Grammar (Grammaire) unit 1 Preview

Je viens d’Aberdeen
C’est bien
Je vous présente mon mari

To say a bit about yourself you need to be able to use je with a few different verbs

je suis

I am

j’ai

I have

je viens de

I come from

je travaille

I work

When people are asking you questions or giving you instructions, you’ll hear the vous form of the verb, which nearly always ends in -ez.

Vous venez d’où ?

Where do you come from?

Vous tournez à gauche

You turn left

Poussez !

Push!

When you’re talking more generally, you’ll find the phrase c’est very useful.

It means ‘it is’, ‘this is’ or ‘that is’, depending on context. Est is part of the verb être (to be).

C’est parfait

That’s perfect

C’est mon mari

This is my husband

Qu’est-ce que c’est ?

What is it?

English has only the one word ‘my’ but French has three – mon, ma, mes. The one you use depends on the gender of the word that follows:

Mon travail

My work (masculine singular)

Ma femme

My wife (feminine singular)

Mes enfants

My children (plural)

You don’t have to worry about gender when saying ‘your’. Votre goes with a singular word. Vos goes with a plural word.

Il est comment, votre travail ?

What’s your work like?

Vos étudiants

Your students