Lesson 18

Vocabulary

Exercise 1. Read and translate the dialogue. Determine if the following statements fit its content. Answer C’est vrai (It’s true) or C’est faux (It’s not true):

Exercise 2. Listen to the recording of the dialogue several times. Fill in the blanks in the sentences by recalling what you have heard:

1. Pour au musée d’Orsay, s’il vous plaît ?
2. Le musée d’Orsay du Louvre.
3. Vous y aller à pied.
4. C’est dans direction ?
5. C’est la Seine. Nous sur la rive droite.
6. la Seine et vous arriverez près du musée.
7. Est-ce qu’ une station de métro dans le quartier ?
8. Il y a une et des
9. Le musée d’Orsay est non la station de métro, mais c’est d’y aller à pied.
10. C’est rapide, mais intéressant.

Grammar

Verbs of Group III

Irregular Verb aller

Remember the conjugation of several other commonly used verbs of the third group in the present tense (see the beginning in lesson 17):

The verbs pouvoir and devoir are usually used with the infinitive form of the following verb, for example: je peux manger (I can eat), tu dois manger (you have to eat).

Note that the verb aller has different stems in singular and in plural:

Also note that the imperative form of the verb aller in the 2^nd person singular loses the final s. Compare:

Tu vas. (You go.) — Va ! (Go!)
But: Vas-y ! — Go there! (more details a bit later).

Exercise 3. Change the sentences by using the verb in the necessary plural form.

Example:

J’y vais à pied. — Nous y allons à pied. Lis le texte ! — Lisez le texte !

1. Tu peux y aller à pied. — Vous .
2. Je suis sur la rive gauche. — Nous .
3. Il traverse la Seine. — Ils .
4. Traverse la Seine ! — la Seine !

Exercise 4. Ask the interlocutor a question in different ways.

Exercise 5. Put the verb in the negative form.

1. Elle lit les journaux français.
   
2. Nous regardons les tableaux des impressionnistes.
   
3. Vous pouvez traverser la Seine.
   
4. Nous voyons l’arrêt d’autobus.
   
5. Elles sont sur la rive droite.
   
6. Vous devez aller à pied.
   

7. L’autobus est plus rapide que le métro.
   
8. Nous allons très vite.
   
9. Il doit répéter la leçon.
   
10. Les touristes peuvent quitter Paris aujourd’hui.
    
11. Je vois la rive gauche de la Seine.
    

Adverb y

The difficulties of using the adverb y (there) are usually related to the word order, so let’s start with the easiest one.

1. If the verb is used in the imperative form and has no negation, then the adverb y is placed after it and is written with a hyphen, compare:

Allez-y ! — Go there!
(colloquial Go on/ahead! / Let’s go)

As you can see, the word order in this case is identical in French and in English sentences.

Remember the 2^nd person singular imperative form of the verb aller before the adverb y:

2. With the negative imperative form, the word order of the French construction becomes different, compare:

N’y allez pas ! — Don’t go there!

The adverb y here comes before the verb and after the negative particle ne which loses its vowel and is written with the adverb with the apostrophe (you learned about this transformation earlier, see lesson 16).

3. If the French verb is not in the imperative but in the indicative mood, i.e. it is a real action, not an order, request or advice, then the adverb y comes before the verb, for example:

J’y vais. — I’m going there.
Je n’y vais pas. — I’m not going there.

4. If there are two verbs in a sentence, one of which is used in the infinitive form, the adverb y is placed before the infinitive form, for example:

Vous pouvez y aller. — You can go there.

Note that if the adverb y is preceded by a verb with a silent consonant at its end, the consonant becomes pronounceable, with the final s, х being pronounced as [z]. For example:

Il peut y aller. [ilpøtiale]
Allons-y ! [alɔ̃zi]
Allez-y ! [alezi]

Exercise 6. Translate into English:

As in English, adjectives and adverbs with the meaning of a changeable attribute have comparative and superlative degrees in French. Let’s start with the comparative degree first.

Comparative Degree of Adjectives

The comparative degree of French adjectives denotes an attribute that appears in one object to a greater, lesser, or equal degree compared to another object. See the examples of the forms of the comparative degree of the same adjective — attentif (attentive). When asked which of the two people is more attentive, Pierre or Paul, the answers are as follows:

Pierre est plus attentif que Paul. — Pierre is more attentive than Paul.
Paul est moins attentif que Pierre. — Paul is less attentive than Pierre.
Pierre est aussi attentif que Paul. — Pierre is as attentive as Paul.

