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2007-12-22 14:43:24

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French Classroom

Teacher: [herrschneemann]

Hello everyone, I'm [herrschneemann] and I'm the new French teacher. I live in Québec, which is a province of Canada, and I've spoken French since I was born. You can be sure then that what is written here is authentic, unless it is my English that fails, but I'm pretty confident in that too.

Pronounciation is a big issue in learning other languages. For that, I might write up the phonetic alphabet, but in the meantime I guess the best would be for you to watch French movies or listen to French records.

As I work on this classroom, I'll try to build an ever growing French word bank with their English translations.
The words are in alphabetical order of their English form, to make it easier for you to use it.

If there is a star (*) next to the French translation, then it means there is no litteral translation possible, so I gave its closest equivalent.

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Lessons:

French Classroom: Nouns
French Classroom: Adjectives
French Classroom: Verbs
French Classroom: Miscellaneous

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Notes:

- In French, nouns can be either feminin or masculin. Some nouns have both versions (ex: un chat (m), une chatte (f): both mean a cat, but the first is a male cat and the second is a female cat)
- In French, you do no pronounce the "s" at the end of the word when you pluralize it. (ex: des chats is pronounced sha instead of sha's)

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Lesson 1: Introductions

Hello, what is your name? - Bonjour, quel est ton nom?
Hello, my name is Fred. - Bonjour, mon nom est Fred.

Hi, how are you? - Salut, comment vas-tu?
I'm fine, thank you, and you? - Je vais bien, merci, et toi?
I'm fine. - Je vais bien.

Where do you live? - Où habites-tu?
I live in Montreal. - J'habite à Montréal.

How old are you? - Quel âge as-tu?
I'm twenty one years old. - J'ai vingt-et-un ans.

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Lesson 2: Numbers

0=zéro 1=un 2=deux 3=trois 4=quatre 5=cinq 6=six 7=sept 8=huit 9=neuf 10=dix
11=onze 12=douze 13=treize 14=quatorze 15=quinze 16=seize 17=dix-sept 18=dix-huit 19=dix neuf

20 = vingt
30 = trente
40 = quarante
50 = cinquante
60 = soixante
70 = soixante-dix
80 = quatre-vingts
90 = quatre-vingt-dix
100 = cent
1 000 = mille
1 000 000 = million
1 000 000 000 = milliard

- To write numbers between 19 and 100, you take the first number in the colum above, add a dash (-) and write the second number as shown above. So 34 would be trente-quatre, 65 would be soixante-cinq.
- To write numbers between 99 and 1 000, write the first number as shown in the first section, add a space, add cent and then add the two follwing numbers as per the previous rule. So 253 would be deux cent cinquante-trois and 812 would be huit cent douze.
This rule is pretty much the same for mille, million, and milliard.

*For numbers ending with 1, you must replace the dash (-) with et between the two numbers. So 31 would be trente et un and 641 would be six cent quarante et un.
*The numbers following 70 and 90 don't quite follow rule 1. Instead of taking the first numbers they continue as if in the 10s. So 71 is soixante-onze, 72 is soixante-douze, 93 is quatre-vingt-treize, and 94 is quatre-vingt-quatorze.
*The numbers 20 and 100, when they are not followed by an adjectif numérique(numeral adjective), and when they are multiplied, they finish with an "s". So 200 is deux cents, 80 is quatre-vingts, but 283 is deux cent quatre-vingt-trois because both are followed by an adjectif numérique
* Million and milliard are not numeral adjectives, they are nouns, which mean they follow normal noun rules and they do not count for the previous rule. So 200 000 000 is deux cents millions. Both million and cent take an "s" because cent is multiplied and isn't followed by a numeral adjective, and it's 200 millions so million takes an "s", just like 200 cows gives "cow" an "s".

Note: Big numbers in French are seperated by spaces instead of commas, so it's 12 345 678 instead of 12,345,678.

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Lesson 3: Time

What time is it? - Quelle heure est-il?
It's three o'clock. - Il est trois heure.

Giving time is really easy once you know the numbers. General rule is you say the first number + heure + et + the second number. So 4:25 would be quatre heure et vingt-cinq.

Now comes all the variations:
- If you want, you can add the word minute at the end. 2:55 -> deux heure cinquante-cinq minute
- If you want to say "and a half" for 30, you add demie after the et instead of the number. 1:30 -> une heure et demie
- In French you can also say "and a quarter" (quart) or "and three quarters" (trois quarts), which follows the same idea as the rule above. 5:45 -> cinq heure et trois quarts
- You can also give time negatively, kind of like 5 to 3, but we say it 3 minus 5. To say it, replace everything after heure and add instead moins something. 3:55 -> quatre heure moins cinq
- Noon is midi and midnight is minuit
- As a variation to the a.m. p.m. format, in French you can keep counting the hours beyond 12. This means that 2p.m. can turn into 14h, 8p.m. into 20h. The way you say it is exactly the same though. So 8:20 p.m. can as easily be huit heure et vingt as vingt heure et vingt.

