The English present participle is very simple: it is the -ing form of a verb. The formation of the French present participle is also simple. For regular and all but three irregular verbs, the French present participle is formed by dropping -ons from the nous form of the present tense and adding -ant.
verb
parler
finir
rendre
voir
nous form
parlons
finissons
rendons
voyons
present participle
parlant
finissant
rendant
voyant
The three exceptions are
verb
avoir
être
savoir
present participle
ayant
étant
sachant*
*Savoir has different forms for the present participle used as a verb and as a noun or adjective; see present participle spelling changes
Pronominal verbs keep the reflexive pronoun in front of the present participle.
se laver
se lavant
me coiffer
me coiffant
The French present participle can be used as a(n)
adjective or noun
verb or gerund
Present participle spelling changes
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Mistakes will always be made in French, and now you can learn from them.
Wrong: Je suis lisant
Right: Je lis, Je suis en train de lire
Explanation: The present participle is far less common in French than in English.
In English, it's the verb form used for the progressive tenses, such as "I am reading" and "He was working."
French does not use the present participle in this way - in fact, French does not even have any progressive tenses.
The English present progressive is equivalent to the simple present in French, je lis, and the past progressive is equivalent to the imperfect, il travaillait.
If you want to stress the ongoing nature of the activity, you can use the expression être en train de (literally, "to be in the process of"): Je suis en train de lire, Il était en train de travailler
Wrong: Je suis lisant
Right: Je lis, Je suis en train de lire
Explanation: The present participle is far less common in French than in English.
In English, it's the verb form used for the progressive tenses, such as "I am reading" and "He was working."
French does not use the present participle in this way - in fact, French does not even have any progressive tenses.
The English present progressive is equivalent to the simple present in French, je lis, and the past progressive is equivalent to the imperfect, il travaillait.
If you want to stress the ongoing nature of the activity, you can use the expression être en train de (literally, "to be in the process of"): Je suis en train de lire, Il était en train de travailler
Monday, August 25, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
An auxiliary verb is a conjugated verb used in front of another verb in compound tenses in order to indicate the mood and tense of the verb.
In French, the auxiliary verb is either avoir or être.
All French verbs are classified by which auxiliary verb they take, and they use the same auxiliary verb in all compound tenses.
Most French verbs use avoir.
The following is a list of verbs (and their derivatives) that require être (I did not provide meanings for the derivatives):
aller - to go
arriver - to arrivedescendre (redescendre) - to descend / go downstairsentrer (rentrer) - to entermonter (remonter) - to climb
mourir - to die
naître (renaître) - to be born
partir (repartir) - to leave
passer - to pass, spend timerester - to stayretourner - to return
sortir (ressortir) - to go outtomber (retomber) - to fall
venir (devenir, parvenir, revenir) - to come
These are all verbs of a certain kind of movement. You do get used to these verbs over time and one day you'll just know whether to use être or avoir without even having to think about it. In the meantime, though, you might find it useful to use a mnemonic device.
Notes1. All pronominal verbs use être as the auxiliary verb as well:
se baigner - to bathe
s'habiller - to get dressed
s'imaginer - to imaginese
laver - to wash
se lever - to get up
se moquer - to make fun of
se préparer - to prepare oneself
se promener - to go for a walk
se raser - to shave
se reposer - to rest etc.
2. For all verbs conjugated with être in all of the compound tenses, the past participle has to agree with the subject in gender and number (learn more):
Il est allé - Elle est allée - Ils sont allés - Elles sont allées
3. Verbs are conjugated with être only when they are intransitive.
When the above verbs are used transitively, avoir is used as the auxiliary verb.
Je suis sorti - I went out.
J'ai sorti la voiture - I took the car out.
Il est descendu - He went downstairs.
Il a descendu la valise - He took the suitcase down.
In French, the auxiliary verb is either avoir or être.
All French verbs are classified by which auxiliary verb they take, and they use the same auxiliary verb in all compound tenses.
Most French verbs use avoir.
