lelivre.

[weary spire]

Please be patient

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

Pro tip: you can rename the thread title with `.tr <thread name>`

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.

[coral owl]

Is the infinitive part of the task? Because you didn't conjugate the present tense (every other entry).

Is that just telling you what verb to use?

Hard to tell without further context.

[waxen fossil]

Manger
Mangè doesn't exist
It won't be mangé bc you can't have two conjugated verbs in a row

Should be le dîner tho

[coral owl]

If the line above is the task description, it should still be 'devoir manger'.

[waxen fossil]

Yea that's what i tried to say

It should be manger

[coral owl]

My bad, I thought you were only referencing the last line.

[tight forge]

Sorry, i'm a little bit confused (newbie!). Am I missing infinitive or present tense? I tought I wrote present tense (1) and passe compose...🤔

[coral owl]

You wrote the infinitive instead of the present tense conjugations.

[tight forge]

I mixed them up all the time. I've used Alexa's book called 50 irregular verbs as a reference. Can you please give me an example of a infinitive sentence based on my own list?

[sterile mist]

J'aime boire du café
I love to drink some coffee

[tight forge]

Or is it present tense i am missing?
Je bois une biére (present?)
Je boire une biére (infinitive?)
J'ai bu une biére (?)

[sterile mist]

Yes you were missing the present tense

In your second example, the verb should be conjugated

The third example is the past tense

It's not « je avoir », it's « j'ai »

You have to conjugate

[tight forge]

Thank you. I'm still a little bit confused. This is the first time I conjugate french verbs btw.😅
Do you know of a good free ebook on french verbs?

J'ecris une lettre (present)
J'ai ecrit une lettre (past)

[sterile mist]

yes

[sterile mist]

You can consult LawlessFrench articles

https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/verb-conjugation/

[sterile mist]

I do suggest, however, that you put all of your effort on mastering the present. The present is by far the most irregular tense and elements of it pop up in other tenses as well. Mastering the present will be the key to opening other tenses.

Is English your native language? Do you understand it fluently?

[tight forge]

Thank you very much, betiebear. Really appreciate it. No, english is not my native language, but I speak decent english. I'm norwegian.

Just one more (if you don't mind):

Il lit un livre (present)
Il a lu un livre (past)

[sterile mist]

oh wait were you the Norwegian guy that was asking about conjugation

a few days ago

[sterile mist]

yup

[tight forge]

No, I think it was a guy named Kristian.

[sterile mist]

ah okay

[tight forge]

Thank you for helping me out.🙏

[tight forge]

I made some sentences (past and present) this morning:

• Mon père dort.
• Il a lu un livre hier.
• J'ai pris une doche hier.
• J'écris une lettre pour ma mère.
• Je jette une boule de neige.

👍? 👎?

[coral owl]

Looks good to me.

[tight forge]

Great! 😁 Is it a good idea to focus on past and present tense first?

[coral owl]

Yeah, definitely. Or any tense that you find yourself using a lot in your daily life.

A basic understanding of the past, present, and future can go a long way.

[tight forge]

Thank you, Casca.🙏

[sterile mist]

same, looks good to me

[tight forge]

Is this future tense?

J'irai au cinema avec mes amis demain.

Or should it be "vais"?

[coral owl]

Using 'vais' is for future events that are close in time. I think in this instance both work.

I'd personally use 'vais' here because the event is so close/so certain.

[tight forge]

Okay. Good to know. Thanks.🙏

Another one:

Je vais sortir avec ma femme sur vendredi.

[waxen fossil]

Remove sur

Don't need a preposition at all there

But yeah, aller + infinitif is also a future tense

[waxen fossil]

Je vais aller au cinéma is a bit heavy so I'd just say je vais au cinéma

It's a present tense but you can say "I'm going to the cinema on Friday" in English too

[tight forge]

In my native language we say "on friday". That's not the case with french?

[waxen fossil]

It's not

On Fridays would be le vendredi, so unless you count le as a preposition, days don't use a preposition in French

[tight forge]

Okay.😁 Thanks! 🙏

[coral owl]

'sur vendredi' is a literal translation, but 'sur' means 'on' in the sense of 'on top of/above'.

