French/Lessons/Transportation

Le transport Dialogue Culture France's transportation system Grammar -uire verbs -uire verbs are conjugated irregularly. Formation conduire /kɔ̃.dɥiʁ/ (koh(n)-deweer) Fr-conduire.ogg to driveje conduis /kɔ̃.dɥi/ (koh(n)-dewee) I drivetu conduis /kɔ̃.dɥi/ (koh(n)-dewee) you driveil conduit /kɔ̃.dɥi/ (koh(n)-dewee) he drivesnous conduisons /kɔ̃.dɥi.zɔ̃/ (koh(n)-dewee-zoh(n)) we drivevous conduisez /kɔ̃.dɥi.ze/ (koh(n)-dewee-zay) you driveils conduisent /kɔ̃.dɥiz/ (koh(n)-deweez) they driveconduit /kɔ̃.dɥi/ (koh(n)-dewee) driven Vocabulary Other -uire verbs french--uire-verbs produire Fr-produire.ogg /pʁɔ.dɥiʁ/ to produce Il a produit tant. He produced so much. traduire Fr-traduire.ogg /tʁa.dɥiʁ/ to translate Il traduit le français en russe. He translates french to russian. réduire Fr-réduire.ogg /ʁedɥiʁ/ to reduce Il réduit les faits en opinions. He reduces facts to opinions. réduire à /ɾedɥiɾ a/ to reduce (someone) to Je l'ai réduit à l'obéissance. I reduced him to slavery. réduire en /ɾedɥiɾ ɑ̃/ to reduce (something) to Il l'a réduit en cendres. He reduced it to ashes. Examples Il conduit la voiture. He is driving the car. Vocabulary Driving la voiture the car le camion the truck le trajet the journey accident de la route road accident la station d'essence the petrol/gas station la route the road loin far près near Grammar Passé composé with être Most verbs form the passé composé with avoir, however there are a small number of verbs that are always conjugated with être. In a general case, these verbs indicate a change in state or position. List of verbs aller go Je suis allé au cinéma. I went to the cinema. venir come Je suis venu en France. I came to France. arriver arrive Le train est arrivé. The train has arrived. partir leave Elle est partie travailler. She left to go to work. rester stay Je suis resté à la maison. I stayed (at) home. retourner return Il est retourné au restaurant. He returned to the restaurant. tomber fall Je suis tombé dans la piscine. I fell into the pool. naître be born Je suis né en octobre. I was born in October. mourir die Il est mort en 1917. He died in 1917. passer pass Il est passé devant la maison. He went past in front of the house. monter climb, go up Je suis monté au sommet. I climbed to the top. descendre go down Il est descendu du train. He got out of the train. sortir go out Je suis sorti avec mes amies. I went out with my friends. entrer enter Je suis entré dans ma chambre. I entered my room. rentrer come back Il est rentré tôt de l'école. He came back early from school. The verbs that take être can be easily remembered by the acronym MRS. DR VANDERTRAMP: MRS DR montérestésorti devenurevenu VANDERTRAMP venuarrivénédescenduentrérentrétombéretournéallémortparti Direct objects These verbs take their conjugated avoir when they are immediately followed by a direct object For Example, Je suis descendu. with the direct object mes bagages becomes J'ai descendu mes bagages. As another example, Je suis monté. with the direct object mes bagages becomes J'ai monté mes bagages. As another example, but with ils instead of je, Ils sont sortis. with direct object leur passeport becomes Ils ont sorti leur passeport. Subject-past participle agreement When conjugating with être, the past participles of the above verbs must agree with the subject of a sentence in gender and number. Note that there is no agreement if these verbs are conjugated with avoir. If the subject is masculine singular, there is no change in the past participle. If the subject is feminine singular, an -e is added to the past participle. If the subject is masculine