The comparative degree of adjectives is formed with the words plus (more), moins (less) or aussi (too, also; aussi ... que as ... as) that go before the adjective and with the comparative conjunction que (that) that goes after the adjective. If the object of comparison is not specified, then the group of words beginning with the conjunction que is also absent from the sentence:

Paul est moins attentif. — Paul is less attentive.

The adjective in the comparative degree is used in the same gender as the noun to which it refers. For example, instead of the masculine adjective attentif, which appears in the preceding examples, the feminine form attentive should be used with the feminine word:

If the comparison refers to a group of objects, then the adjective is used in the plural form, for example:

If the comparison refers to a group of objects where at least one of the noun-objects is masculine, then the adjective must be in the masculine plural form, for example:

Note that the silent s at the end of the word plus becomes pronounced as [z], if the following word begins with a vowel or mute h (but not with *h), for example: plus attentive [plyzatãti:v], plus heureux [plyzœrø].

Irregular Forms of Comparative Adjectives

Some French adjectives have special irregular forms of the comparative degree:

bon, bonne (good) — meilleur, meilleure (better, best);
mauvais, mauvaise (bad) — pire (worse, worst).

The form pire, however, is rarely used, its synonym moins bon is used more often (the feminine form is moins bonne).

Here are some examples:

Comparative Degree of Adverbs

Adverb is a part of speech that answers the question how? and denotes a characteristic of an action or an attribute, for example: écrire vite (to write fast), plus beau (more beautiful).

The comparative degree of adverbs is formed with the words plus (more), moins (less) или aussi (as ... as) that go before the adverb, and the conjunction que (than) that goes after the adverb. For example:

Marie écrit vite et Pierre n’écrit pas vite. — Marie writes fast and Pierre doesn’t write fast.
Marie écrit plus vite que Pierre. — Marie writes faster than Pierre.
Pierre écrit moins vite que Marie. — Pierre writes slower than Marie.
Pierre écrit aussi vite que Marie. — Pierre writes as fast as Marie.
Pierre et Marie écrivent plus vite que Paul. — Pierre and Marie write faster than Paul.

If a sentence does not need to indicate with whom or with what the comparison is made, then the group of words that opens with the conjunction que is also absent:

Marie écrit plus vite. — Marie writes faster.

Irregular Forms of Comparative Adverbs

Some French adverbs have special irregular forms of comparative degree:

bien (well) — mieux (better);
mal (badly) — pis (worse).

Note that the form pis is rarely used and is replaced by the synonym moins bien (worse, not literally).

Here are some examples:

Marie écrit bien et Pierre écrit mal. — Marie writes well and Pierre writes badly.
Marie écrit mieux que Pierre. — Marie writes better than Pierre.
Pierre écrit moins bien (pis) que Marie. — Pierre writes worse than Marie.

Memorize the set expressions that contain irregular forms of comparative degree of adverbs:

Exercise 7. Highlight the adjectives and adverbs in the comparative degree in the dialogue.

Exercise 8. Translate with a dictionary:

Lucien est plus jeune que Paul.

Ta robe est plus élégante que ton chapeau.

C’est une affaire moins grave.

L’enfant est plus calme que sa mère.

En hiver les nuits sont plus sombres et plus longues.

Ils visitent les musées moins souvent.

Le train arrive plus tard.

Ce tableau est moins original, mais plus cher.

Cette forme d’amour est pire que l’haine.

Jean est un de mes meilleurs amis.

Expression il y a

When indicating the location of an object, we often use the expression il y a which is the French equivalent of “there is/are” (and also “ago”, the literal translation is “it has there”), for example:

Dans la ville il y a un parc. — There is a park in the city.
Dans la rue il y a une station de métro. — There is a metro station on the street.

Compare the expression il y a with the verb être (to be):

The museum is over there. — Le musée est là-bas.
There is a museum over there. — Il y a un musée là-bas.

In sentences with the verb être, the subject is expressed with a noun with the definite article (le, la or les), while the expression il y a usually requires a noun with the indefinite article (un, une or des). The expression il y a does not change in the plural. Compare:

Il y a un arrêt d’autobus dans le quartier. — There is a bus stop in the neighborhood.
Il y a des arrêts d’autobus dans le quartier. — There are bus stops in the neighborhood.

