1 SIMPLIFIED BASIC FRENCH GRAMMAR (and pronunciation) LESSONS ☺ PRONUNCIATION ® ALPHABET a ah g zheh m em s ess y ee-grek b beh h ahsh n en t teh z zed c seh i ee o oh u ew d deh j zhee p peh v veh e uh k kah q kew w doo-bluh-veh f eff l ell r air x eeks French Vowels IPA Phonetic spelling Sample words General spellings [i] ee vie, midi, lit, riz i, y [y] ee rounded rue, jus, tissu, usine u [e] ay blé, nez, cahier, pied é, et, final er and ez [ø] ay rounded jeu, yeux, queue, bleu eu [ɛ] eh lait, aile, balai, reine e, è, ê, ai, ei, ais [œ] eh rounded sœur, œuf, fleur, beurre œu, eu [a] ah chat, ami, papa, salade a, à, â [ɑ] ah longer bas, âne, grâce, château a, â [u] oo loup, cou, caillou, outil ou [o] oh eau, dos, escargot, hôtel o, ô [ɔ] aw sol, pomme, cloche, horloge o [ə] uh fenêtre, genou, cheval, cerise e French semi-vowels IPA Phonetic spelling Sample words General spelling [w] w fois, oui, Louis oi, ou [ɥ] ew-ee lui, suisse ui [j] yuh oreille, Mireille ill, y 2 French Consonants ex + vowel egz examen, exercice ex + consonant eks exceptionnel, expression ch (Latin origin) sh architecte, archives ch (Greek origin) k orchestre, archéologie ti + vowel (except é) see démocratie, nation c + e, i, y; or ç s cent, ceinture, maçon c + a, o, u k caillou, car, cube g + e, i, y zh genou, gingembre g + a, o, u g gomme, ganglion th t maths, thème, thym j zh jambe, jus, jeune qu, final q k que, quoi, grecque h silent haricot, herbe, hasard vowel + s + vowel z rose, falaise, casino x + vowel z six ans, beaux arts final x s six, dix, soixante (these 3 only!) There are a lot of silent letters in French, and you usually do not pronounce the final consonant, unless that final consonant is c, r, f or l (except verbs that end in -r). Stress & Intonation: Stress on syllables is not as pronounced as in English and it generally falls on the last syllable of the word. Intonation usually only rises for yes/no questions, and all other times, it goes down at the end of the sentence. NOUN GENDER: All nouns in French have a gender, either masculine or feminine. It is very important to learn a noun's gender along with the noun itself because articles (a, the) and adjectives change depending on the gender of the noun they precede or follow. Notice that the masculine words are preceded by le and feminine words are preceded by la both of which mean the. ® Most words in French that end in a consonant or a -u are masculine. (Except -eur, -on) (Also words that end in -ble, cle, -de, -ge, -me, –ste, -tre) le corps (body) le nez (nose) le bras (arm) le pied (foot) le dîner (dinner) le printemps (spring) le déjeuner (lunch) le dos (back) le froid (coldness) le vent (wind) le chaud (heat) le goûter (snack) le cou (neck) le ventre (stomach) 3 ® Most words in French that end in -e, -é, -lle, -eur and -on are feminine. (Except -ble, -cle, -de, -ge, -me, -ste, -tre) la tête (head) la bouche (mouth) la jambe (leg) la heure (hour) la fatigue (fatigue) la famille (family) ® There are a few exceptions. (Here are the ones expressed in these lesson plans): The words faim (hunger), dent (tooth), main (hand) and soif (thirst) end in consonants yet they are feminineÆ la faim, la dent, la main, la soif ® Before a vowel the article becomes l’. Since the h is silent,the word acts exactly as if it began with a vowel. l’œil (eye) l’oreille (ear) l’été (summer) l’automne (fall) l’hiver (winter) ® Naturally words like la mère, la fille and la sœur that refer to females are feminine while words like le père, le fils and le frère that refer to males are masculine. ® Days of the week are all masculine in gender and they are not capitalized in writing: lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche NUMBER (PLURALIZING NOUNS): Even though in English the word the does not become plural, la and le both become les when pluralized. To make a noun plural, you usually add an -s (which is not pronounced). But there are some exceptions: ® If a noun already ends in an -s, add nothing