English from a two hundred year old book, and coming to your town and saying "Hast thou" or "Wherefore art thou."
The reason written French is stressed in learning (Schools and Internet courses), is that you can go from this standardized language to modern spoken French much easier than English to spoken French, and then going backwards to learning written French.
A simple example is: Je ne comprends pas (I don't understand). For a business person (not wanting to sound too plebeian) this would be spoken as: Jeun comprends pas, with the Je ne joined together. But most people on the street simplify this even further. The ne is deemed redundant and falls by the wayside, and the hard Je sound is reduced to a sh sound: shcomprends pas. Another example might be Il ne fait pas … (he/it doesn’t…) resulting in y fay pa … (ee-fay-pah), or Il n'y a pas … becoming yapa … (yah-pah…).
French is a language that is read, spoken, and sung. Each has different rules. Lyric and Poetry have pronunciation rules that are different than the written, and spoken French has no rules in comparison. Learning written French is only step one, and modern spoken French is your step two. This book is for learning written French.

## What should I learn first?

Many courses of language study assume you are going there for vacation, and so begin their lessons with common survival phrases that people use. There is some of that in this book, but consider that verbs are what makes a language. There are six verbs in French that, when memorized, will give you a head start when moving on to learning sentences.
The distinction between a phrase and a sentence is that a phrase does not have a subject or verb. This is why they are easy to learn, and a main part of vacation-type books. You can't go wrong with a phrase. Unlike a phrase, a sentence is a grammatical unit. You will need nouns, pronouns, adjectives (words that modify nouns), adverbs (words that modify verbs and adjectives), etc. A sentence includes a subject (what/whom the sentence is about), and a predicate (words that tell us about the subject). There are also different types of sentences: declarative (statements), interrogative (questions), exclamative (exclamations), and commandative (commands). The structure of sentences, and not just phrases, must be studied and practiced in order to learn a new language.
The most important thing, at beginning levels, is to get your French face on. This means pronunciation is critical. You do not want to have to unlearn anything when you get to the next level. The textual pronunciation examples here are based on the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), and should be used to prepare your mind. The IPA symbols are designed by scientists, and are no match to listening to French people within their own environment. It is important to actually listen to a real French speaker at this stage. Use the example voices contained in the book, but also watch French media on the Internet. You should be cautioned about French songs. It is acceptable for artists to twist a word for style and for rhyme, and they love to embellish endings. You will also find that mutes are pronounced in lyric and poetry. It is often the case that a singer or poem recitation will say "ewnuh" for une and "veeuh" for vie. You may also note, to prevent boredom, a lyric may be "veeuh" on one verse, and "vee" on the next. Examples, as to why songs and poetry are added experiences in learning and enjoying the French language.
The beginning verbs are:
| Être | /ɛtʀ/ (ehtr) | To be | Je suis | /ʒə sɥi/ (zhuh sewee) | I am |
| Avoir | /a.vwaʀ/ (ah-vwahr) | To have | J'ai | /ʒe/ (zheh) | I have |
| Savoir | /sa.vwaʀ/ (sah-vwahr) | To know | Je sais | /ʒə sɛ/ (zhuh seh) | I know |
| Devoir | /də.vwaʀ/ (duh-vwahr) | Ought to, must | Je dois | /ʒə dwa/ (zhuh dwah) | I must |
| Pouvoir | /pu.vwaʀ/ (poo-vwahr) | Able to, can | Je peux | /ʒə pø/ (zhuh puh) | I can |
| Vouloir | /vu.lwaʀ/ (voo-lwahr) | Want to | Je veux | /ʒə vø/ (zhuh vuh) | I want |
Just as in English, you will use these as a base to create the fourteen (14) French tenses: present, future, conditional, etc. Don't worry about tenses for this exercise. They are complications that will take months and years to master. Generally, only ten (10) tenses are used except for advanced levels of French.
The above verbs must be mastered to even begin. You might think the list is too short, so feel free to add verbs into your flash-card rotation.
The next verb examples, that are important to any language, are the movement-type verbs. While you can "have, know, can, etc." you also need to "go, come, or stay" in many conversations. These verbs are considered basic building blocks.
| Aller (/ale/ (ah-lay) | To go | Je vais | /ʒə vɛ/ (zhuh veh) | I go |
| Venir (/və.niʀ/ (vuh-neer) | To come | Je viens | /ʒə vjɛ̃/ (zhuh vy$^{uh}$ah$^{(n)}$) | I come |
| Sortir (/sɔʀ.tiʀ/ (sohr-teer) | To leave, go out | Je sors | /ʒə sɔʀ/ (zhuh sohr) | I go out, I leave |
| Partir (/paʀ.tiʀ/ (pahr-teer) | To depart | Je pars | /ʒə paʀ/ (zhuh pahr) | I depart |
| Rester (/ʀɛs.te/ (reh-stay) | To remain, stay | Je reste | (/ʒə ʀɛst/ (zhuh rehst) | I remain, I stay |
Again, feel free to add others to your flash-card rotation.
That brings us to the "Big Seven" French question words. These, like the above will quickly become complicated as well. The following is obviously simplified, but your understanding at this level will quickly get you to the next level.
| Où | /u/ (oo) | Where | Où est le taxi ? | Where's the taxi? |
| Quel (quels, quelle, quelles) | /kɛl/ (kel) | Which | Quel est le problème ?, | What's the problem? |
| Qui | /ki/ (kee) | Who | Qui a pris mon stylo ? | Who took my pen? |
| Pourquoi | /puʀ.kwa/ (poor-kwah) | Why | Pourquoi êtes-vous ici ? | Why are you here? |
| Quand | /kɑ̃/ (kah$^{(n)}$) | When | Quand je suis content, je souris. | When I'm happy, I smile. |
| Comment | /kɔ.mɑ̃/ (koh-mah$^{(n)}$) | How | Comment allons-nous trouver des informations ? | How will we find some information? |
| Combien | /kɔ̃bjɛ̃/ (kohm-by$^{uh}$a$^{(n)}$) | How much, how many | Combien ça coûte ?", "Combien font six et trois ? | How much does it cost? How much is six plus three? |
Finally, one word that is very often needed:
* Parce que (/paʀs(ə)kə/ (pahrs(uh) kuh))ː Because
ex: "Parce que vous êtes trop vieux pour ça !" (Because you are too old for this!)
Making flash-cards of all the above French words, memorizing them (forward to English/backward to French), will give you a head start in all French language courses.

