Formal French Informal french

Comment vous appelez-vous? Tu t’appelles comment ?

French English
Se présenter Present
Salut - informal Hi – bye
Bonjour – neutral Good morning
Bonsoir – neutral
Ça va ? Comment ça va ? (informal)
Comment allez-vous ? – formal
Ça va pas - informal Not doing too well
Au revoir - neutral
Bonne journée - neutral Have a nice day
A bientôt - neutral See u soon
A plus tard – informal See you later
Pas mal – informal Not bad
Ca va bien informal – je vais bien formal Im fine – im doing fine

French accents

Accent aigu: é ( Vélo / téléphone ) it changes the pronunciation to a

Accent grave : è ( à, ù) it only changes the pronunciation to è (très / après )

Accent circonflexe : â, ê, î, ô, û ( forêt / théâtre / île ) the pronunciation will not be impacted

Cédille : ç (français / leçon ) if it doesnt have the accent it will be pronounced as k

Tréma : ë and ï ( maïs = corn / noël = Christmas ) doesn’t change the pronunciation

The sounds th / ch / g / j

Th is pronounced (t) : théâtre / thé (tea)

Ch is pronounced (as in the English word “shirt”) : chaise / machine

Letter j is pronounced (as in the English word “division”) : déjeuner / journal

Letter G is pronounced z when followed by the letter i/e/y: manger / gymnase

a. General rules:
Is when a normally silent consonant at the end of a word is pronounced at the beginning of
the word that follows it.
Liaisons are usually required when the first word ends with a consonant and the second
word starts with a vowel.
Liaisons are also required when the second word starts with a mute “H” (majority of words in
French)
These are required and forbidden liaisons in French
b. Required liaisons
The liaison is required: between a subject pronoun and a verb : vous avez
Between a number and a noun: doux amis
Between an article and a noun: les oranges
Between an adjective and a noun: grand arbre

c. Forbidden liaisons
The liaison is forbidden:
Before and after full names:
Alain est grand.
After the word et:
Un et un
After singular nouns: la maison est grande
Before «h » aspire (when the H is not mute) : en haut (upstairs)
d. Sound change
The table shows the final consonant and the sound it transforms into when placed before a
word that starts with a vowel.

Final consonant New sound

Auxiliaries etre and avoir

Etre

Je suis

Tu es

Il / elle / on est

Nous sommes

Vouz êtes
Ils / elles sont

Avoir

J’ai

Tu as

Il / elle / on a

Nous avons

Vous avez

Ils / elles / ont

You use Avoir for the translation of there is / there are : il y a 3 personnes dans la salle (there are 3
people in the room )

As the translation of “ to need” : avoir besoin de

J’ai besoin d’un stylo ( i need a pen)

As the translation of “to feel like/ to want” : avoir envie de

J’ai envie d’une glace (i want an ice cream)

Mise en pratique :

What is your name

Formal : Comment vous appelez-vous ?

Informal : Comment tu t’appelles ?

How are you

Formal : Comment allez-vous ?

Informal : comment ça va ?

Family

Le père Father
La mère Mother
Le frère brother
La sœur Sister
La grand-mère Grandmother
La grand-père Grandfather
L’oncle Uncle
La tante Aunt
 La femme Wife
Le mari Husband
Le fils Son
La fille Daughter
La nièce Niece
Le neveu Nephew
Le cousin Cousin
La cousine cousin
L’enfant child
Le beau-père Father-in-law
La belle-mère Mother in law

Masculine Feminine
-age -tion , -sion , -son
-ment -ure
-eau -ude , -ade
-ou -Ée
-ème and –ège -té
-er -ière
-oir -euse
-isme -ance , -ence
-ing -ine , -ise
-ard -alle , -elle
-il , -ail , -eil , -ueil -esse , -ette

Some nouns that refer to people can be changed from masculine to feminine by adding an “-e” to
the end of the noun :

Un étudiant ( a male student)

Une étudiante ( female)

Exceptions :

a- Some masculine nouns have a completely different feminine form:

Le pére // la mere

b- Masculine nouns ending with an -e will not change its spelling at the feminine:
Un / Une camarade (a friend)
Un / une secrétaire
c- The following table shows you the most common spelling changes that occur when changing
a noun from masculine to feminine:
Masculine Feminine
-eur -euse
-(i)er