Articles: the definite and indefinite articles in French

The definite article

French has three forms of the definite article corresponding to the English article "the".
They are Le, La and Les. There is also the singular l' used before vowels
Usage depends on the gender and number (singular, plural) of the noun.

Le is used with singular masculine nouns.

Le garçon, le train, le problème, le président, etc.
La is used with singular feminine nouns
La fille, la dame, la voiture, la difficulté, la maison
Les is used with plural nouns, whatever gender they may be
Les garçons, les filles, les personnes, les choses, les difficultés, etc.
L' is used in the singular before vowels, irrespective of gender
L'enfant, l'ami, l'amie, l'université, l'option, l'iris

Usage:
Use of the definite article in French is not always the same as use of the definite article in English.

In simple defining contexts, usage is similar.

Examples:
The car is in the street - La voiture est dans la rue
The first is the best - Le premier est le meilleur

Difficulty ! Articles, gender and sex

Choice of article depends on the gender of the noun, not necessarily on the sex of the person (or
object!) Thus we have to say une personne, or une vedette (a star) even if referring to a man, as these
nouns are feminine. Many bits of machinery are feminine nouns, thus une locomotive. Consequently,
any pronouns that refer back to a noun will (in grammatical French at least) reflect the gender of the noun,
not necessarily the sex of the person (though in most cases nouns that denote females are also feminine
nouns, so no problem)
Examples:
I saw three people; they were getting into a car : J'ai vu trois personnes; elles montaient dans une voiture.
On doit avoir une vedette pour le concert; elle attirera plus de monde: We need to get a star for the
concert; they'll bring in more people

However French is changing, and a growing number of personal nouns are being used in both masculine
and feminine forms. Usually a specific feminine form is used, as in le président / la présidente ; but in
some cases identical forms are found, as in un professeur / une professeur (or une professeure) or un /
une médecin ( a doctor). In this last case, one cannot say Une médecine, as that would mean a medicine,
not a lady doctor.

Difficulty! Articles with plural count nouns in French

There are two ways of using count nouns (nouns refering to items that can be counted) in the plural: a
generalising use (i.e. all the items) and a restrictive use (i.e. some of the items)
When count-nouns are used in a generalising context in the plural, English indicates this generalisation
by omitting the article; French marks it by using the definite article.
 Examples:
I like cakes : J'aime les gâteaux.
Children often make a lot of noise: Les enfants font souvent beaucoup de bruit.

Thus a plural count noun preceded by a definite article generalises, a plural count-noun preceded by an
indefinite article is restrictive.
Children like sweets : les enfants aiment les bonbons
but
She has (some) children : elle a des enfants
The above examples show that the dividing line between the concepts of "generalisation" and
"restriction" is not quite the same in French and English.

Difficulty! Article usage with singular non-count nouns in French

In French, it is not normally possible to use a noun without a predeterminer of one sort or another. Thus
singular non-count-nouns which do not need an article or determiner in English normally require one in
French.
Examples:
Water is necessary for life : l'eau est nécessaire pour la vie
He's studying philosophy : Il étudie la philosophie
French is a living language : Le français est une langue vivante.

2. The indefinite article

French has three forms of the indefinite article corresponding to the English articles "a / an" and "some".
They are Un, une and des.
In addition, there are partitive articles used in the singular with non-count nouns:
They are: du, de la and de l'
Usage depends on the gender and number (singular, plural) of the noun.

Un is used with singular masculine nouns.

Un garcon, un train, un problème, un président, un ami etc.
Une is used with singular feminine nouns
Une fille, une dame, une voiture, une difficulté, une maison
Des is used with plural nouns, whatever gender they may be
Des garçons, des filles, des personnes, des choses, des difficultés, etc.
The partitive forms are used in the singular
Du café, de la bière, de l'eau

Examples:
There's a man in the cupboard : Il y a un homme dans le placard
There's a fly in my soup : il y a une mouche dans ma soupe
I've got a good idea : J'ai une bonne idée
I need a chair to sit on : j'ai besoin d'une chaise pour m'asseoir
The photo shows a lavender field. La photo montre un champ de lavande
There are (some) people in the street : il y a des gens dans la rue.
There's (some) coffee or (some) beer ; il y a du café ou de la bière
3. Omission of the article

► In some fixed expressions, singular nouns can be used without an article. But note that this is
exceptional.
► The article is normally omitted when indicating a person's job.
► The article is omitted after quantifiers like quelques, plusieurs
► It is also normally omitted in generalising cases after de: this includes cases following quantifiers such as
beaucoup de (lots of), peu de (few), trop de (too much / many), etc. For example one would not normally
say beaucoup du .

Examples:
I'm frightened / J'ai peur
I'm hungry / j'ai faim
I'm working at home : Je travaille à domicile . (or ... à la maison)
I need some sleep / J'ai besoin de sommeil
The man over there's a doctor / L'homme là-bas est médecin
He's a company director / Il est chef d'entreprise
It's a real masterpiece / C'est un vrai chef d'oeuvre
I've got several good friends / J'ai plusieurs bons amis
There's lots of water in the river / Il y a beaucoup d'eau dans la rivière.
There's too much sugar in this tea. / Il y a trop de sucre dans ce thé.
There are too many people here. / Il y a trop de personnes ici.

1.2. Pronouns
1.2.1 The main pronouns in French 1 : forms and usage
French has two more common pronouns than English has; it has both a singular and plural form of "you",
and two forms - masculine and feminine - corresponding to "they". Otherwise, pronoun usage in French is
fairly straightforward

1. Table of pronouns in French

English Indirect
Subject form Direct object Possessive Emphatic
equiv. object
I Je me, m' me, m' le mien...* moi
(thou) Tu te, t' te, t' le tien...* toi
he Il le, l' lui lui
le sien,...*
she Elle la l' lui elle
it Ce, c' Forms of il or elle, according to gender ça
one on – le sien,...* –
we nous nous nous le nôtre...* nous
you vous vous vous le vôtre...* vous
they (masc) Ils les leur le leur...* eux
they (fem.) Elles les leur le leur...* elles

* Posessive pronouns agree in number and gender with their referent, i.e. the noun/s to which they refer:
 Model: le mien, la mienne, les miens, les miennes
There are a few other pronouns:
se - the third person singular reflexive object pronoun. See reflexive verbs (coming)
en (meaning of it or of them), and
y (normally meaning to or at somewhere). (See y & en)
and the relative pronouns
qui, que, dont and lequel, laquelle etc. for which see relative clauses

2. Notes on using French pronouns

2.0. Subject pronouns replace nouns as the subject of clauses or sentences, as in:

 Les enfants chantent > Ils chantent

 La dame s'appelle Mme. Dupont > Elle s'appelle Mme Dupont.

2.1. Direct object pronouns:

2.1.1. Position of the direct object pronoun. When the direct object of a clause is a pronoun, it precedes
the verb (including the auxiliary/ies), but does not precede modal auxiliaries. (When the direct object is a
noun, it follows the verb).
Examples:
That car is following us.
- Cette voiture nous suit.
I've put them back in the kitchen.
Je les ai remis dans la cuisine. (verb form with auxiliary - avoir)
I wanted to see them before they left.
Je voulais les voir avant leur départ. (verb form with modal auxiliary - vouloir)

2.1.2. The abbreviated forms m', t', and l' are used before words beginning with a vowel, whether they are
used as direct or indirect objects. They are therefore always used - where they exist - when preceding forms
of the auxiliary avoir

Examples:
I saw him yesterday. (direct pronoun object)
- Je l'ai vu hier.
He gave me some chocolates. (indirect pronoun object)
Il m'a donné des chocolats.

2.2. Indirect object pronouns

2.2.1. Position of the indirect object pronoun. When the indirect object of a clause is a pronoun, it
precedes the verb (including the auxiliary/ies), but does not precede modal auxiliaries.

Examples:
- Vous me devez cent euros.
You owe me 100 Euros
- Il lui donne toujours un billet gratuit pour ses concerts.
He always gives her/him a free ticket to his concerts.
 Je lui ai demandé d'être là pour 17h30. .
I've asked him/her to be there for 5.30 pm.
(verb form with auxiliary - avoir)
Je peux leur montrer le chemin.
I can show them the way. (verb form with modal auxiliary - pouvoir)

2.2.2. Complication ! Word order with double object pronouns.

Clauses with both a direct and an indirect object pronoun.
Normally the indirect pronoun object comes before the direct pronoun object; but when the indirect object
is in the third person (i.e. is lui or leur) it comes after the direct object pronoun.
Examples:
- Il me vous a decrit en grand detail (First person indirect object - me)
He described you to me in great detail
- Mais elle nous l'a dejà dit (First person indirect object - nous)
But she already told us that !.
- Je vous l'ai explique très soigneusement . (Second person indirect object - vous)
I explained it to you very carefully.
Je le leur ai explique très soigneusement . (Third person indirect object - leur)
I explained it to them very carefully.
Je peux le lui montrer demain. (Third person indirect object - lui)
I can show it to her tomorrow .

2.3. Possessive pronouns

2.3.1. Unlike English, where the gender of the third person singular possessive pronoun is determined by
the gender of the possesser (she > her : he > his), the gender of the possessive pronoun in French is
determined by the grammatical gender of the noun to which it refers.
Thus, the English sentence "This is his book, and that is hers" would translate litterally into French as:
"Ceci est son livre, et cela est le sien" - which would be completely ambiguous.
Obviously, the litteral translation in this case does not work, and the translator needs to find an alternative
solutionn (for example Ceci est son livre à lui, et cela est son livre à elle.)
Occasionally, the possessive pronoun can be qualified by a numeral.

Examples:
Voici mon velo, et voila le tien.
Here's my bicycle, and there's yours.
Il a dû vendre sa voiture et la mienne .
He's had to sell his car and mine.
Mon père a dû vendre sa voiture, et mon frère a dû vendre les trois siennes.
My father's had to sell his car, and my brother's had to sell all three of his
J'ai lu votre document Jacques, et le vôtre, Marie .
I've read your document, Jacques, and yours Marie.
Avoiding ambiguity by adding emphatic pronouns:
Il a dû vendre son appartement à lui et son appartement à elle .
He's had to sell his flat and hers.
In this case French needs to find an alternative solution to the possessive pronoun.

2.4. Emphatic pronouns

2.4.1. Emphatic forms of personal pronouns are used in two circumstances:
a) To add emphasis, or to avoid ambiguity (as in the last example above),
b) When the pronoun follows a preposition
Examples:

La France, c'est moi ! Famous saying attributed to king Louis XIV.

Quoi? Lui !!! ???.
What? Him !!! ???.
Eux ils ont dû partir avant la fin .
As for them, they had to leave before the end.
Il te l'a donné à toi, pas à eux !
Indirect object pronouns doubled or replaced by emphatic forms.
He gave it to you, not to them !.
Compare with the simple non-emphatic sentence:
Il te l'a donné.
He gave it to you.
J'étais assis entre elle et toi .
I was sitting between her and you.
Nous allons partir avec eux, pas avec lui!
We're going to go with them, not with him!
Venez avec moi s'il vous plaît .
Come with me please .

2.5. Choosing between il(s) and elle(s)

Il and ils are masculine pronouns, elle and elles are feminine pronouns; but the choice is not always as clear
cut as it might appear. The choice will depend on the grammatical gender and number of the noun that the
pronoun replaces.
Usually this is simple: nouns referring to men and males are masculine, so are referred to using il and ils,
nouns referring to women and females are feminine, and are therefore referred to using the pronouns elle
and elles.
However, it is vital to remember that it is the grammatical gender of the noun, and not the natural gender
of whatever it designates, that determines the choice between il/s and elle/s. Sometimes this causes
confusion.
When a plural pronoun refers to a mix of masculine and femine nouns (people), it will always be ils,
never elles, even if most of the nouns (people) are feminine.
The most common example of a cause for confusion is the noun personne, which is feminine – une
personne. Thus, in grammatically correct French, the pronoun that will take up the noun later in a text or
statement should always be elle/s, even if the people being referred to are all males.
As far as inanimate objects are concerned, in order to know which pronoun to use, it is necessary to
know the grammatical gender of the noun.

Examples:
I respect this man, he's very wise
Je respecte cet homme; il est très sage.

This lady is very old, she's almost 100.

Cette dame est très vielle; elle a presque cent ans.
 I like these apples, they've got plenty of taste.
J'aime ces pommes, elles ont beaucoup de gout .

My drill's broken down, it's not working.

Ma perceuse est en panne, elle ne marche plus.

These people are brave, they've got a lot of courage

Ces personnes sont braves, elles ont beaucoup de courage.

Look, there are Marie, Françoise, Myriam and Arthur; they're coming towards us.
Regardez, il y a Marie, Françoise, Myriam et Arthur, ils viennent vers nous.

1.2.2 Ce, ça and on - other third person pronouns

1. Ce and ça

►"Ce" or "ça" are third person singular subject pronouns. "Ce" is also used as a third person plural subject
pronoun.
►There are two forms of ce, the full form, and the abbreviated form c', used in front of a vowel.
►To simplify matters, one might say that "ce" and "ça" are the equivalent French pronouns to the English
pronoun "it". But of course things are not as simple as that, and the usage of ce and ça by no means always
corresponds to the usage of it in English.

1.1. "Ce" or "ça" corresponding to the English pronoun "it".

"Ce" (often "c' ") is used as a third person neutral or impersonal subject pronoun before the verb être, and in
this respect it normally corresponds to "it". When used before the third person plural of être, it either
corresponds to"it" or to "they".
"Ça" (a contraction of cela) is frequently used as the neutral or impersonal subject pronoun before other
verbs, and in this respect it usually corresponds to "it" - but also to that.

Examples:

C'est fantastique !
It's fantastic !
Ce sera le dernier concert de l'année.
It'll be the last concert of the year.
Ce sont mes parents.
They're my parents
Ce sont mes parents qui me l'ont donné.
It's my parents who gave it to me.
Ça dépend de ce qu'il dira
It depends on what he says.
Tu vas chez le dentiste? ça va faire mal... ou plutôt il va faire mal !
Are you going to the dentist? It'll hurt,... or rather he'll hurt !
(Note this difference)

1.2. When to use ce and when to use il at the start of a sentence or clause.
C'est / il est followed by a noun.
The noun will normally be introduced by c'est, especially if it is followed by a relative clause.
But when the noun defines a job or position and is used with no article, then it will normally be introduced
by the personal pronoun structure il est / elle est.
Examples:

C'est ma soeur !
It's (she's) my sister !
Ce sont mes parents qui me l'ont donné.
It's my parents who gave it to me.
C'est la tempête qui a coulé le bâteau
It was the storm that sank the boat.
Ce sera la dernière fois que je le ferai pour toi !
It'll be the last time I do it for you !
Je pense que c'est un architecte !
I think he's / it's an architect.
Je pense qu'il est médecin.
I think he's a doctor.
(Note this difference)

Neutral C'est / il est followed by an adjective.

The adjective will normally be introduced by c'est, if it closes the statement, and does not lead on to a
subordinate clause.
The adjective will normally be introduced by il est, if it leads on to a subordinate clause.

Examples:

C'est très difficile !

It's very difficult !
Mais c'est parfait !
But its / that's perfect !
Il est très difficile de trouver la bonne réponse !
It's very difficult to find the right answer.

2. On

The third person singular personal pronoun on is very common in French, and does not just correspond to
the English pronoun "one". The French use on in cases where English speakers might use one, we, you,
someone, they or even a passive verb form. The extent of the use of on, particularly in informal and
spoken French, is best explained by means of examples.

► Note that the pronoun "on" exists only as a subject pronoun; it has no object form, and no possessive
form. If a possessive form is required, the speaker / writer will use the first or third person possessive form
best matching the persons implied by the "on"; if "on" is really being used in an impersonal sense, then
the possessive pronouns to use are those corresponding to il (i.e. son, sa, ses).

Examples:

On ne peut pas faire ça !

 One / We / You can't do that !
On va voir ce qu'il va faire quand il reviendra.
We'll see what he does when he gets back.
Je pense qu'on va être très déçu, n'est-ce pas !
I think you'll / we'll / they'll be very disappointed, won't you / we / they ?
J'en ai marre ! C'est la seconde fois qu'on m'a volé ma voiture !
I'm fed up! That's the second time my car's been stolen !
J'ai entendu dire qu'on va fermer notre bibliothèque départementale !
I've heard it said that they're going to close our departmental library. or
I've heard it said that our departmental library's going to be closed.
Il m'a dit qu'on peut faire ce qu'on veut !.
He told me you/we can do what you/we like.
On doit s'occuper de ses enfants !
One has to look after one's children ! or
You have to look after your children.
On doit s'occuper de nos enfants !
We have to look after our children ! or
One has to look after our children. or
Someone has to look after our/your children ! (according to context)
On a peur... ça vous fait peur, n'est-ce pas !
One gets frightened.... it frightens you/ one, doesn't it !
(With no object form for on, a French speaker must choose another object pronoun; English does not have
this problem)

1.2.3 Y and en
Definitions

 Y and en are adverbial pronouns.

 This means that they stand in place of an adverb phrase.

 A simple adverb phrase is made up of a preposition followed by a noun.

1. Y

1.1. ► Y replaces or refers back to an adverb phrase of place or of location.

In its simplest form, it means just there (in the meaning of in that place)
It can also mean in something, on something, under something, beside something, etc.
Examples:
Il y est déjà !
He's already there !
Elle est dans la maison; je l'y ai vue !.
She's in the house; I saw her there !
Je connais bien Paris; j'y habite.
I know Paris well; I live there.
Mets le sur la table; il y sera bien visible.
Put it on the table; it will be very visible there.
Le vin est dans la cave; il s'y conserve très bien.
The wine is in the cellar; it keeps very well there.
1.2. ► Y replaces an adverb phrase of direction or of movement towards a designated place. It often
replaces or refers back to the French preposition à
It can therefore mean to a place, towards a place, towards a goal, etc. - both litterally and figuratively.
Examples:
J'y vais tout de suite.
I'm going (there) immediately.
On y va ?
Shall we go (to somewhere) ?.
On va y arriver avec un peu de patience.
We'll get there with a bit of patience.
Je vais à Washington demain. J'y vais tous les deux mois.
I'm going to Washington tomorrow; I go there every two months.
Il pense à cela; au fait il y pense beaucoup.
He's thinking about that; indeed he's thinking about it a lot..

1.3. ► Y is very commonly found in the expression il y a (and its variations in other tenses, such as il y
avait). Here it has no real meaning, but corresponds to the English There is or there are. Note that unlike
there is/ there are, Il y a is only used in the singular
Examples:
Il y a deux hommes à la porte.
There are two men at the door.
Il y avait beaucoup de confusion à propos du résultat.
There was a lot of confusion about the result.
Je pense qu'il y en aura assez.
I think there will be enough of them.

1. En

2.1. ► En replaces or refers back to an adverb phrase of quantity or part

In its simplest form, it means just of it or of them.
Examples:
Ces pommes sont bonnes ; j'en ai déjà mangé trois !
These apples are good; I've already eaten three of them !
Le début du film est mauvais, mais la fin en est très bonne !.
The start of the movie is bad, but the end (of it) is very good !
Je connais le plan général, mais je n'en connais pas les détails.
I know the general plan, but I don't know the details.
L'Emir a deux Rolls-Royce, mais son fils en a trois.
The Emir has two Rolls Royces, but his son has three.
La pizza est au frigo; je t'en ai laissé la moitié.
The pizza's in the fridge; I've left you half (of it).
J'en ai vendu trois la semaine passée.
I sold three (of them) last week.
Il n'en reste plus que trois.
There are only three (of them) left.
2.2. ► En replaces an adverb phrase of direction or of movement from a designated place. It often
replaces or refers back to the French preposition de.
Examples:
J'en reviens.
I'm coming back (from somewhere, from an event).
Il est bien arrivé au sommet ; c'est quand il en descendait qu'il a eu mal .
He reached the summit all right; it was on the way down that he felt unwell.

2.3. ► En replaces or refers back to an adverb phrase using the preposition de in a figurative meaning
after a verb
Examples:
Je ne parlerai pas de ça aujourd'hui... mais j'en parlerai plus tard.
I won't talk about that today, but I will talk about it later.
Je n'en sais rien.
I don't know anything about it. / I haven't a clue.
Je m'en fiche totalement.
I couldn't care less about it.

1.3 Nouns in French - Gender, number and composition of the noun phrase.
Nouns are words that refer to creatures, objects, actions or abstractions. They are defined in
French grammar by their gender (masculine or feminine), their number (singular or plural),
and their determiner.

1. Gender

► All nouns in French have a gender, either masculine or feminine.

Animates: When nouns define human beings, the gender of the noun normally corresponds to that of the
person or people concerned. Thus un homme (masculine) and une femme (feminine). There are a
few exceptions; the most high-profile of these is une personne (feminine), a person, whether the person is
male or female.

Many nouns that can either refer to males or to females have masculine and feminine forms. In some
cases an identical noun can be used in either gender: example un gendarme, une gendarme (a policeman /
woman). In other cases male and females are designated by a masculine and a feminine form of the same
word: example un boulanger / une boulangère (A baker, a female baker). In other cases there is little
consensus; there is no clear rule in modern French as to whether a female teacher should be referred to as un
professeur, une professeur, une professeuse, or une professeure. All four forms are used, even in official
documents.

Inanimates: When nouns define objects or abstractions, they still must have a gender. The gender can
sometimes be determined (or guessed) by the noun's ending. While there are a few endings which are more
or less exclusive to feminine nouns, such as -ette or -euse, the gender of most nouns just has to be learned
case by case, and it is not always easy. Why does one say le coton, but la chanson? The reasons are
etymological (historic) – but that is of little help: genders just have to be learned.

2. Number
► Nouns in French must either be in the singular or the plural. The plural of most French nouns is indicated
in written French by the addition of the plural marker, normally "s".
This s is not pronounced in spoken French.
Examples: un homme, des hommes - un tracteur, des tracteurs.

Particular cases:

 ► Most - though not all - nouns ending in -al, or -ail, form their plural in -aux.
  Examples: cheval / chevaux, général / généraux etc. but festival /festivals
As for the French word for garlic, singular un ail, its plural form is des aulx.
 ► Nouns ending in -ou. Most have a normal plural in -s; but eight common nouns take their plural
in -x : bijou, caillou, chou, genou, hibou, joujou, pou.
Examples: un voyou, des voyous, un hibou, deux hiboux.
 ► Nouns ending in -s or in -x. These remain unchanged in the plural
Example: un tapis, des tapis - un époux, des époux
 ► Words borrowed from English which would take an -es in the plural in English just take an -s in
French.
Example: un sandwich, des sandwichs

The plurality of a noun is also indicated by the determiner, and by any adjectives that describe the noun.

3. Determiners

► Nouns cannot normally stand alone in French. Except in a small number of (mostly common) fixed
expressions, such as j'ai peur, all nouns except proper nouns (i.e. names) – whether in the subject of
predicate of a sentence – must be preceded by a determiner (un prédéterminant). This can either be:

 an article (le, la, un, etc...),

 a possessive adjective (mon, ma, mes, ton, etc.),
 a demonstrative adjective (ce, cette, etc),
 a quantifying adjective (plusieurs, quelques, etc.)
an interrogative adjective (quel, quelle, etc.),
 a numeral
or - in the case of compound nouns - another noun.

► When the predeterminer is an article or an adjective, it agrees in number and gender with the noun.

► Possessive determiners
Unlike English, a noun in French cannot be preceded by another noun in the possessive form, as there is no
inflected possessive form for nouns in French. The only possessive determiners are possessive adjectives
such as mon / ma / mes, ton / ta / tes , etc.

In English one can say "Rosemary's baby". In French this must be "Le bébé de Rosemary"; in French, the
determiner here is Le, not Rosemary's. (Except, of course, in the title of the classic movie which, in France,
has always been known as Rosemary's Baby.... but that is English, not French! The movie title could never
have been translated as Rosmarie's bébé.)
The determiner comes at the start of the noun group in French. It may be followed by one or more
adjectives, from among those adjectives which, in French, precede or can precede the noun.

Examples: The determiners are in bold type.

Ma grande idée !
  My big idea !
Le premier grand orage de l'été.
  The first big storm of summer / Summer's first big storm..
Cette dame et sa très vieille tante.
  This lady and her very old aunt.
Vingt-cinq belles filles.
  Twenty-five beautiful girls.
Les trois plus grands écrivains de l'histoire.
  The three greatest writers in history.
Quelle belle histoire!
  What a lovely story!
Plusieurs bons amis / Plusieurs de mes bons amis
  Several good friends, / Several of my good friends.

4. What follows a noun ?

► There is no need for anything to follow a noun; in French grammar a noun group can be considered
complete as long as it has a determiner and a noun.

► However nouns can be and often are followed by adjectives. Indeed, most French adjectives follow the
noun. Example: un livre intéressant. See Adjectives

► Nouns can also be followed by (postmodified by) a prepositional phrase such as a possessive form with
de. Example: Le livre de mon voisin.

