Nature and function of French words
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The words (French: les mots) are classified into different categories. Every word in a sentence has a very specific role. This role is called "function".
Example: → Mon amie travaille en France (my friend works in France)
In this example, "amie" and "France" are nouns and "travaille" is the verb.
The grammatical nature (French: la nature grammaticale) of a word is the category to which it belongs. Indeed, all the words can be grouped in the same category according to the characteristics that are similar to them.
Among them you can find
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The determinant (French: le déterminant) is part of the nominal group (the subject). It agrees in gender and number with the subject. It usually places in front of the noun, sometimes separed by a qualifying adjective.
There are many types of determinants:
Determinants | Examples |
---|---|
Articles | le, la, les, un, une, des, du, de la, de l' |
Possesives | mon, ton, son, notre votre, leur |
Demonstratives | cet, cette, ces,ce |
Indefinite | tout, aucun, chaque, certains, plusieurs |
Interrogatives | Quel ? Quelle ? Quelles ? Quels ? |
Exclamatives | Quel ! Quelle ! Quelles ! Quels ! |
Cardinal numbers | sept, douze, un, quatre, cinq |
Adjectives (French: les adjectifs) describe the nouns or pronouns to which they refer. They agree in gender and number with the noun or pronoun they qualify.
The French has two types of adjectifs: the attribute (l'attribut du sujet) and the epithet (l'épithète du sujet).
Adjectives | Example | Translation |
---|---|---|
L'attribut du sujet | Elle reste jolie | (She remains beautiful) |
L'étpithète du sujet | Une fille jolie | (A beautiful girl) |
The French state verbs are: être (to be), devenir (to become), paraître, passer pour, avoir l'air, sembler (to seem), demeurer, rester (to stay).
The noun (French: le nom) is a word that agrees in gender and number usually with a determinant that inform about it. It can also be used with an epithet adjective.
Gender and number | Noun | translations |
---|---|---|
Des | oiseaux | (birds) |
Un | homme | (a man) |
Ma | grande soeur | (my big sister) |
Nouns | Examples | Translations |
---|---|---|
Common nouns | un bureau | (a desk) |
Proper nouns | France | (France) |
Compound nouns | mademoiselle chemin de fer nord-est | (miss) (railway) (Northeast) |
The verb (French: le verbe) expresses the state of a subject or an action performed by the subject (active voice) or reflexive voice if it does the action itself or undergoes by him (passive voice).
It has a stem and many endings. Therefore, it conjugates according to the group, the subject, the mood and the tense.
In grammar, there are
The pronoun (French: le pronom) replace the noun. It can have all the grammatical functions of the noun.
There are many types of pronouns, in the French grammar:
Pronouns | Examples |
---|---|
Personal | je, tu, il, elle, on, nous, vous, ils, elles |
Possessives | le mien, le tien, le sien, le nôtre, le vôtre, le leur |
Interrogatives | lequel, duquel, auquel, laquelle, de laquelle, à laquelle |
Demonstratives | celui, cela, celle, ceci, ce, ça |
Relatives | qui, que, quoi, dont, où, lesquels, desquels, auxquels |
To distinguish from the possessive determinant, it is important that you write the circumflex accent in 'nôtre' 'vôtre'.
The conjunction (French; la conjonction) is an invariable word whose function is to join words, or groups of words.
There are two types of conjunction: the conjunctions of coordination (les conjonctions de coordinations) and the conjunctions of subordination (les conjonctions de subordinations), which function is to link two propositions: the principal sentence and the conjunction
Conjunctions | Examples |
---|---|
Subordinations | que, quand, comme, si, lorsque, puisque, quoique |
Coordinations | mais, ou, est, donc, or, ni, car |
The preposition (French: la préposition) is an invariable word without a grammatical function in the sentence, but which makes it possible to join two words.
Some prepositions can also be used as an adverb like devant.
The are many types of prepositions:
Prepositions |
---|
à, de, sans, pour, chez, dans, |
entre, jusque, hors, par, vers, après, en |
dès, devant |
The adverb (French: l'adverbe) is an invariable word. Most of them serve to clarify or modify the meaning of a verb, an adjective, another adverb or a whole proposition.
