Classical French Grammar 101! Posted by Hichem on Nov 24, 2013 in Grammar, Vocabulary
We’ve already covered tougher topics in French grammar, not the least of which was le subjonctif.
Today, we invite you to Review with us les bases…
It sure doesn’t get more “classical” in French grammar than the subject of les classes grammaticales (Grammatical Classes.)
In French, as in any other language, in order to fully grasp the meaning of a sentence, it is essential to determine the function of each one of its words:
Is it un verbe (a verb)?
Is it un nom (a noun)?
Is it perhaps un adjectif (an adjective)?
Could it be un déterminant (a determiner)?
If not, maybe un pronom (a pronoun)?
A conjonction (conjunction)?
Une préposition (a preposition)?
Possibly une interjection!
We’ll take a close look to each one these gramamtical classes to help you answer these questions, so that you get a better chance understanding French sentences.
Grammatical Class | The Function | The Agreement | A Few Examples | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Le verbe (Verb) | Le verbe is all about l’action.L’action made by whom?By le sujet (the subject) of course! | How do we conjugate un verbe? It’s le temps de l’action (the time of the action) that determines the conjugaison | Être, avoir, aimer (to love, to like), croire (to believe), pardonner (to forgive),comprendre (to understand), pouvoir (to be able) | |
Le Nom (Noun) | A noun can be une idée abstraite (an abstract idea), une personne, un animal, or un objet (an object), etc. | L’accord (the agreement) of the le nom occurs with l’adjectif, le déterminant, le pronom, and le verbe | Crêpes, poème, festival, opéra, Paris, folklore, | |
Le déterminant(Determiner) | Used with un nom (a name), the determiner provides more specific information on it, such as le nombre (the number), and le genre (gender) | L’accord (the agreement) happens with le nom which it determines | Un, une, des; le, la, les; ce/cet, cette; mon, ma, mes, ton, ta, tes, son, sa; etc. | |
L’adjectif(Adjective) | Tied to le nom, it helps to express its quality, a relationship, etc. |
|
Fantastique, illustre, difficile, fabuleux, sympathique, etc. | |
Le pronom(Pronoun) | Mostly to avoid repetition, a pronom (pronoun) can replace un pronom (a pronoun) or un adjectif (adjective) | The agreement is in gender and number | Je, tu, il/elle, nous, vous, ils/elles, on, le mien, le leur, celle-ci, celui, tout, lequel, qui | |
L’adverbe | An invariable that modifies the sense of d’autres mots (of other words) | Les adverbes are invariable, so no accord (agreement) in this case(agreement) | Beaucoup, très, heureusement, devant, peu, tellement, assez, parfois | |
La conjonction | As the word conjonction indicates, its function is to link two words or two sentences | Also invariable, and therefore has no accord (agreement) | Mais, ou, et, donc, or, ni, car, que, puis, si, néanmoins, comme, parce que, puisque | |
La préposition
L’interjection |
A préposition aims at introducing un complément |
Invariable
Invariable
|
Dans, sur, contre, à, sauf, avec, dans, de, depuis, avant, sans, vers, pour
Aïe ! Plouf! Eh! Ah! Splash! Bong! |
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