► Nouns can also be completed by a subordinate clause, such as a relative clause.

 Examples: Le livre que j'ai lu. Le livre à acheter.

1.4. Adjectives

Adjectives in French agree in number and gender with the noun they qualify.

In French, while several common adjectives come before the noun, the majority of adjectives,
including all less frequent adjectives, follow the noun.

1. Adjective forms

The table below lists the main families of adjectives in French; while there are certain exceptions that need
to be learned individually, the groups below illustrate how to decline most French adjectives in their
different forms. Nonetheless, given the number of exceptions, it is advisable to check a new adjective you
learn, using a good dictionary.
Irregular adjectives in French
It is misleading to talk about regular and irregular adjectives in French. While there is a "general rule" (see
table below), this rule only applies to about half of the more common adjectives in French. There are in fact
ten more groups of adjectives after the general rule, and only half a dozen common adjectives that have
completely irregular forms and must be learned individually.

Table of French adjective forms

Types of adjective: Examples
Masc sing Fem sing Masc plural Fem plural Meaning
grand grande grands grandes big
The general cher chère chers chères dear
rule fini finie finis finies finished
noir noire noirs noires black
bas basse bas basses low
Several short adjectives bon bonne bons bonnes good,
ending in vowel+ gros grosse gros grosses fat
consonant nul nulle nuls nulles worth​ -less
las lasse las lasses tired
Adjectives ending in -g long longue longs longues long
Many adjectives ending in sage, sage sages sages, wise
-e efficace efficace efficaces efficaces efficient
Short adjectives ending in blanc blanche blancs blanches white
c sec sèche secs sèches dry
actif active actifs actives active
Adjectives ending in -f nocif nocive nocifs nocives poison
bref brève brefs brèves brief
adjectives ending in -el or réel, réelle réels, réelles, real
-eil , pareil pareille pareils pareilles similar
léger légère légers légères light
adjectives ending in -er
premier première premiers premières first
joyeux, joyeuse, joyeux, joyeuses, joyful
adjectives ending in heureux, heureuse heureux, heureuses happy
-eux or -oux poreux poreuse poreux poreuses porous
jaloux jalouse jaloux jalouses jealous
adjectives ending in -teur porteur porteuse porteurs porteuses load -bearing
général générale généraux générales general
adjectives ending in -al
génial géniale géniaux géniales brilliant

beau / bel belle beaux belles beautiful

The most common nouveau / nouvel nouvelle nouveaux nouvelles new
completely irregular vieux / vieil vieille vieux vieilles old
adjectives
frais fraîche frais fraîches fresh
doux douce doux douces gentle
faux fausse faux fausses wrong

Click here for demonstrative adjectives

2. Adjective position in French

2.1. Adjectives that normally come before the noun:

beau, cher, gros, grand,

mauvais, méchant, meilleur, bon
joli, petit, vilain, jeune, bref,
nouveau, vieux, gentil, haut,
autre, premier.
However any of these nouns can occasionally be placed after the noun if context or a grouping of adjectives
requires it.

2.2 Adjectives that sometimes come before the noun,

depending on context
long, court, double

2.3. A few adjectives vary their position according to different meanings:

 The adjective "ancien" normally comes before the noun when it means "former", and after it
when it means "ancient".
 The adjective "certain" normally comes before the noun when it means "particular", and after
it when it means "sure".
 The adjective "même" normally comes before the noun when it means "same", and after it
when it means "very same".
 The adjective "pauvre" normally comes before the noun when it means "unfortunate", and after
it when it means "not rich".
 The adjective "propre" comes before the noun when it means "own", and after it when it means
"clean".
 The adjective "seul" comes before the noun when it means "single, or just one", and after it
when it means "lonely".

2.4. Other adjectives follow the noun. These include adjectives of colour and of nationality.

Examples:
Une belle jeune dame très intélligente.
A beautiful and very intelligent young lady .
Il y avait une longue file de voitures.
There was a long queue of cars.
Une journée longue et difficile.
A long and difficult day.
Un ancien président de la Société d'histoire ancienne.
A former chairman of the Ancient History Society
Il a commencé le matin et terminé le jour même..
He started in the morning and finished the very same day
Un dictionnaire bilingue populaire.
A popular bilingual dictionary
 Un cadre métallique flexible.
A flexible metal frame
C'est mon propre chat, et il couche dans un panier propre..
It's my own cat, and he sleeps in a clean basket

3. Adjective order

Generally speaking, adjective order in French and adjective order in English follow similar principles. The
closer an adjective comes to a noun in English, the closer it will come in French.

Thus, in a simple world where all adjectives in English came before the noun, and all French adjectives
came after the noun, the order of adjectives in French would be the mirror image of the order of the
equivalent adjectives in an English sentence .

Sadly the world is not as simple as this, and as we have seen adjectives in French often come before the
noun. Yet the principle remains valid. When organising three or four adjectives round a noun in French, try
and keep the same relationship of proximity as in English, even though some of the adjectives may go
before the noun and others after it.

In both English and French the general rule is that the adjectives closest to a noun express its most
fundamental qualities. In some cases, this is more evident in French than in English. For example, in
French one could say, of a car...
C'est une voiture allemande bleue or C'est une voiture bleue allemande
In the first expression the speaker probably implies a German car (i.e. made in Germany) that happens to be
blue... , or possibly though less probably a German-registered car of any make.
In the second, we have a blue car that happens to be German, probably a car with German plates rather than
a German make of vehicle.

Note that when two adjectives A & B are linked by "et ", they have an equal value in terms of required
proximity, so can often be placed either in the order AB or in the order BA.

Certain adjectives expressing value-judgement (e.g. misérable), surprise (e.g.incroyable) or appreciation

(e.g.
magnifique
) can be brought forward for purposes of emphasis.
Examples
- Une expérience chimique inutile et dangereuse..
A dangerous and useless chemical experiment .
De belles tomates espagnoles rouges et fraîches.
Some beautiful fresh red Spanish tomatoes.
Une journée longue et difficile. / Une journée difficile et longue.
A long and difficult day.
Une vieille voiture américaine magnifique or
Une magnifique vieille voiture américaine.
A magnificent old American automobile.
In the second case, magnifique is brought to the front for purposes of emphasis
4. Comparison of adjectives

Comparative forms and superlative forms of adjectives in French are not difficult to master; however the
small difference between the comparative form and the superlative form can sometimes cause confusion.
Other than in a few exceptional cases, the comparative form of an adjective in French is formed by adding
plus in front of the adjective.
The superlative form is made by adding le plus (or la plus or les plus, acccording to context) .
Adjectives that normally precede the noun are often placed after it when used in the superlative form with le
plus.

Normal Comparative Superlative

grand plus grand le plus grand (etc.)
facile plus facile le plus facile (etc)

Examples:
- Une tâche difficile, une tâche plus difficile, la tâche la plus difficile..
A difficult job, a more difficult job, the most difficult job .
Un grand homme, un plus grand homme, le plus grand homme (l'homme le plus grand).
A big man, a bigger man, the biggest man.
Les femmes les plus âgées devraient partir avant les autres..
The oldest women should leave before the others.
La première est plus compliquée que la seconde, mais la troisième est la plus compliquée de toutes.
The first is more complicated than the second, but the third is the most complicated of all.

Exceptions:
Three common adjectives have exceptional comparative and superlative forms

Normal Comparative Superlative

bon meilleur le meilleur (etc.)
mauvais pire le pire (etc.)
moins moindre le moindre (etc.)

5. Modification of adjectives

Linguists distinguish two different types of adjective; qualitative adjectives, and classifying adjectives.
Qualitative adjectives describe a quality, for example beau, grand, intéressant. Classifying adjectives
categorise the noun they modify; for example français, quotidien, chimique, principal. Classifying
adjectives have an absolute value, and cannot normally be modified.

Qualitative adjectives can be modified by adverbs of degree or manner.

The most common of these are the adverbs or adverb phrases of degree très (very), assez (rather, quite),
plutôt (rather), peu (little, not very) , trop (too), and trop peu (not...enough), de plus en plus (increasingly),
de moins en moins (decreasingly).
Exceptionally, adjectives can be modified by a noun of degree: un peu.
Many other adverbs, themselves derived from adjectives, can be used to modify adjectives. Examples:
généralement (generally), habituellement (usually), constamment (constantly), extrèmement (extremely),
particulièrement (particularly), hautement (highly), sérieusement (seriously) and many more.

However French does not use adverbs to modify nouns as easily as English does. For example, a large
number of present participles in English can be made into adverbs to modify nouns; frustratingly, lovingly,
worryingly, disgustingly, boringly, shockingly, etc.... French does not have many participial adverbs of this
sort, so other forms of expression are needed. See example 5 below

Examples:
1. - Ce livre est très intéressant, mais trop peu connu.
This book is very interesting, but not well enough known .
2. Il est de plus en plus exigeant et de moins en moins agréable
He's more and more (increasingly) demanding and less and less pleasant.
3. C'est une jeune femme hautement qualifiée et particulièrement intélligente.
She's a highly qualified and particularly intelligent young lady.
4. Je trouve que c'est un peu compliqué tout cela.
I find all that a bit complicated.
5 C'est inquiétant combien ses prévisions sont justes !
His predictions are worryingly accurate !

1.5. Numbers and counting

How to count in French - Forming and expressing numbers

On this page:

 1. General points
 2. Numbers 0 - 100
 3. Numbers 101 - 999
 4. Numbers 1000 - 1,000,000
 5. Numbers above a million
 6. General points : plurals, hyphens, separators

1. Cardinal numbers - les chiffres et les nombres

Cardinal numbers are the numbers that we use for counting or designating quantity : French uses the word
"chiffre" to designate an individual digit, i.e. digits from 0 to 9, and "nombre" to designate quantity - which
is limitless. So 26, vingt-six, is a "nombre" made up of two "chiffres".

Hyphens: in traditional French, hypens are used between words for figures below 100 except when et is used
between two digits. The same applies when figures below 100 apply to thousands or millions (see section 4
below).

Following the Academy's 1990 recommendations, hyphens are used to link all the words making up a
number, except where et is used. The examples below use the traditional rules.

2. Numbers from 0 to 100 - de zéro à cent

The number 0 is expressed as zéro , and occasionally as nul

Here are the important cardinal numbers between one and a hundred, which can serve as models for other
numbers.

1 un 11 onze 21 vingt et un
2 deux 12 douze 22 vingt-deux
3 trois 13 treize 30 trente
4 quatre 14 quatorze 40 quarante
5 cinq 15 quinze 50 cinquante
6 six 16 seize 60 soixante
7 sept 17 dix-sept 70 soixante-dix
8 huit 18 dix-huit 80 quatre-vingts
9 neuf 19 dix-neuf 90 quatre-vingt-dix
10 dix 20 vingt 100 cent
Take note in particular of the numbers written in red, which are irregular compared to others in their series.
Also take great care with the seventies and nineties, and to a lesser extent the eighties....
70 soixante-dix 80 quatre-vingts 90 quatre-vingt-dix
71 soixante et onze 81 quatre-vingt-un 91 quatre-vingt-onze
72 soixante-douze 82 quatre-vingt-deux 92 quatre-vingt-douze
73 soixante-treize 83 quatre-vingt-trois 93 quatre-vingt-treize
74 soixante-quatorze 84 quatre-vingt-quatre 94 quatre-vingt-quatorze
75 soixante-quinze 85 quatre-vingt-cinq 95 quatre-vingt-quinze
76 soixante-seize 86 quatre-vingt-six 96 quatre-vingt-seize
77 soixante-dix-sept 87 quatre-vingt-sept 97 quatre-vingt-dix-sept
78 soixante-dix-huit 88 quatre-vingt-huit 98 quatre-vingt-dix-huit
79 soixante-dix-neuf 89 quatre-vingt-neuf 99 quatre-vingt-dix-neuf

Quatre-vingt or quatre-vingts ?

The number "quatre-vingt" only takes an s in round numbers, i.e. quantities ending in 80: quatre-vingts,
or deux cent quatre-vingts etc. For all other numbers it is invariable, as in the examples above such
as quatre-vingt-six.. It also takes an s when followed by a noun: Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours
= Around the world in eighty days.

Regional variations

 Belgium : 70 = septante ; 90 = nonante

 Switzerland : 70 = septante ; 80 = huitante (rarely octante) ; 90 = nonante

3. Numbers from 101 to 999 - les nombres à trois chiffres

From the examples below, all other three-digit numbers in French can be formed.
101 cent un 366 trois cent soixante-six
111 cent onze 482 quatre cent quatre-vingt-deux
121 cent vingt et un 547 cinq cent quarante-sept
122 cent vingt-deux 611 six cent onze
200 deux cents 671 six cent soixante et onze
293 deux cent quatre-vingt-treize 899 huit cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf
Hundreds in the plural

The number "cent" only takes an s in round numbers: deux cents, trois cents etc. For all other numbers it is
invariable, as in the examples above such as six cent onze
To express "hundreds" as an imprecise quantity, French does not use the numeral cents but the
noun centaines
There were hundreds of people at the concert.
Il y avait des centaines de personnes au concert

4. Numbers from 1000 to 1,000,000

 Apart from round numbers (numbers ending in 00) numbers above 1000 are normally written in
figures, not in words. The table below shows essentially how to express them orally..

1000 mille 4632 quatre mille six cent trente-deux

1001 mille et un or mille un 10,000 dix mille
1082 mille quatre-vingt-deux 10,174 dix mille cent soixante-quatorze
mille cent quarante-sept or onze cent
1147 85,428 quatre-vingt-cinq mille quatre cent vingt-huit
quarante-sept
1301 mille trois cent un 100,000 Cent mille
neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf mille quatre cent
4400 quatre mille quatre cents 999,482
quatre-vingt-deux

5. Numbers greater than a million

The same general principles apply as above. The number simply starts with a quantity of millions.

Examples;
1,007,018 = Un million sept mille dix-huit
2,015,222 = Deux millions quinze mille deux cent vingt-deux.
3,003,300 = Trois millions trois mille trois cents
3,033,333 = Trois millions trente-trois mille trois cent trente-trois

6. General points

Plural forms of cent, mille and million - all different !

Cent takes an s in the plural only when it is a round figure (-00)

Mille never takes an s when used as a number. It only takes an s when used with the meaning of the English
word "miles", particularly referring to nautical miles.
Million is a noun, so always takes an s when used in the plural. Thus for 1,000,000, we have to say un
million , not just million. Since it is a noun, it must be followed by de when referring to a quantity of
something.
To understand the difference, just compare these words used in a singular context : 124 with 1024 and then
with 1,000,024
Cent vingt-quatre / mille vingt-quatre but un million vingt-quatre.

More examples

 Ça coûte deux cents euros,

 Ça coûte deux mille euros,
 Ça coûte deux millions d'euros,

La visibilité en mer est réduite à deux milles nautiques.

Writing numbers in figures in French

IMPORTANT : DO NOT SEPARATE DIGITS WITH COMMAS when writing large figures in French.
French uses the comma, not the decimal point, as the decimal separator. Mi llions and thousands and
hundreds are separated by a space, not by a comma.
Thus the number one million seven hundred thousand will be written :

 1,700,000 in English, but

 1 700 000 in French

When to use hyphens in numbers ?

Hyphens are traditionally used to link the components in numbers between 17 and 99 whenever these are not
linked by the word et. For example "quatre-vingt-treize" but "soixante et onze".
This is true for all parts of a number, so we use hyphens when appropriate when expressing a number of
millions, a number of thousands, a number of hundreds, and the part of a number below a hundred.
Since 1990, the French Academy recommends using hyphens between all the elements of a number that is
written in words, unless elements are joined by et, so 85 428 is written, according to the new rules:
quatre-vingt-cinq-mille-quatre-cent-vingt-huit
rather than
quatre-vingt-cinq mille quatre cent vingt-huit

1.5.1. Ordinals

1. Ordinals in French

Ordinals are words like premier, second, troisième.....

They are adjectives formed from cardinal numbers.
They are used to indicate the position of an entity in a stated or implied series.

With the exception of the words premier and second, they are usually formed by adding the ending -ième
to the cardinal number. trois > troisième, vingt et un > vingt et unième.

Numerals ending in e lose the e : quatre > quatrième, mille > millième,
Cinq adds a u : cinq > cinquième
The f on neuf becomes a v : > neuvième
The x on dix becomes a z : > dizième

Ordinals are also used to express fractions but not dates.

From premier to centième

As numerals rather than as words, ordinals are in theory (as in official publications) written with the
numeral followed just by e, except for premier (1er) or second (2d). For example: 6e
Also In theory, the e, ème or ° should be written in superscript, i.e. slightly higher than the base line. 6e not 6e

In practice they are often written with the numeral followed by ème or sometimes by ° : for example: 6ème
or 6°, and few people use superscript, as few people know how to do superscript on a computer keyboard, let
alone a smartphone.

Here are the main ordinals in French, up to centième; from these examples all others can be formed.

1er premier 11th onzième 21e vingt et unième

2e second 12th douzième 22e vingt-deuxième
3e troisième 13e treizième 33e trente-troisième
4e quatrième 14e quatorzième 44e quarante-quatrième
5e cinquième 15e quinzième 50e cinquantième
6e sixième 16e seizième 60e soixantième
7e septième 17e dix-septième 71e soixante et onzième
8e huitième 18e dix-huirième 82e quatre-vingt-deuxième
9e neuvième 19e dix-neuvième 90e quatre-vingt-dizième
10e dizième 20e vingtième 100e centième

Ordinals after centième

From these examples you can see how all ordinals are formed
101e cent unième or cent-unième 365e trois cent soixante-cinquième
111e cent onzième 500e cinq centième
121e cent vingt et unième 546e cinq cent quarante-sizième
133e cent trente-troisième 649e six cent quarante neuvième
245e deux cent quarante-cinquième 999e neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuvième
308e trois cent huitième 1550th mille cinq cent cinquantième

Note:

Ordinals can be preceded by a range of different articles or determiners.

Examples:
Son dizième anniversaire
Sa première communion
Trois centièmes de seconde
Ce cent troisième festival.
Vous êtes notre cent millième visiteur.
Other points to note :

Translating ordinals.

The fundamental rule is simple : translate using words when the original ordinal is written in words,
translate using figures when the original uses figures.
Examples:
The Second amendment = Le Second amendement
My 21st birthday - Mon 21e anniversaire
Four hundredths of a second - quatre centièmes de seconde
His 24th attempt - Sa 24e tentative
The US Hundred and first Airborne division - La cent-unième division US aeroportée.

1.6. Possession

Different ways of expressing possession in French

Possession can be expressed in French, as in English, in a number of different ways. Like English-speakers,
the French use possessive pronouns, possessive adjectives and prepositions designating possession or
attribution. The biggest difference is that there is no French equivalent of the apostrophe s structure that is
very common in English.

1. Possessive adjectives

These correspond to the possessive adjectives that are used in English, my, your, his, her etc. However they
are not used in the same way. Like other adjectives, possessive adjectives agree with the noun they qualify
(i.e. not with the possessor as in the case of his / her in English
Forms: Singular Plural
1st mon ma mes notre nos
2nd ton ta tes votre vos
3rd son sa ses leur
Examples
J'aime mon chat.
I love my cat
Je ne connais pas son père mais je connais sa mère
I don't know his/her mother, but I know his/her father
Il ne parle jamais à ses soeurs
He never speaks to his sisters.
Notre voiture est en panne.
Our car's broken down.
Il a mangé toutes nos pommes.
He's eaten all our apples
Ils sont très en colère; quelqu'un a volé leur voiture.
They're very angry, someone's stolen their car.

2. Possessive pronouns
These correspond to the possessive pronouns that are used in English, mine, yours, his, hers, its etc. Like
the possessive adjectives, they agree with the noun they stand in place of (i.e. not with the possessor as in
the case of his / hers in English).
Important: unlike other pronouns, possessive pronouns include an article - the definite article.
Forms: Singular Plural
le mien la mienne le nôtre la nôtre
1st
les miens les miennes les nôtres
le tien la tienne le vôtre la vôtre
2nd
les tiens les tiennes les vôtres
le sien la sienne le leur la leur
3rd
les siens les siennes les leurs
Examples
Je vois plusieurs voitures, mais je ne vois pas la mienne.
I can see several cars, but I can't see mine.
La plupart des enfants sont partis, mais les tiens jouent encore.
Most of the children have left, but yours are still playing.
Ma valise est rouge, mais la sienne est noire.
My suitcase is black, but his / hers is black.
Mon chat est noir, mais les vôtres sont gris.
My cat is black, but yours are grey.
*** Remember: you must use the full possessive pronoun, including its pronoun. You can't say C'est mien
for "It's mine. It has to be C'est le mien.

3. Possession indicated with a preposition

3.1. When the possessor is a noun...

When two nouns are linked by a relation of possession, as in the English expressions my brother's friend
or the friend of my brother, French has to use a preposition, normally de, but sometimes à. There is no
French equivalent of the English 's (apostrophe - s ) structure.
This applies to real possession as in my brother's car and also to attribution, as in the president's arrival,
or the top of the hill
In cases of attribution, the corresponding preposition in English is not necessarily of, but may be by, or some
other preposition
In most cases, the preposition of possession is de. A is occasionally used, notably in colloquial French.
IMPORTANT - Note that à has to be used when the French expresses the equivalent of the English
interrogative pronoun or adjective whose, as in the example below - A qui est ce livre ? C'est à Sarah. De
cannot be used in this context.
Examples
Je ne connais pas l'ami de mon frère.
I don't know my brother's friend / the friend of my brother.
La voiture de la dame était en panne.
The lady's car had broken down.
Je cherche la maison de Monsieur Dupont.
I'm looking for Mr Dupont's house.
Le plus célèbre roman de Zola est Germinal.
Zola's most famous novel is Germinal /
The most famous novel by Zola is Germinal.
L'oncle à Pierre lui a donné un beau cadeau.
 Pierre's uncle gave him a nice present.
A qui est ce livre? C'est à Sarah.
Whose book is this? It's Sarah's.
3.2. De and à implying different meanings
While de and à are interchangeable in many cases, there are other cases in which they imply different
attributive relationships between two nouns.
Une tasse à café does not mean the same as une tasse de café.
Une tasse à café means a coffee cup, a cup in which coffee is served.
Une tasse de café means a cup of coffee.
In other words à implies purpose, while de implies content.

3.3. When the possessor is a pronoun ...

In cases of possession where the possessor is designated by a personal or relative pronoun , not a noun, the
only preposition that can be used is à.
The structure à + pronoun is found essentially in what the French call "compléments déterminatifs". In this
particular case, the complement is rendered in English by the use of a possessive pronoun.
This structure is occasionally used for emphasis or to remove ambiguity.
Examples
A qui est ce livre? C'est à moi.
Whose book is this ? It's mine.
Il voyait trois chiens, mais il ne voyait pas son chien à lui.
He could see three dogs, but he couldn't see his own dog.
Je connais Pierre et Marie, et je connais sa soeur à elle
I know Pierre and Marie, and I know her sister. (Without adding the à elle, we do not know if it is
Pierre's or Marie's sister)
L'oncle à Pierre lui a donné un beau cadeau.
Pierre's uncle gave him a nice present.

In cases of attribution where the main entity is designated by a personal or relative pronoun, French cannot
express this using a simple preposition + a pronoun. Other solutions must be found. For example there is
no parallel in French to the English expression "I'll get to the bottom of it".
Examples
Il escalade la falaise, et il va aller jusqu'au sommet.
He's climbing the cliff, and he's going to go to the top of it.
Regardez les tableaux, puis choisissez(-en) les meilleurs.
Look at the paintings, and then choose the best of them.
Le livre était assez ennuyeux, mais il y avait quelques bonnes parties.
The book was rather boring, though some parts of it were good.
Seulement les meilleurs d'entre nous vont réussir.
Only the best of us will succeed

1.7. Demonstratives - demonstrative adjectives and demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns

1. Demonstrative adjectives
Like other adjectives, demonstrative adjectives in French agree in number and gender with the noun they
qualify. The basic French demonstrative does not distinguish between the concepts of proximity and
distance, so when used alone, ce and its inflected forms can mean either this or that.

 In the masculine singular, ce is the normal form, cet is used before a (phonetic) vowel.
 In the feminine singular, the demonstrative adjective is cette.
 In the plural, the only form is ces.

Specifying proximity and distance

Demonstrative adjectives in French can be modified in order to indicate (relative) proximity and distance.
Often this is not necessary, as context will be sufficient to clarify the meaning; but if needed, proximity is
indicated by adding the particle -ci to the end of the noun, distance is indicated by adding the particle -là to
the end of the noun.

