A2

a. Social life

 Recalling the past

1. J'ai traîné
I idled around.

2. J'ai fait le ménage

I did some housework.

3. regardé- look at

 Describing past events

1. resté/ restée- stayed

2. reposé/reposée- rested

b. Character traits
 Positive traits

1. Il est comment ?- What is he like?

2. Brillant (bai-hee-aun) /Brillante – smart

3. généreux / généreuse- generous

4. Patient (pai-see-aun)/ patiente- patient

5. sincère (saun-cere)- sincere

6. drôle (dhol) - funny

7. sors- get out

  Negative traits

1. paresseux (paa-rey-suu) / paresseuse- lazy

2. nerveux (ney-vous)/ nerveuse- nervous
3. lourd (luu-haa)/ lourde- irritating

"Lourd / lourde" literally means "heavy" but when we use it to describe

people it means "irritating", or even "unbearable".

4. maladroit / maladroite- clumsy

5. bavard (bava) /bavarde- talkative

jamais (jai-mey)-never
trouve- find
sympa- nice
quelquefois- sometimes

 Comparison

- Léa est plus patiente que Rémi. (Léa is more patient than
Rémi.)

plus- pluu

- Rémi est moins patient que Léa. (Rémi is less patient than
Léa.)

- Léa est aussi patiente que Rémi. (Léa is as patient as Rémi.)

c.People and places

 Swear words
 - Sans déconner ?!- no kidding!
- Putain! (pu-taan) - fuck
- tuerie- amazing

 New family members

- la tante (taunt)- aunt

- l’oncle (lonkla)- uncle
- le neveu (ney-vu)- nephew
- la nièce (nee-es)- niece
- le cousin (kuu-zaan)- cousin
- le cousine (kuu-zeen)- cousin
- petite-fille- granddaughter

 Prepositions

We use the preposition "à" in front of a city.

Countries that end in "e", like "Turquie" and "France", are

feminine.

To talk about being in one of these countries, we use "en".

Nous habitons en Colombie. (We live in Colombia.)

Countries that don't end in "e" or "s" are masculine.

To talk about being in one of these countries, we use the preposition

"au" that we pronounce like "o".

There are a few countries in French that are in the plural form,
like les États-Unis and les Pays-Bas. In this case we use the
preposition "aux" that we pronounce like "o".

- née- born
 d. Cuisine

 baking a cake

- Qu’est-ce qu’il faut ?

What do we need?

- il faut- need
- farine- flour

 Parisien flan

- Mélangez- mix
- Versez- pour
- laissez- let it
- cuire- cook
- coupons- cut
- gâteau- cake

 L’imperatif

We use "l'impératif" to give orders or instructions to one or more people. We only

use it for "tu", "nous", and "vous".

The "vous" and "nous" forms are exactly the same as the present tense, for both
regular and irregular verbs.
Présent Impératif
Tu prends le moule pour la Prends le moule pour la
tarte. tarte.
Nous coupons le gâteau. Coupons le gâteau.

The "tu" form for "l'impératif" is the same as the present tense
– except for "-er" verbs (e.g. "manger", "préparer").

For these verbs you remove the final "-s". Let's have a look at
some examples below.
Présent Impératif
Tu manges le flan. Mange le flan.
 French meals

- le petit déjeuner (dey-ju-nee)

the breakfast

- le déjeuner
lunch

- le goûter
snack

- le casse-croûte
the light lunch

 Key objects for meals

- mettre la table
set the table

- l'assiette
the plate

- le verre
the glass

- le couteau
knife

- la fourchette
fork

- la cuillère
the spoon
 boire- drink

 meals preferences

- C'est délicieux !

 Clothes

- le pantalon (pawn-ta-laun) – trousers

- la robe (hobe)- the dress
- la veste- the jacket

We can use "porter" and "mettre" to talk about our

outfits. They have slightly different meanings:
"porter" means to wear while "mettre" is to put on.
However, we often use them both to talk about what
we wear.