## Impediment of learning by tricks

There are many methods for students to learn new subjects, and the first method is to use what are known as "tricks," designed to make it easier (so it would seem). These tricks, in most cases, merely prevent the brain from storing the information for direct lookup. One example is the French word chat. We can form a rule, whereby anytime you see a ch in French, you will substitute a c and voilà - there you go. Others, such as changing -ment to -ly or -ant to -ing are a similar waste of time.
A good example of the damage that can be done by these "tricks", is in learning Morse Code. Many teachers will begin by showing the dit's and dah's visually, and then make the sound using the key following each symbol. So that dah-di-da-dit "-.-." will be stored in the brain as a c, and somehow (magically) retrieved for use later.
Alas, this technique only works up to a certain speed, and then the students brain is so damaged, they have no hope of using the code any faster than 10 Words Per Minute. It was found (in the 1850's), that if you just associate the whole sound with a letter, and ignore the combinations of dit's and dah's, that new students listening to 20 Words Per Minute for several weeks, were able to go to work immediately. A famous Scottish-American named Andrew Carnegie went from a message boy to head telegraph operator by learning to associate sounds with whole words, and not just writing down each character, as the method used by his peers.
The advice offered in this book, is to avoid these tricks, and to associate word and sentence sounds with their meaning. Listen to the new word or sentence, and store the meaning in your brain. Do not try to translate one language into your native language before responding. When someone hands you a stick of /di.na.mit/ (dee-nah-meet) you should quickly drop it and run, and not stop to translate it into dynamite first. Simply associate the word or sentence, but do not translate it.
When you go shopping, and hear customers saying in English "How much is that?" then you form an association of that sentence to the person wanting to know a price. Similarly, if you hear people in the market asking "Combien ça coûte?" you don't have to translate the sentence, you associate it with people wanting to know a price (or more often wanting to know a lower price while smiling seductively at the assistant). After associating ten things about the word "Combien" the brain will simplify matters for you, much like it pulls the steering wheel with your arm, after the eyes see a pot-hole ahead. Forever more, "Combien" will be associated with a quantity "How much", or "How many" just as pot-holes are associated with "avoid."

# Lesson 0.02 - The Alphabet

French is based on the Latin alphabet (also called the Roman alphabet), and there are 26 letters. Originally there were 25 letters, with 'W' being added by the mid-nineteenth century. Unlike the English, who call it a "double-u," the French use "double-v" and pronounce it doo-bluh-vay after the 'V' which is pronounced (vay). During the period from Old French to Modern French, the letter 'K' was added. These two letters are used mostly with adopted foreign words. The French alphabet used today is less than 200 years old.
The twenty-six letters are parted into :
* 20 Consonants (Consonnes): B C D F G H J K L M N P Q R S T V W X Z
* 6 Vowels (Voyelles): A E I O U Y
In addition, French uses several accents: grave accents (à, è, and ù) and acute accents (é). A circumflex applies to all vowels, except Y (considered as a vowel): â, ê, î, ô, û. A tréma (French for dieresis) is also applied: ë, ï, ü, ÿ. Two combined letters (called orthographic ligatures) are used: æ and œ. Finally, a cedilla is used on the c to make it sound like an English s: ç.

