SMARTFRENCH INTRODUCTION TO FRENCH – Volume 1

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CD A

TRACK 1 – Introduction
TRACK 2 – The Alphabet
TRACK 3 – The Numbers (2x2)
TRACK 4 – The Numbers (3x3)
TRACK 5 – The Numbers (5x5)
TRACK 6 – The Numbers (suite)
TRACK 7 – Conjugation
TRACK 8 – Être (To be) Present Tense

CD B

TRACK 9 – Avoir (To have) Present Tense

TRACK 10 – Être (To be) Past Tenses
TRACK 11 – Avoir (To have) Past Tenses
TRACK 12 – Aller (To go) Present Tense
TRACK 13 – Aller (To go) Past Tenses
TRACK 14 – The Future Tense
TRACK 15 – Être, Avoir and Aller (To be, To have, To go) Future tenses
TRACK 16 – Faire (To do, To make) Present, Past and Future Tenses

***
 SMARTFRENCH INTRODUCTION TO FRENCH – VOLUME 1 - CDA

TRACK 1 - Introduction

Do you want to learn French effectively and speak it like real French people? Well, in
less than four hours, two hours in this volume 1 and two hours in the volume 2, I will
present you with the basic elements you need to know in order to achieve that
result. I am certain that if you learn these elements and work properly on developing
your listening skills, you will allow the French language to be digested like a good
meal and you can become excellent at speaking it. Does that sound tasty?
Imagine going to that magnificent city, Paris, and not feeling embarrassed or
intimidated by the waiters. You can share your best French with your French friends
and you can impress your business partners. You will know enough today to put
yourself on the right track. At the end of this course, I hope you will feel that the
amount of basic vocabulary, grammar and especially listening skills and tricks to
understand French presented in these series “SmartFrench, Introduction to French”
vol.1 and vol.2 is worth a million dollars to you, and that you will want to continue
with the work on regular conversations in our “SmartFrench Audio CDs Beginner” or
in the SmartFrench CD-Rom.
Yes, you can speak French and with no accent. Let me show you how.
What makes some people manage to speak a foreign language successfully when
most of us learn and learn, over and over and over for 2, 5 or even 10 years and still
can’t speak it? Are these people more gifted? Do they work harder? No. They have
discovered the language in its real form and they know the rules and how to use
them.

Are there any hidden rules? Can you learn to use them? Yes, of course. It’s a sure
thing.

What works for you is your ability to memorize the information that is coming to you
through your senses.

But if you are like most people, you are often and mostly a visual person, and for
some of you, you are mostly using your hearing skills. The problem with that is that
languages are spoken and read - not spoken or read.

Is it true that nobody ever taught you the transition from writing to speaking or
speaking to writing? That technique will teach you how to understand the language
and retain it. You probably never heard of this transition when it’s actually one of the
most important aspects of learning languages. You want to learn to speak the
language, but most importantly, you want to learn how to speak it.

Only when sentences will stop sounding like a word of a hundred syllables,
will you be able to speak the language of your dream.

Understanding how the French language works is essential to your enjoyment in

speaking it. You will learn French once and for all. After the initial proper training, all
you will need is a Novel or a newspaper and a good dictionary to continue to expand
your vocabulary and to add more grammar rules to your knowledge. That’s it. You
can be an expert in the French language while enjoying the process. One page a day
of reading will be enough to continue to grow and retain everything.

Now let’s start with this “Introduction to French” series, with the basics.
The purpose of this introduction to French vocabulary is to prepare you to work on
real dialogs right away as beginners. Here, you will learn the words and learn how
they sound when spoken. The best way to work with these cds is to listen and
repeat. We divided our course in two volumes to make each one more affordable and
easy to offer as a gift. Each volume includes two audio cds. You can purchase the
four cds at once if you like. For your convenience, the transcript of each volume has
been included in the disc “B” each time. You can download the pdf document from
any computer and make a copy for your own use. You can read along or just listen to
it, which is actually a healthier way to learn. You can always choose to read along
the second or the third time to emphasize what you are learning. Most people are
visual. But for languages, to develop your ability to listen is a good idea.

It’s your “Introduction” course, so I will always translate for you. This two-volume
series titled “SmartFrench Introduction to French” was released to give our students
the opportunity to work on vocabulary, grammar and conjugation prior to their work
on the dialogs. We noticed that some people have difficulties learning a second
language the way they learned their first one. We still recommend that all beginners
develop their listening skills with our natural dialogs on “SmartFrench Audio cds
beginner” first or simultaneously to the studying of grammar. To make you
comfortable, when you work on the dialogs in our “SmartFrench Audio cds beginner”,
and/or CD-Rom, the transcripts and translations are provided. You will learn French
with a step-by-step approach to go from listening to speaking to reading. It’s to give
you more opportunity to work on your listening skills. The beginner part of our
cdrom has a step that is called alternative that gives you the translation prior to
repeating each few words. When you grow more confident repeating groups of words
that you don’t necessarily understand right away, you can just skip that step.

In this first two-CD package, vol.1, you will work first on the alphabet and the
numbers, followed by the 4 verbs that people use all the time in their most common
tenses. And in Vol.2, all the basic vocabulary will be displayed. How do we determine
that the vocabulary is basic? In “SmartFrench Audio CDs Beginner” or in the CD-
Rom, we have used real dialogs. We have interviewed many people, asked them to
speak naturally about anything, what would just come out like in any conversation
and we chose 19 of these interviews. Out of each interview we have selected about a
minute and ½ of the dialog. Then we have isolated all the words and classified them
into basic, primary, and secondary vocabulary. The basic vocabulary is the one you
will work on, in Vol.2 of this two-volume series. It is made of words which will come
back sometimes several times in any conversation you will ever have in French
regardless on the theme of the conversation. Surprisingly, we observed that they
consist of about 65% of all words used. It’s extremely important for the very
beginner to focus on what is most used in order to cut corners and learn fast.

Now let’s start to work on the alphabet and the numbers. You will work on them the
way all my live students do, using these exercises of repetition as warm up. We will
ask you to just repeat. Don’t try to translate. If you are curious to know what you
are saying, you can read before or after repeating. We propose that you learn them
like you learned how to ride a bike, and you will never forget them. You will repeat
them by groups of two, three or five. Working that way is not only working on
memorizing the numbers for example, it’s also to get used to the way French is
spoken, linking all the words together. Do what you can and keep linking everything
together. You could learn them faster by just memorizing them one by one, but you
would also forget them faster. Let’s start:
TRACK 2 – The Alphabet

Please repeat:
ABCDEF – GHIJ – KLMNOP – QRSTUV - WXYZ

TRACK 3 – The Numbers 2x2

Please repeat:
1, 2,
Un, deux,
3, 4,
trois, quatre,
5, 6
cinq, six,
7, 8,
sept, huit,
9, 10,
neuf, dix,
11, 12,
onze, douze,

The first time we will go through the numbers, it’s to pronounce them correctly. After
that, it will be to gain speed in your delivery of them as well as in your
understanding of them at normal speed. Let’s continue the numbers two by two.

