in association with Step by Step Simplified FRENCH GRAMMAR Booklet 1 Le Verbe. Qu’est-Ce que C’est? By Delphine O’Brien
Nov 05, 2015
in association with
Step by Step Simplified
FRENCH GRAMMAR
Booklet 1
Le Verbe. Quest-Ce que Cest?
By
Delphine OBrien
Grammar Booklet
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Grammar Booklet 1 The Verb
Delphine OBrien, 2013 published by myFrench.ie
Grammar Booklet
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Grammar Booklet 1 The Verb
Delphine OBrien, 2013 published by myFrench.ie
Introduction 4
What's a Verb? 5
What's an Infinitive Verb? 5
3 Ways to Use the infinitive Verb 6
2 Auxiliary Verbs in French : ETRE and AVOIR 6
What's a Pronominal Verb? 8
List of the Most Common Pronominal Verbs 9
En Rsum : 5 Things You Need to Know about the Verb 10
Au Travail! 2 Different Ways to Practice 11
Appendix : Solutions aux Activits 14
A Note about the Author 16
Copyrights 17
You might Also Like 18
Table of Contents
Grammar Booklet
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Grammar Booklet 1 The Verb
Grammar. Just saying or reading the word makes most of the learners
panic! People have a negative feeling about French grammar. They have
heard about irregular verbs, weird tenses, nouns and gender
Thats why this booklet concentrates only on one grammar subject and is
compiled with only very simplified grammatical points.
You will be guided step by step and all the points are defined and
explained.
At the end of each mini lesson, you will be able to test your knowledge
and learn new vocabulary by working with cultural and authentic
literary texts.
Grammar, which knows how to control even kings. Molire
Introduction: A Word about Grammar
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Grammar Booklet 1 The Verb
What is a verb?
In French, a verb is called un verbe.
1. Un verbe could be the most important part of a sentence. Je pleure = I cry
2. The verb asserts, tells something about the subject of the sentence.
3. A verb expresses feelings, state of beings, actions or events.
4. The verb represents the chronology and the temporality of the action.
5. A verb has to be conjugated to do its work properly. It indicates if the action was in the
past, if the action is finished or starting, if the action is on-going, if the action is repeated
and if the action will take place in the future.
What is an infinitive verb/un verbe linfinitif?
We could say that linfinitif is the surname of the verb, its identity.
In English, the infinitive of a verb starts with to + the verb: to eat. Its also called full
verb.
In French, linfinitif is a single word with one of the following endings:
-ER manger (to eat)
-IR finir (to finish)
-RE rendre (to give back)
Grammar Booklet
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Grammar Booklet 1 The Verb
1. After a conjugated verb:
This one is very important to remember:
In French, the second, third, etc verb that comes after the first conjugated verb is
always an infinitive.
Je veux danser. -ER ending because veux is the conjugated verb vouloir
You will find an infinitive verb after a conjugated verb but not after an auxiliary / un auxiliaire (avoir or tre).
Jai aim ce film. NO -ER ending because ai is the auxiliaire avoir.
2. After a preposition : Cest difficile de se concentrer avec tout ce bruit! Its hard to concentrate with all
this noise!
Il y aura boire et manger. There will be food and drinks.
3. As a noun: Prendre une dcision importante ce nest jamais facile. Making an important
decision is never easy.
What is an auxiliary verb?
1. ETRE
The verb tre as an auxiliary is used to conjugate all the verbs at the passive voice.
Voix active: Elsa mange un gteau au chocolat. Elsa eats a chocolate cake.
Voix passive: Le gteau au chocolat est mang par Elsa. The chocolate cake is eaten by Elsa.
3 Ways to Use the Infinitive
2 Auxiliary Verbs in French: ETRE and AVOIR
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Grammar Booklet 1 The Verb
It can also be used to conjugate compound tenses / les temps composs of all the
pronominal verbs (shabiller = to get dressed).
Je me suis habill(e). I got dressed.
It is used to conjugate all the compound tenses (like le pass-compos) of some
intransitive verbs.
Il est rentr de France samedi soir. He came back from France Saturday night.
2. AVOIR
The verbe avoir as an auxiliary is used to conjugate all the compound tenses
of the transitive verbs.
Nous avons march toute la journe. We walked all day.
It is also used to conjugate all the compound tenses of the most of the intransitive
verbs.
Jai couru vers elle. I ran towards her.
It is used to form the compound forms of the verbs tre and avoir.
Jai eu de bons rsultats mes examens. I got great results at my exams.
Jai t trs content de mon sjour Nantes. I was very happy with my trip to Nantes.
Attention! tre and avoir are also verbs not only auxiliaries.
tre means to be, to exist.
Avoir means to possess, to own.
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Grammar Booklet 1 The Verb
What is a pronominal verb / un verbe pronominal?
