Lesson - Section 1: Personal Pronouns (les pronoms personnels)

[garçoncanadien]

Alright I volunteer to start teaching. I will use my old textbook as a framework and also try to give you as much practice as possible, verbal, written, and listening (via that engine aFrenchie told us about). Speaking - well that is hard to teach on a forum. I don't know right at this moment how to help you all with that!

And of course, I will intersperse it with vocabulary so you all can build that as well.

PART 1: PRESENT TENSE VERBS

Section 1: Personal Pronouns - Les Pronoms Personnels

French pronouns work very much the same way as in English, except for the word you and they. In English, you (plural) and you (singular) are exactly the same word. In French, they are not and in addition there is a formal "you" when you need to be respectful. Here goes:

Je = I
Tu = You (singular, informal, friendly)
Il = He
Elle = She
Nous = We
Vous = you (plural, or singular formal)
Ils = They
Elles = They, ladies only

When you need to be respectful to somebody, you would call them "vous" instead of "tu". On the contrary, if he/she is your good friend "vous" would sound stiff or even mean - you would refer to your friends by "tu".

The other distinction between "tu" and "vous" is number. "Tu" is singular, but "vous" is plural. They both translate as "you" in English.

Ils and Elles represent another distinction that is not present in English. "They" in French is distinguished by gender. If it is a group of females only, "Elles" is the correct word to use for "They". If it is all males, or the group is mostly females and contains at least one male, "Ils" is the word to use for "They".

Now for your homework :

Send me a private message with your answer to the following questions :

1. Name all of the French "pronoms personnels".
2. Tell the difference between Ils and Elles.
3. If you are talking to the president, would you say "vous" or "tu".
4. If you are talking to your little brother, would you say "vous" or "tu".
5. If you are talking to your pet dog Topaze, would you say "vous" or "tu".
6. How would you say in French "you" singular, and how would you say "you" plural in French.
7. If you were Flavie Flament talking to Alizée on Stars à Domicile 2001, and Alizée was crying in front of you because the video you just showed was very moving, would you call Alizée by "vous" or "tu".
8. Tell which of the following is not a correct match:
(A) Je = I
(B) Tu = She
(C) Il = He
(D) Nous = We
9. Tell which of the following is not a correct match:
(A) Ils = They
(B) Elles = They
(C) Il = She
(D) Je = I

EDIT: There is another pronom personnel called on. It translates as "one", but on has a much looser usage than the English "one". It can be used as we, you, and 3rd person writing. For verb conjugation purposes, it takes the same conjugation as Il/Elle.

[nurvonic]

thanks garcon, this is actually pretty helpful. ill have to get back to you on the homework though, never been good at that..lol

[Edcognito]

Merci!

Thanks man, nice start.

[Mozaik]

Thank you!
I have a question: what is the difference in pronuncation between il and ils, elle and elles? I tried to listen to a speaker program, but I didn't hear any difference.

[HibyPrime]

Originally Posted by Mozaik

Thank you!
I have a question: what is the difference in pronuncation between il and ils, elle and elles? I tried to listen to a speaker program, but I didn't hear any difference.

There is no difference.

[aFrenchie]

Alone or before a word starting with a consonant: no difference ideed, the "s" is mute. But you must consider the "liaisons" if the following word starts with a vowel or a mute "h". Add a "z" sound to both "ils" and "elles":
Ils aident = eel'z'ayd
Try "ils aident" (like above) and "il aide" here:
http://www.research.att.com/~ttsweb/tts/demo.php#top
and you'll hear the "z" sound (rather choose Juliette..French btw)

"Liaisons" are important and required in French. Read about it here:
http://french.about.com/library/pron...l-liaisons.htm

Examples:
http://french.about.com/library/pron...liaisons-r.htm
(sounds clickable)

But there are also forbidden "liaisons"!!
http://french.about.com/library/pron...liaisons-f.htm

[HibyPrime]

Someday I'll beable to answer a question and not get it wrong :/

[Mozaik]

Oh, yeah, that's it. Thank you aFrenchie, and also tahnks you, HibyPrime - what you've said was not wrong, it was only not complete.

[garçoncanadien]

audio is now linked to this lesson - each French word is linked only one time so you have to remember the 1st time and hear it in your head the second time . Click on the word to hear its pronounciation.

[cocoroa]

french is awesome
thx for the lessons