Alliance Française de Ceylan

Comparisons

Usually comparisons are made by placing plus or moins before an adjective or adverb. The word vite can be either an adverb or an adjective.

Comparisons Superlatives Equality
vite
quickly plus vite que
more quickly than le plus vite
the most quickly/ the fastest

aussi vite que as quickly as
moins vite que
less quickly than le moins vite
the least quickly / the slowest

Arlette parle moins vite que Jeanne, mais plus vite que Nadine.
Arlette speaks less quickly than Jeanne, but more quickly than Nadine.
Irregular forms

Adverbs Comparisons Superlatives
bien
well mieux
better le mieux
the best
mal badly plus mal worse le p*s the worst
beaucoup
much plus
more le plus
most, the most
peu
little moins
less le moins
the least

Pierre travaille bien, Henri travaille mieux que lui, mais George est le meilleur des trois.
Pierre works well, Henri works better than him but, George is the best of the three.
Marie etudie beaucoup. Jean etudie le moins des deux.
Marie studies a lot Jean studies the least.

Marie a les cheveux les plus jolis de la classe.
Marie has the prettiest hair in the class.

A few adjectives have special forms:

Adjectives Comparisons Superlatives
bon
good meilleur
better le meilleur
the best
mauvais

bad plus mauvais/pire
worse le pire the worst


Ce gâteau est bon mais celui-ci est meilleur.
This cake is good but this one is better.

Vos résultats sont plus mauvais que je pensais.
Your results are worse than I thought.

Le temps est mauvais, mais il était pire hier.
The weather is bad, but it was worse yesterday.

A verb is negated by placing ne after the subject and usually pas after the verb.


Je ne veux pas être un numéro.
I don't want to be a number.


Ne becomes n' before a vowel. In compound tenses pas follows the auxiliary.


La France a perdu une bataille! Mais la France n'a pas perdu la guerre! -- Appel du général de Gaulle
France has lost a battle! But France has not lost the war.


Placing ne pas before an infinitive negates it.


L'enfer est de ne pas aimer.
Hell is not to love.


In casual speech, the ne is often omitted.


Je sais pas.
I don't know.

French Negations: Expressions -LanguageGuide Tout le monde se plaint de sa mémoire, et personne ne se plaint de son jugement. -- La Rochefoucauld Everyone complains about their memory and no one complains about their judgement.

La Fête Nationale française, le 14 juillet
Le monde entier connaît l'importance historique de la Révolution française de 1789, qui a fait naître dans le monde un espoir de démocratie et de liberté.

La langue française c'est aussi, des références culturelles liées à l'histoire de France.

Tout d'abord, lisez attentivement le texte : c'est un pas que vous faites dans les dates importantes de la culture française.

Le 14 juillet est le jour de la Fête Nationale en France. Cette date marque le commencement de la Révolution Française.

Le 14 juillet 1789 correspond au jour de la prise de la Bastille par les insurgés et symbolise la première grande victoire du peuple sur l'Ancien Régime.

Ce jour-là, le peuple révolutionnaire de Paris prend les armes et se rend vers la prison Royale de la Bastille. Après de durs affrontements, le peuple parvient à s'emparer des lieux. Un an plus t**d, le 14 juillet est abandonné et ne sera plus célébré pendant une partie du XIXème siècle. Il deviendra officiellement jour de Fête Nationale de la République en 1880.

Aujourd'hui, le 14 juillet est célébré par toutes les communes de France comme une fête populaire. L'tat organise une célébration militaire importante à Paris.

-Bonjour France-

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3939509/bastille-day-2019-france-celebration/

Happy Bastille Day! Here's why July 14 is so significant to French people FRANCE marks Bastille Day today, July 14, with the origins of the historic day stretching back centuries. So what’s the significance and why is it marked every year? Here’s all you need…

Adjectives modify nouns. The 'adverb' is the catch all term that is used to refer to phrases or words that modify everything else.
Following is an adverb modifying an adjective:
Ils sont trop sophistiqués.
They are too sophisticated.

and an adverb modifing an entire sentence:

Heureusement, malgré que je soit pauvre, j'ai de la nourriture, de l'eau, et un abri.
Happily, athough I am poor, I do have food, water, and shelter.

