vouloir = avoir envie de

Bonsoir à tous!

Mon travail a commencé aujourd'hui... J'ai envie de mes vacances...

Today's topic is about desire. There are two ways to express your desire or want: vouloir and avoir envie de.

vouloir + inf. / nom = avoir envie de + inf. / nom

Let's read some examples:

Je veux boire un grand verre d'eau. = J'ai envie de boire un grand verre d'eau.

Nous voulons dormir. = Nous avons envie de dormir.

Elle veut manger un gâteau au chocolat! = Elle a envie de manger un gâteau au chocolat!

Elles veulent un gâteau au chocolat! = Elles ont envie d'un gâteau au chocolat!

Pay attention! In most situations, people would want to ask for something politely and they would use le conditionnel présent:

Je voudrais mes vacances.

Tu voudrais un bon repas.

Il voudrait un vin rouge.

Nous voudrions sortir ce soir.

Vous voudriez une nouvelle voiture.

Ils voudraient une grande maison.

It is not difficult to form le conditionnel présent:

la racine de un verbe au futur simple 

- la terminaison 

+ la terminaison de l'imparfait (ais, ais, ait, ions, iez et aient)

Je voudrais un repos maintenant! Au revoir!

les adjectifs de couleur

Bonjour!

Il fait beau aujourd'hui. J'aime les arbres verts et les fleurs roses dans le jardin.

"Colours" is one of the earliest topics in the Beginner courses because they are some essential vocabulary items. They can be nouns or adjectives:

le rouge (n) - rouge (adj.)

le blanc (n.) - blanc (adj. / m.) / blache (adj. / f.)

When we use adjectives, we have to make sure that they agree with the nouns they modify: masculine? feminine? singular? plural?

Look at the above example. The adjectives "verts" and "roses" are in the plural form because of the nouns "arbres" and "fleurs". 

However, this rule does not apply to "orange", "marron", "prune", "cerise", "banane" (usually it refers to the shape, i.e. banana-shaped, rather than the colour)..., for they are originally fruits.

des chaussures noires

des chaussures orange / marron

We don't put "e" or "s" after the "fruit" adjectives. The same rule can be applied to jewels, like "émeraude", "turquoise" and "saphir". They don't take "e" or "s", either.

Of course, not all fruits and jewels can be used as adjectives. Sometimes, even when they can, this rule may not be applied... Don't worry. You can always look up the dictionary. If it says "adjectif invariable".

C'est facile, non? Au revoir!

le gérondif

Bonjour à tout le monde!

Today's topic is not difficult - le gérondif, which means 2 actions en même temps   and  les 2 actions ont le même sujet (= "while verb+ing"). 

To be frank, I have not formally learnt this verb form yet, but I do know its basic use because two teachers have mentioned it before.

le gérondif = en + participe présent

It is easy to form le participe présent:

1. make sure you know the spelling of the present tense conjugations
2. take the root of the 1st person plural (nous)
3. - ons
4. + ant

For example:

parler => parlons - ons + ant => parlant

choisir => choisissons - ons + ant => choisissant

venir => venons - ons + ant => venant

Ok, let's take a look at the following examples to learn the usage:

ex. Nous déjeunons en regardant la télévision.

ex. Il lit en écoutant de la musique.

ex. Ils travaillent en discutant.

How easy this grammar rule is! (... because I introduced a difficult topic yesterday and I need a break! ^O^)

Merci et à bientôt!

Il faut que ... + le subjonctif présent

Bonjour! Comment ça va?

Aujourd'hui, je vais vous présenter le subjonctif présent qui est très difficile. 

Just like English, the subjunctive mood in French is used to express wish and opinion. However, unlike English, the spelling of the verbs au subjonctif présent is very tricky (You know, the English present subjunctive is very easy - bare infinitive!!!)

First of all, you have to know the spelling of the present form

This time, we pay attention to the roots: 

For je, tu, il and ils, we take the root of the 3rd person plural (ils) + e / es / e / ent
For nous and vous, we take the root of the 1st person plural (nous) + ions / iez 

We may think that the conjugations are not very complicated. This is NOT true!!! The above verbs are regular ones. There are always irregular ones. Take venir as an example:

See, it is more difficult! What's more, there are exceptions: avoir, être, aller, faire, pouvoir, savoir, vouloir... but I am not getting into those this time (I feel dizzy now...)

