French Grammar and Absurdity

As I said in the "Read Me" page, I try to post links to native French-language sites. I think that this is one of the best ways to practice French, but occasionally there is an English site that's just too good to pass up.

Tex's French Grammar is an American site with Grammar explanations and exercises and I love this site. It's free and it's full of useful information.

Here you'll find many great grammar explanations (written in English and using proper grammar terminology). (If proper grammar terminology intimidates you, don't let it turn you away from this great resource. Read past the first paragraph or two of any grammar point and you'll see loads of useful examples and less frightening information.) You'll find exercises that you can do online (complete with answers). You'll find downloadable PDF's and you'll even find downloadable MP3's. I confess, I haven't used the MP3's much, so I can't comment on their quality, but if they're like the rest of the site, they should be pretty good.

Two caveats:
-I have found one or two mistakes on this site – there aren't many, but they're there. Think you've found one? Post it in a comment!
-This is a university site and it is aimed at university students. While it is never explicit, some of the themes are more adult than what you will find in most high school texts. High school or middle school teachers and tutors may want to review any specific grammar sheet before handing it out to students.

One of the fun things about this website? All of the grammar rules and exercises tell the complicated story of some very odd characters:

(Click on the cast of characters to visit the website.)

Qui or Que – The Saga Continues

Okay, so this grammar point maybe isn't convoluted enough to deserve to be labeled a "saga." Last week, in this post about super-spies and couch potatoes, we talked about the fact that "qui" refers to the subject of a sentence while "que" refers to the object – regardless of whether these were people or things.

Today we're going to review the exception to this rule. You knew it was coming, right? There's always an exception. Where's the fun if there isn't? If the super-spy always gets the documents and the girl without a hitch, the film is pretty dull.

For the grammophiles among you – the difference comes down to parts of speech. In last week's post, "qui" and "que" were relative pronouns « des pronoms relatifs », but this week we are talking about "qui" and "que" as interrogative pronouns  « des pronoms interrogatifs ». For example:

 

Here you can see that the second "qui" or "que" is following the rules for the super-spy and the couch potato. However, the "qui" or "que" that introduces the question now refers to a person or a thing.

    Who loves numbers? (Who is it that loves numbers?)
        Who did you see in the desert? (Who is it that you saw in the desert?)
           
            What is in the sky? (What is it that is in the sky?)
                What did the rose say? (What is is that the rose said?)

Of course, in the last two questions the "que" at the beginning of the sentence become "qu" with an apostrophe joining it to "est-ce" because "est-ce" starts with a vowel.

And a few more examples:

Fairly straightforward, but remember – the point her is that "qui" and "que" are asking questions. A sentence doesn't have to have the question phrase "est-ce que" to be a question. For example:

Que fait le buveur ?

Qui êtes-vous ?

Of course, a great way to practice these pronouns is simply to read them and use them. If you don't immediately recognize the references in this post then you are missing out and your Francophone education has been sorely lacking.  You can practice your pronouns and fix this glaring hole in your education by checking out the following book:

 

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=FFFFFF&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=DF9E1E&t=aegtra-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&asins=2070612759 http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=FFFFFF&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=D79224&t=aegtra-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&asins=0156012197

(Same book, different cover/size. I've always had a fondness for the blue cover.) I love this book. It's great for children and adults alike. Check it out!

Qui or Que?

  This question comes up a lot with students. Just what on earth is the difference between "qui" and "que"?

It's really very simple –

"Qui" is CEO of a multi-billion dollar, international corporation; president of a country that is a major player on the world stage; and also a super-spy (think 007 meets Chuck Norris meets Ninja meets James Bond- wait… well… you get my point).

"Que" is that annoying cousin that sits on your couch all day and eats your chips – but never vacuums up the crums and doesn't leave until you leverage him out the door with a shovel.

Obviously, by this I mean that "qui" refers to the subject of the sentence – "qui" is the active one."Que" refers to the object of the sentence – "que" is the lump on the log.

A quick review for those of us who have forgotten:

(Okay, technically, "cupcake with sprinkles" is the object.)

The subject does the action to the object. Now, if we'd had a different object in this sentence – say a cookie – that would mean that the spy had failed to get the super-top-secret documents. Fortunately, he ate the cupcake. *Whew.*

Remember, "subject" and "object" are grammatical terms. So, your object can be a person.

