Masculine and feminine nouns How adjectives behave	Verbs from the first group Verbs and prepositions

French is not so very far from English. Both languages have the same historical origins and this is a great help for learners, especially when it comes to acquiring vocabulary. 

But there are important differences in the structures of the two languages. And if you understand those from the beginning, you'll build your knowledge on a firm foundation.

Let's start with the simple sentence:

Une dame et un garçon regardent tranquillement le paysage.

The basic elements are the same in French as in English:

Now let's look at the differences. 

1) The masculine and feminine genders
Le genre masculin et le genre féminin

Where in English we have 'a lady' and 'a boy', in French we have:  

une dame et un garçon

Une is French for a - the indefinite article - when the noun that follows is feminine.

Un is French for a when the noun that follows is masculine.

 And in French, all nouns are either masculine or feminine.

une fleur et un arbre
a flower and a tree
une maison ou un appartement
a house or a flat

As for the word the - the definite article - in French it's la for feminine nouns and le for masculine nouns:

la péniche et le bateau
the barge and the boat

la dame et le monsieur
the lady and the gentleman

le chat et la souris
the cat and the mouse

When you learn a noun, memorise the article that goes with it at the same time: «la maison» and not simply «maison». Confidence over the gender of nouns will greatly improve your fluency.

Plural nouns take the same indefinite article whether they are masculine or feminine - des:

un café des cafés
a coffee - some coffees 
une voiture des voitures
a car - some cars 

And plural nouns also take the same definite article whether they are masculine or feminine - les:

les chats et les souris
the cats and the mice

2) How adjectives behave
Le comportement des adjectifs

Adjectives must agree with nouns in terms of number, singular or plural, and gender, masculine or feminine.

More often than not, making an adjective feminine involves adding an e to the masculine version.

noir

is masculine for black and 

noire 

is the feminine for black. 

Sometimes you will find the root of the word changes a little too, for example:

le mur blanc
the white wall
la maison blanche
the white house

When you learn an adjective, learn its two gender forms at the same time.

blanc / blanche
  white
heureux / heureuse
happy, lucky

Often, making nouns and adjectives plural involves adding an s.

le chat noir les chats noirs
the black cat - the black cats

la voiture noire les voitures noires
the black car - the black cars

Sometimes though, particularly when there is a group of vowels at the end of the word, making a word plural involves adding an x:

Les bateaux noirs quittent le port.
The black ships leave the port.

Neither the s for the plural nor the x for the plural is pronounced.

The adjective noir goes after the noun

le café noir
the black coffee
la marée noire
the black tide: the oil slick

unlike the English 'black', which goes before 'coffee' or 'tide'. This isn't a rule for all adjectives - but in spoken French the adjectives of colour go after the noun.

For other adjectives, it's a question of learning by experience. Sometimes the word order changes the meaning:

un homme grand 
a tall man

un grand homme
a great man

3) The conjugation of verbs
La conjugaison des verbes

 

Verb endings change according to whether the subject is singular or plural:

 Verb endings also change according to whether the subject is the first person

je
I
nous
we 

the second person

 tu
you (singular)
vous
you (plural or formal) 

or the third person

il
he, it
elle 
she, it
ils, elles
they

Here are the endings for the verb parler - 'to speak':

With the verb parler - and all regular verbs ending in er - the pronunciation is the same for the first, second and third person singular and the third person plural.

4) The construction of verbs
La construction des verbes

Look again at the sentence which began this lesson.

In English there is the additional word 'at'. The sense of 'at' is included in the French verb regarder. There are some verbs in French which stand on their own, where in English you need a preposition:

regarder
to look at

Nous regardons la rivière.
 We look at the river. 

chercher
to look for

Elle cherche le journal.
She looks for the newspaper.

And there are some verbs in French which take a preposition, where the English equivalent stands alone:

entrer dans
to enter

Il entre dans le bureau.
He enters the office.

And sometimes the meaning of a verb can change when it's followed by a preposition:

chercher
to look for

chercher à
to try to

Elle cherche à comprendre.
She tries to understand.

When you learn a verb, always learn the construction that goes with it at the same time. 

  Now click here for the exercises