Examples:
- This / that painting is very well known.
 Ce tableau est très bien connu .
- This painting is very well-known.
 Ce tableau-ci est très bien connu .
- That painting (over there) is considerably less well-known.
 Ce tableau-là est nettement moins bien connu .
- This / that boy and this/that girl know each other very well.
 Ce garçon et cette fille se connaissent très bien .
- These / those young ladies are very impatient
 Ces demoiselles sont très impatientes.
- I rather like these (those) apples
 J'aime assez bien ces pommes
- This man is my uncle.
  Cet homme est mon oncle
- He's arriving this afternoon
  Il arrive cet après-midi
(No need to add -ci to demonstrate that it is "this" not "that" afternoon: proximity is the default value.
Compare with the following example)
- That afternoon he had a headache
 Cet après-midi-là il avait mal à la tête.

2. Demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns, like other pronouns, agree in gender and number with the noun they stand for.
Demonstrative pronouns distinguish between proximity and distance.
The notions of proximity and distance can be spatial, temporal or even grammatical - closeness in time,
closeness in distance, or even closeness within the sentence.

Mas. sing. Fem. sing. Masc. pl. Fem. pl. Meaning

Proximity celui-ci celle-ci ceux-ci ceux-la this / these one(s)
Distance celui-là celle-là ceux-là celles-là that / those one(s)

If a plural demonstrative pronoun refers to a mix of masculine and feminine nouns, it will always be used in
the masculine.

Examples:
I like this one better than that one .
- J'aime celui-ci mieux que celui-là..
I like this girl more than that one.
J'aime mieux cette fille que celle-là.
Look at these two books; this one is by Hugo, that one by Balzac.
Regardez ces deux livres; celui-ci est d'Hugo, celui-là est de Balzac.
That was a good joke !.
Je l'aime bien, celle-là ! (idiomatic expression; the feminine noun "blague" (joke) is implicit, even though
the word is not spoken.)  

Celui-ci (etc.) and celui-là (etc) are used in French as the equivalents of "the former" and "the latter" in
English.

Other uses of demonstrative pronouns:

  a) Followed by a preposition
  b) As the antecedent of a relative clause
As examples of these, look at three possible answers to each of the questions below
Examples:
Question 1: Which photo do you prefer ?.
- Quelle photo préférez-vous?.
I prefer that one .
Je préfère celle-là..
I prefer the one with the red frame .
Je préfère celle avec le cadre rouge.
I prefer Pierre's one .
Je préfère celle de Pierre.
I prefer the one that you showed me yesterday .
Je préfère celle que vous m'avez montrée hier.

Question 2: Which plane will be taking off first?

- Quel avion va décoller en premier?
I think it's this one
Je pense que c'est celui-ci.
I think it's the (that) one at the end of the runway .
Je pense que c'est celui(-là) au bout de la piste.
I think it's the one that's in front of us .
Je pense que c'est celui qui est devant nous.

1.8. Relative pronouns and relative clauses

1. Relative pronouns - les pronoms relatifs

In English the relative pronoun (who, which etc) can vary according to whether it refers to a person or an
inanimate object. This is not usually the case in French.
In French, the relative pronoun varies according to its grammatical function in the relative clause - as
subject, object, possessor or agent in the relative clause.

French has one set of simple relative pronouns, and one fuller set of more specific pronouns.

The simple relative pronouns are used whenever possible.

After common
Subject Object Possessor
prepositions
qui
qui que dont
(quoi)

The more specific relative pronouns are used when it is necessary to refer back to one out of several
potential antecedents in order to avoid ambiguity: they are also generally used in relative clauses with an
inanimate antecedent, introduced by a preposition.
After
Subject/
Posessor with à pre​ pos
object
itions
m. prep +
lequel duquel auquel
sing lequel
f. de à prep +
laquelle
sing laquelle laquelle laquelle
prep +
m.pl lesquels desquels auxquels
lesquels
auxquell prep +
f.pl lesquelles desquelles
es lesquelles

► Relative pronouns after prepositions.

With human antecedents , the preposition is normally followed by the simple relative pronoun qui
With inanimate (non-human) antecedents the preposition is normally followed by one of the more specific
relative pronouns lequel, laquelle etc.

2. Relative clauses - les propositions relatives

Normally a relative clause must directly follow its antecedent, i.e. the word or group of words which it
qualifies. When this is the case, it is customary to use a simple relative pronoun, in function of the syntax of
the sentence.

Examples with simple relative pronouns:

►Subject and object:
I live in a flat which is rather noisy.
J'habite dans un appartement qui est assez bruyant.
I know the lady who wrote that book:
Je connais la dame qui a écrit ce livre.
 Here's the money that I owe you:
Voici l'argent que je vous dois.
The guy that you're looking at is my brother:
Le type que vous regardez est mon frère.
The museum that we visited yesterday was very interesting
Le musée que nous avons visité hier était très intéressant.

►Possession
(This includes real possession and other cases when English would use "of whom / of which).
The man whose car was stolen is very angry.
L'homme dont la voiture a été volée est très en colère..
The book, whose title I forget, was very well-known in its time.
Le livre, dont j'oublie le titre, a été très bien connu en son temps.
There are three people over there, two of whom I recognise.
Il y a trois personnes là-bas, dont je reconnais deux.
I have two suggestions, the first of which is this.
J'ai deux propositions, dont voici la première..

►Relative clauses introduced by prepositions.

The man to whom you were talking is my father.
L'homme à qui vous parliez est mon père..
I don't know what you're thinking of.
Je ne sais pas à quoi vous pensez.
He told me the name of the person he was working for.
Il m'a dit le nom de la personne pour qui il travaillait
This is Pierre, a consultant without whom we'd be completely lost.
Voici Pierre, un consultant sans qui nous serions complètement perdus.

Relative clauses introduced by prepositions

As illustrated above, when a relative clauses with a human antecedent is introduced by a preposition, it is
customary to use the simple relative pronoun qui .
It is also sometimes possible to use the short form - in this case quoi , when the relative clause has an
inanimate antecedent; but this is not very common.

However when a relative clause is introduced by a preposition, and refers to an inanimate (non-human)
antecedent, it is normal to use one of the more specific relative pronouns lequel, laquelle, lesquels or
lesquelles, or one of their derived forms.

Examples:
►Relative clauses introduced by prepositions, and inanimate antecedents
The box in which I was putting them has disappeared.
La boîte dans laquelle je les mettais a disparu..
Where's the bridge under which we parked the car?
Où est le pont sous lequel nous avons garé la voiture?.
He told me the name of the company he was working for.
Il m'a dit le nom de la société pour laquelle il travaillait
These are tools without which we'd be completely lost.
 Voici des outils sans lesquels nous serions complètement perdus
Those are precisely the pictures I was referring to.
Ce sont précisément les images auxquelles je me référais.

3. Avoiding ambiguity

Ambiguity can be caused when a relative clause has more than one potential antecedent: take this example
in English:
This is a photo of the son of my brother, who is fifteen years old.
In this example, is it the son who is 15 or the brother? In strict grammatical terms, it must be the brother -
the direct antecedent of who - but logic suggests that it is more likely to be the son.

In French, this sort of ambiguity can often (though not always) be avoided by using one of the more specific
relative pronouns lequel, laquelle, lesquels or lesquelles, or one of their derived forms, which must agree
in gender and number with its antecedent.
Thus unless two potential antecedents have the same gender and number (as in the example above,
where brother and son are both masculine singular), using a gramatically specific relative pronoun can avoid
ambiguity.

Examples:
►Avoiding ambiguity
This is the daughter of my brother, whom I was talking to you about (ambiguous).
Voici la fille de mon frère, dont je vous parlais. (ambiguous).
Voici la fille de mon frère, de laquelle je vous parlais. (unambiguous).
In the second version above, laquelle can only refer to fille, not frère

There's a lock on each drawer, which is difficult to open (ambiguous).

Il y a une serrure sur chaque tiroir, qui est difficile à ouvrir (ambiguous).
Il y a une serrure sur chaque tiroir, laquelle est difficile à ouvrir (unambiguous).
In the second version above, laquelle can only refer to serrure, (n.f.) not tiroir (n.m.)

French verbs

2.0. An introduction to French verbs

1. The nature of French verbs

French verbs are unlike English verbs, in that they depend heavily on the use of conjugated tenses. In
English, most verbal forms involve using at least two words (such as am eating, was going, have been
broken, would go); in French, a large number of the most common verbal forms use just a single word,
though some, like English, use two, or even three words. Examples:
Je mange
Il allait
Ils ont été cassés
Nous irions
Il mangeait

I am eating
He was going
They have been broken
We would go
He was eating

2. Types of verb in French

Regular and irregular French verbs

French verbs are generally classified either as regular verbs, or as irregular verbs. There are three main
categories of French regular verbs,

 regular verbs with an infinitive ending in -er, such as manger,

 regular verbs with an infinitive in -ir, such as finir,
 regular verbs with an infinitive in -re, such as vendre.

Apart from these, there are dozens of irregular verbs, many of them being commonly used verbs, the most
common and most irregular of them all being être and avoir – closely followed by aller and venir .

Transitive or intransitive?
As in other languages, French verbs can either be transitive or intransitive. Certain verbs in French can
be either transitive or intransitive, according to the context in which they are used. Transitive verbs require
an object (or complément d'objet direct - C.O.D. in French), and can be used in the passive voice as well as
the active. Intransitive verbs do not take an object, and do not have passive forms. (See below: voices)

► Transitive: porter, faire, avoir, mettre - these all require an object

Intransitive : dormir, mourir, aller, venir, - these cannot take an object
Verbs that can be either : manger, boire, écrire

3. Tense, mood

French verb tenses are derived from the tenses of Latin.

Verbs can be conjugated in the indicative and subjunctive moods
The simple tenses - which are all in the active voice - are as follows. Sample verb, manger in the third
person singular (for full tense conjugations, refer to pages for the tenses in question).

Tense Indicative Subjunctive

Présent Il mange il mange

Futur II mangera -

Prétérit Il mangea il mangeat

Imparfait il mangeait -

Conditionnel il mangerait -

Other tenses - the compound tenses - are formed with the help of auxiliaries. For most verbs the auxiliary is
avoir, for a dozen or so verbs it is être.

Tense Indicative Subjunctive

Passé composé Il a mangé il ait mangé

 il avait mangé
Passé antérieur il eût mangé
(il eut mangé)

Passé conditionnel Il aurait mangé -

Most tenses of transitive verbs exist also in the passive voice (see below).

For more details, see...

 The present tense in French.

 The future tense in French.
 past tenses in French.
 The subjunctive in French

Aspect in French verbs.

By aspect, we mean whether an action is momentary or instant, or whether it is progressive or ongoing.

In English, aspect is expressed almost exclusively through the use of auxiliaries: compare I eat potatoes
and I am eating potatoes, or I drove the car and I was driving the car.
In French the present tense does not have any particular aspect. Je mange can mean either I eat or I am
eating. In the past, the imperfect tense has a progressive aspect, so Je mangeais means I was eating while
J'ai mangé and je mangeai both mean I ate - or I have eaten (confusing!).
More on this on the past tenses page.

Modal forms

Other verb forms are formed using what in English we consider to be modal verbs: the French equivalents to
English modal verbs are pouvoir and devoir. See modal verbs in French.

4. Voices: active and passive

French transitive verbs can be conjugated in the active and the passive voices.
Active forms have been dealt with above.
The passive tenses are formed with the help of the auxiliary être, followed by the past participle of the verb.
This is the procedure for forming the passive of both simple tenses and compound tenses.

Passive forms of active simple tenses

Tense Indicative Subjunctive

Présent Il est mangé il soit mangé

Futur II sera mangé -

Prétérit Il fut mangé il fût mangé

Imparfait il était mangé -

Conditionnel il serait mangé -

Passive forms of active compound tenses

Tense Indicative Subjunctive

Passé composé Il a été mangé il ait été mangé

Passé antérieur II avait été mangé il eût été mangé

Passé conditionnel Il aurait été mangé .

Imparfait il était mangé .

Conditionnel il serait mangé .

2.1. The auxiliaries: être and avoir

French auxiliary verbs: 2. être

Auxiliaries are functional verbs that are added to other verbs in order to form particular tenses.

2. Etre

Etre - to be - is a verb with three functions. It is the most common, and also the most irregular, of French
verbs.

►Firstly it is a lexical verb, or main verb, in its own right, meaning "to be"
 Example: Il est trois heures moins le quart - It is a quarter to three

►Secondly it is an auxiliary which combines with the past participle of a dozen or so French verbs to form
composite tenses such as the perfect or the past perfect: aller, venir, monter, descendre, entrer, sortir,
arriver, partir, rester, tomber, naêtre, mourir (and devenir, rentrer, remonter, repartir etc.) except when these
verbs are used transitively; and also with reflexive verbs.
Examples:
Je suis allé en France l'année dernière- I went to France last year.
Les marchés se sont effondrés - The markets have collapsed.
Les promeneurs étaient arrivés au sommet - The walkers had reached the summit.

►Thirdly it is the auxiliary used to form passive tenses in French. For each active tense of a verb, the
passive is formed with the appropriate tense of être followed by the past participle: thus, for example,
► The present passive is formed with the present tense of être and a past participle.
Example: Il est cassé - It's broken
► The perfect passive (passé composé passif) is formed with the perfect tense of être and a past
participle.
Example: Ma chambre a été repeinte* - My bedroom has been repainted
► The future passive (futur passif) is formed with the future tense of être and a past participle.
Example: Le contrat sera renouvelé pour un an - The contract will be renewed for a year
► The past conditional passive (passé conditionnel passif) is formed with the past conditional tense
of être and a past participle.
Example: Elle aurait été déçue* - She would have been disappointed

* See Past tenses for the rules on agreement of the past participle

Verb tables: Etre

Note: For each tense, a sample English equivalent is given for the first person singular. This represents the
most common translation of the tense in question, but not the only possibility.

Table 1.

The verb être - Indicative tenses 1

Present Future Imperfect
Person
(I am) (I will be) (I was / was being)
1st Singular. je suis je serai j'étais
2nd Singular tu es tu seras tu étais
3rd Singular il / elle / on ... est il (..) sera il (..) était
1st plural nous sommes nous serons nous étions
2nd plural vous êtes vous serez vous étiez
3rd plural ils / elles sont ils seront ils étaient

Table 2
The verb être - Indicative tenses 2
 Preterite Perfect (passé composé) Pluperfect
Person
(I was) (I have been) (I'd been)
1st Singular. je fus j'ai été j'avais été
2nd Singular tu fus tu as été tu avais été
3rd Singular il (..) fut il (..) a été il avait été
1st plural nous fûmes nous avons été nous avions été
2nd plural vous fûtes vous avez été vous aviez été
3rd plural ils furent ils ont été ils avaient été

Table 3

Tenses (indicative):
Future perfect Conditional Past conditional
Person
(I will have been) (I would be) (I would have been)
1st Singular. j'aurai été je serais j'aurais été
2nd Singular tu auras été tu serais tu aurais été
3rd Singular il aura été il serait il aurait été
1st plural nous aurons été nous serions nous aurions été
2nd plural vous aurez été vous seriez vous auriez été
3rd plural ils auront été ils seraient ils auraient été

Table 4

Imperative
Person (be) Present participle
2nd Singular sois . étant
1st plural soyons . .
2nd plural soyez . .

Table 5

Tenses (subjunctive) :
Present preterite Perfect (parfait)
Person
(may be) (might be) (may have been)
1st Singular. sois fusse aie été
2nd Singular sois fusses aies été
3rd Singular soit fût ait été
1st plural soyons fussions ayons été
2nd plural soyez fussiez ayez été
3rd plural soient fussent aient été
Further subjunctive cases - such as a pluperfect subjunctive - can theoretically be formed, though to all
intents and purposes these are never used in modern French.

Examples:
Paris is the capital of France.
- Paris est la capitale de la France
Tomorrow we'll be in Bordeaux.

Demain nous serons à Bordeaux.

The president was surrounded by his guards

Le président était entouré de ses gardes

The film has been very badly received by the critics.

Le film a été très mal reçu par les critiques.

He will have been surprised by the result.

Il aura été surpris par le résultat..

It's possible that this is (may be) the book we're looking for.

Il se peut que ce soit le livre que nous cherchons.

Please be reassured.

Soyez rassurés s'il vous plaît !.

French auxiliary verbs: 1. avoir - forms and use

Auxiliaries are functional verbs that are added to other verbs in order to form particular tenses.

1. Avoir
Avoir - to have - is a verb with two roles

►Firstly it is a lexical verb in its own right, meaning "to have" or "to possess".

Examples:
We have a beautiful black cat
- Nous avons un beau chat noir.
Tomorrow I'll have plenty of time.
Demain j'aurai beaucoup de temps.
The professor had several research assistants
Le professeur avait plusieurs assistants de recherche.
You've had enough time !.
 Vous avez eu assez de temps.
You'll have had enough of it by tomorrow.
Vous en aurez eu assez d'ici demain..
It's possible that he may have flu.
Il est possible qu'il ait la grippe.
Have some respect, please.
Ayez du respect, s'il vous plaît !.

►Secondly it is an auxiliary which combines with the past participle of most French verbs to form
certain tenses.

Examples:
I've broken my computer
J'ai cassé mon ordinateur.
The president has promised to introduce several reforms.
Le président a promis d'introduire plusieurs réformes.
The child had lost his mother
L'enfant avait perdu sa maman.
I'd have failed if my brother hadn't helped me
J'aurais échoué si mon frère ne m'avait pas aidé

Principal tenses formed using the auxiliary avoir :

► The perfect or composite past (passé composé). Formed with the present tense of avoir and a
past participle.
Example: J'ai mangé - I've eaten
► The pluperfect or past-perfect (passé antérieur). Formed with the imperfect tense of avoir and a
past participle.
Example: J'avais mangé - I had eaten
► The future-perfect (futur antérieur). Formed with the future tense of avoir and a past
participle.
Example: J'aurai mangé - I will have eaten
► The past conditional (passé conditionnel). Formed with the conditional tense of avoir and a past
participle.
Example: J'aurais mangé - I would have eaten

Verb tables: Avoir

Note: For each tense, a sample English equivalent is given for the first person singular. This represents the
most common translation of the tense in question, but not the only possibility.

Table 1. Indicative tenses 1 :

Person Present Future Imperfect
 (I have) (I will have) (I had / was having)
1st Singular. j'ai j'aurai j'avais
2nd Singular tu as tu auras tu avais
3rd Singular il / elle / on ... a il (..) aura il (..) avait
1st plural nous avons nous aurons nous avions
2nd plural vous avez vous aurez vous aviez
3rd plural ils / elles ont ils auront ils avaient

Notes
the present indicative is also used as an auxiliary to form the perfect (passé composé) tense
The future indicative is also used as an auxiliary to form the future-perfect (futur-antérieur tense)
The imperfect indicative is also used as an auxiliary to form the pluperfect or past perfect (passé antérieur)
tense

Table 2. Indicative tenses 2 - past tenses :

Preterite Perfect (passé composé) Pluperfect
Person
(I had) (I have had) (I'd had)
1st Singular. j'eus j'ai eu j'avais eu
2nd Singular tu eus tu as eu tu avais eu
3rd Singular il (..) eut il (..) a eu il avait eu
1st plural nous eûmes nous avons eu nous avions eu
2nd plural vous eûtes vous avez eu vous aviez eu
3rd plural ils eurent ils ont eu ils avaient eu

Notes
The preterire indicative is also used as an alternative auxiliary to form the pluperfect or past perfect (passé
antérieur) tense. In the case of the verb avoir, this is rarely - if ever - used; example j'eus eu

Table 3. Future-perfect and conditional :

Future perfect Conditional Past conditional
Person
(I will have had) (I would have) (I would have had)
1st Singular. j'aurai eu j'aurais j'aurais eu
2nd Singular tu auras eu tu aurais tu aurais eu
3rd Singular il aura eu il aurait il aurait eu
1st plural nous aurons eu nous aurions nous aurions eu
2nd plural vous aurez eu vous auriez vous auriez eu
3rd plural ils auront eu ils auraient ils auraient eu

Table 4
. Imperative . Present participle
 Person (have)
2nd Singular aies . ayant
1st plural ayons .
2nd plural ayez .

Table 5
Tenses (subjunctive) :
Present preterite Perfect (parfait)
Person
(may have) (might have) (may have had)
1st Singular. aie eusse aie eu
2nd Singular aies eusses aies eu
3rd Singular ait eût ait eu
1st plural ayons eussions ayons eu
2nd plural ayez eussiez ayez eu
3rd plural aient eussent aient eu

Further subjunctive cases - such as a pluperfect subjunctive - can theoretically be formed, though to all
intents and purposes these are never used in modern French.

2.2. The main verb families:

2.2.1. verbs in -er,

French group 1 verbs - verbs in - er

Verbs with an infinitive ending in -er are the most common standard category of verbs in French.
They have mostly evolved from Latin verbs ending in -are .
With the exception of the verbs aller and envoyer all French verbs whose infinitive is formed with the -er
ending are conjugated regularly or with very small variations..

Sample verb porter - to wear or to carry

This is the standard model.

Variations: Slight variations on the standard model occur with verbs ending in:
-cer and -ger , examples foncer, manger
-é¿er and e¿er - (¿ represents a consonant)
examples répéter, procéder, appeler, harceler, protéger
-ier - example modifier -oyer - example tutoyer
See below for details.

Note: For each tense, a sample English equivalent is given for the first person singular.

Table 1.
Tenses (indicative) :
 Present
Future Imperfect
Person (I carry, I am carrying, I
(I will carry / wear) (I was carrying / wearing)
wear, I am weraing ...)
1st Singular. je porte je porterai je portais
2nd Singular tu portes tu porteras tu portais
3rd Singular il / elle / on ... porte il (..) portera il (..) portait
1st plural nous portons nous porterons nous portions
2nd plural vous portez vous porterez vous portiez
3rd plural ils / elles portent ils porteront ils portaient
Notes

Table 2
Tenses (indicative):
Preterite Perfect (passé composé) Pluperfect
Person
(I carried / wore) (I have carried / worn) (I'd carried / worn)
1st Singular. je portai j'ai porté j'avais porté
2nd Singular tu portas tu as porté tu avais porté
3rd Singular il (..) porta il (..) a porté il avait porté
1st plural nous portâmes nous avons porté nous avions porté
2nd plural vous portâtes vous avez porté vous aviez porté
3rd plural ils portèrent ils ont porté ils avaient porté
Notes rare except in 3rd person

Table 3
Tenses (indicative):
Future perfect Conditional Past conditional
Person
(I will have carried / worn) (I would carry / wear) (I would have carried / worn)
1st Singular. j'aurai porté je porterais j'aurais porté
2nd Singular tu auras porté tu porterais tu aurais porté
3rd Singular il aura porté il porterait il aurait porté
1st plural nous aurons porté nous porterions nous aurions porté
2nd plural vous aurez porté vous porteriez vous auriez porté
3rd plural ils auront porté ils porteraient ils auraient porté
Notes

Table 4
Imperative Present participle
Person (carry / wear) (carrying, wearing)
2nd singular porte portant
1st plural portons
 2nd plural portez
Notes

Table 5
Tenses (subjunctive) :
Present Perfect (parfait)
preterite
Person (may carry / wear, may be (may have carried /
(might carry / wear)
carrying / wearing) worn)
1st singular. je porte je portasse j'aie porté
2nd singular tu portes tu portasses tu aies porté
3rd singular il, elle... porte il portét il ait porté
1st plural nous portions nous portassions nous ayons porté
2nd plural vous portiez vous portassiez vous ayez porté
3rd plural ils portent ils portassent ils aient porté
Notes (very rare)

Further subjunctive cases - such as a pluperfect subjunctive - can be formed, though are very rarely used in
modern French.

Examples:
He's wearing a green shirt.
- Il porte une chemise verte
The men were carrying a very heavy trunk.
Les hommes portaient une malle très lourde..
Carry it !!
Portez le !
She may be wearing a red dress this evening.
Il se peut qu'elle porte une robe rouge ce soir.
She may have been wearing a red dress that evening.
Il se peut qu'elle ait porté une robe rouge ce soir-là.

Variations on the standard model

► Type 1. -cer and -ger , examples foncer, manger

Verbs in -cer and -ger need to add an e before endings starting with o, in order to soften the consonant:
Example: manger - present tense
Je mange, tu manges il mange, nous mangeons, vous mangez, ils mangent

► Type 2. -é*er or -e*er- examples répéter, procéder, appeler, harceler, protéger

( * represents any consonant)
With verbs in -é*er, the é becomes an è before the endings -e and -ent
Example: répéter - present tense
Je répète, tu répètes il répète, nous répétons, vous répétez, ils répètent
 With verbs in -e*er, before the endings -e and -ent, either the consonant is doubled, or the preceding e
becomes an è
Example: s'appeler - present tense
je m'appelle tu t'appelles il/elle s'appelle
nous nous appelons vous vous appelez, ils/elles s'appellent
Example: geler - present tense
je gèle, tu gèles, il gèle, nous gelons, vous gelez, ils gèlent
Example: se promener - present tense
je me promène, tu te promènes, ...... nous nous promenons ...... ils se promènent
Note; some verbs combine features of both type 1 and type 2: example protéger.