- mêmes- same
- vêtements- clothes
- la jupe- skirt
- les chaussures (sho-zue-ha)- shoes
- les chaussettes- socks
- cravate- tie

In France, it is quite common to keep your shoes on

indoors. But just in case, if you are invited into a
French home, you'd better ask "J'enlève mes
chaussures ?" (Do I remove my shoes?) even though
your host will probably answer with "Non, garde-
les !" (Keep them on!) 😅

 Fashion style
 - Court/courte- short
- long (lon)/longue(long)- long
- serré/serrée- tight
- coloré/colorée- colourful

Some short adjectives (words we use to describe things) like "petit(e)",

"grand(e)", "joli(e)" or "beau / belle" are often before the object/clothes,
whereas colours are always after the object/clothes.

- tu es sur ton 31 ! – you look elegant

- D’abord- first of all

- à la mode- fashionable

 Fashion accessories

- une barbe- beard

- les lunettes- glasses
- une casquette- cap
- les bijoux- jewellery
- une montre- watch

e. Shopping

 Shopping for clothes

- Soldes- sale
- chercher- to look for
- essayer- try on

 Shopping for clothes

- Vous faites quelle taille ?

What is your size?
- Je fais du...
 My size is…

- la taille au-dessus
one size larger

- la taille en-dessous
one size smaller

- aider- help

- la cabine d’essayage
the fitting room

- payer en espèces
to pay in cash

- payer par carte

to pay by card

f. Housing

 Rooms in a house

- le salon- the living room

- la cuisine- the kitchen
- la chambre- bedroom
- la salle de bains (baan)- bathroom
- les toilettes- the toilets

 Household objects

- le canapé- the sofa

- la table basse- coffee table
- tapis- rug
- le lit- the bed
- la douche- shower
kitchen open to living room- une cuisine américaine

 Negation

- ne rien- not anything

- ne personne- not anyone

 Rental process

- déménager- to move
- louer (looee)- to rent
- le loyer- the rent
- le locataire- tenant
- propriétaire- landlord
- le colocataire- flatmate
- la facture- bill
- Je n’ en peux plus !- I can't take it anymore!

 Negation

"Je veux plus !" ➕

(I want more!) We pronounce "plus".

"Je ne veux plus." ❌

We pronounce "plu
(I don't want anymore.)

g. Free time

j'ecoute- to listen
dessiner- to draw
lire- to read

je lis,
tu lis,
elle/il/on lit

In French, "une nouvelle" is a short

story. 📑
"Un roman" is a longer fictional story. 📖

faire de l'exercice- to exercise

bricolez- to do diy

 Adverb

How do you form them? Easy!

1. Take an adjective
2. Transform it in its feminine form (endings in -e, -ive, -euse,
ète, etc.)
3. Add -ment

Have a look at a few examples:

1. Adjectif 2. Adjectif au 3. + ment →
(masculin) féminin adverbe !
général générale généralement
actif active activement

The adverb is generally placed right after the verb!

- parfaitement- perfectly
- généralement- generally

Adjectives ending in -ant

When adjectives end with -ant, we swap -ant for -amment to

get the adverb!

Here are some examples:

constant constamment
 brillant brillamment
bruyant bruyamment

Adjectives ending in -ent.

When adjectives end with -ent, we swap -ent for -emment to

get the adverb!

Here are some examples:

Adjectifs en -ent Adverbes
fréquent fréquemment
récent récemment
apparent apparemment

h. Holidays

- partir à l’étranger- to go abroad

- réserver- book
- le séjour- the stay

 Airport

- le vol- the flight

- décoller- to take off
- atterrir- to land

i. The Past

- l’élève- the pupil

- le lycée- the college
- apprendre- to learn
- comprendre- to understand
- devoirs- homework
- expliquer- to explain
In the "imparfait", the "d" of "apprendre" and "comprendre"
disappears.

