BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY Copley Square Boston, MA 02116 i.-J« f’ A * 'A « * « 1 41 4 French Grammar R. Adamson & B. A. Edelston TEACH YOURSELF BOOKS For UK order queries: please contact Bookpoint Ltd, 39 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon 0X14 4TD. Telephone: (44) 01235 400414, Fax: (44) 01235 400454. Lines are open from 9.00-6.00, Monday to Saturday, with a 24 hour message answering service. Email address: [email protected] For U.S.A. & Canada order queries: please contact NTC/Contemporary Publishing, 4255 West Touhy Avenue, Lincolnwood, Illinois 60646-1975, U.S.A. Telephone: (847) 679 5500, Fax: (847) 679 2494. Long renowned as the authoritative source for self-guided learning - with more than 30 million copies sold worldwide - the Teach Yourself series includes over 200 titles in the fields of languages, crafts, hobbies, sports, and other leisure activities. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this title is available from The British Library. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: On file First published in UK 1998 by Hodder Headline Pic, 338 Euston Road, London, NWl 3BH. First published in US 1998 by NTC/Contemporary Publishing, 4255 West Touhy Avenue, Lincolnwood (Chicago), Illinois 60646-1975 U.S.A. The ‘Teach Yourself’ name and logo are registered trade marks of Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. Copyright © 199S Robin Adamson and Brigitte Edelston Consultant editor: Sarah Butler In UK: All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher or under licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Further details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited, of 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WIP 9HE. In US: All rights reserved. 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Impression number 109876543 Year 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 CONTENTS Introduction: How to use this book, the story hue. v 1 Greetings and introductions: Les presentations - introducing people, counting to 100, greetings, talking about yourself / someone else, asking for and giving personal information. 1 2 Peopley hobbies, likes and dislikes: Les loisirs - days and dates. 16 3 Describing people, places and things : Les gens, les endroits, les choses - descriptions, daily activities, telling the time. 29 4 What is available?: Les courses - saying what you would like, finding out prices, where to get things, talking about quantities and sizes. 48 5 Saying what you prefer: Les achats, les choix - talking about preferences, comparing things, places and people. 60 6 Where you are and what you are going to do : Les voyages - locating/asking questions about people, places and things. 74 7 Who owns what?: Les biens, le logement - personal ownership and belonging. 91 8 What can you do? What do you want to do? What do you have to do?: Mark et Stephanie en France - permission, instructions. 101 9 Telling people what to do!: Les directions, les projets des Dickson - advising and telling people what to do and what not to do. 113 10 Processes and procedures : Projets de vacances - describing a series of events; relating events to one another, saying why something happened. 124 11 Future plans and events : Les projets des Lemaire, Temploi - talking and writing about hopes and plans. 135 12 Getting things done: La banque et I’argent - giving orders and instructions. 147 iv FRENCH GRAMMAR 13 Talking about past events : Le voyage des Dickson - saying what took place over a period of time, presenting things that happened in the recent past. 158 14 Past habits and activities: Souvenirs, souvenirs d’enfance - discussing situations and isolated events in the past, saying how often you did things. 169 15 Going back in the past: L’informatique, le voyage - saying that something happened before or after something else, writing an account of past activities, saying that something was done by someone to someone else. 178 16 Wishing and wanting; probability and possibility : Le tourisme - saying what you want and what you wish for, envisaging probability and possibility, longer and more complex sentences. 187 17 Saying how you feel about something: L’avenir: vos desirs, vos anxietes et vos projets - saying what you intend to do and why, putting restrictions on your own and other people’s actions, expressing doubt, hopes, fears. 198 18 Imagining what could happen : Les Hangailles et le manage - saying what would have to take place before something else could happen, imagining how you would react in certain circumstances, saying what you thought would happen. 