Please repeat:
13, 14,
treize, quatorze,
15, 16
quinze, Seize,
17, 18,
dix-sept, dix-huit,
19, 20,
dix-neuf, vingt,
21, 22,
Vingt et un, vingt-deux,
23, 24
vingt-trois, vingt-quatre
25, 26,
vingt-cinq, vingt-six,
27, 28,
vingt-sept, vingt-huit,
29,30
vingt-neuf, trente
31, 32,
Trente et un, trente-deux,
33, 34,
trente-trois, Trente-quatre,
35, 36
trente-cinq, trente- six,
37, 38,
Trente-sept, trente-huit,
39, 40,
trente-neuf, quarante,
41, 42
quarante et un, quarante-deux,
43, 44,
quarante-trois, quarante-quatre,
45, 46,
quarante-cinq, Quarante-six,
47, 48
quarante-sept, quarante-huit
49, 50,
quarante-neuf, cinquante,
51, 52,
cinquante et un, cinquante-deux,
53, 54
cinquante-trois, cinquante-quatre,
55, 56,
cinquante-cinq, cinquante-six,
57, 58,
cinquante-sept, cinquante-huit,
59, 60
cinquante-neuf, soixante,
61, 62,
soixante et un, soixante-deux,
63, 64,
soixante-trois, soixante-quatre,
65, 66
soixante-cinq, soixante-six,
67, 68,
soixante-sept, soixante-huit,
69, 70,
soixante-neuf, soixante-dix,
71, 72
soixante et onze, soixante-douze
73, 74,
soixante-treize, soixante-quatorze,
75, 76,
soixante-quinze, Soixante-seize,
77, 78
soixante-dix-sept, soixante-dix-huit
79, 80,
soixante-dix-neuf, quatre-vingts,
81, 82,
quatre-vingt-un, quatre-vingt-deux,
83, 84
quatre-vingt-trois, quatre-vingt-quatre
85, 86,
quatre-vingt-cinq, quatre-vingt-six,
87, 88,
quatre-vingt-sept, quatre-vingt-huit,
89, 90
quatre-vingt-neuf, quatre-vingt-dix
91, 92,
Quatre-vingt-onze, quatre-vingt-douze,
93, 94,
quatre-vingt-treize, quatre-vingt-quatorze,
95, 96
quatre-vingt-quinze, quatre-vingt-seize
97, 98,
quatre-vingt-dix-sept, quatre-vingt-dix-huit,
99, 100,
quatre-vingt-dix-neuf, Cent,
101, 102
Cent un, cent deux…

TRACK 4 – The Numbers (3x3, faster speed)

Let’s now repeat three by three. Do these exercises regularly, in your car, at the
gym, etc… you will not think about translating them. I will give you some tips later to
know what they are. But you will be surprised to see that you know them without
ever trying to memorize. Please repeat.

TRACK 5 – The Numbers (5x5, faster speed)

Ok. That’s for the fun when you are ready. You can skip that step if you want. When
you are ready to give it a shot, here it is. You don’t have to be perfect. Please
repeat.
TRACK 6 – The Numbers (suite)

Now, a few more things: Generally, I give these observations after a few times
repeating. You can skip this step if you want. Remember that repeating a few times
before worrying about their meaning will help you memorize the numbers for good:
‘Three, thirteen, thirty’, in French is ‘Trois, treize, trente’.
Repeat after me: ‘Trois, treize, trente’.
‘Four, fourteen, forty’, in French is ‘quatre, quatorze, quarante’.
Repeat after me: ‘quatre, quatorze, quarante’.
‘Five, fifteen, fifty’, in French is ‘cinq, quinze, cinquante’.
Repeat after me: ‘cinq, quinze, cinquante’.
‘Six, sixteen, sixty’, in French is ‘six, seize, soixante’.
Repeat after me: ‘six, seize, soixante’.

Now you can see how these numbers are related. That should help you to remember
them.
‘Two, twelve, twenty’. Twenty is not related in French to the other two, but let’s do
it.
‘Two, twelve, twenty’, in French is ‘deux, douze, vingt’.
Repeat after me: ‘deux, douze, vingt’.
After ‘sixteen’, the pattern changes, with ‘seventeen’. In French, we say: ‘ten-seven’.
It’s almost like ‘teen-seven’, ‘seven-teen’, and it is ‘dix-sept’, ‘dix-sept’.
Repeat after me ‘dix-sept’.
‘Eighteen’ is ‘Ten-eight’, ‘dix-huit’.
Repeat after me ‘dix-huit’.
‘Nineteen’ is ‘Ten-nine’, ‘dix-neuf’.
Repeat after me ‘dix-neuf’.

Let’s practice the tens.

Repeat the French numbers after me:
‘Ten, twenty, thirty’: ‘Dix, vingt, trente’
‘Forty, fifty, sixty’: ‘Quarante, cinquante, soixante’
‘Seventy, eighty, ninety’: ‘Soixante-dix, quatre-vingt, quatre-vingt-dix’
It’s only before ‘vingt’ that the ‘r-e’ of ‘quatre’ is fully pronounced. Also you can hear
the ‘r’ sound when ‘quatre’ is pronounced by itself or when followed by a vowel,
because of the liaison, like in ‘four oranges’, ‘quatre oranges’. But generally, in front
of a consonant, you will not hear the ‘re’. For example: “Four books” in French is
“Quatre livres”. A four hundred page book” is “un livre de quatre cent pages”. This
observation about the “r” sound, in itself, will be a tremendous help when you try to
speak fast and particularly when you try to understand.
‘One hundred’ is ‘Cent’.
‘Deux cents’ means ‘Two hundred’.
‘Quatre cents’ means ‘Four hundred’.
And ‘Mille’ means ‘one thousand’.

Thirty, forty, fifty and sixty have the same ending sound in French, “ante”: Trente,
quarante, cinquante, soixante. Starting at seventy (like the pattern had changed from
sixteen to seventeen) the pattern will change again from sixty to seventy.
To say ‘seventy’, French people say ‘sixty-ten’, ‘soixante-dix’.
‘Seventy one’, sixty and eleven, so: ‘soixante et onze’.
After that: ‘Seventy two’ is ‘sixty-twelve’, ‘soixante-douze’, etc…

‘Eighty’ is ‘quatre-vingt’, literally, ‘four-twenties’

‘Eighty one’ is’quatre-vingt un’ etc…
Now, like for seventy, when we arrive at ninety, the French say ‘eighty-ten’: ‘quatre-
vingt-dix’, basically: four times twenty plus ten.
All that should amaze you enough to remember. But that makes ‘ninety nine’ pretty
long because it is:
(4x20) +10+9, ‘quatre-vingt-dix-neuf’.

