French grammar

0 · Letters and sounds

A1 · Beginner

The verb in the present tense

• The present tense
• Pronominal verbs
• Être en train de: an action in progress
• The six forms of the present

Presenting and identifying

• First exchanges: Bonjour, je m’appelle…
• Presenting: c’est, ce sont, voici, voilà, il y a
• He, she or it is: c’est or il est

Being able, wanting, having to; requests and orders

• Can, want, must: pouvoir, vouloir, devoir + infinitive
• Expressing necessity: il faut + infinitive
• Polite requests: je voudrais, j’aimerais
• The imperative

The past and the near future

• The recent past: venir de + infinitive
• The passé composé: the past participle
• The auxiliary: avoir or être
• The six forms of the passé composé
• Describing the past: c’était, il y avait, il faisait
• The near future: aller + infinitive
• Placing an event in time: il y a, depuis, dans

Nouns and articles

• The gender of nouns
• Definite and indefinite articles
• The plural of nouns
• This and that: ce, cet, cette, ces

Quantity: the partitive and de

• The partitive article: du, de la, de l’
• After a quantity or a negation: de, d’
• Measures, containers and distances

Adjectives

• The agreement of adjectives
• The place of the adjective
• Very, too, a little: très, trop, un peu

Pronouns and possessives

• Subject and stressed pronouns
• The pronoun on
• That, it: ça
• Possessive adjectives

Questions and negation

• Asking a question
• Who or what is it: qui est-ce ? Qu’est-ce que c’est ?
• Negation: ne… pas, ne… jamais

Prepositions of place and time

• Prepositions of place
• Prepositions of time

Adverbs of place and time

• Here and there: ici, là, là-bas
• Adverbs of time and habits

Linking words

• And, or, but: et, ou, mais
• So and because: alors, parce que
• Purpose: pour + infinitive

A2 · Elementary

The present and the imperative completed

• The imperative: être, avoir and pronominal verbs

The passé composé completed

• Past participles
• The auxiliary and agreement: avoir or être
• Adverbs in the passé composé: déjà, pas encore, bien

The imparfait and the choice of a past tense

• The imparfait
• The six forms of the imparfait
• Passé composé or imparfait

The future and the condition

• The futur simple
• The six forms of the futur simple
• When in the future: quand + futur simple
• Near future or futur simple
• A real condition: si + present

The verb forms of A2 side by side

• Every form so far

Verbs and adjectives followed by à, de or en

• Verb + de or à + infinitive
• Without + infinitive: sans + infinitive
• Adjective + preposition: content de, prêt à, fort en

The gender of nouns

• The gender of nouns from their ending

Adjectives: agreement and place

Comparing and measuring

• The comparative and the superlative
• More and more: de plus en plus, de moins en moins
• How much, how often: assez, peu; souvent, parfois, rarement

Object pronouns, y and en

• Direct and indirect object pronouns
• The pronouns y and en
• The pronoun on

Demonstrative and possessive pronouns, and tout

• This one, that one: celui-ci, celle-là
• Possessive pronouns: le mien, le tien, le nôtre
• All and every: tout, toute, tous, toutes

Relative clauses

• Relative pronouns: qui, que, où
• Preposition + qui: à qui, avec qui

Negation, questions and exclamations

• No more, nothing, nobody: ne… plus, ne… rien, ne… personne
• Exclamations: quel, que, comme
• Questions with inversion

Prepositions and adverbs of place and time

• Place: près de, au bord de, en haut, là-bas
• Time: depuis, il y a, pendant, dans, en, pour, à partir de, jusqu’à

Linking words

• Cause: parce que, car, à cause de
• Purpose: pour + noun or infinitive
• Result: donc, alors, c’est pour ça que
• Linking and ordering: mais, encore, en plus, et puis; d’abord, ensuite, enfin

Spelling: words that sound alike

• Spelling: a / à, ou / où, et / est, son / sont, on / ont

B1 · Intermediate

The present and the imperative: new forms

Telling a story in the past

• Saying what had happened before: the plus-que-parfait (past perfect)
• The six forms of the plus-que-parfait (past perfect)
• Telling a story: four tenses and their roles
• Just done or about to happen: il venait de…, il allait…
• Placing events in a story: autrefois, récemment, la veille, le lendemain
• As soon as: dès que + futur simple (will)
• Time clauses: pendant que, au moment où, tandis que, chaque fois que, depuis que
• Before and after: avant de + infinitive, après + noun
• The agreement of the past participle with avoir

The conditionnel

• Saying what would happen: the conditionnel (would), futur stem + -ais
• Learning the six forms: the conditionnel (would) of irregular verbs
• Wishing, advising, asking politely, imagining: the conditionnel (would)
• Reporting unconfirmed news: the conditionnel (would), often with selon

Conditions with si

• A real condition: si + présent (present simple)
• An unlikely or imagined condition: si + imparfait (past continuous)
• Making a suggestion: et si + imparfait (past continuous)

The subjunctive

• Forming the subjunctive: the ils stem and its endings
• Learning the six forms of the subjunctive with que
• Expressing necessity: il faut que + subjunctive, il faut + infinitive
• Choosing the mood after que: subjunctive, indicative or infinitive

Linking words: purpose, concession, opposition, cause, result

• Expressing a purpose: pour que, afin que, afin de
• Expressing a concession: bien que, malgré, pourtant, cependant, quand même
• Setting two facts against each other: alors que, tandis que, au contraire
• Giving a reason: car, comme, puisque, grâce à, en effet
• Stating a result: c’est pourquoi, voilà pourquoi, par conséquent
• Adding and concluding: aussi, également, non plus, finalement, enfin