"The spy paid the baker."

Similarly, your subject can be a thing:

"The cupcake choked the spy."

How does all of this help with "qui" and "que"? Let's take a look at two more sentences:

"The spy who ate the cupcake." (or) "The spy that ate the cupcake."

vs.

"The cupcake that I gave to the spy."

"L'espion qui a mangé le petit gâteau."

"Le petit gâteau que j'ai donné à l'espion."

 

In the first sentence, "qui" refers to the spy, the subject of the sentence. In the second sentence, "que" refers to the cupcake, the object of the sentence. In the second sentence, the object comes first. "I" am the subject and I give the "cupcake" (direct object) to the spy (indirect object).

I doubt we're done with this subject, but what do you think? Does this help? After all, it is an important distinction. You don't want to go through life confusing super-spies with couch-sitting chip eaters. That just wouldn't do.

San Francisco

French Tutoring

Anne Elizabeth’s Novel French Workshops, currently featuring Harry Potter à l’école des sorciers, (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in French) is coming soon to San Francisco!

If you live in the San Francisco area and you’re interested in participating in this exciting workshop; if you’re an intermediate or advanced French student; if you studied French long ago and are afraid you are forgetting it – join the waiting list now!

Join us while we read and discuss Harry Potter in French and work through the associated workbook to develop fluency, expand vocabulary, and learn grammar and conjugation.

View page one of Harry Potter in French

If you want to receive an email when these workshops come to San Francisco, leave a comment below expressing your interest or contact me via:
Email:       anneelizabeth (at) aegtranslations (dot) com

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San Francisco French Resources

Alliance Française San Francisco
French American Chamber of Commerce
San Francisco Bay Acceuil

French Consulate – San Francisco

San Francisco Bay Area Francophile List

 

Sacramento

While most people think of San Francisco as California’s center for international affairs and francophone resources, Sacramento is an incredibly diverse city with large francophone and francophile communities as well as an active Alliance Française.

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Translation

 

For years I have worked out of Sacramento as French teacher and tutor. My translation business is also based out of Sacramento. If you are interested in translation, you can visit my translation site here:

AEG Translations

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French Lessons

If you are in the Sacramento area and are interested in French lessons, I am currently offering Novel French Workshops for motivated intermediate and advanced students. We will be reading book one in the Harry Potter series in French and will be working from an associated workbook as we work towards fluency, study vocabulary, and work on grammar and conjugation.

Come join us!

**A new workshop will be scheduled soon. Join the waiting list!**

Email:        anneelizabeth (at) aegtranslations (dot) com

  Wonder if this is the right workshop for you? Read page one of Harry Potter à l’école des sorciers in French and let me know what you think! (If you find it too difficult, try reading it again an hour or a day later. You’d be surprised how much this can help!)

View page one of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Want to join us but don’t know if you’ll be free for the next workshop? Interested in something a little easier or a little trickier? Send me an email or leave a comment below about your interest in future workshops and I will add your email address to the waiting list. (I never sell, rent, or give away email addresses.)

 

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French Resources in Sacramento

Alliance Française de Sacramento
Club Français de Sacramento

Sacramento French Film Festival

 

The Serious Store

Amazon.com Widgets

Amazon.com Widgets

Amazon.com Widgets

TV5 Conjugating Verbs 2

Conjugating in neat little exercises and tables is helpful, but that's not really the goal. What counts is being able to conjugate verbs in real sentences – in the context of actually expressing something.

In this previous post we looked at a verb conjugating game at TV5 which offers drills in verb conjugation. There's another similar game at TV5 which is a harder, but also far closer to real-life use of the language.

TV5 Conjugaison en contexte

 

In this game you are given sentences with one verb left in the infinitive. It is up to you to determine the correct tense, mood, and subject and to conjugate the verb accordingly. At the end you'll get a printable scorecard like this:

A few things to know about this game:

– It's pretty hard; even at the easiest level you'll be expected to conjugate the conditional and the subjunctive. (At the harder levels, the verbs themselves get harder – more irregular.)

-As you can tell from my results, a missed accent will make your answer wrong. I just accepted this and personally count these answers as correct since it can be difficult to type the accents with an American keyboard.

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So, did you try it? How'd you do?