Practice Makes Perfect

barbe 

boy

[d]  

madame 

day

[f]  

fenêtre 

fox

[g]  

garçon 

garage

[k] 

cœur (Contrary to English, the  

ski 

 

sound [k] is never aspirated, i.e.,  

 

never articulated with air.)

[l]  

livre (Contrary to English, [l] is  late 

 

always pronounced with the   

 

tongue pressing against the upper  

 

front teeth.)

(continued)

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  Appendix A: French pronunciation

 

 

FRENCH WORDS THAT  

ENGLISH WORDS THAT  

SYMBOL 

CONTAIN THIS SOUND 

CONTAIN A SIMILAR SOUND

[m] 

monsieur 

man

[n]  

banane banana

[p] 

plage (Contrary to English, the  

spouse 

 

sound [p] is never aspirated.)

[R]  

rouge (Contrary to English the  

no equivalent in English 

 

sound [R] is produced between the  

 

back of the tongue and the upper  

 

part of the back of the mouth.)

[s]  

merci 

sun

[t]  

table (Contrary to English, the  

stop 

 

sound [t] is never aspirated.)

[v]  

voilà 

van

[j]  

bien 

yes

[w] 

oui 

west

[z]  

chaise 

zebra

The following phonetic symbols are not taken from the Latin alphabet:

 

 

FRENCH WORDS THAT  

ENGLISH WORDS THAT  

SYMBOL 

CONTAIN THIS SOUND 

CONTAIN A SIMILAR SOUND

[S]  

chocolat 

shoe

[Z]  

jeu pleasure

[] montagne onion

[ŋ]  

smoking 

smoking

[ɥ]  

nuit 

no equivalent in English

Vowels

Note that French vowel sounds are much tenser than the English ones.

 

 

FRENCH WORDS THAT  

ENGLISH WORDS THAT  

SYMBOL 

CONTAIN THIS SOUND 

CONTAIN A SIMILAR SOUND

[a]  

papa car

[e]  

été (To produce the [e] sound,  

 

extend your lips as if you were  

 

smiling; no equivalent in English.)

[E]  

très (To produce the [E] sound,  

bad 

 

open the jaw.)

[i]  

midi fit

[o]  

stylo 

no equivalent in English

[O]  

porte not

[ø]  

deux (To produce the [ø] sound,  

no equivalent in English 

 

project your lips forward to form  

 

a circle.)

[œ] beurre fur

[u]  

vous shoe

[y]  

sur (To produce the [y] sound,  

no equivalent in English 

 

place the tip of the tongue behind  

 

the lower front teeth and project  

 

your lips forward as far as possible  

 

as if to whistle.)

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Appendix A: French pronunciation 

555

[@]  

je (The sound [@] is similar to the  

 [ø] sound, but weaker. The lips are  

 

projected less far forward; no  

 

equivalent in English.)

Nasal vowels

Note that these vowels are transcribed with a tilde [~] above them and that the sounds they rep-

resent resonate in the nose.

 

 

FRENCH WORDS THAT  

ENGLISH WORDS THAT  

SYMBOL 

CONTAIN THIS SOUND 

CONTAIN A SIMILAR SOUND

[3]  

comment 

no equivalent in English

[4]  

vin 

no equivalent in English

[5]  

bon 

no equivalent in English

[6] lundi 

no equivalent in English

Abbreviations

The following abbreviations are used in this book:

adj. adjective

e.g. 

for example

fam. 

familiar (you [fam.]  tu)

f. or fem. feminine

f.pl. 

feminine plural

i.e.  

that is, that is to say

inf. infinitive

lit.  

literally (indicating a literal translation of a French expression or sentence)

m. or masc. masculine

m.pl. 

masculine plural

p.  

page

pl. or plur. plural

pol. 

polite (you [pol.]  vous)

qch 

quelque chose (something)

qn  

quelqu’un (someone)

sing. singular

sb  

somebody

sth  

something

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Infinitive

The infinitive is the basic, unconjugated form of the verb. In English, all infinitives 

are preceded by to. In French, infinitives end in -er, -ir, or -re (donner [to give], 

choisir [to choose], vendre [to sell]).

Subject

The subject of a sentence is the person or thing that performs the action. The sub-

ject determines the form of the verb: I go. You sing. David asks. We dance. The 

students work. The subject can be a noun (David, the students) or a pronoun (I, 

you, he, etc.).

Conjugation

When one lists the six existing verb forms in a particular tense by adapting the 

verb to each of the subject pronouns, one conjugates the verb. Contrary to English, 

most French verb forms change from one person to another during the 

conjugation.

Compare the following two present tense conjugations:

French: je parle, tu parles, il/elle/on parle, nous parlons, vous parlez,  

ils/elles parlent. (Only two forms are alike.)

English: I speak, you speak, he/she/one speaks, we speak, you speak, they 

speak. (All forms are the same except one.)

Stem

The stem is what is left of the verb after dropping the infinitive ending -er, -ir, or  

-re. Thus, the stem of parler is parl-, the stem of réussir is réuss-, and the stem of 

attendre is attend-.

Verb ending

A verb ending is what is added to the stem during the conjugation. Regular -er 

verbs, for example, have the endings -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent in the present indic-

ative. The verb ending indicates the subject, tense, and mood, i.e., it shows who or 

what performs the action, when this action occurs, and how it is perceived.

Appendix B  

Grammatical terminology 

for verbs 

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  Appendix B: Grammatical terminology for verbs

Tense

The tense of a verb indicates when the action takes place, in the present, past, or future. The verb 

can be in a simple tense, which consists of one word only (such as the present tense), or in a com

-

pound tense, which consists of two words: the auxiliary and the past participle (such as the passé 

composé).

Mood

Grammatical mood means “manner.” It shows how the speaker perceives what he or she is saying. 

There are four personal and two impersonal moods in French.

The indicative, subjunctive, imperative, and conditional are personal moods. The infinitive 

and the participle (present and past) are impersonal moods. Impersonal moods do not show who 

performs the action.

Elision

A vowel is elided when it is dropped and replaced by an apostrophe (je danse, but j’adore).

Subject pronouns

The following set of subject pronouns are used when conjugating a verb in French:

  

SINGULAR  

PLURAL

first person 

je 

I 

nous 

we

second person 

tu 

you 

vous  

you

third person 

il 

he, it 

ils 

they

  

elle 

she, it 

elles 

they

  

on 

one

The French subject pronouns differ from their English counterparts in the following way:

◆

There are two ways to say you, depending on whom one addresses (see Note).

◆

There are two ways to say they, due to gender (see Note).

◆

There is no specific word for it. French refers instead to a masculine thing with il (he) and 

to a feminine thing with elle (she).

Note: The e in je is elided (i.e., dropped), and je becomes j’ before a verb that starts with a 

vowel or mute h: j’aime, j’habite. 

The pronouns il and elle can be used for persons, animals, and things.

The pronoun il expresses

◆

he (replacing a masculine person)

◆

it  (replacing a masculine thing—or an animal—and used as a subject in impersonal 

expressions)

The pronoun elle expresses

◆

she (replacing a feminine person)

◆

it (replacing a feminine thing or animal)

The indefinite pronoun on expresses one, they, people.

Comment dit-on « chair » en français? 

How does one say “chair” in French?