Present tense. Past tense Imparfait

Je suis J'étais
J'ai J'avais
Je vais J'allais
Je fais je faisais

 Imparfait tense plural

In the "imparfait"... We can describe...

A l'époque, vous faisiez quoi ? a lasting situation 👨‍🎓
Nous aimions la philo. a constant feeling 💖
Les étudiants étaient passionnés someone's
characteristics👭

plural form-

nous -ions nous voulions

vous -iez vous vouliez
ils -aient ils voulaient

pronounciation remains same

a. Relationships

- sortir avec- to date / to go out with

- se marier- to get married
- se pacser- civil partnership

Problems in relationship
 - tromper- to cheat
- se séparer- to break up

Intimate relationship

- recontrer- to meet
- tomber amoureux- to fall in love
- un coup de foudre- love at first sight
- draguer- to flirt
- inviter- to treat someone / pay
- s'embrasser- to kiss
- se prendre un râteau- to get turned down

Family ties

- la femme- wife
- le mari- the husband
- le beau-frère- brother in law
- la belle-sœur- sister in law
- le demi-frère- step brother
- la demi-sœur- step sister
- petit frere/sœur- younger brother/sister
- grand frere/grande sœur- older brother/sister

Feminine adjectives

If an adjective already ends in an "e", there is no need to add one in its

feminine form. However, if the adjective ends in "é" (e with an accent),
we do add an extra "e".
Hugo est timide. Camille est timide.
Pierre est fatigué. Samira est fatiguée.

masculine endings feminine endings

-f (naïf) -ve (naïve)
-x (heureux) -se (heureuse)
-s, -n, -l (gentil) -sse, -nne, -lle (gentille)
-er (premier) -ère (première)
 Some exceptions to the rule
Finally, there are a few exceptions that you just need to learn
by heart:

beau-belle
nouveau- nouvelle
vieux(old),- vieille
blanc (white)- blanche
long (long)- longue

Time

timetable

- On est le combien ?- what is the date today

- On est le 14- It's the 14th.
- C'est quand ton anniversaire ?- when is your
birthday
- Joyeux anniversaire – happy birthday
- Prochain/prochaine- next
- dernier / dernière- last
- la veille- the day / night before
- le lendemain- day after

timetable

- mettre du temps- take time

- perdre son temps- waste time
- être en retard- to be late
- arriver à temps- to arrive on time
- passer son temps- to spend time
time expressions

- C'était quand ?- when was it?

- jour- day
- mois- month
- un an (an-aun)- a year
- l’an dernier- last year

il y a + number +
jour/mois/ an(s)

Days is masculine- dernier is used

Weeks is feminine- dernière

T.V.

Types of media
- regarder une émission- watch a tv show
- la société- current affairs

Opinions on media

- Je trouve que... I think that... / I find...

- divertissant / divertissante- entertaining
- déprimant / déprimante- depressing
- ennuyeux / ennuyeuse- boring
- polémique / polémique- controversial

Superlatives

- le/la/les pire- the worst

- le meilleur- the best
la meilleure
les meilleurs
 les meilleures

At work

work environment

- l’entreprise- company
- le patron / la patronne- boss
- collègue- colleague

navigating workplace
- le stylo- pen
- j’ecris- write
- le bureau- desk

The word "bureau" refers both to a piece of

furniturewhere you can write, work, leave
documents, etc., and the actual place where
the employees of a firm work!

- Pose-le- put it
- notés- wrote

In French, "y" is considered a vowel and is pronounced here as a French "i".

- l’ordinateur- computer

Indirect pronouns
To refer to "il" (he) or "elle" (she), we always use "lui".

Plural- leur

Academic background

- une matière- subject

- une licence (lee-saunce)- undergraduate degree
Life at work

- bosser/travailler- to work
- partir à la retraite- to retire
- un travail / un emploi- a job