Transcript

Unforgettable

French

Memory Tricks to Help You Learn and Remember French Grammar

Maria Rice-Jones

Maria Rice-Jones is a French national with a Master’s Degree in Modern Languages from the Sorbonne University in Paris. Since 1990, she has taught French to both children and adults in Paris, Milan and London. She has also written Hexagonie: An Innovative Way of Teaching French, a comprehensive method for teaching French in primary and lower secondary schools using memory tricks. For more details, please see page 88.

Primary school Lower secondary schoolHexagonie, Part 1 978-1-905780-59-4 Hexagonie, Year 7 978-1-905780-38-9Hexagonie, Part 2 978-1-905780-18-1 Hexagonie, Year 8 978-1-905780-61-7Hexagonie fl ashcards 978-1-905780-60-0 Hexagonie fl ashcards 978-1-905780-60-0

Brilliant Publications also publishes many other books for teaching French and other modern foreign languages, a few of which are listed below. You may fi nd more details on our website: www.brilliantpublications.co.uk.

100+ Fun Ideas for Practising Modern Foreign Languages in the Primary Classroom 978-1-903853-98-6More Fun Ideas for Advancing Modern Foreign Languages in the Primary Classroom 978-1-905780-72-3

Chantez Plus Fort! 978-1-903853-37-5 Jouons Tous Ensemble 978-1-903853-81-8C’est Français! 978-1-903853-02-3J’aime Chanter! 978-1-905780-11-2J’aime Parler! 978-1-905780-12-9French Pen Pals Made Easy 978-1-905780-10-5Loto Français 978-1-905780-45-7French Festivals and Traditions 978-1-905780-44-0Bonne Idée 978-1-905780-62-4

Published by Brilliant PublicationsUnit 10Sparrow Hall FarmEdlesborough DunstableBedfordshire LU6 2ES, UK

Tel: 01525 222292E-mail: [email protected]: www.brilliantpublications.co.uk

The name Brilliant Publications and the logo are registered trademarks.

Written by Maria Rice-JonesIllustrated by Sarah WimperisCover illustration by Frank EndersbyFront cover designed by Brilliant Publications

© Text Maria Rice-Jones 2010© Design Brilliant Publications 2010

Printed ISBN: 978-1-905780-54-9ebook ISBN: 978-1-905780-86-0

First printed and published in the UK in 2010

The right of Maria Rice-Jones to be identifi ed as the author of this work has been asserted by herself in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Pages 6–85 may be photocopied by individual teachers acting on behalf of the purchasing institution for classroom use only, without permission from the publisher and without declaration to the Publishers Licensing Society. The materials may not be reproduced in any other form or for any other purpose without the prior permission of the publisher.

3

Introduction ....................................................5

L’alphabet ........................................................6

(The alphabet)

Hexagonie story: Les accents ........................7

(Accents)

Un, une (1) ......................................................8(One/a (1))

Hexagonie story: Un, une (1) ........................9(One/a (1))

Un, une (2) .....................................................10

(One/a (2))

Hexagonie story: Un, une (2) ...................... 11

(One/a (2))

Le pluriel ........................................................12

The plural

Hexagonie story: Le pluriel ........................13

The plural

Hexagonie story: Le, la, l’ , les ....................14

(The)

Avoir ..............................................................15

(To have in the present tense)

Il y a ................................................................16

(There is/there are)

Pas de ..............................................................17

(Not any)

Être ..................................................................18

(To be in the present tense)

Hexagonie story: Avoir/être .......................19

(To have/to be in the present tense)

Les adjectifs au singulier ...........................20

(Singular adjectives)

Hexagonie story: Les couleurs ..................21

(Colours)

Les nationalités .............................................22

(Nationalities)

Autres adjectifs .............................................23

(Other adjectives)

Ce, cet, cette, ces ............................................24

(This/that, these/those)

Est-ce que? .....................................................25

(How to ask a question)

Les questions ...........................................26–27

(Question words)

Mon, ma, mes ..........................................28–29

(Possessives: my)

Hexagonie story: Mon, ma, mes ................30

(Possessives: my)

Tous les possessifs .......................................31

(All the possessives)

Les prépositions ...........................................32

(Prepositions)

Les nombres ...........................................33–34

(Numbers)

Les jours et les mois .....................................35

(Days and months)

Les dates et les saisons ................................36

(Dates and seasons)

Parler/aimer/habiter .....................................37

(To speak/to like, love/to live in the present tense)

Les verbes en “er” ..................................38–39

(Verbs ending in “er” in the present tense)

Hexagonie story: Les verbes en “er” ........40

(Verbs ending in “er” in the present tense)

Quelques ordres ....................................41–42

(Useful commands)

Aller ...............................................................43

(To go in the present tense)

Les transports ................................................44

(Prepositions: transport)

Les pays .........................................................45

(Prepositions: countries)

Hexagonie story: Les pays .........................46

(Prepositions: countries)

Les villes et les régions ...............................47

(Prepositions: cities and areas)

Contents

4

Jouer .........................................................48–49

(To play in the present tense)

Ne … pas/ n’ … pas ......................................50

(The negative form)

Manger et boire ......................................51–52

(To eat and to drink in the present tense)

Hexagonie story: Manger et boire .............53

(To eat and to drink in the present tense)

Beaucoup de… ..............................................54

(A lot of …)

Quelle heure est-il? .....................................55

(What time is it?)

