Mot du Jour: Irriter (Irritate)

Pocket Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary © 2005 Oxford University Press:

irriter /iʀite/

I.transitive verb
1.to irritate, to annoy;
2.Med to irritate.

II.s'irriter reflexive verb (+ v être)
1.to get angry;
2.Med to become irritated.

Mot du Jour: Livre (Book)

Pocket Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary © 2005 Oxford University Press:

livre1 /livʀ/ masculine noun
book;
c'est mon ~ de chevet it's my bedside book;
figurative it's my bible.

COMPOUNDS:
~ blanc blue book;
~ de bord logbook;
~ d'or visitors' book;
~ de poche® paperback;
~ scolaire schoolbook.
livre2 /livʀ/ feminine noun

1.pound;
~ sterling pound sterling;
~ irlandaise Irish pound, punt;
2.(unit of weight) half a kilo;
(in UK) pound.

livrer /livʀe/

I.transitive verb
1.to deliver [goods];
~ qn to deliver sb's order;
2.to hand [sb] over [criminal];
to betray [accomplice, secret];
3.être livré à soi-même to be left to one's own devices;
4.il nous livre un peu de lui-même he reveals something of himself.

II.se livrer reflexive verb (+ v être)
1.se ~ à un trafic de drogue to engage in drug trafficking;
2.se ~ à [criminal] to give oneself up to;
3.se ~ à un ami to confide in a friend.

Mot du Jour: Laver (To Wash)

Pocket Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary © 2005 Oxford University Press:
laver /lave/
transitive verb
to wash [clothes, child, car];~ son linge to do one's washing;~ la vaisselle to do the dishes;~ qch à grande eau to wash sth down;
to clean [wound];
to clear;~ qn d'une accusation to clear sb of an accusation.
se laver reflexive verb (+ v être)
to wash;se ~ les mains to wash one's hands;se ~ les dents to brush one's teeth;
to be washable;
se ~ d'un affront to take revenge for an insult.

IDIOMS:
je m'en lave les mains I'm washing my hands of it.

Mot du Jour: Venir (To Come)

Pocket Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary © 2005 Oxford University Press:

venir /vəniʀ/

1. 1. venir de faire to have just done;
      elle vient de partir she's just left;
      ‘vient de paraître‘ (of book) ‘new!’;
   2. ~ aggraver la situation to make the situation worse;
   3. le ballon est venu rouler sous mes pieds the ball rolled up to my feet;
   4. s'il venait à pleuvoir if it should rain.

2. intransitive verb (+ v être)
   1. to come;
      ~ de to come from;
      ~ après/avant to come after/before;
      allez, viens! come on!;
      viens voir come and see;
      j'en viens I've just been there;
      je viens de sa part he/she sent me to see you;
      faire ~ qn to send for sb;
      to get sb to come;
      faire ~ le médecin to call the doctor;
      ça ne m'est jamais venu à l'idée it never crossed my mind;
      dans les jours à ~ in the next few days;
   2. en ~ à to come to;
      en ~ aux mains to come to blows.

Here's the conjugation in the present tense:

Indicative Present of venir:
Je	viens
Tu	viens
Il/Elle	vient
Nous	venons
Vous	venez
Ils/Elles	viennent

Mot du Jour: écrire (to write)

Image Source

écrire /ekʀiʀ/

transitive verb
1. to write;
2. to spell.

s'écrire reflexive verb (+ être)

1.to be written;
2.to be spelled.

Indicative Present of écrire:
Je	écris
Tu	écris
Il/Elle	écrit
Nous	écrivons
Vous	écrivez
Ils/Elles	écrivent

Expressions with the verb

J'écris un note. I'm writing a note.
ça s'écrit comment? How is it spelled?

Les Partitifs: Partitive Articles

Les Partitifs are used when constructing sentences with the verbs Manger and Boire. It is used to indicate an unknown quantity, its nearest English equivalent is some or many.

Here are les Partitifs

Du: for Masculine Nouns
De la: For Feminine Nouns
De l': For nouns beginning in vowels or H muet.
Des: Plural Nouns

Why use partitive articles? Well this is used because when we eat or drink we consume only a certain amount of food.

Examples

Je mange du gateau: I eat cake.

Tu bois de la bière: You drink beer.

Il boit de l'eau: He drinks water.

Elle mange des bonbons: She eats candies.


However when used with quantifiers, the partitif is changed into de only

Examples

Je mange beaucopu de gateau : I eat a lot of cake.

Tu bois un verre de bière: You drink a glass of beer.

More lessons soon.

Le Verbe Boire: To Drink

Le Verbe Boire has an irregular conjugation. Here is the conjugation in present tense:

Je bois

Tu bois

Il/Elle boit

Nous buvons

Vous buvez

Ils/ Elles boivent

So when you want to say you are drinking something, you form the sentence by using the personal pronoun + conjugated form of the verb + partitif + the drink you are drinking

Example:

Je bois du thé ( I drink tea)

I'll be posting a more detailed lesson soon.

Faire: To do or make

Here is the conjugation for the verb Faire.

Indicative Present of faire:
Je	fais
Tu	fais
Il/Elle	fait
Nous	faisons
Vous	faites
Ils/Elles	font

The Imperfect Past Tense- L'imparfait

The French imperfect (imparfait) is a descriptive past tense which indicates an ongoing state of being or a repeated or incomplete action. The beginning and end of the state of being or action are not indicated, and the imparfait is very often translated in English as "was" or "was ___-ing."

It is formed by adding the following endings to the root of the verb

• 1st person singular : -ais
• 2nd person singular : -ais
• 3rd person singular : -ait
• 1st person plural : -ions
• 2nd person plural : -iez
• 3rd person plural : -aient

Example:

Parler- To talk/speak

• je parlais
• tu parlais
• il/elle parlait
• nous parlions
• vous parliez
• ils/elles parlaient

However for some verbs the endings could be different.

Example:


finir (to finish)

• je finissais
• tu finissais
• il/elle finissait
• nous finissions
• vous finissiez
• ils/elles finissaient

boire (to drink)

• je buvais
• tu buvais
• il/elle buvait
• nous buvions
• vous buviez
• ils/elles buvaient

être (to be)

• j'étais
• tu étais
• il/elle était
• nous étions
• vous étiez
• ils/elles étaient

avoir (to have)

• j'avais
• tu avais
• il/elle avait
• nous avions
• vous aviez
• ils/elles avaient

The imperfect can indicate any of the following:

I.	Habitual actions or states of being
	Quand j'étais petit, j'avais beaucoup des jeux	When I was young,I had a lot of toys.
II.	Physical and emotional descriptions: time, weather, age, feelings
	Il était midi et il faisait beau.	It was noon and the weather was nice.
III.	Actions or states of an unspecified duration
	Je faisais la queue parce que j'avais besoin de billets.	I stood in line because I needed tickets.
IV.	Background information in conjunction with the passé composé
	J'étais au lycée quand j'ai pris une examen .	I was at at school, when I took the exam.
V.	Wishes or suggestions
	Ah ! Si j'étais riche !	Oh, if only I were rich!
VI.	Conditions in si clauses
	Si j'avais de l'argent, j'irais avec toi.	If I had some money, I would go with you.
VII.	The expressions être en train de and venir de in the past.
	J'étais en train de faire la vaisselle.	I was (in the process of) doing the dishes.

Source

Le Passé Composé

Le Passé Composé or the Compound Past Tense is formed by using the present tense of avoir plus the participe passé or past participle of a verb.

Examples of uses of Le Passé Composé:

J'ai mangé un pain: I have eaten bread. Used for an action or state of being completed in the past

Tu as visité ta mère plusieurs fois : You have visited your mother several times. Used for an action repeated a specific number of times in the past

Il a étudié bien, a pris un examen et a reussi : He has studied well, took an exam and passed. Used for a series of actions completed in the past

Le Participe Passé: Past Participle

The past participle of regular verbs is formed by dropping the infinitive ending of a verb and adding é, i, or u to -er, -ir, and -re verbs, respectively:

	-ER verbs		-IR verbs		-RE verbs
Verb	parler		réussir		vendre
Remove	-er		-ir		-re
Stem	parl-		réuss-		vend-
Add	é		i		u
Result	parlé		réussi		vendu

Irregular verbs usually have irregular past participles:

acquérir	acquis		apprendre	appris
atteindre	atteint		avoir	eu
boire	bu		comprendre	compris
conduire	conduit		connaître	connu
construire	construit		courir	couru
couvrir	couvert		craindre	craint
croire	cru		décevoir	déçu
découvrir	découvert		devoir	dû
dire	dit		écrire	écrit
être	été		faire	fait
instruire	instruit		joindre	joint
lire	lu		mettre	mis
mourir	mort		offrir	offert
ouvrir	ouvert		naître	né
paraître	paru		peindre	peint
pouvoir	pu		prendre	pris
produire	produit		recevoir	reçu
savoir	su		souffrir	souffert
suivre	suivi		tenir	tenu
venir	venu		vivre	vécu
voir	vu		vouloir	voulu

Reflexive Verbs

Reflexive Verbs are Verbs that take action upon themselves. It is usually used when the verb is about the body or has something to do with clothing. Reflexive Verbs are always used with Reflexive Pronouns

Here are some common Refelxive Verbs. Make sure you check the Conjugation Guide.

s'approcher de	to approach
s'asseoir	to sit down
se baigner	to bathe, swim
se brosser (les cheveux, les dents)	to brush (one's hair, one's teeth)
se casser (la jambe)	to break (one's leg)
se coiffer	to fix one's hair
se coucher	to go to bed
se couper	to cut oneself
se déshabiller	to get undressed
se doucher	to take a shower
se fâcher	to get angry
s'habiller	to get dressed
se laver (les mains, la figure)	to wash (one's hands, one's face)
se lever	to get up
se maquiller	to put on makeup
se marier (avec)	to get married (to)
se moquer de	to make fun of (someone else)
se moucher	to blow one's nose
se peigner	to comb one's hair
se raser	to shave
se regarder	to look at oneself
se reposer	to rest
se réveiller	to wake up
se souvenir de	to remember

There are two separate tasks when conjugating reflexive verbs. First, take the reflexive pronoun se, change it to agree with the subject of the verb, and place it directly in front of the verb. Then, as with all verbs, you must conjugate the infinitive according to whether it's an -er, -ir, -re, or irregular verb.

Conjugation of Irregular Verbs Present Tense: Avoir, Aller and Être

Some verbs in French are Irregular therefore they have different conjugations. Examples of them are Avoir (to have, Aller (to go) and Être (to be).

The conjugation of the following verbs in Present tense are as follows:

Avoir: To Have

Je	ai
Tu	as
Il/Elle	a
Nous	avons
Vous	avez
Ils/Elles	ont

Aller: To Go

Je	vais
Tu	vas
Il/Elle	va
Nous	allons
Vous	allez
Ils/Elles	vont

Être: To Be (for uses of être click here)

Je	suis
Tu	es
Il/Elle	est
Nous	sommes
Vous	êtes
Ils/Elles	sont

Conjugations of Regular RE Verbs- Present Tense

Conjugation is very important when it comes to the French language. Every verb is conjugated depending on the subject, its gender and number. So here are a few basics when it comes to conjugating in the present tense.

RE- Ending Verbs

Example: Attendre- To wait

Je	attends
Tu	attends
Il/Elle	attend
Nous	attendons
Vous	attendez
Ils/Elles	attendent

Here are other regular verbs ending in RE

défendre	to defend
descendre	to descend
entendre	to hear
perdre	to lose
prétendre	to claim
rendre	to give back, to return something
répondre	to answer
vendre	to sell

Conjugations of Regular IR Verbs- Present Tense

Conjugation is very important when it comes to the French language. Every verb is conjugated depending on the subject, its gender and number. So here are a few basics when it comes to conjugating in the present tense.

IR- Ending Verbs

Example: Agir- To act

Je	agis*
Tu	agis
Il/Elle	agit
Nous	agissons
Vous	agissez
Ils/Elles	agissent

*It should be J'agis because if the verb begins with a vowel Je becomes J'

Here are other regular verbs ending in IR

abolir	to abolish
avertir	to warn
bâtir	to build
bénir	to bless
choisir	to choose
établir	to establish
étourdir	to stun, deafen, make dizzy
finir	to finish
grossir	to get fat
guérir	to cure, heal, recover
maigrir	to lose weight, get thin
nourrir	to feed, nourish
obéir	to obey
punir	to punish
réfléchir	to reflect, think
remplir	to fill
réussir	to succeed
rougir	to blush, turn red
vieillir	to grow old

Conjugations of Regular ER Verbs- Present Tense

Conjugation is very important when it comes to the French language. Every verb is conjugated depending on the subject, its gender and number. So here are a few basics when it comes to conjugating in the present tense.

ER- Ending Verbs

Example: Manger- To eat

Je	mange
Tu	manges
Il/Elle	mange
Nous	mangeons
Vous	mangez
Ils/Elles	mangent

Here are other regular verbs ending in ER

aimer	to like or to love
arriver	to arrive or to happen
chanter	to sing
chercher	to look for
danser	to dance
demander	to ask for
détester	to hate
donner	to give
écouter	to listen to
étudier	to study
jouer	to play
manger	to eat
nager	to swim
parler	to talk or to speak
penser	to think
regarder	to watch or to look at
rêver	to dream
skier	to ski
travailler	to work
trouver	to find
visiter	to visit (a place)

Le verb "être" = The verb "to be"

The verb être is a very important and basic verb in French. It is similar to the English verb "be". This verb is used same as the "be" verb in English.

Examples

I am a Doctor : Je suis medecin.
You are beautiful : Tu es belle

Of course as any other French Verb, it is also conjugated and the conjugation for the present tense is as follows.

Infinitive present: être

Participle Present: étant

Indicative Present of être:
Je	suis
Tu	es
Il/Elle	est
Nous	sommes
Vous	êtes
Ils/Elles	sont

More conjugations and more verbs on the nest entries.