[Drapeaux] You too can learn French !
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Created by Jacques LΘon
Page design by Roberth Andersson
Lesson 6 - The Family
Some sound files of this lesson are not available yet but I thought that it
was worth releasing this lesson because I know how eager to learn French
you are. The missing sound files will be added very soon.
Lesson plan :
* Vocabulary
* Conversation
* Notes on Pronunciation
* Notes on Vocabulary
* Grammar
* Liaisons Guideline
Vocabulary
Nouns
* [headphone]le pΦre (the father)
* [headphone]la mΦre (the mother)
* [headphone]papa (daddy)
* [headphone]maman (mummy)
* [headphone]le frΦre (the brother)
* [headphone]la soeur (the sister)
* [headphone]le fils [fiss] (the son)
* [headphone]la fille (the daughter, the girl)
* [headphone]le garτon(the boy)
* [headphone]un enfant / les enfants (a child / the children)
* [headphone]Monsieur (Mr.) / abrΘviation M. (abbreviation M.)
* [headphone]Madame (Mrs.) / abrΘviation Mme. (abbreviation Mme.)
* [headphone]la famille (the family)
* nom (name, last name, surname)
* prΘnom (first name, given name)
* Γge (age)
Verbs
* appeler (to call)
* habiter (to live)
Conversation
Following is a short text describing the Dupont family ... in French off
course !
[headphone]Monsieur et Madame Dupont ont deux enfants
Mr. and Mrs. Dupont have two children
[headphone]Ils ont un garτon et une fille
They have a boy and a girl
[headphone]Le garτon s'appelle Pierre.
The boy is called Pierre
[headphone]La soeur de Pierre s'appelle Caroline
Pierre's sister is called Caroline
Conversation
L'institutrice : [headphone]Comment t'appelles-tu ?
The teacher : What's your name (literally: How are you called ?)
Pierre : [headphone]
Pierre : My name is Pierre (literally: I am called Pierre)
L'institutrice : [headphone]Quel Γge as-tu ?
The teacher : How old are you ?
Pierre : [headphone]J'ai dix ans
Pierre : I am ten
L'institutrice : [headphone]Est-ce que tu as des frΦres et soeurs ?
The teacher : Do you have any brother or sister ?
Pierre : [headphone]Oui. J'ai une soeur.
Pierre : Yes, I have one sister
L'institutrice : [headphone]Quel Γge a-t-elle ?
The teacher : How old is she ?
Pierre : [headphone]Elle a huit ans.
Piere : She is eight
L'institutrice : [headphone]Quel est ton nom de famille ?
The teacher :What's your family name ?
Pierre :Dupont
Pierre : Dupont
L'institutrice : [headphone]O∙ est-ce que tu habites ?
The teacher : Where do you live ?
Pierre : [headphone]J'habite α Toulouse
Pierre : I live in Toulouse
Notes on Pronunciation
1. One of the major characteristics of French pronunciation is the usage
of what we call in French liaisons. Liaisons are links between words.
As mentioned in the first lesson ("Guidelines for French
Pronunciation"), most of the time, the final character of a word is
not pronounced. This rule is generally true but its scope is limited
to separate words. When words are assembled in a sentence, this rule
is no longer applicable. Consider two words, for instance trois
(three) andenfant (child). Each separate word is pronounced like this
: [headphone] trois, [headphone] enfant. When put side by side
(trois enfants), both words are pronounced as if they were linked
together in only one word like this [headphone] trois_enfants
[troisenfan]. That's what we call a liaison. In the next lessons,
liaisons will be indicated by an underscore "_", but keep in mind that
the words linked by a liaison are two separate words.
You cannot use liaison between all words. A liaison takes place only
when the first word terminates with a consonant and when the second
word begins with a vowel. For example there is no liaison between
trois (three) and voiture (car). In addition, some consonants do not
sound a normal way when pronounced in a liaison.
o d sounds as t e.g. [headphone]grand_enfant [grantenfan] (tall
child),
2. x sounds as z e.g. [headphone]deux_enfants [deuzenfan] (two
children),
Unfortunately, as any good rule, the liaison rules have lots of
exceptions. In particular, some liaisons don't sound good or sound
very weird to a French ear and must be avoided. No logic can help non
French speaking people know whether a liaison must or must not be
done. I suggest you to rely on the indications I am going to add in
the further lessons, as mentioned above (underscore character). To get
liaison instructions for the conversation above, click here.
1. The consonant combination ll is very frequent in French. The way
you heave to pronounce it depends on the character that precedes
"ll" :
+ when preceded by a i , "ll" is pronounced the same way as in
Spanish, i.e. like a "y".
+ when preceded by a e, "ll" is pronounced like a "l" but
changes the sound of the "e" to "Φ".
+ when preceded by any other vowel (i.e. a, o, u), "ll" is
pronounced like a single "l".
3. Let's apply this rule to some words introduced in this lesson :
o [headphone]famille [famiye] (family), [headphone]fille [fiye]
(daughter, girl)
o [headphone]je m'appelle [apΦle] (I am called), elle [Φl'] (she)
o [headphone]balle [bal'] (ball)
* When you went through the above conversation you may have noticed a
new strange and weird character : τ. "τ" is called c cΘdille [ssΘdiye]
and is pronounced like two "s". Therefore garτon is pronounced
[garsson]. Some other usual words have a τ like : τa (this),
* The word fils (son) is pronounced as if the "l" was absent [fiss].
Notes on Vocabulary
1. French people have a prΘnom and a nom . The prΘnom is the first name
(USA) or given name (UK) while the nom is the last name (USA) or
surname (UK). The Pierre's prΘnom is Pierre. His nom is Dupont. The
last name (or surname) is also referred to as nom de famille (family
name).
2. To express the age of people, French people don't use the verb Ωtre
(to be) as English people do but the verb avoir (to have) instead.
Thus, we say :
o J'ai vingt ans (I am twenty)
o Tu as vingt ans (you are twenty)
o Il/elle a vingt ans (He/she/it is twenty)
o Nous avons vingt ans (We are twenty)
o Vous avez vingt ans (You are twenty)
o Ils/elles ont vingt ans (They are twenty)
3. Note that in French, one asks the age of people using the following
form : quel âge as-tu ? (literally : what age do you have ?).
Grammar
The conversation above illustrates two grammatical points : the usage of
the genitive and the possessive pronouns
Genitive
What is genitive ? Genitive is the grammatical name of something very
simple, in fact. Genitive denotes the ownership. In English the ownership
is indicated by adding 's to the owner when it is a human being, or by
using of when the owner is a thing. For example :
* Mr Dupont has two children, Pierre and Caroline. We can say that
Pierre and Caroline are Mr Dupont's children .
* When talking about the wheels which belong to a car we say : the
wheels of the car (and not the car's wheels).
In English, 's and of are used to denote the genitive form. In French, the
genitive form is indicated by de in the same way as the English of . For
instance :
* Monsieur Dupont a deux enfants, Pierre et Caroline (Mr Dupont has two
children, Pierre and Caroline). Pierre et Caroline sont les enfants de
Monsieur Dupont (Pierre and Caroline are Mr Dupont's children).
* Les roues de la voiture (the wheels of the acr).
In French, de is used to express ownership for either persons and things
(or animals).
Possessive Pronouns
In English possessive pronouns are : my, your, his/her/its, our, your,
their. Their French counterpart are more complex because they depend on the
gender and the number of the object owned by the owner. For example, when I
talk about my bicycle (vΘlo in French) I say mon vΘlo because vΘlo is a
masculine singular noun. When talking about my car (voiture in French) I
say ma voiture because voiture is a feminine singular noun. When talking
about my shoes (chaussures in French) I say mes chaussures because
chaussures is a plural noun. The following table shows how the possessive
pronouns vary according to the gender and the number. Note that when
plural, the possessive pronoun is the same whatever the gender.
----------------------------------------
Possessive masculine feminine plural
Pronoun singular singular
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my mon ma mes
your ton ta tes
his/her/its son sa ses
our notre notre nos
your votre votre vos
their leur leur leurs
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Note that as opposed to English, the French possessive pronouns don't
depend on the gender of the owner. Consider the Mr and Mrs Dupont's car.
Both Mr and Mrs Dupont say, when talking about their car : ma voiture .
In addition, let's review the sentences structure. The above conversation
contains two kinds of sentence structure : normal and interrogative.
* normal sentence : Monsieur et Madame Dupont ont deux enfants. The
components are : the subject (Monsieur et Madame Dupont), the verb
(ont) and the accusative or complΘment d'objet direct, thus following
the general pattern : SUBJECT + VERB + ACCUSATIVE
* interrogative sentence : O∙ est-ce que tu habites ? Where the subject
is "tu", the verb is "habites" and the interrogative conjunction is
"o∙". The sentence pattern is CONJUNCTION + est-ce que + VERB +
SUBJECT ? Note that the teacher could have used the other
interrogative sentence pattern : O∙ habites-tu ? (CONJUNCTION + VERB +
SUBJECT).
Liaisons Guidelines
Monsieur et Madame Dupont ont deux_enfants
Ils_ont un garτon et une fille
Le garτon s'appelle Pierre.
La soeur de Pierre s'appelle Caroline
L'institutrice : Comment t'appelles-tu ?
Pierre : Je m'appelle Pierre
L'institutrice : Quel_Γge as-tu ?
Pierre : J'ai dix_ans
L'institutrice : Est-ce que tu as des frΦres et soeurs ?
Pierre : Oui. J'ai une soeur.
L'institutrice : Quel_Γge a-t-elle ?
Pierre : Elle a huit_ans.
L'institutrice : Quel est ton nom de famille ?
Pierre :Dupont
L'institutrice : O∙ est-ce que tu habites ?
Pierre : J'habite α Toulouse
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