Lesson 17

Vocabulary

Exercise 1. Listen to the recording of the dialogue several times. Fill in the blanks in the sentences by recalling what you have heard:

1. Une , Mademoiselle. Vous un plan du Louvre ?
2. Bien sûr, Monsieur. Voilà plan.
3. Le musée est .
4. Vous voir quel peintre ?
5. Je voir le musée du Louvre.
6. Mais c’est très grand musée.
7. Je cherche impressionnistes.

8. Où les peintures d’Auguste Renoir ?
9. Je suis désolée, Monsieur, mais Renoir ici.
10. C’est musée d’Orsay.
11. Les impressionnistes là-bas.
12. Pardon, vous ?
13. Regardez, : le musée d’Orsay.
14. J’y . Merci, Mademoiselle.

Grammar

Masculine Indefinite Article un.

Masculine Definite Article le.

Plural Articles

The masculine indefinite article in the singular has the form un [œ̃], for example:

C’est un musée. C’est un grand musée. — This is a museum. It’s a big museum.
C’est un plan. C’est un beau plan. — This is a plan. It’s a good plan.

Unlike English, French has the indefinite article des [de] in the plural form, with countable nouns, in both genders, which is translated as some, any, or not translated at all, compare:

Note that before words beginning with a vowel or silent h (but not with *h), the letter s at the end of the article des is pronounced as [z], for example:

des amis [dezami] (friends); des étudiants [dezetydjã] (students); des hommes [dezɔm] (men); des hôtels [dezotɛl] (hotels).

The masculine definite article in the singular has the form le [lə], for example:

Le musée est grand et beau. — The museum is large and beautiful.
Le peintre Renoir est excellent. — The painter Renoir is excellent.

Before words beginning with a vowel or silent h (but not with *h), the article le takes the form l’ and is written together with the following word, for example: l’enfant (the child), l’agent (the officer), l’hôpital (the hospital), l’hiver (the winter).

The definite article becomes les [le] in the plural, same for both genders, compare:

Remember that before words beginning with a vowel or silent h (but not with *h), the letter s at the end of the article les is pronounced as [z], for example:

les enfants [lezãfã] (the children);
les impressionnistes [lezɛ̃prɛsjɔnist] (the Impressionists);
les habitudes [lezabityd] (the habits).

Plural Nouns and Adjectives

The plural number in French is usually formed almost the same way as in English, by adding -s to the singular form of nouns and also adjectives, and it is not pronounced, for example:

However, the addition of the plural ending -s does not occur if the noun or adjective in the singular ends in -s or in -x. These words have the same singular and plural forms, for example:

Nouns that end in -eau in the singular add the unpronounceable -x in the plural, for example:

Most nouns ending in -al in the singular change -al to -aux in the plural, for example:

Remember that the noun travail (work, job) has the plural form travaux:

Note that if a plural noun consists of several objects where at least one of them is masculine, you need to use the masculine form of that plural noun. For example:

Exercise 2.

a) Fill in the blanks with the indefinite articles, first the singular form, then the plural form, as shown in the example.

b) Do the same, only this time use the definite articles.

Exercise 3. Change the sentences to the plural using all the words that change in number.

1. J’ai un chapeau noir.
   
2. Apporte un livre français !
   
3. Le petit oiseau chante une chanson merveilleuse.
   
4. C’est une question difficile.
   
5. Il a un plan original.
   

Fused forms of the definite article with the prepositions à and de

The masculine definite article le and the plural definite article les merge with the following prepositions à and de:

For example:

The feminine definite article la and the article l’ (see lesson 16 about it.) do not merge with the prepositions à and de, for example:

Je parle à la petite fille. — I’m talking to the little girl.
Je parle à l’enfant. — I’m talking to the child.
Les musées de la France. — The museums of France.
Les parents de l’enfant. — The parents of the child.

Note that the silent consonants at the end of the articles aux and des begin to be pronounced as [z] in case if they are followed by the words beginning with a vowel or silent h (but not with *h), for example:

Je parle aux enfants [ozãfã]. — I’m talking to the children
Voilà les peintures des impressionnistes [dezɛ̃prɛsjɔnist]. — Here are the paintings of the Impressionists.

Exercise 4. Open the brackets and use the words with the fused article when necessary.

1. Il raconte quelque chose à (le père) de (Pierre).
   
2. C’est la silhouette de (la Tour Eiffel).
   
3. Parle français à (les étudiants) !
   
4. Le fils de (le directeur) est marié.
   
5. Parlez russe à (les étudiantes) !
   
6. Les chansons de (les oiseaux) sont belles.
   
7. Déjeunons à (la maison) ! — Mais je veux déjeuner à (le café) !
   

Some verbs of group III and the irregular verb avoir

The third group includes verbs that end in the infinitive form in -re, -ir or -oir, for example: lire, partir, vouloir. The verbs of group III mostly have the following endings in the present tense: -s or -x (1^st and 2^nd person singular), -t or -d, -ons, -ez, -ent. The peculiarity of these verbs is that their stem, i.e. the part of the word preceding the ending, may be changed during conjugation, compare:

The verb dire has an irregular form in the 2^nd person plural:

The verb avoir has irregular forms in the present tense:

The verb following the forms of the verb vouloir appears in the infinitive form; the same way as in English, for example:

Je veux voir les peintures de Renoir. — I want to see Renoir’s paintings.

Exercise 5. Change the sentences by using the verbs in the singular form.