[tight forge]

Like "C'est un chat sur la table"?

[sterile mist]

Yeah

[tight forge]

Future tense:

Je vais mangerai un dinêr avec ma familie plus tard aujourd'hui.

[sterile mist]

Either je vais manger or je mangerai

Not both

[tight forge]

Hmm... Okay. Which sentence do you prefer?

[sterile mist]

je vais manger personally

but either one works

[tight forge]

Okay. Thanks.🙏

[tight forge]

Regarding our dinner:

Il y a trois verres et trois assiettes et trois fourchettes et trois couteaux sur la table. (present)

Is this the right way to describe what's on the table?

(Edited from C'est to Il y a.)

[waxen fossil]

Well you should go A, B, C et D when enumerating

But yeah that's correct

[tight forge]

Some sentences I made this morning:

• J'ai mangé une baguette du fromage et jambon pour le petit déjeuner aujourd'hui.
• Je lirai un livre plus tard aujourd'hui.
• Le livre est écrit de Dostoevsky.
• J'adore littérature russe (or de russe?).
• Je ferai aussi écouterai musique classique plus tard aujourd'hui.

👍? 👎?

[waxen fossil]

👎

firstly whats baguette du fromage et jambon?

ig i'd just say sandwich fromage jambon

2. is good

3. par Dostoevsky

4. la littérature russe

5. j'écouterai aussi de la musique classique

[tight forge]

I actually ate a baguette this morning. Someone told me to use "du" instead of "avec" with food.

3. I've not used the word "par" very much.

4. I wrote this first, but removed "la" later. 😅

5. Okay.

Thanks, Yez.🙏

[tight forge]

Aujourd'hui je mangerai poulet et légumes pour dîner.

Is this correct? It's not "des légumes"?

[waxen fossil]

huh

3. par is like by

it's a passive voice structure there
written by

[waxen fossil]

du poulet et des légumes

[tight forge]

I've only studied french for 4 weeks using free online resources.😆

[waxen fossil]

thats fine

[tight forge]

I read somewhere that it's ok to use "Est-ce que vous" in similar way as "Do you have". Is that true?

An example:
Est-ce que vous un passe-temps?

[waxen fossil]

no

should be est-ce que vous avez un passe-temps

[sterile mist]

I have zero idea of I didn't get notifications of this thread

but anyway

[sterile mist]

French nouns are almost always accompanied by an article be it the definite (le/la/les), indefinite (un/une), or the partitive (du/de la/des)

[sterile mist]

No

« est-ce que » is a question marker. You put that before a subject and it'll mark a question.

Le professeur arrive + ? —> Est-ce que le professeur arrive ?
Le professeur arrive + quand ? —> Quand est-ce que le professeur arrive ?

Unlike English's do-support as you've said above, it doesn't change anything.

[sterile mist]

For de/par, the vast majority of cases, you'd use par. « de » is used in two cases as far as I am concerned:
(1) Song titles (« Ma meilleure ennemie » de Stromae et de Pomme)
(2) Sentiments/feelings (Les professeur sont aimés des étudiants)

[tight forge]

Me: Est-ce que vous avez une sœur?
You: Oui, j'ai une sœur.

[sterile mist]

yup

Once you get to a more intermediate level you can answer with « Oui, j'en ai une » but yes

[tight forge]

Can I also say: "As-tu une sœur?" to people I know (informal).

[sterile mist]

Inversion is actually formal

so you can either go « Est-ce que tu as une sœur ? » or « Tu as une sœur ? »

[tight forge]

So Est-ce que is the most applicable and most important to learn?

[sterile mist]

yeah

Just add « est-ce que » before the subject

you're good to go

[tight forge]

I probably should focus on that first then.
Thank you so much, bertiebear. Really appreciate it. I've made a lot of progress lately. Thanks!🙏😁

[tight forge]

Je regarde à la television avec ma famille.
Nous regardons un documentaire Charles de Gaulle.