To finish with the numbers, let’s repeat the fives: five, ten, fifteen, etc…:
Please, repeat after me:
Cinq, dix, quinze
Vingt, vingt cinq, trente
Trente-cinq, quarante, quarante-cinq
Cinquante, cinquante-cinq, soixante
Soixante-cinq, soixante-dix, soixante-quinze
Quatre-vingt, quatre-vingt-cinq, quatre-vingt-dix
Quatre-vingt-quinze, cent, cent-cinq.
TRACK 7 – Verb Conjugation

Let’s talk about the conjugation and see how it works in French. Compared to English,
it’s slightly more complicated. That doesn’t mean it can’t be learned. And there are
tricks to make it easier to remember and use. If you have studied English grammar
and conjugation or another language, you probably saw that generally the tables of
conjugation show the verbs (the forms they take depending on the subject) presented
vertically to emphasize assimilation of their endings. That is very useful when you
learn spelling in French because the endings change a lot. Fortunately, most of the
time, they have the same sound however. That explains that French kids don’t have
to know grammar to speak French.
We chose to present the verbs differently because we noticed that if we write the
forms vertically, we horizontally, we pay less attention to the writing and more
attention to the sound, which is often the same.
First for ‘speak’: The verb in English is ‘to speak’. There are two words, ‘to’ and
‘speak’. The two words form the infinitive form of the verb. In French, it’s only one
word. We recognize it’s the infinitive form by its ending. Of course we have different
groups of verbs with different endings but let’s introduce you to the major one. 75%
of all French verbs end with the sound ‘é’ at the infinitive form. ‘To dance’ in French is
‘ danser’, ‘to sing’ is ‘chanter’, ‘to organize’ is ‘organiser’. The sound ‘é’ at the end
indicates infinitive. These verbs are very easy to conjugate only if you consider the
sound and fortunately when you want to speak or to understand, it’s the sound that
you are interested in.

For the present tense, for all the subjects, except one, the ‘you’, take the infinitive,
cut the ‘é’ sound at the end and you have it. For ‘danser’, it’s ‘danse’, for ‘chanter’, it’s
‘chante’, ‘organiser’, ‘organise’, ‘marcher’, ‘to walk’, ‘marche’.
Here are the subjects:
I = Je
You = tu
He = il
She = elle
We = on (not exactly. It’s ‘nous’. But we’ll talk about it in a minute)
They = ‘ils’ or ‘elles’.
Add movement to remember the subject. When you say ‘je’, point to yourself, etc…
For all these subjects, the form of the verb in present tense of these verbs is the one I
mentioned:
The verb is ‘marcher’ = ‘to walk’
I walk = Je marche
I dance = Je danse
She walks = elle marche
We will work on the contractions later
We walk = on marche
They walk = Ils marchent.

Indicatif - Présent – I walk/I’m walking*: Je marche - You walk/You’re walking: Tu

marches – He walks/He’s walking: Il marche - We walk/We’re walking: On marche…
For example, I walk fast: Je marche vite.
Je marche Tu marches Il marche
Vous marchez Elle marche
On marche Vous marchez Ils marchent
Nous marchons Elles marchent
*To express the English form –ing, the French people use very frequently the expression “Être en
train de…”. “Je suis en train de marcher” means “I’m walking”.
If you could remember that expression, that would be very helpful. It’s more used than it is taught.
It should be repeated in every class regularly, like the numbers.

Before going to the other verbs that we have to work on in these cds, you have to
know that in French, the subject ‘You’ as in ‘you speak’ has two forms, depending if
you address one or several people: For one person, it’s ‘tu’ and for two or more, it’s
‘vous’. But if you formally address an adult that you are not familiar with, you will
address the person with the ‘you’ plural, ‘vous’, when you speak. Therefore, there are
two ways to say: ‘How are you?’: ‘Comment allez-vous?’ and ‘comment vas-tu’? But
you know, vous savez, to cut corners, and speed up your learning of French, here is
the solution: When you want to say: ‘How are you?’ regardless of the person, you can
always use the casual way to say it. You’ll be fine. That way is:’Ça va?’ If you are
asked: ‘Ça va?’, you can just answer: ‘Ça va.’ ‘How are you? Is ‘Ça va?’ and ‘I’m fine”
is ‘Ça va’, the same.
TRACK 8 – Être (To be) Present Tense

Now the four major verbs: like in English, the verbs we use the most are the four verbs:
To Be (être), to have (avoir), to go (aller), and to do (faire).
They have irregular conjugations, so it is difficult to memorize them and to remember
which form is the right one when you speak. But after using them in association with
other words for a while, you will stop making mistakes. The best way is to just listen and
repeat. If you translate right away you will only try to memorize and you will also forget
very fast. In writing, the same English form will give you three or four forms in French,
depending on the subject, ‘I’, ‘je’, ‘you’, ‘tu’or ‘vous’, ‘he’, ‘il’, ‘she’, ‘elle’, ‘we’, ‘on,
and ‘they’, ‘ils’ or’elles’. The endings of the verb change a lot depending on the subjects
and also the tenses, like past, present and future. But for the sound, it’s more simple
fortunately and what you want to do is to speak first, right? When you know the subjects,
you have one more difficulty. Inside of conversations, they will often sound differently.
But what is great is that the conjugation doesn’t differ much if you consider the sound.
The sound is what you use most when you speak.
Let’s start with “To Be”: “Être”. The English form ‘to be’ - ‘To’ and ‘be’, is called in its
infinitive form: ‘to’ and ‘be’ make only one word in French ‘Être’. We will make you
repeat with the maximum contraction, the way people speak casually. Later on you will
be able to understand when people contract as well as when they don’t.
Let me give you the translation. After, please forget it and just repeat:
I = Je, and ‘I am’ = Je suis – you will say ‘shwee’, for ‘I’m’
You are = tu es – you will say ‘Tu es’
He is = il est – you will say ‘il_est’ because of a liaison.