1. Vous avez un beau plan du Louvre. — Tu ...
   
2. Nous voulons voir le musée du Louvre. — Je ...
   
3. Ils partent à Paris. — Il ...
   
4. Elles écrivent à Paul. — Elle ...
   
5. Nous sommes étudiants. — Je ...
   
6. Vous habitez à Moscou. — Tu ...
   
7. Le touriste dit : « Où est le Louvre ? » — Les touristes ...
   

Question to object, adverbial modifier, attribute

I. Object is a member of a sentence denoting an object of animate or inanimate nature to which the action is directly or indirectly reffered, e.g:

He’s writing a book. — Il écrit un livre.
She’s looking for Impressionists. — Elle cherche des impressionnistes.
They’re talking to the little girl. — Ils parlent à la petite fille.

The highlighted words here are objects. You can see that in both the English and French examples they are at the end of the sentence.

Now let’s ask a question to each of these objects:

What is he writing? — Il écrit quoi ?
Who is she looking for? — Elle cherche qui ?
Who are they talking to?— Ils parlent à qui ?

Compare the interrogative sentences with the narrative ones, and you will see that in English the interrogative word (what, who, who to) is placed at the beginning of the sentence, while in French the word order does not change: the interrogative word (que/quoi, qui, à qui) is placed at the same place where the object was:

In writing, however, you will more often encounter questions to the object that are constructed by reversing the word order, namely:

Qu’écrit Paul ? Qu’écrit-il ?
Qui cherche Cecile ? Qui cherche-t-elle ?
A qui parlent René et Edmond ? A qui parlent-ils ?

Remember that in such cases, that is the reverse word order, the spelling of verbs and pronouns with hyphens and the inserted t is due to the rule you are already familiar with (see lesson 16).

II. If you need to ask a question in French to adverbial modifier — i.e. a member of a sentence that answers a question about the place, manner, time, purpose, cause of action or state — the word order does not change, it remains the same as in the narrative sentence, for example:

They live in Paris. — Ils habitent à Paris.
Where do they live? — Ils habitent où ?

You’re leaving on Sunday. — Vous partez dimanche.
When are you leaving? — Vous partez quand ?

They’re leaving. — Ils partent.
Why are they leaving? — Ils partent pourquoi ?

A question to an adverbial modifier can also be asked by using the reverse word order, which, however, is more common in written speech. The word order in a French interrogative sentence is the same as in the English one, compare:

The Eiffel Tower is over there. — La Tour Eiffel est là-bas.
Where is the Eiffel Tower? — Où est la Tour Eiffel ?

Note how the interrogative sentence opening with the word pourquoi (why) is constructed in writing speech:

Why is Cecile crying? — Pourquoi Cecile pleure-t-elle ?
Why are René and Edmond leaving ? — Pourquoi René et Edmond partent-ils ?

Note that in questions with pourquoi we get additional pronouns at the end: elle (for Cecile), ils (for René et Edmond). Subjects in these examples are nouns.

And here is how the questions with pourquoi look like if the subject is a pronoun:

Why is she crying? — Pourquoi pleure-t-elle ?
Why are they leaving? — Pourquoi partent-ils ?

III. Attribute is a member of a sentence that answers the question which?, or what (kind of)?, or whose? The question to the attribute is asked in French with the word quel (you will learn its forms later, but you may have a look here: lesson 18). Quel is placed before the attributive noun, and the word order remains the same as in the narrative sentence, compare:

Paul wants to see Cecile’s professor. — Paul veut voir le professeur de Cecile.
Which professor does Paul want to see? — Paul veut voir quel professeur ?

You are looking for the Musée d’Orsay. — Vous cherchez le musée d’Orsay.
Which museum are you looking for? — Vous cherchez quel musée ?

Note that in writing, it is preferable to put the question to the attribute differently, namely by reversing the word order:

Quel professeur veut Paul voir ?
Quel musée cherchez-vous ?

As you can already guess, if you change the order of the pronoun and the verb, you have to write a hyphen between them, and if necessary, add -t, for example:

Quel musée cherche-t-il ?

Exercise 6. Ask questions in French to the words in bold:

1. Les impressionnistes sont là-bas.
   
2. Elle veut lire des journaux français.
   
3. Il cherche le livre italien.
   
4. Elle parle à son mari.
   
5. Vous habitez à Paris.
   
6. Elles partent demain matin.
   

Exercise 7. Ask the interlocutor a question that relates to the entire sentence using all the ways of asking the question. Where possible, address the interlocutor first with the polite form of “you” and then with the simple singular form.

1. J’ai une question.
   
2. Je veux voir Paris.
   
3. Je pars à Moscou.
   

4. J’écris à Paul.
   
5. C’est un grand musée.
   
6. Les peintures de Renoir sont au musée d’Orsay.
   

Exercise 8. Let’s see how you have learned the vocabulary and grammar of this lesson. Translate into French:

1. We want to see the Louvre Museum.
   
2. It’s a very beautiful museum.
   
3. Here is the plan of the Louvre.
   
4. Is the gentleman looking for Impressionists?
   
5. They are not in the Louvre.
   

6. The paintings of the Impressionists are in the Orsay Museum.
   
7. Sorry, you are saying?
   
8. Where are the Impressionists?
   
9. I’m writing: they are in the Orsay Museum.
   
10. I’m going there. Thank you, Miss.
    

Mastering the language subtleties

If you do not understand the person you are talking to, you can ask them again:

If you need to respond negatively to someone’s request, be sure to soften your refusal, for example, by using the expression I’m sorry, but...: