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21. To Do or Make

Another past tense (passé composé) uses the present tense forms of avoir plus the past participle of faire: fait. J'ai fait translates as I did/made whereas je faisais translates as I was doing/making, I used to do/make (continuous action in the past).

Faire is used in expressions of weather (il fait beau) and many other idiomatic expressions:
faire de (a sport) - to play (a sport)
faire le sourd / l'innocent - to act deaf / innocent
faire le (subject in school) - to do / study (subject)
faire le ménage - to do the housework
faire la cuisine - to do the cooking
faire la lessive - to do laundry
faire la vaisselle - to do the dishes
faire une promenade - to take a walk
faire un voyage - to take a trip
faire les courses - to go (grocery) shopping
faire des achats - to go shopping
faire de l'exercice - to exercise
faire attention - to pay attention
faire la queue - to stand in line

22. Work and School

Notice that some professions are always masculine, even if the person is a woman.  There are also words that are always feminine (such as la victime) even if the person is a man.

School Subjects

Notice that you do not use an indefinite article before professions, unless they are preceded by an adjective.

Qu'est-ce que vous faites dans la vie ?  What do you do for a living?
Je suis avocate.  I am a lawyer. (fem.)
Je suis professeur.  I am a professor.
Je suis étudiant.  I am a student (masc.)
Où est-ce que vous faites vos études ?  Where do you study?
Je vais à l'université de Michigan.  I go to the university of Michigan.
Je fais mes études à l'université de Toronto.  I study at the University of Toronto.
Qu'est-ce que vous étudiez ? What do you study?
Quelles matières étudiez-vous ?  What subjects do you study?
J'étudie les langues étrangères et la linguistique.  I study foreign languages and linguistics.
Je fais des mathématiques.  I study/do math.
Ma spécialisation est la biologie.  My major is biology.

Slang words/abbreviations for school:

23. Prepositions & Contractions

In:  Dans vs. En
Dans is used to show the time when an action will begin, while en shows the length of time an action takes.

Je pars dans quinze minutes.  I'm leaving in 15 minutes.
Il peut lire ce livre en une demi-heure.  He can read this book in a half hour.

With: Avec vs. De vs. A vs. Chez
Avec implies doing something or going along with someone; de is used in phrases of manner and in many idiomatic expressions; à is used when referring to someone's attributes; and chez is used to mean "as far as (person) is concerned."  To describe the way a person carries him/herself, no extra word is used.

Je vais en France avec ma sœur.  I'm going to France with my sister.
Elle me remercie d'un sourire.  She thanks me with a smile.
L'homme aux cheveux roux est très grand.  The man with the red hair is very tall.
Chez cet enfant, tout est simple.  With this child, everything is simple.
Il marche, les mains dans les poches.  He walks with his hands in his pockets.

24. Countries and Nationalities / Les pays et les nationalitEs

The masculine forms of the nationalities are also used for the language. Adjectives of nationalities and languages are not capitalized in written French. The definite article is not used before a language when it follows the verb parler (to speak): Je parle anglais. Notice that French also uses hollandais when referring to Dutch people and sometimes the Dutch language, but this is not exactly correct (just as it is not correct to use Holland when referring to the Netherlands in English).

25. Negative Sentences

To make sentences negative, simply put ne and pas around the verb.  In spoken French, however, the ne is frequently omitted, but it cannot be omitted in written French.  And when you are replying "yes" to a negative question, you use si and not oui (though in Quebec, it is perfectly fine to just use oui).

Je suis du Canada.  I am from Canada.
Je ne suis pas du Mexique.  I am not from Mexico.
Je suis française.  I am French (feminine.)
Je ne suis pas suisse.  I am not Swiss. (masculine or feminine)
Il est australien.  He is Australian.
Elle n'est pas danoise.  She is not Danish.
Elles sont des Etats-Unis.  They are from the United States.
Ils ne sont pas du Portugal.  They are not from Portugal. 
Je parle chinois et japonais.  I speak Chinese and Japanese.
Je ne parle pas suédois.  I don't speak Swedish.
Vous n'êtes pas du Brésil ?  You aren't from Brazil?
Si, nous sommes du Brésil.  Yes, we are from Brazil.

26. To / In and From places, cities, and countries

If the name of a country ends in-e, the gender is feminine.  If it ends in anything else, it is masculine. All continents are feminine.  The country exceptions are le Cambodge, le Mexique, le Zaïre, le Zimbabwe, and le Mozambique.  Some cities have an article as well, such as La Nouvelle-Orléans (New Orleans).

Je vais à la boulangerie. I'm going to the bakery.
Il vient de Londres. He comes from London.
On va en France demain. We're going to France tomorrow.
Tu viens du Mexique ? You come from Mexico?