Object pronouns: two together, y, en and the neutral le

• Using two object pronouns together: the order me, le, lui, y, en
• Replacing a thing or a person: y, en or à lui, de lui
• Replacing a whole idea: the neutral pronouns le, en, y

Relative pronouns and emphasis

• Replacing de + noun and “whose”: the relative pronoun dont
• After a preposition: the relative pronouns lequel, auquel, duquel
• Saying “what” and stressing a word: ce qui, ce que, ce dont; c’est… qui, c’est… que

Demonstrative and indefinite pronouns; referring back

• Not repeating a noun: the demonstrative pronouns celui qui, celle que, ceux de
• Each, some, several: chacun, quelques-uns, certains, plusieurs
• Referring back in a text: ce dernier, le premier… le second, suivant

The passive

• Focusing on the action: the passive, être + past participle, and on

Reported speech

• Passing on words: reported speech with que, si, de

The participe présent, the gérondif and nouns from verbs

• Reasons and descriptions in writing: the participe présent (-ing form), -ant
• Saying when, how or on what condition: the gérondif, en + -ant
• Turning verbs and adjectives into nouns: suffixes and their gender

Adverbs

• Saying how and how much: adverbs in -ment, environ, presque, autant
• Saying where and which way: par, en, parmi, ailleurs, partout, autour de

Negation, proportion and questions

• Saying “only”, “no” and “never again”: ne… que, aucun, ni… ni and others
• Saying “the more…, the more…”: plus… plus, moins… moins
• Asking questions in careful French: inversion and -t-

Verbs and adjectives followed by a preposition

• Linking a verb to a noun or an infinitive: verbs with à and de
• Saying how you feel about something: adjectives with de, à, par, contre

Spelling: words that sound alike

• Spelling: words that sound alike, -amment / -emment, double consonants and accents

The verb forms of B1 side by side

• Recognising and choosing a verb form: every form up to B1

B2 · Upper intermediate

The present: new verbs

The compound tenses

• Forming the futur antérieur (future perfect), conditionnel passé (would have) and subjonctif passé
• Conjugating the compound tenses: the six forms of avoir and être
• What will be over: the futur antérieur (future perfect), quand, dès que
• Saying what came first: the infinitif passé, après avoir mangé

Telling a story: the past tenses and the passé simple

• Reading a story: the passé simple (past historic) and the other past tenses

The conditionnel passé and conditions about the past

• Regret and reproach: the conditionnel passé (would have), j’aurais dû, tu aurais pu
• A past condition not fulfilled: si + plus-que-parfait (past perfect)
• Setting a condition without si: avec, sans, au cas où
• Provided that, unless: à condition que, pourvu que, à moins que + subjunctive

The subjunctive extended

• Subjunctive or indicative: impersonal expressions, doubt, conjunctions, relative clauses
• A completed action: the subjonctif passé, que j’aie fini, qu’il soit parti
• Careful French: the ne explétif after fear, avant que and comparisons

Participles and the agreement of the past participle

• Telling the -ant forms apart: participe présent (-ing form), gérondif, adjectif verbal
• An earlier action: the participe composé, ayant fini, étant parti
• Pronominal verbs and fait + infinitive: the agreement of the past participle

The passive and other ways to leave out the doer

• Having something done: the causative, faire + infinitive
• Impersonal phrases: il est facile de, c’est facile à, il s’agit de

Reported speech in the past

• Reporting what someone said: the tense shift after il a dit que

Pronouns, relatives and emphasis

• Two pronouns, relative pronouns and emphasis: donne-le-moi, duquel, c’est à… que, commas

Questions, indefinites and negation

• Asking which one: lequel, laquelle, auquel, duquel
• Any at all: n’importe qui, n’importe quoi, n’importe quel
• Nobody, nowhere: nul, nulle part

Linking words: cause, result, purpose, opposition, concession

• Giving a cause in formal French: en raison de, faute de, à force de
• Stating a result: si bien que, de ce fait, tellement… que
• Stating a purpose: en vue de, dans le but de, histoire de
• Opposing two facts: en revanche, contrairement à, sans que
• Conceding a point: néanmoins, quoique, même si
• Adding and arguing: en outre, d’ailleurs, or
• Rephrasing and concluding: autrement dit, en bref

Comparison and manner

• Saying how big a difference is: bien plus, un peu plus, de loin le plus
• Saying how something is done: de manière, de façon, avec, sans

Verbs whose preposition changes the meaning

• Choosing à or de after a verb: obliger, penser, manquer, servir

Register: familiar, standard and formal French

• Choosing a register: familiar and formal constructions, inversion, l’on
• Writing letters and emails: ci-joint, auparavant, sous huitaine

The verb forms of B2 side by side

• Telling all the verb forms apart: simple and compound tenses

C1 · Advanced

Literary narrative

• The passé simple at every person
• The passé simple: the four models
• Récit and discours: the passé antérieur and retelling a story
• The literary subjunctive: qu’il fût, qu’il eût fini

Linking ideas

• Formal connectors of purpose, cause, consequence and concession

Si and hypotheses

• The values of si
• Framing a hypothesis: en admettant que, pour autant que, dès lors que

Saying how sure you are

• Modalising: il semble que, il se peut que, sans doute

Emphasis and word order

Tout and reference

• The values of tout
• Tel, la plupart de, bien des, quelque: how many and what kind

Voice and the noun group

• Building nouns: the nominal style, suffixes and prefixes
• De before an adjective in the plural: de nouvelles idées

Register and punctuation

• French punctuation: the comma, the colon, the guillemets