Get Your French Pronunciation Right From The Start
Every French learner is going to have to work on their pronunciation. The earlier the better.
Let's use a French telephone call as an example:
Allo?
Hello?
J'aimerais parler a Joseph Bergen, s'il vous plait.
I would like to speak to Joseph Bergen, please.
Ne quittez pas,s'il vous plait.
Hold on, please.
C'est la part de qui?
Who's calling please?
Monsieur Fauconnier
Mr. Fauconnier
Eppelez, s'il vous plait.
Please spell that.
F, a, c, o, n, n, i, e, r.
Repetez s'il vous plait.
Please repeat.
Il ne repond pas.
He does not answer.
Voulez-vous laisser une message?
Would you like to leave a message?
Quel est votre numero de telephone?
What is your telephone number?
123-456-7890
Bonjour, Monsieur Fauconnier, s'il vous plait.
Hello, Mr. Fauconnier, please.
A l'appareille.
Speaking. (On the line.)
Comment vas-tu?
How are you?
Quoi de neuf?
What's new?
Pas grand chose.
Not much.
Et la famille? Tout va bien?
And your family? All is well?
Oui, oui, tres bien. Et la tienne?
Yes, yes, very well. And yours?
Tres bien, merci.
Very well, thank you.
When Mr. Fauconnier asks about Mr. Bergen's family, he asks "et la tienne?" Possessive such as this take the formal/plural or informal form just as pronouns do.
Here is how they work:
Singular
Masculine
Feminine
Mine
le mien
la mienne
Yours (informal)
le tien
la tienne
His, hers
le sien
la sienne
Ours
le notre
la notre
Yours (formal/plural)
le votre
la votre
Theirs
le leur
la leur
Plural
Masculine
Feminine
Mine
les miens
les miennes
Yours (informal)
le tiens
les tiennes
His, hers
le siens
les siennes
Ours
le notres
les notres
Yours (formal/plural)
le votres
les votres
Theirs
le leurs
les leurs
Remember that it is the gender of the noun that determines the gender of the article, so it is le sien for something that belongs to her, if that "something" is masculine.
Mon jardin et le sien
My garden and his (or hers)
Ma maison et la sienne
My house and his (or hers)
Mes chiens et les siens
My dogs and his (or hers)
Ma mere et la sienne
My mother and his (or hers)
Sa chambre est plus petite que la votre
His (her) room is smaller than yours.
Il a recu des cadeaux de ma mere et de la tienne. He has received presents from my mother and yours.
Son auto est plus chere que la mienne. His (her) car is more expensive than mine.
Did that last one confuse you?
"Auto" is feminine, but since it starts with a vowel, the pronoun used is "son".
You will rarely find the sound of two vowels together. For example, both male and female friends sound the same.
It is only when you see it written that you can see a difference: son ami (m) and son amie (f).
The Alphabet: To spell out someone's name, you will have to know your alphabet.
Some of the letters are pronounced the same as in English, but many are different. A-ah B-bay C-see D-day E-ay F-ef G-zhay H-ahch I-ee J-jay K-kah L-el M-em N-en O-oh P-pee Q-coo R-ehr S-ess T-tay U-oo V-vay W-doo bluh vay X-eeks Y-ee grek Z-zed Practice spelling words and names you know.
In order to recite telephone numbers, you should also practice your numbers at this time.
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