Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Conventions Used in This Book 2
Foolish Assumptions 2
Icons Used in This Book 2
Beyond the Book 3
Where to Go from Here 3
Part 1: The Building Blocks of French 5
Chapter 1: Getting to Know You 7
French Greetings 7
Hello 7
How are you? 8
Won’t you tell me your name? 10
Using Other Social Niceties Appropriately 12
Saying please, thank you, and you’re welcome 12
Parting ways 12
Understanding Subject Pronouns 13
Je or nous: The first person 14
Tu or vous: The second person 15
Il, elle, or on: The third-person singular 16
Ils or elles: The third-person plural 17
Answer Key to “Getting to Know You” Practice Questions 19
Chapter 2: Understanding Parts of Speech and Bilingual Dictionaries 23
Identifying the Parts of Speech 23
What’s in a name? Nouns 24
Articles (not the ones in magazines) 25
Doing all the things with verbs 25
Describing adjectives 26
Using adverbs 27
Pronouns: They’re replacements 28
Prepositions: On top of it 29
Connecting with conjunctions 30
Correctly Using a Bilingual Dictionary 31
Figuring out what to look up 31
Considering context and part of speech 32
Understanding symbols and terminology 33
Interpreting figurative language and idioms 33
Verifying your findings 34
Answer Key to “Understanding Parts of Speech and Bilingual Dictionaries” Practice Questions 35
Chapter 3: Figuring Out Nouns and Articles 41
Genre Bending: Writing with Masculine and Feminine Nouns 41
Determining the gender of nouns 42
Making nouns feminine 42
Nouns that are always masculine or feminine 43
Part Deux: Making Nouns Plural 44
Remembering your x’s: Other plural patterns 45
Irregular plurals 45
Understanding Article Types, Gender, and Number 46
Defining the definite articles 47
Sorting out indefinite articles 50
Looking at some partitive articles 51
The sum of all articles 54
Answer Key to “Figuring Out Nouns and Articles” Practice Questions 55
Chapter 4: Showing Up and Owning Up: Demonstratives and Possessives 59
A Little of This and That: Using Demonstratives 60
Demonstrative adjectives 60
Demonstrative pronouns 62
Possession: Channeling the Spirit of Ownership 64
Possession using de 65
Working with possessive adjectives 65
Yours, mine, and ours: Understanding possessive pronouns 68
Answer Key to “Demonstratives and Possessives” Practice Questions 71
Chapter 5: The 4-1-1 on Numbers, Dates, and Time 75
Using Numbers 75
Counting on cardinal numbers: 1, 2, 3 76
Assigning rank with ordinal numbers 80
Mark Your Calendar: Expressing Days, Months, and Dates 82
Knowing the days of the week 82
An even dozen: Identifying the months 84
’Tis the season 84
Day, month, and year: Scoping out the dating scene 85
Understanding Time Differences 86
Answer Key to “The 4-1-1 on Numbers, Dates, and Time” Practice Questions 90
Part 2: The Here and Now: Writing in the Present 95
Chapter 6: Right Here, Right Now: The Present Tense 97
The Mainstream: Conjugating Regular Verbs 97
The most common regular verbs: –er 98
Another common regular verb ending: –ir 99
The third type of regular verbs: –re 100
Rounding up regular French verbs 101
Preserving Pronunciation with Spelling-Change Verbs 102
Working with –cer verbs 102
Managing –ger verbs 102
Practicing with spelling-change verbs 103
Dissecting Stem-Changing Verbs 104
Tackling –yer verbs 104
Figuring out –eler verbs 105
Focusing on –eter verbs 106
Looking at –e*er verbs 107
Dealing with –é*er verbs 108
Cleaning up conjugations 109
The Rebels: Conjugating Irregular Verbs 110
Coming right up: Verbs conjugated like venir 111
Going out — and out like a light: Verbs conjugated like sortir and dormir 111
Offering and opening: Verbs conjugated like offrir and ouvrir 112