There are many types of adverbs
Adverbs | Example |
---|---|
Time | tard, alors, après, après-demain, aujourd'hui, auparavant, aussitôt, autrefois, avant, avant-hier, bientôt, déjà, demain, depuis, désormais, dorénavant |
Way | calmement, doucement, rapidement, ainsi, bien, comme, debout, ensemble, exprès, mal, mieux, plutôt, vite, |
Place | loin, ailleurs, alentour, arrière, autour, avant, contre, dedans, dehors, derrière, dessous, dessus, devant, ici, là, où, partout, près proche. |
Quantity | beaucoup, assez, autant, beaucoup, combien, davantage, environ, guère, mais, moins, pas mal, peu, plus, presque, quelque, si, tant, tout, tout à fait, tellement, très, trop |
Grammatical functions (French: la fonction grammaticale) are the role played by words in a sentence relative to other words. The same word can have different functions according to the sentences.
Among them you can find:
Function | Examples | Translations |
---|---|---|
Sujet | Jeanne mange une pizza | (Joanne is eating a pizza) |
Complement | Je vais à la pharmacie | (I am going to the pharmacy) |
Attribut | Ils restent positifs | (They remain optimistic) |
Epithète | Un bel homme | (A beautiful man) |
Antécédent | Ma mère, elle est partie au marché | (My mom, she went to the market) |
Apposition | La capitale de l'Italie, Rome accueille des réfugiés | (Italy's capital, Rome welcome refugees) |
Apostrophe | Toi, dis nous ce que tu en penses ? | (You tell us what you think ?) |
Explétif | Je crains qu'il ne se perde | (I am afraid he get lost) |
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My name is Krisztina! I’m a teacher of German and French with the corresponding qualifications. I've grown up in a bilingual family (Hungarian-German), so I speak both languages as a native language. I’ve been teaching for six years, so I’m able to estimate your needs, and to meet them. In my lessons, I recreat real life situations, so that you will be able to adapt yourselves to different circumstances. I’m a patient, positive and creative person, who is looking forward to see you in her lessons. So don’t hesitate to book a lesson with me.
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I am very satisfied with my new teacher. Looks like I'm going to get French soon! Looking forward to each lesson. Krisztina knows many languages, which allows her to understand pronunciation difficulties and to remain patient. Hope to pass C1 one day!
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Hello,
My name is Tiska. I am a French Teacher with experiences with adults and teenagers in Public Education (USA) and Language Schools. I am holding a Master Degree in FLE (Teaching French as a Foreign Language).
Join a small group of learners of 2 or 3 for conversation lessons with me. An article or video to watch before the lesson and a conversation with personalized corrections during the lesson. This option saves you at least 10 euros per lesson on Colanguage.
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Monday and/or Wednesday from 17:30 to 18:30 (French time).
Level: intermediate (B1)
Also, standard French lessons
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I give Skype lessons to people who need or want to improve their French language. I like to use material from the internet (videos, article etc.) to introduce a theme which leads to a lesson and a conversation.
I like to create engaging learning with my students. I will give as homework a document to watch or to read with comprehension exercises so the time we have on skype is only speaking practice and explanation if needed.
I can help you prepare DELF-DALF Exams or work on specific needs (as professional French).
Really like to speak about all the subjects with the student especially those the student like so it gives the motivation to speak in the foreign language.
The free first lesson is organize to know your tastes, your level and your needs so we can plan the next lessons about the objectives you fixed.
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TISKA is a very prepared, kind and helpful teacher. i love studying with her because she makes the lesson to be intereesant and nice. she understands my needs and gives me the right homework.
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Training is my passion. I like interacting with people. I am passionate about reading, watching movies, and music. I love to explore new places and have keen interest in arts and literature.I love meeting new people because every person is a whole new world you can learn from. I am also a keen reader and an enthusiastic traveller.
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she have books and she knows how the delf / dalf works, she gives me some advises that i didn't find in youtube video
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1 - If you are looking for a well-structured French program to take you from a beginner level to advanced level to be able to travel to France, i have developed with success my own program which includes 70 worksheets from basic to advance level.
