General Traveling

Geography

Geography Prepositions

Cities

• à is used to say in, at, to
  • Je vais à Paris. - I'm going to Paris
• de is used to say from.
  
  • Je reviens de Paris. - I return from Paris.
• cities that have articles as part of their names contract with the preposition if the city is masculine.
  
  • le Caire - Je vais au Caire. - Je reviens du Caire.
  • le Havre - Je vais au Havre. - Je reviens du Havre.
  • la Nouvelle-Orléans - Je vais à la Nouvelle-Orléans. - Je reviens de la Nouvelle-Orléans.

Feminine Regions, Countries, and Continents

• Most geographical areas are feminine
• Every French geographical area, with one or two exceptions, that ends in -e is feminine.
• Every continent is feminine.

• en is used to say in, at, to for all feminine geographical areas except cities
  
  • Je vais en France. - I go to France.
• de is used to say from for all feminine geographical areas except cities
  
  • Je reviens de France. - I return from France.
• de is contracted to d' when followed by a vowel.
  
  • Je vais en Espagne. - Je reviens d' Espagne

Masculine Regions

• all regions that do not end in a slient e are mascuiline

• dans le is used to say in, at, to for most masculine regions, provinces, and states
  
  • Je vais dans le Limousin. - I'm going to Limousin.
• du, a contraction of de + le, is used to say from for most regions, provinces, and states
  
  • Je reviens du Limousin. - I return from Limousin.
• If a region is thought of or considered as its own sovereign state, au is used instead of dans le
  • Je vais au Québec. - Je reviens du Québec.
  • Je vais au Texas. - Je reviens du Texas.

Masculine Countries Starting With a Consonant

• all countries that do not end in a silent e are mascuiline
• le Cambodge and le Mexique are masculine

• au is used to say in, at, to for masculine countries beginning with a consonant
  
  
  • Je vais au Portugal. - I'm going to Portugal.
  • du is used to say from for masculine countries beginning with a consonant
  • Je reviens du Portugal. - I return from Portugal.

Plural Countries

• aux, a contraction of à + les, is used to say in, to, as if a plural article is part of the name of a country
  
  
  • Je vais aux Êtats-Unis. - I'm going to the United States. (pronounced aytahzoohnee)
• des, a contraction of de + les, is used to say from if a plural article is part of the name of a country
  
  
  • Je reviens des Êtats-Unis. - I return from the United States.

Masculine Countries Starting With a Vowel

• en is used to say in, at, to for all masculine countries beginning with a vowel
  
  • Je vais en Israël. - I'm going to Israel.
• d' is used to say from for all masculine countries beginning with a vowel
  
  • Je reviens d' Israël. - I return from Israel.

Check For Understanding

• Are all French countries ending in e feminine?
• What geographical areas use the preposition dans le?
• What prepositions do countries beginning with vowels use?
• What prepositions does the city of Quebec use? ...the province of Quebec?

Airports and Airplanes

Places

Nationalities

Nationalities are not capitalized as often in French as they are in English. If you are referring to a person, as in an Arab person or a Chinese person, the French equivalent is un Arabe or un Chinois. However, if you are referring to the Arabic language or Chinese language, the French would not capitalize: l'arabe; le chinois. If the nationality is used as an adjective, it is normally left uncapitalized; un livre chinois, un tapis arabe.+

Perfect Tenses

You will be learning several new perfect tenses in this level. Review the grammar behind them. This time, make sure you know all the rules.

• The perfect tenses are also called the compound or composed tenses.
• The perfect tenses are all composed of a conjugated auxillary verb and a fixed past participle.

Auxillary Verb Formation

• The auxillary verb is always either avoir or être.
• The tense of the verb depends upon the tense that avoir or être is conjugated in.
  
  • When the auxillary verb is conjugated in the passé composé, for example, the auxillary verb is conjugated in the present indicative.
    
    • J'ai fini. - I have finished.

Past Participle Formation

• -er verbs - replace -er with é
• -ir verbs - replace -ir with i
• -re verbs - replace -re with u
• irregular verbs - must be memorized

Past Participle Agreement

• The past pasticiple must agree with the direct object of a clause in gender and plurality if the direct object goes before the verb.
  
  • the direct object is masculine singular - no change
    
    • J'ai fini le jeu. - I have finished the game.
    • Je l'ai fini. - I have finished it.
  • the direct object is feminine singular - add an e to the past participle
    
    • J'ai fini la tâche. - I have finished the task.
    • Je l'ai finie. - I have finished it.
  • the direct object is masculine plural - add an s to the past participle.
    
    
    • J'ai fini les jeux. - I have finished the games.
    • Je les ai finis. - I have finished them.
  • the direct object is feminine plural - add an es to the past participle.
    
    • J'ai fini les tâches. - I have finished the tasks.
    • Je les ai finies. - I have finished them.

Avoir ou Être?

• In most circumstances, the auxillary verb is avoir.
• However, under certain situations, the auxillary verb is être.
• This occurs when:
  
  • The verb is one of 16 special verbs that take être.
    
    • Note that when a direct object is used with these verbs, the auxillary verb becomes avoir.
  • The verb is reflexive.
    
    • That is, the subject of the verb is also its object.

List of Tenses

There are seven perfect tenses in French. These are:

1. Le passé composé (The Present Perfect)
2. Le plus-que-parfait de l'indicatif (The Pluperfect of the Indicative)
3. Le plus-que-parfait du subjonctif (The Pluperfect Subjunctive)
4. Le passé antérieur (The Past Anterior)
5. Le futur antérieur (The Future Anterior)
6. Le conditionnel passé (The Past Conditional)
7. Le passé du subjonctif (The Past Subjunctive)

Simple Future of Regular Verbs

There are three versions of the future tense in French, the futur simple the futur composé, and the futur antérieur(future perfect). The futur composé is formed by inserting the present form of aller before the infinitive, e.g. elle va réussir (she will pass, or she is going to pass) is the futur composé of elle réussit

To conjugate a verb in the futur simple, one takes the infinitive and appends the right form of avoir except for nous and vous which takes -ons or -ez, as according to the table:

Les vacances

Cet été, nous partirons en vacances au bord de la mer. Nous allons passer une semaine à Nice sur la côte d'Azur. Nous partirons en voiture et il y aura certainement beaucoup de bouchons sur l'autoroute. Nous nous baignerons le matin et je ferai des châteaux de sable avec mon fils. A midi nous mangerons puis nous ferons une bonne sieste car il fera certainement très chaud. L'après-midi, nous irons visiter des expositions de peintures ou alors nous irons dans des parc d'attractions. Vivement les vacances !