Before ending today's topic, let's read some sentences beginning with Il faut que:

ex. Il faut que tu manges ce plat de crabes. (manger)
ex. Il faut que vous mangiez ce plat de crabes. (manger)

ex. Il faut que tu aies un visa pour aller en Chine. (avoir)
ex. Il faut que vous ayez un visa pour aller en Chine. (avoir)

C'est tout. Merci et au revoir!

words with un accent circonflexe (â, ê, î, ô, û)

Bonjour à tous!

Hurray! There are no lessons this week, so I can have a mini break before the start of the new academic year (OMG! ANOTHER LONG YEAR TO GO!!!). Anyway, I am going to work on the blog again!!!

Today's topic is quite interesting - words with un accent circonflexe (â, ê, î, ô, û). Okok, when it comes to spelling, nothing is interesting... but did you know that this accent exists for a reason (or many reasons, but I only know one...) - it has replaced the letter "s".

You know, words in any language have changed a lot over time. Some French words like "hôpital", "forêt", "île" and "pâte" were originally spelt with an "s": "hospital", "forest", "isle" and "paste". However, as the "s" sound was no longer pronounced, the letter "s" was then deleted and the accent was added to indicate a longer vowel sound.  

feste => fête (holiday / party)

estre => être (be)

These are some other examples, but they don't resemble their English counterparts. 

On the other hand, some accents have replaced other letters:

aage => âge

meur => mûr

seur => sûr

Maybe I am a weirdo as I think the history of language is captivating (I am weak at spelling though...). Tomorrow, I am going to start a very difficult topic - le subjonctif présent. I have been avoiding this conjugation for some time (I first learnt about it in the last oral workshop and I found it super complicated), but the teacher of the regular class started this topic last Friday, so there is no way I can ignore it anymore...

Meric et  à demain!

grâce à? à cause de? en raison de?

Bonjour!

Je ne suis pas allée au bureau aujourd'hui grâce au typhon!!! (I did not go to work today thanks to the typhoon!!!) C'est magnifique!

Maybe let me talk about the prepositions we use to express reasons: "grâce à",  "à cause de" and "en raison de".

"Grâce à" means "thanks to", so it should be used to talk about the reasons leading to good results. 

In the above example, the reason is "le typhon" and the good result is "Je ne suis pas allée au bureau aujourd'hui". Don't forget to change "à" and "le" into "au".

ex. Nous somme arrivés à l'heure grâce à toi.

ex. Il a fini son travail grâce aux conseils de son professeur. 

Attention! à + les = aux

While "grâce à" is used to talk about something good, "à cause de" and "en raison de" are used to mention the reasons leading to bad consequences. 

ex. Nous ne sommes pas sortis à cause du / en raison du mauvais temps.

ex. J'ai perdu mon emploi à cause de / en raison de la mauvais économie.

ex. La chaise dans le jardin est cassée à cause des enfants.

There are several things we need to pay attention to:

1. de + le = du; de + les = des

2. It is said that it would be weird if "en raison de" is followed by people. (?)

3. Some people think it would be ok to use "en raison de" even when you are not blaming the cause, i.e. it can be used in all cases. (?)

Don't forget we have conjunctions "car" and "parce que" to talk about reasons. However, as they are conjunctions, they should be followed by a clause (subject + verb), but not a noun.

OK, that's all for today!

Merci et au revoir!

Le passé composé avec l'auxiliaire "avoir" et le COD

Bonsoir à tous!

Wow! I haven't written for nearly two weeks!!! Luckily, I have got some drafts, so I can write an article without taking me too much time!

C'est parti! 

Today's topic is about the use of le passé composé avec l'auxiliaire "avoir" et le COD. I always make mistakes on this one!!!! Let's read the following example first.

Quels sont les ingrédients que vous avez utilisés pour faire ce gâteau?

Pourquoi il y a un "s" après le participe passé "utilisé"? (Why is there an "s" after the past participle "utilisé"?)

