French for beginners! :P

[CelineRules!]

Actually you can use it!

 

Pourquoi est-ce-que tu vas au Quebec?

Quel role est-ce-que tu joue?

 

 

Now I feel ashamed.. Of course it works like that, what a dumbass am I! I was just thinking that "if you start with est-ce que, you can't put pourquoi or quel in the sentence anymore..." But of course, there's no need to start with it, you can start with pourquoi, and still put est-ce que in it.. Sorry, maybe I should stop giving advice.

Oh I see what you mean

Ah well, let's blame it on: "It's almost the end of the week"

Edited January 29, 2009 at 06:11 PM by CelineRules!

[corr_azy]

Thank you guys! I get it!

[corr_azy]

I've got another problem here:

 

- Ce soir, on va au cinema avec Jean et Julie.

- Apres, vous venez chez nous pour un cafe.

- Non, nous allons en discotheque. Mais __________ avec nous.

- Et Jean et Julie, ils viennent aussi?

- Non, Julie va travailler a Paris a 7 heures, demain.

 

For the blank, what should the answer be and why? We have to put the correct form of either <venir> or<aller>.

The sentence is kind of confusing for me too. It's literally translated as "No, we are going to the discotheque. But _______ with us," isn't it? Could anyone explain it?

[Alex_Incognito]

Alors, je suis malade aujourd'hui...la vie en rose...je pense que non.

[corr_azy]

Forgot one thing:

 

For the word desole (sorry), when do we use desole (masculine) and desolee (feminine)?

Also for occupe and occupee? (busy)

Edited February 9, 2009 at 10:07 AM by corr_azy

[Alex_Incognito]

Corr azy, that doesn't make any sense to me at all. But, one could think that they are inviting you elsewhere.

 

I think the answer would be viens / venez

[Alex_Incognito]

Forgot one thing:

 

For the word desole (sorry), when do we use desole (masculine) and desolee (feminine)?

 

 

If you were to say it, as a male, it's Je suis désole. I don't know when you would need to use the feminine form, unless you were telling a dialogue.

[corr_azy]

Corr azy, that doesn't make any sense to me at all. But, one could think that they are inviting you elsewhere.

 

I think the answer would be viens / venez

 

Yea. It doesn't make sense to me either. But that's what's in my workbook, word for word. The answer for the question is actually "venez," based on my answer sheet. Firstly, the sentence doesn't make sense to me. Secondly, why is is that the form "venez" of the imperative "venir" is used?

[L'amour]

corr_azy

let's see if i can help you...

so this is the dialogue right?

 

A-Ce soir, on va au cinema avec Jean et Julie.

B- Apres, vous venez chez nous pour un cafe.

A- Non, nous allons en discotheque. Mais __________ avec nous.

B- Et Jean et Julie, ils viennent aussi?

A- Non, Julie va travailler a Paris a 7 heures, demain.

 

A says that they're going to the cinema tonight with Jean and Julie

B (who's neither Jean nor Julie) replies: ok then you can come to my place(actually to our place) and have a coffee

A replies:no we're going to the disco, but come with us!(A is inviting B to come with them..i don't know if you catch the meaning..it's like come on come with us!or let's go..)>>>> So the right word to add is VENEZ (from the verb VENIR>>Vous Venez

 

did you understand?it does make sense..or at least to me it does!

 

THEN

as far as adjective is concerned..it depends from the sex of the speaker

a man says: Je suis occupé

but a woman says: Je suis occupée

 

a lot of adj are formed this way:adding an 'E' to create the female form

for example GRAND(used to describe a tall man) but GRANDE(tall for a woman)

INTELLIGENT(Clever for a man) INTELLIGENTE(Clever for a woman)

 

these two examples also have a different pronuciation:GRAND is pronunced GRAN and GRANDE is pronounced GRAND

 

i hope i've been helpful...sorry for my English!

for any question you can Pm if you need

 

BYE BYE!!!

[corr_azy]

Wow, that really helped me alot!

 

I was kinda confused about that sentence "Mais __________ avec nous." because I didn't know whether i should put "venez" or "venons"

 

Thanks so much for the help!

[corr_azy]

Hi guys.

 

Could anyone tell me what's the difference between "revenir" and "rentrer"? Are there cases where only either could/should be used?