Taking: Verbs conjugated like prendre 112
Beating and putting: Verbs conjugated like battre and mettre 112
Abilities and wants: Pouvoir and vouloir 113
Making do: Verbs conjugated like faire 113
Seeing is believing: Voir, c’est croire 113
Tackling unique irregular verbs 114
Answer Key to “Right Here, Right Now: The Present Tense” Practice Questions 117
Chapter 7: Sorting Out Pronominal Verbs: Idioms, Oneself, and Each Other 123
Examining the Relationship between Reflexive Pronouns and Pronominal Verbs 124
Understanding the Types of Pronominal Verbs 126
Reflexive verbs: Acting on oneself 126
Reciprocal verbs: What you do to each other 127
Idiomatic pronominal verbs: Figuratively speaking 128
Knowing Where the Words Go 130
Deciding Whether to Make a Verb Pronominal 131
Reflexive verbs: Oneself or something else? 132
Reciprocal verbs: Returning the favor? 133
Idiomatic pronominal verbs: What’s the meaning of all this? 134
Answer Key to “Sorting Out Pronominal Verbs” Practice Questions 137
Chapter 8: Asking and Answering Questions 139
Oui ou Non: Asking Yes-or-No Questions 139
Posing informal questions 140
Asking formal questions with inversion 140
Asking Who, What, Which, When, Where, Why, and How Questions 142
Interrogative adverbs 142
Interrogative pronouns 144
Interrogative adjectives 145
Asking wh questions with est-ce que 146
Asking wh questions with inversion 149
Answering Questions 150
Answering yes-or-no questions 150
Answering wh questions 152
Answer Key to “Asking and Answering Questions” Practice Questions 153
Chapter 9: Just Say No: The Negative 157
Using Negative Adverbs 157
The most common negative adverb: Ne pas 158
Using ne pas in two-verb constructions 159
Following word order with ne pas 160
Other negative adverbs 161
Using Negative Pronouns 162
Ne personne 162
Ne rien 163
Negatives and their indefinite opposites 164
Practice using negative pronouns 164
Responding to Negative Questions and Statements 165
Replying with no 165
Answering with yes 166
Answer Key to “Just Say No: The Negative” Practice Questions 168
Chapter 10: “To Be” or “Being” Is the Question: Infinitives and Present Participles 171
Working with French Infinitives 172
As a verb: Expressing action 172
Using aller to say what’s going to happen 174
As a noun: Infinitives as subjects 175
Understanding word order with infinitives 177
Presenting Present Participles 178
Forming present participles 178
Using present participles 179
Answer Key to “Infinitives and Present Participles” Practice Questions 183
Part 3: Writing with Panache: Dressing Up Your Sentences 187
Chapter 11: Describing and Comparing with Flair: Adjectives and Adverbs 189
Describing All the Things with Adjectives 190
Making your adjectives agree 190
Correctly positioning adjectives around nouns 194
Using special forms for six adjectives that precede nouns 195
Identifying adjectives that have changing meanings 197
Using Adverbs Accurately 198
Identifying types of adverbs 198
Turning adjectives into adverbs of manner 202
Positioning adverbs 204
Comparing with Comparatives and Superlatives 206
More or less, equal: Relating two things with comparatives 206
Supersizing with superlatives 208
For better or worse: Special comparative and superlative forms 209
Answer Key to “Adjectives and Adverbs” Practice Questions 212
Chapter 12: An Ode to Prepositions 217
Identifying Common Prepositions 217
The preposition à 217
The preposition de 218
Forming contractions with prepositions 219
Identifying other useful prepositions 220
Distinguishing between Prepositions 222
When to use à or de 222
When to use dans or en 223
Using Prepositions with Places 224
Prepositions with countries 224
