FINAL EXAM WISDOMSpring 2015

THERE ARE A FEW THINGS I WANT YOU TO JUST REMEMBER IN GENERAL – ALWAYS!

We use AVOIR to talk about ages in French, never être. On several exams this year, I have written that comment repeatedly. Don’t make this mistake:

J’ai 16 ans.

J’avais 16 ans en 1995.

J’aurai 30 ans en 2016.

Whatever the tense, be sure to use AVOIR to talk about age in French.

PARTITIVE AFTER PAS

After PAS, never use the partitive article. Always use DE only after PAS.

Je n’ai pas DE café.

Je ne bois pas D’eau.

Nous n’avons pas DE papier.

AGREEMENT!

Another comment I have repeatedly made this year has to do with adjective-noun agreement.

Adjectives MUST agree in gender / number with the noun they describe.

J’ai les cheveux BRUNS.

Elle a les yeux VERTS.

Elle est GRANDE.

Elles sont PETITES.

Ma maison est PETITE.

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

We have to use the right form of the verb to match the subject.

Nous avons…

Elles ont…

Il parle…

Je nage….

Elles ont eu…

Ils ont fini…..

ELISION – ELIMINATE VOWELS!

With words like JE, TE, NE, SE, ME, DE, we make ELIsion an ELIminate the vowels….This is a huge thing that I have made lots of comments on and at this level should not be an issue.

J’ai

N’est

N’est

D’eau

IMPARFAIT USES

Setting the scene in the past

Narrating in the past

Ages, dates, locations, time, weather, descriptions in the past

Telling what “was going on”

Telling what “I used to do”

Telling what things were like

If you see trigger words like “every”, “always”, “frequently” - imparfait

PASSÉ COMPOSÉ USES

Talking about main events in the past.

Talking about actions that happened at a certain time in the pasts.

Talking about an event that interrupted another event.

Use avoir or être along with the past participle to form this.

If you see trigger words like “yesterday”, “a specific date”, etc. – passé composé

AGREEMENT WITH PASSÉ COMPOSÉ

With être, make past participle agree with subject. Elle est restée. Nous sommes allés.

With avoir, make agreement with the direct object if it comes in front of the past participle

Est-ce que tu as acheté la chemise? Oui, je l’ai achetée (the direct object LA replaces la chemise, so since it comes in front of the past participle, we make the past participle agree with it – see the feminine achetée on there?)

GENERALLY – NO AGREEMENT WITH AVOIR

Generally speaking if your helping verb is avoir, no agreement is going to be made. The only time you make agreement with avoir is if the direct object comes IN FRONT OF the past participle.

Est-ce que tu as vu les films? Oui, je les ai vus.

Est-ce que tu as lis les compositions? Oui, je les ai lues.

FUTURE TENSE

Use the infinitive as the “stem” for regular verbs.

Add the endings, -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont Je choisirai, tu choisiras, il choisira, etc.

CONDITIONAL TENSE

Use the infinitive as the “stem” for regular verbs.

Add the endings, -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient Je choisirais, tu choisirais, il choisirait, etc.

IF /WOULD STATEMENTS

If you have an “if” (si clause) statement…. Use the imparfait for past tense, then conditional for the

next. Si j’avais de l’argent, je voyagerais.

Si nous parlions français, nous pourrions voyager plus.

DEFINITE ARTICLES

Use definite articles when talking about nouns in a general sense.

J’aime la musique.

Nous amouns les sports.

Je préfère le français.

J’aime parler les langues.

PRONOUNS - EN

Use EN to replace direct objects introduced by: Numbers

Expressions of quantity

The partitive (de, de la, des, du, etc.)

Nous avons acheté du papier. Nous en avons acheté.

Ils ont acheté beaucoup de fleurs. Ils en ont acheté.

PRONOUNS - Y

Use Y as the direct object pronoun to replace objects introduced by:

À, sur, sous, en, dans, etc. (places)

Je suis à Paris. J’y suis.

Nous sommes en classe. Nous y sommes.

RELATIVE PRONOUNS - QUI

Use qui as a relative pronoun in front of a verb. Le prof QUI parle est mon père.

Les livres QUI sont sur la table sont de ma soeur.

RELATIVE PRONOUNS - QUE

Use que as a relative pronoun when the next Word is a subject pronoun or noun.

J’aime le livre que tu as.

Nous avons les disques que ton père a acheté.

RELATIVE PRONOUNS - DONT

Use dont when the verb would have been followed by “de”.

Nous avons besoin d’une voiture. Elle a la voiture. Elle a la voiture DONT nous avons besoin.

PRONONCIATION

I also keep hearing the same errors over and over in prononciation in your recordings. Though the final has no speaking on it, I want these things to be clear.

Generallly DO NOT pronounce final consonants in French.

The S in the word EST and C’EST is NEVER going to be Heard.

Vowels do not sound like they do in English.