Faire ...............................................................56

(To do/make in the present tense)

Le temps ........................................................57

(The weather)

Hexagonie story: Le temps ........................58

(The weather)

Mots sur le temps ........................................59

(Weather words)

Finir ................................................................60

(To fi nish in the present tense)

Verbes en “ir” .........................................61–62

(Verbs ending in “ir” in the present tense)

Verbes en “dre” ......................................63–64

(Verbs ending in “dre” in the present tense)

Voir/recevoir ..................................................65

(To see/to receive in the present tense)

Pouvoir/vouloir .............................................66

(To be able to, can/to want in the present tense)

Devoir/savoir/connaître ..............................67

(To have to, must/to know how to/to know in the

present tense)

Écrire/lire/dire ...............................................68

(To write/to read/to say in the present tense)

Les verbes réfl échis ................................69–70

(Refl exive verbs in the present tense)

Mots importants .....................................71–73

(Important linking words)

Passé composé avec “avoir” .................74–76

(Passé composé with “to have”)

Expressions de temps ..................................77

(Expressions of time)

Passé composé avec “être” ....................78–79

(Passé composé with “to be”)

Les verbes réfl échis au passé composé .....80

(Refl exive verbs in the passé composé)

Le futur proche .............................................81

(Immediate future)

Le futur simple .............................................82

(The future tense) Quelques verbes au futur .....................83–84

(Some verbs in the future)

Bravo! ..............................................................85

Index ...............................................................86

5

Introduction

Unforgettable French uses memory tricks to teach and reinforce major points of French grammar from the basics up to GCSE level, to learners of all ages. It may be used:

❋ By anyone who wishes to gain confi dence in speaking French❋ As a revision aid, to consolidate the learner’s grasp of grammatical points❋ To complement whatever French scheme you are using❋ By French teachers at all levels, from primary through to adult.

Unforgettable French is full of memory tricks to help you engage your memory and remember key grammatical points. Over the years, I have developed my tried-and-tested memory tricks based on sound and idea associations. I have found that using memory tricks to explain “tricky” bits facilitates the learning process and what seemed diffi cult before is suddenly much easier to remember.

My memory tricks in Unforgettable French are presented in a highly visual, page-by-page format. The sheets can be enlarged to make mini-posters or used as “aide-mémoires”. My memory tricks are deliberately funny or shocking so that our brains can remember. Let me give you some examples:

If you are an adult, the illustrations and the stories about the imaginary land of Hexagonie might seem childish. This is on purpose as children seem to have greater imaginations than adults. So, please don’t be put off by the illustrations and stories as they will help you to visualize the language better. Instead, think like a child again and start to enjoy playing with the language.

My method of teaching is now used successfully in many schools in the UK. For more information on Hexagonie, my scheme for introducing French to primary and lower secondary pupils, please see page 88.

Enjoy!

Maria Rice-Jones

“Cher” means “expensive” and if

something is expensive then we want to “share” the expense.

The verb “to hide” in French is “cacher”. To

remember it, imagine that you hide your cash, and “cash” reminds us of “cacher”.

The way to remember that we say “au” with

ball sports – “je joue au football” (I play football) – is to remember that “au” sounds like “o” – which looks like a ball.

= o = “au”

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L’alphabet

Names that start with the sounds of the alphabet in

FrenchA = (ah) Anne N = (enn) EnzoB = (bay) Béatrice O = (oh) Olivier C = (say) Céline P = (pay) PennyD = (day) Déborah Q = (kew) CupidonE = (uh) Ernest R = (airrr) ErinF = (eff) Efna S = (ess) EstherG = (jay) Gérard T = (tay) TeresaH = (ash) Ashley U = (ew) UnaI = (ee) Isabelle V = (vay) VéroniqueJ = (gee) Gisèle W = (doobluh vay) K = (ka) Karen X = (eeks)L = (ell) Elena Y = (ee-graik) M = (emm) Emma Z = (zaid) Zed

Common abbreviations

une T.V. un T.G.V.un W.C.un C.D.

The vowel sound “u” (ew) is found in the following word:

une (a / one).

Seven letters sound the same in French

and in English: F, L, M, N, O, S, Z.

The letter G is pronounced “jay”,

which sounds a bit like the English letter J. And the letter

J is pronounced “gee”, which sounds a bit

like the English letter G.

Eight letters end with the sound “-ay”:

B, C, D, G, P, T, V, W.