► Type 3 -ier - example modifier

The only small difference here is that the i is dropped before endings already starting with an i (in other
words before the imperfect endings -ions and -iez)
So the first person plural imperfect tense of modifier is:
nous modifions, not nous modifiions

► Type 4 -oyer - example tutoyer

With verbs in -oyer, before the endings starting with an -e (except -ez, the y becomes an i

Example: tutoyer - present tense

Je tutoie, tu tutoies, il tutoie, nous tutoyons, vous tutoyez, ils tutoient.
The verb envoyer has further irregularities in the future tenses : j'enverrai, etc.

2.2.2. verbs in -ir,

Group 2 verbs: verbs in -ir

This page covers the main group of French verbs whose infinitive ends in -ir - on the model of finir.
These have mostly evolved from Latin verbs ending in -ire .

► Exceptions: there are plenty of verbs in -ir that do not follow the standard group 2 pattern. See below for
list of main irregular verbs in -ir .

Sample verb finir - to finish

This is the standard model.

For each tense, a sample English equivalent is given for the first person singular.

Table 1.
Tenses (indicative) :
Present Future Imperfect
Person
(I finish, I am finishing) (I will finish ) (I was finishing )
1st singular. je finis je finirai je finissais
2nd singular tu finis tu finiras tu finissais
3rd singular il elle on ... finit il (..) finira il (..) finissait
 1st plural nous finissons nous finirons nous finissions
2nd plural vous finissez vous finirez vous finissiez
3rd plural ils elles finissent ils finiront ils finissaient
Notes

Table 2
Tenses (indicative):
Preterite Perfect (passé composé) Pluperfect
Person
(I finished ) (I have finished ) (I'd finished )
1st singular. je finis j'ai finis j'avais fini
2nd singular tu finis tu as finis tu avais fini
3rd singular il (..) finit il (..) a finis il avait fini
1st plural nous finîmes nous avons finis nous avions fini
2nd plural vous finiîtes vous avez finis vous aviez fini
3rd plural ils finirent ils ont finis ils avaient fini
Notes rare except in 3rd person
Table 3
Tenses (indicative):
Future perfect Conditional Past conditional
Person
(I will have finished ) (I would finish ) (I would have finished )
1st singular. j'aurai fini je finirais j'aurais fini
2nd singular tu auras fini tu finirais tu aurais fini
3rd singular il aura fini il finirait il aurait fini
1st plural nous aurons fini nous finirions nous aurions fini
2nd plural vous aurez fini vous finiriez vous auriez fini
3rd plural ils auront fini ils finiraient ils auraient fini
Notes

Table 4
Imperative Present participle
Person (finish ) finishing
2nd singular fini finissant
1st plural finissons
2nd plural finissez
Notes

Table 5
Tenses (subjunctive) :
Present preterite Perfect (parfait)
Person
(may finish , may be (might finish) (may have finished )
 finishing)
1st singular. je finisse je finisse j'aie fini
2nd singular tu finisses tu finisses tu aies fini
3rd singular il, elle... finisse il finît il ait fini
1st plural nous finissions nous finissions nous ayons fini
2nd plural vous finissiez vous finissiez vous ayez fini
3rd plural ils finissent ils finissent ils aient fini
Notes (very rare)

There are a few other tenses that are hardly ever used in modern French, except in very literary style.
The second pluperfect (passé antérieur) - which can be used instead of the pluperfect, and is formed on the
model: j'eus fini.
The pluperfect subjunctive - on the model: j'eusse fini
The second past conditional - on the model: j'eusse fini

Examples:
Je finis mon dîner
I'm finishing my dinner.
Il finissait toujours son travail avant les autres.
He always finished his work before the others.
Finis-le aussi vite que possible !
Finish it as soon as possible!!
Il se peut que la fête finisse tôt s'il y a trop de bruit.
The party may finish early if there's too much noise.
J'ai peur qu'il n'ait tout fini avant notre arrivée.
I fear that he may have finished everything before we arrive.
(Subjunctive + the particle ne after J'ai peur que....)

► Irregular verbs in -ir

There are a number of common - and less common - verbs in ir that are not conjugated according to
the standard type 2 finir model . See Irregular verbs in -ir
► 1. Verbs on the model of sortir and dormir.
► 2. Verbs in -oir.
► 3. Several dozen verbs with irregular and sometimes unique tense forms:
tenir, venir, courir, faillir, bouillir, acquérir, bouillir, offrir, ouvrir, souffrir, and other verbs based on
these, such as devenir, soutenir etc.
Check out savoir, voir, and falloir among twelve important French irregular verbs

2.2.3. verbs in -re

French group 3 verbs - verbs in -re

Several hundred French verbs have an infinitive ending in -re.
But unfortunately for students of French - and that includes native French speakers! - they follow a
multitude of different conjugation patterns. Some linguists have concluded that the best solution is to
consider all these verbs as irregular verbs.
Nevertheless, within the -re group of verbs, there are several groups of verbs that are conjugated
according to the same pattern.

Group 3.1. More than twenty common verbs conjugated on the model of vendre
attendre, confondre, correspondre, défendre , dépendre, descendre, détendre, entendre , étendre,
fendre, fondre , mordre, pendre, perdre, prétendre, rendre, répandre, répondre, suspendre, tend
re , tordre , vendre and verbs based on these. See Verb table vendre below.

Group 3.2. Verbs formed on the root prendre. See irregular verbs in -re
Group 3.3 Verbs ending in -uire, such as conduire. See irregular verbs in -re

Plus dozens more groups with one or just a few examples. These have to be learned one by one or group by
group. See irregular verbs in -re

Sample verb vendre - to sell

This is the standard model only for the verbs listed above and their derivatives: many other verbs in -re form
some of their tenses on the same model, but not others.

For each tense, a sample English equivalent is given for the first person singular.

Table 1.
Tenses (indicative) :
Present Future Imperfect
Person
(I sell, I am selling) (I will sell ) (I was selling )
1st singular. je vends je vendrai je vendais
2nd singular tu vends tu vendras tu vendais
3rd singular il elle on ... vend il (..) vendra il (..) vendait
1st plural nous vendons nous vendrons nous vendions
2nd plural vous vendez vous vendrez vous vendiez
3rd plural ils elles vendent ils vendront ils vendaient
Notes

Table 2
Tenses (indicative):
Preterite Perfect (passé composé) Pluperfect
Person
(I sold ) (I have sold ) (I'd sold )
1st singular. je vendis j'ai vendu j'avais vendu
2nd singular tu vendis tu as vendu tu avais vendu
 3rd singular il (..) vendit il (..) a vendu il avait vendu
1st plural nous vendîmes nous avons vendu nous avions vendu
2nd plural vous vendîtes vous avez vendu vous aviez vendu
3rd plural ils vendirent ils ont vendu ils avaient vendu
Notes rare except in 3rd person

Table 3
Tenses (indicative):
Future perfect Conditional Past conditional
Person
(I will have sold ) (I would sell ) (I would have sold )
1st singular. j'aurai vendu je vendrais j'aurais vendu
2nd singular tu auras vendu tu vendrais tu aurais vendu
3rd singular il aura vendu il vendrait il aurait vendu
1st plural nous aurons vendu nous vendrions nous aurions vendu
2nd plural vous aurez vendu vous vendriez vous auriez vendu
3rd plural ils auront vendu ils vendraient ils auraient vendu
Notes

Table 4
Imperative Present participle
Person (sell ) selling
2nd singular vends vendant
1st plural vendons
2nd plural vendez
Notes

Table 5
Tenses (subjunctive) :
Present preterite Perfect (parfait)
Person
(may sell , may be selling) (might sell) (may have sold )
1st singular. je vende je vendisse j'aie vendu
2nd singular tu vendes tu vendisses tu aies vendu
3rd singular il, elle... vende il vendît il ait vendu
1st plural nous vendions nous vendissions nous ayons vendu
2nd plural vous vendiez vous vendissiez vous ayez vendu
3rd plural ils vendent ils vendissent ils aient vendu
Notes (very rare)

There are a few other tenses that are hardly ever used in modern French, except in very literary style.
The second pluperfect (passé antérieur) - which can be used instead of the pluperfect, and is formed on the
model: j'eus vendu.
The pluperfect subjunctive - on the model: j'eusse vendu
The second past conditional - on the model: j'eusse vendu

Examples:
Je vends ma maison
I'm selling my house.
Il vendait toujours ses tableaux avant les autres.
He always sold his paintings before the others.
Vends-le aussi vite que possible !
Sell it as soon as possible!!
Je pense qu'il aura vendu sa collection avant la fin de l'exposition.
I think he'll have sold his collection before the exhibition's over..
J'ai peur qu'ils ne vendront rien à ces prix-là !
I'm afraid they won't sell anything at those prices.

2.3. Modal verbs - vouloir, pouvoir, devoir

Modal verbs in French

Pouvoir
Page index: Vouloir Devoir

Preamble:
Defining modal verbs: A modal verb is a verb that qualifies an action with regard to its desirability,
its necessity, its possibility or its futurity.
While this is a clear and concise definition, it is an unsatisfactory definition which does not even fully
account for all modal verbs in English. As far as French linguistics are concerned, it is often said that French
does not have modal verbs.
Whether or not this is the case is a matter of opinion, not fact, and will always be a good subject for
academic argument among linguists; in recent years, and by assimilation with English and other languages,
the expression "verbes modaux" is increasingly used.

Comparing modal verbs in English and French

French has less modal verbs than English.
While English has will, shall, may, might, must, ought to, have to, can and be able to,
French just has three modal verbs: vouloir, pouvoir, devoir
to which can be added certain uses of savoir.
However these verbs have tenses which can modify their modality.
French does not use modal verbs to denote futurity, as this is done by means of the future tense and other
mechanisms.

1. Vouloir

Vouloir is a verb expressing wish, desire or intention.

 Here are its main usages:
► In the present tense it implies a definite wish (Examples 1 & 2)
► In the present perfect it can imply an unfulfilled/ wrongly fulfilled wish,(Examples 3 & 4) or a
fulfilled wish (Example 5)
► In the conditional it implies a hope or a potential wish. (Examples 6 - 8)

Click here For a full verb table of vouloir

Present tense:
Singular: Je veux, tu veux, il/elle... veut
Plural: Nous voulons, vous voulez, ils veulent
Examples:
1. Je veux partir maintenant.
I want to leave now
2. Le capitaine veut savoir s'il y a un médecin à bord
The captain wants to know if there's a doctor on board.
3. J'ai voulu ouvrir la boîte, mais je l'ai cassée.
I wanted to open the box, but I broke it .
4. Il semble qu'il a voulu sortir par la cheminée.
It looks as if he wanted to (was trying to) get out through the chimney.
5. J'ai voulu te faire une surprise !!.
I wanted it to be a surprise for you !!.
6. Nous voudrions partir avant minuit.
We'd like to leave before midnight. 7. Il voudrait savoir qui vous êtes.
He'd like to know who you are.
8. Je pensais que vous voudriez aller au concert ce soir
I thought you'd want to go to the concert this evening.

Other tenses: Future: je voudrai – Simple past: je voulus – Passé composé: j'ai voulu
Imperfect: je voulais – conditional: je voudrais – present subjunctive: je veule

2. Pouvoir

Pouvoir expresses ability, corresponding to the English can or be able to.

Here are its most common usages.

► In the present tense it implies a definite or potential ability (Examples 1 & 2)
► In the present perfect it normally implies a successfully accomplished action, and has the sense of the
English "managed to" (Examples 3 & 4)
► In the imperfect it usually implies past ability (Examples 5 & 6)
!! Take care with the distinction in usage between the perfect and imperfect tenses of pouvoir
► In the conditional it implies potential future possibility. (Examples 7 & 8)
► In the future perfect, it expresses past action that may have occurred or has probably occurred
(Examples 9 & 10)
► In the past conditional, it expresses unfulfilled hypothetical possibility (Examples 11 & 12)
Reflexive use of pouvoir :
► The English modal verb may is often expressed using the French expression
Il se peut que ..... followed by a subjunctive. (Examples 13 & 14)

Present tense:
Singular: Je peux or je puis, tu peux, il/elle... peut
Plural: Nous pouvons, vous pouvez, ils peuvent

Click here For a full verb table of pouvoir

Examples:
1. Tu ne peux pas fumer ici.
You can't smoke here
Nous pouvons aller au concert ce soir.
We can go to the concert this evening.
3. J'ai pu (=success) ouvrir la boîte, mais je l'ai cassée.
I was able to open the box , but I broke it .
4. Il semble qu'il a pu sortir par la cheminée.
It looks as if he was able to get out through the chimney.
5. Dans ma jeunesse je pouvais (= ability) porter 50 kg. !!.
In my youth I could carry 50 kilograms !!.
6. Les policiers ne pouvaient pas faire comme ils voulaient
The policement were not able to do as they pleased.
7. Il pourrait parler anglais s'il faisait un effort.
He could speak English if he tried.
8. Nous pourrions aller au concert ce soir
We could to go to the concert this evening.
9. Il aura pu se mettre à l'abri quelque part.
He may have found shelter somewhere.
10. Il aura pu se mettre à l'abri quelque part. (second meaning)
He will have been able to find shelter somewhere.
11. Il aurait pu être bloqué par la grève à l'aeroport.
H could have been blocked by the strike at the airport.
12. Vous auriez pu vous tuer !!
You could have killed yourselves !!
13. Il se peut qu'ils soient bloqués par la grève à l'aeroport.
They may be blocked by the strike at the airport.
14. Il se peut qu'on aille au concert ce soir.
We may go to the concert this evening.

Sometimes French uses savoir instead of pouvoir to express acquired ability

Example:
1. Mon frère sait parler quatre langues.
My brother can speak four languages
 Other tenses: Future: je pourrai – Simple past: je pus – Passé composé: j'ai pu
Imperfect: je pouvais – conditional: je pourrais – present subjunctive: je puisse.

3. Devoir

Click here For a full verb table of devoir

Devoir expresses obligation, corresponding to the English must, have to, should or ought to. The specific
meaning is specified by a combination of tense and context.

► In the present tense, devoir corresponds to the English must / have to in most of their meanings; both
formal obligation (e.g. You must stop that) and probablilty (It must be ten midnight by now). See
examples 1 & 2 below

The most confusing points about uses of devoir concern past tenses.
► The perfect or composite past of devoir ( e.g. il a dû) has two quite different meanings,
corresponding either to had to or to must have. See examples 3 & 4 below. Logic and context will usually
remove any possible ambiguity; for instance, it is very unlikely that Hier j'ai dû acheter un parapluie
would mean Yesterday I must have bought an umbrella - unless the speaker suffers from amnesia.

► The imperfect tense of devoir (e.g. il devait) has three possible meanings; it can be used in the sense
of had to, or less commonly in the sense of must have. Occasionally it used as a shorter alternative to the
past conditional in the sense of ought to have See examples 5 & 6 below

► Used in conditional tenses, devoir implies recommendation or partial obligation, and has the meaning of
should / ought to. See examples 7 & 8 below.
►Spelling point: the past participle masculine (the normal form) of devoir is spelt dû, with a circumflex
accent. The feminine form (when needed) is spelt with no circumflex, i.e. due.

Present tense:
Singular: Je dois, tu dois, il/elle... doit
Plural: Nous devons, vous devez, ils doivent

Examples:
1. Vous devez arrêter le moteur maintenant.
You must stop the engine now.
2. Il fait nuit noire! Il doit être au moins minuit.
It's pitch dark; it must be at least midnight by now.
3. Il n'y a aucun bruit, il a dû arrêter le moteur maintenant .
or: .... il doit avoir arrêté le moteur maintenant
There's no noise; he must have stopped the engine now.
4. Il y avait une fuite d'huile, donc il a dû arrêter le moteur.
There was an oil leak, so he had to stop the engine.
5. Nous devions être à Paris pour une réunion samedi dernier.
We had to be in Paris for a meeting last Saturday. or
We must have been in Paris for a meeting last Saturday,
6. Nous devions être à Paris pour une réunion , mais nous n'y étions pas.
or: .... Nous aurions dû être à Paris ......
We should have been in Paris for a meeting , but we weren't
 7. Si vous avez tout bien appris, vous ne devriez pas avoir de problème.
If you've learned it all well, you shouldn't have any problem.
8. Nous aurions dû prendre un parapluie.
We ought to have brought an umbrella.

Reminder: Context and logic are normally sufficient to clarify which of different meanings of devoir is
implied, when more than one interpretation is possible .

Other tenses: Future: je devrai – Simple past: je dus – Passé composé: j'ai dû
Imperfect: je devais – conditional: je devrais – present subjunctive: je doive.

2.3.1. Conjugation table for devoir

Modal auxiliary verbs: 3. Devoir.

Modal auxiliaries alo known as modal verbs, are functional verbs that preceed other verbs in order to
frame them as a possibility, an impossibility, an obligation, a requirement, a probability or a wish.
Traditional French grammars do not generally use the category of modal verbs; but by assimilation
with English and in attempt to use a common framework of grammatical terms that can be used across
the spectrum of languages, the expression "verbes modaux" is increasingly used in French grammar

Devoir : meaning

The verb devoir corresponds to the English modal verbs must or have to. It expresses obligation.
In its most basic meaning, Je dois means I must.
Used In its conditional tense, Je devrais means I should or I ought to.
Used In the negative, devoir implies forbidding.

Full conjugation: Devoir

Table 1
Tenses - indicative
Present Future Imperfect
1st Singular. je dois je devrai je devais
2nd Singular tu dois tu devras tu devais
3rd Singular il doit il devra il devait
1st plural nous devons nous devrons nous devions
2nd plural vous devez vous devrez vous deviez
3rd plural ils doivent ils devront ils devaient

Table 2
Tenses - indicative
Preterite (simple past) Perfect Pluperfect
1st Singular. je dus j'ai dû j'avais dû
2nd Singular tu dus tu as dû tu avais dû
3rd Singular il dut il a dû il avait dû
1st plural nous dûmes nous avons dû nous avions dû
2nd plural vous dûtes vous avez dû vous aviez dû
3rd plural ils dûrent ils ont dû ils avaient dû
Notes: Rare

Table 3
Tenses - indicative
Future perfect
Conditional Past conditional
(passé antérieur)
1st Singular. j'aurai dû je devrais j'aurais dû
2nd Singular tu auras dû tu devrais tu aurais dû
3rd Singular il aura dû il devrait il aurait dû
1st plural nous aurons dû nous devrions nous aurions dû
2nd plural vous aurez dû vous devriez vous auriez dû
3rd plural ils auront dû ils devraient ils auraient dû
Notes: Rare Means "should" Means "should have"

Table 4
Imperative and participles
Imperative Present participle Past participle
2nd Singular –
1st plural – devant dû
2nd plural –
Modal verbs are not
Notes:
used in the imperative

Table 5
Tenses - subjunctive
Present
Past or imperfect Perfect
(passé antérieur)
1st Singular. je doive je dusse j'aie dû
2nd Singular tu doives tu dusses tu aies dû
3rd Singular il doive il dût il ait dû
1st plural nous devions nous dussions nous ayons dû
2nd plural vous deviez vous dussiez vous ayez dû
3rd plural ils doivent ils dussent ils aient dû
Notes: Rare

Further subjunctive cases - such as the "passé antérieur" ( "J'eus dû" !) - can theoretically be formed,
though to all intents and purrposes these are never used in modern French. They may be used, but they are
never required.
Devoir : examples of use

Examples:

1. Je dois partir à 10h 30.

I have to leave at 10.30.
2. Tu devras faire mieux la prochaine fois.
You'll have to de better next time.
3. Nous avons dû laisser la voiture au parking.
We had to leave the car in the car-park..
4. Tu ne dois pas faire ça !.
You mustn't do that.
5. Tu ne devrais pas faire ça !.
You shouldn't do that.
6. Je n'aurais pas dû manger tous ces gâteaux..
I shouldn't have eaten all those cakes..
7. Je prendrai un parapluie, bien qu'il doive faire beau demain.
I'll take an umbrella even if it's meant to be fine tomorrow..

2.3.2. Conjugation table for pouvoir

Modal auxiliary verbs: 1. Pouvoir.

Modal auxiliaries alo known as modal verbs, are functional verbs that preceed other verbs in order to
frame them as a possibility, an impossibility, an obligation, a requirement, a probability or a wish.
Traditional French grammars do not generally use the category of modal verbs; but by assimilation
with English and in attempt to use a common framework of grammatical terms that can be used across
the spectrum of languages, the expression "verbes modaux" is increasingly used in French grammar

Pouvoir : meaning

The verb pouvoir corresponds to the English modal verbs can or be able to. It expresses ability or
possibility, or sometimes permission or authorisation.
In its most basic meaning, Je peux means I can.
Used In its conditional tense, Je pourrais means I might
Also note the idiomatic expression Il se peut que, which means It is possible that...

Full conjugation: Pouvoir

Table 1
Tenses - indicative
Present Future Imperfect
1st Singular. je peux or je puis je pourrai je pouvais
2nd Singular tu peux tu pourras tu pouvais
3rd Singular il peut il pourra il pouvait
1st plural nous pouvons nous pourrons nous pouvions
2nd plural vous pouvez vous pourrez vous pouviez
3rd plural ils peuvent ils pourront ils pouvaient

Table 2
Tenses - indicative
Preterite (simple past) Perfect Pluperfect
1st Singular. je pus j'ai pu j'avais pu
2nd Singular tu pus tu as pu tu avais pu
3rd Singular il put il a pu il avait pu
1st plural nous pûmes nous avons pu nous avions pu
2nd plural vous pûtes vous avez pu vous aviez pu
3rd plural ils purent ils ont pu ils avaient pu
Notes: Rare

Table 3
Tenses - indicative
Future perfect
Conditional Past conditional
(passé antérieur)
1st Singular. j'aurai pu je pourrais j'aurais pu
2nd Singular tu auras pu tu pourrais tu aurais pu
3rd Singular il aura pu il pourrait il aurait pu
1st plural nous aurons pu nous pourrions nous aurions pu
2nd plural vous aurez pu vous pourriez vous auriez pu
3rd plural ils auront pu ils pourraient ils auraient pu
Notes: Rare

Table 4
Imperative and participles
Imperative Present participle Past participle
2nd Singular –
1st plural – pouvant pu
2nd plural –
Modal verbs are not
Notes:
used in the imperative

Table 5
Tenses - subjunctive
Present
Past or imperfect Perfect
(passé antérieur)
1st Singular. je puisse je pusse j'aie pu
2nd Singular tu puisses tu pusses tu aies pu
3rd Singular il puisse il pût il ait pu
1st plural nous puissions nous pussions nous ayons pu
2nd plural vous puissiez vous pussiez vous ayez pu
3rd plural ils puissent ils pussent ils aient pu
Notes: Rare

Further subjunctive cases - such as a pluperfect subjunctive ( "J'eus pu" !) - can theoretically be formed,
though to all intents and purposes these are never used in modern French.

Pouvoir : examples of use

Examples:

1. Pouvez-vous m'aider s'il vous plaît?

Can you help me please
2. Je pourrai venir demain matin à 10h.
I can (I'll be able to) come tomorrow morning at 10.
3. N'ayant pas pu terminer la course, il a abandonné.
Having been unable to finish the race, he abandoned.
4. Il faut que cela puisse résister à une température de -50°.
It has to be able to stand up to a temperature of minus fifty.

2.3.3. Conjugation table for vouloir

Modal auxiliary verbs: 2. Vouloir.

Modal auxiliaries alo known as modal verbs, are functional verbs that preceed other verbs in order to
frame them as a possibility, an impossibility, an obligation, a requirement, a probability or a wish.
Traditional French grammars do not generally use the category of modal verbs; but by assimilation
with English and in attempt to use a common framework of grammatical terms that can be used across
the spectrum of languages, the expression "verbes modaux" is increasingly used in French grammar

Vouloir : meaning

As a modal verb, vouloir corresponds to the English modal verb want to. It expresses desire or wish.
In its most basic meaning, Je veux means I want to.
More examples below.

