spaceisland Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 I'm finding myself not grasping a lot of concepts this year, as our teacher only explains things in French, and a lot of the time I can't understand what she is saying about the rules and what not. Right now I am having a lot of trouble with accords- we have a test tomorrow, and I was wondering if anybody would be willing to explain the rules to me...Additionally, I thought I understood passé composé, but I bombed that quiz as well. So, it is "j'ai, il a, elle a, tu as, ils ont, elles ont, nous avons, and vous avez" and etre for Dr. and Mrs. Vandertramp, with é, u, or whatever the proper ending is according to the verb group... Now, is another e added to the end of the verb whenever it is feminin, or an s when it is plural? That's what I understood, but I lost a lot of marks...Merci! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cixelsyD Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 (edited) I'm finding myself not grasping a lot of concepts this year, as our teacher only explains things in French, and a lot of the time I can't understand what she is saying about the rules and what not. Right now I am having a lot of trouble with accords- we have a test tomorrow, and I was wondering if anybody would be willing to explain the rules to me...Additionally, I thought I understood passé composé, but I bombed that quiz as well. So, it is "j'ai, il a, elle a, tu as, ils ont, elles ont, nous avons, and vous avez" and etre for Dr. and Mrs. Vandertramp, with é, u, or whatever the proper ending is according to the verb group... Now, is another e added to the end of the verb whenever it is feminin, or an s when it is plural? That's what I understood, but I lost a lot of marks...Merci!What helped me most was a bescherelle when it came to verb conjugation.. Then I would memorize the patterns. There are a ton of expections in the french language.. maybe you lost a few marks there...As for Dr. and Mrs. Vandertramps, you need to add an extra "e" when it's feminin, a "s" when it's plural and both if it's both feminin and plural. So for example, if you are trying to say "they (females) went" it would be "elles sont allées" And yes you were right about the J'ai, tu as, il a, etc. Edited October 22, 2007 by cixelsyD Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaceisland Posted October 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 I'd die without my Bescherelle, haha.Is it only for Dr. & Mrs. V that the e and/or s are added? If so, that would explain my mark, as I added them to the regular verbs too...So, we are doing accords right now...My understanding, is that if the subject is before the verb, and it is feminin, then an e is added, and if it is plural, an s is added? It seems simple, but I never seem to do it right, so I am wondering if I am confusing something?!?In your French classes did you go over grammar, etc. in English or French? I'm just curious to know what other Language B classes are like, as I'm finding it really difficult to only be taught in a language that I am trying to learn because I don't understand it yet, if that makes sense. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cixelsyD Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 I'd die without my Bescherelle, haha.Is it only for Dr. & Mrs. V that the e and/or s are added? If so, that would explain my mark, as I added them to the regular verbs too... So, we are doing accords right now... My understanding, is that if the subject is before the verb, and it is feminin, then an e is added, and if it is plural, an s is added? It seems simple, but I never seem to do it right, so I am wondering if I am confusing something?!? Ya, it's only for vandertramp verbs that u add the e and s.. but for objects and stuff, you need to add the s all the time (ex. les chats, les ordinateurs, etc) In your French classes did you go over grammar, etc. in English or French? I'm just curious to know what other Language B classes are like, as I'm finding it really difficult to only be taught in a language that I am trying to learn because I don't understand it yet, if that makes sense. My teacher was french so she'd use french to explain everything.. it was a good thing I took french immersion in elementary school.. I know most people had a hard time undestanding her so they had to come ask me >< Then again.. my teacher wasn't that great Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruan Chun Xian Posted October 23, 2007 Report Share Posted October 23, 2007 Uh...it's also etre and adding extra 'e' and 's' for les verbes pronominaux. You know, like se lever, se laver etc. Don't forget those!! With etre verbes, you always have the 'e' and 's' accord. For avoir verbes it depends. If the complement object direct (the thing that determines the 'e' and 's') is behind the verb then you don't have the 'e' and 's': J'ai acheté des fleurs. J'ai invité la voisine. (In the example the COD is "fleurs" and "voisine") But if the complement object direct is before the verb then you need the 'e' and 's': Les fleurs que j'ai achetées. Je l'ai invitée. Comprends? ------ BTW you call them Vandertramps verbs? Haha we call them "Verbes de la maison". (You know, the story of Pierre going up and hill, see a house, and tripped over a pierre and die? ) Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaceisland Posted October 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2007 Okay, so:elle s'est lavée...elles se sont lavées...La fille que j'ai telephonée...Les filles que j'ai telephoneées...Elle est allée...Elles ont allées...Est-ce que j'ai raison?Hahaha, I have never had the pleasure of hearing the tragic story of Pierre! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruan Chun Xian Posted October 23, 2007 Report Share Posted October 23, 2007 Okay, so:elle s'est lavée... elles se sont lavées... La fille que j'ai telephonée... Les filles que j'ai telephonées... Elle est allée... Elles ont allées... Est-ce que j'ai raison? Hahaha, I have never had the pleasure of hearing the tragic story of Pierre! Oui. As for Pierre, I can't remember it in full now. But it's something like, He was born, he went (somewhere or other), he climbed up the hill, he passed (something or other...), he arrived at the house, he entered the house, he did a couple more things in the house, he left the house, climbed down the hill, and stumbled over a rock (pierre) and died. Ok it's a more complicated way of remembering the etre verbes than the Vandertramps but I learnt the maison story back in grade 8 and really by IB it had stuck and I'd know intuitively which verbes were etre so I didn't really need something to remind me. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaceisland Posted October 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2007 Haha, that sounds amazing, but ridiculously hard to memorize! Usually I just remember "coming and going" verbs and I know which ones are which.Thanks so much for the help guys! Fingers crossed for tomorrow. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cixelsyD Posted October 23, 2007 Report Share Posted October 23, 2007 Oui. As for Pierre, I can't remember it in full now. But it's something like, He was born, he went (somewhere or other), he climbed up the hill, he passed (something or other...), he arrived at the house, he entered the house, he did a couple more things in the house, he left the house, climbed down the hill, and stumbled over a rock (pierre) and died. Ok it's a more complicated way of remembering the etre verbes than the Vandertramps but I learnt the maison story back in grade 8 and really by IB it had stuck and I'd know intuitively which verbes were etre so I didn't really need something to remind me. O YA!!! I REMEMBER THAT STORY!!! LOL I just remeber that it was scary and depressing... :l Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffaholic Posted October 28, 2007 Report Share Posted October 28, 2007 wow, you had a story to go with Dr. & Mrs. Vandertramp?! Nice! Our teacher just made us write it all out and the next day we had a test in which we had to write it out again and that was the end. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shorty Posted November 1, 2007 Report Share Posted November 1, 2007 http://french.about.com/library/verb/bl-etreverbs.htmI found a test here if you're still having problems. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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