plural, an -s is added to the past participle. If the subject is feminine plural, an -es is added to the past participle. Je suis allé(e). Nous sommes allé(e)s. Tu es allé(e). Vous êtes allé(e)(s). Il est allé. Ils sont allés. Elle est allée. Elles sont allées. Vocabulary Trains and stations la gare the train station le train the train conducteur de train the train driver le trajet the journey le quai the platform Grammar The pronoun y Indirect object pronoun - to it, to them The French pronoun y is used to replace an object of a prepositional phrase introduced by à. Je réponds aux (à les) questions. - J'y réponds. I respond to the questions. - I respond to them. Note that lui and leur, and not y, are used when the object refers to a person or people. Replacement of places - there The French pronoun y replaces a prepositional phrase referring to a place that begins with any preposition except de (for which en is used). Les hommes vont en France. - Les hommes y vont. The men go to France - The men go there. Note that en, and not y is used when the preposition of the object is de. Idioms Ça y est! - There we go!, There you have it. J'y suis! - I get it! Vocabulary Taking a taxi Prendre un taxi Grammar -rir verbs french--rir-verbs These verbs are conjugated irregularly, and normally follow the -er conjugation scheme. In past participle form, -ir is replaced with -ert for these verbs. Formation A common -rir verb is ouvrir: ouvrir /u.vʁiʁ/ Fr-ouvrir.ogg to openj'ouvre /uvʁ/ I opentu ouvres /uvʁ/ you openil ouvre /uvʁ/ he opensnous ouvrons /u.vʁɔ̃/ we openvous ouvrez /u.vʁe/ you openils ouvrent /uvʁ/ they openouvert /u.vɛʁ/ Fr-ouvert.ogg opened The noun ouverture opening /u.vɛʁ.tyʁ/ Fr-ouverture.ogg is derived from ouvrir, and the adjective ouvert open /u.vɛʁ/ Fr-ouvert.ogg is derived from its past participle. Other standard -rir verbs couvrir Fr-couvrir.ogg /kuvʁiʁ/ to cover, to cover up découvrir Fr-découvrir.ogg /de.ku.vʁiʁ/ to discover offrir Fr-offrir.ogg /ɔ.fʁiʁ/ to offer recouvrir Fr-recouvrir.ogg to cover again rouvrir Fr-rouvrir.ogg to reopen, to open again souffrir Fr-souffrir.ogg /sufʀiʀ/ to suffer, to endure -rir verb exceptions To run Courir courir /ku.ʁiʁ/ Fr-courir.ogg to runje cours /kuʁ/ Fr-cours.ogg I runtu cours /kuʁ/ Fr-cours.ogg you runil court /kuʁ/ Fr-court.ogg he runsnous courons /ku.ʁɔ̃/ Fr-courons.ogg we runvous courez /ku.ʁe/ Fr-courez.ogg you runils courent /kuʁ/ Fr-courent.ogg they runcouru /ku.ʁy/ Fr-couru.ogg run To die Mourir mourir /mu.ʁiʁ/ Fr-mourir.ogg to dieje meurs /kuʁ/ Fr-meurs.ogg I dietu meurs /kuʁ/ Fr-meurs.ogg you dieil meurt /kuʁ/ Fr-meurt.ogg he diesnous mourons /ku.ʁɔ̃/ Fr-mourons.ogg we dievous mourez /ku.ʁe/ Fr-mourez.ogg you dieils meurent /kuʁ/ Fr-meurent.ogg they diemort /mɔʁ/ Fr-mort.ogg died 1Mourir is the only -ir verb that takes être as its helping verb in perfect tenses (and therefore agrees with the subject as a past participle in a perfect tense). The word mort /mɔʁ/ Fr-mort.ogg is also used as a noun, meaning death or dead person, or as an adjective, meaning dead: Le roi est mort. - The king is dead. The derived word mourant /mu.ʁɑ̃/ means dying or person who is dying. To acquire Acquérir acquérir /a.ke.ʁiʁ/ Fr-acquérir.ogg to acquirej'acquiers /a.kjɛʁ/ Fr-meurs.ogg I acquiretu acquiers /a.kjɛʁ/ Fr-meurs.ogg you acquireil acquiert /a.kjɛʁ/ Fr-meurt.ogg he acquiresnous acquérons /a.ke.ʁɔ̃/ Fr-mourons.ogg we acquirevous acquérez /a.ke.ʁe/ Fr-mourez.ogg you acquireils acquièrent /a.kjɛʁ/ Fr-meurent.ogg they acquireacquis /a.ki/ Fr-mort.ogg acquired Acquis is also a noun, meaning asset. Examples Text Exercises Going out Everyday life