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4 - Finally I have also an extensive experience in teaching French at the primary and middle school level
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Francois is teaching our daughter in French at the moment. She is a total beginner and they started from scratch. Both work for one hour daily and agree on homework which is being checked in the next lesson. The lesson via Skype is working well with the exchange of material Skype as well. We can definitely see progress.
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Hi,
I m claudie , I m french and i have experience to teach french to foreign people.
I create in a school of langage in Spain a little faculty for my french lessons with a group from 15 years olds until 25.
The pupils were all the levels A1 until C2!
I was teaching as well with lillte children and adults in Spain and Rumania.
I m a very dynamic teacher with a lot of patient and empathy.
You will make a lot of progress!
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Claudie is a wonderful, dedicated and very patient teacher. My goal was to speak French, because before, during lessons in my own country, I didn't feel comfortable speaking French and I couldn't manage to speak French without blocking. With Claudie, it's totally different. For over eight months, I took lessons with Claudie almost every week. Claudie gives me self-confidence and I learned a lot. We are talking about everyday life, but also about cultural subjects. She always manages to find interesting topics to discuss. We laugh a lot and I hope we will continue the lessons for a long time.
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Hi! My name is Caterina and I'm a teacher.
I love learning new languages and meet new students.
I have experience in teaching Italian to foreign students and I also have the CEDILS certificate to teach Italian as second/foreign language.
During my classes I speak just Italian and I help you improve in all the abilities (listening, reading, speaking, writing).
I am also available for classes in specific fields, such as Literature, Italian History, Art, Linguistics, Academic writing and getting ready for Italian exams.
I prepare my classes using authentic materials (articles, videos, songs...) and exercises to improve grammar. Most of all, I let you talk to become confident in your speaking.
All the classes are personalized according to students' needs and requests.
I want you to achieve your goals.
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Very talented teacher, excellent preparation, young but at the same time experienced, with an excellent teaching method and a contagious smile. With her, you will learn Italian without getting bored for a second and without any problem. Absolutely recommended.
This review was written by a coLanguage team member during a manual screening of this teacher profile.
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I am French living in Lisbon in Portugal. I have lived in different countries such as England, the United States and India. It gave me some experience of learning a foreign language and teaching it.
I am passionate about different cultures and try to share my love for French culture with you in a lively way.
I adapt to the needs of the students, whether to improve their oral, written, prepare for an exam or a job interview. I prioritize the conversation to allow the student to "unblock" and have fun speaking the language. I write down the vocabulary and grammar that the student lacks to express himself.
Learning a foreign language is, in my view, above all through cultural curiosity. We want to learn a language because we want to live in the country, travel there or get to know it better. We feel attracted. It is its Culture that motivates us in our learning: music, film, text, literature, way of being and cultural differences forming "another world". This means that learning is not just about learning a list of words and grammar lessons, as is taught too often in school. Practice again and again through conversation, books, music, movies and above all the pleasure of speaking and listening.
I adapt the student's personal work according to their available time and their objective (conversation, deadline for an exam, scheduled trip, etc.).
I am at your disposal for any further information.
See you soon,
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Florence is such a joy to work with! A true expert and professional at teaching French, regardless of your level. Florence takes tremendous care in planning your personalized lesson, incredibly thoughtful and patient with her students. She also has such a warm, supportive and encouraging manner with a great sense of humor. She will have you speaking, reading and writing in perfect French much sooner than you think with her approach and highly efficient techniques; methods only a highly experienced instructor can provide. I am lucky to have found her to help me sit for academic French exams and you will feel the same way when working with her. Thank you Florence!!!
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Bonjour! Veux-tu apprendre français? ou l'améliorer?
My classes are structured according to my students' needs, I use different teaching methods and I rely on listening each of my students' expectations and goals. Dynamism and constant learning are my purposes in my classes.
I have worked as a French teacher for more than ten years.
I have academic studies in English and French from Montréal, Canada, where I lived for several years. I have a Bachelor in Teaching French as a foreign language from the Université de Bourgogne.
