Learning French is hard, and it’s even harder if you don’t understand the basics of grammar in your own language. If your mind boggles when people start talking about nouns, adjectives, and other parts of speech, this lesson is for you.
Your main objective when learning French grammar should be to summarize a range of essential grammatical aspects. These aspects play a central role in the early stages when you learn to speak french.
Learn French Grammar
Beginning French grammar should begin with basic French vocabulary and simple sentence construction. There are eight parts of speech: adjectives, adverbs, articles, conjunctions, nouns, prepositions, pronouns, and verbs. Once you have a handle on the parts of speech, you need to introduce French sentences. A sentence (une phrase) is a group of words including at minimum a subject and a verb, and may also include any or all of the parts of speech.
Sentence Parts
Sentences can be separated into a subject (un sujet), which may be stated or implied, and a predicate (un prédicat). The subject is the person or thing performing the action, and the predicate is the rest of the sentence, which usually begins with the verb:
Je suis professeur – I am a teacher
Subject: je – I
Predicate: suis professeur – am a teacher
Sentence Types
There are four types of sentences: statements, exclamatives, interrogatives, and commands.
Statement – Phrase assertive or Phrase déclarative
Statements, the most common type of sentence, state something:
I am tired (Je suis fatigué)
I will help you (Je vous aiderai)
There are two subcategories of statements: affirmative statements – les phrases (déclaratives) affirmatives, as above, and negative statements – les phrases (déclaratives) négatives:
I’m not tired (Je ne suis pas fatigué)
I don’t want to help you (Je ne veux pas vous aider)
Exclamative – Phrase exclamative
Exclamatives express a strong reaction such as surprise or indignation. They look just like statements except for the exclamation point, and for this reason may be considered a subcategory of statements, rather than a different type of sentence:
I want to go! (Je veux y aller !)
I hope so! (J’espère que oui !)
Interrogative – Phrase interrogative
Interrogatives, more commonly known as questions, ask for or about something:
Do you have my book? (As-tu mon livre ?)
Are they ready? (Sont-ils prêts ?)
Command – Phrase impérative
Commands are the only kind of sentence without an explicit subject; instead, the subject is implied by the conjugation of the verb, which is in the imperative:
Go away! (Va t’en !)
Help us find it (Aidez-nous à le trouver)*
*à and le do not contract to au here because le is an object, not an article.
When you are just starting out, trying to learn French grammar, you should start like many school teachers do and start with basic greetings and introductions by modeling Bonjour, je m’appelle. If you apply the right tools and dedication it is not hard to learn French grammar.
{ 0 comments }