Is it ok to say "un documentaire Charles de Gaulle" or should I say "a documentary about Charles de Gaulle"?
Regarder is the right verb? Voir is wrong?

[sterile mist]

Just « la télévision », not « à la télévision » as « regarder » takes a direct object.

Also, you're missing the preposition « sur » between « documentaire » and « Charles de Gaulle ».

« Un documentaire sur Charles de Gaulle. »
'A documentary on (the subject of) Charles de Gaulle.'

[tight forge]

I was thinking of adding "sur", but I became unsure as sur means on. That sounds very strange in my native language.

Don't know why I wrote à la télévision.😅 I thought I wrote just la télévision.

[tight forge]

Il y a une voiture rouge devant la maison.

Can this sentence be transformed into a question simply by removing "Il y a" and adding "Est-ce que"?

Est-ce que une voiture rouge devant la maison?

[sterile mist]

No

You’d be missing the verb

[sterile mist]

(Forgot to hit reply)

[coral owl]

@tight forge Just to translate the mistake in the hopes that it'll clear things up:

Est-ce qu'une voiture rouge devant la maison ?
Is it that a red car in front of the house?

[tight forge]

Sorry. I don't get it.😅 I know it sounds weird in english, but I don't know how to translate this. Can you help me out, please?

[tight forge]

Can you give me an example, please?

[sterile mist]

Don’t think of « est-ce que » as having any semantic value other than as a question marker

You’ve essentially just said:
‘Red car in front of the house?’

Okay, so? What is it about this red car? Is someone or something doing something to it? Is it doing something? Are you just saying it exists? There’s no answer because there is no verb

[tight forge]

What if I add "standing"? Like in "the red car is standing in front of the house"?

[sterile mist]

For one, cars can’t stand

Maybe ‘is located’

In that case, sure, but adding est-ce que DOES NOT delete the verb

[tight forge]

In my native language we say "the car is standing in front of". I know that is not the case in english.

[sterile mist]

Une voiture rouge se situe devant la maison.
A red car is located in front of the house.

Est-ce qu’une voiture rouge se situe devant la maison ?
Is a red car located in front of the house?
(literal translation) Is it that a red car is located in front of the house?

[tight forge]

Je comprends.
What about a bike or a motorcycle? Technically speaking both can stand (with support).

Regarding "qu'une", its because U in une is a vowel?

[coral owl]

Yes, it's because of the vowel.

[tight forge]

Il y a un bouquet de fleurs bleue sur la table. Les fleurs sent bon!

Not sure if its just "de fleurs" or "des fleurs". Same with "bleue".🤔

[coral owl]

*sentent bon.

[coral owl]

On dirait 'un bouquet de fleurs bleues'.

[tight forge]

I forgot to conjugate sent?

[coral owl]

Yes.

It's 'de' instead of 'des' because you're not specifically pointing out the flowers.

[tight forge]

This is an example of when to use "de fleurs bleueS"?

[coral owl]

'Des' would imply these specific ones.

[tight forge]

Because i'm taliking about the bouquet and not only the flowers?

[coral owl]

In English, which would you say?

• The bouquet of flowers
  or
• The bouquet of the(se) flowers

It's similar here.

Or 'a bouquet', rather.

[tight forge]

The bouquet of flowers

[coral owl]

Exactly.

[tight forge]

👍

[coral owl]

Same in French when talking about quantity: beaucoup de/combien de etc.

[tight forge]

Can the last sentence be made into a question? Like this:

Est-ce que les fleurs sentent bon?

[coral owl]

Yes.

[tight forge]

Thanks.🙏

[tight forge]

Le soleil brille. C'est une belle journée.

Le soleil = It? It = Il? Am I right? I looked up the verb "briller". "Briller" in Il present tense is "brille". Is this correct?

[coral owl]

Yes, 'soleil' would take the third person singular conjugation of 'briller'.

[tight forge]

👍
So both sentences are correct?

[coral owl]

Yes.

[tight forge]

😁👍

[tight forge]

Je vois de la fenêtre. Je vois l'oiseaux et l'arbres. L'oiseaux chantent beau.