I learned French at an early age in immersion in a French-speaking region and I studied French formally for 11 years, obtaining a native level.
À bientôt!
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She is a very nice person and a great teacher. She is able to make you learn grammar while speaking and writing. I think that's amazing to find a teacher like her because learning becomes funny and seems to be easy. I hope to learn french as well as she speaks it. I found a teacher and at the same time a friend who lives far form me,that speaks another language and that I couldn't have found in any other way. I absolutely recommend her!
Natalia L.Irene is a great student, I have seen her French improving very fast. She is able to speak about many different topics and give her opinion in a very detailed way. We are working in improving her writing skills and I see how she is doing better and better very quickly. Congratulations for all your work Irene!
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Do you want to learn Spanish with a kind and patient teacher? Someone to help you gain confidence and practice the language with topics according to your level and needs? In addition to that ... Do you want to get a study material and corrections? Well, I'm the right teacher for you . My name is Andrea and I'm from South America - Ecuador. I am a full-time Spanish teacher and I have a variety of resources to help you learn Spanish online.
I am currently studying French and I know how beneficial and fun it is to learn with a friendly and patient teacher who teaches you and helps you speak the language with confidence.
If you want to know a little more about me, I invite you to watch this video about reserving a hotel room.
https://youtu.be/d7F7mxOfKmA
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Andrea is a delightful and brilliant teacher. She has been teaching Spanish since 2018 and her study method is based on the student's level and the goals they want to achieve. In her you will find a prepared, experienced and friendly person. She relies on several books for teaching Spanish and her lessons are creative, very innovative and super interactive. With her you will never be bored.
This review was written by a coLanguage team member during a manual screening of this teacher profile.
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I’m French, currently living in the Netherlands.
I lived in Paris for almost twenty years, and I know very well my country (and of course my language, French, my mother tongue). I taught French for two years in Spain, conversation class about culture essentially.
In Paris, I was Spanish teacher, I have the Agregation degree which is the highest degree for teaching in France, I'm bilingual. I've participated too in several editorial projects about Spanish teaching and DELE preparation.
I have a Spanish Studies Master and I'm currently doing a research about the Spanish and Sefardi Judaism.
I have a French as foreign language and a Religious Studies Masters too.
I enjoy sharing what I know. I’m a very eclectic person and curious about everything. To give you an idea, my interest (and sometimes hobbies) are: philosophy, spirituality and religions in general, meditation, psychology and psychoanalysis, history, geography, literature, writing (in particular creative writing, and I’m used to write everyday), art (painting, photography), sciences (vulgarisation level) and cultural matters in general. I travel a lot (as a backpacker), sometimes by foot, and the places I know well are France, the Netherlands, Italy and Serbia.
One of my qualities is my capacity of adaptation, I enjoy preparing documents to help the student to acquire autonomy, but I love speaking too, and it’s the best way to learn a language.
I'm waiting for your message, please when contact me, explain quickly who you are, why you want to study French and what you are looking for exactly.
See you soon.
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Rosa's lessons are extraordinary. The texts and videos are well chosen to show the different approaches to a subject. I have learned a lot in recent months. I especially had the possibility of opening and widening my horizon. Thank you!
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Virginie is the best French teacher I ever came across. She has been a great help in preparing for DELF B1. Her clear method of explaining helps me understand and retain the grammar rules. She is very patient and her calm personality removes my anxiety and puts my mind at ease. I highly recommend her and thank her for the wonderful learning experience.
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*** Please note that I am on holidays in august***
Bonjour ! Comment ça va ?
My name is Lou, and I would be happy to be your french teacher !
French classes are for all levels, beginner to advanced. I can help you prepare to french exams and I also offer conversation classes.
My classes are fun and dynamic ! We will use various documents to work on and always adapt the classes to your needs and interests.
Free 30 min trial lesson !
Before the trial class, I will provide you a short French test to evaluate your level.
Feel free to contact me to talk about your goals and to plan a trial lesson.
See you soon online ! :-)
COMING SOON : a Whatsapp group for my students to practice french tchating with weekly challenges and conversation subjects !
