Bonjour à tous! Ça fait un moment, mais j'espère que vous êtes toujours aussi motivés à apprendre.
= Hello everyone, it's been a while, but I hope you're still motivated to learn.
In this fourth French lesson, you will be taught about objects that are usually encountered in an office. The following vocabulary list contains the most common ones :
[TABLE="width: 0"]
[TR]
[TD]-
Un bureau [
un buro]: a desk
-
Un papier [
un papye]: a paper
-
Un perforateur [
un perforat
eur]: a perforator
-
Un trombone [
un tromb
on]: a paperclip
-
Un stylo [
un stilo]: a pen
-
Un crayon [
un kreyon]: a pencil
-
Un ciseau [
un sizo]: a pair of scissors
-
Un ordinateur [
un ordinat
eur]: a computer
-
Un clavier [
un klavye]: a keyboard[/TD]
[TD]-
Une farde [
une fard]: a binder
-
Une agrafeuse [
une agraf
euz]: a stapler
-
Une agrafe [
une agraf]: a staple
-
Une gomme [
une g
om]: an eraser
-
Une calculatrice [
une kalkulatris]: a calculator
-
Une règle [
une r
egle]: a ruler
-
Une souris [
une suri]: a mouse
-
Une imprimante [
une inprim
ant]: a printer[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Notes :
- The underlined letters represent sounds that arent used in Swahili, but, as pointed out in lesson
Introduction (A), un resembles en and une resembles in.
- The word « bureau » can mean both « desk » and « office ».
Grammar :
In French, a word always belongs to one of the two genders there are, namely the feminine and masculine gender.
In most cases, it is not possible to know for sure what the gender of a word is just by looking at the word itself, you will thus usually have to study the gender of a word by heart.
But that is only in most cases. Sometimes, the word contains some indications that make it easier to guess the gender. There are many of such indications and so they will be introduced little by little in later lessons. Here are a few:
[TABLE="width: 437"]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Words that end with these letters are usually
feminine[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]Words that end with these letters are usually
masculine[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]trice
euse[/TD]
[TD](ex.: une calculatrice)
(ex.: une agrafeuse)[/TD]
[TD]teur
eur[/TD]
[TD](ex.: un perforateur)
(ex.:
le bonheur [l
e bon
eur]: the happiness)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]elle[/TD]
[TD](ex.:
une querelle [
une k
er
el]: a quarrel)[/TD]
[TD]eau[/TD]
[TD](ex.: un bureau)[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
All feminine words are marked by the article
une and all masculine words by the article
un when in the
singular indefinite form. (ex.:
un perforateur:
a perforator,
une farde:
a binder)
In the
singular definite form, all feminine words are marked by the article
la [la] and all masculine words by the article
le [l
e]. (ex.:
le bureau:
the desk,
la farde:
the binder)
Note: if a noun in its singular definite form begins with a vowel,
la & le become l (ex.:
le bureau: the desk BUT
lordinateur: the computer)
In the
plural indefinite form, no distinction is made between the two genders, both feminine and masculine words are accompanied by the article
des [de (the s at the end is silent)]:. (ex.:
des perforateurs: perforators,
des fardes: binders)
No distinction is made between the two genders in the
plural definite form either, nouns then carry the article
les [le (the s at the end is silent)]. (ex.:
les perforateurs:
the perforators,
les fardes:
the binders)
[TABLE="width: 0"]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 6"]
Definite article[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 4"]
Indefinite article[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]
Plural form[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 4"]
Singular form[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]
Plural form[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]
Singular form[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]
Feminine word[/TD]
[TD]
Masculine word[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]
Feminine word[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]
Masculine word[/TD]
[TD]
Feminine word[/TD]
[TD]
Masculine word[/TD]
[TD]
Feminine word[/TD]
[TD]
Masculine word[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Type of letter it starts with[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]
Consonant[/TD]
[TD]
Vowel[/TD]
[TD]
Consonant[/TD]
[TD]
Vowel[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Article that has to be used[/TD]
[TD]Les[/TD]
[TD]Les[/TD]
[TD]La[/TD]
[TD]L[/TD]
[TD]Le[/TD]
[TD]L[/TD]
[TD]Des[/TD]
[TD]Des[/TD]
[TD]Une[/TD]
[TD]Un[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
As you have probably noticed, a letter
s has been added at the end of the nouns when put in the plural form.
That is because, in most cases, adding an
s to the end of a singular word in French turns it into a plural. But, just like in Swahili, there are different ways to form the plural of a word in French and the type of plural form we choose depends on the type of word we are dealing with.
Example:
Un stylo => des stylo
s : a pen => pens
Un hospital => des hopit
aux: a hospital => hospitals
With the latter being an example of the grammatical rule Roulette has introduced in the previous lesson:
Any french word ending in -al will turn in -aux when in plural (with some exceptions)
Sentences:
Je cherche lagrafeuse [j
e shershe lagraf
euz]: I am looking for the stapler
Jai cinq trombones [
jai sink tromb
on]: I have five paperclips
Jutilise des crayons [jutiliz de krey
on]: I use pencils
Elle a les papiers [
e​l a le papye]: She has the papers
Cela dit, n'oubliez pas que vous pouvez vous entraîner au
playground! (
Hear the pronunciation)
= with that being said, don't forget you can practice at the
playground!