Pour le passé composé avec l'auxiliaire "avoir":

1. Si le COD est après le verbe => pas de problème

2. Si le COD est devant le verbe, alors vous devez accorder le participe passé avec le COD

If the direct object goes before the verb, you have to pay attention to its gender and singularity, and make changes to the verb accordingly. This is just like what we have to do when the auxiliary verb is "être"! Let's read more examples:

Où as-tu mis les clés?

Je les ai mises dans ton sac.

In the question, the object is after the verb, so you can see that nothing is put after le participe passé "mis". 

In the answer, "les" (= les clés) is put before the verb; therefore, "e" and "s" should be added as the object is feminine and plural.

Est-ce que tu as regardé la télévision hier soir?

Oui, je l'ai regardée.

Again, in the question, the object is after the verb, so nothing is put after le participe passé "regardé". 

In this case, "l'" (= la télévision) is put before the verb; therefore, "e" should be added as the object is feminine.

Est-ce que tu as fini les exercises?

Oui, je les ai finis.

Non, je ne les ai pas finis.

I guess you understand the grammar point without reading my explanation...

Anyway, I am still happy to elaborate a little.

In this question, the object is after the verb, so nothing is put after le participe passé "fini". 

This time, "les" (= les exercises) is put before the verb; therefore, "s" should be added as the object is plural.

Actually, this grammar rule is not complicated at all, but I keep forgetting the "e" and "s"... because to me, the use of le passé composé is still difficult... Whenever I come across a sentence talking about the past, I have to think about:

1. le passé composé or l'imparfait?

2. If le passé composé, "avoir" or "être"?

3. the correct spelling of le participe passé

Then, I think I have already finished the question and move on to the next one... as a result, something is always missing... pathetic!

OK, I have finished explaining this grammar rule. I hope I can have time for the blog soon!

Paris => parisien

Bonsoir!

I can't believe that I have time to write this very short entry. You know, I now have far less me time due to the summer course. Actually, I still work on this blog every day. I have been reading through the notes from other courses and writing some drafts, but I have not had time to organize them properly or expand on the existing notes. 

I've come across an interesting note regarding city-name adjectives. I can still recall that in that lesson, a classmate asked the teacher how to change city names into adjectives. Then, the teacher pointed out that there were no rules at all and gave us some examples.

These are some well-known French cities:

Then, he gave us some more "interesting" examples:

After that, he admitted that he did not know all the adjectives as they could be very weird. At last, we learnt some chinese ones:

At that point, I couldn't help asking myself, "Do I really want to continue? This language can be this ridiculous..."

That's about it for now!

Au revoir!

quoi?

Bonsoir à tous!

Tu fais quoi ce soir? Je regarde la télévision.

Do you remember the word "quoi"? It means "what" and is used in casual situations. You can read Qu'est-ce que c'est? before reading this entry if you can't recall this word.

Actually, there is another use: 

préposition + quoi + verbe-sujet...?

préposition + quoi + est-ce que + sujet + verbe...?

They are la forme formelle and la forme normale respectively because we can't put prepositions before "que" Let's read more examples:

se souvenir de...

ex. De quoi vous souvenez-vous?

ex. De quoi est-ce que vous vous souvenez?

s'agit de...

ex. De quoi s'agit-il?

ex. De quoi est-ce qu'il s'agit?

penser à...

ex. À quoi pensez-vous?

ex. À quoi est-ce que vous pensez?

travailler sur...

ex. Sur quoi travaillez-vous?

ex. Sur quoi est-ce que vous travaillez?

ex. Sur quoi êtes-vous en train de travailler?

ex. Sur quoi est-ce que vous êtes en train de travailler?

Other examples:

ex. Avez quoi avez-vous fait ce gâteau?

ex. En quoi est-ce? C'est en nylon.

The use of "quoi" is not complicated, but make sure you use the prepositions correctly!

Merci et au revoir!

tenir

Bonjour à tous!

The word I want to introduce today is "tenir", which means "to hold". However, the meaning changes when it is used with different preposition or in different sentences.

Tenir + une chose = to hold sth

ex. Je tiens la main de mon petit frère quand on traverse la rue. 

Tenir de + une personne = to take after

ex. Il tient de son père.