More than anything else, by modifying a verb, adverbs tell us how (i.e. the manner in which) something is done. Such adverbs are called �manner adverbs�

Ils s'embrassent passionnément.
They kiss passionately.

French Adverbs: Introduction -LanguageGuide Heureusement, malgré que je soit pauvre, j'ai de la nourriture, de l'eau, et un abri. Happily, athough I am poor, I do have food, water, and shelter. 

https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/guides/zwwk87h/revision/1

Could you write an article about environmental problems? Discover the vocabulary and phrases you could use to write about the environment and its issues in French.

The environment - Writing - Revision 1 - GCSE French - BBC Bitesize Practise writing about environmental issues and protection with BBC Bitesize GCSE French.

Relative Pronouns

Like Adjectives, relative clauses provide additional information about whatever they are paired up with.

L'étoile qui a explosé est visible à l'oeil nu.
The star that exploded is visible to the naked eye..
The relative pronoun reflects the nature of the role that the modified noun (also know as the antecedent) plays within the relative clause. If the antecedent acts as the subject within the relative clause, qui is used.

Le monastère qui est perché dans les montagnes est un endroit de refuge.
The monastery that is in the mountains is a place of refuge.
Notice that the verb of the relative clause agrees with the antecedent (in this case 'le monastère') when it acts as the subject.


Ce chevalier qui attaque des moulins à vent est un peu bizarre.
That knight that chases windmills is a little strange.

Le couteau qui a coupé la jambe de Jacques est limé.
The knife that cut Jacques' leg is sharp.

Les dauphins qui ont sauvé ma vie reviennent me voir chaque annèe dans la baie.
The dolphins that saved my life come back each year to see me in the bay.

When the modified noun is the direct object of the relative clause, que is used. When this is the case the subject of the relative clause is within the relative clause.


L'enfant abandoné que nous avons trouvé s'appelle Eric.
The lost child that we found is called Eric.

La potion d'immortalité que vous recherchez est vendue dans cette boutique. Elle est soldée à 99 francs.
The immortality potion that you are looking for is sold in that store. It is on sale for 99 francs.

Don't forget that elision takes place with que (before vowels or silent h it becomes qu').
Irrelevant in deciding between que and qui, is whether the modified noun is a person or non-person. (This is contrary to the interrogative pronoun qui which can only stand for persons.)

French Relative Pronouns: Que vs Qui -LanguageGuide The relative pronoun reflects the nature of the role that the modified noun (also know as the antecedent) plays within the relative clause.  If the antecedent acts as the subject within the relative clause, qui is used. 

Dont & Où

Dont

Dont can replace de qui and the duquels (duquel, desquels, de laquelle, desquelles). Not only can it replace them, it should. Dont is used much more often than de qui and the duquels.

Rien ne montre mieux le caractère d'un homme que ce dont il rit.
-- Goethe
Nothing better illustrates a man�s character than what he laughs at.
Il n'y a rien dont le corps souffre dont l'âme ne puisse profiter.
There is nothing the body suffers that does not benefit the soul.

When dont is set off by commas it normally means 'including'.

Où

Où replaces any lequel family relative pronoun when the antecedent is a place or time.

Le palais où le sultan vit n'est pas assez grand pour tout le harem.
The palace where the sultan lives isn't big enough for the entire harem.
Cette vie est un hôpital où chaque malade est possédé du désir de changer de lit. -- Charles Baudelaire
This life is a hospital where each sick man is possessed with the desire to switch beds.

Je veux retourner une époque où la vie était plus simple.
I want to return to an age when life was simpler.

Il faisait une chaleur étouffante la nuit où Bruno a dansé.
It was suffocatingly hot the night that Bruno danced

Où can be preceeded by de, par or jusque.

Que can also be used as a relative pronoun when the antecedent represents a time. It is used when the antecedent is preceeded by an indefinite article.

French Relative Pronouns: Dont & Où -LanguageGuide Dont can replace de qui and the duquels (duquel, desquels, de laquelle, desquelles). Not only can it replace them, it should.  Dont is used much more often than de qui and the duquels. 

