6.3: Grammaire - présentation
The verb mettre is irregular. Listen carefully to its forms in the present.
| mettre 'to place, put' | |
| je mets | nous mettons |
| tu mets | vous mettez |
| il/elle/on met | ils/elles mettent |
| past participle : mis |
Mettre literally means 'to place, to put.' It is also used in the following expressions:
| mettre la table (le couvert) , to set the table |
| mettre + article of clothing, to put on |
| mettre + electrical item (radio, light), to turn on |
Other verbs like mettre include:
| admettre , to admit |
| permettre , to permit |
| promettre , to promise |
| remettre , to turn in (a report), to postpone |
1. Les étudiants .... (mettre) des vêtements à la mode quand ils vont en boîte. 2. Le professeur .... (remettre) l'examen à la semaine prochaine. 3. Nous .... (admettre) Shasta à notre club.
- Answer
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1. mettent 2. met 3. admettons
Qui
is used to ask questions about people. It may be the subject or the direct object in a sentence and thus, can mean either 'who?' or 'whom?' You may also choose to use the longer forms:
qui est-ce qui
to ask 'who?',
qui est-ce que
to ask 'whom?'
As the subject:
qui
,
qui est-ce qui
As the direct object:
qui
,
qui est-ce que
Examples: Qui vient à ma fête ? Qui est-ce qui vient à ma fête? (subject)
Qui vois-tu sur la photo ? Qui est-ce que tu vois sur le photo ? (direct object)
As the object of a preposition: prep + qui, prep + qui est-ce que
Examples: Avec qui vas-tu en France ? À qui est-ce que tu parles ?
1. Who likes strawberries ? 2. Whom did you go to the movies with ? 3. Whom do you respect ?
- Answer
-
1. Qui aime les fraises ? / Qui est-ce qui aime les fraises ? 2. Avec qui est-ce que tu vas au cinéma ? / Avec qui vas-tu au cinéma? 3. Qui est-ce que tu respectes ? Qui respectes-tu ?
Qu'est-ce qui
,
que
and its longer form
qu'est-ce que
are used to ask questions about things. They are used to ask 'what?'.
Que
and its longer form
qu'est-ce que
are direct objects in a sentence, whereas
qu'est-ce qui
may be used only as the subject. (There is no short form of
qu'est-ce qui
)
As the subject:
qu'est-ce qui
As the direct object:
que
,
qu'est-ce que
As the object of a preposition:
prep +
quoi, prep + quoi est-ce que
Examples: Qu'est-ce qui te fait peur ? (subject)
Que fais-tu demain ? Qu'est-ce que tu fais demain ? (direct object)
De quoi parles-tu ? De quoi est-ce que tu parles (object of a preposition)
1. What amuses you ? 2. What are you watching ? 3. What do you serve this salad with ?
- Answer
-
1. Qu'est-ce qui t'amuse ? 2. Que regardes-tu ? Qu'est-ce que tu regardes ? 3. Avec quoi sers-tu cette salade ? Avec quoi est-ce que tu sers cette salade?
The impersonal pronoun il ('it') is used in French when an action has no agent, that is, when there is no person or animate being responsible for the action. The conjugated verb is always in the third person singular, no matter what tense the impersonal verb takes.
Examples: Tiens, il pleut très fort!
The action of the verb ( pleut , 'is raining') is an impersonal, natural force. The impersonal pronoun il is often referred to as a 'dummy subject' because it fills the syntactic position of subject but doesn't have any real meaning.