## Supplementary orthography · Notes
### Final consonants

In French, certain consonants are silent when they are the final letter of a word. The letters p (as in coup (blow, shock) /ku/ (koo)), s (as in héros (hero) /e.ʁɔ/ (ay-roh)), t (as in chat (cat) /ʃa/ (shah)), d (as in marchand (shopkeeper) /maʁ.ʃɑ̃/ (mahr-shah$^{(n)}$)), and x (as in paresseux (lazy, sloth) /pa.ʁɛ.sø/ (pah-reh-sew)), are generally not pronounced at the end of a word. They are pronounced if there is an e letter after it (coupe (bowl, goblet) /kup/ (koop), chatte (she-cat) /ʃat/ (shaht), marchande (female shopkeeper) /maʁ.ʃɑ̃d/ (mahr-shah$^{(n)}$d)).

### Dental consonants

The letters d, l, n, s, t and z are pronounced with the tip of the tongue against the upper teeth and the middle of the tongue against the roof of the mouth. In English, one would pronounce these letters with the tip of the tongue at the roof of one's mouth. It is very difficult to pronounce a word like voudrais /vud.ʁɛ/ properly with the d formed in the English manner.

### b and p

Unlike English, when you pronounce the letters b and p in French, little to no air should come out of your mouth. In terms of phonetics, the difference in the French b and p and their English counterparts is one of aspiration. Fortunately, in English both aspirated and unaspirated variants (allophones) exist, but only in specific environments. If you're a native speaker, say the word pit and then the word spit out loud. Did you notice the extra puff of air in the first word that doesn't come with the second? The p in 'pit' is aspirated; the p in 'spit' is not (like the p in any position in French).

### q

The letter 'q' is always followed by a 'u'. There are only two exceptions, 'cinq' (five) and 'coq' (rooster).

### r

A final 'r' after 'e' is generally mute, but it is pronounced on words of one syllable 'fer' (iron), 'mer' (sea) and 'hier' (yesterday).

### Aspirated and non-aspirated h

In French, the letter h can be aspirated (h aspiré), or not aspirated (h non aspiré), depending on which language the word was borrowed from. The h is never pronounced, whether it is aspirated or not aspirated.
For example, the word héros /e.ʁɔ/ has an aspirated h. When a definite article (le, la, l', les) is placed before it, the result is le héros, and both words must be pronounced separately. However, the feminine form of héros, héroïne /eʁɔin/ is a non-aspirated h. Therefore, when you put a definite article in front of it, it becomes l'héroïne, and is pronounced as one word.
The only way to tell if the h at the beginning of a word is aspirated is to look it up in the dictionary. Some dictionaries will place an asterisk (*) in front of the entry word in the French-English H section if the h is aspirated. Other dictionaries will include it in the pronunciation guide after the key word by placing an apostrophe ( ' ) before the pronunciation. In short, the words must be memorized.
Here is a table of some basic h words that are aspirated and not aspirated:

## Supplementary orthography · Diacritics

Five different kinds of accent marks are used in written French. In many cases, an accent changes the sound of the letter to which it is added. In others, the accent has no effect on pronunciation. Accents in French never indicate stress (which always falls on the last syllable). Accentuated letters are usually never followed by a double consonant (except châssis for instance); moreover on e accent becomes useless because a following double consonant changes its pronunciation (e.g.: jeter ([ə],throw) but je jette (pronounced è, I throw). The following table lists every French accent mark and the letters with which it can be combined:
Note that the letter ÿ is only used in very rare words, mostly old town names like L'Haÿ-Les-Roses, a Paris surburb or Aÿ in Champagne region. This letter is pronounced like ï.
Note also that as of the spelling reform of 1990, the diaresis indicating gu is not a digraph on words finishing in guë and is now placed on the u in standard (académie française) French: aigüe and not aiguë; cigüe and not ciguë; ambigüe and not ambiguë. Since this reform is relatively recent and mostly unknown to laypeople, the two spellings can be used interchangeably.

### Acute accent · Accent aigu

The acute accent is the most common accent used in written French. It is only used with the letter e and is always pronounced /e/ (ay).
One use of the accent aigu is to form the past participle of regular -er verbs.

### Grave accent · Accent grave
#### à and ù

In the case of the letters à and ù, the grave accent is used to graphically distinguish one word from another.

#### è

Unlike à and ù, è is not used to distinguish words from one another. The è is used for pronunciation. In careful speech, an unaccented e is pronounced like an a on the end of a word in English /ə/, as in "Angela", and in rapid speech is sometimes not pronounced at all. The è is pronounced like the letter e in pet.

### Circumflex accent · Accent circonflexe

This accent is often called a 'hat' in language and mathematics, and usually indicates the disappearance of the old-French s after the vowel wearing it (the hat) but this s can still be found in a noun or a verb of the same lexical family. Examples are: hospital --> hôpital but hospitalité, maistre --> maître, gâteau from old french gastel, ê is pronounced like è: Fenestre --> fenêtre but défenestrer, forest --> forêt but forestier.
Circumflex accent may be used to have closed-o (la Drôme (French department), un dôme... ô is pronounced [o] like in château, without this accent it would be said like the english word hot ; whereas this pronunciation is not really applied in the south of France.)
In the past participle of devoir (must), dû a circumflex accent is written to distinguish it from the article du.
According to the spelling reform of 1990 some circumflex accents are no longer compulsory (maître --> maitre, boîte --> boite...)