Full conjugation: Vouloir

Table 1
Tenses - indicative
Present Future Imperfect
1st Singular. je veux je voudrai je voulais
2nd Singular tu veux tu voudras tu voulais
3rd Singular il veut il voudra il voulait
1st plural nous voulons nous voudrons nous voulions
2nd plural vous voulez vous voudrez vous vouliez
3rd plural ils veulent ils voudront ils voulaient

Table 2
Tenses - indicative
Preterite (simple past) Perfect Pluperfect
1st Singular. je voulus j'ai voulu j'avais voulu
2nd Singular tu voulus tu as voulu tu avais voulu
3rd Singular il voulut il a voulu il avait voulu
1st plural nous voulûmes nous avons voulu nous avions voulu
2nd plural vous voulûtes vous avez voulu vous aviez voulu
3rd plural ils voulurent ils ont voulu ils avaient voulu
Notes: Rare

Table 3
Tenses - indicative
Future perfect
Conditional Past conditional
(passé antérieur)
1st Singular. j'aurai voulu je voudrais j'aurais voulu
2nd Singular tu auras voulu tu voudrais tu aurais voulu
3rd Singular il aura voulu il voudrait il aurait voulu
1st plural nous aurons voulu nous voudrions nous aurions voulu
2nd plural vous aurez voulu vous voudriez vous auriez voulu
3rd plural ils auront voulu ils voudraient ils auraient voulu
Notes: Rare Meaning "would like to"

Table 4
Imperative and participles
Imperative Present participle Past participle
2nd Singular –
1st plural – voulant voulu
2nd plural –
Modal verbs are not
Notes:
used in the imperative

Table 5
Tenses - subjunctive
Present
Past or imperfect Perfect
(passé antérieur)
1st Singular. je veuille je voulusse j'aie voulu
2nd Singular tu veuilles tu voulues tu aies voulu
3rd Singular il veuille il voulût il ait voulu
1st plural nous voulions nous voulussions nous ayons voulu
2nd plural vous vouliez vous voulussiez vous ayez voulu
3rd plural ils veuillent ils volussent ils aient voulu
Notes: Rare

Further subjunctive cases - such as a pluperfect subjunctive ( "j'eusse voulu" ) - can theoretically be formed,
though to all intents and purposes these are never used in modern French.

Vouloir : examples of use

1. Veux-tu rentrer à la maison?

Do you want to go home ?
2. Voulez-vous m'aider s'il vous plaît?
Would you like to help me please
3. Je voudrais venir demain matin à 10h.
I would like to come tomorrow morning at 10.
4. Ils voteront le projet, que tu le veuilles ou non.
They'll vote for the project whether you like it or not
5. N'ayant pas voulu terminer la course, il a abandonné.
Having not wanted to finish the race, he abandoned.
6. Il a voulu battre le record du monde.
He wanted to break the world record..
7. Il est possible qu'il ait voulu atterrir sur la plage.
He may have wanted / It's possible that he wanted to land on the beach.

2.4. Irregular verbs

2.4.1. Twelve vital irregular verbs

Fortunately or unfortunately, the most common verbs in French (as in English!) are also the most irregular
ones, the ones we have to use all to time. This page and linked pages provide essential details of the main
groups of French irregular verbs, and details about the most important irregular verbs that do not fall into
any group, but have their own individual conjugation pattern.
Yet in spite of the large number (several hundreds) of irregular verbs in French, and their variety, most
follow similar basic rules of conjugation. The "irregular" forms are mostly in the present tense and the
perfect or passé composé tenses. Really "odd" forms, such as the past participle of vivre, which is vécu, are
few and far between. In addition, most of them are quite common, so learners (including French students)
become quickly familiar with them.

1. The five fundamental irregular verbs

These auxiliary and modal verbs are dealt with individually or on other pages.

 Etre - to be
 Avoir - to have
 Vouloir- to want
 Pouvoir - to be able to
 Devoir- to have to
2. Seven more very common irregular verbs

Most of the other very common verbs in French are also irregular. Each one has to be learned individually !
However the consolation is that generally speaking it is only the present tense of these verbs that is highly
irregular. Other tenses are conjugated regularly on the basis of the form found in the first person singular.
Thus for each verb, you will find the full present tense, plus the first person singular of other tenses. Other
tense forms are derived normally from the tenses indicated

Faire - to do or to make

Present tense: Singular Plural

1st Je fais Nous faisons
2nd Tu fais Vous faites
3rd Il fait Ils font
Other tenses Future: Je ferai. Preterite: Je fis. Perfect: J'ai fait. Imperfect: Je faisais

Dire - to say.

Present tense: Singular Plural

1st Je dis Nous disons
2nd Tu dis Vous dites
3rd Il dit Ils disent
Other tenses Future: Je dirai Preterite: Je dis. Perfect: J'ai dit. Imperfect: Je disais

Savoir - to know

Present tense: Singular Plural

1st Je sais Nous savons
2nd Tu sais Vous savez
3rd Il sait Ils savent

Other tenses Future: Je saurai. Preterite: Je sus. Perfect: J'ai su. Imperfect: Je savais
Note also Present subjunctive: que je sache

Aller - to go

Present tense: Singular Plural

1st Je vais Nous allons
2nd Tu vas Vous allez
3rd Il va Ils vont
Other tenses Future: J'irai. Preterite: J'allai. Perfect: Je suis allé. Imperfect: J'allais

Venir - to come
Present tense: Singular Plural
1st Je viens Nous venons
2nd Tu viens Vous venez
3rd Il vient Ils viennent
Other tenses Future: Je viendrai. Preterite: Je vins. Perfect: Je suis venu. Imperfect: Je venais

Voir - to see

Present tense: Singular Plural

1st Je vois Nous voyons
2nd Tu vois Vous voyez
3rd Il voit Ils voient

Other tenses Future: Je verrai. Preterite: Je vis. Perfect: J'ai vu. Imperfect: Je voyais

Falloir- to have to, to be necessary to

Note: this is a "defective" verb, and is found only in the third person singular
Present tense: Il faut
Other tenses Future: Il faudra. Preterite: Il fallut. Perfect: Il a fallu. Imperfect: Il fallait

Some examples

 Qu'est-ce que vous faites?

 Je sais qu'ils vont arriver demain
 Je dis que ce fromage est bon. Que dites-vous ?
 A trois heures, il alla au palais.
 Il faut que tu saches avec qui tu travailleras !
 Mes amis sont venus avec moi au cinéma.
 J'ai vu un cheval et trois chats.
 Il avait fallu attendre l'arrivée du dernier train avant de rentrer à la maison

2.4.2. Irregular verbs in -re

Irregular verbs ending in -re

Hundreds of French verbs have an infinitive ending in -re. The biggest group is made up of verbs that are
conjugated on the same model as the verb vendre. See Group 3 verbs.
The principal verbs in this group are attendre, confondre, correspondre, défendre , dépendre, descendre,
détendre, entendre , étendre, fendre, fondre , mordre, pendre, perdre, prétendre, rendre, répandre, répondre,
suspendre, tendre , tordre , vendre and verbs based on these.
Some grammars class these as irregular verbs, others do not.
There are also some other groups of irregular verbs ending in -re.

1. Verbs ending in-uire

The principal verbs in this group are conduire construire, cuire, déduire, détruire, induire, instruire, interdire,
introduire, nuire, produire, réduire, reproduire, séduire, traduire
Sample verb conduire
Present tense: Singular Plural
1st Je conduis Nous conduisons
2nd Tu conduis Vous conduisez
3rd Il conduit Ils conduisent

Other tenses Future: Je conduirai. Preterite: Je conduisis. Perfect: J'ai conduit. Imperfect: Je conduisais

2. Verbs ending in-aindre, -eindre or -oindre

The principal verbs in this group are atteindre, contraindre, craindre, dépeindre, éteindre, feindre, joindre,
peindre, plaindre, rejoindre, restreindre, teindre
Sample verb craindre
Point to note : Add a g in present tense plural, preterite and imperfect.
Present tense: Singular Plural
1st Je crains Nous craignons
2nd Tu crains Vous craignez
3rd Il craint Ils craignent
Other tenses Future: Je craindrai. Preterite: Je craignis. Perfect: J'ai craint. Imperfect: Je craignais

3. Verbs like mettre

The principal verbs in this group are battre, abattre, combattre, mettre, permettre, promettre, emettre,
omettre
Sample verb mettre
Point to note : Just a single t in present tense singular
Present tense: Singular Plural
1st Je mets Nous mettons
2nd Tu mets Vous mettez
3rd Il met Ils mettent
Other tenses Future: Je mettrai. Preterite: Je mis. Perfect: J'ai mis. Imperfect: Je mettais

4. Verbs like prendre

The principal verbs in this group are prendre, apprendre, comprendre, entreprendre, surprendre
Sample verb prendre
Points to note : No t in 3rd person sing. present.
Double the n before a silent ending starting with e.
Present tense: Singular Plural
1st Je prends Nous prenons
2nd Tu prends Vous prenez
3rd Il prend Ils prennent
Other tenses Future: Je prendrai. Preterite: Je pris. Perfect: J'ai pris. Imperfect: Je prenais
5. Verbs like connaître

The principal verbs in this group are paraître, disparaître, connaître, reconnaître (but not naître)
Sample verb connaître
Point to note: The i has a circumflex before t
Present tense: Singular Plural
1st Je connais Nous connaissons
2nd Tu connais Vous connaissez
3rd Il connaît Ils connaissent
Other tenses Future: Je connaîtrai. Preterite: Je connus. Perfect: J'ai connu. Imperfect: Je connaissais

Other verbs:

This irregular verb guide presents the main forms of the main irregular verb classes that need to be
mastered by the student of French.

Other verbs and other tenses need to be mastered as and when they are encountered or required.

2.4.3. Irregular verbs in -er or -ir

Irregular verbs ending in -ir

There are a number of important French irregular verbs ending in -ir. These are conjugated differently from
the majority of group 2 verbs in -ir, which are conjugated on the model of finir.
Among the most common irregular verbs ending in -ir are dormir, mentir, mourir, ouvrir, tenir, sentir, servir ,
sortirand verbs based on these.
There are two main groups: verbs conjugated like sortir and verbs conjugated like ouvrir
Other irregular verbs in -ir need to be learned individually.

1. Verbs on the model of sortir

Key verbs in this group are démentir, dormir, mentir, partir, sentir, servir, sortir
Sample verb sortir
Present tense: Singular Plural
1st Je sors Nous sortons
2nd Tu sors Vous sortez
3rd Il sort Ils sortent

Other tenses Future: Je sortirai. Preterite: Je sortis. Perfect: Je suis sorti. Imperfect: Je sortais
* Note: perfect tense of other verbs uses the auxiliary avoir, as in : J'ai dormi

2. Verbs on the model of ouvrir

This small group only contains a few relatively common verbs couvrir, découvrir, offrir, ouvrir, souffrir,
Sample verb couvrir
Present tense: Singular Plural
1st Je couvre Nous couvrons
2nd Tu couvres Vous couvrez
3rd Il couvre Ils couvrent

Other tenses Future: Je couvrirai. Preterite: Je couvris. Perfect: J'ai couvert. Imperfect: Je couvrais

3. Tenir and Venir

and verbs based on these, such as soutenir, parvenir

Sample verb tenir
Present tense: Singular Plural
1st Je tiens Nous tenons
2nd Tu tiens Vous tenez
3rd Il tient Ils tiennent

Other tenses Future: Je tiendrai. Preterite: Je tins. Perfect: J'ai tenu. Imperfect: Je tenais

Irregular verbs ending in -er

Some 90% of French verbs end in -er. Basically speaking, they are all regular verbs. However, there are a
few irregularities which are really no more than changes of spelling, such as a single or double consonant
depending on the verb form.
Among common -er verbs whose spelling varies according to the form used are acheter, appeler, manger,
lancer and verbs similar these.
There are two main groups: 1. Those like acheter or jeter which may double the consonant or replace e with
è, and: 2. Verbs conjugated like manger or lancer where the e is maintained, or the c becomes a ç before a
hard vowel ( a or o).

1a. Verbs like appeler

These verbs double the final consonant before an ending beginning with a silent e. Among key verbs in this
group are appeler, épeler, étiqueter, jeter, projeter
Sample verb s'appeler
Present tense: Singular Plural
1st Je m'appelle Nous nous appelons
2nd Tu t'appelles Vous vous appelez
3rd Il s'appelle Ils s'appellent

Other tenses Future: Je m'appellerai. Preterite: Je m'appelai. Perfect: Je me suis appelé. Imperfect: Je
m'appelais

1b. Verbs like acheter

These verbs replace e with è before an ending beginning with a silent e. The principal verbs in this group are
acheter, déceler, geler, harceler, marteler, peler, receler
Sample verb acheter
Present tense: Singular Plural
1st J'achète Nous achetons
2nd Tu achètes Vous achetez
3rd Il achète Ils achètent

Other tenses Future: J'achèterai. Preterite: J'achetai. Perfect: J'ai acheté. Imperfect: J'achetais

2a. Verbs like manger

With these verbs the e is maintained before an ending starting with a hard vowel. The key verbs in this
group are manger, changer, nager, engager, interroger, diriger, corriger, juger, encourager, échanger, exiger,
envisager, rédiger, plonger, déranger, charger, mélanger, partager,voyager
Sample verb manger
Present tense: Singular Plural
1st Je mange Nous mangeons
2nd Tu manges Vous mangez
3rd Il mange Ils mangent

Other tenses Future: Je mangerai. Preterite: Je mangeai. Perfect: J'ai mangé. Imperfect: Je mangeais

2b. Verbs like lancer

With these verbs the c becomes a ç before an ending starting with a hard vowel. The key verbs in this group
are lancer, commencer, annoncer, balancer, avancer, déplacer, forcer, menacer, remplacer, effacer, exercer,
percer, foncer, divorcer, financer, grincer, amorcer, énoncer, pincer, renoncer, tracer, prononcer
Sample verb lancer
Present tense: Singular Plural
1st Je lance Nous lançons
2nd Tu lances Vous lancez
3rd Il lance Ils lancent

Other tenses Future: Je lancerai. Preterite: Je lançai. Perfect: J'ai lancé. Imperfect: Je lançais

2.5. Tenses, voice, mood.

2.5.1. Expressing present time - the present tense

The present tense in French

There is just one single present tense in French, unlike in English where the present tense has two different
forms, the present simple and the present progressive, The Present Tense in French, le temps présent, is
used to express both momentary action and progressive action. In the rare cases where ambiguity could be
possible, French needs more than just a tense change to clarify the implied meaning.
Thus the hypothetical English sentence: "I drink wine, but I'm not drinking wine" , which is understandable
if unlikely, would become in French: "Je bois le vin mais je ne bois pas de vin," which is confusing to say
the least.

The present tense - le temps présent

This is used for expressing all forms of action taking place in present time.

► It is the only tense for expressing present time.

► In order to distinguish between momentary and progressive aspects of a present action (as, in English,
between I eat and I am eating) French uses other devices. See below.
► Being the most common tense in everyday language, the present tense is also the tense where there are
most irregularities.

The present tense of 12

key French verbs Present tense
Verb
être je suis, tu es, il est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils sont
avoir j'ai, tu as, il a, nous avons, vous avez, ils ont
pouvoir je peux (or je puis), tu peux il peut, nous pouvons, vous pouvez, ils peuvent
devoir je dois, tu dois, il doit, nous devons, vous devez ils doivent
porter
je porte, tu portes, il porte, nous portons, vous portez, ils portent
(regular verbs in -ir)
finir
je finis, tu finis, il finit, nous finissons, vous finissez, ils finissent.
(regular verbs in -ir)
vendre
je vends, tu vends, il vend, nous vendons, vous vendez ils vendent
(regular verbs in -re)
aller je vais, tu vas, il va, nous allons, vous allez, ils vont
boire je bois, tu bois, il boit, nous buvons, vous buvez, ils boivent
savoir je sais, tu sais, il sait, nous savons, vous savez, ils savent
venir je viens, tu viens, il vient, nous venons, vous venez, ils viennent.
voir je vois, tu vois, il voit, nous voyons, vous voyez, ils voient

Note: 3rd person pronouns are: Singular: il or elle or ce ; Plural ils or elles

Examples:
He likes wine but doesn't drink champagne.
- Il aime le vin mais ne boit pas de champagne.
The car is making a strange noise.
La voiture fait un bruit étrange.
When I'm eating snails, I think of France
Quand je mange des escargots, je pense à la France

Stressing the "progressive" aspect

 In order to stress that an action is progressive (i.e. ongoing), not instantaneous, French uses expressions
rather than a specific verb tense.

The most common way of stressing progressive aspect is to use the verb phrase "être en train de"
(litterally "to be in the process of"). So to stress the progressive aspect that is conveyed through tense
usage in the English expression "He's swimming against the current", a French speaker will say :
"Il nage contre le courant", or "Il est en train de nager contre le courant".
Another alternative is to add an adverb of duration, such as "actuellement" (meaning "currently"), which
will give:
"Il nage actuellement contre le courant".

However, there is often no need to stress the progressive aspect of a statement; most often, the context will
be sufficiently explicit, so the aspect of the verb does not need to be indicated. Besides, some verbs such
as vivre and savoir are by definition progressive. Even in English, we do not need to say "I am knowing".

More examples:
I live in Paris - Je vis à Paris
At present I'm living in Paris - Actuellement je vis à Paris
I'm writing a rather long paper - Je suis en train d'écrire une dissertation assez longue.
Right now I'm drinking cider - Actuellement je suis en train de boire du cidre.
It's breaking up on the rocks - Il est en train de se briser sur les rochers.
We're having dinner - Nous sommes en train de déjeuner / Nous déjeunons en ce moment

Other uses of the present tense

One instance in which French uses a present tense where English does not is in time clauses using "depuis"
(or synonyms) in the sense of "for" or "since" in relation to present time

While English uses a present perfect:

I've been here for two hours / He's been driving here since breakfast
French uses "depuis" and a present tense
Je suis ici depuis deux heures / Il conduit depuis le petit déjeuner.

(In relation to past time, structures with depuis use a variety of past tenses, depending on the context:
Examples :
Il travaillait depuis trois jours, quand il est tombé malade
Il n'a pas vu son frère depuis 35 ans.
More examples:
We've been here for a week - Nous sommes ici depuis une semaine.
I've lived in New York since 1980 - Je vis à New York depuis 1980.
There haven't been any mice since we bought a cat -
Il n'y a plus de souris depuis que nous avons acheté un chat.
I haven't felt well since I ate that sausage -
Je ne me sens pas bien depuis que j'ai mangé cette saucisse.
(Note that it is the verb in the main clause that is in the present tense, not the verb in the subordinate
clause.)

2.5.2. The past tenses in French

 2.5.2.1. The preterite and perfect tenses
Expressing past time in French

The preterite and perfect tenses

There are four indicative past tenses in French, plus less common subjunctive forms. This page is concerned
with the usage of the different forms of past tenses in French.

The rules governing the use of past tenses are rather different from the rules for using past tenses in
English. For instance, the distinction between I ate and I have eaten, is not at all the same as the distinction
between je mangeai and j'ai mangé.

Jump to part 2 for the imperfect (imparfait) and past perfect (plusqueparfait or passé antérieur) tenses.

1. The preterite, or past historic - le préterite ou passé simple

This is the classic literary and formal narrative past tense, used for describing events in the past. It
corresponds to the preterite or simple past tense in English.

► It is particularly used for third-person narrative.

► Except in some fixed expressions, it has more or less fallen out of use in first person / second person
conversational French.
► The first and second person plural forms are now considered archaic, and virtually never used, not even
in formal written French.

The preterite tense

forms of key French
Preterite or simple past tense
verbs
Verb
être je fus, tu fus, il fut, nous fûmes, vous fûtes, ils furent,
avoir j'eus, tu eus, il eut, nous eûmes, vous eûtes, ils eurent,
pouvoir je pus, tu pus, il put, nous pûmes, vous pûtes, ils purent,
vouloir je voulus, tu voulus, il voulut, nous voulûmes, vous voulûtes, ils voulurent,
devoir je dus, tu dus, il dut, nous dûmes, vous dûtes, ils durent,
porter
Je portai, tu portas, il porta, nous portâmes, vous portâtes, ils portèrent
(regular verbs in -er)
finir
je finis, tu finis, il finit, nous finîmes, vous finîtes, ils finirent
(regular verbs in - ir)
vendre
je vendis, tu vendis, il vendit, nous vendîmes, vous vendîtes, ils vendirent.
(regular verbs in -re)
aller j'allai, tu allas, il alla, nous allâmes, ous allâtes ils allèrent
boire je bus, tu bus, il but, nous bûmes, vous bûtes ils burent
savoir je sus, tu sus, il sut, nous sûmes, vous sûtes, ils sûrent
venir je vins tu vins il vint, nous vinmes, vous vintes, ils vinrent
voir je vis, tu vis, il vit, nous vîmes, vous vîtes, ils virent
Examples:
He opened the window and looked at the crowd.
- Il ouvrit la fenêtre et regarda la foule
The president stood up and began to talk
Le président se leva et se mit à parler.
When he saw the size of the deficit, he was frightened
Quand il vit la taille du déficit, il eut peur

2. The "perfect tense" or composite past - Le temps parfait ou passé composé

This is the tense which is most commonly used for describing events in the past in modern less formal
written French, and in modern spoken French. It corresponds to either the preterite or the present perfect
tense in English.

► It is particularly used in conversational or oral narrrative.

► It is less used in formal narrative.
► It is formed using the auxiliary "avoir" (or for some verbs "être" - see below ), and the past participle.

Sample verbs:
♦ être: j'ai été, tu as été, il a été, nous avons été, vous avez été, ils ont été,
♦ avoir: j'ai eu, tu as eu etc.
♦ pouvoir: j'ai pu, tu as pu, etc
♦ devoir: j'ai dû, tu as dû, etc
♦ vouloir : j'ai voulu, tu as voulu, il a voulu etc
♦ porter: J'ai porté, tu as porté, etc.
♦ voir: j'ai vu, tu as vu, etc.
♦ dormir: j'ai dormi, tu as dormi, etc.
♦ venir: je suis venu, tu es venu, il est venu, nous sommes venus, ils sont venus
♦ vendre: j'ai vendu, tu as vendu, etc.

► Special cases: Perfect tense with "être"

With common verbs of movement, the perfect tense is conjugated with the auxiliary "être", not "avoir".
These verbs are : aller, venir, monter, descendre, entrer, sortir, arriver, partir, rester, tomber, naître, mourir
(and devenir, rentrer, remonter, repartir etc.) except when these verbs are used transitively, i.e.with an object.

The perfect tense is also formed with the auxiliary "être" with all reflexive verbs.

Sample verbs
♦ Je suis allé, tu es parti, elle est née, ils sont morts, elles sont venues.
♦ Je me suis levé..... elle s'est levée, nous nous sommes levés, etc.
(See below for rules on past participle agreement)

General examples:
Yesterday I went to Paris - Hier je suis allé à Paris
We went in and waited - Nous sommes entrés et avons attendu
I've seen it - Je l'ai vu (note the position of the pronoun object)
I saw him yesterday - Je l'ai vu hier (note the position of the pronoun object)
I saw the film yesterday - J'ai vu le film hier.
My car broke down on Monday - Ma voiture est tombée en panne lundi
My car has broken down - Ma voiture est tombée en panne
I took the plane to Paris - J'ai pris l'avion jusqu'à Paris.

► Agreement of the past participle

There are two different situations, depending on whether the perfect tense is formed with avoir or with être.

a) For verbs conjugated with avoir, i.e. most verbs, the past participle agrees in number and gender with a
direct object if this comes before the participle.
► Note the particular case of relative clauses, where the object pronoun que assumes the properties of
number and gender of the noun that it refers to.
Comparative examples:
I saw my sister in the supermarket - J'ai vu ma soeur au supermarché.
I saw her in the supermarket - Je l'ai vue au supermarché.
It is particularly important to remember this rule in the case of relative clauses
The guy (whom) I saw was really cool. Le type que j'ai vu était très cool.
The girls (whom) I saw were really busy. Les filles que j'ai vues était très occupées.

b) When a verb is conjugated with être, the past participle always agrees in number and gender with the
subject.
Examples:
He arrived yesterday - Il est arrivé hier.
We went in and waited - Nous sommes entrés et avons attendu
Charlotte was born last Sunday - Charlotte est née dimanche dernier
The girls have already left - Les filles sont déjà parties

2.5.2.2 The imperfect and pluperfect

Past tenses in French, 2

The imperfect and pluperfect tenses in French

Page index: The imperfect The pluperfect

In addition to the two main past tenses, the preterite and the composite past, French has two more
tenses to express actions in past time, the imperfect and the pluperfect.
Generally speaking, these correspond to the past progressive and past perfect in English, but their
uses are not quite the same.

1. The imperfect
The imperfect tense in French is used to express ongoing or lasting action in the past. In this it
corresponds to the past progressive in English (i.e. I was reading); it also corresponds to the English tense
structure with used to.

However the French imperfect tense is used much more frequently than the English past progressive, as
it is also used to express continuing or repeated actions in the past that, in English, would be expressed by
means of the preterite. See examples 2 and 3 below.
This is notably the case for verbs that intrinsically imply duration, such as savoir, connaître, vivre, etc.,
for which the imperfect is a very common, if not the most common, past tense in French.

One common use of the imperfect is in sentences that relate two past events to each other, one
expressing an ongoing situation, the other a specific action. See examples 7 and 8 below.
In cases where two related past events both imply duration, in French both verbs will normally be in the
imperfect. In English, by contrast, only one of them - and sometimes neither of them - may be expressed
using a verb in the past progressive - notably when the verbs intrinsically imply duration. See examples 9
and 10 below.

