Download Key terms for A level French Ensure that you know and understand

Key terms for A level French
Ensure that you know and understand these key terms for September:
Verb
Is a doing word such as play, watch, sing, go,
return, do.
Infinitive
Is the verb in its purest form that you will find in
a dictionary. You use the infinitive to conjugate
difference tenses. It will have ‘to’ in front of it in
English ‘to play, to watch and to go’. In French the
infinitives will always end with er, re and ir.
Stem
You must find the stem of the verb each time you
want to conjugate an infinitive into a specific
tense. Then you simply apply the endings for that
tense.
E.g infinitive = jouer
present tense stem = jou
present tense er endings = e, es, e, ons, ez, ent.
Endings
Are the verb endings that you must add to the
stem of the verb. The verb endings vary from
different tenses and if it is an er, re or ir verb.
Tense
Is the tense you would like to use e.g present,
past, future, conditional, imperfect etc.
Pronoun
I = Je, you (s/inf) = tu, he/she/one = il/elle/on, we
= nous, you (pl/for) = vous and they = ils/elles
(s) / (pl) / (inf) / (for)
s = singular / pl = plural / inf = informal / for =
formal.
In French there are two ways to say you; tu and
vous. Tu is used to one person (singular) or to
someone you know well or a child (informal). Vous
is used to a group of people (plural) or someone
that you don’t know (formal).
Conjugate
Means to change the infinitive into the tense you
want by finding the stem and applying the correct
endings.
Auxiliary
Auxiliary verbs avoir and être are used in the past
tense (passé compose). They are an extra verb
need. See notes on passé compose.
(m) (f)
m = masculine
f = feminine
Nouns
Nouns are objects, places or names. In French
they are grouped into two groups which are called
masculine and feminine nouns.
Adjectives
Adjectives are words which describing words such
as big or small. Adjectives describe the noun e.g a
big table. In French adjectives must agree with
the noun therefore as nouns are masculine,
feminine, singular or plural, the adjective must
agree e.g une table noire, les tables noires, un livre
noir, les livres noirs.