Leçon 7 – Parler de sa famille 👨👩👦
Here we look in more detail at what we saw in the course video, concentrating on the important grammar points.
Les adjectifs possessifs (the possessive adjectives)
In French there are few more of these words to juggle, and which one you use depends on a few different factors…
You might remember that all French nouns are either masculine or feminine. Even things like tables and lamps. The upshot of this is that French possessive adjectives will change depending on the gender of the noun they’re describing.
| Singular | Singular | Plural | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personne | masculine | feminine | masculine | feminine |
| je (I) | mon (my) | ma (my) | mes (my) | mes (my) |
| tu (you) | ton (your) | ta (your) | tes (your) | tes (your) |
| il/elle (he/she) | son (her/his) | sa (her/his) | ses (her/his) | ses (her/his) |
| nous (we) | notre (our) | notre (our) | nos (our) | nos (our) |
| vous (you) | votre (your) | votre (your) | vos (your) | vos (your) |
| ils/elles (they) | leur (their) | leur (their) | leurs (their) | leurs (their) |
In English, the word “my” stays the same. But in French it changes depending on whether you’re talking about a masculine noun (père) or a feminine noun (mère).
Examples:
- J’aime ses créations > I like her/his creations
- Il déteste ses enfants > He hates his children
- Nous commençons nos jours heureux > We begin our happy days
- Nous commencons nos cours de français > We start our French lessons
Exception: If the feminine noun begins with a vowel or a mute ‘h’, we use mon, ton, son instead of ma, ta, sa. For example: mon amie (my girl friend), ton histoire (your story).
Notice that French does not use the possessive adjective to talk about body parts that are “owned” by someone; they are just referred to with the definite article, or as “the __.” The ownership is instead expressed by the reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, etc.).
Je me lave le pied. I am washing my foot.
Elle se brosse les dents. She brushes her teeth.
This may be a lot of information for you at once, but no worries! You will find that within a month you will have memorized them easily and if you make a mistake in the agreement of one of these adjectives, it doesn’t matter, we will still understand you 🙂
Les membres de la famille
Family is one of the most common topics of conversation, so it is important that you know the basics.
Useful questions for the family:
- Tu as des enfants ? > You have children?
- Tu as des frères et soeurs ? > Do you have brothers and sisters?
- Combien d’enfants tu as ? > How many children do you have?
- Où sont tes parents ? > Where are your parents?
To go further:
L’oncle – The uncle
La tante – The auntie
Le neveu – The nephew
La nièce – The niece
Illustration – listen carefully
“Je m’entends bien avec ma famille. Mon père et mes parents sont toujours là pour moi.”
“I get along well with my family. My father and my parents are always there for me.”
To you!
Les nombres de 21 à 69
We continue today with numbers, and get into the hard part of the numbers that “adds up” in French (a real mathematicians’ country!), it is strange at first, but there is a certain logic to it.
To learn numbers quickly, we advise that you always start by learning the tens and then understand the structure. You already know “dix” (10) and “vingt” (20).
In the video you could see:
- 30 : trente
- 40 : quarante
- 50 : cinquante
- 60 : soixante
Here are some examples:
| 21 | vingt-et-un | twenty-one |
| 22 | vingt-deux | twenty-two |
| 23 | vingt-trois | twenty-three |
| 24 | vingt-quatre | twenty-four |
| 25 | vingt-cinq | twenty-five |
| 26 | vingt-six | twenty-six |
| 27 | vingt-sept | twenty-seven |
| 28 | vingt-huit | twenty-eight |
| 29 | vingt-neuf | twenty-nine |
| 30 | trente | thirty |
| 50 | cinquante | fifty |
| 51 | cinquante-et-un | fifty-one |
| 52 | cinquante-deux | fifty-two |
| 53 | cinquante-trois | fifty-three |
| 54 | cinquante-quatre | fifty-four |
| 55 | cinquante-cinq | fifty-five |
| 56 | cinquante-six | fifty-six |
| 57 | cinquante-sept | fifty-seven |
| 58 | cinquante-huit | fifty-eight |
| 59 | cinquante-neuf | fifty-nine |
| 60 | soixante | sixty |
| 61 | soixante-et-un | sixty-one |
It’s your turn to speak!
Parler des vêtements (Talking about clothes)
During the video you heard the verb “porter”, which is a verb from the first group whose conjugation you already know. Remember: je porte, tu portes, il/elle/on porte, nous portons, vous portez, ils portent.
The verb “porter” has different meanings, to see only the most commonly used ones:
- To carry: je porte un meuble (I carry a piece of furniture)
- To wear : il porte un joli manteau (he wears a nice coat)
Reminder for this lesson’s vocabulary
| Mon/Mes | My |
| Ma/mes | My |
| Ton, ta, tes | Her/his |
| Notre/nos | Our |
| Votre | Your |
| leur/leurs | Their |
| Une mère | A mother |
| Un père | A father |
| Un frère | A brother |
| Une sœur | A sister |
| Un grand-père (papi) | A grandfather (granny) |
| Une grand-mère (mamie) | A grandmother (nanny) |
| Mes Parents | My parents |
| Mes enfants | My children |
In the “Illustration – listen carefully”
the automated voice said “… . Mon père … “, while in the text is “….. Mon frère …..”!
Thanks