This introductory lesson contains four assignments. When you have finished them, you will be able to greet people, say "yes", "no", "please" and "thank you", order drinks, count up to 5, and refer to various persons and nationalities.
You will know 31 out of the 35 sounds of French, have a vocabulary of about 30 words and phrases, and be able to manipulate gender (masculine and feminine) and number (singular and plural) to create approximately 90 different phrases of the type determiner + noun. Reference material on
vocabulary and
grammar is included.
When you feel you are prepared, telephone 0845 456 3951 or +44 (0) 141-334 8902 for your FREE 15-minute lesson. Please telephone during working hours, and allow for any time difference with the United Kingdom.
| Assignment 1 | Assignment 2 | Assignment 3 | Assignment 4 |
| Your tutor will read the dialogues below to you, over the telephone, phrase by phrase. Repeat each phrase, copying your tutor as closely as you can. | Your tutor will role-play a dialogue with you, similar to Assignment 1 and using similar material, over the telephone. | Make the following phrases plural, using the plural form of l@, la or l. You may need to disentagle some of the sound-combinations first. | Make the following phrases singular, by changing the numeral to 9~ or yn in each case. |
| bo~.ZuR bo~.ZuR.m@.sj9R yn.bjER.sil.vu.plE wi.m@.sj9R mER.si |
la.dam l@.fRA~.sE la.fRA~.sEz le.kO.sEz l@.swaR l@.ka.fe la.bjER la.nHi l@.m@.sj9R l@.ZuR le.kO.sE |
katR.dam d2.m@sj9R tRwa.swaR d2.bjER d2.ze.kO.sE d2.ka.fe tRwa.fRA~.sEz sE~.ke.kO.sEz sE~k.ZuR katR.fRA~.sE |
|
| bo~.ZuR bo~.ZuR.ma.dam yn.bjER.sil.vu.plE wi.ma.dam mER.si |
| Nouns | ||
| People m@.sj9R m. gentleman dam f. lady fRA~.sE m. Frenchman fRA~.sEz f. Frenchwoman e.kO.sE m. Scotsman e.kO.sEz f. Scotswoman |
Drinks ka.fe m. coffee lE m. milk bjER f. beer vE~ m. wine |
Parts of the day ZuR m. day swaR m. evening nHi f. night |
| Determiners | Adjectives | Fixed phrases | |
| Articles l@ the 9~ a |
Numerals 9~ one d2 two tRwa three katR four sE~k five |
bo~ good |
sil.vu.plE please mER.si thank you wi yes no~ no bo~.ZuR good morning bo~.swaR good evening bOn.nHi goodnight o.R@.vwaR goodbye |
Every French noun belongs to one of two genders, masculine and feminine. Nouns referring to living beings usually have the same gender as their sex, but with non-living things there is no sex. So you have to learn the gender of each noun when you learn the noun. The gender is shown in the vocabulary as m. or f.
A French noun in the plural sounds exactly the same as a French noun in the singular. This is different from English, where typically the sound z is added to the end of a word to make it plural (coffee - coffees). The only way you can know that a French noun is plural is by noticing the form of the determiner that precedes it.
The articles l@ and 9~ have different forms for masculine and feminine, singular and plural, and different forms again according to whether the following word begins with a vowel or a consonant. "Agreement" means that the determiner must take the appropriate form (masculine or feminine, singular or plural) for the noun it refers to.
The numeral 9~ one behaves just like the determiner 9~ a. The adjective bo~ takes the fem. form bOn (the vowel changes from o to O, the vowel loses its nasal quality, and final n is added). The fem. form appears in bOn.nHi.
| Before consonants | Before vowels | ||||
| Masc. | Fem. | Masc. | Fem. | ||
| l@ the | Singular | l@ l@.m@.sj9R the gentleman |
la la.dam the lady |
l le.kO.sE the Scotsman |
l le.kO.sEz the Scotswoman |
| Plural | le le.m@.sj9R the gentlemen |
le le.dam the ladies |
le.z le.ze.kO.sE the Scotsmen |
le.z le.ze.kO.sEz the Scotswomen |
|
| 9~ a | Singular | 9~ 9~.m@.sj9R a gentleman |
yn yn.dam a lady |
9~.n 9~.ne.kO.sE a Scotsman |
y.n y.ne.kO.sEz a Scotswoman |
The determiner in French goes immediately in front of its noun, just as in English. You can combine any of the determiners given in the vocabulary with any of the nouns: d2.bjER, 9~.ka.fe, sE~k.nHi.
| Assignment 1 | Assignment 3 | Assignment 4 |
| Bonjour! Bonjour, monsieur! Une bière, s'il vous plaît. Oui, monsieur. Merci. Bonjour! Bonjour, madame! Une bière, s'il vous plaît. Oui, madame. Merci. |
la dame le Français la Française l'Écossaise le soir le café la bière la nuit le monsieur le jour l'Écossais |
quatre dames deux monsieurs trois soirs deux bières deux Écossais deux cafés trois Françaises cinq Écossaises cinq jours quatre Français |