Indicatif - Présent – I am/I’m being: Je suis - You are/You’re being: Tu es - He is/He’s

being: Il est - We are/We’re being: On est… For example, I am happy: Je suis heureux.
Je suis Tu es Il est
Vous êtes Elle est
On est Vous êtes Ils sont
Nous sommes Elles sont

The reason we always make you work by the sound, repeating a lot, is to get used to link
the words together. The liaison works forward and the contraction works backward. For ‘il
est’ you say ‘ee’ of ‘il’ and then you take the ‘l’ and pronounce it with the vowel sound
that follows ‘les’, ‘ee-les’. A good understanding and a regular practice of these liaisons
and contractions is what will give you a perfect accent and will help you understand
French at real speed later on. To practice them when you are a beginner is a big chance for
you. It is so important that we are always emphasizing it in our courses, like we also
always show in red the letters that are not pronounced. It has helped a lot of travelers who
use our ‘SmartFrench for travelers’ booklet and downloads.
So: I am, you are, he is
Repeat after me: Je suis, tu es, il est
She is = elle est. Example : ‘Sympa’ means ‘nice’.
So : ‘She is nice’ = ‘elle est sympa’
‘I’m nice’ = ‘Je suis sympa’
‘You’re nice’ = ‘Tu es sympa’
Again: ‘He is nice’ = ‘Il est sympa’
‘How are you?’ = ‘Ça va?’
‘You’re nice’ = ‘Tu es sympa’
Now for the plural:
‘We’ is ‘on’ written o–n, and ‘are’ is ‘est’
We are = on est – you will say on_est because of a liaison. ‘On’ is written o - n
You are = vous êtes - you will say vous_êtes because of a liaison
They are = ils sont – you will say ‘isson’ because that’s what you will hear
commonly.
So: We are, you are, they are
Repeat after me: On est, vous êtes, ils sont

She is = elle est They are = ‘elles sont’ for feminine

We are americans = on est américains
If you are not a true beginner you know that “we” is “nous” in French, not “on”. The
reason I use “on” is because French people commonly use “on” instead of “nous”, and
more frequently than ‘nous’ when they speak French. If you go to the smartfrench
conjugation blog (there are free lessons available), you will be well aware of this. I wrote
the ‘on’ first and the ‘nous’ second, for more efficiency. The tense that we just saw (je
suis, tu es, il est) is called present tense. It expresses what is happening now. The two
other tenses commonly used are the past tense or ‘passé composé’ (to express what
happened in the past) and the immediate future (to say what will happen in the future).
SMARTFRENCH INTRODUCTION TO FRENCH – VOLUME 1 – CDB

TRACK 9 – Avoir (To have) Present Tense

Let’s see the present of the verb ‘Avoir’ – ‘To Have’

I have – I = Je
Have = Ai - a.i
For ‘I have’ you will say ‘j’ai’ –‘j’ai’.
I have two books = J’ai deux livres
The book is nice = Le livre est sympa
You have = tu as, and you will say ‘Tu as’
He has = il a, and you will say il_a
You have four books = Tu as quatre livres
He has four books = Il a quatre livres
So: I have, you have, he has
Repeat after me: J’ai, tu as, il a
Are you still ok? Ça va? Please, answer: Ça va.

Indicatif - Présent – I have/I’m having: J’ai - You have/You’re having: Tu

as - He has/He’s having: Il a - We have/We’re having: On a… For example,
I have time: J’ai le temps.
J’ai Tu as Il a
Vous avez Elle a
On a Vous avez Ils ont
Nous avons Elles ont

Now the plural: we have = on-a, say ‘on a’

We have a hundred books = On a cent livres.
You have = vous-avez, say ‘vous_avez’
You have ten books = vous_avez dix livres. Ten = dix. In front of a consonant, you don’t
pronounce the « s » sound.
They have = ils-ont , ils_ont, say ils_ont
They have twenty books = ils_ont vingt livres.
So: we have, you have, they have
Repeat after me : on a, vous avez, ils ont.

One, two , three = un, deux, trois. Two = deux, written d.e.u.x. When followed by a vowel
sound, the ‘x’ will sound ‘z’ as it will link with the following word.
For example ‘child’ or ‘children’ in French is ‘enfants’, starting with a vowel sound.
Two children = deux enfants.
She has two children = Elle a deux enfants
I have two children = J’ai deux enfants
We have two children = On a deux enfants
They have two children = Ils ont deux enfants
They have = Ils ont. They are = Ils sont.
Nice = sympa.
They are nice = Ils sont sympas.
She is blonde = Elle est blonde
He is a brunet = Il est brun
He has two books = Il a deux livres.
I’m nice = Je suis sympa
You are nice = Tu es sympa
Formal : you are nice = vous êtes sympa.
You have two children = Vous avez deux enfants.
TRACK 10 – Être (To be) Past Tenses

Let’s talk about the past tense a little bit. The two past tenses that are the most used in
French are similar in English. For example, for the verb “To speak”:
‘I spoke’ and ‘I have spoken’
The difficulty is that we use both commonly and a little differently.
When ‘I spoke’ is used as ‘I have spoken’, expressing an event, then we use what we call
‘passe compose’, which is the literal translation of the form ‘I have’ plus the past form of
the verb (fortunately, that form sounds exactly like the infinitive form of the verb for 75%
of them, the verbs that end with the sound ‘é’ at the infinitive. Don’t worry we will talk a
lot of these forms. It will be clearer as we go. So, ‘I have spoken’ = ‘J’ai’, ‘I have’, and the
verb is ‘parler’ so ‘parlé’ will go after ‘j’ai’.
I have spoken, or ‘I spoke’ = J’ai parlé.
That’s when you talk about an event that occurred in the past. Try with this one:
You danced = Tu as dansé
She sang = elle a chanté
We organized = on a organisé.

Indicatif - Passé Composé – I spoke (as: I have spoken) French: J’ai parlé Français.
J’ai parlé Tu as parlé Il a parlé
Vous avez parlé Elle a parlé
On a parlé Vous avez parlé Ils ont parlé
Nous avons parlé Elles ont parlé

Now, when ‘I spoke’ means ‘I used to speak’ or ‘ I was peaking’ then we use a form called
‘imparfait’.
You see that the first one, the passé composé ended with the ‘é’ sound of ‘café’ (at least
for 75% of all verbs). Now, the imparfait will sound like ‘è’ in ‘lait. It’s a simple form.
There’s only one word, the verb with the ‘è’ ending sound (for all subjects except ‘you’,
‘vous’). The subject ‘vous’ is always an exception. So, for ‘parler’, instead of ‘é’, say ‘è’,
and that’s it.

Indicatif - Imparfait – I spoke (as: I used to speak, I was speaking) French: Je parlais Français.
Je parlais Tu parlais Il parlait
Vous parliez Elle parlait
On parlait Vous parliez Ils parlaient
Nous parlions Elles parlaient

I spoke, as ‘I was speaking’ = Je parlais

I danced = Je dansais
He spoke, he was speaking, he used to speak = Il parlait
On parlait, ils parlaient (they used to speak).
Only ‘vous’ is different. ‘You spoke’ plural or formal = vous parliez.
Now you have both past tenses.
 Now to review these rules, let’s go back to our irregular most used verbs, the first
one being ‘to be’. When we use “I was” in French, it only means “I was being” or “I used
to be”
Example: I was home (I was being home) is “J’étais à la maison”, I was home when she
came back, for example.
On the other hand, if ‘I was’ can mean ‘I have been’, then you use passé composé. That
means you really say ‘I have been’, literally.
If you want to say: “I was home for two hours this afternoon”. It’s an event
In that case, ‘I was’ in French can only be: ‘I have been’.
‘I have been home for two hours this afternoon’,
I have = J’ai
Been = été.
‘I was’ or ‘I have been’ = J’ai été
The whole sentence translated is: J’ai été à la maison, or ‘chez moi’, at home, pendant
deux heures, for two hours, cet après-midi, this afternoon. We will work on the basic
vocabulary in vol.2.
Finally let’s say that the first past tense, called imparfait, is used to say what was
happening or what used to happen.
The second one, the passé composé with the ‘é’ sound (sometimes it’s ‘u’ or ‘i’ and
occasionally other sounds) is used to say what happened. Naturally we genuinely use more
the second one, the passé composé, because we like to talk about events.
I was injured, blessé, event = J’ai été blessé
You have = tu as
You have been injured, you were injured = Tu as été blessé.
They were injured = Ils ont été blessés.
A little note for pronunciation: I have been = J’ai été. To pronounce ‘J’ai été” double the 2
‘é’ sounds but don’t separate them by a breath.
‘Been’ is ‘été’, a form of ‘être’ and you place the verb ‘avoir’ at the present tense in front
of it.
I have, you have, he has: J’ai, tu as, il a
So: I have been, you’ve been, he has been
Repeat after me : J’ai été, tu as été, il a été
Now : We’ve been, you’ve been, they’ve been
Repeat after me: On a été, vous avez été, ils ont été

Indicatif – Passé Composé – I was (as: I have been): J’ai été. For example, I have been seriously
ill: J’ai été sérieusement malade
J’ai été Tu as été Il a été
Vous avez été Elle a été
On a été Vous avez été Ils ont été
Nous avons été Elles ont été

Examples :
Pushed = poussé. I was pushed = J’ai été poussé
Shocked = choqué. I was shocked = J’ai été choqué
Hired = engagé. I was hired = J’ai été engagé
Decided = décidé. It has been decided = Il a été décidé.
Done, made = fait. They have been made = Ils ont été faits

Let’s take a break and talk about the sounds é and è. You have to develop an ear for them.
The sound ‘é’ is short and sharp, and sounds like ‘é’ of ‘it’ or ‘is’, it is. That’s ‘é’ of café.
Now ‘è’ feels less sharp, like caramel, internet, etc. minus the ‘l’ and the ‘t’. You have
both sounds in ‘café au lait’ (coffee with milk). That’s part of the traditional French
breakfast. You have both sounds again in ‘élève, student, sévère, severe, or ébène, eboni
(wood).

For the past tenses of ‘To Be’:

Remember that ‘I was’ as ‘I have been’ is ‘j’ai été’
But ‘I was’ as ‘I was being’ or ‘I used to be’ is j’étais.
I can hear the difference very precisely; listen to it at normal speed. ‘j’ai été’. ‘j’étais’.
It will probably take you some time to hear it but if you spend some time working or
listening you will not study for nothing.
That past tense (I was being or I used to be) called the ‘imparfait’ is easier to conjugate
because regardless of the subject (you, he, she, we and they), they are all followed by
‘étai’.
It’s not written the same way but it’s the same sound. Only the ‘vous’, the ‘you’ plural is
always different, always ending with the ‘é’ sound except for 3 verbs, among them two of
the verbs we are studying here, ‘to be’ and ‘to do’ for which it’s ‘vous êtes’ for ‘you are’
and ‘vous faites’ for ‘you do’.
You were (as ‘you were being’ or ‘you used to be’) = vous étiez.
You did (as ‘you were doing’ or ‘you used to do’) = vous faisiez.
Let’s practice: If I want to say: I used to be, I was = J’étais
‘Quand j’étais jeune’ means ‘when I was young’.

Indicatif - Imparfait – I was (as: I used to be… or: I was being): J’étais. For example, I used to be
clumsy: J’étais maladroit
J’étais Tu étais Il était
Vous étiez Elle était
On était Vous étiez Ils étaient
Nous étions Elles étaient

If you have enough working on conjugations, take a break. Get the vol.2 to discover the
real basic French vocabulary, or purchase the “SmartFrench audio cds Beginner” or the
CDROM and start working slowly on real conversations. You will see that all the parts of
the puzzle will start to assemble correctly.
We will choose not to go into too many details here.
I refer you to the SmartFrench conjugation blog to practice everyday. It’s an awesome
tool. You have a number of examples every day – you see one verb a week, one tense a
day all that free, and if you want more you can download entire lessons for very little
money $0.99.
TRACK 11 – Avoir (To have) Past Tenses

Let’s work on “to have” in the past, let’s transform ‘I had’ by ‘I have had’ – ‘had’ is ‘eu’
in French. Now to work on its pronunciation:
Purse your lips and push your tongue on the bottom teeth:
I have = j’ai - had is eu
‘I have had’ or ‘I had’ is ‘j’ai eu’
I had an appointment = j’ai eu un rendez-vous

Again this past tense to say about what happened is like in English ‘have had’ with the
present tense j’ai + eu
I had = j’ai eu
You had = tu as eu
He had = il a eu
Repeat them together : j’ai eu, tu as eu, il a eu.
And for the plural: We had = on a eu
You had = vous avez eu
They had = ils ont eu
Repeat them all : on a eu, vous avez eu, ils ont eu.

Indicatif – Passé Composé – I had (as: I have had): J’ai eu. For example, I had a good surprise: J’ai
eu une bonne surprise
J’ai eu Tu as eu Il a eu
Vous avez eu Elle a eu
On a eu Vous avez eu Ils ont eu
Nous avons eu Elles ont eu

Feminine : She had = elle a eu

They had = elles ont eu.
If they refer to a group of females, ‘they’ is ‘elles’. If in the group there’s one man, you
will say ‘ils’.
They have an idea – My wife and my daughter have an idea - they have an idea = Elles ont
une idée. They had an idea = elles ont eu une idée . Don’t separate the vowel sounds by a
breath or any thing. ‘Elles ont eu une idée’.
Gift = cadeau. They had a gift = Elles ont eu un cadeau.
I had a gift = j’ai eu un cadeau.
We had a gift = On a eu un cadeau.
You have (plural) = vous avez
You had = vous avez eu.
They have = Ils ont, or ‘elles ont’
They had = Ils ont eu.

The other past tense for ‘avoir’ is ‘avait’. Remember for ‘être’ it was ‘était’ – same sound
‘è’ at the end. I will not go too far in the grammar but I just need to point out to you the
things I noticed were happening the most often in the real life conversations I recorded.
So: ‘J’avais’ is: ‘I used to have’ or ‘I was having’.
We used to have = on avait
We had sport every day, tous les jours = On avait sport tous les jours.

Sometimes I give you the spelling to give you some explanation, but most of the time I
don’t. For the verbs, the spelling changes all the time but the sound doesn’t change as
much.

Indicatif - Imparfait – I had (as: I used to have/I was having): J’avais. For example, I had a headache
every day: J’avais mal à la tête tous les jours…
J’avais Tu avais Il avait
Vous aviez Elle avait
On avait Vous aviez Ils avaient
Nous avions Elles avaient

Ça va?
Let’s practice:
I was having a conversation with Paul when I had the idea = J’avais une conversation avec
Paul, with Paul, quand, I had (event), j’ai eu l’idée.
We had, as we have had = On a eu (event)
We had, as we used to have or we were having = on avait.
For an event: I had = j’ai eu, you had = tu as eu, he had = il a eu, we had = on a eu. She
had a baby (event) = Elle a eu un bébé.
She had headaches regularly
Elle avait mal à la tête régulièrement.
TRACK 12 – Aller (To go) Present Tense

Now it’s time to talk about the verb ‘To Go’ = ‘Aller’.
It’s very much used in French, like in English, because besides being used for itself it’s
also used to express the future when associated with another verb.
You can use ‘to go’ by itself: ‘I go’ or ‘I am going’.
Or you can use it like this: ‘I am going to speak’ for ‘I will speak’ (future tense).
We don’t use the literal translation for ‘I am going’ in French, instead we use ‘I go’.
So in French, if you want to say ‘I am going to speak’ you will say ‘I go to speak’.
Let’s start with the present tense of ‘to go’:
I go = je vais, you will pronounce je vais, just imagine it’s written ‘shv’.
To study the contractions is very important and it will help you a lot. The reason why it’s
not taught much is that French people are not even aware of the amount of contractions
they use. They are actually very surprised when I tell them that I teach French with the
contractions. Then they generally admit that it makes sense.
You go = tu vas, tu vas
He goes = il va, you will pronounce il va
The three together: I go, you go, he goes
Repeat: je vais, tu vas, il va,
Say it out loud; the louder the more retention.
We go = on va
You go = vous allez (remember: ‘you’ plural is always different but as I
told you, always ending with the ‘é’ sound).
They go = ils vont, pronounce ‘il vont’
Together: we go, you go, they go = On va, vous allez, ils vont.
Repeat : on va, vous allez, ils vont.

Indicatif - Présent – I go/I’m going*: Je vais - You go/You’re going: Tu vas - He

goes/He’s going: Il va - We go/We’re going: On va… For example, I go home: Je vais à
la maison (or: Je vais chez moi).
Je vais Tu vas Il va
Vous allez Elle va
On va Vous allez Ils vont
Nous allons Elles vont
*To express the English form –ing, the French people use also the expression “Être en train de…”. “Je suis
en train d’aller” means “I’m going… right now”.

I’m going to the market, I go to the market = j’vais au marché.

You will receive a lot of infos here. You will not remember everything right away. But if
you see these forms over and over, you will get it.
Let’s practice:
He is going, he goes to the market = Il va au marché
They are going, they go, to the market = Ils vont au marché.
We are going to the market = On va au marché.
To Mark’s place = chez Marc
She is going to Mark’s place = Elle va chez Marc
I’m going to Mark’s place = Je vais chez Marc.
‘To my place’ or ‘at my place’ = chez moi.
We are going to my place = On va chez moi
She is at my place = Elle est chez moi
She has a gift for me, pour moi = Elle a un cadeau pour moi.
She had a gift, event = Elle a eu un cadeau.
They are going to the market
Ils vont au marché.

We will give you many more examples when we talk about the future, using the same
form as in English: I am going to do, walk, speak, etc…
TRACK 13 – Aller (To go) Past Tenses

Generally, when you express the past of most of verbs, you use ‘avoir’ as a helper (we call
this auxiliary). Let’s say helper. You remember ‘I had’ = ‘J’ai eu’. That’s I have had. Have
is the helper (Auxiliary, in grammar). I was = I have been = J’ai été. The helper or
auxiliary is also ‘ai’. Now you have to know that for a few verbs like ‘aller’, we use ‘être’
(to be).
You remember: I am = je suis.
I went. make the transfer from ‘I have gone’ and change ‘I have’ by ‘I am’.
‘I am gone’ is ‘I went’ in French. ‘Gone’ is ‘allé’, a-l-l-é (same sound as the verb – aller,
a-l-l-e-r), but again spelt differently. Now remember that if you need to see the words and
the sentences while learning, you can, but you will receive in a blow more than twice the
information because of all the different spellings. Then all your attention will
automatically directed to the way it’s written, and no attention will be left for listening,
which is crucial for understanding and therefore speaking confidently.
So: I went = I am gone = je suis allé. Gone = allé.
You went = tu es allé = you are gone. Tu es = tu es, from ‘être’, ‘to be’. ‘Tu
as’ = tu as = you have. The verb to have = avoir. It’s starts with ‘a’. Naturally ‘tu
as’ means ‘you have’. You are = tu es. You are gone = you went = tu es allé.
He went = il est allé
He went to the market = il est allé au marché.
Repeat : je suis allé, tu es allé, il est allé
Plural, we went, you all went, they went
Repeat after me: On est allé, vous êtes allés, ils sont allés.
I went to Paul’s = Je suis allé chez Paul.
They went to Paul’s = Ils sont allés chez Paul.

Indicatif – Passé Composé – I went (as: I have gone): Je suis allé(e). For example, I went
to Vancouver: Je suis allé(e) à Vancouver
Je suis allé(e) Tu es allé(e) Il est allé
Vous êtes allé(e) Elle est allée
On est allé Vous êtes allé(e)s Ils sont allés
Nous sommes allé(e)s Elles sont allées

The other past tense, for ‘être’ was ‘étais’, for avoir = avais, for aller = allais.
So: ‘I went’ as ‘I was going’ or ‘I used to go’
J’allais: same thing for ‘you’, ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘we’, and ‘they’: it’s ‘allai’, as for the sound is
concerned.
Only for ‘vous’, the ‘you’ plural, it differs as always. For ‘you were’ it was ‘vous étiez’,
for ‘you had’, ‘vous aviez’. For ‘you went, it’s ‘alliez’,
‘I went to the left’ as ‘I’ve gone to the left’ (event) you will say ‘je suis allé à gauche’, but
‘I generally went to the left, I was going to the left or I used to go to the left: ‘J’allais à
gauche’.

