F1U2IN

2.00

The train is still a common form of travel city to city and country to country in France. Travel from city to city and country to country in Europe is relatively easy thanks to the rail system. Some trains have sleeping rooms (couchettes) or sinks in them so you can wash up as well as reclining seats to make the trip more comfortable. The TGV (T a G V ) is France’s high speed train.

Times are given using the 24 hour clock. Instead of the clock starting over at 1 after noon, it continues with . To figure out the time 12. The numbers from 13-24 are PM. There are no words for in French.

Cities are together in France so train travel is fast and easy. The desire for speed and efficiency has made train travel less desirable in the United States.

2.01 Comptez!

Compte (count) de (from) à (to)

French English French Englishzero six

one seven

deux huitthree nine

quatre dixfive

onze sixteentwelve dix-sept

treize eighteenfourteen dix-neuf

quinze

twenty twenty sixvingt et un vingt-sept

twenty two twenty eightvingt -trois vingt-neuf

twenty four thirtyvingt -cinq trente et unIn French the numbers 20–70 follow the same rules as English. They use the multiples of just like we do in English and then simply add the numbers 1–10 by using double digits. For example, in English we say thirty-three. Likewise in French we say "trente-trois."

2.02 Comptez deux

trente thirty fivethirty one trente-six

trente-deux thirty seventhirty three trente-huit

trente-quatre thirty nine

quarente forty fiveforty one quarente-six

quarente-deux

forty seven

forty three quarente-huit

quarente-quatre

forty nine

cinquante fifty five

fifty one cinquante-six

cinquante-deux

fifty seven

fifty three cinquante-huit

cinquante- fifty nine

quatre

soixante sixty fivesixty one soixnte-six

soixante-deux sixty sevensixty three soixante-huit

soixante-quatre

sixty nine

Important things to note:

The numbers 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, etc., are never hyphenated—they are written as words (trente et un).

All other double-digit numbers are (cinquante-sept).

There is no separate in French for 70. French people say "soixante-dix."

Combien font (how much is) et (and)

Ex: combien font 13 et 5? 18!

2.03: Quelle est la date aujourd’hui? (What is the date today?)

Quelle est la date? C'est le février. C'est cinq décembre. C'est le huit . C'est le premier janvier. The

date in French is given a little bit differently than it is in English, so be sure to pay attention on this page of this section as you are learning how to say that.

The seasons:

C’est le printemps ( ) (m) ---this means it is masculine

C’est l’ (Summer) (m)

C’est l’autumne ( ) (m)

C’est l’ (winter) (m)

French English French Englishjanvier juillet

February Augustmars septembre

April Octobermai novembre

June December

dimanche jeudiMonday Friday

mardi samediWednesday

A month/un a /un jour a week/une a calendar/ un a / une saison

Engl French Engl FrenchThe first of..... C’est quel

jour?une année It is Monday

See you Tuesday.

C’est le printemps

When you write the date in French, you need to put the number of the first. This is different from the way the date is given in English.

Example: C'est le cinq . (September )

The French language uses the regular cardinal (counting) number to give the date for the first day of the month. That one is always "le premier."

Example: C'est le premier . (September )

Another way French differs from English is when writing a date in digits.

In English, September 5 would look like this: / In French, September 5 would look like this: / because when this date is , French people would say "C'est aujourd'hui le 5 septembre."

Note: The words for days and months are capitalized unless they come at the beginning of a .

Ton Anniversaire

One of the most important dates to us is our birthday. Would you like to know how to say your birthday in French? In order to express your own birthdate, you simply begin the sentence with "Mon est le …" and then give the date. Notice that to express someone else's birthdate, you would say, "L'anniversaire de mon papa est le …" If you were asking the question, you would say it like this: "Quelle est la date de ton anniversaire?"

Many dates throughout the year are more important than other dates in the year. For example, people love to celebrate their birthdays and of course other major holidays such as Christmas, Easter, and national holidays. The French-speaking world, covering a great deal of territory, also has important dates that are celebrated and remembered throughout the year. Let's look at a few.

La fête des le janvier This is on our calendar. It celebrates the arrival of the wise men to see the Christ child.

La Valentin le quatorze Very similar to the US, chocolate, cards, ,flowers and

romanceCarnaval (Mardi Gras)

mardi en février This is the prior to Ash Wednesday which begins the Christian season called lent. It is a huge party where people enjoy rich foods and beverages they will not be able to have during lent.

Poisson d’ Le avril This is a day for silliness and . It is similar to April ’s Day but called the fish of April. Kids tape a paper to the back of a classmates back and call out “Poisson d’avril” until he or she notices the fish.

La fête du Le mai This holiday celebrates the

workers in the nation. Most businesses are closed on this day.

La nationale Le quatorze This celebrates the day the Revolution began. It is similar to Independence . There are parades and activities throughout the cities.

Le de l’armistice

Le onze This holiday celebrates the of WW1. In the US it is called Veterans .

La fête de Le vingt décembre

in France is a lot more religious in nature. Père Noël is Santa Clause.

2.04: l’heure/ Time

The expression "Quelle heure est-il?" translates to "What time is it?" Use this expression to ask the time of day. There are different ways to express time in French. Learn the different ways by reviewing the interaction.