211 En contexte - Transcriptions 221 Pour verifier - Key 227 Verb tables 232 Index 245 Abbreviations masc./m. masculine fem./f. feminine sing. singular plu./pl. plural infinit. infinitive past part./pp past participle pt.p present participle Q question A answer INTRODUCTION How to use this book This book is based on a grammatical progression and is intended for a variety of learners from beginners to those wanting to brush up their grammar skills. However, each Unit can stand alone and you can work through the Units in any order you like to suit your own requirements. If you want to use French for a particular language function, the Index and the Contents will help you find the most useful Unit to look up. If you want to check specific grammar points use the Index on page 245. For more information on irregular verbs see the Verb Tables page 232. Each Unit is structured in the same way. There is a Summary of the Unit followed by six sections: Avant de commencer Before starting - Introduction, reference to previous points Comment dit-on? Examples covering the different functions covered in this Unit Resume grammatical The Grammatical summary En Contexte Examples in context Pour verifier To check what you have learnt Pour aller plus loin To go further In Avant de commencer examples are given in both French and English to encourage you to look closely at structures and to analyse them from a comparative point of view. The best way to learn is to build on what you can already do. Useful cross-references to previous Units are also given. The Comment dit-on? section is a collection of examples and dialogues, phrases that take you through the Lemaire - Dickson family story illustrating the grammatical functions of the unit. It is a good idea to read these all out loud to get the sound of the constructions. FRENCH GRAMMAR vi The specific grammar points are explained in the Resume grammatical and more examples are given to make understanding easier. If you want to go on to more advanced grammar, you can do this in Pour aller plus loin. This is not compulsory and real beginners are advised to cover it later - once Units 1 to 9 have been understood and assimilated. The language functions and grammatical points are used again in En contexte. Here you will find practical dialogues bringing everything together in a natural and communicative way. Translations of En contexte are included from Unit 1 to 8 to make the section easier to understand and to encourage and help you to learn by yourself. For Units 9 to 18 transcriptions in English are available for reference at the end of the book on pages 221-6. The corrections to the exercises in Pour verifier are also given at the end of the book on pages 227-31. Pour verifier will give you useful feedback on your understanding and progress and will tell you if you need to go back to specific points. The storyline The storyline, with its characters, runs through the whole book. In each Unit you will meet the same people and follow some of their activities. There are two families, a French family, les Lemaire, living in Saint- Amand-les-Eaux in the north of France and a Scottish family, the Dicksons, living in Dundee in Scotland. The Lemaire family have two children, Stephanie, aged 20 and Nicolas, aged 17. Stephanie is on work experience with an oil company. She met Mark Dickson at the beginning of her stay in Aberdeen. They are planning to become engaged at the end of the summer. Stephanie and Mark go to St Arniand at the beginning of May and the Dicksons are planning to spend a few days with Stephanie’s parents in July. They have enrolled to learn French at evening classes in preparation for the big event. How are Alison Dickson, a history and geography teacher, and Patrick, a supermarket manager, going to communicate with the Lemaires? Georges Lemaire, a skilled plumber, and Isabelle, a capable housewife involved in voluntary work with the catholic church, do not speak English at all. Will the engagement date be decided during their stay? ... We hope you enjoy discovering French grammar while getting to know the Lemaire and the Dickson families. I I GREETINGS AND 1 INTRODUCTIONS Theme Le$ presentations ; Georges introduces his family Stephanie introduces Mark to the Lemaires ; In tils Unit you will learn to: 1 Introduce yourself / someone else 2 Count to 100 3 Greet people 4 Talk about yourself / someone else ^ about someone (age, address, nationality, occupation, family circumstances) Structures grammaticales 1 Subject pronouns: je (/), tu (you), il (he), elle (she), on (one/we/they), nous (we), vous (you), ils/elles (they) 2 Verbs: present tense of avoir (to have), etre (to be) 3 -er verbs: regular habiter (to live)', irregular aller (to go) 4 A reflexive verb: s’appeler (to be called) 5 Using tu or vous? 6 Asking questions 7 The negative form: ne.. .pas / n’.. .pas (not) 8 Stressed pronouns: moi, toi, lui/elle, nous, vous, eux/elles 9 Gender Pour aller plus loin 1 Expressions with avoir and etre 2 Changes in spelling of -er verbs 3 Questions: inversion of verb and subject pronoun 4 Gender rules and exceptions 2 Unite 1 Avant de commencer So that you can say a little about yourself in French, it is important to learn some key verbs, such as avoir to have, etre to be, habiter to live, s’appeler to be called and the subject pronouns (i.e. je I, tu you, il he etc.). With a few numbers and a little vocabulary you are well on your way. Comment dit-on? 1 Introducing yourself / someone else Bonjour, je m’appelle Hello, my name is Georges Lemaire. Georges Lemaire. J’ai 46 ans. I’m 46 years old. J’habite St Amand-les-Eaux. I live in St Amand-les-Eaux. Je suis Georges. I’m Georges. Je vous presente ma famille. This is my family. 2 Numbers to 100 Here is a list of numbers to 100. Learn them at your own pace and refer to the list frequently. ■ Note that after 60, the French count in 20’s. 70 is soixante-dix. 80 is quatre-vingts and 90 is quatre-vingt-dix. ■s . 0 zero 10 dix 20 vingt 1 un 11 onze 21 vingt et un 2 deux 12 douze 22 vingt-deux 3 trois 13 treize 23 vingt-trois 4 quatre 14 quatorze 24 vingt-quatre 5 cinq 15 quinze 25 vingt-cinq 6 six 16 seize 26 vingt-six 7 sept 17 dix-sept 27 vingt-sept 8 huit 18 dix-huit 28 vingt-huit 9 neuf 19 dix-neuf 29 vingt-neuf