### Cedilla · Cédille

The cedilla is used only with the letter c, and is said to make the c soft, making it equivalent to the English and French s.
    garçon

## Supplementary exercises

* Get a loose piece of printer paper or notebook paper.
* Hold the piece of paper about one inch (or a couple of centimeters) in front of your face.
* Say the words baby, and puppy like you normally would in English. Notice how the paper moved when you said the 'b' and the 'p' respectively.
* Now, without making the piece of paper move, say the words belle (the feminine form of beautiful in French, pronounced like the English 'bell.'), and papa (the French equivalent of "Dad").
* If the paper moved, your pronunciation is slightly off. Concentrate, and try it again.
* If the paper didn't move, congratulations! You pronounced the words correctly!
* Grab a French-English dictionary and find at least ten aspirated h words, and ten non-aspirated h words
* On a piece of paper, write down the words you find in two columns
* Look at it every day and memorize the columns

# Lesson 0.03 - Greetings
## Vocabulary · Greetings · Les salutations

When talking to one's peers or to children, Salut is used as a greeting. Its English equivalents would be hi and hey. Bonjour, literally meaning good day, should be used for anyone else. One way of remembering these greetings, is that they come in masculine/feminine pairs. One is upon arrival, the other upon departure.
jour : bonjour / bonne journée matin : bonjour / bonne matinée (early in the morning), bonne journée (early or late in the morning) après-midi : bonjour / bon(ne) après-midi (early in the afternoon), bonne journée (early or late in the afternoon), bonne soirée (late in the afternoon) soir : bonjour, bonsoir / bonne soirée (early or late in the evening), bonne nuit (very late in the evening) nuit : bonjour, bonsoir / bonne nuit
The French never say Bon matin, they do use matinée, journée, soirée but never use nuitée.

## Vocabulary · Good-bye · Au revoir

In addition to being used as an informal greeting, Salut also means bye. Again, it should only be used among friends. Another informal greeting is ciao, an Italian word commonly used in France. Au revoir is the only formal way to say Good-bye. If you will be meeting someone again soon, use À bientôt or À tout à l'heure. À demain is used if you will be seeing the person the following day.

## Vocabulary · Names

Tu t'appelles comment ? is used to informally ask someone for his or her name. It is normal to just reply by stating your name, however you may also respond with je m'appelle , meaning I am called....

## Vocabulary · How are you? · Ça va ?

DIALOGUE: Two good friends, Olivier and Luc, are meeting.
Ça va ? is used to ask someone how they are doing. The phrase literally means It goes?, referring to the body and life. A more formal way to say this is Comment allez-vous ?. You can respond by using ça va as a statement; Ça va. in this case is used for I'm fine. The adverb bien /bjɛ̃/ is used to say well, and is often said both alone and as Ça va bien. Bien is preceded by certain adverbs to specify the degree to which you are well. Common phrases are assez bien, meaning rather well, très bien, meaning very well, and vraiment bien, meaning really well. The adverb mal /mal/ is used to say badly. Pas$^{not}$ /pɑ/ is commonly added to mal to form Pas mal., meaning Not bad. Comme ci, comme ça., literally translating to Like this, like that., is used to say So, so.
To be polite, you can add merci /mɛʁ.si/, meaning thank you, in your responses to the questions e.g., très bien, merci.

## Exercises

(Highlight or hover over a line to show the answer.)
    Translate from French to English.
(Highlight or hover over a line to show the answer.)
    Translate from English to French.
    Your friend François sees you and starts a conversation. How might you respond?
* François: Salut. Comment vas-tu ?
* You: _________
* François: Quoi de neuf ?
* You: _________
* François: À la prochaine.
* You: _________
    Put the following conversation in order:

# Lesson 0.04 - Formal Speech
## Dialogue · A formal conversation · Une conversation formelle

Two people—Monsieur Bernard and Monsieur Lambert—are meeting for the first time:

## Grammar · Vous vs. tu

This is an important difference between French and English today. English no longer distinguishes between the singular, and the plural, formal version of you. The use of thou for the informal singular version faded almost completely by the mid-nineteenth century.
In French, it is important to know when to use vous /vu/ and when to use tu /ty/.
Vous is the plural form of you. This is somewhat equivalent to you all, you guys, all of you, except that it does not carry any familiarity when used with the plural. You would use it to address your friends as well as when talking to the whole government at a press conference.
Vous is also used to refer to single individuals to show respect, to be polite or to be neutral. It is used when talking to someone who is important, someone who is older than you are, or someone with whom you are unfamiliar. This is known as Vouvoiement. Note the conversation between M. Bernard and M. Lambert above as an example of this use.
Conversely, tu is the singular and informal form of vous (you) in French. It is commonly used when referring to a friend or a family member, and is also used between children or when addressing a child. If it is used when speaking to a stranger, it signals disrespect. This is known as Tutoiement. As a rule of thumb, use tu only when you would call that person by his first name, otherwise use vous. French people will make it known when they would like you to refer to them by tu. The use of vous is less common in Quebequois than in French from France.
In sociolinguistics, a T–V distinction describes the situation wherein a language has second-person pronouns that distinguish varying levels of politeness, social distance, courtesy, familiarity, or insult toward the addressee. The expressions T-form (informal) and V-form (formal), with reference to the initial letters of these pronouns in Latin, tu and vos. In Latin, tu was originally the singular, and vos the plural, with no distinction for honorific or familiar. It was only between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries that the norms for the use of T- and V-forms crystallized.

## Vocabulary · Titles · Les titres

* It's acceptable to use /mɛ.dam/ or /me.dam/ (meh-dahm) or (may-dahm)
* Do not forget to liaison if saying Mesdames et Messieurs /me.dam z‿e me.sjø/ (may-dam-zay-maysy$^{uh}$ew).

## Vocabulary · Asking for one's name · Demander le nom de quelqu'un

Note that with vous, the verb appelez is spelled with one 'l', whereas with tu it has two l's (appelles). This is an irregular conjugation which will be covered more in-depth in a later lesson.

## Exercises

You are at your first business conference representing your new company, and your manager begins to speak with a colleague you have never met. You want to greet him, tell him your name, and ask him his name.
(Highlight or hover over a line to show the answer.)
    Translate from French to English.
(Highlight or hover over a line to show the answer.)
    Translate from English to French.
* a teacher
* a best friend
* someone you just met
* a group of your friends
* a parent
* a sibling
* a waiter at a restaurant
* vous (to show respect)
* tu (familiarity)
* vous (unfamiliar)
* vous (plural group, even though it is informal)
* tu (familiar)
* tu (familiar)
* vous (likely unfamiliar, but also to show respect and to be polite)

# Lesson 0.05 - Numbers
## Vocabulary · Cardinal numbers

We can remark that 21, 31, 41, 51, 61 and 71 can have et un with or without a hyphen; otherwise this it is simply both words consecutively (vingt-six, trente-trois, etc) with a hyphen in between. For 100-199, cent is added before the rest of the number; this continues up to 1000 and onward. Many speakers of French outside of France refer to the numbers 70 to 99 in the same pattern as the other numbers. For instance, in Switzerland and Belgium, 70 is septante /sɛp.tɑ̃t/, 71 is septante-et-un, 72 is septante-deux, and so on; 90 is nonante /nɔ.nɑ̃t/, 91 is nonante-et-un /nɔ.nɑ̃t.e.œ̃/, 92 is nonante-deux, and so on. In Switzerland, 80 is huitante or octante /ɔk.tɑ̃t/.

## Supplementary vocabulary · Mathematics · Les mathématiques

In French, the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are as follows:
    Calculez:
    un plus un = (égale) deux (the final 's' of 'plus' must be pronounced)
    dix moins sept = trois
    quatre fois trois = douze
    vingt divisé par dix = deux
You may sometimes use un plus un font deux.

## Supplementary dialogue · In school · À l'école

    Toto est un personnage imaginaire qui est un cancre à l'école. Il y a beaucoup d'histoires drôles sur Toto !
    Toto is an imaginary character that is a dunce at school. There are a lot of funny stories about Toto!

## Exercises

(Highlight or hover over a line to show the answer.)
    Write the number represented by each word.
(Highlight or hover over a line to show the answer.)
    Write the number represented by each word.
(Highlight or hover over a line to show the answer.)
    Write the number represented by each word.
(Highlight or hover over a line to show the answer.)
    Write the French word for each number.
(Highlight or hover over a line to show the answer.)
    Write the French word for each number.
(Highlight or hover over a line to show the answer.)
    Write the French word for each number.

## Supplementary exercises

(Highlight or hover over a line to show the answer.)
    Translate from French to English.
(Highlight or hover over a line to show the answer.)
(Highlight or hover over a line to show the answer.)
    Translate from French to English.

# Lesson 0.06 - The Date
## Vocabulary · Days · Les jours

* The days of the week are not capitalized in French.
* The calender starts on Monday, unlike the English Sunday.
* ^ On est quel jour aujourd'hui? is less formal but more common.
* Nous sommes... is not used with hier, aujourd’hui, or demain. C'était (past) or C'est (present/future) must be used accordingly.

## Vocabulary · Months · Les mois

* The months of the year are not capitalized in French.
On May 5, one would say "C'est le cinq mai." However, the first of the month uses "le premier" (the first): C'est le premier août (August 1).

## Dialogue · How old are you?

Marcel and Chantal are talking about how old they are. They are good friends.
* Chantal - Quel âge as-tu, Marcel ?
* Marcel - J'ai huit ans. Et toi ?
* Chantal - J'ai dix ans. Quel âge a-t-elle ?
* Marcel - Elle a six ans.