Tenir à = vouloir absolument = to value very much 

Tenir à + une chose = cette chose a une grande valeur sentimentale pour vous

ex. À quoi tenez-vous le plus dans la vie?

ex. Je tiens à ce morceau de jade parce que c’est un cadeau d’une personne que j’aime.

ex. Je tiens à ma maison parce que c'est très cher et je travaille dur pour ça.

ex. Je tiens aux moments avec mon mari parce qu'il est toujours occupé.

ex. Je tiens au temps car c'est précieux.

Tiens / Tenez, ... = no special meaning... can be "here", "look", "listen"... 

ex. Tiens, voilà Ken.

C'est tout! Merci et à demain!

avant et après

Bonsoir à tous!

The topic of this entry is "avant et après": Knowing how to mention series of events or orders is a must. Do you know how to use these two words properly?

They both are prepositions and should be followed by a noun.

ex. Ils sont arrivés avant le dîner.

ex. J'ai couru après toi.

However, what if I want to mention series of actions?

avant de + verbe (inf)

après + verbe (inf)

ex. On doit enlever ses chaussures avant d’entrer dans une mosque.

ex. Tourne ta langue sept fois avant de répondre.

ex. Mange après laver tes mains.

avant que + une phrase

après que+ une phrase

ex. Tu dois arriver avant que le spectacle commence.

ex. La soirée va commencer après qu'il arrive.

C'est très facile, non?

L'invitation

Bonjour! Comment ça va?

Je voudrais t'inviter à ma soirée. 

Today's topic is l'invitation. Knowing how to invite others is essential because you may need to invite your family and friends to different occasions from time to time. 

If the event is a causal one, you can simply use the above structure. Pay attention to the tense. In order to show your sincerity and politeness, le conditionnel présent (voudrais) should be used. 

If the event is a formal one, you need to write an invitation card and the word "faire-part" is commonly used:

un faire-part de + un nouvelle heureuse

ex. un faire-part de notre mariage

ex.  un faire-part de la naissance de notre fils

être heureux de / avoir la joie de / avoir le plaisir de + vous faire-part de + un nouvelle heureuse 

You can also use the verb "annoncer":

être heureux de / avoir la joie de / avoir le plaisir de + vous annoncer + un nouvelle heureuse 

ex. Nous sommes heureux de vous annoncer notre mariage.

ex. J'ai le plaisir de vous faire part de la naissance de ma fille. Elle est née le douze décembre et elle fait / pèse trois kilos cinq. La mère et le bébé sont en bonne santé. 

Let's learn a bit more from the above example. It says "La mère et le bébé sont en bonne santé", ie both the mother and the baby are healthy. "La santé" is health. Apart from "en bonne santé", there are other expressions we can use:

une personne + être + en forme / en pleine forme

une personne + se porter bien 

ex. La mère et le bébé se portent bien.

Lastly, in your invitation letter, the venue of the event has to be included:

avoir lieu à + un endroit

ex. Je voudrais vous inviter au baptême qui aura lieu à l'église Sainte Rita.

Two more grammar points here: 

1. "Aura" is le futur simple of "avoir". I guess all of you understand why le future simple has to be used here.

2. "Qui" here does not mean "who". It is more like "which" as a relative pronoun. The whole sentence means "I would like to invite you to the baptismal ceremony which will take place in Saint Rita Church". Don't confuse it with "que", but I don't go any further here.

D'accord! C'est clair?

promettre

Bonsoir!

Today's entry may be a bit short... actually the coming entries may be short too because I find it difficult to group the remaining notes from the first oral workshop together. Anyway, let's get started. Today's topic is "promettre" (to promise). Before learning the sentence structures, we should know its conjugation. Can you see "mettre" in "promettre"?

Promettre à + une personne + de + verbe (inf)

Promettre à + une personne + que + une phrase

ex. Je promets à mon ami d'assister à sa soirée.

ex. Je lui promets que je vais assister à sa soirée. 

The usage itself is not difficult and I bet you guys must have noticed that a clause always follows "que" which means "that" and a clause follows "that" in English too. Everything makes sense this time, doesn't it?

Last but not least, can you see that I use "lui" in the second example? "Lui" is COI and replaces "à mon ami". 

Oh là là! C'est déjà une heure et je suis très fatiguée!

C'est tout! Merci et bonne nuit!