A few questions on French.

fralez1

Hi I've been studying French lately and have a few questions. Any help would be greatly appreciated..:)

1.I'm a bit confused about the gender of living nouns. So say for example a male dog is un chien and a female dog is une chienne. If the actual gender of the noun(woman,man,cow,bull etc) is not know, is it referred to as a male by default? And if you know for sure that it it a female dog do you always refer to it as la chienne?

It's probably really obvious but I just want to clarify it so that I don't learn subsequent nouns incorrectly.

2. Does the word "on" just mean "one"(a person not the number) in english or does it also mean "nous" in French?

3. Does anyone know websites that clearly explain all the little words like de,des,du,la,les...etc

4. Are these the pronouns: je, tu, il,elle,nous,vous,ils and elles? Are there more pronouns than those?

5.Also where should i start? Is there an order in which I should be learning general vocabulary, verbs, tenses etc.?

Any anwsers to any of the quetions would be great.
One last thing, to anyone who has gotten grinds in the past, would you recommend them?

dominiquecruz

Salut Fralez1. I'll try my best to answer some of the questions you've asked;

1) In your specific example, le chien will always be used if the sex of the animal is unknown.. and to be honest, it's rare that you will hear anyone referring to a dog in a gender-specific way unless perhaps it's their own. The only context I've heard la chienne used is in its derogatory meaning (b1tch), but if you own a female dog it wouldn't be uncommon to hear ma chienne etc.

However, a cow - being female - is always la vache. A bull - being male - is always le taureau. Futhermore, if the sex of a mouse is unknown, it will always be la souris because that is the gender of the noun. Unless you work in a zoological field, I wouldnt get too caught up in the gender of animals, because generally you won't need to know their sex. And just in relation to your examples, a woman almost always tends to be female, and will thus usually be la femme

2) On is a bit of a complicated pronoun - but yes, it can mean one, we or even they. Where it is most commonly employed though is in a passive construction.

For example, 'On ne dit pas ca en francais' would be best translated here as 'That isn't said in French'. But if you think about it, that is essentially the same as 'One doesn't say that in French.'

Where it's used as we, instead of nous, it generally refers to we in the sense of 'we the people', rather than a specific set of individuals. The above example reflects this use also: 'We (the French people) don't say that in French.'

3) Try this http://french.about.com/od/grammar/a/de-vs-du-de-la-des.htm - about.com can be good for French, although obviously it's good to have a decent French grammar textbook to hand which gives examples etc. I take it you're learning the language solo? It is definitely an idea to look for a teacher or even a native to explain some of the little grammar issues you can't get your head around.

4) Eek. Can of worms. Those are, including on, the subject pronouns. But there are many different categories of pronouns (eg the disjunctives; moi, toi, lui, elle etc or the indirect object pronouns: me, te, lui etc.) Again, check this out http://french.about.com/od/pronouns/French_Pronouns.htm

5) I always think vocab is the most important aspect of any language, but then what use is a whole load of vocab without the building blocks of good grammar. Start with the basic verb tenses (past present future), with particular focus on the irregular verbs, and then try to translate very simple phrases or sentences.

Ideally, you should get your hands on a grammar book that gives examples but also exercises (with correct answers at the back). Theres also a wealth of resources online and sites like http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/ can be quite good for improving and practicing.

Teachers of the language are invaluable, but yeah, they can be expensive. Generally though, they are fluent and they have the experience to guide you through the most practical way of learning a new language. Furthermore, they can explain the things that sometimes you just don't get. If you can afford a grinds teacher, I'd definitely recommend it, but make sure they have the credentials before splashing the cash

Hope some of that helps. Bonne chance!

peckerhead

Great post, Dominique, and yes, the About.com guides are very helpful.

Also, anyone setting out to learn French should see this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1sQkEfAdfY

red_scarlett34

This one is great too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuXdhow3uqQ

tolosenc

fralez1 wrote: »

5.Also where should i start? Is there an order in which I should be learning general vocabulary, verbs, tenses etc.?

Just on this one, what I find works best for me, and it may not be what works for you, is to learn the high frequency irregular verbs (in this case, etre, avoir, faire, aller, devoir) and an example of each type of regular verb. Then try adding vocabulary to those sentences your comfortable with, until you have a grasp of the vocab, then add tenses, allthewhile keeping up you vocab acquisition.

franc 91

You might like to have a look at
http://www.francaisfacile.com/ or if you have problems understanding that you can click on the English and you find yourself at http://www.tolearnfrench.com/
If you have problems with vocabulary and finding the right way to express yourself in French, I suggest that you have a look at the Word Reference Dictionary. If you need any further help there is a list of forums which include - French-English Vocabulary / Vocabulaire Français-Anglais (of which I am a member) where you can also find a Resources Page and a Themed List Page and a second forum - French and English Grammar / Grammaire française et anglaise.
To help you with verbs there's Le Conjugueur - www.leconjugueur.com/
For those of you who have Irish there's a pocket dictionary available published by a Breton organisation called Yoran Embanner (Pouloupig) and compiled by Loig Cheveau (well-known on various Irish and Breton language forums) Focloir Poca/Dico de Poche - Gaeilge/Fraincis - Français/Irlandais ISBN 978 2914855525 which you can get from Coop Breizh (www.coop-breizh.fr)
Salut
Franc