The Lesquels vs. à qui, pour qui, etc.

When the antecedent is a person, and is the object of a preposition following the verb in the relative clause, the relative pronoun generally used is that preposition and qui.


L'extra-terreste à qui j'ai parlé vient de la galaxie d'Andromède.
The alien to whom I spoke comes from the galaxy of Andromeda.

When the antecedent is not a person, the lequel family of relative pronouns should be used. The right lequel family member agrees in gender and number with the antecedent.


Singular Plural
Masculine
lequel lesquels
Feminine
laquelle lesquelles


Voici les plans de guerre ennemis pour lesquels beaucoup d'agents secrets ont sacrifié leur vie.
Here are the enemy battle plans for which many secret agents sacrificed their lifes.

C'est l'outil avec lequel je fixerai le robinet.
It is the tool with which I will fix the faucet.

Voilà le le champ de bataille sur lequel les armées se sont battues.
There is the battlefield on which the armies fought.

Les lois sont les toiles d'araignée à travers lesquelles passent les grosses mouches et où restent les petites. -- Balzac
Laws are the spider webs) through which the big flies pass, and the small ones remain trapped.

When à or de is the preposition, it fuses with the lequel pronoun (except for the singular feminine form).


Singular Plural
Masculine
auquel auxquels
Feminine
à laquelle auxquelles

Les questions auxquelles on répond par oui ou par non sont rarement intéressantes.-- Julien Green
Questions to which one responds with yes or no are rarely interesting.


Singular Plural
Masculine
duquel desquels
Feminine
de laquelle desquelles

Sometimes in formal written speech a lequel family member is used when modifying a person.

French Relative Pronouns: The Lesquels vs. à qui, pour qui, etc. -LanguageGuide When the antecedent is a person, and is the object of a preposition following the verb in the relative clause, the relative pronoun generally used is that preposition and qui.

Subject Pronouns

Singular Plural
1st person je I nous we
2nd person tu you vous you (formal & plural)
3rd person elle (Feminine)
il (Masculine)
on she
he
people elles Feminine)
ils (Masculine) they
Tu vs Vous

Addressing someone with vous shows respect toward them. You can use tu with friends, fellow students and immediate family members, but for everyone else use vous, at least in the beginning. Generally you should ask for permission before you begin to address someone with tu ( tutoyer quelqu'un).


Je peux vous tutoyer ?
Can I address you with tu?

Vous is also used as plural 'you'.


Vous venez quand?
Qui?

Robert et toi.

When are you coming?
Who?

Robert and you.
On

On is a pronoun which is often used to represent people in a general sense.

Quand on a tout, on est trop plein. -Joseph Joubert
When you have everything, you are too full (satisfied).
On a souvent besoin d'un coup de main --rarement d'un coup de pied.
-Louis-Auguste Commerson
People often need a hand, rarely a kick.

It also can be used to create a passive sentence. Technically it's not a passive sentence because on acts as the subject, however because the perpetrator is not mentioned it is passive sentence in spirit.

On a bu tout le vin.
All the wine was drunken.
It also is used to say 'we' in an indirect way.

On mange maintenant ou on regarde le film d'abord ?
She we eat now or watch the film first?
Normally in written French, on becomes l'on when it follows et or a word ending in a vowel.

Quand on n'a pas ce que l'on aime, il faut aimer ce que l'on a.
-- Roger de Bussy-Rabutin
When you don't have what you love, you must love what you have.
Representing the Non-living

While the third person subject pronouns normally are used to represent the living, they also can represent the non-living. By 'non-living' I don't just mean mummies, ghosts or corpses; I also mean any object: books, houses, chairs, etc.


J'aime ce village. Il est très petit.
I like this village. It is very small.

J'aime cette ville. Elle est très .
I like this village. It is very small.

French Pronouns: Subject -LanguageGuide Addressing someone with vous shows respect toward them. You can use tu with friends, fellow students and immediate family members, but for everyone else use vous, at least in the beginning. Generally you should ask for permission before you begin to address someone with tu ( tutoyer quelqu'un).