 

I am having some problems with prepositions as well. For "a", "de" and "pour" for expressing where you are going to or coming from. I have this exercise that I can't figure out:

 

1 (a)Je viens ( Je vais © Je pars

 

 

2(a) a ( de © pour

 

 

3(a) Rome (b)chez moi © Paris, bientot (d) Malaisie (e) Tahiti

 

 

 

I am supposed to draw arrows to show all the possibilities to make sentences with rows 1, 2 and 3. Could anyone please help me out? Thanks!

Edited February 17, 2009 at 03:10 PM by corr_azy

[LaFeeRailleuse]

Hi guys.

 

Could anyone tell me what's the difference between "revenir" and "rentrer"? Are there cases where only either could/should be used?

 

Revenir means "coming back" Rentrer can either means the same thing or "going in".

Let's take this sentence :

Rentrer à la maison (coming back home)

Rentrer dans la maison (going in the house).

 

I hope that's clearer... If it's not let me know, I'll try again.

 

 

1 (a)Je viens ( Je vais © Je pars

 

 

2(a) a ( de © pour

 

 

3(a) Rome (b)chez moi © Paris, bientot (d) Malaisie (e) Tahiti

 

 

 

I am supposed to draw arrows to show all the possibilities to make sentences with rows 1, 2 and 3. Could anyone please help me out? Thanks!

Only 3 sentences then ? Right ? Not ALL possiblities ?

So if I understood right it would be :

Je viens de... (and either : Rome, Malaisie or Tahiti)

Je vais à... (and either Paris bientôt, Rome or Tahiti)

Je pars pour... (and either Rome, Paris bientôt, (la) Malaisie (gotta add "la" if you want to make a correct sentence here) or Tahiti).

 

 

Hope it helped !

[Sunday1988]

Hey out there!

This topic is GREAT!!!!!

But first let me tell you my woes

I'm from Germany and in grade 5 I started learning English, two years later I started learning French. I had to decide between Latin and French but I didn't want to learn a 'dead language' so I chose French. And I was looking forward to use the language I had to learn.

Today I'm at university and use my English sometimes for texts to read and write or on the internet of course. And I would say that my english knowledge is pretty enough ^^

But my french....... you can say it's horribe.. I forgot almost everything.

 

At least I learned English for about 9 years and French for 5 but French is so unbelievable difficult!! But since I listen to Célines fench songs and try to watch interviews and shows.. I'm really frustrated I understand so little

I'm really thinking about visiting a French course but I think I need a bit more motivation when I think about the irregular verbs

 

Christina

[Jacqui]

I'm at a point of frustration too I can read just about anything, which helps a lot with articles, song lyrics etc. But despite all efforts, watching Star Academie and Rene's interview the other day, I barely understood a thing. It felt quite discouraging. And as far as writing or speaking, forget it, I'm too scared of totally messing it up and I have no clue what I'm doing to start with. I kind of want to give up, but I feel like it took so much effort to even get this far, and if I give up now all that time will have been a waste. Ahhhhhh!

[Costa Santos]

Forgot one thing:

 

For the word desole (sorry), when do we use desole (masculine) and desolee (feminine)?

 

 

If you were to say it, as a male, it's Je suis désole. I don't know when you would need to use the feminine form, unless you were telling a dialogue.

 

Men say: "Je suis désolé."

Women say: "Je suis désolée."

 

Check it out:

 

Men:

Je suis désolé

Tu es désolé

Il est désolé

Nous sommes désoléS

Vous êtes désoléS

Ils sont désoléS

 

Women:

Je suis désolée

Tu es désolée

Elle est désolée

Nous sommes désoléeS

Vous êtes désoléeS

Elles sont désoléeS

Edited March 4, 2009 at 02:02 PM by Costa Santos

[LaFeeRailleuse]

I'm at a point of frustration too I can read just about anything, which helps a lot with articles, song lyrics etc. But despite all efforts, watching Star Academie and Rene's interview the other day, I barely understood a thing. It felt quite discouraging. And as far as writing or speaking, forget it, I'm too scared of totally messing it up and I have no clue what I'm doing to start with. I kind of want to give up, but I feel like it took so much effort to even get this far, and if I give up now all that time will have been a waste. Ahhhhhh!

 

Courage !

 

You just need practise. You can choose easier French videos, on Youtube, for example... And get used to hearing and not just reading.