# Lesson 0.07 - Telling Time
## Vocabulary · Time · Le temps

In French, il est is used to express the time; though it would literally translate as he is, it is actually, in this case, equivalent to it is (impersonal il). Unlike in English, it is always important to use heures (hours) when referring to the time. In English, it is okay to say It’s nine, but this wouldn’t make sense in French.
Time is often abbreviated using h for heure(s). For example, 9 o'clock AM would be 9h or 9h00. They also use 24-hour time in this format, so 10 o'clock PM would be 22h.

## Dialogue · What time is it?

* Jean-Quelle heure est-il?
* Paul-Il est midi.
* Jean -Quelle heure est-il?
* Paul-Il est deux heures du matin.

## Supplementary dialogue · The director · Le directeur
# Lesson 0 - Review
## G: The French alphabet

In addition, French uses several accents which are worth understanding. These are: à, è, ù, (grave accents) and é (acute accent). A circumflex applies to all vowels: â, ê, î, ô, û. A tréma (French for dieresis) is also applied: ä, ë, ï, ö, ü, ÿ. Two combined letters are used: æ and œ, and a cedilla is used on the c to make it sound like an English s: ç.

## V: Numbers
#### Things of note about numbers

* For 70-79, it builds upon "soixante" but past that it builds upon a combination of terms for 80-99
* Only the first (21,31,41,51,61 and 71, but not 81 nor 91) have "et un" without a hyphen; but past this it is simply both words consecutively (vingt-six, trente-trois, etc.) with a hyphen in between.
* For 100-199, it looks much like this list already save that "cent" is added before the rest of the number; this continues up to 1000 and onward.

## V: Time

In French, “il est” is used to express the time; though it would literally translate as “he is”, it is actually, in this case, equivalent to “it is” (unpersonal "il"). Unlike in English, it is always important to use “heures” (“hours”) when referring to the time. In English, it is OK to say, “It’s nine,” but this wouldn’t make sense in French. The French time system traditionally uses a 24-hour scale. Shorthand for writing times in French follows the format "17h30", which would represent 5:30PM in English.

## V: The days of the week.

* The days of the week are not capitalized in French.
* For phrases relating to the day of the week, see the phrasebook.
Notes:
* What day is it today? is equivalent to Quel jour sommes-nous ?.
* Quel jour sommes-nous ? can be answered with Nous sommes..., C'est... or On est... (last two are less formal).
* Nous sommes... is not used with hier, aujourd’hui, or demain. C'était (past) or C'est (present/future) must be used accordingly.

## Dialogue · A conversation between friends · Une conversation entre amis

^1 Bien... is an adverb meaning well. Its adjective equivalent is bon(ne), which means good. Since je vais, meaning I go, uses an action verb, the adverb bien is used. In English, I'm good, which uses the linking verb am, is followed by an adjective rather than an adverb.
^2 Est-ce que... doesn't mean anything (like the Spanish upside down question mark) and is used to start a question. This can be used in a similar manner to do in English. Instead of You want it?, one can say Do you want it?
^3 chez... is a preposition meaning at the house of.... Chez moi is used to say at my place. Chez [name] is used to say at [name's] place.
^4 on... can mean we or one.

# Lesson 0 - Test

The following test will confirm your progress in the French introduction. Try to answer the questions to the best of your ability without turning to the previous chapters or consulting the test answers.

## Grammar
### Verb forms

Name the verb forms for the subject and infinitive specified. (1 point each)

## Translating
### English to French

Translate the following phrases and sentences into French. (2 points each)
* What day is today?
* How are you?
* What is your name?

### French to English

Translate this dialogue between Henri and Jacques into English. Each phrase is worth 1 points. (11 points total)
* Bonjour! Quel est ton nom?
* Je m'appelle Jacques. Comment vous-appelez vous?
* Je m'appelle Henri. Comment ça va?
* Pas mal. Et toi, comment ça va?
* Trés bien, merci. À demain Jacques!
* À demain Henri.

## Reading comprehension
### Fill in the blank

Fill in the blanks in these conversations. Note: Every blank is one word. (1 point each)

## Vocabulary
### Matching

Match the French words with their English definitions. (1 point each)

# Level one

* Lesson 1.01 - Basic Grammar
* Lesson 1.02 - To Be
* Lesson 1.03 - Description
* Lesson 1.04 - Family
* Lesson 1.05 - Recreation
* Lesson 1.06 - The House
* Lesson 1.07 - Weather
* Lesson 1.08 - Travel
* Lesson 1.09 - Art
* Lesson 1.10 - Science

# Lesson 1.01 - Basic Grammar

    Qu’est-ce que c’est ? C'est une colombe.
    Voici les deux garçons !