Un verbe pronominal is a verb that is built with a reflexive pronoun (me, te, se,
nous, vous) : se laver, sendormir
Se lever To get up
Je me lve Nous nous levons
Tu te lves Vous vous levez
Il/ Elle se lve Ils/ Elles se lvent
1. The reflexive verb / le verbe rflexif
The subject does the action itself.
Je me brosse les dents. I brush my teeth (myself)
2. The idiomatic verb / le verbe idiomatique
This type of verb does not represent reflexive actions.
The verbs s'ennuyer (to be bored) and se tromper (to make a mistake) have idiomatic
meanings.
It is still the subject that experiences the action but without acting physically on it.
Il sennuie. He is bored.
Ils se sont tromps. They made a mistake.
3. The reciprocal verb / le verbe rciproque
It expresses a reciprocal action between more than one person.
Nous nous disputons tout le temps. We argue with each other all the time.
Ils se sont aims pendant 55 ans. They loved each other during 55 years.
3 Categories of Pronominal Verbs
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Grammar Booklet 1 The Verb
Les verbes rciproques Les verbes rflexifs Les verbes idiomatiques
se regarder
to look at each other
se rveiller
to wake up
se souvenir de
to remember
sembrasser
to kiss
se lever
to get up
se tromper
to make a mistake
saimer
to love each other
se laver
to wash
se trouver
to be situated
se quitter
to leave each other
se brosser
to brush
se passer
to happen
se retrouver
to meet each other
shabiller
to get dressed
samuser
to have fun
se tlphoner
to phone each other
sappeler
to be called
se marier
to get married
se parler
to talk to each other
se promener
to go for a walk
se reposer
to rest
se disputer
to argue
sarrter
to stop
sendormir
to fall asleep
se dtester
to hate each other
sasseoir
to sit down
se taire
to be silent
se coucher
to go to bed
se fcher
to get angry
sentendre
to get along
List of the Most Common Pronominal Verbs
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Grammar Booklet 1 The Verb
En Rsum: 5 Things You Need to Know
about
French Verbs
1. A verb expresses feelings, state of beings, actions or events.
2. The verb represents the chronology and the temporality of the
action.
3. A verb has to be conjugated to do its work properly.
4. The verb identity is its infinitive.
5. There are different types of verb (pronominal, transitive,
intransitive, auxiliary).
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Grammar Booklet 1 The Verb
This is now the time for you to practice and check your understanding of the lesson.
Two different types of exercises are offered, each of them will give you grammatical and
cultural knowledge.
ACTIVITE 1
Here are 10 sentences.
1. Find the verbs for each sentence.
2. For each verb, write its identity card: its group (-ER, -IR,-RE verb), its temporality
(present, future), its meaning.
1. Il y a de plus en plus de criminalit Lyon.
2. La drogue a t le plus grand flau des annes 80.
EXEMPLE
1. Je voudrais que tu me dises la vrit.
voudrais : irregular verb vouloir, conditionnel, to want
dises : verb dire, subjonctif, to tell, to say
Au travail! : 2 Different Ways to Practice
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Grammar Booklet 1 The Verb
3. Il est parti sans laisser dadresse.
4. Si jtais Paris, je visiterais le Chteau de Versailles.
5. Je prends lavion demain pour Milan.
6. Je tenverrai une lettre ds mon arrive !
7. Elle marchait dans la fort. Elle cria.
8. Quand il sera grand, il veut tre avocat.
9. Ils sont alls faire les vendanges.
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ACTIVITE 2
Texte adapt du roman de Guy De Maupassant Le Horla (1887)
http://abu.cnam.fr/cgi-bin/go?horla3
8 mai. - Quelle journe admirable ! J'ai pass toute la matine tendu sur l'herbe,
devant ma maison, sous l'norme platane qui la couvre, l'abrite et l'ombrage tout
entire. J'aime ce pays, et j'aime y vivre parce que j'y ai mes racines, ces profondes et
dlicates racines, qui attachent un homme la terre o sont ns et morts ses aeux,
qui l'attachent ce qu'on pense et ce qu'on mange, aux usages comme aux
nourritures, aux locutions locales, aux intonations des paysans, aux odeurs du sol,
des villages et de l'air lui-mme.
J'aime ma maison o j'ai grandi. De mes fentres, je vois la Seine qui coule, le long de
mon jardin, derrire la route, presque chez moi, la grande et large Seine qui va de
Rouen au Havre, couverte de bateaux qui passent.
A gauche, l-bas, Rouen, la vaste ville aux toits bleus, sous le peuple pointu des
clochers gothiques. Ils sont innombrables, frles ou larges, domins par la flche de
fonte de la cathdrale, et pleins de cloches qui sonnent dans l'air bleu des belles
matines, jetant jusqu' moi leur doux et lointain bourdonnement de fer, leur chant
d'airain que la brise m'apporte, tantt plus fort et tantt plus affaibli, suivant qu'elle
s'veille ou s'assoupit.
