Lesson 1   Saying hello   Dialogue 1 (formal)   Pierre: Bonjour Madame/Monsieur! Je m'appelle Pierre. Et vous, comment vous appelez-vous? Vous:   Je m'appelle...(your name) Pierre:   Vous êtes de Toronto? Vous:   Oui, je suis de Toronto.   Dialogue 2 (informal)   Pierre: Salut! Je m'appelle Pierre Et toi, comment tu t'appelles? Toi:   Je m'appelle... (your name) Pierre:   Tu es de Montréal? Toi:   Non, je suis de Toronto.   Greetings - Les Salutations (click on links to listen to the audio and repeat aloud)   English French Responses English Hello Bonour     Hi Salut     Good Evening Bonsoir     How are you? (formal, plural) Ca va ? Comment ça va ? Comment allez-vous ? Ca va ? Fine Ça va bien I'm doing well Ça va mal Not well Pas mal Not bad Comme ci, comme ça So so Je vais bien I'm fine How are you? (familiar, singular) Ça va ? Commença va ? Comment vas-tu ? Ca va ? Fine Ça va bien I'm doing well Ça va mal Not well Pas mal Not bad Je vais bien I'm fine What's new? Quoi de neuf ? Rien de neuf Nothing's New Pas grande chose Not much Good-bye Au revoir     Bye Salut     See you later À tout à l'heure     Until next time À la prochaine     See you tomorrow À demain       Comments   When they meet or say good-bye, French people who know each other almost always shake hands, using the right hand (se serrer la main). Good friends and family members kiss each other lightly on each cheek. This is called faire la bise. When talking together, the French person would be offended if you kept moving away as he or she attempted to maintain normal conversational distance.   Formal (vous) and informal (tu)   When addressing another person in French, you must choose between tu and vous, (which both are the personal pronoun meaning "you"). Use tu to address a family member, a close friend, or another student. Use vous to address someone with whom you have a more formal relationship or to whom you wish to show respect. For example, use vous with people you don't know well, with older people, and with those in a position of authority, such as your teachers. Always use vous also to address more than one person.   Les Noms - French Nouns   A noun is a word that represents a thing, whether that thing is concrete (e.g., a chair, a dog) or abstract (an idea, happiness).   In French, all nouns have a gender - they are either masculine or feminine. It is very important to learn a noun's gender along with the noun itself because (A) articles, (B) adjectives and some verbs have to agree with nouns; that is, they change depending on the gender of the noun they precede or follow. The gender of some nouns makes sense (homme [man] is masculine, femme [woman] is feminine) but others don't (personne [person] is always feminine, even if the person is a man!) The best way to learn the gender of nouns is to make your vocabulary lists with the definite or indefinite article. That is, so that you learn the gender with the noun. The gender is part of the noun and you will be much better off learning it now, as a beginner, than trying to go back after years of study and memorizing the genders of all the words you've already learned (I speak from experience). Also, some nouns have different meanings depending on whether they are masculine or feminine.   There are some tendencies in the gender of nouns, but there are always exceptions. Countries and names that end in e are usually (but not always) feminine. I will list the patterns that I have noticed, but please don't use these as a way to avoid learning the genders of nouns - just learn each word as gender + noun and then you'll know them forever.   Ending is usually Exceptions - ion feminine un lion un scion un avion un million un billion un bastion - té feminine un comité un invité - ée feminine un lycée un musée - age masculine une page une nage une cage une plage une rage une image - eau masculine l'eau (fem.) une peau   A) Les Articles définis - Definite Articles   The French definite article corresponds to the in English. There are four forms of the French definite article:   Singular Plural Masculine Feminine Before vowel or mute h le la l' les le garçon le père la fille la mère l'ami, l'amie l'homme, l'histoire les garçons les filles   Which definite article to use depends on three things: the noun's gender, number, and first letter. If the noun is plural, use les. If it's singular starting with a vowel or mute h, use l'. If it's singular and starts with a consonant, use le if it's masculine and la if it's feminine.   Meaning and Usage of the French definite article   The definite article indicates a specific noun.   Je vais à la banque - I'm going to the bank. Voici le livre que j'ai lu - Here is the book I read.   The definite article is also used in French to indicate the general sense of a noun. The article is not used in this sense in English.   J'aime la glace - I like ice cream C'est la vie ! - That's life!.   The definite article changes when preceded by the preposition à or de - the preposition and article contract into a single word.   B) Genre et Nombre - Gender and Number   Nearly all French nouns have different forms for singular and plural. In addition, many nouns that refer to people have both a masculine and a feminine form. Many of the rules here also apply to adjectives.   Note that the gender rules apply only to people and some animals. They do not apply to objects, which have a masculine or a feminine form, never both.   I. Most nouns add an e for feminine and an s for plural     singular plural singular plural masc invité invité s ami ami s fem invité e invité es ami e ami es   II. When a noun ends in e, there is no difference between the masculine and feminine forms.     singular plural masc touriste touristes fem touriste touristes   III. When a noun ends in s, x, or z there is no difference between the singular and plural forms   singular plural le fils les fils le gaz les gaz   IV. Irregular gender patterns   Ending masc fem - an paysan paysanne - en gardien gardienne - on patron patronne - er boulanger boulangère - eur danseur danseuse - teur acteur actrice   V. Irregular plural patterns   Ending singular plural - ail travail travaux - al cheval chevaux - eau château chateaux - eu feu feux - ou bijou bijoux   End of Lesson 1