mocosoli

[eager kelp]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

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Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.

[brittle moat]

is it just je rende?

[fringe torrent]

For the subjonctive we take the radicale of ils/elles and add e for je

[sterile meadow]

hi, there are a ton of websites with useful conjugation tables like this one: https://leconjugueur.lefigaro.fr/french/verb/rendre.html

[brittle moat]

omg ty

wait your actually so tek for that website

[scarlet saffron]

Context: radical is the root

[fringe torrent]

Yes

[brittle moat]

why is it called radical

[fringe torrent]

We use the radical in French a lot

[fringe torrent]

Idk 🤷‍♂️

Ive heard it called other names

But I forgot what they are

[brittle moat]

we just say ending in class

[fringe torrent]

In French it’s « la radicale »

[brittle moat]

mmm i see

[sterile meadow]

le radical*

[fringe torrent]

Ah

[fringe torrent]

Oh merci

[sterile meadow]

from radix, the root

[fringe torrent]

Les terminaisons and le radical aren’t the same

[brittle moat]

ohhh ok

[fringe torrent]

For example

In imparfait we take the nous form of the verb and take off -ons

[scarlet saffron]

Each conjugation consists of a radical and an ending:
Je parle
Tu parles
Il parle
Nous parlons
Vous parlez
Ils parlent

The underlined part is the radical/root while the bold part is the conjugation ending. In some conjugations, the root/radical changes. A good example is -ir (second group) verbs.

[brittle moat]

i see

[fringe torrent]

Yes for ir verbs it typically changes a lot

[brittle moat]

can i ask you if these are good sentences and you guys help me out if i say or spell anyhting wrong?

[fringe torrent]

Sure

[brittle moat]

its gonna be in subjunctive since thats what im learning

[scarlet saffron]

This will help you in other -re verbs like « conduire » because its root changes in the plural forms.
Je conduis
Tu conduis
Il conduit
Nous conduisons
Vous conduisez
Ils conduisent

The subjunctive root is taken from the plural third person so it's « que je conduise, que tu conduises, qu'il conduise, que nous conduisions, que vous conduisiez, qu'ils conduisent »

[brittle moat]

Pour etre un bon ami, il faut que vous soyez gentil parce que nous aimons gentil ami.

[fringe torrent]

You’re missing an article

[brittle moat]

which one

[fringe torrent]

After aimer

[brittle moat]

because my teacher marked off 4 things i needed to add

[scarlet saffron]

« parce que nous aimons […] gentil ami »

[scarlet saffron]

Also the accent in « pour etre »

[fringe torrent]

Le gentil ami sounds weird

[fringe torrent]

Un sounds good but a little off. Personally it seems you wanna refer to good friends in general

[brittle moat]

yea i couldnt really put that in keyboard so i just left it

[brittle moat]

what should i put here

[scarlet saffron]

Oh your teacher put the other three errors wrongly

[fringe torrent]

If you’re on mobile hold down the e key

[scarlet saffron]

They assumed that « vous » is plural when it's not

[brittle moat]

im on computer so i didnt feel like copy pasting

[scarlet saffron]

Oh wait

[fringe torrent]

Ah np

[scarlet saffron]

Ohhhhh no I'm the one who's wrong

[brittle moat]

she made the "pour etre un bon ami, il faut que vous"

[fringe torrent]

In the US vous is taught like that often , but always drilled that it can be polite

Being all we have is “you/y’all” in English

[scarlet saffron]

Your English version is in the plural (we like nice friends) but vous is not given plural agreements

[brittle moat]

yea tu is more like close friends and vous is formal

[fringe torrent]

I wouldn’t say tu is close friends necessarily

It depends on the person

[brittle moat]

its more like somebody u can refer to without being formal

its informal

[sterile meadow]

I would never say vous to close friends

only tu

[fringe torrent]

You can also use vous to be rude, but that’s a topic for another day 💀

[scarlet saffron]

Yes but you have to make the additional difference of are you addressing multiple people or not

because « vous » implies either one and in this context it's plural, not formal

[brittle moat]

so what should i put in the areas where she marked red

[scarlet saffron]

your teacher's marked off the parts where you had singular agreements instead of plural ones

[brittle moat]

where i needed to add stuff

[scarlet saffron]

Like if I'm with my friends I'd have to use « vous » because I'm addressing more than one person

[brittle moat]

yes

its like 'yall

[scarlet saffron]

« Vous êtes trop géniaux, vous ! »

[sterile meadow]

it's not a question of formality but rather respect
for instance teachers, boss, profesionnal relations, most strangers, use vous
friends, family, children, people on the internet, use tu

[scarlet saffron]

Right so the adjective has to agree

In English, adjectives just stand there not doing anything but in French they have to agree with the noun they modify

un fauteuil génial
des fauteuils géniaux
une voiture géniale
des voitures géniales

[brittle moat]

mmmm

i see

[scarlet saffron]

as you can see, the adjective « génial » agrees with the noun it's modifying

[brittle moat]

ill ask her more about it tmrw its 12 am

for me

thank you for the help

[scarlet saffron]

In your sentence, « gentil » is singular yet « vous » refers to the plural

see the error there?

