Duolingo French Course: Section 2 (Explorer)

Possessive Adjectives

Adjectives

French adjectives usually come after the noun they’re describing.

• In French, adjectives must agree in gender and number with the nouns they describe. The “français” is used as an adjective to describe the noun “restaurants”, which is plural. So “français” agrees with the plural noun “restaurants”, but it remains in the singular form because it is a singular masculine adjective. In the other sentence, “mexicain” comes as its plural form for restaurants.

• When talking about countries in French, the preposition “à” is used to indicate someone’s residence or location. However, when a masculine singular country name is preceded by the preposition “à,” it combines with the definite article “le” to form the contraction “au”
• When talking about a feminine singular noun like “maison” (house), the preposition “à” is followed by the feminine singular definite article “la”.
• When referring to a city of a country, the preposition “à” is used without any contraction.

Un and une become des when you are talking about more than one thing:

• Ces bananes et cette orange sont bonnes.

In French, make sure you include the le, la , or l’ when talking about the time of day or meals!

• à + l = à + l (it does not follow the above rule):

• Example: Il travaille à l‘usine

• des could be used to indicate some quantity of something:
• Example: Paul écrit des messages: Paul is writing some messages

Use infinit verbs:

• J’aime habiter à Paris
• Je veux visiter ce lieu
• Je dois tourner à gauche

To do something

• Faire du vélo: To go biking
• Faire du ski: To go skiing
• Faire la cuisine: To go cooking
• Faire un gàteau: To go make a cake
• Faire du sport: To do sports
• Faire de la plongée: To go scuba diving

Formal vs Informal

• comment allez-vous / comment vas-tu
• pouvez-vous attendre / Tu peux attendre
• Avez-vous une question / Tu as une question

Going to + Infinit:

• Je vais voyager: I am going to travel
• Je ne vais pas rester: I am not going to stay
• Tu vas passer du temps chec toi?: Are you going to spend some time at your place?
• Tu vas visiter Paris?: Are you going to visit Paris?
• Il va partir la semaine prochaine: He is going to leave next week
• Nous n’allons pas partir: We are not going to leave
• Ils vont aller à une plage près d’ici: They are going to go the a beach near here
• Où vas-tu passer tes vacances: Where are you going to go spend your vacationÉ

Indirect Object

Verbs

• Tu manages quoi?
  • What are you eating?
• Qu’est-ce que tu manages?
  • What are you eating?
• C’est quoi?
  • What is it?
• Quel numéro? (Masculine Singular)
  • Which number?
• Quelle femme/idée? (Feminine Singular)
  • Which woman/idea?
• Quels hommes? (Masculine Plural)
  • Which men?
• Quelles femmes? (Feminine Plural)
  • Which women?
• Tu choisis quel numéro?
  • Which number are you choosing?
• Tu finis à quelle heure?
  • What time do you finish?

• When describing something or someone’s size, put the adjective before the noun.

Reffering back to the little m’ in phrases like Je m’appelle Charlotte:

• It literally means I call myself Charlotte.

• Je me réveille tôt.
• Ils se préparent vite.
• Il se couche tard.

In English, we say He brushes his teeth or I wash my face, but in French you’d normally use le, la, or les instead of my or his before parts of the body.

• Elle se brosse les cheveux.

Prepositional phrases:

• en été/automnre/hiver
• au printemps

• Vieil is used before masculine nouns starting with a vowel sound or a silent ‘h.’
  • e.g. un vieil homme or un vieil ami
• Vieux is used before masculine nouns starting with a consonant sound.
  • e.g. un vieux livre or un vieux chien