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Lesson 4: Present Tense: First Group Verbs

I figured I might as well start some real grammar lessons, so here's an easy one to begin with: How to conjugate First Group verbs in present tense.

All verbs that finish in er except aller (to go) are in the First Group.
To conjugate them, replace the er with the part in bold under in the example.

For the example, I will use the verb chanter (to sing).

Je chante
Tu chantes
Il chante
Nous chantons
Vous chantez
Ils chantent

Adding Present tense for the verbs avoir et être (to have and to be) because they are important verbs in French.

Avoir (To Have)
J'ai
Tu as
Il a
Nous avons
Vous avez
Ils ont

Être (To Be)
Je suis
Tu es
Il est
Nous sommes
Vous êtes
Ils sont

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Lesson 5: Basic Sentence Structure

A very basic sentence structure in French is: Sujet, Verbe, Complément. Sujet is the subject of the verb, i.e. whoever's doing the action. Verbe is the action itself, and Complément could be various things that range from descriptive words to time and places.

Here are a few examples using only the verb group and verbs covered above:

Je mange une pomme.
I am eating an apple.
Sujet: Je
Verbe: mange
Complément: une pomme

Il est grand.
He is tall.
Sujet: Il
Verbe: est
Complément: grand

Now you can try some of your own, using the still very small word bank up above.

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Back to Languages or the Elftown Academy

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2003-03-15 [fallen angel of the sea]: he he very cute

2003-03-16 [Supreme Dictator]: hey!!! I know French! =P

2003-03-16 [dilandau]: well then u dont need the class do u?

2003-03-16 [Supreme Dictator]: lol nah, but Evi's my friend

2003-03-16 [dilandau]: well thats different then

2003-03-20 [SsrVoice]: Bonjour! Je m'appelle Suzánne, Je suis reine du monde. J'aime dormir. Je dois aller, merci beaucoup. Au revoir

2003-03-21 [Lozzenger2]: Je ne comprend pas O_O

2003-03-21 [May-lea]: I made some updates about pronounciation and stuff (Evi gave me the authorisation)

2003-03-21 [dilandau]: ok

2003-03-21 [SsrVoice]: I said hi my name is Suzanne, I"m queen of the World and I like to sleep. I must go now thank you very much goodbye

2003-03-22 [dilandau]: sorry lexi but im already failing algebra in real life. besides if ur 13 then i prolly already know everything ur teaching.

2003-03-23 [dilandau]: well i was close. . . . sorry.

2003-03-27 [Sallywag]: i'm doin A-level maths IRL so if anyone wants any help i'm happy to lend a hand

2003-03-30 [Naziworm]: hey

2003-04-06 [ally]: Wouldn't it be better if we 'd introduce ourselves here, so other students can read it too? Just a humble suggestion.

2003-04-06 [Close Tightly]: yea...uh, is this class closed? cuz there hasn't been any updates on it forever

2003-04-11 [Supreme Dictator]: I think that I should be the new teacher.

2003-04-12 [elfton]: maybe your right dictator because the teacher we have now has no plans on updating this lesson. I asked if there were going to be more lessons and she told me no.

2003-04-13 [Close Tightly]: go amy!! lol go amy!! yea there should be more lessons....amy you're the teacher now teach us stuff

2003-04-17 [Close Tightly]: Amy, vous devez être l'enseignant. Evi n'a pas mis à jour la page et si ceci est toutes les leçons il y a bien alors, j'ai un sentiment que je ne suis pas gonna peut parler beaucoup de Français! Haha..

2003-04-17 [Close Tightly]: Translation: Amy, you should be the teacher. Evi hasn't been updating the page and if this is all the lessons there is well then, I have a feeling that I'm not gonna be able to speak much French! Haha...

2003-04-17 [Sallywag]: i thought that was pretty good actually...why you taking french classes on here?! (ps, i'm not gonna be able to = je ne pourrai pas = i will not be able to)

2003-04-17 [May-lea]: Would you want me to be the new teacher? I'm french... if so send me a message

2003-04-17 [Close Tightly]: well yea but I used an online translator to type that lol

2003-04-19 [Sallywag]: tsk tsk thats shocking! if you're going to use those things you can't use slang and incorrect spellings and shit :P

2003-04-19 [Close Tightly]: yea I know that's why I'm not gonna be use it again lol

2003-04-19 [Supreme Dictator]: yes I am the new teacher, so when I get home from Bubblez house (which I'm at right now) I will update it. Maybe. Actually, I think that I will just kinda start a lesson plan, because it's Easter Break, and I don't have my French book with me, so yeah. I am the new French teacher.