## Grammar · Gender of nouns · Genre des noms

Nouns are words that represent something perceived or conceived, like an apple or a thought. In French, all nouns have a grammatical gender; that is, they are either masculine (m) or feminine (f).
Most nouns that express people or animals have both a masculine and a feminine form. For example, the two words for the cat in French are le chat (m) and la chatte (f).
However, there are some nouns that talk about people or animals whose gender is fixed, regardless of the actual gender of the person or animal. For example, la personne$^{theperson}$ is always feminine, even when it's talking about your uncle; le professeur$^{theteacher}$ is always masculine, even when it's talking about your female professor or teacher.
The nouns that express things without an obvious gender (e.g., objects and abstract concepts) have only one form. This form can be masculine or feminine. For example, la voiture$^{thecar}$ can only be feminine; le stylo$^{thepen}$ can only be masculine.

### Exceptions

There are many exceptions to gender rules in French which can only be learned. There are even words that are spelled the same, but have a different meaning when masculine or feminine; for example, le livre means the book, but la livre means the pound. Some words that appear to be masculine (such as la photo, which should be masculine but is not because it is actually short for la photographie) are in fact feminine, and vice versa. Then there are some that just don't make sense; la foi is feminine and means faith or belief, whereas le foie is masculine and means liver.

## Vocabulary · Example nouns

* le cheval  ( /ʃəval/)
* le chien  ( /ʃjɛ̃/)
* le livre  ( /livʁ/)
* la colombe  ( /kɔlɔ̃b/)
* la chemise  ( /ʃə.miz/)
* la maison  ( /mɛ.zɔ̃/)

## Grammar · Articles
### The definite article · L'article défini

In English, the definite article is always the.
In French, the definite article is changed depending on the noun's:
* gender
* number
* first letter
There are three definite articles and an abbreviation. Le is used for masculine nouns, La is used for feminine nouns, Les is used for plural nouns (both masculine or feminine), and L' is used when the noun is singular and begins with a vowel or silent h (both masculine or feminine). It is similar to English, where a changes to an before a vowel.
Unlike English, the definite article is used to talk about something in a general sense, a general statement or feeling about an idea or thing.

### Elision

Elision refers to the suppression of a final unstressed vowel immediately before another word beginning with a vowel. The definite articles le and la are shortened to l’ when they come before a noun that begins with a vowel or silent h. When pronounced, the vowel sound is dropped.
Elision does not occur on an aspired h:
    (le) héros: le héros$^{thehero}$
In addition to the definite article, elision will also occur with other words, such as que, je, le, ce, ne, and de. The details on these words will be covered in later sections of the book.

### The indefinite article · L'article indéfini

In English, the indefinite articles are a and an. Some is used as a plural article in English.
Again, indefinite articles in French take different forms depending on gender and number. The articles un and une literally mean one in French.
^ une is often (more often than not) pronounced (ewnuh) in poetry and lyric. ^ Des fils does mean some sons, but is a homograph: it can also mean some threads (when pronounced like /fil/ (help·info)).

### Some

Note that des, like les, is used in French before plural nouns when no article is used in English. For example, you are looking at photographs in an album. The English statement I am looking at photographs. cannot be translated to French as Je regarde photographies. because an article is required to tell which photographs are being looked at. If it is a set of specific pictures, the French statement should be Je regarde les photographies.$^{Iamlookingatthephotographs.}$ On the other hand, if the person is just browsing the album, the French translation is Je regarde des photographies.$^{Iamlookingatsomephotographs.}$

### Plurality, pronunciation, and exceptions

The plural of most nouns is formed by adding an -s. However, the -s ending is not pronounced. It is the article that tells the listener whether the noun is singular or plural.
Most singular nouns do not end in -s. The -s is added for the plural form of the noun. Fils is one exception. Whenever the singular form of a noun ends in -s, there is no change in the plural form.
The final consonant is almost always not pronounced unless followed by an -e (or another vowel). Fils /fis/ is also an exception to this rule.

### Liaison

Remember that the last consonant of a word is typically not pronounced unless followed by a vowel. When a word ending in a consonant is followed by a word beginning with a vowel sound (or silent h), the consonant often becomes pronounced. This is a process called liaison. When a vowel goes directly after un, the normally unpronounced n sound becomes pronounced.
Compare the pronunciation to words without liaison:
    un garçon /ɶ̃ gaʁsɔ̃/
Une is unaffected by liaison.
Liaison also occurs with les and des.
As with elision, an aspired h isn't liaised:
    (les) hangars: les hangars le æŋgəʁ

## Vocabulary · Expressions
### Qu’est-ce que c’est ?

To say What is it? or What is that? in French, Qu’est-ce que c’est ? /kɛs kə sɛ/ is used.
    Qu'est-ce que…?$^{Whatisitthat?}$ is used often to say What…? at the beginning of sentences.
To respond to this question, you say C’est un(e) [nom]., meaning It is a [noun]:
    C'est un livre.$^{It'sabook.}$
Remember that the indefinite article (un or une) must agree with the noun it modifies:
    C'est une chemise.$^{It'sashirt.}$