The structure Qu’est-ce qu’il y a... ? [kɛskilja] is used in the interrogative sentences and is translated as What is...? For example:

Qu’est-ce qu’il y a dans le parc ? — What’s in the park?
Qu’est-ce qu’il y a là-bas ? — What’s over there?

Exercise 9. Look at the pictures and answer the questions:

Interrogative adjective quel

The interrogative adjective quel (which, what, who) changes in gender and in number:

quel masculine singular;
quelle feminine singular;
quels masculine plural;
quelles feminine plural.

For example:

C’est quel autobus (m) ? — Which bus is it?
C’est dans quelle direction (f) ? — Which way is it?

If you are attentive enough, you might be surprised that the word quel is called an interrogative adjective and not an interrogative pronoun. Nevertheless, there is no mistake here, we just want to draw your attention to this subtlety of the French language.

The English pronoun which used with a noun and without it will be translated into French diffrently, with different parts of speech. Thus, the translations of the following sentences will be with different words for “which”:

Which bus is it?
Which of these buses is mine?

The French equivalent that goes together with a noun is the adjective, in this case, quel.

The French equivalent that used without a noun, that used “instead of the noun” is a pronoun, and the translation will be different. How different, you’ll find that out in due course.

Exercise 10. Translate into French (see lesson 17 if necessary):

1. What music do you like (love)? — I like Italian music.
   
2. What dresses do you wear? — I wear the black and red dresses.
   
3. What newspaper is he reading? — He is not reading, he is very tired.
   
4. Which museums can they visit? — They can visit the Louvre and the Orsay Museum.
   

Prepositions

French prepositions can be simple or compound. The simple prepositions are à, de, dans, avec etc., the compound prepositions are près de, loin de, non loin de etc. (some of these compound prepositions are translated into English as combinations of adverbs with prepositions, for example: loin de — far from). As in English, all French prepositions are used before nouns and adjectives, for example:

C’est dans quelle direction ? — Which way is it? (lit.: This is in which direction?)

As you already know, the prepositions à and de form fused forms with the definite article. Fused forms with the definite article also appear when the prepositions à and de are part of compound prepositions, for example:

C’est près du (près de + le) musée. — It’s near the museum.

Prepositions à and de are ones of the most polysemantic prepositions. Very often the preposition à means the movement “there”, and the preposition de means the movement “from there”, for example:

Je vais à Paris. — I’m going to Paris.
Je reviens de Londres [lɔ̃dr]. — I’m coming back from London.

Note that silent consonants at the end of prepositions become pronounceable if the following word begins with a vowel or mute h (but not with *h), e.g:

dans une rue [dãzynry] — in a street
sans un mot [sãzœ̃mo] — without a word
chez elle [ʃezɛl] — at (her) home
en été [ãnete] — in summer

Exercise 11. Look at the pictures and answer the questions in French:

Mastering the language subtleties

There are many polite formulas in French. To ask for directions, one usually uses the expression s’il vous plaît, pour aller... — which way is it ..., please / excuse me, how do I get ... . Literally: please, how to go... .

One of the polite formulas is a response to gratitude à votre service — at your service.

Exercise 12. Now let’s review the vocabulary and grammar learned in this lesson. Translate:

1. Excuse me, how do I get to the Orsay Museum?
   
2. You can go on foot. It’s not far.
   
3. Which way is it?
   
4. It’s on the left bank of the Seine.
   
5. We are on the right bank.
   

6. Are there any bus stops in the area?
   
7. Yes, there is an underground station and bus stops in the area.
   
8. The underground station is not far from the museum.
   
9. It’s better to go on foot, it’s more interesting.
   

Let’s laugh and enrich our vocabulary

Text I

Vocabulary

Exercise 13. Read and translate Text I. Check the correct answer to the question:

Pourquoi le piéton traverse-t-il la rue au feu rouge ?

Le piéton ne voit pas bien.
Le piéton ne respecte pas le code de la route.

Text II

Vocabulary

Exercise 14. Read and translate Text II. Check the correct statements:

Sur la Tour Eiffel il y a :
— des gens (people);
— des touristes (tourists);
— des piétons (pedestrians);
— des chats (cats);
— des guides (guides);
— des souris (mice).

Text III

Vocabulary