In general, if a region, province or state ends in -e, it is feminine. Californie, Caroline du Nord / Sud, Floride, Géorgie, Louisiane, Pennsylvanie, and Virginie are the feminine American states; while Maine is masculine. For French régions or départements that begin with Haut(e), the h is an aspirate h, and therefore, there is no elision with preceding words, i.e. de Haut-Rhin, la Haute-Normandie, etc.

Elles habitent en Californie. They live in California.
Il est de Haute-Savoie. He is from Haute-Savoie.
Ce fromage vient du Nord. This cheese comes from Nord.
Je veux voyager dans le Texas. I want to travel in Texas.

27. To Come and to Go

Other verbs that are conjugated like venir:  tenir - to hold, devenir - to become, obtenir - to get, revenir - to come back.

Je viens des Etats-Unis. I come from the United States.
Il tient un crayon.  He's holding a pencil.
Nous allons en Espagne.  We're going to Spain.
Tu ne vas pas au Brésil cet été.  You're not going to Brazil this summer.

► Aller + an infinitive means "going to do something."
Ils vont aller en Angleterre.  They are going to go to England.
Elle va parler russe.  She's going to speak Russian.
Je vais devenir professeur.  I'm going to become a professor.

► Aller is also used idiomatically when talking about health.
Comment vas-tu ?  How are you?
Je vais bien.  I'm fine.

► Venir de + an infinitive means "to have just done something."
Il vient d'aller en Finlande.  He just went to Finland.
Vous venez de manger une pomme.  You just ate an apple.

28. Conjugating Regular Verbs in the Present Indicative Tense

Verbs in French end in -er, -re, or -ir.  The verb before it is conjugated is called the infinitive.  Removing the last two letters leaves you with the stem (aimer is the infinitive, aim- is the stem.)  The present indicative tense indicates an ongoing action, general state, or habitual activity.  Besides the simple present tense (I write, I run, I see); there are two other forms of the present tense in English: the progressive (I am writing, I am running, etc.) and the emphatic (I do write, I do run, etc.)  However, these three English present tenses are all translated by the present indicative tense in French.

To conjugate verbs in the present tense, use the stem and add the following endings.

If a verb is followed by à (like répondre) you have to use the à and any contractions after the conjugated verb.  Ex: Je réponds au téléphone. I answer the phone.

* The 2nd -ir verbs are considered irregular sometimes because there are only a few verbs which follow that pattern.  Other verbs like partir are sortir (to go out), dormir (to sleep), mentir (to lie), sentir (to smell, feel) and servir (to serve.)

You can also download a list of the 681 most common verbs in French (available in PDF format.)

29. Pronominal (Reflexive) Verbs

These verbs are conjugated like normal verbs, but they require an extra pronoun before the verb.  Most indicate a reflexive action but some are idiomatic and can't be translated literally.  The pronouns are:

When used in the infinitive, such as after another verb, the reflexive pronoun agrees with the subject of the sentence.  Je vais me coucher maintenant.  I'm going to go to bed.

30. Irregularities in Regular Verbs

1. Verbs that end in -ger and -cer:   The nous form of manger isn't mangons, but mangeons.  The e has to stay so the g can retain the soft sound.   The nous form of commencer isn't commencons, but commençons.  The c must have the accent (called a cedilla) under it to make the c sound soft.

2. Verbs that add or change to an accent grave:  Some verbs add or change to an accent grave (è) in all the forms except the nous and vous.

3. Verbs that are conjugated as -er verbs: Some -ir verbs are conjugated with -er endings.  For example:  offrir-to offer, give, ouvrir-to open, couvrir-to cover, découvrir-to discover and souffrir-to suffer.

4. Verbs that end in -yer: Change the y to an i in all forms except the nous and vous.  Examples: envoyer-to send (awn-vwah-yay), nettoyer-to clean (nuh-twah-yay), essayer-to try (ess-ah-yay)

5. Verbs that double the consonant:  Some verbs, such as appeler-to call (ahp-lay), and jeter-to throw (zheh-tay) double the consonant in all forms except the nous and vous.

31. Present Perfect Tense or Passe Compose

You have learned the present indicative so far, which expresses what happens, is happening, or does happen now; but if you want to say something happened, or has happened, you use the passé composé.  The passé composé is used for actions that happened only once, a specified number of times or during a specified period of time, and as a result or consequence of another action.  All you need to learn are the past participles of the verbs.

Regular Verbs: Formation of the Past Participle

Then conjugate avoir and add the past participle:

To make it negative, put the ne and pas around the conjugated form of avoir.

32. Irregular Past Participles

33. Etre Verbs

Sixteen "house" verbs and all pronominal verbs are conjugated with être, and they must agree in gender and number with the subject.  The house verbs are:

Most have regular past participles, except venir-venu, devenir-devenu, revenir-revenu, mourir-mort, and naître-né.  And five of these verbs, monter, descendre, sortir, rentrer, and passer can sometimes be conjugated with avoir if they are used with a direct object.