2003-05-16 [Naziworm]: Amy you can have it i cant do it ne more!

2003-11-26 [zeb]: hey teachers I think you should teach them a bit less familiar dialect like in lesson 1 '' tu t'appelles comment?'' should be like '' comment t'appelles tu?'' well i think that's how you should start

2003-12-15 [Sallywag]: perhaps we should get a native french speaker to teach us?

2003-12-15 [May-lea]: I proposed a few month ago... Nobody answered.

2003-12-15 [Sallywag]: well i'd be happy to do it but i've only got up to A-level standard. i'm not fluent enough to teach anyone else :P

2004-02-15 [Amanar]: When was the last lesson?

2004-03-18 [Tarurih]: I would like to learn french, is there going to be more lessons? I've wanted to learn french for the longest time.

2004-04-08 [}i{Fairie]: amy good job... Very informative. It helped me brush up on my basics.

2004-04-18 [Savior of the Broken]: C`est très bien mais tu devrais montrer comment prononcer quelques lettres comme le R ou lu QU ou peut-être d`autres regles de grammaires puisqu`il y en a plusieurs et qu`elles sont importantes dans la langue francaise.

2004-04-18 [Savior of the Broken]: I`ve been speaking French since I was a baby! I even go to a French school and write french stories!

2004-04-18 [Amanar]: I actually understood what you just wrote! I study French at school, but I don't really get to use it much...

2004-04-18 [Amanar]: La nuit, touts les chats sont gris (;

2004-04-18 [Savior of the Broken]: je connais tellement le francais que les wiki que j`ai créé sont refaits en francais par moi! Vive le francais!

2004-04-18 [May-lea]: Il y a encore de petites fautes d'orthographe et de grammaire. ;) A moins qu'elles ne soient des fautes de frappe?

2004-04-28 [papertrail89]: Je comprenez! c'est tres gener! vous aime le francais? j'aime le francais, et je veux apprendre plus!

2004-05-10 [Amanar]: Moi aussi! Vive le francais!

2004-10-09 [ballerina_fairy]: helllllllllllloooooooooooo i wanna learn french 2 ^_^

2004-10-12 [Death's Die-Ary]: So what is the latest Lesson?

2004-11-08 [ballerina_fairy]: bonjour,mom nom est nadine

2004-11-08 [herrschneemann]: Bonjour Nadine, comment vas-tu?

2004-11-08 [ballerina_fairy]: Je vais bien, merci, et toi?

2004-11-08 [herrschneemann]: Très bien, merci. Où habites-tu?

2004-11-08 [herrschneemann]: If you want to practice numbers, make a number up and try to write it here, and I'll tell you if you wrote it right or wrong

2004-11-09 [ballerina_fairy]: Je vais bien.

2004-11-10 [herrschneemann]: I asked you where you live :)

2004-11-10 [Sunrose]: *live :p

2004-11-10 [herrschneemann]: lol, thanks rose

2004-11-10 [Sunrose]: welome! ;)

2004-11-10 [ballerina_fairy]: :( soz

2004-11-10 [herrschneemann]: hey that's ok, you're here to learn remember :)

2004-11-11 [ballerina_fairy]: \:)*huggles*

2004-11-11 [ballerina_fairy]: Quelle heure est-il?

2004-11-11 [Death's Die-Ary]: 9h00

2004-11-11 [herrschneemann]: nooooo :P I can't tell if you understood if you write it in numbers and abbrievations!

2004-11-11 [herrschneemann]: Il est deux heure et trente-deux.

2004-11-11 [herrschneemann]: uh-oh, I forgot an aspect of telling time

2004-11-12 [Death's Die-Ary]: LOL

2004-11-20 [Faery]: Tu fais des fautes Herrschneemann!!

2004-11-20 [ballerina_fairy]: ...ehh

2004-11-20 [herrschneemann]: en Français ou en Anglais?

2004-11-20 [Faery]: en Français. Vingt et un prend pas de trait d'union! À moins que la règle ait changé depuis que je suis allée à la petite école...