Il est heures, il est (noon), il est minuit ( ), Il est sept heures….

Et quart (fifteen after), et demi (half passed), moins quart (fifteen to).

2.05 : Tu Aimes/ likes

This unit is about expressing your and . As you go over these repeat the English and French and noticed the similarities. Noticing the similarities will help you remember what the French words mean.

French EnglishTu aimes le volley?

Do you like…..?J’aime…. (J’M)

a lotJ’adore….

andVous aimez….?

butJe n’aime pas.

a littleaussi

I am fond of/I really likeJe déteste…

volleyballle baseball

soccerle basketball (le basket)

tennisle football américain

gymnasticsles frites

hamburgerle hot-dog

sandwichesles croques monsieurs (m.pl)

pizzale café

teale lait

lemonadel’orangeade (f)

ice cream

Putting it all together:

Tu le volley?

Oui, j’aime beaucoup le .Tu les hamburgers?Oui, j’ les hamburgers et les frites!Vous la gymnastique?Oui, j’aime la gymnastique, mais je déteste le football.J’aime les croques monsieurs, et toi?Oui, J’aime bien les croques monsieurs, mais je les hot-dogs.Je les hot-dogs et je déteste les aussi.

2.06 Tu aimes deux

Les activités/activities

French Englishto read

chanterto dance

étudierto sleep

parlerto listen to CD’s

écouter de la musiqueto work

regarder des filmsto eat

moi aussime neither

tu aimes

Pronunciation :

When pronouncing French vowel sounds, keep your jaw, lips, and tongue muscles more tense than when you pronounce them in English. French vowel sounds should sound sharper and more precise.

Listen to and pronounce these words with the vowel sound “a” as in “la”Maladie (sickness)Madame (Mrs.)Safari (safari)Ils battent (they beat) (the ent is silent)Là bas (over there)Listen to and pronounce these words with the “I” sound in “Midi” (sounds like the English “E”)Lit (bed)Stylo (pen)Ici (here)Midi (Southern France) (noon if not capitalized)Île (island)Ville (village)Active (active)Listen to and pronounce these words with the « u » sound in “vous”Où (where)Journal (newspaper)

Toujours (always)Tourner (to turn)Nous (we)Jour (day)

Les accents:

There are five written accent marks that occur with letters in French. They can be important for spelling and can be important for pronunciation.

1.La cédille (ç) appears only under the letter "c." When the letter "c" comes before "a," "o," or "u," it has the "k" sound, as in "car." The changes that sound to "s" as in "see."Example: in the word "cahier" the c is pronounced with a "k" sound but if you add a cedilla to the c like in ça the c would be pronounced with "s" sound. Here is another example with the letter o: la corbeille , la leçon .

2.L'accent aigu (é) is used over the letter e: l'école , l'église and it has the same sound as "ay" in "day."

3.L'accent grave (è) is used over the letters a, e, and u: voilà , l'élève , où . On the letter "è" it is pronounce like the "et" in the word "let." On other vowels it emphasizes the sound or changes the meaning.Example: On the "à" it changes the meaning from "a" which means "has" to "à" which means "at."

4.L'accent circonflexe (ê) may be used over any vowel: le théâtre , la fenêtre , la boîte , l'hôtel , août . It emphasizes the syllable in the word. Example: In the word hôtel you would make the "o" stronger than the rest of the word by pronouncing it more: hô

5.Le tréma (ë) shows that two vowels next to each other are pronounced separately: Noël, naïve.Example: You pronounce Noël with two syllables No/ël.

An accent mark can change the meaning of a word. You know the meaning of the word “où” (where) but “ou” means or.

2.07 Les pronoms

Pronouns take the place of nouns. Subject pronouns tell who is performing an action. You already know some of them. We use them all of the time in English to replace subject nouns. See which ones you are already familiar with:

Singular Plural1st person Je (I) Nous (we)2nd person Tu (you singular)

Vous (formal)Vous (you as a group)

3rd person il (he)elle (she)on (person, one, we, they)

ils (the guys or a group that includes one guy minimum)elles (the girls)

First person is the person doing the talking (I, we)Second person is the one you are talking to (you)Third person is the one or ones you are talking about (he, she, it, they)

When you are speaking to one of your family, one friend, one child, one with whom you are on a first-name basis, or one pet, use "tu": Tu aimes le baseball, Guy?

Use "vous" when you are speaking to one person who is an adult or someone that you do not very well.

Use "vous" when speaking to than one person. Vous aimez le lait, Marie et Charlotte?

"Elles" is used when two or more females are the subject.

"Ils" is used when two or more males are the subject or when there is a mixed group.

When you talk about things

You also use "il," "elle," "ils," and "elles" just as with people. The pronoun has to agree in gender with the noun it is replacing.

Où est le crayon? Il est devant la boîte. Et les cassettes? Elles sont sur la table.

This means it is very important to learn the article that comes before the noun in French. It will help you later on to know the gender and number of the noun.

When je comes before a verb beginning with a vowel sound, the "e" is replaced with an : J'aime danser. This is known as "élision" (it is eliminating a vowel).