(I look out of the window. I see birds and trees. The birds sing beautifully.)

[coral owl]

*les/des oiseaux/arbres.

[waxen fossil]

Je regarde par la fenêtre. Je vois des oiseaux et des arbres. Les oiseaux chantent... this is hard to say in french lol

Chanter bellement doesn't work

[coral owl]

Ils chantent d'une belle manière, voilà.

[waxen fossil]

Ouais i guess

[tight forge]

Why is it des and not les?

[waxen fossil]

Well there's no "the" in the English version

It's indefinite

The birds weren't mentioned before

You could translate that des as some
I see some birds

[coral owl]

I saw birds -> des.
I saw the birds -> les.
I saw these birds -> ces.

[waxen fossil]

These birds = ces oiseaux

[tight forge]

Es-tu un professeur?
Oui, je suis professeur.

Can I use "Es-tu" in the same way as "Are you"?

[coral owl]

Yes; that's what it means.

Note that inversion can be seen as more formal.

[waxen fossil]

Inversion is very formal

[tight forge]

How can I say it in a less formal way?

[waxen fossil]

Est-ce que tu es professeur is neutral
Tu es/t'es professeur is informal

[tight forge]

Est-ce que! Of course! I learned that last week.😅

[waxen fossil]

Yeah it's what you insert to form neutral questions

Est-ce que tu as un stylo

Où est-ce qu'on va

Comment est-ce qu'on fait

[tight forge]

Est-ce que vous êtes en peu fatigué aujourd'hui?

Is this the right way to ask "Are you a little bit tired today?"?

[coral owl]

*un peu.

[tight forge]

Uuuups. That's just a typo. Thanks for pointing it out.👍

[tight forge]

Whats the difference between ton (m), ta (f), tes (p) and votre (m/f), vos (p)?

[sterile mist]

Gender and number

They change according to the noun they modify (agreement)

For example, « voiture » is singular and feminine so the possessive has to be singular and feminine

ma voiture, ta voiture, sa voiture, etc

[tight forge]

But why not use ta?

[sterile mist]

We turn that noun plural, the possessive changes as well

Mes voitures, tes voitures, ses voitures, etc

[sterile mist]

You can, it just depends on who owns the car

[tight forge]

Okay. So f.eks tes and vos is the same? I'm aware of the difference between masculine, feminine and plural. That's why I wrote (m), (f), (p) etc.

[sterile mist]

You have six possessors;
(1) Singular first-person (speaker): mon/ma/mes
(2) Singular second-person (listener): ton/ta/tes
(3) Singular third-person (someone not involved in the conversation): son/sa/ses
(4) Plural first-person (multiple speakers): notre/nos
(5) Plural second-person or formal singular first-person (multiple listeners or one person who is socially superior to you): votre/vos
(6) Plural third-person (Multiple people not involved with the conversation): leur/leurs

[sterile mist]

they’re both second-person but be careful

vos can either refer to multiple people or one person

[tight forge]

Is it like tu and vous, it depends on context?

[sterile mist]

« vos voitures » either talks about the cars of my professor or the cars of my friends

[sterile mist]

Exactly

The change from mon to ma/mes comes down to the noun it modifies

so if the possessor/owner of the noun changes, the possessive changes but if the noun itself changes, the possessive simply agrees with the noun

[tight forge]

D'accord. Je comprends. Merci!🙏

[tight forge]

Je porte mon survêtement lorsque je m'entraîne.

It's mon survêtement and not le survêtement, right?

[sterile mist]

Yeah

[tight forge]

What about "Je mets"? Is "Je mets mon survêtement" correct?

[sterile mist]

Sure

[waxen fossil]

Could be either

For mon/le

Mon is my, le is the

[tight forge]

Je dors dans mon le lit chaque nuit.

I'm not sure if it's le lit and les nuit or just lit and nuit.🤔

[sterile mist]

Just mon lit because the possessive adjective replaces the article

chaque nuit works

[tight forge]

Okay. I'm overthinking everything. It seems like "keep it simple" is the way to go.