The following is a list of verbs (and their derivatives) that require être (I did not provide meanings for the derivatives):
aller - to go
arriver - to arrivedescendre (redescendre) - to descend / go downstairsentrer (rentrer) - to entermonter (remonter) - to climb
mourir - to die
naître (renaître) - to be born
partir (repartir) - to leave
passer - to pass, spend timerester - to stayretourner - to return
sortir (ressortir) - to go outtomber (retomber) - to fall
venir (devenir, parvenir, revenir) - to come
These are all verbs of a certain kind of movement. You do get used to these verbs over time and one day you'll just know whether to use être or avoir without even having to think about it. In the meantime, though, you might find it useful to use a mnemonic device.
Notes1. All pronominal verbs use être as the auxiliary verb as well:
se baigner - to bathe
s'habiller - to get dressed
s'imaginer - to imaginese
laver - to wash
se lever - to get up
se moquer - to make fun of
se préparer - to prepare oneself
se promener - to go for a walk
se raser - to shave
se reposer - to rest etc.
2. For all verbs conjugated with être in all of the compound tenses, the past participle has to agree with the subject in gender and number (learn more):
Il est allé - Elle est allée - Ils sont allés - Elles sont allées
3. Verbs are conjugated with être only when they are intransitive.
When the above verbs are used transitively, avoir is used as the auxiliary verb.
Je suis sorti - I went out.
J'ai sorti la voiture - I took the car out.
Il est descendu - He went downstairs.
Il a descendu la valise - He took the suitcase down.
French has two verbs which can be translated by the English verb to know: savoir and connaître. This might seem confusing to English speakers, but in fact there are distinct differences in meaning and usage for the two verbs.
Meaning
Savoir means to know
a fact
by heart
how to do something
Connaître means
to know (someone)
to be familiar with (someone or something)
In the passé composé
Savoir means to learn or find out.
Connaître means to meet someone for the first time.
Ils ont su que j'ai gagné.
They found out that I won.
Elle a connu Luc à Rome.
She met Luc in Rome.
Grammar
Savoir is often followed by an infinitive or a subordinate clause.
Connaître is always followed by a direct object.
Je sais où il est.
I know where he is.
Je connais bien ton père.
I know your father well.
Il sait le poème (par coeur).
He knows the poem (by heart).
Je connais son poème.
I am familiar with his poem.
Nous savons nager.
We know how to swim.
Nous connaissons Paris.
We know/are familiar with Paris.
Conjugations
Savoir and connaître are both irregular verbs.
Savoir conjugations
Connaître conjugations
Ignorer is a related verb which means not to know in the sense of to be unaware of. Depending on the context, it can replace either ne pas savoir or ne pas connaître.
J'ignore quand il arrivera.
I don't know when he is arriving.
Il ignore Ionesco.
He's not aware of (doesn't know about) Ionesco.
Meaning
Savoir means to know
a fact
by heart
how to do something
Connaître means
to know (someone)
to be familiar with (someone or something)
In the passé composé
Savoir means to learn or find out.
Connaître means to meet someone for the first time.
Ils ont su que j'ai gagné.
They found out that I won.
Elle a connu Luc à Rome.
She met Luc in Rome.
Grammar
Savoir is often followed by an infinitive or a subordinate clause.
Connaître is always followed by a direct object.
Je sais où il est.
I know where he is.
Je connais bien ton père.
I know your father well.
Il sait le poème (par coeur).
He knows the poem (by heart).
Je connais son poème.
I am familiar with his poem.
Nous savons nager.
We know how to swim.
Nous connaissons Paris.
We know/are familiar with Paris.
Conjugations
Savoir and connaître are both irregular verbs.
Savoir conjugations
Connaître conjugations
Ignorer is a related verb which means not to know in the sense of to be unaware of. Depending on the context, it can replace either ne pas savoir or ne pas connaître.
J'ignore quand il arrivera.
I don't know when he is arriving.
Il ignore Ionesco.