 

Plus René and Céline have a strong accent, and compared to the accent we have in France, it's really different.

Some people from France sometimes don't even really get what people from Quebec say.

So, don't worry !

[L'amour]

Personne ne veut plus apprendre le francais?

[corr_azy]

Thank you guys for your help!

[corr_azy]

Could anyone provide me a guide as to how to use prepositions for dates?

 

For example,

why do I say "En juillet" but "Le 21 juillet "?

[LuisMa]

Could anyone provide me a guide as to how to use prepositions for dates?

 

For example,

why do I say "En juillet" but "Le 21 juillet "?

 

In this case you use "en" because you're being general and not specifying the date. If the date is specified then you should use the definite article "le."

[corr_azy]

Thanks for your help!

 

I am currently learning how to ask questions in an indirect and more polite manner.

 

For example:

Quand partez-vous a Paris? --> Je voudrais savoir quand vous allez a Paris.

 

But for this particular example:

Que faites-vous? --> Je voudrais savoir ce que vous faites.

 

Why is it that "ce" is added in this case?

 

Your help will really be appreciated! Thanks!

[reamary]

Thanks for your help!

 

I am currently learning how to ask questions in an indirect and more polite manner.

 

For example:

Quand partez-vous a Paris? --> Je voudrais savoir quand vous allez a Paris.

 

But for this particular example:

Que faites-vous? --> Je voudrais savoir ce que vous faites.

 

Why is it that "ce" is added in this case?

 

Your help will really be appreciated! Thanks!

 

I'm not sure if this is the correct explanation for it, but I think it has to do with the fact that "que faites-vous" could be asked also in another way, "qu'est-ce que vous faites". So, then when you change this form into an indirect form, the "qu'est" disappears, but the "ce" has to stay cause it means "it" in this case. In English the particular phrase would be "I want to know, what it is that you do". Does this make any sense?

I'm sure the native French speakers here can give a better explanation!

[corr_azy]

I don't really understand that explanation. "Est-ce-que" can be used for all questions I think. But I don't get why that's a special case.

[Davey84]

almost every question begins with Qu'est-ce que it's the french way of saying 'what'. It's just a rule You can't quoi for 'what', because that's usually used on it's own.... Il est grand... 'Quoi?'.

 

Exceptions to start a question are

Comment

Quand

Quel(s/le/les)

[corr_azy]

If this is the case:

 

Qu'est-ce que vous faites? --> Je voudrais savoir ce que vous faites.

 

What if i asked the question this way instead?:

 

Vous faites quoi?C

 

Could anyone also tell me what is the difference between "la" and "la-bas" and how they are used?

Edited April 13, 2009 at 08:30 AM by corr_azy

[tonybower]

Vous faites quoi? is fine for conversational French and makes perfect sense but it is still a direct question.

 

Your original suggestion for the indirect equivalent is correct: Je veux/voudrais savoir ce que vous faites

 

ce que simply means 'what' but not in the same way as 'Qu'est-ce que' which is just a question tag and means 'what' in direct questions. ce que does not necesarily form part of a question:

 

Dis-moi ce que tu en penses. Tell me what you think about it.

 

Ce que tu dis est vrai. What you're saying is true.

Edited April 16, 2009 at 11:25 PM by tonybower

[L'amour]

If this is the case:

 

Qu'est-ce que vous faites? --> Je voudrais savoir ce que vous faites.

 

What if i asked the question this way instead?:

 

Vous faites quoi?C

 

Could anyone also tell me what is the difference between "la" and "la-bas" and how they are used?

 

Well first of all don't forget the accent

Là and Là-bas

 

the difference is very little

 

Là means there

Là-bas means over there

 

so you can see it yourself that there is not a rule on how to use it.

 

i hope i've explained it well...

TCHAO!!!!

[scorp82]

I don't know French, but I really would like to learn the language. I can count from 1 to 10 and say things like good morning, good evening, how are you, etc. I can also say, "Je ne peux parlais pas bien Francais" and I definitely know how to say "J'aime les plus belle chansons de le magnifique chanteuse Celine Dion".

 

I probably butchered some of what I tried to say, but I'm sure those who speak French can understand what I said.

Edited April 21, 2009 at 04:05 AM by scorp82

[Bell]

Great topic! It's very useful and interesting for me.

[celine-rc]

If anyone has questions, I'd be glad to answer !