[Drapeaux] You too can learn French !
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Created by Jacques LΘon
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Lesson 5 - Sentences Structures
Now, it's time to build sentences. Stand alone words are rarely useful. To
express an idea, whether complex or not, you need to combine words in order
to build up sentences. French language distinguishes three basic sentence
structures : normal sentence structure, negative sentence structure and
interrogative sentence structure.
A typical French sentence is composed of the following elements :
* The people who or the thing which does the action : it is referred to
as the subject of the sentence.
* the action : this is the verb.
* the people who or the object which is affected by the action : this
element is usually called the accusative or complΘment d'objet direct
in French grammar. We're going to adopt the term accusative
(abbreviation : ACC).
* the circumtances under which the action takes place (the time, the
location, etc.) : this element is known as the complΘment
circonstanciel in French. We're going to call it circumstances
(abbreviation : CIR)
These elements play the role of elementary bricks that compose a sentence.
French, as English, is a positional language, i.e. the function played by
words in the sentence depends on their position in the sentence. So, each
kind of sentence is built according to a specific structure or framework.
These structures are very useful because they indicate the postition of the
various elements (various bricks) in a given kind of sentence (normal,
negative or interrogative). In the context of spoken language they work
pretty well. Written language is often more sophisticated than spoken
language and leads to more complicated sentences. Before reviewing the
various sentences structures in the present tense, let's introduce some
prepositions
1. Some Prepositions
* dans (in)
* α (to, at)
* de (from)
* sur (on)
Examples :
Je vis dans une grande ville (I live in a big city).
Les enfants vont α l'Θcole (The children are going to school).
Il vient de France (He comes from France).
Nous marchons sur la route (We are walking on the road).
2. Normal Sentences
The basic framework of a nomral sentence is :
SUBJECT + VERB + ACC + CIR
This structure is comparable to the English one. Examples :
subject verb ACC CIR meaning
Tu chantes une chanson dans la rue You sing a song in
the street
Il conduit la voiture tous les jours He drives the car
every day
Le boulanger vend le pain dans la boulangerie The baker sells
bread in the bakery
3. Negative Sentences
The basic framework of a negative sentence is :
SUBJECT + ne + VERB + pas + ACC + CIR The words ne ... pas play a role
similar to do not in English. While do not is located before the verb, in
French the verb is put inbetween ne and pas. Excepting this difference, the
structure of a French negative sentence is similar to its English
counterpart.
Examples :
* Tu ne chantes pas une chanson dans la rue.
* Il ne conduit pas la voiture tous les jours.
* Le boulanger ne vend pas de pain dans la boulangerie.
subject verb ACC CIR meaning
Tu ne chantes une dans la rue You do not sing a
pas chanson song in the street
Il ne conduit la voiture tous les jours He does not drive
pas the car every day
The baker does not
Le boulanger ne vend pas le pain dans la sell bread in the
boulangerie
bakery
4. Interrogative Sentences
The primary goal of interrogative sentences is to ask questions !! That's
what we call in French a "la palissade" or "un truisme" (something
obvious). When asking a question, you may want to know who (qui in French)
or what (que in French) is performing the action, when (quand in French)
the action is performed, how (comment in French) or where (o∙ in French) it
is performed, etc. Most of questions need an interrogative conjunction
which indicate what we want to know. The basic interrogative conjunctions
are :
* qui (who)
* que (what)
* pourquoi (why)
* comment (how)
* quand (when)
* o∙ (where)
* combien (how many, how much)
Compared to the normal and negative structures, the interrogative sentences
are a little bit more complicated. Basically, French language provides two
interrogative structures : a spoken laguage oriented structure and a
written language oriented one. As the spoken language is always simpler
than the written one, the first structure is easier to understand. So,
let's start with it.
The basic structure is :
Interrogative conjunction + est-ce que + SUBJECT + VERB + ACC + CIR + ?
Once again, the group of words est-ce que plays a role similar to do in the
English interrogative sentences. As we see, the structure of a French
interrogative sentence is similar to its English couterpart. Note that the
interrogative conjunction is optional depending on what you want to know.
Examples :
Question : Est-ce que tu chantes une chanson dans la rue ? (Do you sing a
song in the street ?
Answer : oui (yes) or non (no)
Question : Qu'est-ce que tu chantes dans la rue ? (What do you sing in the
street ?)
Answer : Je chante une chanson. (I sing a song)
Question : Est-ce qu'il conduit la voiture tous les jours ? (Does he drive
the car every day ?)
Answer : Oui, il condui la voiture tous les jours. (Yes, he drives the car
every day)
Question : Quand est-ce qu'il conduit la voiture ? (When does he drive the
car ?)
Answer : Il conduit la voiture tous les jours. (He drives the car every
day)
Question : Est-ce que le boulanger vend le pain dans la boulangerie ? (Does
the baker sell the bread in the bakery ?)
Answer : oui (yes) or non (no)
Question : Qui est-ce qui vend le pain dans la boulangerie ? (Who sells the
bread in the bakery ?)
Answer : Le boulanger. (The baker).
Question : Combien as-tu de frΦres ? (How many brothers do you have ?)
Answer : J'ai deux frΦres (I have two brothers) or simply : Deux (two).