[brittle moat]

ahh yeaa

i dont really know how to change that tho

[scarlet saffron]

Notice how in my example « génial » is plural to reflect that « vous » is plural

[brittle moat]

ohhhhhhhh

where u added the iaux

[scarlet saffron]

That's just for -al adjectives

For -il, just add S

[brittle moat]

so nous aimons gentils ami

[scarlet saffron]

Not that part, the « que vous soyez gentil » part

[brittle moat]

oh

[scarlet saffron]

although yes that part should agree with « amis » as well

[brittle moat]

so what about parce que nous aimons gentil ami

[scarlet saffron]

For one, « ami » should be plural

[brittle moat]

so amis

[scarlet saffron]

We love good friends, not one good friend

[scarlet saffron]

Right and « gentil » is after the noun

In French, adjectives almost always go after the noun

[brittle moat]

yea thats what i did

[scarlet saffron]

On the right side

not the left

[brittle moat]

yea

parce que nous aimons gentil

[scarlet saffron]

Notice how I said « un fauteuil génial » and not « un génial fauteuil »

[brittle moat]

wait is my noun aimons

or is it gentils

[scarlet saffron]

You have the noun « amis » so it has to be on the right side of « amis »

[fringe torrent]

And you’ll need « les » bc aimer is a verb of préférence, and we always need an article in French as well x)

[sterile meadow]

"gentil" can go either before or after, usually before

[scarlet saffron]

« nous aimons » is the subject and verb

[brittle moat]

would i put nous aimons les gentils amis?

[fringe torrent]

Yes!

[brittle moat]

ahhh i see

[fringe torrent]

That part is perfect !

[brittle moat]

so currently what i have is "pour etre un bon ami il faut que vous soyez gentils parce que nous aimons les gentils amis"

anything else?

[scarlet saffron]

Yeah but I wanted to stress adjective placement since it can go either way without a meaning difference unlike « grand »

[sterile meadow]

oh sry I thought you meant it should have gone after

[scarlet saffron]

looks good to me since « être » is not part of the answer

[brittle moat]

ok ty

i have another sentence

je suis content que tu finisses les devoirs pour l'ecole parce que tu est un eleves

the est un eleves is wrong right?

[sterile meadow]

indeed, there are a few mistakes

[scarlet saffron]

Yes

« est » belongs to « il », not « tu »

[brittle moat]

would it be vous?

[brittle moat]

yea tu is es right?

i accidently put the t because i wasnt too focused

[scarlet saffron]

yeah but you wrote est

that's the issue

[brittle moat]

so tu es un eleves?

or tu es eleve

[scarlet saffron]

The second error is « un élève »

Professions don't require an article, read this: https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/when-not-to-use-indefinite-articles-with-professions

« Vous êtes professeur » and not « vous êtes un professeur »

[brittle moat]

so would it be tu es eleve?

or tu es eleves?

[scarlet saffron]

Adjectives agree in gender and number

How many persons is « tu » ? One person or many?

[brittle moat]

i think it would be better to do vous etes eleves

[scarlet saffron]

If you do that, you'll have to change the subjunctive « que tu finisses les devoirs »

[brittle moat]

why?

[scarlet saffron]

You went from addressing one person (tu) to many (vous)

doesn't make sense

[brittle moat]

ahh

so vous finissiez

[sterile meadow]

-# this one is very weird, I have never seen "élève" used this way. It seems more natural with an article, but in practice you would say "être à l'école" instead

[scarlet saffron]

Je jure d'avoir entendu « t'es élève » ou qqch comme ça dans une série, il se peut que je l'aie mal entendu mais c'est ça

[torpid finch]

Oh mon dieu, je veux lire ça mais l'écriture est comme un médecin.

[scarlet saffron]

yeah

[brittle moat]

😭

[sterile meadow]

no, doctors are waaay worse

this is easily readable

[brittle moat]

its just a bit inconsistent

[fringe torrent]

I always think of this as distinguishing suivre and être being they’re very similar conjugations (je suis)

[sterile meadow]

and I know what I'm talking about my parents are doctors

[torpid finch]

He's spilling insider secret!

[brittle moat]

uhm guys

[sterile meadow]

"je suis élève à X école", "je suis étudiant", mais juste "élève" je crois jamais l'avoir entendu sans l'article

[brittle moat]

would i say vous finissiez in the beginning if i want to say vous etes eleves after?

[scarlet saffron]

hmmmm

peut-être que c'est le cas

[scarlet saffron]

Since you're still addressing the same people, sure

[brittle moat]

ok thank you

[scarlet saffron]

If you're addressing different people, it could change

[brittle moat]

thanks guys i finished it

have a good night

i gotta wake up in 8 hours for a geometry test

[sterile meadow]

anyway not really important but let's just say the article doesn't strike me as ood

[scarlet saffron]

(it is 12.37 for me)

[brittle moat]

thanks for the help

[brittle moat]

same

[scarlet saffron]

it's AM for you

PM for me

[brittle moat]

ahhh

ok

well have a good morning

[scarlet saffron]

I use 24 hours jsyk

[brittle moat]

ah ok

[scarlet saffron]

very common in France

[fringe torrent]

I did a French immersion program this Summer and I never saw any 12h times posted

[torpid finch]

Je ne sais pas qu'est-ce qu'il arrivé mais j'ai apprendé quelque-chose aujourd'hui

[fringe torrent]

It was only 24 hours format

Aka military Time for the Americans

[scarlet saffron]

24 hours is generally used all over the world, at least when written, so better get used to that

[sterile meadow]

12 hours is often used orally in France

[scarlet saffron]

My native language of Indonesian (if you wanna visit sometime) uses 24 hours in writing but 12 hours orally

I think 24h written/12h oral and 24h written/24h oral is rather normal

[fringe torrent]

Ok that’s interesting

[scarlet saffron]

Usually if I see 12h written I think northern anglophone (US, Canada, UK)

[fringe torrent]

The UK it’s more common to write military time tbh i think

[scarlet saffron]

Oh yeah definitely but it still happens