Je suis sortie. I went out.
J'ai sorti la poubelle. I took the trash out.

You add the e for feminine and s for plural.  Vous can have any of the endings. To form the negative, place ne...pas around the auxiliary verb.

There are only two cases with pronominal verbs where the past participle does not agree:
1.  When the pronominal verb is followed by a direct object.  
Compare:  Elles se sont lavées, but: elles se sont lavé les mains.
2.  With verbs where the reflexive pronoun is an indirect object, such as
se parler, se demander, se dire, s'écrire, se sourire, and se téléphoner.
Ils se sont téléphoné.

34. Food and Meals / La Nourriture et Les Repas

In France, it is common to use déjeuner to mean to have breakfast as well as to have lunch. In Quebec, the meals are le déjeuner, le dîner, and le souper. The plural of un œuf is des œufs, but fs is not pronounced: uhn-uff / day-zuh. Food is generally divided into two categories: sucré (sweet/sugary) and salé (savoury/salty). Le pain is the general word for bread; if you want to specify white bread, use le pain de mie. Because the French eat dinner so late in the evening (8 pm), young children have l'heure de goûter (snack time) after school. Le yaourt refers to fruit yogurts and sweet puddings and they are eaten as desserts in France. La glace is also a common dessert, and you can find several parfums (flavors). The word for scoops (of ice cream) is boules. Many restaurants now offer take out food options, which is called à emporter (to take away).

35. Fruits, Vegetables and Meat

Lettuce can also be referred to as la salade verte.

36. To Take, Eat or Drink

Other verbs that are conjugated like prendre:  apprendre - to learn, comprendre - to understand and surprendre - to surprise.

When you want to say "I am having wine," the French translation is "Je prends du vin."  You must use de and le, la, l', or les and the proper contractions (called partitives) because in French you must always express some.  So "je prends de la bière" literally means "I am having some beer" even though in English we would usually only say I am having beer.  

Manger is a regular verb meaning "to eat," but manger is used in a general sense, such as Je mange du poulet tous les samedis.  I eat chicken every Saturday.  Boire is literally the verb to drink and is also used in a general sense only. Je bois du vin tout le temps.  I drink wine all the time.

37. Quantities

With quantities and negatives, you never use partitives.  The construction is always de or d' + noun.

Je voudrais prendre du fromage, mais pas de fruit.  I would like to have some cheese, but no fruit.
Il prend de la viande.  He is eating some meat.
Nous prenons du riz et des brocolis.  We are having some rice and broccoli.
Il y a trop de lait dans la tasse.  There is too much milk in the cup.
Je voudrais un morceau de tarte.  I would like one piece of pie.
Est-ce que je peux prendre un verre de vin ?  May I have a glass of wine?
Je prends du vin.  I'm drinking some wine.
Je ne prends pas de vin.  I am not drinking any wine.

38. Commands

39. More Negatives

The que in ne...que is placed directly before the noun it limits.  Rien and personne may be used as subjects:  Personne n'est ici.  Aucun(e) by definition is singular, so the verb and nouns must also be changed to the singular.  With ni...ni, all articles are dropped except definite articles.  Je n'ai ni caméra ni caméscope, but Je n'aime ni les chats ni les chiens.

Il n'aime plus travailler.  He no longer likes to work.  (Or: He doesn't like to work anymore)
Nous ne voulons faire des achats que lundi.  We want to go shopping only on Monday.
Elle ne déteste personne.  She hates no one.  (Or: She doesn't hate anyone.)

Negatives with Passé Composé
1. Ne...pas, ne...plus, ne...jamais, and ne...rien
Ne comes before auxiliary verb, and the other part is between auxiliary and past participle.
Nous n'avons rien fait. We did nothing.
Vous ne vous êtes pas ennuyés. You were not bored.

2. Ne...personne, ne...aucun, ne...ni...ni, ne...nulle part, and ne... que
Ne comes before the auxiliary verb, but the other part is after the past participle.
Il n'a écouté personne. He listened to no one.
Il n'a fait aucune faute. He made not a single mistake.

* Use of ne ... pas de:  In negative sentences, the partitives and indefinite articles become de before the noun (unless the verb is être, then nothing changes.)

Partitive:  Je prends du pain et du beurre.  I'm having some bread and butter.
Negative:  Je ne prends pas de pain ou de beurre.  I am not having any bread or butter.

Indefinite:  J'ai un chien.  I have a dog.
Negative:  Je n'ai pas de chien.  I don't have a dog.

Verb is être:  C'est une chatte brune. It's a brown cat.
Negative:  Ce n'est pas une chatte brune.  It's not a brown cat.

40. Holiday Phrases