Indicatif - Imparfait – I went (as: I used to go… or: I was going): J’allais. For example, I
used to go to the beach every day: J’allais à la plage tous les jours.
J’allais Tu allais Il allait
Vous alliez Elle allait
On allait Vous alliez Ils allaient
Nous allions Elles allaient

You can listen to those CD’s several times, just repeat, or when you want, you can take
notes. Write the words phonetically, the way they sound for you. Remember, the ‘é’
sound, like in ‘je suis allé’, is short and the same sound as the short ‘i’ in ‘it’ or ‘is’ and ‘è’
in ‘j’allais’ is like caramel, without ‘L’.

Examples: I was always going, or I used to go, to the same bakery = J’allais toujours à la
même boulangerie.
But if it’s an event: I went to the bakery = Je suis allé à la boulangerie
They went to the doctor = Ils sont allés chez le docteur.
We went to France = On est allé en France.
You went to London = Tu es allé a Londres.
I went to Paris = Je suis allé à Paris
I go, I’m going to Paris = Je vais à Paris.
I am in Paris = Je suis à Paris.
I went to Paris = Je suis allé à Paris.

Still ok? Ça va?

You can always take a break, visit our website for example, do the free dictation, or some
other things. Check around.
At this point you know how to use three of the four most common verbs in French, in
present tense and in the past. You will really remember them when you practice them in
the action, in the realities of natural conversations. It will become second nature after a
while. We’ll talk about ‘to do’ at the end.

Do you realise how much you know already?

We have seen that if I want to express what happened in the past, I use the formula:
I have + a form of the verb. That form was ‘été’ (been) for ‘être’, ‘eu’ (had) for ‘avoir’ and
‘allé’ for ‘aller’. Well for the verbs ending with the ‘é’ sound, the 75% of all the verbs I
talked to you about, it’s easy again, soundwise because here again you don’t touch it.
‘Danser’ is the verb. I danced = J’ai dansé. I sang – j’ai chanté. I organized = J’ai organisé.

Let’s review what we know so far.

I am = Je suis
I’m on the phone = Je suis au téléphone.
I’m at the market = Je suis au marché
He is on the phone = Il est au téléphone
I’m speaking = Je parle. Remember that ‘I’m speaking’ is the same as ‘I speak’ in French
I’m speaking on the phone = Je parle au téléphone.
She is nice = elle est sympa.
They are nice = Ils sont sympas
We are American = On est americain
I have one book = J’ai un livre.
You ( sir) have two children = Vous avez deux enfants.
You are nice = Tu es sympa.
Or formal, you are nice = vous êtes sympa.
How are you? = Ça va?… Ça va
They have ten books = Ils ont dix livres.
They go to the market = Ils vont au marché.
I was going to the market (‘è’ sound) = J’allais au marché.
It’s different than
I went to the market (event) = Je suis allé au marché.
I had an accident (event) = J’ai eu un accident.
They went = Ils sont allés
We went = on est allé
You are going = Vous allez
You went = vous êtes allés
They were in a hurry (in a hurry = pressés) as ‘they were being in a hurry’ (expressing a
situation in the past, so ‘è’ sound) = Ils étaient pressés
They had an accident (That’s the event) = Ils ont eu un accident.

They had two children (event) = ils ont eu deux enfants.

They were nice = Ils étaient sympas.
I am sure you are starting to get it.
She was pushed (as she has been pushed) = Elle a été poussée.
I danced = J’ai dansé
I sang = J’ai chanté
You organized = Tu as organisé
You, Miss, you sang = Vous avez chanté
A song = une chanson
I walked (as I used to walk) = Je marchais
They spoke, they used to speak = Ils parlaient.
They went (event) = ils sont allés
She had a gift (un cadeau) = Elle a eu un cadeau
They had a gift (feminine) = elles ont eu un cadeau
They were injured (blessés) = Ils ont été blessés
She is injured = elle est blessée
She has been injured = elle a été blessée
She had a baby = elle a eu un bébé
You go = tu vas
He goes = il va
You go (plural) = vous allez
You go (formal) = vous allez
You (formal) went (event) = vous êtes allés
You went to Henry’s = vous êtes allés chez Henri
He used to go to Henry’s regularly (regulierement) = il allait chez Henri régulièrement.
You ask your friend: Did you go to France? (en France) = Tu es allé en France?
TRACK 14 – The future

Let’s talk about the future a little bit. For the future, I will use the formula that is also used
in English: I am going to + verb.
‘I am going’ = I go. Let’s say it’s the same in French.
So, ‘I go’ = Je vais. I’m going to dance = je vais danser.
I’m going to sing = je vais chanter.
I’m going to walk = je vais marcher
I’m going to eat = je vais manger

I eat = je mange. Just checking.

‘To decide’ is ‘décider’. I will decide = Je vais décider. Think that ‘I will’ is ‘je vais’. It’s
easier. You will react faster.
It seems that if you know a few of these verbs in their infinitive forms, you will be able to
say a lot of things right away.
She goes = elle va
She will speak = elle va parler.
They will speak = Ils vont parler
They spoke = Ils ont parlé.
I know it’s confusing. It’s simple when you know it and it’s automatic. All this
information will only stick in your head if you work on real conversations. You can use
our beginner two program or something else, but you need to have the contact with the
reality. Otherwise, you will forget very fast. If you can’t go to France and stay there for a
year or more, you have to experience here. Work with our dialogs over and over first and
find French groups live or online. It will be fun.
To give = donner (donate, make a donation)
Most words ending in ‘-ation’ in English come from French. You can then guess what the
verb is in French; just put the sound ‘é’ instead of –ation.
For example: Participation. ‘Participer’ means ‘to participate’.
You will give; you’re going to give, you go to give = tu vas donner
He’s going to give : il va donner
I will give, you will give, he will give
Repeat after me
Je vais donner, tu vas donner, il va donner
We’re going to give: on va donner
You (plural) are going to give: vous allez donner
They are going to give: ils vont donner
A little observation here: For the plural ‘they’. The same sound ‘on’ is used for ‘to be’, ‘to
have’ and ‘to go’. For ‘être’, ‘they are’ is ‘ils sont’, for avoir, ‘they have’, ils ont, and for
aller, ‘they go’ is ‘ils vont’.
If you want an easy way to express what you will do in the future, yse that formula. It’s
always the same.
TRACK 15 – Être, Avoir and Aller (To be, To have, To go) Future tenses

Now it’s time to add a little bit to what you know already. We will talk about the future
expressions of ‘être’, ‘avoir’, and ‘aller’.
You can always use the formula:
I am going to + the action verb.
Remember: ‘I am going’ is the same as ‘I go’ (to simplify).

