INSEAD Library

Includes bibliographical references and index

Digitized

The Everything French Grammar Book All the rules you need to master français Contents Introduction................................................................................................. xi Introduction to French ................................ 1 French Language Classification ............................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1 French Speakers.......................................................................................... 2 French in English .......................................................................................4 Why Learn French?..................................................................................... 5 True Cognates ............................................................................................ 7 False Cognates............................................................................................ 8 CHAPTER 2 Nouns and Articles....................................... 11 Introduction to Nouns ............................................................................... 11 Gender and Number of Nouns...................................................................13 Definite Articles.......................................................................................... 15 Indefinite Articles ...................................................................................... 16 Partitive Articles ........................................................................................ 18 Exercices de contrôle................................................................................... 20 CHAPTER 3 Adjectives..................................................... 23 Introduction to Adjectives......................................................................... 23 Making Adjectives Feminine and Plural.................................................. 25 Demonstrative and Indefinite Adjectives ............................................... 27 Interrogative and Exclamative Adjectives .............................................. 30 Position of Adjectives................................................................................ 31 Exercices de contrôle................................................................................... 34 CHAPTER 4 Pronouns...................................................... 37 Introduction to Pronouns........................................................................... 37 Subject Pronouns ....................................................................................... 39 Stressed Pronouns ......................................................................................42 Demonstrative Pronouns............................................................................ 44 Indefinite Demonstrative Pronouns ......................................................... 46 Indefinite Pronouns ................................................................................... 48 Exercices de contrôle................................................................................... 49 CHAPTER 5 Introduction to Verbs...................................51 Conjugating French Verbs........................................................................ 51 Tense, Mood, and Voice ............................................................................. 52 Verb Forms ...................................................................................................55 Types of Verbs.............................................................................................56 Pronominal Verbs ........................................................................................ 58 Exercices de contrôle....................................................................................59 CHAPTER 6 Present Tense........................................... 61 Using the Present Tense............................................................................ 61 Regular Verbs ............................................................................................62 Stem-Changing Verbs ................................................................................64 Irregular Verbs ........................................................................................... 70 Reflexive Verbs..........................................................................................73 Exercices de contrôle.................................................................................. 74 CHAPTER 7 Irregular Verbs ....................................... 77 Aller To Go.................................................................................................... 77 Avoir--To Have............................................................................................ 78 Devoir--Should, Must, To have to............................................................ 79 Être To Be ..................................................................................................... 80 Faire To Do, Make ....................................................................................... 82 Pouvoir--Can, To be able to ..................................................................... 83 Savoir and Connaître To Know................................................................... 85 Venir--To Come........................................................................................... 86 Vouloir To Want ........................................................................................... 87 Exercices de contrôle.................................................................................... 87 CHAPTER 8 Simple Verb Tenses................................... 91 Imperfect--l'imparfait................................................................................. 91 Future and Conditional--le futur et le conditionnel ................................... 92 Present Participle--le participe présent ...................................................... 95 Past Participle--le participe passé................................................................96 Simple Past (Preterite)--le passé simple ..................................................... 98 Exercices de contrôle.................................................................................... 100 CHAPTER 9 Compound Verb Tenses.............................. 103 Auxiliary Verbs--les auxiliaires ......................................................... 103 Compound Past Tense--le passé composé............................................... 104 Pluperfect (Past Perfect)--le plus-que-parfait........................................ 106 Future perfect--le futur antérieur.......................................................... 107 Conditional Perfect (Past Conditional)--le conditionnel parfait ............ 108 Summary of Compound Tenses ............................................................... 110 Exercices de contrôle.................................................................................. 110 Mood and Voice...................................... 113 Introduction to Mood.............................................................................. 113 Imperative-l'impératif............................................................................. 114 CHAPTER 10 Subjunctive--le subjonctif...................................................................... Past Subjunctive ....................................................................................... Voice--la voix............................................................................................... Exercices de contrôle................................................................................ CHAPTER 11 115 118 120 122 Questions............................................. 125 Introduction to Questions ......................................................................... 125 Yes--No Questions................................................................................... 127 Interrogative Adverbs................................................................................ 128 Interrogative Adjectives ........................................................................... 129 Interrogative Pronouns.............................................................................. 131 Exercices de contrôle................................................................................ 134 CHAPTER 12 Negation ............................................. 137 Ne ... pas and other Negative Adverbs...................................................... 137 Ne Without pas..................................................................................... 139 Pas Without ne ......................................................................................... 141 Saying Yes and No.................................................................................... 142 Negative Adjectives.................................................................................. 143 Negative Pronouns.................................................................................... 144 Exercices de contrôle................................................................................ 145 CHAPTER 13 Prepositions ........................................... 149 Introduction to Prepositions ................................................................... 149 À and De..................................................................................................... 150 Temporal Prepositions ............................................................................ 153 Geographical Prepositions....................................................................... 154 Verbs with Prepositions .......................................................................... 157 Exercices de contrôle..................................................................................... 161 Objects and Adverbial Pronouns.................. 163 Direct Objects .......................................................................................... 163 CHAPTER 14 Indirect Objects......................................................................................... 165 Adverbial Pronoun Y................................................................................ 166 Adverbial Pronoun En.............................................................................. 168 Double Object Pronouns.......................................................................... 169 Exercices de contrôle..................................................................................... 171 CHAPTER 15 Clauses and Conjunctions.......................... 173 Introduction to Clauses ........................................................................... 173 Si Clauses................................................................................................... 174 What is a Conjunction?............................................................................. 177 Relative Pronouns..................................................................................... 180 Indefinite Relative Pronouns................................................................... 181 Exercices de contrôle..................................................................................... 183 ................................................. 187 Introduction to Adverbs........................................................................... 187 Adverbs of Manner .................................................................................. 190 Adverbs of Quantity ................................................................................ 191 CHAPTER 16 Adverbs Comparatives and Superlatives............................................................... 193 Placement of Adverbs.............................................................................. 196 Exercices de contrôle..................................................................................... 198 CHAPTER 17 Agreement.............................................. 201 Agreement of Adjectives......................................................................... 201 Agreement of Pronouns............................................................................203 Être Verbs and Passive Voice...................................................................204 Agreement with Direct Objects...............................................................206 Agreement with Pronominal Verbs.........................................................207 Exercices de contrôle..................................................................................... 209 CHAPTER 18 Presentatives and Determiners................... 211 Introduction to Presentatives.................................................................. 211 C'est and Il est........................................................................................... 212 Ilya ........................................................................................................... 214 Voici and Voilà............................................................................................. 216 Introduction to Determiners .................................................................. 218 Exercices de contrôle.................................................................................... 219 Possession.................................................221 Possessive Adjectives.............................................................................. 221 Possessive de............................................................................................ 223 Possessive Pronouns................................................................................ 223 Possessive à ............................................................................................. 225 Comparison of Possessives ....................................................................225 CHAPTER 19 Exercices de contrôle.................................................................................... 227 Writing in French .................................. 229 Accents......................................................................................................229 Contractions .............................................................................................230 Capitalization .......................................................................................... 231 CHAPTER 20 Punctuation............................................................................................... 232 Spelling Equivalents................................................................................ 234 Acronyms and Abbreviations................................................................. 236 Apocopes....................................................................................................238 Verb Tables ............................................... 241 APPENDIX B Answer Key................................................273 APPENDIX C Further Reading........................................ 287 APPENDIX D Bibliography............................................. 288 APPENDIX A INDEX ..................................................................................................... 289