Just occasionally, the imperfect is used as an alternative to the preterite, as a past narrative tense; in this
usage it is sometimes referred to as the picturesque past, le passé pittoresque, and was used as a technique of
style by writers such as Georges Simenon and Mario Ropp.

For all verbs, the imperfect tense is formed with the endings:
-ais, -ais, -ait, -ions - iez -aient.
Sample verb: porter
Singular: Je portais, tu portais, il/elle/on portait
Plural: Nous portions, vous portiez, ils/elles portaient

Examples:
1. Je blaguais.
I was joking
2. A l'époque, la maison m'appartenait.
At the time, the house belonged to me.
3. Il achetait souvent des livres rares.
He often bought rare books .
4. Au moment de l'accident la voiture roulait très vite.
At the time of the accident the car was going very fast.
5. L'homme travaillait souvent dans son jardin très tard le soir.
The man often used to work in his garden very late in the evening.
6. J'allais vous dire que je reconnaissais cet homme.
I was going to tell you that I recognised that man.
7. Je suis tombé de mon vélo alors que je sortais du garage.
I fell off my bike as I was coming out of the garage.
8. Je somnolais quand j'ai entendu le réveil
I was snoozing when I heard the alarm.
9. Quand nous vivions à Paris nous n'avions pas de voiture.
When we were living in Paris we didn't have a car.
10. Je ne savais pas qu'il parlait russe.
I didn't know that he spoke Russian.
2. The pluperfect

The pluperfect tense in French is used to express action in a distant past.

One common use of the pluperfect is in sentences that relate two historic past events to each other,
where one of the events took place further in the past than the other. In this situation, the French pluperfect
corresponds to the past perfect in English.

However French can also use the pluperfect in some cases where English would use the preterite or present
perfect: in these instances, the function of the pluperfect is simply to imply an action that is very much in the
past, and long since terminated. See examples 5 and 6 below.

The pluperfect is also used in past reported speech, to report a statement originally expressed using the
composite past. See examples 7 and 8 below.

For all verbs, the pluperfect tense is formed with the imperfect of avoir (or in specific cases of
être), followed by the past participle:

Sample verb: porter

Singular: J'avais porté, tu avais porté, il avait porté
Plural: Nous avions porté, vous aviez porté, ils avaient porté

Sample verb: aller

Singular: J'étais allé, tu étais allé, etc.,
Examples:
1. J'avais parlé à mon avocat avant de venir
I'd spoken to my lawyer before coming
2. A peine avait-il fini de ranger ses outils, qu'il se mit à pleuvoir.
He'd hardly finished putting away his tools, than it started to rain.
3. Nous avions bien regardé la maison avant de l'acheter.
We'd had a good look at the house before buying it .
4. J'avais pensé que tu pourrais venir cet après-midi.
I'd thought you might come this afternoon.
5. La construction du pont avait été commencé par les Romains.
The building of the bridge was started under the Romans.
6. Je vous connais, parce que ma mère avait souvent parlé de vous.
I know you, because my mother often talked about you.
7. Il disait qu'il avait déjà assez bu.
He said he'd already drunk enough.
8. Je savais que tu me l'avais déjà dit.
I knew you'd already told me.

2.5.3.. Expressing the future

Expressing future time in French
Rather like English, French has three ways of expressing futurity.
► By using the present tense and an adverb of time relating to the future
► By using the future tense
► By using the verb aller (to go) combined with another verb

1. Expressing the future with the present tense

Planned or programmed events in the immediate or foreseeable future can be expressed in French, as in
English, by using a verb in the present tense combined with an adverb or adverb phrase (such as a date or
time) indicating a moment in the future.
Examples:
We have exams on Thursday afternoon.
- Nous avons des examens jeudi après-midi.
The train's arriving in five minutes.
Le train arrive dans cinq minutes..
The new shop's opening next week
Le nouveau magasin ouvre la semaine prochaine.
We're moving house on 3rd December
Nous déménageons le 3 décembre

2. Using the future tense

The most normal way to express future events in French is to use the future tense. This is like English,
except for a major difference. Unlike English, which uses modal auxiliaries to express the future tense,
the future tense in French consists of inflected forms of the verb, and is thus a tense in the strict sense of
the word.
For all verbs, the future tense is formed with the endings:
-rai, -ras, -ra, -rons - rez -ront.

Sample verb: porter

Singular: Je porterai, tu porteras, il/elle/on portera
Plural: Nous porterons, vous porterez, ils/elles porteront

Examples:
We'll finish it tomorrow -
Nous le finirons demain
The doctor will see you in twenty minutes.
Le docteur vous verra dans vingt minutes
I know he'll succeed -
Je sais qu'il réussira.
You'll never get to Paris before midnight -
Vous n'arriverez jamais à Paris avant minuit.
They'll let you come in if you ask them -
Ils vous laisseront entrer si vous le leur demandez.
I hope you'll come -
J'espère que tu viendras.
 I don't know if you'll manage -
Je ne sais pas si vous y parviendrez.

Other uses of the future tense.

Unlike English, French uses (or often uses) the future tense in subordinate time clauses when the main
verb is also in the future.
Examples:
Do it as soon as you're ready -
Faites-le dès que vous serez prêt
We'll tell you about it when you come.
Nous t'en parlerons quand tu viendras .
Give me a call as soon as you get there
Appelez-moi dès que vous serez là.
He'll know what it is when he opens it.
Il saura ce que c'est quand il l'ouvrira.

3. Using "aller" to express future events

Using the verb aller to express future action is particularly common in spoken French, in the same way
as "going to" is a common way of expressing the future in spoken English. It is used to express
immediate and/or anticipated future actions.
Forms: Je vais.... Tu vas ..... Il/elle/on va ...... +infinitive
Nous allons ...... Vous allez....... Ils/Elles vont....... + infinitive
Examples:
I'm going to stop -
Je vais m'arrêter.
I think you're going to find it rather difficult
Je pense que tu vas le trouver assez difficile.
He says he's going to get a new car
Il dit qu'il va acheter une nouvelle voiture.
The President is going to address the nation at 6.15 p.m. -
Le Président va s'adresser à la nation à 18h 15.
I think we're going to travel via Lyon
Je pense que nous allons voyager via Lyon.

2.5.4. The infinitive in French

Forms and uses of the infinitive in French

► Return to main French verbs page

Forms of the infinitive

The infinitive is the absolute and impersonal form of a verb. French verbs have just one form of the basic
infinitive, ending in -er, -ir or -re. For example:
Manger = eat or to eat
It is this form that is used to reference each verb in dictionaries. (English, by comparison, has two forms of
the infinitive, the full infinitive with to, and the short infintive without to.)
There is also a secondary form of the infinitive, the past infinitive, formed with the infinitie of the verb être
followed by the past participle of the main verb.
Avoir mangé = to have eaten

Uses of the infinitive

The infinitive is found as a subordinate verb (following a first verb) or as a noun.

1.1. The infinitive as a subordinate verb

This is the most common use of the infinitive. A number of common verbs in French, such as aimer, vouloir,
détester, pouvoir, souhaiter, can be followed directly with a verb complement in the infinitive, as in
J'aime écouter la musique - I like listening to music.
Il doit aller à Paris demain - He has to go to Paris tomorrow
Est-ce que vous savez lire le grec? - Can you read Greek ? (Do you know how to read Greek)
With certain other verbs such as demander, chercher, commencer, insister , the verbal complement is
introduced by the proposition à
Il a commencé à réviser - He's started revising.
With other verbs, such as oublier or refuser, the verbal complement is introduced by the preposition de
J'ai oublié de fermer la fenêtre. - I forgot to shut the window
Ils ont décidé de prendre le train du soir. -They decided to take the evening train.
Avez-vous essayé de le refaire? - Did you try to do it again?
There are also a few verbs, such as finir, after which the verbal complement can be introduced by one of two
different prepositions, depending on the meaning.
Il a fini de lire le livre. - He's finished reading the book.
Il a fini par lire le livre. - He ended up reading the book.

1.2. The infinitive as verb in a subordinate clause

Occasionally the infinitive is used as the verb of a subordinate clause in which the subject of the subordinate
clause is the object of the main clause. This structure is the equivalent, or contraction, of a relative clause.
J'ai vu l'enfant tomber à l'eau. - I saw the child fall in the water ( = J'ai vu l'enfant. L'enfant est tombé à l'eau,
or J'ai vu l'enfant qui tombait à l'eau.)
Il m'a regardé faire la vaisselle. - He watched me do the washing up.

2. The infinitive used as a noun

French differs from English, insofar as the infinitive is the only form of the verb that can be used as a noun .
Unlike English, French does not use the present participle as a noun form of a verb.
The infinitive is used as a noun, but not like a noun. Since it remains a verb, it cannot take an article,
and cannot be qualified by an adjective. It can, on the other hand, be qualified by an adverb or followed by
an object.
Voire c'est croire. - Seeing is believing.
Etre ou ne pas être. - To be or not to be.
Bien manger est bon pour la santé. - Eating well is good for one's health.
Trop boire d'alcool est mauvais pour la santé. - Drinking too much alcohol is bad for one's health.

Exceptions

In just a few cases, verbal infinitives have taken on the quality of nouns, and can thus be preceeded by an
article, and be the subject or object of a sentence.
Le savoir faire. - Skills, or knowing how to do things.
Le franc parler. - Speaking frankly, straight talk.
Son franc parler est parfois un avantage. - His frank way of speaking is sometimes an advantage.
But for most verbs, the true noun form is different: descendre / une descente, conduire / la
conduite, commencer / le commencement, naître / la naissance.

2.5.5. The passive voice

The passive voice in French

Using the passive

Just as in English, the passive voice in French is not used nearly as often as the active. In everyday French it
is used when needed for style, clarity or emphasis. In written French it is used for the same reasons, but also
is used more frequently in texts that use a more formal style of language.
The passive is thus most used in administrative and legal language, in scientific texts, and other cases
where expression is largely impersonal.
Note that it is only transitive verbs that can be used in the passive. Intransitive verbs (those that do not
take an object) do not exist in the passive except in a few rare circumstances.

1. Forms of the passive - passive tenses

The passive tenses are formed using a tense of the auxiliary verb être, followed by the past participle of
the main verb. The only verb that is conjugated is thus the auxiliary être.
Note: The past participle of a verb is a form of adjective, therefore it always agrees in gender and number
with the subject of the verb, so can always be used in the feminine except with the pronoun il.

Sample verb demander

Demander is an unusual verb, in so far as it can logically and easily be used in the passive in any tense, and
for each person singular or plural. Most other verbs are less flexible.
a. The four tenses that are in most common use :
Present tense: Singular Plural
1st Je suis demandé Nous sommes demandés
2nd Tu es demandé Vous êtes demandés
Il est demandé
3rd Ils sont demandés
Elle est demandée
Future tense: Singular Plural
1st Je serai demandé Nous serons demandés
2nd Tu seras demandé Vous serez demandés
Il sera demandé
3rd Ils seront demandé(e)s
Elle sera demandée
Imperfect tense: Singular Plural
1st J'étais demandé Nous étions demandés
2nd Tu étais demandé Vous étiez demandés
Il était demandé
3rd Ils étaient demandé(e)s
Elle était demandée
Perfect tense: Singular Plural
1st J'ai été demandé Nous avons été demandés
2nd Tu as été demandé Vous avez été demandés
Il a été demandé
3rd Ils ont été demandé(e)s
Elle a été demandée
b. Other less commonly used tenses :
Simple past tense: Singular Plural
1st Je fus demandé Nous fûmes demandés
2nd Tu fus demandé Vous fêtes demandés
Il fut demandé
3rd Ils furent demandés
Elle fut demandée
Conditional tense: Singular Plural
1st Je serais demandé Nous serions demandés
2nd Tu serais demandé Vous seriez demandés
Il serait demandé
3rd Ils seraient demandé(e)s
Elle serait demandée
Pluperfect tense: Singular Plural
1st J'avais été demandé Nous avions été demandés
2nd Tu avais été demandé Vous aviez été demandés
Il avait été demandé
3rd Ils avaient été demandé(e)s
Elle avait été demandée
Future perfect tense: Singular Plural
1st J'aurai été demandé Nous aurons été demandés
2nd Tu auras été demandé Vous aurez été demandés
Il aura été demandé
3rd Ils auront été demandé(e)s
Elle aura été demandée
Past conditional: Singular Plural
1st J'aurais été demandé Nous aurions été demandés
2nd Tu aurais été demandé Vous auriez été demandés
Il aurait été demandé
3rd Ils auraient été demandé(e)s
Elle aurait été demandée
2. Use of the passive

2.1. In everyday French.

The passive is used when it is needed. It is most importantly used to ensure that the topical subject of a
statement is also its grammatical subject (examples 1 to 4). It is also used when we want to make the
clauses more logical by keeping the same subject, or when it is needed to form a logical succession of main
and dependent clauses, such as relative clauses (examples 5 - 8).
Examples
1. J'ai été piqué par une abeille !
I've been stung by a bee.
2. Kennedy a été assassiné dans la ville de Dallas.
Kennedy was assassinated in the city of Dallas.
3. Je pense que cette chanson a été enregistrée en 2002.
I think this song was recorded in 2002.
4. Il a été très touché par votre gentillesse.
He was very touched by your kindness.
5. Il roulait trop vite quand il a été flashé par un radar..
He was driving too fast whan he was caught by a speed-camera.
6. Le bâtiment est dangereux, donc il sera démoli.
The building is dangerous, so it will be demolished.
7. Il roulait dans une voiture qui avait été volée la veille.
He was driving in a car that had been stolen the day before.
8. Ils ont rouvert la gare qui avait été fermée dix ans auparavant.
They reopened the station that had been closed ten years earlier.

2.2. In formal and technical French.

The passive is frequently used in formal, legal, technical and business French, notably when human beings
are not the subject of a statement
Examples
1. Les visiteurs sont priés de ne pas toucher les objets exposés !
Visitors are kindly asked not to touch the exhibits.
2. La déclaration des revenus doit être remplie avant le 1e juin.
Income tax declarations must be in by June 1st..
3. Le courant doit être déconnecté avant d'enlever le couvercle.
Mains power must be disconnected before the lid is removed.
4. L'accusé est condamné à une amende de douze mille euros.
The accused is sentenced to a fine of twelve thousand Euros.
5. L’acte de vente doit être signé par un notaire ...
The act of sale must be signed by a lawyer .
6. Les Airbus A380 sont assemblés à Toulouse.
Airbus A380s are assembled in Toulouse.

2.5.6. The subjunctive mood in French

When to use the subjunctive in French

► To conjugate verbs in the subjunctive, see Subjunctive verb tables

The subjunctive is used in French in a number of quite common circumstances. Generally speaking, the
subjunctive is used in dependent clauses following expressions that imply doubt, emotion, subjectivity, or
conjecture.
After many verbs expressing fear, doubt or negative feelings, and after avant que, the verb in the dependent
clause is preceded by "ne" (the "ne explétif"); this is not a marker of negation.
See examples 2, 4 & 10 below.

The main uses of the subjunctive are:

► 1. In complement clauses after Il faut que..... Example: Il faut que tu viennes !

In this case, the subjunctive adds a note of uncertainty; even if the action is seen to be essential, the speaker -
by saying il faut que - is admitting that there is some doubt.
Examples 1 & 2 below.

► 2. In complement clauses after some other verbs expressing doubt, opinion, hope, fear or another emotion.
Examples: Je doute qu'il soit là. J'apprécies que tu sois là. Je crains que nous ne soyons en retard. Je
regrette que tu ne me l'aies pas dit.
Examples 3 - 7 below.

► 3. In subordinate clauses following certain conjunctions expressing an aim or a condition: afin que, de
(telle) sorte que, pour que, bien que, quoique, pour autant que, malgré que, pourvu que, à condition que,
de crainte que, avant que, après que and a few other less common conjunctions.
Examples 8 - 11 below.

► 4. As a third person imperative: Example: Que personne ne bouge !

Example 12 below.

► 5. In relative clauses after superlative adjectives and the adjectives premier, dernier and seul.
Examples 13 & 14 below.

Examples:

1. Il faut qu'il finisse avant ce soir

He'll have to finish before this evening

2. Il faut que nous ayons tout nettoyé avant qu'il ne soit de retour.
We'll have to have finished cleaning everything before he gets back.

3. Elle voudrait que je vende la maison !!.

She'd like me to sell the house !! (hope)

4. Nous craignons que nous ne soyons en retard.

We're afraid we may be late. (fear)

5. Je m'oppose à ce qu'il vienne.

I object to him coming. (opinion)

6. Il est tout à fait normal que les touristes soient tous partis.
 It's quite normal that the tourists have gone away. (opinion)

7. Il se peut que tu aies eu raison .

You may have been right (uncertainty)

8. Je mis le champagne au frigo afin qu'il soit frais.

I've put the champagne in the fridge so that it's cool.

9. Bien qu'il soit minuit, personne n'est encore sorti.

Although it's midnight, no-one's come out yet.

10. Pose tout ça avant que tu ne casse quelque chose !

Put all that down before you break something !

11. Pour autant que je sache, ce sont des règles européens

As far as I know, the're European rules.

12. Que personne ne touche à quoi que ce soit !

No-one touch anything.

13. C'est la seule bière qu'il boive.

It's the only beer he drinks.

14. C'est le plus grand poisson qu'il ait jamais attrapé!

It's the biggest fish he's ever caught.

15. Il se peut qu'elle ait été vue !

She may have been seen.

► 6. Special case: verbs implying certainty in the affirmative, doubt in the negative.
Example: penser

In the affirmative, the French verb penser expresses a firm opinion: the dependent clause does not therefore
normally have a verb in the subjunctive.
Examples: Je pense que je serai là. Je pense qu'il est mort.
However, in the negative, penser implies uncertaintly, and this is commonly reflected in the use of the
subjunctive tense in the dependent clause:
Example: Je ne pense pas qu'il puisse le faire. Je ne pense pas qu'il soit mort
Hovever, while this is considered good French, many speakers and writers in France would use an indicative
tense, as in:
Je ne pense pas qu'il pourra le faire. / Je ne pense pas qu'il est mort.

Some similar verbs or expressions:

croire que, dire que (when expressing opinion)
être certain / sûr / exact / clair / vrai que,
vouloir dire que

Examples:
 1. Je crois qu'il viendra
I think he'll come.

2. Je ne crois pas qu'il vienne.

I don't think he'll come.

3. Il est clair que nous avons déjà perdu

It's clear that we've already lost.

4. Il n'est pas clair que nous ayons délà perdu.

It's not clear that we've already lost

5. Ca veut dire qu'il a gagné son procès.

That means he's won his lawsuit.

6. Ca ne veut pas dire qu'il ait gagné son procès..

That doesn't mean he's won his lawsuit.

2.5.7. Forms and tenses of the subjunctive in French

Conjugate verbs in the subjunctive tenses in French

Although it is not vital for communication, the subjunctive mood is used, and should be used, in a number
of everyday grammatical contexts. It is used in everyday language in two tenses, the present and the perfect
(or composite past); uses of other subjunctive tenses are nowadays confined to very literary, refined, stilted
or administrative French.

► For uses and examples of verbs in the subjunctive, see Examples

1. Forms: the subjunctive tenses

Tenses (subjunctive) : regular verbs in -er

Present Perfect or past (parfait) Imperfect / preterite
Person
(may love may be loving (may have loved) (might love)
1st singular. j'aime j'aie aimé j'aimasse
2nd singular tu aimes tu aies aimé tu aimasses
3rd singular il, elle... aime il ait aimé il aimât
1st plural nous aimions nous ayons aimé nous aimassions
2nd plural vous aimiez vous ayez aimé vous aimassiez
3rd plural ils aiment ils aient aimé ils aimassent
Notes (very rare)
 Tenses (subjunctive) : regular verbs in -ir
Present
Perfect or past (parfait) Imperfect / preterite
Person (may finish may be
(may have finished) (might finish)
finishing
1st singular. j'finisse j'aie finis je finisse
2nd singular tu finisses tu aies finis tu finisses
3rd singular il, elle... finisse il ait finis il finît
1st plural nous finissions nous ayons finis nous finissassions
2nd plural vous finissiez vous ayez finis vous finissassiez
3rd plural ils finissent ils aient finis ils finissent
Notes (very rare)

Tenses (subjunctive) : regular group 3 verbs like vendre

Present Perfect or past (parfait) Imperfect / preterite
Person
(may sell may be selling (may have sold) (might sell)
1st singular. je vende j'aie vendu je vendisse
2nd singular tu vendes tu aies vendu tu vendisses
3rd singular il, elle... vende il ait vendu il vendît
1st plural nous vendions nous ayons vendu nous vendissions
2nd plural vous vendiez vous ayez vendu vous vendissiez
3rd plural ils vendent ils aient vendu ils vendissent
Notes (very rare)

The examples above are for regular verbs. Irregular verbs frequently follow the same patterns, but may
need to be learned individually, except for the perfect or past tense which is valid for all verbs.

See individual conjugation pages for subjunctive forms of être or of avoir.

Passive subjunctive tenses exist too; they are formed using the appropriate subjunctive tense of the
auxiliary être, instead of the indicative form used for notmal indicative passive tenses:
Example: Aimer

Tenses (subjunctive) :
Present Perfect (parfait) imperfect / preterit
Person
(may be loved (may have beenloved) (may have been loved)
1st singular. je sois aimé j'aie été aimé je fusse aimé

3. Other pages : sentences, adverbs, prepositions,

3.1. Negation - expressing negatives

How to express the negative in French

Structures of the negative

Like English, French has more than one way of converting an affirmative sentence into a negative
sentence.
Let's start with English. The affirmative statement He has some Belgian chocolates, can be put into the
negative in different ways, either He doesn't have any Belgian chocolates, or else He has no Belgian
chocolates. In the first case the negation is applied to the verb, in the second it is applied to the direct noun
object.
Negation can sometimes also be applied to the subject, as in Neither he nor her have any Belgian
chocolates .
However the verbal form of negation is much more common in English, and it's just the same in French.

1. Normal negation - applied to the verb

The most common way of putting a statement into the negative, is to add the negative particles ne and pas
to the verb.

1.1. The standard structure

In a standard French sentence, the negative structure is always the same unless the object is a pronoun

Subject > NE > Verb1 > PAS > Verb2 (+ Verb3) (+ direct object), as in
Il > n' > a > pas > mangé (sa pomme)
Verb 1 is the first verbal element, the one that is conjugated: it may be the main verb (in the simple present,
future etc, such as mange, mangerai ) or else it will be an auxiliary (ai, aura, veux, vais, etc). Verb 2 is a
participle or/and an infinitive, depending on the tense, if one or both of these are needed
Examples:
Subject NE Verb1 PAS Verb2 (+3)
mange –
Je ai mangé
NE
veux pas manger
or n'
Il doit avoir mangé
Le garçon va manger

1.2. When the object is a pronoun

The structure is slightly different in statements in which the object is a pronoun.

2.1. In standard tenses, where Verb1 is a form of the auxiliary as avoir, or is the main verb itself (with no
auxiliary) the structure is.
Subject > NE > Pronoun obj. > Verb1 > PAS > Verb2 (=past participle)
Examples:
Subject NE Pronoun Verb1 PAS Verb2
le mange –
Je
NE l' ai pas mangé
Nous les avons mangés
Les policiers nous auront vus
2.2. In other cases, where Verb1 is a modal auxiliary such as aller, pouvoir or vouloir, or an independent
first verb such as espérer, souhaiter, oser or préférer, the structure is.
Subject > NE > Verb1 > PAS > Pronoun obj. > Verb2 (=infinitive)
Examples:
Subject NE Verb1 PAS Pronoun Verb2 (+3)
vais le voir
Je
NE peux vous aider
pas
Nous / n' espérons les perdre
Les policiers oseront les arrêter

1.3. JAMAIS PLUS and GUERE

In addition to pas, French has three other negative particles commonly used with verbs : jamais (never) ,
plus (no longer, no more) and guère (hardly).
They are used just like pas, in appropriate circumstances.
Je le mange –
JAMAIS
Nous NE les avons mangés
Je les ai PLUS vus

Je vais le voir
JAMAIS
Les policiers NE oseront les arrêter
Votre femme / n' va PLUS vous croire
Ils peuvent GUERE se comprendre

1.4. Questions

In negative questions, which are not all that common, the subject of the question in French has to be a
pronoun, so the structure is always the same. If a noun subject is required (as in example 3 below), the noun
preceeds the pronoun, but (unlike in English) the pronoun cannot be omitted when an interrogative verb
structure is used.
NE > Verb1 > Subject pronoun > PAS (> Verb2) (+v3) (+object)
Examples:
1. N'avez-vous pas fini de manger?
Haven't you finished eating ?
2. Ne voulez-vous pas profiter de cette opportunité ?
Don't you want to make the most of this opportunity ?.
3. Le Président, n'a-t-il pas fini de parler ?
Hasn't the President finished speaking?
4. N'a-t-il pas d'amis parmi les membres influents?
Doesn't he have any friends among the influential members?