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Lou works in a very structured way and sent me teaching material before the lesson. After a bit of small talk, we worked on the topic of the lesson, with the lesson divided into reading comprehension, discussion of the text, listening comprehension of a video and a written assignment on the topic. Lou picked an interesting topic that created plenty of opportunity for conversation. She corrected mistakes in a friendly manner and responded very well to my learning requests. That was fun!
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Hi,
I m claudie , I m french and i have experience to teach french to foreign people.
I create in a school of langage in Spain a little faculty for my french lessons with a group from 15 years olds until 25.
The pupils were all the levels A1 until C2!
I was teaching as well with lillte children and adults in Spain and Rumania.
I m a very dynamic teacher with a lot of patient and empathy.
You will make a lot of progress!
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I have started with French courses because I needed to improve my French language for work. Claudie is a great teacher who comes up with materials that suit my medical interests and needs. Claudie makes the lessons interesting and relaxed and she’s remarkably patient. Thanks Claudie for the great lessons!!!
Claudie S.Thank you very much for this comment, always a pleasure to help you learn the French language !!
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WHAT I OFFER:
Online French as a second language (FSL) courses for all levels, preparation for official exams (DELF, DALF, TCF), correction of academic work, translations, preparation for job interviews or public speeches. I also teach Spanish, as I speak it fluently and know about teaching techniques.
MY METHODOLOGY:
I focus on the student, my priority. First I find out what they know, and what their objectives and motivations are. Next, we define together a way forward. Thus, my classes are customized, and based on every student’s needs.
I make sure the learning atmosphere is mellow and agreeable, but never forget that my aim is the student’s improvement. Enjoyment contributes to progress, but some discipline is also necessary. I am used to balancing these two needs.
WHO I AM:
Having taught FSL full-time for 15 years and obtained the DAEFLE (Diploma of Aptitude in Teaching French as a Foreign Language) from the Alliance Française Paris allows me to balance the two elements a good teacher needs: experience and theory. I have worked with people of all levels, from beginners to very advanced, and all ages, from 6 to 86 years old. I also have a great deal of experience in the DELF/DALF tests preparation, with over 90% of success.
I have known for a long time that teaching was my vocation. I like sharing knowledge with others, helping them improve, and feeling that at the end of the day they know more than before. Loving my job and feeling useful is what motivates me to get up every day with a smile.
After a science baccalaureate, I studied audiovisual communication, because I have always been fond of transmitting information. However, I quickly realized I needed a more direct form of contact. During a trip to South America, I started teaching private classes, and immediately understood that was the path I had to follow.
WHY I AM A GOOD TEACHER:
Extensive experience allows me to go fast with quick learners, and to be extremely patient with those who need more time. I have learnt that there isn’t just one way of teaching something, and that some people have a preference for auditory, visual or action-oriented learning. As a private teacher, my priority is to listen to my student in order to adapt my methods to their needs.
Not only do I teach languages, I also provide my students with tools for self-teaching and making progress between classes, allowing them to maximize their investment. I regularly research the latest teaching tools, the evolution of teaching methods, and the neuropsychological findings in that area. This is a surprisingly vast topic.
MY CREDENTIALS:
You will find on my LinkedIn page many letters of recommendation from my students.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/benoit-cassagnau-2b2179176/
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Benoît is an exceptional instructor. I am so pleased I found him. He is professional, always prepared for class, and always patient. He never fails to correct my pronunciation, grammar and writing in French - yet, in a kind manner. His expertise and knowledge in ways to help improve my French are worth far more than the investment I have made. He goes above and beyond to make each class count. Benoît is the best French instructor I've ever had!
Benoit C.Sari is an involved, responsible and hardworking student. With already an advanced level, its learning curve is very good. A pleasure to work with her.
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1 The subject in French | Get an overview of the subject in French |
2 The apostrophe and apposition in French | Get a comprehensive overview about the apostrophe noun and study the topic online. |
3 The complement object in French | Get a comprehensive overview about all the object complement and study the topic online. |
4 The circumstancial complement in French | Get a comprehensive overview about all the circumstancial complements and study the topic online. |
5 The agent complement in French | Get an overview of the agent complement in French |