2004-11-20 [Faery]: What is your name, je dirais plutôt "quel est" au lieu de "c'est quoi"

2004-11-21 [herrschneemann]: très vrai! Vingt et un j'avoue que je ne m'en rappele plus trop, mais je sais que la réforme de 92 nous permet de mettre des traits d'unions partout, genre trois-cent-quatre-vingt-onze

2004-11-21 [herrschneemann]: quoique, je ne suis pas sûr non plus si c'est nécessairement une faute de dire "C'est quoi ton nom", mais c'est laid pareil.

2004-11-21 [ballerina_fairy]: eh?????

2004-12-12 [Death's Die-Ary]: je voudrais une promenade? does that make sense?

2004-12-12 [Faery]: what are you meaning? (in english)

2004-12-12 [Death's Die-Ary]: something stupid,lol i just realized it made no sense

2004-12-12 [herrschneemann]: Well, what you said was I would like a walk. It sounds very normal the way you wrote it in French.

2004-12-12 [Faery]: but there are subtelties in french... you would have to say "je voudrais prendre une marche" or "je voudraisfaire une marche". You need to add auxilaries, which you will see a little later I guess...

2004-12-12 [Death's Die-Ary]: oh okay that makes sense.

2004-12-18 [Elegy - gone]: vous enseignez le français canadien, ou? parce que je trouve que c'est un peu différent que le français j'apprend ici en belgique...

2004-12-19 [May-lea]: Le français belge est différent pour les nombres, n'est-ce-pas? Septante, octante et nonante? Les nobres inscrits ci-dessus sont aussi ceux que l'on emploie en France...

2004-12-19 [Elegy - gone]: oui, tu as raison^_^ mais on n'utilise pas octante, c'est seulement en Suisse qu'il fait ca... ^_^

2004-12-19 [herrschneemann]: Eh bien j'enseigne le Français canadien ici, parce que c'est celui que j'ai appri ^^

2004-12-19 [Elegy - gone]: hehe... c'est logique^_^

2004-12-19 [May-lea]: Ah bon? Alors les belges utilisent quatre-vingts pour 80?

2004-12-19 [Elegy - gone]: oui^_^

2004-12-19 [herrschneemann]: j'trouve pas ça très pratique comme concepte personnellement "quatre-vingts" ou "soixante-dix". Ça s'écrirait beaucoup mieux si il y avait un nom séparé pour 70, 80 et 90.

2004-12-20 [May-lea]: C'est le cas chez les Suisses. Mais maintenant, comment changer des siècles d'usage de cette manière de compter..?

2004-12-20 [herrschneemann]: c'est vrai, il y a eu une réforme dans les années 80 ou 90 et encore à ce jour elle est à peine utilisé (des trucs pratiques comme on peut mettre des traits d'union entre tous les adjectifs numérals ou la supression d'accent circonflex sur les u et les i)

2004-12-21 [Death's Die-Ary]: what did u guys just say ? O_O

2004-12-22 [herrschneemann]: someone asked what type of French I was teaching, and I answered Canadian French, then we drifted a little

2004-12-22 [Death's Die-Ary]: oh okay that makes sense.

2005-02-25 [Pinkdonkey]: hi, i'm french and i just wanted to know if there's any differences between canadian french and "french" french ? oh and i noticed a few mistakes : you forgot to add "s" at the end of "il est trois heure" (lesson 3) and i wanted to point out you don't have to say "et" when saying the time. but it's a minor detail and i understand if you have to simplify things so that people don't get too mixed up. otherwise i think your lessons are well done :)

2005-02-25 [herrschneemann]: Well the thing about putting an "s" at the end of hour I really wasn't sure, though I'm farely confident that here we put the "et" between the hour and minutes. Then again, it could be a regional mistake. French is so pointy, as opposed to English where you can't find one TV show or movie that follows the rules perfectly. Fooe.

2005-02-25 [herrschneemann]: I'm not saying the English language is wrong, just saying how easier it is in English.

2005-03-08 [megster_08]: bonjour, je mappelle meghan et toi

2005-03-08 [herrschneemann]: Bonjour Meghan, je m'appelle Fred. Comment vas-tu?

2005-03-27 [Blaithin]: Allo, comment alles-vous?

2005-03-27 [Blaithin]: I don't even know if I said that right lol

2005-03-27 [Death's Die-Ary]: it's *allez,but u have it good.

2005-03-27 [Blaithin]: oh hehe

2005-11-30 [sequeena_rae]: Oh wow YAY! Hehe sorry had a moment there XD

2008-07-09 [Aura Darklight]: Bonjour, comma est. this makes much more since than my french class did. It was not the teachers fault that she had to tearch three levels of fracais at the same time it is a very good place to reveiw the French I have already learned

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