He's not aware of (doesn't know about) Ionesco.
Passé composé - French Compound Past Tense
Le passé composé is the most common French past tense, often used in conjunction with the imparfait. The passé composé is used to express:
I. An action or state of being completed in the past
As-tu étudié ce weekend ?
Did you study this weekend?
Ils ont déjà mangé.
They have already eaten.
II. An action repeated a specific number of times in the past
Hier, j'ai mangé cinq fois.
I ate five times yesterday.
Nous avons visité Paris plusieurs fois.
We've visited Paris several times.
III. A series of actions completed in the past
Samedi, il a vu sa mère, a parlé au médicin et a trouvé un chat.
Saturday he saw his mother, talked to the doctor, and found a cat.
The passé composé has three English equivalents:
I danced
I have danced
}
J'ai dansé
I did dance
The passé composé is a compound verb. It is formed with the present tense of the auxiliary verb (either avoir or être) plus the past participle of the main verb. Note that when the auxiliary verb is être, the past participle must agree with the subject, and when it's avoir, it may have to agree with its direct object (learn more).
AIMER
j'
ai aimé
nous
avons aimé
tu
as aimé
vous
avez aimé
ilelle
a aimé
ilselles
ont aimé
DEVENIR (être verb)
je
suis devenu(e)
nous
sommes devenu(e)s
tu
es devenu(e)
vous
êtes devenu(e)(s)
il
est devenu
ils
sont devenus
elle
est devenue
elles
sont devenues
SE LAVER (pronominal verb)
je
me suis lavé(e)
nous
nous sommes lavé(e)s
tu
t'es lavé(e)
vous
vous êtes lavé(e)(s)
il
s'est lavé
ils
se sont lavés
elle
s'est lavée
elles
se sont lavées
Le passé composé is the most common French past tense, often used in conjunction with the imparfait. The passé composé is used to express:
I. An action or state of being completed in the past
As-tu étudié ce weekend ?
Did you study this weekend?
Ils ont déjà mangé.
They have already eaten.
II. An action repeated a specific number of times in the past
Hier, j'ai mangé cinq fois.
I ate five times yesterday.
Nous avons visité Paris plusieurs fois.
We've visited Paris several times.
III. A series of actions completed in the past
Samedi, il a vu sa mère, a parlé au médicin et a trouvé un chat.
Saturday he saw his mother, talked to the doctor, and found a cat.
The passé composé has three English equivalents:
I danced
I have danced
}
J'ai dansé
I did dance
The passé composé is a compound verb. It is formed with the present tense of the auxiliary verb (either avoir or être) plus the past participle of the main verb. Note that when the auxiliary verb is être, the past participle must agree with the subject, and when it's avoir, it may have to agree with its direct object (learn more).
AIMER
j'
ai aimé
nous
avons aimé
tu
as aimé
vous
avez aimé
ilelle
a aimé
ilselles
ont aimé
DEVENIR (être verb)
je
suis devenu(e)
nous
sommes devenu(e)s
tu
es devenu(e)
vous
êtes devenu(e)(s)
il
est devenu
ils
sont devenus
elle
est devenue
elles
sont devenues
SE LAVER (pronominal verb)
je
me suis lavé(e)
nous
nous sommes lavé(e)s
tu
t'es lavé(e)
vous
vous êtes lavé(e)(s)
il
s'est lavé
ils
se sont lavés
elle
s'est lavée
elles
se sont lavées
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Happy birthday
Happy birthday to you on this lovely day.Even you are out there, far from me.I hope you will make the best of the day.till we meet at other time.
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Lastly
I had finish read all Harry Potter last week.I hope could find another storytelling like that.
Now, I'm start reading Malay novel.I always go to Public Library about 15 km from my rented house.I borrow 2 novel at one time(2 lib cards only for 2 book).
Now, I'm start reading Malay novel.I always go to Public Library about 15 km from my rented house.I borrow 2 novel at one time(2 lib cards only for 2 book).
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