2. The alternative - negation applied to a noun

In French, negation can applied to a noun which is the subject or the direct object of a statement. The
example given in English at the top of this page could be translated into French as Il a quelques chocolats
belges, In French, we can apply the negation to the object, and the result is Il n'a aucun chocolat belge.
Important: It is important to remember that in French, unlike English, the key part of the negation, the
particle NE, remains attached to the verb. The secondary element, which is pas in verbal structures, is
replaced by one of the following:
Adjectives: aucun / nul / guère de / plus / ni ... ni
Pronouns : personne / rien
Use of these is most easily shown by a mixed bag of examples, with negation applied either to the subject or
to the object
Examples:
Negation on the subject
1. Personne n'a eu la bonne réponse.
Noone got the right answer.
2. Rien n'est plus facile.
Nothing is easier.
3. Aucun candidat n'a réussi en 2019.
No candidate succeeded in 2019.
4. Plus une maison ne restait intacte après le séisme
Not a single house was intact after the earthquake.

Negation on the object.

5. Je n'ai vu aucun médecin ce matin.
I didn't see any doctor(s) this morning.
6a. Il n'y a guère d'espoir.
There's not much hope
6b. Il n'y a guère plus d'espoir.
There's not much hope any longer.
7. Ils n'ont rien compris. or Ils n'ont compris rien.
They didn't understand anything.
8. Il n'y avait nulle raison de le croire.
There was no reason (at all) to believe him.
9. Je ne me fais guère d'illusions.
I'm not deluding myself.
10. Ce gâteau ne contient ni beurre ni huile .
This cake contains neither butter nor oil.

3.2. The interrogative

3.2.1. Questions without a question word
3.2.2. Question words - Qui, que, où, quand etc

Interrogative pronouns, interrogative adverbs, interrogative adjectives

How to ask questions in French : part 2

2. Questions using a question word

Question words are interrogative pronouns, adverbs or adjectives which are usually placed at the start of a
question. In English they are words like what, why, how, who or how many . In French they are words like
que, qui, pourquoi or expressions like qu'est-ce que or qu'est-ce que c'est que.
Even when a question word indicates that a question is being asked, as for questions without question words,
the principal indicator that shows that a question is being asked is a subject / verb inversion.
French organises questions differently depending on whether the subject is a pronoun or a noun.
There are two types of questions using question words in French.

 Short-form questions using simple question words such as qui or quand, which are found in written
or spoken French. See section 1 below
 Longer forms using expressions such as qu'est-ce que or où est-ce que or quand est-ce
que which are commonly used in spoken French. See section 2 below.

For questions without question words ( as in êtes-vous sûr? ), return to Interrogatives 1.

2.1. Short-form questions with a single question word

Question structures:
1. When the question word Qui is the subject of the question, the question word introduces the question,
and is followed by the verb (the auxiliary if there is one, otherwise the main verb), and then by any other
parts of the sentence.
2. In all other cases, the question word introduces the question, and is followed by the verb (the auxiliary if
there is one, otherwise the main verb), which is followed directly or indirectly by the subject .
The basic structures are thus the same in both cases:
Simple examples: Qui êtes-vous ? or Que faites-vous ?

2.1.1. Interrogative pronouns Qui, que, à qui, à quoi

Qui refers to people, and means who or whom - i.e. it can be subject or object (examples 1 and 2)
Que refers to objects (everything except people), and means what, almost always as the object of a
sentence (examples 3 and 4)
Just occasionally que can be the subject of a question (example 5)
A qui (examples 6 and 7) refers to people, and means whose
A quoi (examples 8 and 9) refers to people, and means "of what"
French English
1. Qui mange au resto ce soir? Who's eating at the restaurant this evening?
2. Qui voyez-vous Who(m) do you see ?
3. Que pense-t-il ? What does he think ?
4. Qu'avez-vous dit ? What did you say ?
5. Que se passe-t-il ? What is happening
6. A qui est ce téléphone ? Whose is this telephone ?
7. Qui est déjà allé à Montréal ? Who's already been to Montreal ?
8. A quoi appartient cette pièce ? What does this part belong to ?
9. A quoi pense-t-il? What is he thinking about?
Qui is often replaced, specially in spoken French, with the expressions Qui est-ce qui (subject) or Qui est-ce
que (object).
Que is often replaced, specially in spoken French, with the expressions Qu'est-ce qui (subject) or Qu'est-ce
que (object). See long-form questions below.

2.1.2. Interrogative pronouns Lequel, laquelle

Lequel, laquelle etc. refer back to people or objects that have been previously mentioned or implied, or are
designated in the question. They correspond to the English which (which ones, which of them, which people)
French English
1. Voici deux tableaux; lequel préfères-tu? Here are two paintings; which do you prefer ?
2. "Emballez les cadeaux!" Wrap up the presents !
"Lesquels dois-je emballer?" Which ones must I wrap?
3. Laquelle de ces dix fleurs est la plus belle Which of these ten flowers is the most beautiful ?
4. Je dois choisir un téléphone, mais je ne sais pas I have to choose a phone, but I don't know which one
lequel (choisir) . (to choose).

2.1.3. Interrogative adverbs Où, quand, pourquoi, comment

Où refers to place, and means where (examples 1 and 2)

Quand refers to time, and means when.
Quand is frequently expanded to Quand est-ce que
Pourquoi refers to cause or reason, and means why.
Comment refers to method or means, and means how.
Combien (de) refers to quantity, and means how much or how many.
French English
1. Où va ce train ? Where is this train going ?
2. Où sont les toilettes, s'il vous plaît ? Where are the toilets, please ?
3. Quand pensez-vous venir? When do you think you'll come?
4. Quand est-ce qu'il va pleuvoir ? When's it going to rain ?
5. Pourquoi pleure-t-il tant, l'enfant ? Why is the child crying so much ?
6. Pourquoi dis tu cela ? Why do you say that ?
7. Comment allez-vous? How do you do?
6. Comment va-t-elle s'expliquer ? How will she explain herself ?
9. Combien pèse ce paquet ? How much does this packet weigh ?
10. Combien d'argent avons nous ? How much money do we have ?

2.1.4. Interrogative adjectives Quel / Quelle / -s

Quel, in all its forms, implies a choice between or among the noun(s) that it qualifies; it means which or
sometimes what.
Being an adjective, Quel qualifies a noun, unlike the interrogative pronouns of the group Lequel (see
above). It is normally used attributively (before the noun - examples 1 - 3 ), but sometimes can be used
predicatively with the verb être (as an introductory complement - examples 4 - 6 )
French English
1. Quel route devons nous prendre? Which road must we take ?
2. Quelle heure est-il ? What's the time ? (litterally Which hour is it?)
3. Mais quelle idée lui est passée par la tête? But what's got into his head ?
4. Quel est votre avis ? What is your opinion ?
5. Quelles sont les bonnes réponses ? Which are the right answers ?
6. Quelle était sa réaction ? How did he/she react ?

2.2. Long-form questions in French

Long forms of the question.

In everyday spoken French, it is very common for people to stress that they are asking a question, by starting
it with a consolidator like Qu'est-ce que or où est-ce que or quand est-ce que . Questions starting this
way are unmistakably questions, while questions starting with a short question word, most notably que or
qu' could be misheard.
For example, it would be easy to confuse Qu'avez-vous vu ? with Avez-vous vu ?
The solution is so simple. Just add Qu'est-ce que ... or a similar expression to the start of a declarative
statement and it becomes a question.
IMPORTANT: when questions are formed using Qu'est-ce que ... or a similar expression, there is no
inversion of subject and verb.
Example: Que pensez-vous ? but Qu'est-ce que vous pensez ?

2.2.1. Qui est-ce qu.. / Qu'est-ce qu.. (...c'est que)

The precise expression used depends on whether the question refers to a human or an inanimate, and
whether the question concerns the subject or the object of the statement.
Qui est ce qui is the human subject of a question.
Qui est ce que is the human object of a question
Qu'est ce qui is the inanimate subject of a question.
Qu'est ce que is the inanimate object of a question .

Long form questions can also be formed with lequel etc.

When "que" starts a short form question, it is almost always the object of the verb, as Que penses-tu ?
See examples 3 and 4 below

Examples.
Long question form Short equivalent
No inversion Inversion when appropriate
1. Qui est-ce qui aime le chocolat ? Qui aime le chocolat ? *
2. Qui est-ce qu'il a épousée ?. Qui a-t-il épousée ?
3. Qu'est-ce qui vous surprend ? Que vous surprend-il ?
4. Qu'est-ce qui se passe ? Que se passe-t-il ? **
5. Qu'est-ce que vous en pensez ? Qu'en pensez-vous ?
6. Lesquelles est-ce que tu préfères ? Lesquelles préfères-tu ?
Notes.
Example 1. There is no inversion when qui is the subject of a question. See qui above.
Example 3. Que as subject of a verb. In this example, and in modern French, to render the perfectly
acceptable English question "What surprises you?" one cannot say "Que vous surprend ?" And certainly
not "Que surprend vous ?". A short form is sometimes formed by repeating the subject (que ... il), but this is
clumsy and is a structure that is not much used. The long form is most common.
Example 4. Se passer is an existential verb, and one of only a few such verbs that can be commonly used in
a short-form question starting with Que as a subject. Other such verbs include arriver, exister, survivre,
suivre.

2.2.2. The even longer form: Qu'est-ce que c'est qu..

This even longer alternative is only found in spoken French, and is quite common in colloquial French. Of
particular importance is example 6, which is a very normal way of saying "What's that ?"
Long question form Even longer form
1. Qui est-ce qui aime le chocolat ? Qui est-ce que c'est qui aime le chocolat ?
2. Qui est-ce qu'il a épousée ?. Qui est-ce c'est qu'il a épousée ?.
3. Qu'est-ce qui vous surprend ? Qu'est-ce que c'est qui vous surprend ?
4. Qu'est-ce qui va se passer ? Qu'est-ce c'est qui va se passer ?
5. Qu'est-ce que vous en pensez ? Qu'est-ce c'est que vous en pensez ?
6. (none) Qu'est-ce que c'est que ça ?

2.2.3. Long forms with interrogative adverbs: quand est-ce que, Où est-ce que, etc

All of the interrogative adverbs in French can, and often are, consolidated at the start of questions by the
addition of est-ce qu.., and when necessary with the addition of il est.
Short question form Long equivalent
1. Où est le chocolat ? Où est-ce qu'il est le chocolat ?
2. Où as-tu mis le chocolat ? Où est-ce que tu as mis le chocolat ?
3. Quand avez vous vu le chat ? Quand est-ce que vous avez vu le chat?
4. Quand l'avez vous vu ? Quand est-ce que vous l'avez vu ?
5. Pouquoi s'arrête-t-il ? Pourquoi est-ce qu'il s'arrête ?
6. Pourquoi mange-t-il un oeuf? Pourquoi est-ce qu'il mange un oeuf ?
7. Comment allez-vous ? Comment est-ce que vous allez ?
8. Comment le chat est-il rentré là-dedans? Comment est-ce que le chat est rentré là-dedans ?
9. Combien ça coûte? Combien est-ce que ça coûte?
10. Combien en as-tu mangé? Combien est-ce que tu en as mangé?
Note
Il est. is added in example 1 because the question uses the verb être.
In such cases, a second verb must be added, otherwise the dependent clause starting qu.. would have no verb.
Here are some more examples: Où est-ce qu'il est mon téléphone ?
Comment est-ce qu'elle est votre maman ?
Pourquoi est-ce qu'il est là, le policier ?

3.3. Adverbs in French

Types of adverb, and their usage

 Functions and use of
Subject index: Formation of adverbs Sentence adverbs
adverbs

1.0. Use and function of adverbs:

Adverbs are....
Adverbs and adverb phrases are the parts of a sentence that add circumstantial information to qualify a
verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Some adverbs - called "sentence adverbs" - can also qualify a
whole sentence or clause (see below).
Adverbs are invariable, in other words they only have one single form.

French has less adverbs than English

French often requires the use of an adverb phrase when in English a simple adverb will do.

In French, adverbs can be formed from many but not all adjectives by adding the ending -ment, but they
cannot normally be formed from nouns or verbal adjectives (present participles) as they can in English.
Consequently there are less single-word adverbs in French than in English.
French does not have adverbial endings like -wise, -fully, -ingly, - like, or -wards which can be used in
English to make adverbs from nouns, verbs or prepositions.
Thus many simple English adverbs cannot be expressed as single words in French, but require adverb
phrases . For example

 inwards > vers l'intérieur

 forwards > vers l'avant or en avant,
 surprisingly > de manière surprenante ,
 hopefully > avec un peu d'espoir,
 clockwise, > dans le sens des aiguilles d'une montre.

1.1. Types of adverb:

The term "adverb" covers quite a large spectrum of words. Demain is an adverb, but so are probablement,
bien, malheureusement or déjà.
One common way of classifying adverbs is to divide them into four main types: adverbs of time, adverbs
of place, adverbs of manner, adverbs of degree (including degrees of certainty) .
Examples
Time ( duration, sequence, frequency) : déjà, bientôt, demain, ensuite, souvent précédemment,
éternellement, récemment
Place (position or direction) : ici, quelque part, là-bas, en-dessous, partout localement, verticalement,
extérieurement, latéralement
Manner : bien, mal, ensemble, vite, rapidement, facilement, calmement
Degree: très, assez, beaucoup, peu, extrèmement, hautement, faiblement, largement, moins, sûrement,
probablement, apparemment

Most simple adverbs can be re-expressed as longer "adverb phrases", of which the number is infinite. The
exact adverb phrase equivalent will depend on the context. Adverb phrases are frequently made up of a
preposition and a noun and maybe more.
Examples
Adverbs and sample adverb phrase equivalents
Facilement / avec beaucoup de facilité
bientôt / dans très peu de temps
dedans / à l'intérieur
poliment / avec politesse

1.2. Position of adverbs:

With the exception of sentence adverbs, adverbs stand next to the element they qualify – usually after a
verb, but before an adjective or adverb.

With compound verb-forms, such as auxiliary + verb, as in j'ai mangé or je vais manger, some common
adverbs, notably adverbs of frequency or of manner, are most often placed in the middle of the verb group,
for example
J'ai souvent mangé dans ce restaurant.
Je vais souvent manger dans ce restaurant.
J'aime souvent manger dans ce restaurant
Some adverbs, without being sentence adverbs, can also be seen to qualify a whole sentence or clause.
Their position is flexible, and may depend on the user's preference, or the logic of the sentence.
Take the word hier (yesterday) in this sentence.
Hier j'ai acheté un nouveau téléphone.
While hier qualifies the whole sentence, we could also say that is qualifies the verb, so hier can stand after
the verb .
J'ai acheté hier un nouveau téléphone.
Since it qualifies the whole sentence, hier can also stand next to it at the end, rather than the beginning.
J'ai acheté un nouveau téléphone hier .
So in this case, there are three positions possible for the adverb.

2. Categories and formation of adverbs:

Adverbs can be divided into two categories :

1. Those that are related to adjectives or prepositions, and are single words
2. Those that exist independently, and are not derived from adjectives or prepositions, and may be
made up of two or even three words

Adverbs from either category play the same role in a sentence.

French has many adverbs derived from adjectives, though not as many as English. Some of these can qualify
verbs or adjectives or other adverbs, others are less flexible. It depends on their meaning.

2.1. Adverbs derived from adjectives

In virtually all cases (except for moins (adv.) from moindre (adj) ), adverbs are formed by adding the ending
-ment to the feminine form of the adjective. However

 adjectives ending in -ent form adverbs in -emment ,

 adjectives ending in -ant form adverbs in -amment
  and adjectives ending in -i or -u form adverbs from their masculine form

Examples: (adjective / adverb)

Grand / grandement, certain / certainement, beau / bellement, heureux / heureusement, franc /
franchement
Récent / récemment, fréquent / fréquemment
Constant / constamment, savant / savamment
Poli / poliment, vrai / vraiment, dû / dûment

Examples in context
Adjectives Adverbs
qualifying a noun qualifying a verb qualifying an adjective (or an adverb)
Une haute montagne Je pense très hautement de lui Cela est hautement improbable
Une vraie surprise je l'aime vraiment Vous êtes vraiment gentil !
Un train rapide Il va très rapidement Il était rapidement épuisé.
Une bouteille pleine J'ai rempli pleinement la bouteille. Il est pleinement satisfait.
Une faible lumière La bougie éclaire faiblement la pièce Il est faiblement satisfait.
Je suis extrêmement fatigué
Les sports extrêmes
Il conduisait extrêmement mal
Adverbs derived from prepositions.
There are not a lot of these: note some common examples: dedans (from dans), dessus (from sur), dessous
(from sous) and dehors (from hors).
Examples:
S'il pleut ce soir, on sera dedans.
Cette chaise a un pied cassée, il ne faut pas s'asseoir dessus.

2.2. Adverbs unrelated to adjectives

There are many common adverbs in French that are not related to adjectives; they can be found in all four
types, as illustrated above. These adverbs include some important groups:

 Several common adverbs of frequency: souvent, parfois, etc.

 Several common adverbs of degree : assez, très, peu,
 A number of "Sentence adverbs" , which qualify whole clauses or sentences.

More examples:
Adverbs of manner: ainsi, mal, vite
Adverbs of degree : à peine, davantage, tout-à-fait, très, trop
Adverbs of time : alors, après, avant, bientôt, demain, depuis, encore, ensuite, hier, jamais, longtemps,
parfois, quelquefois, soudain, toujours.
Adverbs of place : ailleurs, autour, dedans, dehors, dessous, ici, là, partout

3. Sentence adverbs - les adverbes de phrase

Adverbs qualifying a whole clause or a whole sentence

Some adverbs can apply (or in some cases only apply) to a whole sentence or statement.
These can be

 adverbs that qualify the whole statement , such as naturellement, évidemment, effectivement, , or
 conjunctive adverbs (adverbes de liaison) such as donc, ainsi, pourtant, cependant...

Sentence adverbs are not ► conjunctions (like et or mais or puisque), since conjunctions must come at the
start of their clause; sentence adverbs may have more than one possible position in the clause.

Examples:
Donc vous n'avez pas compris ce que je vous ai dit.
Vous n'avez donc pas compris ce que je vous ai dit.
Vous n'avez pas compris donc ce que je vous ai dit.

Evidemment nous essaierons de trouver la bonne réponse.

Nous essaierons évidemment de trouver la bonne réponse.
These adverbs are in reality contractions of a longer clause:
Donc means "on peut conclure que..."
Evidemment means "Il est évident que .." etc.

3.4. French prepositions

French prepositions and their usage

1. The preposition "de"

"De" is by far the most common preposition in French, and a word with multiple meanings.
Its most common usages are:
a) To signify possession or attribution - the equivalent of the English preposition "of" or " 's "
Jeanne's house: la maison de Jeanne ,
The chairman of the company : le président de l'entreprise
The dog's owner was Monsieur Brun Le propriétaire du chien était Monsieur Brun.
b) A preposition of direction, equivalent to the English preposition "from"
He's coming from Paris Il vient de Paris,
It's a gift from Pierre. C'est un cadeau de Pierre.
c) A preposition of relation, equivalent to English " by" or "of"
It's a play by Shakespeare - C'est une pièce de Shakespeare
At the side of the road: au bord de la route
At the top of the mountain : au sommet de la montagne
c) As a coordinator between two verbs, equivalent to the coordinators in English (of, to, etc)
He's talking about coming next week. Il parle de venir la semaine prochaine.
I'm trying to do it. J'essaie de le faire.

2. Prepositions of position and direction

The table below lists the most common prepositions of position and direction, and corresponding
adverbs. Most of the prepositions in this table can signify either direction or position; meaning will be
distinguished by logic and context. In this table, rare and unusual forms are omitted or listed in brackets.
This table is by no means an exhaustive guide to French prepositions; in idiomatic usage, other prepositions
may be used for a given meaning.

Common meanings / English

Prepositions Adverbs
equivalents
à At, in, (position) to (direction)
jusqu'à Upto, as far as, until
vers Towards
dans,
dedans In, within, into
en
sur,
dessus, au dessus On, on top (of), Over, above
au dessus de
Sous, dessous,
Under, below
en (au) dessous de en (au) dessous
à côté de à côté Beside
devant devant In front of
derrière,
derrière Behind
à l'arrière
auprès de Next to
près de (tout) près Near
From, out of (and other meanings; see
de, depuis
above)
entre Between

Note also one preposition for which English has no specific prepositional equivalent: chez. Chez can be
a preposition of direction or a preposition of situation, and corresponds to "to/at (my) place".

Some examples:
Prepositions of position:
I live in a flat. J'habite dans un appartement.
I live in town: J'habite en ville
The money is on the table: L'argent est sur la table
I live at Pierre's place: J'habite chez Pierre
Adverbs of position:
He's inside : il est dedans (il est à l'intérieur)

Prepositions of direction:
Put all those bits into the box. Mettez toutes ces pièces dans la boite
We're going into town. Nous allons en ville.
They're coming to our house this evening. Ils viennent chez nous ce soir.
Adverbs of movement:
I can't put the money in. Je ne peux pas mettre l'argent dedans.

Notes
You will see from the table above that there are fewer preposition in French than English; in fact, there are
only nine simple prepositions of position and direction - à, sur, sous, dans, en, vers, entre derrière and
devant, as against fourteen in English. There are reasons for this.
Unlike English and German, which are "analytic" Germanic languages, French is a "synthetic"
Romance language (a language that has evolved from Latin). Prepositions are far less used in synthetic
languages than in analytic languages. This can be seen clearly by looking at some English phrasal /
prepositional verbs, and how they can be translated into French. French does not have phrasal or
prepositional verbs, so the defining prepositions (postpositions) or particles in the English expressions do
not exist in the French versions (or are an integral element of the verb).

Examples:
Come in ! Entrez !
Get out! Sortez !
Shut up ! Taisez-vous !
I came down carefully. Je suis descendu soigneusement.
Put on your shoes! Mettez vos chaussures
He's going away. Il part.
Take off your boots ! Enlevez vos bottes !
Look up a word. Chercher un mot.
We'll go over that question again. Nous allons revoir cette question
I give up ! Je renonce !

3. Prepositions of time and relation

The most important are:

Prepositions of time:
pour (for) , dans (in) , avant (before), après (after), pendant (during), jusqu'à (until), depuis
(since or for) See problems below
and note also: – (on) (i.e. French has no time preposition corresponding to "on"). See
examples 3 and 4 below.

Relational Prepositions :
par (by) , pour (for), contre (against) avec (with), sans (without),

Some examples:
1. Je vais à Paris pour trois semaines. I'm going to Paris for three weeks -
2. Je vais à Paris dans trois semaines. I'm going to Paris in three weeks -
3. Nous venons mercredi. We're coming on Wednesday -
4. Nous allons à la pèche le dimanche. We go fishing on Sundays -
5. lls se marient le 3 mars. They're getting married on March 3rd -
6. J'étais impressionné par son style. I was impressed by his style.
7. Je suis ici depuis le 14 juillet. * I've been here since July 14th -
8. Je suis ici depuis trois jours. * I've been here for three days -
9. Je vais être à Paris pour / pendant trois jours. *
 I'm going to be in Paris for three days -
10. Je vais en France pendant l'été, et avant vous.
I'm going to France during the summer, and before you.
11. Je vais à Lyon après Noël I'm going to Lyon after Christmas.
12. Je suis allé à Bordeaux par avion avec mon frère mais sans ma soeur.
I went to Bordeaux by plane with my brother but without my sister.
13. Je reste ici jusqu'au 14 juillet. I'm staying here until July 14th -
14. Je vais compter jusqu'à trois, et vous allez courir jusqu'à papa.
I'm going to count up to three, and you're going to run as far as Daddy.

* Note tense use with depuis. See Present tense

Problems with French prepositions: mastering the use of prepositions in French

Unfortunately, languages being what they are, it is not often possible to say that one word in English = one
word in French; and with prepositions this is very much the case. A few prepositions require particular
attention.

► While dans is the most common equivalent of the English words in and into, there are plenty of cases
where it is not the right preposition in French. "En" also means in, and replaces dans in lots of expressions,
notably when there is no article, as in en ville, or en activité. President Macron's new political party is called
- La République en Marche, which is hard to translate into English, but basically means The Republic in
movement

► Depuis is another French preposition to be careful about, since it can either mean since or for, relating
to elapsed time (past time in relation to the present). It can never be used in the sense of for relating to
ongoing time or future time. Normally the meaning of depuis in a French sentence will be unambiguous, as
in examples 7 and 8 above.. But just occasionally ambiguity is possible.
Je suis ici depuis dix heures could mean either I've been here for ten hours, or I've been here since ten
o'clock.
To avoid this sort of ambiguity, speakers may resort to a different expression such as Cela fait dix heures
que je suis ici, which can only mean I've been here for ten hours.