If i'm talking about my kids (two boys or one boy and a girl), is this the right way to say it? (I don't have kids, btw.😅)

Ils dorment dans leur lit chaque nuit.

[sterile mist]

yeah

[tight forge]

👍
Thanks.🙏

[waxen fossil]

i mean generally expressions like "every day" will be "tous les jours" in french

but yeah in general it's similar to english

and chaque jour works too

[tight forge]

Je rêve d'acheter un château en France. Mon grand-père a au (or avait) un château en France. Il devait vend le château lorsqu'il est tombé malade.

I dream about owning (buying) a château in France. My grandfather owned a château in France, but had to sell it when he became sick.

[sterile mist]

For one, the past participle of « avoir » is « eu », not « au »
Second, you only conjugate once per subject so « vend » should be in the infinitive there. Since you're familiar with English, it's like saying 'He loves drinks coffee' instead of 'He loves to drink coffee'. Notice how the second verb is in the infinitive because the subject is already conjugated with 'to love'.

[tight forge]

So it's "a eu le château en France" and "Il devait vendre le château"?

[sterile mist]

un château

since you're talking about any castle and not a specific castle

It'd be right but you can tidy it up a bit with « il devait le vendre » because we've already established your grandfather owning a castle in France

[tight forge]

The first sentence is just a typo. I wrote "un". But what about the second sentece, is that "un" as well?

[sterile mist]

Yes

Because you're talking about any castle not just a specific castle

[tight forge]

Sorry! I meant sentence number 3! That's THE castle, right? I totally get why it should be "un" in sentence number 1 and 2.

[sterile mist]

Oh yes

since you're talking about the one that granddad owned in the second sentence

[tight forge]

Any castle = un
A specific castle = le

Thanks, bertiebear!🙏

[sterile mist]

yeah

do note that it'll change according to gender but you got it

one castle, any type = un château
more than one castle, any type = des châteaux
one castle, specific type = le château
more than one castle, specific type = les châteaux

[tight forge]

👍

[tight forge]

"Je ai un mal jour." (By me)

"Je passe une mauvaise journée." (Example)

Is it okay to say just "Je ai un mal jour"? I don't get why it's "passe" in the second sentence. "Passe" is "Passer" (to pass, to go past) in conjugated form, isn't it? To my, conjugating "Avoir" make more sense.

[waxen fossil]

It should be j'ai un mauvais jour
But yeah passer is often used for that context
It means to spend, there

And journée fits better
The difference is hard to explain tho xd
Try reading an article about it

[tight forge]

Both sentences are correct?

[waxen fossil]

Nah

J'ai un mauvais jour is really unclear

Grammatically correct but sounds like sth else

Mauvais sounds like it means "wrong" there

[tight forge]

It's "J'ai un mal jour", if that's make a difference.

[waxen fossil]

Btw you know you can make new threads lol

[waxen fossil]

That's incorrect

[tight forge]

Why?

[waxen fossil]

Idk mal doesn't work as an adjective there

C'est mal means it's bad like evil

[tight forge]

Okay. I thought both could be used as just "bad".

[sterile mist]

« mal » is an adverb so it can't work there

« journée » is better because you're emphasising the whole day as a time period and not just something you enumerate

https://www.frenchwithagnes.com/do-you-say-jour-or-journee/

« jour » sounds best if I'm just describing multiple days like « J'ai eu de mauvais jours ce mois-ci, en fait. »

[waxen fossil]

Oh yeah like bien

"Elle est très bien cette robe"

[tight forge]

Il met trois verres sur la table et demande: Que voulez-vous boire?

I know inversion is formal, but in this context I felt it was appropriate.

[waxen fossil]

It is formal

I mean it's a formal context so yeah it fits

Just don't think of it as sounding the same as "what do you want to drink"

[tight forge]

How do I write "He beats himself"?

I think it's "Il se bat". But as far as I understand, "battre" can also mean to battle or to defeat. Is it all about context?

[sterile mist]

yes

the word 'to beat' can either mean hit someone or defeating someone which may or may not involve physical punches

'I'm beating you!'
Without context, you have no idea whether I am punching someone on the face or defeating someone in a video-game.