Notes :
1. when que is followed by a word starting with a vowel, que is
contracted in qu' . This rule is illustrated in the examples Qu'est-ce
qu'il and Est-ce qu'il and is general. We have already mentioned the
same kind of contraction with the pronoun je (I) : je mange (I eat)
and j'achΦte (I buy).
2. when used with the conjunction qui (who) , est-ce que is replaced by
est-ce qui resulting in Qui est-ce qui . This alteration is not a
caprice of the French language but is conversely governed by strict
grammatical rules. The que and the qui we are talking about here
belong to the pronouns category, as we are going to see later in this
course.
3. Est-ce que does not depend on the gender nor the number of the subject
while the English do must respect the conjugation pattern of to do.
For the fisrt time, French is simpler than English !
4. in French, when you answer a question by only oui (yes) or non (no)
you are not required to repeat the subject and the verb as in English
(yes I do, no we don't, yes she does, etc.). However, it is not
grammatically incorrect to repeat the subject. You may want to do that
in order to emphasize your answer. If you do so, you have to repeat
all the words of the question Examples : Oui, je chante une chanson
(Yes, I do sing a song). Non, il ne conduit pas la voiture tous les
jours (No, he does not drive the car every day)
Now, we can introduce the second interrogative structure. Basically, this
strcuture consists of switching the position of the subject and the verb
like this :
Interrogative conjunction + VERB + - + SUBJECT + ACC + CIR + ?
Again, the interrogative conjunction is not mandatory. Examples :
Questions Answers
Chantes-tu une chanson dans la rue ? oui or non
O∙ chantes-tu une chanson ? Dans la rue
Que chantes-tu dans la rue ? Une chanson
Conduit-il la voiture tous les jours ? oui or non
Que conduit-il tous les jours ? La voiture
Quand conduit-il la voiture ? Tous les jours
It is very easy. However, the pattern only applies when the subject is a
pronoun (je, tu, il/elle, nous, vous, ils/elles). Otherwise, it is not so
straight forward. When the subject is not a pronoun, the interrogative
structucture is :
Interrogative conjunction + SUBJECT + VERB+ - + PRONOUN + ACC + CIR + ?
The pronoun which is added must be in accordance to the number and the
number of the subject.
Examples :
Normal sentence : Le Boulanger vend le pain dans la boulangerie.
Interrogative sentences
1. Le boulanger vend-il le pain la boulangerie ?
2. O∙ le boulanger vend-il le pain ?
3. Que le boulanger vend-il ?
Explanations : "Le boulanger" is masculine singular The corresponding
pronoun is "il"
Normal sentence : La boulangΦre vend le pain dans la boulangerie.
Interrogative sentences :
1. La boulangΦre vend-elle le pain dans la boulangerie ?
2. O∙ la boulangΦre vend-elle le pain ?
3. Que la boulangΦre vend-elle ?
Explanations : "La boulangΦre" is feminine and singular. The corresponding
pronoun is "elle"
Normal sentence : Les boulangΦres vendent le pain dans la boulangerie.
Interrogative sentences :
1. Les boulangΦres vendent-elles le pain dans la boulangerie ?
2. O∙ les boulangΦres vendent-ellesle pain ?
3. Que les boulangΦres vendent-elles ?
Explanaitons : "Les boulangΦres" is feminine and plural. The corresponding
pronoun is "elles"
Normal sentence : Le boulanger et la boulangΦre vendent le pain dans la
boulangerie.
Interrogative sentences :
1. Le boulanger et la boulangΦre vendent-ils le pain dans la boulangerie ?
2. O∙ le boulanger et la boulangΦre vendent-ils le pain ?
3. Que le boulanger et la boulangΦre vendent-ils ?
Explanations : "Le boulanger et la boulangΦre" is a subject which comprises
two people, therefore it is plural. As far as the gender is concerned, you
have to remember the macho rule " the masculine wins over the feminine ".
Consequently the gender of this subject is masculine. The corresponding
pronoun is then "ils"
This fifth lesson ends the grammatical core of the course. In the next
lessons, we're going to focus on the vocabulary and the language by itself
i.e. usual expressions, familiar expressions and idiomatic expressions.
Other major verb tenses (past, future and conditonal) will be introduce at
a steady pace. So don't miss the next lessons.
5. Exercises
Build up the neagtive and interrogative sentences for the following normal
sentences as shown in the example below :
* normal sentence : Pierre chante une chanson dans la rue (Pierre is
singing a song in the street)
* negative sentence : Pierre ne chante pas une chason dans la rue
(Pierre is not singing a song in the street)
* interrogative sentence #1 : O∙ Pierre chante t-il une chanson ? Answer
: dans la rue
* interrogative sentence #2 : Que chante Pierre dans la rue ? Answer :
une chanson
* interrogative sentence #3 : Qui chante une chanson dans la rue ?
Answer : Pierre
List of normal sentences :
1. Nous conduisons une voiture dans la ville (We're driving a car in the
city)
2. Monsieur et Madame Dupont habitent une maison α Toulouse (Mr. and Mrs
Dupont live in a house in Toulouse)
3. Elle achΦte un gΓteau dans la pΓtisserie (She buys a cake in the
bakery)
4. Les enfants jouent au football dans le jardin (The children play
soccer in the garden)
Click here to get the correction
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