► Pour or pendant ? To express terminated duration in the past, the equivalent preposition to English
for is normally pendant. For an ongoing time frame, or duration in the future, the prepositions to use are
either pendant or pour which in modern French are virtually interchangeable.
In example 1 above, some speakers might detect a slight difference, pour trois semaines implying a single
three week stay, pendant trois semaines several trips in the course of the three weeks; but many would
consider this distinction academic. If the sentence had been Je vais vivre à Paris.... no such distinction can be
made.

► Jusqu'à ( jusqu'au...) is another useful preposition to master, as it is used as a preposition of time, a

preposition of direction, and a preposition of quantity, and thus corresponds to a range of English
prepositions, notably until, as far as, and up to or as many as. In spite of this multitude of meanings,
confusion and ambiguity are rare, as context is normally quite sufficient to indicate in what sense the
expression is used. See examples 13 and 14 above. Jusqu'à is more of a problem for French speakers
learning English, than for English speakers learning French.
► There is only one way to master the use of French prepositions , and that is by becoming familiar
with expressions in which they occur. It is confusing to learn that in French one normally says "en voiture",
"à vélo", "par avion" and "en train" – and that there are other expressions possible too! But it's not really
too surprising; after all, in English we say "on horseback" but "by car". No language is perfect !

3.5. Conjunctions - coordinators and subordinators

Conjunctions in French - coordination and subordination

Conjunctions - an introduction

Conjunctions are short words which link two or more similar elements (words, phrases or clauses) of a
sentence. They can either be coordinating conjunctions, such as et or ou, which give equal value to the two
elements being coordinated; or else they can be subordinating conjunctions, such as parce que or puis, which
make the conjoined word, phrase or clause dependent on, or subordinate to, the principal one.
A third catefgory of conjunctions, known as correlating conjunctions, serve to add two similar elements
or provide a choice between them. Basically these are a form of coordinating conjunction that are used
differently, in that they are made up of two separate elements. There are just four correlating conjunctions
in French: ni... ni... , ou... ou... soit... soit... and et... et...

Linguists have long argued over the nature of and disctinction between coordinating conjunctions and
subordinating conjunctions. Why is car described as a coordinating conjunction, while puisque is defined as
a subordinating conjunction? They are often used as synonyms. The same arguments exist in English
grammar, where for is considered as a coordinating conjunction while because - often used synonymously -
is considered as a subordinator.
The difference is academic and seems to be one of usage rather than of nature. Coordinating conjunctions
must stand between the two elements that are conjoined. Subordinating conjunctions can stand between the
two conjoined clauses, or alternatively be placed at the start of a sentence..More on this below.

1. Coordinating conjunctions

There are six essential conjunctions in French which are generally considered to be coordinators. et,
mais, ou, donc, or, and car .
Comme in the sense of as can also be used to coordinate words and phrases
Ni is rarely used on its own as a coordinator. It is almost always used in the correlating expression ni.. ni..

 Et , ou and mais (pas) can be used to coordinate either nouns or phrases or clauses
 Donc, or and car can only coordinate clauses

Examples
Linking words and phrases
Jean et Pierre sont déjà arrivés
J'ai mangé une grande glace et une petite pomme
Tu dois acheter six pizzas ou six paninis
C'est ma mère ou mon père qui me l'a dit.
J'ai fini de lire le pemier livre mais pas le second livre.
J'ai parlé à mon oncle comme à ma tante.
Linking main clauses
Jean a pris la voiture et Pierre a pris le train.
Jean a pris la voiture mais Pierre a pris le train
Tu feras la vaisselle ou tu iras au lit
J'ai bien mangé donc je n'ai plus faim.
Je n'ai plus faim car j'ai bien mangé
Il devait tourner à gauche, or il a tourné à droite par erreur.

When linking main clauses, the coordinated or conjoined clause has to follow the primary clause.
We can say
Jean a pris la voiture et Pierre a pris le train.
or Je n'ai plus faim car j'ai bien mangé.
but we cannot say
Et Pierre a pris le train, Jean a pris la voiture....
nor Car j'ai bien mangé, je n'ai plus faim .

2. Subordinating conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions are more numerous, and include a number of what are known in French as
locutions subjonctives, or more simply in English conjunctive phrases, which end in que.
Main examples: comme, quand, que, lorsque, puisque, quoique, si, and conjunctive phrases such
as ainsi que, alors que, à moins que, après que, avant que, depuis que, bien que, de peur que, dès que,
tandis que and others
With the main exception of ► relative clauses introduced by que, qui or dont, subordinate clauses can either
precede or follow the main clause
We can say
Puisqu'il fait beau aujourd'hui, nous irons à la plage
or Nous irons à la plage puisqu'il fait beau aujourd'hui.
Tout le monde était content quand il a arrêté de parler
or Quand il a arrêté de parler, tout le monde était content.

Examples
Il a parlé aujourd'hui comme il a parlé hier.
Nous partirons quand nous serons prêts.
J'attrappe toujours un rhume lorsqu'il fait froid.
Puisque tu le dis, je viendrai ce soir au cinéma.
Quoiqu'il fasse chaud, le vieux monsieur porte toujours un pullover.
Je vous donnerai un cadeau si vous le méritez
Si vous le méritez, je vous donnerai un cadeau.
Il a fait ainsi qu'il a dit.
Alors qu' il fait chaud, le vieux monsieur porte toujours un pullover.
J'acheterai le pain à moins que la boulangerie ne soit fermée.
Il a changé de métier après qu'il a obtenu son diplôme
Il a changé de métier avant qu'il n'ait obtenu son diplôme
Je t'ai acheté ces belles fleurs afin que tu sois heureuse.

Use of the subjunctive : note from the examples above that certain subordinating conjunctions require the
verb of the subordinate clause to be in the subjunctive.
The main subordinators that require a subjunctive are : à moins que, afin que, avant que (but not après
que) , bien que, pourvu que, quoique, pour que, de peur que
A few also traditionally require what is known as the expletive ne : à moins que, avant que, sans
que . Note that in these cases the ne is not followed by pas. Sans que only requires an expletive ne in the
subordinate clause when the main clause is in the negative.

3. Correlating conjunctions

These are used to join two similar elements or provide a choice between them. Basically these are a form
of coordinating conjunctions that are used differently, insofar as the two elements are separated. Both the
main clause / word and the correlated clause / word are introduced by the same conjunction.

 Soit... soit .... and ou... ou... (meaning either... or...) are used to stress the equal value of two
elements, two words, two phrases of two clauses, more than would do a simple et or ou.
 Ni... ni... correspond to the correlating conjunctions neither.... nor... in English, and are used in the
same way.
 Et... et... (meaning both... and...) are generally used only to link words or phrases, not clauses.

Examples
Linking words and phrases
J'aime soit l'un, soit l'autre.
Tu peux le donner ou à Maman, ou à Papa
Et le Président et le Premier Ministre sont d'accord.
J'ai bien cherché, mais je n'ai trouvé ni ma montre ni mon téléphone.
Ni les Dupont ni les Durand ne sont venus.

Linking clauses
Soit tu viens avec nous, soit tu restes à la maison !
Ou il fera beau demain, ou il fera mauvais ! La météo est contradictoire !
Il ne faut ni marcher sur la pelouse ni faire du bruit.

3.6. A short overview and history of the French language

The status of French

French is one of the world’s major languages. It is a main or official language not just in France, but in
parts of Belgium and Switzerland, in Monaco, in parts of Canada – notably but not only in Quebec – as well
as being widely spoken in north and west Africa, Lebanon, and parts of south-east Asia, particularly in
former French colonies. It is an official or a main second language in 55 countries worldwide, and is reputed
to be the foreign language which is most widely used in international communications, after English. Almost
300 million people speak French as their native language or as a second language.
Until the early twentieth century, French was the language of diplomacy, and one of the two main languages
of international negotiation; today it is one of the six official languages of the United Nations, and one of the
two official languages, with English, of the International Postal Union, of the International Olympic
Committee, the International Red Cross, and other organisations. It is also an official language in the
Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey.

History of French through the centuries

A “Romance" language, modern French is derived from Latin (as are Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and some
other Mediterranean languages). Medieval French was one of the main historic roots of modern English,
notably in terms of vocabulary.
Like all languages, French has evolved considerably in the course of time; the oldest known document
written in a form of French, rather than late Latin, is the “Serments de Strasbourg", written in the year 842.
In Medieval times, different forms of French flourished as the language of literature in both France and
England: famous works from the time include the “Chansons de geste" (Songs of chivalry), notably the
epic “Chanson de Roland", the Roman de la Rose (the Romance of the Rose), and the Arthurian legends
(many written in French in England). By the time of the Renaissance, French had evolved to a point where
writers such as Rabelais and Ronsard were writing in a language that is still quite comprehensible to a
modern day educated reader; as for the great writers of seventeenth century France, Molière, Corneille and
Racine, they remain quite understandable to this day.
Yet in recent centuries, change has been slower than with English, on account of the French Academy, the
Académie Française, one of whose remits is to act as guardian of the French language. The Academy has
frequently resisted changes to the French language, insisting that existing and traditional forms of the
language were, by virtue of their existence, “correct French".

Franglais, and the influence of English

Nevertheless, though both the Academy and the French government have attempted on numerous occasions
to preserve the perceived “purity" of French, modern French has been heavily influenced by English – or
rather, by American – and thousands of English words have been brought into French by journalists,
scientists, travellers, musicians, showbiz personalities, films, and street culture. Television chat-show hosts
and their guests, businessmen and stars of all sorts pepper their French with words of English origin, which
at first are quite incomprehensible to ordinary French speakers. This type of talk is known as “Franglais".
One recent example, heard in a business context, is “une to-do liste" , which appears to have entered the
French language in around 2007. Words like “le shopping" or “un parking" or “le hard discount" are now so
well established in modern French that many French speakers do not even realise that they are borrowed
from English.
Anti “Franglais" measures have had a few successes or half successes. After “un pipeline" entered the
French language in the 1960s, the Academy banished the word, decreeing that the French word for an oil
pipeline was “un oléoduc": and that is the word now used. But attempts to banish “email" have met with less
success, and the purist’s alternative, “un courriel" has only managed to establish itself as an acceptable
alternative to “email", used notably in official communications.
Among the reasons that have helped English make inroads into many languages is the ease with which
English forms new words or adapts existing words to create new ones. Although French is a "synthetic"
language (i.e. a language that makes great use of inflections - prefixes and grammatical endings ) it does not
adapt words to create new meanings with the ease that English does. Just look at the complexity of the
expression required to render the English word "anticlockwise" in French... dans le sens inverse des aiguilles
d'une montre. Surprisingly perhaps, the English word in this particular case has not entered the French
language in spite of its relative simplicity. This is no doubt because it is not everyday vocabulary, nor an
erudite technical term.

Regional variations of French

Modern standard French is derived from the variety of French spoken in the area around Paris and the Loire
valley area. It is the most important variety of the “northern" group of French dialects, known as the
“langues d’oil"; but it is not the only form of French.
In the south of France, particularly in rural areas, there are still people who speak forms of Occitanian
French, the “langues d’oc"; these include Provençal, Occitan, and Catalan. Strongly discouraged by central
governments for over a century, and considered as “patois" these regional languages were fast disappearing
until the nineteen-seventies, when the first significant attempts were made to revive them. Since then, there
has been a major increase in awareness of regional languages and cultures in France, illustrated here and
there today by road signs and street signs in two languages, and even occasional articles in regional
languages in regional newspapers. The status of regional languages, as part of France's cultural heritage, is
now enshrined in the French constitution.
However, while people in the Langue d’oc areas of France speak with accents that are distinct from the
accents of northerners, and may understand local patois or dialects, only a minority can actually speak or
write in non-standard versions of French.
French is also, of course, spoken in countries other than France. It is one of the languages spoken in
Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, and a number of other countries. Swiss French and Belgian French are
virtually identical to standard French; just a few differences existe. In Belgium and Switzerland, people say
septante instead of soixante-dix for 70, and nonante instead of quatre-vingt-dix for 90. Some Belgians also
say octante for 80, and the Swiss say huitante for 80.
In Canada, Quebec French has kept up several words and expressions that have fallen out of use in
modern France; some notable examples are un breuvage instead of une boisson (a drink), or une fournaise
instead of une chaudière (stove, boiler).
Not all differences are due to historic factors. An amusing example of the difference between French and
Québecois is the way to say "we parked in a car-park". In France this would be "Nous avons stationné dans
un parking", while in Quebec it would be "Nous avons parqué dans un stationnement".

French Grammar and syntax:

► Click here for the About-France.com online French grammar

Linguists describe French as a moderately inflected or “synthetic" language, meaning one in which the
grammatical function of words (notably verbs) is often indicated by suffixes and other markers.
While French has not kept the complex noun declensions of Latin, with its six cases (Nominative, accusative,
dative, etc.), it has maintained a verb system characterised by inflected forms; verbs may have up to six
different forms for a given tense, and for example the endings of many verbs in the present simple tense are
-e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent (from first person singular to third person plural).
For this reason, French is a language where grammar (syntax), punctuation (or inflexion of the voice) and
the form of words (morphology) are key factors in determining meaning; compare this to English, a more
“analytic" language, where word-order and the use of link-words play a greater role in determining meaning.
For example: in French
Tu as vu la fille que j’ai rencontrée ?
is clearly defined as a question in written language by the presence of the quesiton mark, and in spoken
language by an interrogative inflexion of the voice.
To ask the same question in English, it is necessary to use an interrogative verb form:
Did you see the girl I met ?
If an English writer forgets the question mark at the end, his sentence is still clearly a question, on account
of the word order. But if a French writer forgets the question mark, the sentence reverts to being a statement.
Another example: in French,
“Commençons" – a single word –
has the meaning conveyed by three words in English: “Let’s (let us) begin".

As it is important for conveying unambiguous meaning in French, basic grammar is something that needs to
be mastered by anyone wanting to communicate effectively in this language. Thus, although teachers in
France often lament the falling standards of grammar among their pupils, the teaching of French grammar
has remained an essential part of the school curriculum, from primary school upwards.

The Vocabulary of French

Being largely derived from Latin (with the addition of modern vocabulary from English) the French
language has a lot less words than the English language (which is derived from both Old French and old
forms of German).
Here are some examples to illustrate how French is derived from Latin:

 English Latin French

 A window Fenestra Fenêtre
 To love Amare Aimer
 To see Videre Voir
 A dog Canis Un chien
 A son Filius Un fils
 A sister Soror Une soeur

It is impossible to say just how many words a language has, as it depends on how one defines what
constitutes a word. For example, are nation, national, nationalize, nationalism four words, or one word with
four forms? Is foot one word or three ? A thing with five toes, twelve inches, and the bottom ?
For this reason, it is unwise to say how many words the French language has; however, by consensus, and
using the same yardsticks of measurement, it is generally suggested that French has between 30% and 45%
less words than English.

1. The preposition "de"

"De" is by far the most common preposition in French, and a word with multiple meanings.
Its most common usages are:
a) To signify possession or attribution - the equivalent of the English preposition "of" or " 's "
Jeanne's house: la maison de Jeanne ,
The chairman of the company : le président de l'entreprise
The dog's owner was Monsieur Brun Le propriétaire du chien était Monsieur Brun.
b) A preposition of direction, equivalent to the English preposition "from"
He's coming from Paris Il vient de Paris,
It's a gift from Pierre. C'est un cadeau de Pierre.
c) A preposition of relation, equivalent to English " by" or "of"
It's a play by Shakespeare - C'est une pièce de Shakespeare
At the side of the road: au bord de la route
At the top of the mountain : au sommet de la montagne
c) As a coordinator between two verbs, equivalent to the coordinators in English (of, to, etc)
He's talking about coming next week. Il parle de venir la semaine prochaine.
I'm trying to do it. J'essaie de le faire.

2. Prepositions of position and direction

The table below lists the most common prepositions of position and direction, and corresponding
adverbs. Most of the prepositions in this table can signify either direction or position; meaning will be
distinguished by logic and context. In this table, rare and unusual forms are omitted or listed in brackets.
This table is by no means an exhaustive guide to French prepositions; in idiomatic usage, other prepositions
may be used for a given meaning.

Common meanings / English

Prepositions Adverbs
equivalents
à At, in, (position) to (direction)
jusqu'à Upto, as far as, until
vers Towards
dans,
dedans In, within, into
en
sur,
dessus, au dessus On, on top (of), Over, above
au dessus de
Sous, dessous,
Under, below
en (au) dessous de en (au) dessous
à côté de à côté Beside
devant devant In front of
derrière,
derrière Behind
à l'arrière
auprès de Next to
près de (tout) près Near
From, out of (and other meanings; see
de, depuis
above)
entre Between

Note also one preposition for which English has no specific prepositional equivalent: chez. Chez can be
a preposition of direction or a preposition of situation, and corresponds to "to/at (my) place".

Some examples:
Prepositions of position:
I live in a flat. J'habite dans un appartement.
I live in town: J'habite en ville
The money is on the table: L'argent est sur la table
I live at Pierre's place: J'habite chez Pierre
Adverbs of position:
He's inside : il est dedans (il est à l'intérieur)

Prepositions of direction:
Put all those bits into the box. Mettez toutes ces pièces dans la boite
We're going into town. Nous allons en ville.
They're coming to our house this evening. Ils viennent chez nous ce soir.
Adverbs of movement:
I can't put the money in. Je ne peux pas mettre l'argent dedans.

Notes
You will see from the table above that there are fewer preposition in French than English; in fact, there are
only nine simple prepositions of position and direction - à, sur, sous, dans, en, vers, entre derrière and
devant, as against fourteen in English. There are reasons for this.
Unlike English and German, which are "analytic" Germanic languages, French is a "synthetic"
Romance language (a language that has evolved from Latin). Prepositions are far less used in synthetic
languages than in analytic languages. This can be seen clearly by looking at some English phrasal /
prepositional verbs, and how they can be translated into French. French does not have phrasal or
prepositional verbs, so the defining prepositions (postpositions) or particles in the English expressions do
not exist in the French versions (or are an integral element of the verb).

Examples:
Come in ! Entrez !
Get out! Sortez !
Shut up ! Taisez-vous !
I came down carefully. Je suis descendu soigneusement.
Put on your shoes! Mettez vos chaussures
He's going away. Il part.
Take off your boots ! Enlevez vos bottes !
Look up a word. Chercher un mot.
We'll go over that question again. Nous allons revoir cette question
I give up ! Je renonce !

3. Prepositions of time and relation

The most important are:

Prepositions of time:
pour (for) , dans (in) , avant (before), après (after), pendant (during), jusqu'à (until), depuis
(since or for) See problems below
and note also: – (on) (i.e. French has no time preposition corresponding to "on"). See
examples 3 and 4 below.

Relational Prepositions :
par (by) , pour (for), contre (against) avec (with), sans (without),

Some examples:
1. Je vais à Paris pour trois semaines. I'm going to Paris for three weeks -
2. Je vais à Paris dans trois semaines. I'm going to Paris in three weeks -
3. Nous venons mercredi. We're coming on Wednesday -
4. Nous allons à la pèche le dimanche. We go fishing on Sundays -
5. lls se marient le 3 mars. They're getting married on March 3rd -
6. J'étais impressionné par son style. I was impressed by his style.
7. Je suis ici depuis le 14 juillet. * I've been here since July 14th -
8. Je suis ici depuis trois jours. * I've been here for three days -
9. Je vais être à Paris pour / pendant trois jours. *
 I'm going to be in Paris for three days -
10. Je vais en France pendant l'été, et avant vous.
I'm going to France during the summer, and before you.
11. Je vais à Lyon après Noël I'm going to Lyon after Christmas.
12. Je suis allé à Bordeaux par avion avec mon frère mais sans ma soeur.
I went to Bordeaux by plane with my brother but without my sister.
13. Je reste ici jusqu'au 14 juillet. I'm staying here until July 14th -
14. Je vais compter jusqu'à trois, et vous allez courir jusqu'à papa.
I'm going to count up to three, and you're going to run as far as Daddy.

* Note tense use with depuis. See Present tense

Problems with French prepositions: mastering the use of prepositions in French

Unfortunately, languages being what they are, it is not often possible to say that one word in English = one
word in French; and with prepositions this is very much the case. A few prepositions require particular
attention.

► While dans is the most common equivalent of the English words in and into, there are plenty of cases
where it is not the right preposition in French. "En" also means in, and replaces dans in lots of expressions,
notably when there is no article, as in en ville, or en activité. President Macron's new political party is called
- La République en Marche, which is hard to translate into English, but basically means The Republic in
movement

► Depuis is another French preposition to be careful about, since it can either mean since or for, relating
to elapsed time (past time in relation to the present). It can never be used in the sense of for relating to
ongoing time or future time. Normally the meaning of depuis in a French sentence will be unambiguous, as
in examples 7 and 8 above.. But just occasionally ambiguity is possible.
Je suis ici depuis dix heures could mean either I've been here for ten hours, or I've been here since ten
o'clock.
To avoid this sort of ambiguity, speakers may resort to a different expression such as Cela fait dix heures
que je suis ici, which can only mean I've been here for ten hours.

► Pour or pendant ? To express terminated duration in the past, the equivalent preposition to English
for is normally pendant. For an ongoing time frame, or duration in the future, the prepositions to use are
either pendant or pour which in modern French are virtually interchangeable.
In example 1 above, some speakers might detect a slight difference, pour trois semaines implying a single
three week stay, pendant trois semaines several trips in the course of the three weeks; but many would
consider this distinction academic. If the sentence had been Je vais vivre à Paris.... no such distinction can be
made.

► Jusqu'à ( jusqu'au...) is another useful preposition to master, as it is used as a preposition of time, a

preposition of direction, and a preposition of quantity, and thus corresponds to a range of English
prepositions, notably until, as far as, and up to or as many as. In spite of this multitude of meanings,
confusion and ambiguity are rare, as context is normally quite sufficient to indicate in what sense the
expression is used. See examples 13 and 14 above. Jusqu'à is more of a problem for French speakers
learning English, than for English speakers learning French.
► There is only one way to master the use of French prepositions , and that is by becoming familiar
with expressions in which they occur. It is confusing to learn that in French one normally says "en voiture",
"à vélo", "par avion" and "en train" – and that there are other expressions possible too! But it's not really
too surprising; after all, in English we say "on horseback" but "by car". No language is perfect !

Indefinite Article – un, une, des

Article indéfini

The aptly named indefinite article indicates an unspecific or

unidentified noun.

Par exemple…

Je veux un chat ou un chien. I want a cat or a dog.

Achète des oignons. Buy some onions.

Characteristics of indefinite articles

1. Used with countable nouns*

2. Placed directly in front of a noun or an adjective +
noun
3. Agree with the noun in number and sometimes gender
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* As opposed to uncountable nouns like money and water,
which take the partitive article.

French indefinite articles

Masculine Feminine
a, an, one un une
some des des

+ There are two singular articles, each of which can mean a, an, or one:

1. Masculine: un
2. Feminine: une

+ There is only one plural indefinite article: des.

Using indefinite articles

You can use indefinite articles in front of unnamed, unidentified, or unspecified nouns, as long as they are
countable.

Par exemple…

Il y a un problème. There’s a problem. (What problem?)

Un touriste a été blessé. A tourist was wounded. (Who?)

The nouns may be modified by

1) adjectives

Par exemple…

J’ai une bonne idée. I have a good idea.

C’est un pays extraordinaire. It’s an extraordinary country.

2) noun phrases

Par exemple…

Je cherche des livres de cuisine. I’m looking for (some) cookbooks.

Voici une photo de notre fils. Here’s a picture of our son.

3) relative clauses

Par exemple…

Je veux un chien quí n’aboie pas trop. I want a dog that doesn’t bark too much.
C’est une journée dont on se souviendra. It’s a day we’ll remember.
The indefinite article is not used when talking about a person’s profession, religion, or any other
defining noun in the following construction:

Noun / Name / Subject pronoun + être + profession / religion / noun

Par exemple…

Ma sœur est avocate. My sister is a lawyer.

Marc est musulman. Marc is a Muslim.
Ils sont cousins. They are cousins.
In certain constructions, the indefinite reverts to simply de (or its contraction d’).

With negation

Je ne veux pas de chien. I don’t want a dog.

N’achète pas d’oignon. Don’t buy any onions.

After expressions of quantity

J’ai vu beaucoup de chats. I saw a lot of cats.

Il a très peu d’idées. He has very few ideas.

After avoir envie and avoir besoin (plural only)

J’ai envie de tomates. I want some tomatoes.

As-tu besoin d’idées ? Do you need some ideas?
But: J’ai besoin d’un stylo. I need a pen.

When an adjective precedes the noun (plural only)

J’ai reçu de beaux cadeaux. I received some beautiful gifts.

Il a écrit d’autres livres. He has written other books.
But: Tu as un joli chien. You have a pretty dog.