While frequently used, the regular future tense (future simple) is not as used as the
immediate future formula (or future proche) that I just gave you.
I will just tell you two things about the regular future tense, one is that there is always a
‘R’ sound in it: I will be: je serai, je serai
I will have: j’aurai
I will go: j’irai
The second point: Did you notice how these forms are very different than the verb they
belong to?
“être’, to be, becomes ‘serai’
‘avoir’, to have, becomes ‘aurai’.
Aller’, to go, becomes ‘irai’.
At least, for those of you who know Spanish, two of these future forms should be easy to
remember. The French language has taken the Spanish infinitive form of two of them to
form it’s simple future tense. In Spanish ‘to be’ is ‘ser’ and ‘to go’ is ‘ir’
To form the French future tense, you take the Spanish infinitive and you stick the present
of ‘avoir’ to it’s end. For example
I will be = je serai. It’s written ‘ser’ (to be, in Spanish) + ‘ai’ from ‘j’ai’, I have.
I will go = j’irai. It’s written ‘ir’ (to go, in Spanish) + ‘ai’ from ‘j’ai’, I have.
We can always discover interesting things, right?
We have = on a (remember the verb is ‘avoir’). So, how do you say: We’ll go? = On ira.
We will be = On sera.
They have = Ils ont. They will be = Ils seront. They will go = Ils iront. For now, you can
use ‘ils vont aller’.
For ‘avoir’, to have, you use ‘aur’ and you add ‘avoir’ in the present tense.
I will have = j’aurai.
She will have = elle aura.
For ‘Vous’ plural or formal, you need the ‘é’ sound, as always: vous aurez.
They will have = ils auront

Être (to be)

Indicatif - Futur – I will be: Je serai. For example, I will be ready early: Je serai prêt de bonne
heure.
Je serai Tu seras Il sera
Vous serez Elle sera
On sera Vous serez Ils seront
Nous serons Elles seront
Avoir (to have)
Indicatif - Futur – I’ll have: J’aurai. For example, I’ll have a great weekend: J’aurai un super weekend
J’aurai Tu auras Il aura
Vous aurez Elle aura
On aura Vous aurez Ils auront
Nous aurons Elles auront

Aller (to go)

Indicatif - Futur – I will go: J’irai. For example, I will go to the party until 9pm: J’irai à la fête jusqu’à
neuf heures.
J’irai Tu iras Il ira
Vous irez Elle ira
On ira Vous irez Ils iront
Nous irons Elles iront

These verbs are irregular and you can see a big difference in certain of their tenses.
Just practice them regularly in their natural environment and you will remember them.
TRACK 16 – Faire (To do, To make) Present, Past and Future Tenses

But let’s see the 4th irregular verb that with ‘être’, ‘avoir’ and ‘aller’ , form the four most
commonly used verbs in French and in English. That verb is ‘Faire’ = To do
I do = je fais just say ‘je fais’, like ‘shfè’
You do = tu fais
He does = il fait, ‘il fait’
The three together: I do, you do, he does = je fais, tu fais, il fait
Repeat : je fais, tu fais, il fait.
We do = on fait
You (plural) do = vous faites
They do = ils font, say ‘ee_font’,
Now we have : on fait, vous faites, Ils font.
Repeat : on fait, vous faites, ils font.

Indicatif - Présent – I do/I’m doing*: Je fais - You do/You’re doing: Tu fais - He

does/He’s doing: Il fait - We do/We’re doing: On fait… For example, I do my best: Je
fais de mon mieux.
Je fais Tu fais Il fait
Vous faites Elle fait
On fait Vous faites Ils font
Nous faisons Elles font
*To express the English form –ing, the French people use also the expression “Être en train de…”.
“Je suis en train de faire” means “I’m doing”.

Now in the past: ‘I did’ or ‘I have done’. done = fait

So: I did = j’ai fait
You did = tu as fait
He did = il a fait
Let’s do the three together: I did, you did, he did =
Repeat after me:
J’ai fait, tu as fait, il a fait
Now the plural :
We did, we have done = on a fait
You did, you have done = vous avez fait.
They did, they have done = ils ont fait – ee zon fait.

Indicatif - Passé Composé – I did (as: I have done): J’ai fait. For example, I did it: Je l’ai fait
J’ai fait Tu as fait Il a fait
Vous avez fait Elle a fait
On a fait Vous avez fait Ils ont fait
Nous avons fait Elles ont fait

Now the future: I am going = je vais, to do = faire. I will do = je vais faire.

‘To do’ is also ‘to make’. We only have one verb “faire“ in French for ‘to do’ and ‘to
make’.
I’ll make a key = Je vais faire une clé.
Tu vas faire – Il va faire – elle va faire – on va faire.
Then: you’ll make = vous allez faire and ‘they will make’ = Ils vont faire.
The future simple is with the “r” sound. Like: ‘I will be’ is ‘Je serai’, ‘I will do’ is ‘je
ferai’, tu feras etc…

Indicatif - Futur – I will do: Je ferai. For example: I will do that fast: Je ferai ça vite
Je ferai Tu feras Il fera
Vous ferez Elle fera
On fera Vous ferez Ils feront
Nous ferons Elles feront

I gave you both future forms but for now think of using the easiest one, which is the most
used anyway, the immediate future with ‘I am going to’.
Now let’s review :
I dance = je danse
I danced = J’ai dansé
I will dance = Je vais danser
Let’s go randomly : She will sing = elle va chanter
They go = Ils vont
They will decide = Ils vont décider
They have = Ils ont
They decided = Ils ont décidé
To eat = manger
You have = tu as
You ate = tu as mangé
You will eat = Tu vas manger
Sick = malade
I’m sick = Je suis malade
I was sick, I have been sick = J’ai été malade
I will be sick = Je vais être malade
They will be here at 2pm = Ils vont être là à deux heures

We have gone through the conjugations very briefly, to give you what is mostly used in
conversations. What comes back over and over has been covered. For more great
exercises, you can practice using our conjugation blog on www.SmartFrench.com. If you
do that daily, you will never have to memorize. You will just know your verbs.
This is the end of CDB. Hopefully you will want to continue with the volume 2 where we
will go through the list of the basic vocabulary we noticed was appearing very regularly in
the conversations we recorded. They are mostly small words, the ones that get in the way
of your understanding the language generally. Sometimes they are grouped together and
you can’t figure out what they are. We will give you multiple examples so that you learn
how to recognize them when they come in conversations. I hope you had a great time
starting the process of learning French.
A bientôt, see you soon.