French Level 1
Let's begin with a quick review:  Track 6
The graph below combines the forms of the verb "être" and the emotion/feeling words into sentences. Check them out: Track 7
Now let's make all of the above phrases negative: Track 8
Take a look back at the last two phrases, the ones with the stars**. Do you notice anything different about the emotion/feeling words in the phrases that did not appear on the picture chart in the last leçon? The words (pronouns), "nous" and "elles" represent more than one person. Notice what happened to the end of the emotion/feeling (adjective) word. We added an "s". Here is a very important rule you need to remember for writing French: Whenever we use the verb, "être" and it is followed by an adjective, the adjective must always agree, in every way, with the pronoun. This means that if the pronoun is singular the adjective is singular. If the pronoun is plural, the adjective must also become plural. If the pronoun, is masculine or feminine, the adjective becomes masculine or feminine. Now, let's suppose that we used the actual name of the person instead of a pronoun. The same rules still apply as those above. This means that should we have the name of only one person, the adjective is singular. If the person named is a male or a female, the adjective in the sentence must agree with the gender of the person that it describes. What if we have more than one name? The adjective used becomes plural. These new concepts provide a perfect segueway to the next part of the leçon. You remember that I told you that making emotion/feeling words masculine and feminine is very important in writing French. What about speaking French? The answer to the question is that the addition of the letter "s" is not as important in spoken French because an "s" on the endings of words ending are usually silent (Only if the next word does not start with a vowel). Take another look at each of the pictures and words below. Say each word shown in a sentence containing each of the "être" forms above, both masculine and feminine, affirmative and negative (don't worry, only you and I will know that you said all of these words as if you were the "other" gender. Remember, it's only for practice!) For example: you will say "je suis" and "je ne suis pas" for each word in the masculine form, then use "je suis" and "je ne suis pas" for each word in the feminine form. Then use "tu es" and "tu n'es pas" for each word, masculine and feminine, then "il est", "il n'est pas" then "elle est" and "elle n'est pas" then...well, you get the picture. If you don't remember how to say all of the words, listen to CD #2, Track 8 for the sentences above and CD #2, Track 5 for the words shown with pictures below and combine them into sentences by memory. Keep working on the new phrases until you are comfortable with them. Relax! Take your time! We're in no big rush! I'll see you in Leçon 2a when you're finished. Bonne Chance!
Track 5
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