Back to basics

Back to basics

Today with the help of frenchgrinds.ie I decided to go back to basics. I feel that a lot of students haven’t maybe paid attention in class say back in first year and are flapping about since. In French, as I’m sure you must now by now, there are certain rules that seem to crop up everywhere and spoil the party for those in the dark….

France
photo credit: linda boucher

I have met Leaving Cert students scrambling about weeks before their exam who have not grasped the points below. Now these are the very foundations of French so if you are bored already maybe its time to start Applied Metalwork instead….

Now if you have 10 minutes I want you to learn just three things. Not just learn. I want you to understand. I want you to understand it so well that you could explain it to me next time I cycle past you at the bus stop….as I’m cycling past. No waffle.

Masculine/Feminine

When you learn a new word how do you actually learn it? I mean, take la maison for example. The house, I hear you say. Well done. Clap on the back. Now let me start by telling you that the “la” part is 50% of the burger. If you don’t know that then you’re only getting lettuce and some BBQ sauce…..know what I mean? You simply got to know that its not le maison. Its LA maison. Say the LA bit as if you were sticking your tongue out at someone – LAAAA. This should help. I don’t care how but you gotta remember this bit. If you cannot learn this bit then you’re on thin ice my friend.

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photo credit: Mo Kaiwen 莫楷文

What is a noun anyway and who cares?

A noun is the THING you are talking about.

I walk the dog. The dog is a noun. Its a thing.

I walk the big dog. The dog is still the noun. Just the dog.

The train was late. The train is the thing. the noun….geddit?

I read two books. books….will I go on…?

If you didn’t follow this then read it again.  If you still didn’t follow it then let me know and I’ll try another angle for you…

How do we know mas/fem?

Well you just learn it off. Simple as that.

Notice with the the two nouns below that there is an ‘e’ at the end….the first is masculine (le), the second feminine (la). Oh no! I hear you sigh in despair….Listen up! You just gotta learn this off….just because the NOUN ends in ‘e’ does NOT make it feminine. (You are probably thinking of adjectives and we will cover this in another blog).

le livre

la gare

Summary

(1) Le or LA which is it ? Just learn it off, will ya?

(2) what’s a noun?

(3) le livre is mas!

I’m off now on me bike, talk to you next time and we’ll elaborate a little on this basic building block by looking at what happens when we add in Adjectives (the big dog, french car etc) into the pot. Au revoir mes amis

Courtesy of frenchgrinds.ie home of all things french+exams+free.

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