Prepositions with cities 226
Giving Verbs the Prepositions They Need 227
Verbs with à 227
Verbs with de 227
Verbs with other prepositions 228
Verbs with different prepositions 228
Verbs with no preposition 229
Answer Key to “An Ode to Prepositions” Practice Questions 230
Chapter 13: Getting a Hold on Pronouns 233
Using Object Pronouns 233
Presenting direct object pronouns 234
Word order with direct object pronouns 235
Giving you indirect object pronouns 237
Understanding Adverbial Pronouns 239
Getting there with the adverbial pronoun y 239
Adverbial grammar: Picking up more of it with the pronoun en 241
Positioning Double Pronouns 242
Lining up: Standard pronoun order 243
Using pronouns in commands 244
Answer Key to “Getting a Hold on Pronouns” Practice Questions 245
Part 4: Just Do It, and Now You’ve Done It: Commands and Past Tenses 249
Chapter 14: I Command You: The Imperative 251
Conjugating the Imperative 251
Regular verbs 252
Irregular verbs 254
Pronominal verbs 257
Giving Affirmative and Negative Commands 258
Making a to-do list: Affirmative commands 258
Don’t do it! Negative commands 260
Identifying Other Ways to Give Commands 261
Answer Key to “I Command You: The Imperative” Practice Questions 262
Chapter 15: It’s All in the Past: Passé Composé 265
Creating the Passé Composé 265
Choosing your helper: avoir or être 266
Finding past participles 268
Keeping Grammatical Agreement in Mind 272
Agreement with être verbs 272
Agreement with pronominal verbs 273
Putting It All Together: Conjugating the Passé Composé 273
Using the Passé Composé 275
Answer Key to “It’s All in the Past: Passé Composé” Practice Questions 277
Chapter 16: When the Past Isn’t Perfect: The Imparfait Tense 281
Conjugating the Imparfait 282
Regular –er verbs 282
Regular –ir and –re verbs 283
Stem-changing verbs 284
Spelling-change verbs 285
Irregular verbs 286
Taking a Closer Look at the Imparfait 287
Deciding Whether to Use the Imparfait or Passé Composé 289
When relying on context clues 289
When describing actions that have no end in sight 291
When making a habit of repeating an action 291
When describing the general state of being 291
When taking two (or more) actions at a time 292
When getting interrupted – how rude! 292
Understanding the Recent Past 293
Answer Key to “The Imparfait Tense” Practice Questions 295
Part 5: The Part of Tens 299
Chapter 17: Ten (or so) Essential French Phrases 301
C’est 301
Il y a 302
Que veut dire ? and Comment dit-on ? 303
C’est-à-dire 303
Au cas où 303
À mon avis 303
Ah bon (?) 304
J’arrive 304
Avoir besoin de/Avoir envie de 304
Avoir = “to be” 305
Chapter 18: Ten Celebratory French Expressions 307
Bonne Année ! 307
Meilleurs voeux ! 308
Joyeux anniversaire ! 308
Bonne chance ! 308
Bon courage ! 308
Félicitations ! 309
À votre santé ! 309
À la vôtre ! 310
Vive la France ! 310
Bonne fête ! 310
Part 6: Appendixes 311
Appendix A: Verb Charts 313
Regular Verbs 313
Spelling-Change Verbs 315
–cer Verbs 315
–ger Verbs 316
Stem-Changing Verbs 316
–eler Verbs 316
–eter Verbs 316
–e*er Verb 317
–é*er Verbs 317
–yer Verbs 317
Irregular Verbs 318
aller (to go) 318
avoir (to have) 318
boire (to drink) 318
connaître (to know) 318
devoir (must, to have to) 319
dire (to say, tell) 319
être (to be) 319
faire (to do, make) 319
mettre (to put, to place) 320
offrir (to offer) 320
partir (to leave) 320
pouvoir (can, to be able to) 320
prendre (to take) 321
savoir (to know) 321
venir (to come) 321
voir (to see) 321
vouloir (to want) 322
Appendix B: Verbs with Prepositions 323
Appendix C: English-French Dictionary 327
Appendix D: French-English Dictionary 335
Index 343
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