All About Me: Grammar and Phonics (AQA GCSE French): Revision Note

All about me: grammar

To give basic details about yourself, you need to know some important grammar - articles (words for ‘the’ and ‘a/an’), making nouns plural, and how to use adjectives correctly. Let’s look at these grammar points in more detail.

Articles

Mon amie s'appelle Sophie. Max, un garçon canadien, est un copain de Sophie. Il est petit et il a les cheveux bruns et les yeux verts.

• In the text above, the words meaning 'the' and 'a' are called articles

• The definite article ‘the’ and the indefinite article ‘a’ or ‘an’ are used differently in French and English

• We often use the definite article in French but not in English - J'ai les yeux bleus (I have (the) blue eyes)

• In French, articles must agree with nouns in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural)

• La and le become l’ before a noun beginning with a vowel or silent ‘h’

Examples:

• Tom a une soeur - Tom has a sister (feminine singular noun)

• Le chien est ici - The dog is here (masculine singular noun)

• Où sont les enfants ? - Where are the children? (plural noun)

Plural nouns

Mon amie Sophie est allemande et elle a les cheveux courts et bruns. Elle a les yeux verts et elle est très grande.

• You can see two plural nouns in the text above

• Use plural nouns when there is more than one of something - this is useful when talking about your appearance, e.g. les yeux (eyes). Les cheveux in French is a plural form (hairs)

• Most nouns in English form their plural by adding -s (cat - cats)

• Many French nouns also add -s in the plural form - deux adultes (two adults)

• French nouns ending in -s or -x do not change in the plural form: un fils, trois fils (one son, three sons); un choix, quatre choix (one choice, four choices)

• Masculine nouns ending in -(e)au or -eu add -x in the plural form: un jumeau, deux jumeaux (one twin, two twins)

• Some nouns have very irregular forms which need learning separately: un oeil, deux yeux - one eye, two eyes

Regular adjective agreement

Max est petit et il a les cheveux bruns et les yeux verts.

• You can see three adjectives in the text above (small, brown, green)

• Adjectives are describing words, like 'blue', 'big' or 'Canadian'

• Adjectives usually appear after the noun in French - les cheveux bruns ('the hair brown')

• Adjectives in French must agree with the noun in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural)

• You may need to change the ending of an adjective to make it agree with the noun - this is called adjective agreement

• Most French adjectives are regular and follow this pattern - irregular adjectives like blanc need learning separately

All about me: phonics

• If a word ends in d, p, s, t, x, or z, the final letter is usually not pronounced. This is called a silent final consonant
  grand
  beaucoup
  anglais
  petit
  cheveux
  avez

• Silent final consonants are only pronounced if they are followed by a vowel, 'y', or silent 'h'. This is called liaison
  les yeux
  je suis anglais

• -un is a nasal sound
  un

• -eu is pronounced as in
  bleu
  deux
  monsieur