1. Make a list of all the verbs at the present tense with their meaning.
2. Find all the pronominal verbs and their meaning.
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Grammar Booklet 1 The Verb
ACTIVITE 1
1. Il y a de plus en plus de criminalit Lyon. a : auxiliaire avoir, prsent, to have
2. La drogue a t le plus grand flau des annes 80. a t : auxiliaire tre, pass-compos, to be
3. Il est parti sans laisser dadresse. est parti : -IR verbe, pass-compos, to go laisser : infinitif, to leave
4. Si jtais Paris, je visiterais le Chteau de Versailles. tais : auxiliaire tre, imparfait, to be visiterais : ER verbe, conditionnel, to visit
5. Je prends lavion demain pour Milan. prends : -RE verbe irrgulier prendre, prsent, to take
6. Je tenverrai une lettre ds mon arrive ! enverrai : -ER verbe irrgulier envoyer, futur, to send
7. Elle marchait dans la fort. Elle cria. marchait : -ER verbe rgulier marcher, imparfait, to walk cria : -ER verbe rgulier crier, passe-simple, to shout
Appendix
Solutions aux activits sur le Verbe
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Grammar Booklet 1 The Verb
8. Quand il sera grand, il veut tre avocat. sera : auxiliaire tre, futur, to be veut : verbe irrgulier vouloir, prsent, to want
9. Ils sont alls faire les vendanges. sont alls : verbe irrgulier aller, pass-compos, to go ACTIVITE 2
1. Make a list of all the verbs at the present tense with their meaning.
1. couvre, verbe couvrir = to cover
2. abrite, verbe abriter = to shelter
3. ombrage, verbe ombrager = to overshadow
4. aime, verbe aimer = to like
5. ai, verbe avoir = to have
6. attachent, verbe attacher = to link, to connect
7. pense, verbe penser = to think
8. mange, verbe manger = to eat
9. vois, verbe voir = to see
10. va, verbe aller = to go
11. sonnent, verbe sonner = to ring
12. apporte, verbe apporter = to bring
13. s'veille, verbe sveiller = to be become aware of, to wake up to
14. s'assoupit, verbe sassoupir = to nod off
2. Find all the pronominal verbs and their meaning.
3. s'veille, verbe sveiller = to be become aware of, to wake up to
4. s'assoupit, verbe sassoupir = to nod off
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Grammar Booklet 1 The Verb
Delphine OBrien is a native French speaker who has been living in Ireland for the last 10 years. She is a mum of 2 girls so she experiences on a daily basis the richness and also the challenge that language interaction and bilingualism bring into our lives.
She has been teaching French & French as a Second Language (FSL) both in France and in Ireland for 15 years. She has taught as a secondary school teacher (from 1st to 6th years) and is experienced in marking written exam papers and the Leaving Cert Oral exam.
In France, she studied French linguistics & literature, English linguistics, culture & literature, childrens French literature, child psychology and qualified with a Degree in French as a Second Language Teacher and in a MA in Intercultural Sciences of Education.
She is now a freelance FSL Tutor and she gives online private tuitions to Secondary Schools Students, Adults Learners + Primary School, Homeschooled & Bilingual Children.
When she is not teaching online, she creates e-courses for Leaving Cert Students, runs them on my website and writes e-books to help students succeed in their exam.
She also writes and records Podcasts in French about what is happening on the French scene, promoting the intercultural and human aspect that lies behind the linguistic and theoretical domains of learning a foreign language.
A Note about the Author
Delphine OBrien is a native French speaker who has been living in Ireland for the last 10 years. She is a mum of 2 girls so she experiences on a daily basis the richness and also the challenge that language interaction and bilingualism bring into our lives.
She has been teaching French & French as a Second Language (FSL) both in France and in Ireland for 15 years. She has taught as a secondary school teacher (from 1st to 6th years) and is experienced in marking written exam papers and the Leaving Cert Oral exam.
In France, she studied French linguistics & literature, English linguistics, culture & literature, childrens French literature, child psychology and qualified with a Degree in French as a Second
Language Teacher and in a MA in Intercultural Sciences of Education.
She is now a freelance FSL Tutor and she gives online private tuitions to Secondary Schools Students, Adults Learners + Primary School, Homeschooled & Bilingual Children.
When she is not teaching online, she creates e-courses for Leaving Cert Students, runs them on my website and writes e-books to help students succeed in their exam.
She also writes and records Podcasts in French about what is happening on the French scene, promoting the intercultural and human aspect that lies behind the linguistic and theoretical domains of learning a foreign language.
Grammar Booklet
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Grammar Booklet 1 The Verb
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Copyrights
Grammar Booklet
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Grammar Booklet 1 The Verb
You might also like
Grammar Booklet
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Grammar Booklet 1 The Verb
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