Grammar error checklist - written French

Verbs

✔ Have you the correct tense?

Summary of tenses:

Le présent donne Je = I give and I am giving

Passé composé - J’ai donné = I have given/I gave (one time)

Le futur simple - Je donnerai = I will give

Le futur proche – Je vais donner = I’m going to give

L’imparfait donnais Je = I used to give (continuous past)/I was giving

Le conditionel - Je donnerais = I would give

Je pourrais donner = I could give

Je devrais donner = I should give

✔ Have you got the correct ending to your verb? For example, my parents should be followed by the ‘they’ form of the verb, the government is followed by the ‘he’ form of the verb, to + any verb (e.g. to give - donner) is the infinitive of the verb, ‘it’ is generally followed by the ‘he’ form of the verb. Just ask yourself should this verb have the ‘I, you, he/she, we, you (plural) or they’ ending. E.g.: My parents think that. Wrong: mes parents pense que – correct: mes parents pensent que

Nouns

✔ Is your noun masculine or feminine? Don’t forget definite articles. Have you been consistent using le/la/les/d’ or du/de la/des/de l’ E.g.: School Wrong: école – correct: l’ école

Adjectives

✔ Watch placement of adjectives. The majority of adjectives follow this placement rule: English: The sporty girl French: The girl sporty The sporty girl: la fille sportive There are some exceptions: Beauty Age Good/bad S ize– BAGS These follow the English placement rule. The small girl: la petite fille ✔ Watch agreement of adjectives. Adjectives change in French depending on what they are describing. They may be describing something or someone that is masculine, feminine and singular or plural. Girl: je suis heureuse Boy: je suis heureux

Accents

✔ Getting an accent wrong is the equivalent to a spelling mistake so check them all.

Relative pronouns – QUI/QUE

✔ Have you written the correct relative pronoun? To say which or that, use either QUE OR QUI Use Que if next word is a subject. Le stylo que tu as… Use Qui if next word is a verb. Le chat qui est sur la table… In English we often leave out who/which/that. We say: There’s the boy I met at the party Rather than: There’s the boy who I met at the party. In French the words qui and que can never be left out. Also this rule applies for verbs like penser In English we often say, I think Jane is kind...instead of, I think

that Jane is kind Wrong: Je pense Jane est gentille correct: Je pense que Jane est gentille...

Prepositions

✔ Have you used the right preposition eg: de, pour, avec… ✔ Check if the verb used needs a preposition. There are several verbs in French which are followed by the infinitive of the next verb, the main ones would be pouvoir (to be able to/can), vouloir (to want to) and devoir (to have to). Students tend to place the second verb in a different format instead of the infinitive E.g.: Il veut aller au spectacle mais il ne peut pas sortir parce qu’il doit étudier. There are other verbs in French which are followed by ‘à’ plus the infinitive. E.g.: J’aide ma mère à passer l’aspirateur - I help my mother to hoover There are other verbs that take de plus the infinitive. E.g.: Il a cessé de fumer - He has stopped smoking. Finally there is also a more complicated list of verbs which take ‘à’ before the object and ‘de’ before the infinitive. These verbs are associated with verbs of communication, i.e. asking, advising, telling, allowing, etc’ E.g.: J’ai demandé à ma soeur de m’aider avec mes devoirs – I asked my sister to help me with my homework.

Questions

✔ Have you turned the subject and verb around? And used a hyphen? E.g.: Avez-vous mon livre?

Avoir expressions

✔ Know your expressions with avoir.

Avoir – a number of phrases using the verb avoir exist in French. Avoir faim/soif – To be hungry/thirsty Avoir chaud/froid – To be hot/cold Avoir raison/tort – To be right/wrong E.g.: Tu as tort – you are wrong Avoir peur de – To be afraid of Avoir l’air – To seem E.g.: Il a l’air triste – he seems sad En avoir marre de – To be sick of Avoir du mal à – To have a pain in Avoir de la chance – To be lucky E.g.: J’ai de la chance – I’m lucky Avoir le droit de – To have the right to E.g.: On n’a pas le droit de fumer…

Object pronouns

✔ Have you used object pronouns correctly? le/la/les and lui/leur French object pronouns are placed after the subject and in front of the verb. E.g.: She is looking at him Wrong: elle regarde à lui – correct: elle le regarde Unless the second verb is an infinitive then it is placed before the infinitive, e.g.: Je vais la voir – I’m going to see her.

Negatives

Making sentences negative in French is a bit different than in English, due to the two-part negative adverb and the

sometimes difficult issue of placement.

✔ NE COMES AFTER THE SUBJECT EG: I, YOU, HE, SHE… PAS COMES AFTER THE FIRST VERB E.g.: I didn’t do my homework Wrong: je n’ai fait pas mes devoirs – correct: je n’ai pas fait mes devoirs

French dropped ‘e’

✔ You need to drop the ‘e’ when the following words are followed by a vowel: de, je,le, me, ne, que, se, te E.g.: I believe that he Wrong: je crois que il – correct: je crois qu’il

Expressions of quantity

✔ Use ‘de’ or ‘d’ not ‘des’ with most expressions of quantity E.g.: I have a lot of books Wrong: j’ai beaucoup des livres - correct: j’ai beaucoup de livres