The vowel sound “e”

(uh) is found in the following

words:ce (this) de (of / from) je (I) le (the) me (me)

The vowel sound “i” (ee) is found in the following words:

Isabelle Italie

The alphabet

Unforgettable French© Maria Rice-Jones and Brilliant Publications

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Hexagonie story: Les accents

Stories about the imaginary land of Hexagonie, where the inhabitants are parts of speech, will help you to visualize the language. Read this story about French accents.

Keep your hat on!Hello, nice to meet you! I am the verb Voyager. As you can probably tell from my name, I love to travel and discover new places. I’d like to tell you about my visit to the country of Hexagonie.

On my fi rst day, I saw all the letters of the alphabet parading in front of the royal family. My attention was drawn to the letter “e” who was obviously making an effort to impress them with her three different hats.

King Être and Queen Avoir were so impressed by the letter “e” and her hats that they asked her to come forward and introduce herself. The letter “e” showed them her hats, one by one, and each time she changed her hat, she sounded a bit different.

I quickly realized that hats were very popular in Hexagonie. The “grave” hat was also worn by the letters “a” (à) and “u” (ù). Then, all of a sudden, the letter “c” made a dramatic entrance wearing a funny dress. The dress looked a bit like a tail and was called a “cedilla” (ç). I had to stop myself from laughing out loud.

I wanted to fi nd a way of remembering the two hats I liked the most: the “acute” and the “grave”. Then the story of “a cute monkey” came to mind. It was one I had been told on an earlier trip. In the story, “a cute monkey” goes up a tree to build his house, but sadly has a grave fall. Luckily for the monkey, he does not fall into his grave because after a while he is all right. Here is a quick sketch I have done to remind me of the story:

Accents

acutegrave

The fi rst hat sloped upwards to the right (é) and was called an “acute”.

The second hat sloped upwards to the left (è) and was called a “grave”.

The third, which was called a “circumfl ex”, looked as if the two sloping hats had been joined to form a cone (ê).

A cute monkey goes up a tree (acute ( ´)accent).

He builds his house on top of the tree.

Then he has a grave fall (grave ( `) accent).

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Un, une (1)

How can you tell if a noun is masculine or feminine? Just look at its last letter!

If the noun ends in “e” like “porte”, it is probably feminine and we use “une” as it also has an “e” at the end.

If the noun doesn’t end in “e” like “cahier”, then it is more likely to be masculine, and you’ll need to use “un”.

un stylo a pen une gomme an eraserun papier a piece of paper une chaise a chairun crayon a pencil une table a table

un frèreun père un oncle

un grand-père

une sœur

Even though “frère”, “père”,

“grand-père” and “oncle” all end in “e”, you obviously could only use “un” with them because those family members are male.

Even though “sœur” ends

with a consonant you could obviously only use “une” with it because a sister is female.

une mèreune grand-mère

une tante

One/a (1)

Family members

There is a grave accent (`) on the fi rst “e” of “mère”, “père” and “frère” because it is quite a grave thing to have a family.

Unforgettable French© Maria Rice-Jones and Brilliant Publications

This page may be photocopied for use by the purchasing institution only. 9

Hexagonie story: Un, une (1)

Read this story to remember when we use “un” and “une”.

The imaginary land of HexagonieOnce upon a time there was a country whose shape looked so much like a hexagon that everyone living there decided to give it the unusual name of “Hexagonie”.

The inhabitants of Hexagonie belonged to different groups and each group had a specifi c job to do. One of the biggest groups was known as the nouns. Their job was naming all the different things in the land. As soon as they were born, all nouns had to be registered. Females were given names ending in “e”, while the males had names ending in letters other than “e”.

So, for example, the noun was female,

but the noun was male.

All the female nouns had a special playmate called “une”. They always followed her around whenever they were alone. They liked their little playmate because she ended in the letter “e” just like they did! All over Hexagonie, you could see thousands of “une” playmates followed by their female nouns.

The male nouns had a playmate too – but their playmate was called “un”. They did not want a playmate ending in “e” like the girls! All over the land you could see thousands of little “un” playmates followed by their male nouns.

One/a

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Un, une (2)

Most feminine nouns end in “e” and most masculine nouns don’t, but there are exceptions that we learn with memory tricks.

The memory trick for “télévision” is extremely useful because it will also help you to remember the gender of other words ending in “-ion”:

une télévision une question une correction

un verre

Remember it only used to be acceptable for men to drink alcohol and it’s been proven that men can absorb more alcohol than women. That is why a glass, “un verre”, is masculine.

un

téléphone

Think of the important role of the telephone in business, traditionally a male domain. That’s why “téléphone” can only be masculine.

un livre

Remember that for many centuries education was reserved exclusively for men. They were the only ones allowed to open books. That’s why “livre” can only be masculine.

une télévision

Think of women watching more television because they haven’t gone out to work. Also, the television is in the house and “maison” is feminine.

une

fl eur

Traditionally fl owers are given to women. That’s why “fl eur” can only be feminine.

une

maison

Traditionally women didn’t go out to work and used to stay at home. That’s why “maison” can only be feminine.

One/a (2)


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