1. Articles (Les Articles)

French has both definite and indefinite articles, and they must agree in gender and number with the nouns they accompany.

• Definite Articles (The): Used to refer to specific or known nouns.

  • Le (masculine singular): Le livre (the book)

  • La (feminine singular): La porte (the door)

  • Les (plural for both masculine and feminine): Les enfants (the children)

  • L’ (before a noun starting with a vowel or mute h): L’ami (the friend), L’histoire (the story)

• Indefinite Articles (A/An, Some): Used when referring to something non-specific.

  • Un (masculine singular): Un chien (a dog)

  • Une (feminine singular): Une voiture (a car)

  • Des (plural for both genders): Des fleurs (some flowers)

Note: The plural indefinite article des is used to refer to "some" or an unspecified number of objects, and unlike in English, it's often mandatory in French.

2. Nouns (Les Noms)

French nouns are gendered and classified as either masculine or feminine, which affects the articles, adjectives, and pronouns used with them.

• Masculine nouns: Usually take le or un.

  • Le garçon (the boy)

  • Un arbre (a tree)

• Feminine nouns: Usually take la or une.

  • La fille (the girl)

  • Une chaise (a chair)

• Plural nouns: Add an -s to most singular nouns to make them plural.

  • Le chat (the cat) → Les chats (the cats)

  • Une maison (a house) → Des maisons (some houses)

However, the plural -s is typically silent in French pronunciation.

3. Adjectives (Les Adjectifs)

French adjectives must agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify.

• Masculine Singular: The base form of most adjectives.

  • Un chat noir (a black cat)

• Feminine Singular: Usually formed by adding an -e.

  • Une voiture noire (a black car)

• Masculine Plural: Formed by adding -s to the masculine singular form.

  • Des chats noirs (black cats)

• Feminine Plural: Formed by adding -es to the feminine singular form.

  • Des voitures noires (black cars)

Some adjectives have irregular forms, such as:

• Beau (masculine) → Belle (feminine)

• Vieux (masculine) → Vieille (feminine)

Position of Adjectives: Most adjectives come after the noun, unlike in English. However, some short, common adjectives like grand (big), petit (small), beau (beautiful), and bon (good) come before the noun.

• Une grande maison (a big house)

• Un homme intelligent (an intelligent man)

4. Personal Pronouns (Les Pronoms Personnels)

Personal pronouns replace nouns and are essential in French grammar.

• Subject Pronouns:

  • Je (I)

  • Tu (you - informal)

  • Il/Elle (he/she)

  • Nous (we)

  • Vous (you - formal/plural)

  • Ils/Elles (they - masculine/feminine)

• Object Pronouns (direct and indirect):

  • Me (me), Te (you - informal), Le/La (him/her)

  • Nous (us), Vous (you - formal/plural), Les (them)

Example: Il me voit (He sees me), Elle te parle (She talks to you).

5. Verbs and Conjugation (Les Verbes et la Conjugaison)

French verbs are divided into three main groups based on their infinitive endings:

• First Group: -ER Verbs: Most common verb group.

  • Parler (to speak), Aimer (to love), Manger (to eat)

  • Present Tense Conjugation of Parler:

    • Je parle (I speak)

    • Tu parles (You speak)

    • Il/Elle parle (He/She speaks)

    • Nous parlons (We speak)

    • Vous parlez (You speak - formal/plural)

    • Ils/Elles parlent (They speak)

• Second Group: -IR Verbs:

  • Finir (to finish), Choisir (to choose)

  • Present Tense Conjugation of Finir:

    • Je finis (I finish)

    • Tu finis (You finish)

    • Il/Elle finit (He/She finishes)

    • Nous finissons (We finish)

    • Vous finissez (You finish)

    • Ils/Elles finissent (They finish)

• Third Group: -RE Verbs: Includes many irregular verbs.

  • Vendre (to sell), Attendre (to wait)

Auxiliary Verbs:

• Être (to be):

  • Je suis (I am), Tu es (You are), Il/Elle est (He/She is), Nous sommes (We are), Vous êtes (You are), Ils/Elles sont (They are)

• Avoir (to have):

  • J’ai (I have), Tu as (You have), Il/Elle a (He/She has), Nous avons (We have), Vous avez (You have), Ils/Elles ont (They have)

These auxiliary verbs are also used in the formation of compound tenses like the passé composé (e.g., J’ai mangé – I ate).

6. Negation (La Négation)

In French, to make a sentence negative, you place ne before the verb and pas after it.

• Je parle français (I speak French) → Je ne parle pas français (I don’t speak French).

When using avoir or être, the structure remains the same:

• Il a un livre (He has a book) → Il n’a pas de livre (He doesn’t have a book).

• Nous sommes contents (We are happy) → Nous ne sommes pas contents (We are not happy).

Note: In informal spoken French, the ne is often dropped, and only pas is used:

• Je sais pas (I don’t know), instead of Je ne sais pas.

7. Questions (Les Questions)

French has several ways to form questions:

• Using Est-ce que: Placing est-ce que before a statement turns it into a question.

  • Est-ce que tu parles français? (Do you speak French?)

• Inversion: Swapping the subject and verb.

  • Parles-tu français? (Do you speak French?)

• Rising intonation: Simply raising your voice at the end of a statement.

  • Tu parles français? (You speak French?)

When using inversion with il/elle, you must insert a -t- between the verb and pronoun if the verb ends in a vowel:

• Aime-t-il la musique? (Does he like music?)

8. Possessive Adjectives (Les Adjectifs Possessifs)

Possessive adjectives indicate ownership and agree in gender and number with the noun being possessed, not the possessor.

• My: Mon (masc), Ma (fem), Mes (plural)

  • Mon frère (my brother), Ma sœur (my sister), Mes amis (my friends)

• Your (informal): Ton (masc), Ta (fem), Tes (plural)

  • Ton livre (your book), Ta maison (your house), Tes voitures (your cars)

• His/Her: Son (masc), Sa (fem), Ses (plural)

  • Son père (his/her father), Sa mère (his/her mother), Ses enfants (his/her children)

Note: If the noun starts with a vowel or silent "h," you use the masculine form for phonetic reasons, regardless of the noun’s gender:

• Mon amie (my friend - feminine).

9. Prepositions (Les Prépositions)

Prepositions are used to indicate relationships between words, such as location or time. Common prepositions include:

• À (to, at, in): Je vais à Paris (I’m going to Paris)

• De (of, from): Je viens de France (I’m from France)

• Avec (with): Je parle avec lui (I speak with him)

• Pour (for): C’est pour toi (It’s for you)

Note: Some prepositions change when combined with the definite articles le and les:

• À + le = au: Je vais au cinéma (I’m going to the cinema).

• À + les = aux: Je vais aux États-Unis (I’m going to the United States).

• De + le = du: Je viens du marché (I’m coming from the market).

• De + les = des: Je viens des montagnes (I’m coming from the mountains).

10. Adverbs (Les Adverbes)

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Many French adverbs are formed by adding -ment to the feminine form of the adjective.

• Adjective: Lent (slow) → Adverb: Lentement (slowly)

• Adjective: Heureux (happy) → Adverb: Heureusement (happily)

Common adverbs:

• Bien (well), Mal (badly), Vite (quickly), Toujours (always), Souvent (often).