Weather expressions in both French and English require impersonal subjects. The infinitive of 'weather verbs' can only be conjugated in the third person singular form (the il form).
| pleuvoir, to rain | Il pleut. | It's raining. |
| neiger, to snow | Il neige. | It's snowing. |
| grêler, to sleet | Il grêle. | It's sleeting. |
| geler, to freeze | Il gèle. | It's freezing. |
| bruiner, to drizzle | Il bruine. | It's drizzling. |
Weather conditions are also expressed in French using the verb faire followed by an adjective or noun. Of course, when the verb faire is used impersonally in such weather expressions, it can only be conjugated in the third person singular form ( il fait ).
| Il fait chaud. | It's hot. |
| Il fait du vent. | It's windy. |
| Il fait beau. | It's beautiful. |
The verb falloir only exists in the impersonal form ( il faut ). It always expresses the notion of necessity or obligation which is translated into English in various ways ('must,' 'should,' 'have to'). Falloir may be followed by an infinitive, by a noun, or by a subordinate clause introduced by que ; note that the verb in the subordinate clause in (a) requires the subjonctive mood.
Examples: Il faut parler français en classe. Pour ça, il faut du courage. Il faut que les étudiants soient courageux et persistants.
The impersonal subject
il
may appear with the verb
être
followed by an adjective and an infinitive. Note that the infinitive is always introduced by the prepostion
de
in such impersonal expressions:
Il est + [adjective] + de + [infinitive]
Examples: Il est amusant de faire des achats chez H & M.
Il est difficile de rester en bonne santé quand on mange beaucoup de sucre.
Other common impersonal expressions include:
Il y a
, there is, there are
Il est
+ clock time (
Il est deux heures
, It's two o'clock.)
Il s'agit de
, to be about, to be a matter of, to be a question of
Il vaut mieux
, to be better, to be advisable
1. ..... du vent aujourd'hui. 2. À UH .... environ 37,000 étudiants. 3. Ah, zut! .... déjà 23 heures, et je n'ai pas fini mes devoirs! 4. Pour obtenir un A, .... venir en classe et faire les devoirs.
- Answer
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1. Il fait 2. Il y a 3. Il est 4. Il faut
Disjunctive pronouns (also known as tonic or stressed pronouns) refer to people whose names have already been mentioned or whose identity is obvious from context. They are used in a variety of situations in French, most often in short answers without verbs, for emphasis, or for contrast with subject pronouns. Here are all the disjunctive pronouns:
| disjunctive pronouns | |
| moi (I, me) | nous (we, us) |
| toi (you) | vous (you) |
|
lui
(he, him)
elle (she, her) soi (one) |
eux
(they, them; masc.)
elles (they, them; fem.) |
Disjunctive pronouns are used in the following cases:
1. after prepositions
Examples: Astérix, attends, je veux venir avec toi . Ne pars pas sans moi .
2. in short answers or exclamations when no verb is expressed
Examples: Qui va jouer avec Shasta ? - Moi !
3. with ni...ni, ne...que
Examples: Astérix, qui est-ce que tu admires : Lady Gaga ou Justin Bieber ? - Ni elle ni lui . Je n'admire que mon ami Obélix.
4. in a compound subject or object
Examples: Shasta et moi , nous sommes amateurs du foot.
5. in simple agreements or disagreements when no verb is expressed
Examples: Moi aussi! Pas lui . Lui non plus.
6. for emphasis
Examples: Eux , ils sont disciplinés, mais vous , vous êtes paresseux.
7. after c'est or ce sont
Examples: C'est moi le plus intelligent. Ce sont eux qui ne font jamais rien.
8. with même , to mean self
Examples: Fais toi -même les devoirs, ne compte pas sur Chat GPT.
9. in comparisons
Examples: Astérix est plus intelligent que moi . Obélix est plus fort que lui.
1. I am not sick. - Me neither. 2. You are stronger than him. 3. We took our warm clothes with us. 4. Did you take your green jacket with you ?
- Answer
-
1. Je ne suis pas malade. - Moi non plus. 2. Tu es plus fort que lui. 3. Nous avons pris nos vêtements chauds avec nous. 4. Est-ce que tu as pris ta veste verte avec toi ?
Aknowledgment: some parts of this page are partially adopted from Francais Interactif .