The verb faire (to do, to make) + de + is used for several sports, whereas we use other verbs in

English. With masculine nouns like le vélo, de + le merge to form du.

Le quartier has many meanings in English, the neighbourhood, the area, the part of town or
even the quarter when referring to historic parts of a city, such as the Latin Quarter in Paris or
the French Quarter in New Orleans.

You can also say Tu t’appelles comment ? This is not quite as informal.

Just like aimer and adorer, after préférer the definite article is used, e.g. Je préfère les petites
places (I prefer small squares).

You say Salut ! in informal situations, e.g. among friends.

Où with an accent means where; without an accent it means or.

Content literally means content, but in French, it is used more frequently in the sense of happy.

Heads up! You don't use joli (pretty) when talking about a man.

Did you know? Des hommes doesn't just mean men - it can also be translated with humans.

The word copain is more colloquial than ami. Depending on the context, le copain can mean
the boyfriend that someone is in a relationship with. The feminine form is la copine.

The meaning of son, sa, ses is only clear if you know who the owner is. Sa librairie can mean
his bookshop (belonging to a man) or her bookshop (belonging to a woman)

Mon, ton and son are used before feminine nouns in the singular that begin with a vowel or a
silent h, e.g. mon amie.

For these possesive adjectives there is only one form in the singular - it doesn't matter
whether the noun is masculine or feminine.

Depending on the context, on can mean one or we. The verb is in the 3rd person singular.

Familiarise yourself with the forms of the

verb devoir (must, should, to be allowed
to)
je dois
tu dois
il/elle/on doit
nous devons
vous devez
ils/elles doivent

Familiarise yourself with the meanings of

devoir
The verb devoir means should or must in the sense of obligation:
Tu dois te laver les mains.
You must/should wash your hands.
Je dois encore m'habiller.
I must/should get dressed.
Devoir sometimes expresses an assumption:
Elle doit être en vacances.
She must be on holiday.
Furthermore, if negated, devoir also means cannot:
Je ne dois pas me réveiller tard.
I cannot wake up late.

Familiarise yourself with reflexive verbs

Reflexive verbs are accompanied by a reflexive pronoun which comes before the
reflexive verb.
Elle se lave.
Je m'habille.
Not all verbs that are reflexive in French are reflexive in English and vice versa.
Cécile se réveille.
Ses parents divorcent.

Je

réveille.
Tu

réveilles.
Il/Elle/On
réveille.
Nous

réveillons.
Vous

réveillez.
Ils/Elles

réveillent.

Me, te and se are apostrophized before a silent h and vowels: je m'habille, tu t'habilles,
elles s'habillent.

Negation
Like negations with ne... pas (not, nothing), ne... rien (nothing) and ne... jamais (never)
surround the conjugated form of the verb.
Je

mange pas.
Je

mange rien.
Est-ce que tu

manges jamais de viande ?

The word ne is apostrophised when negating verbs that begin with a silent h or a vowel.
Je

ai rien.
Elle

est pas végétarienne

Demonstrative adjectives are determined by the gender of the noun. Ce comes before
masculine singular nouns and cette before feminine singular nouns: Cet is used before
masculine nouns which begin with a vowel or a silent h, to help pronunciation.

In the plural there is only the demonstrative adjective ces, regardless of the gender of the
noun.

Ces is also used when the noun begins with a vowel or a silent h.
Even though un deux-pièces, trois-pièces has a plural s, the word is used with an article in the
singular.

Adjectives depend on the gender and number of the noun. Except for adjectives which already
end in -e, e.g. pratique, the feminine form is created by adding the ending -e.The plural form is
made by adding an -s.

Adjectives generally come after the noun. Short adjectives like grand, petit or vieux are an
exception, however, and come before the noun.

Adjectives generally come after the noun. Short adjectives like grand, petit or vieux are an
exception, however, and come before the noun.

More about irregular adjectives

The feminine form for adjectives ending in -er is -ère. In the plural an -s is added as
usual:
The masculine plural form for adjectives ending in -al is –aux

Three important irregular adjectives

The forms for beau (beautiful), vieux (old) and nouveau (new) are irregular in the
singular.

Three important irregular adjectives

The forms for beau (beautiful), vieux (old) and nouveau (new) are irregular in the
singular.
un beau salon, une belle chambre
un vieux salon, une vieille chambre
un nouveau salon, une nouvelle chambre
To make pronunciation easier you use a different form for masculine nouns before a
silent h and vowels.
un bel homme, un vieil ami, un nouvel ordinateur

More about beau, vieux and nouveau

The masculine plural forms end in -x:
les beaux salons

les nouveaux salons

les vieux salons

The feminine plural forms are made by adding -s to the feminine singular form:
les belles chambres
les nouvelles chambres
les vieilles chambres

Words are often contracted with an apostrophe before the vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and h. Ce (this)
+ est (is) become c'est and me (me) and appelle (call) become m'appelle.