### Il y a

Il y a /il.ja/ is used to say there is or there are. Il y a expresses the existence of the noun it introduces.
    Il y a une pomme.$^{Thereisanapple.}$
The phrase is used for both singular and plural nouns. Unlike in English (is → are), il y a does not change form.
    Il y a des pommes.$^{Thereare(some)apples.}$
The -s at the end of the most pluralised nouns tells you that the phrase is there are instead of there is. In spoken French, when both the singular and plural forms almost always sound the same, the article (and perhaps other adjectives modifying the noun) is used to distinguish between singular and plural versions.
A is the present third person singular form of the verb to have, and y is a pronoun meaning there. The phrase il y a, then, literally translates to he has there. This phrase is used in all French tenses. It is important to remember that verb stays as a form of have and not be.

### Voici and voilà

Like in English, il y a… is not often used to point out an object. To point out an object to the listener, use voici /vwa.si/, meaning over here is/are or right here is/are, and voilà /vwa.la/, meaning over there is/are, or there you have it.
    Voici les deux garçons !$^{Herearethetwoboys!}$

### Examples
## Exercises

       Qu’est-ce que c’est?
       C'est ….
| pomme | poire | chat | chien |
| C'est une pomme | C'est une poire | C'est un chat | C'est un chien |
       Match each noun with its corresponding image.
    une colombe
    des livres
    une chemise
    des chevaux
    une maison
| une chemise | une maison | des livres | une colombe | des chevaux |
(Highlight or hover over a line to show the answer.) Translate each phrase from English to French
(Highlight or hover over a line to show the answer.) Translate each phrase from French to English

## Supplementary exercises

(Highlight or hover over a line to show the answer.) Classify each noun as masculine or feminine based on its ending.

# Lesson 1.02 - To Be

French/Lessons/To be

# Lesson 1.03 - Description

French/Lessons/Description

# Lesson 1.04 - Family

French/Lessons/Family Template:Newpage

# Lesson 1.05 - Recreation

French/Lessons/Recreation Template:Newpage

# Lesson 1.06 - The House

French/Lessons/The house Template:Newpage

# Lesson 1.07 - Weather

French/Lessons/Weather Template:Newpage

# Lesson 1.08 - Travel

French/Lessons/Travel Template:Newpage

# Lesson 1.09 - Art

French/Lessons/Art Template:Newpage

# Lesson 1.10 - Science

French/Lessons/Science Template:Newpage

# Level two

* Lesson 2.01 - School
* Lesson 2.02 - Culture
* Lesson 2.03 - Shopping
* Lesson 2.04 - Going Out
* Lesson 2.05 - Transportation
* Lesson 2.06 - Everyday Life
* Lesson 2.07 - Rural Life
* Lesson 2.08 - Food and Drink
* Lesson 2.09 - Dining
* Lesson 2.10 - Communication
Template:Newpage

# Lesson 2.01 - School

French/Lessons/School Template:Newpage

# Lesson 2.02 - Culture

French/Lessons/Culture Template:Newpage

# Lesson 2.03 - Shopping

French/Lessons/Shopping Template:Newpage

# Lesson 2.04 - Going Out

French/Lessons/Going out Template:Newpage

# Lesson 2.05 - Transportation

French/Lessons/Transportation Template:Newpage

# Lesson 2.06 - Everyday Life

French/Lessons/Everyday life Template:Newpage

# Lesson 2.07 - Rural Life

French/Lessons/Rural life Template:Newpage

# Lesson 2.08 - Food and Drink

French/Lessons/Food and drink Template:Newpage

# Lesson 2.09 - Dining

French/Lessons/Dining Template:Newpage

# Lesson 2.10 - Communication

French/Lessons/Communication Template:Newpage

# Level three

* Lesson 3.01 - Vacations
* Lesson 3.02 - Work
* Lesson 3.03 - Health
* Lesson 3.04 - Money
* Lesson 3.05 - Youth
* Lesson 3.06 - Adolescence
* Lesson 3.07 - Ancient History
* Lesson 3.08 - Revolution!
* Lesson 3.09 - Modern France
* Lesson 3.10 - Current Events
Template:Newpage

# Lesson 3.01 - Vacations

French/Lessons/Vacations Template:Newpage

# Lesson 3.02 - Work

French/Lessons/Work Template:Newpage

# Lesson 3.03 - Health

French/Lessons/Health Template:Newpage

# Lesson 3.04 - Money

French/Lessons/Money Template:Newpage

# Lesson 3.05 - Youth

French/Lessons/Youth Template:Newpage

# Lesson 3.06 - Adolescence

French/Lessons/Adolescence Template:Newpage

# Lesson 3.07 - Ancient History

French/Lessons/History Template:Newpage

# Lesson 3.08 - Revolution!

French/Lessons/Revolution! Template:Newpage

# Lesson 3.09 - Modern France

French/Lessons/Modern France Template:Newpage

# Lesson 3.10 - Current Events

French/Lessons/Current events Template:Newpage