French Lesson Week 4 - Leçon 1 (The French Articles)

[Kazimov100]

I'll try to thank u in french and tell u how awesome u are

Chere Herman

Tu es Super. Merci Beacoup pour cette video! :D. Was that right?

[FrenchTastic1]

Oui, c'est correct!!! (congrats!) Just delete the "e" at the end of "chere" since this applies to a noun in the feminine gender, and I happen to be a male :-)

Herman

[Cuecky]

Je suis française et je trouve cette vidéos parfaitement claire et qui explique bien une des pires difficultés de la langue française aux étrangers.

Continuez ainsi c'est excellent :)

[anarvorig]

Pas mal, continuez ainsi !

[lucky88943]

hahhaah...  the boy is blah.blah.blah.blah.blah.blah.­blah.blah.blah.blah.blah.blah.­blah.blah.blah.blah.

[SkyPao]

Thank u for this awesome lesson Herman...it was really hepful!!!

[FritsPeter]

Dear Herman,

if I understand your reply correctly, I conclude the following:

'des ponts':

1) de les ponts - from the bridges

2) des ponts - some bridges (: plural of 'un pont')

thus 2 meanings for: 'des ponts'.

Am I correct here?

thanks and greetings,

FP

[FrenchTastic1]

C'est absolument correct!

Herman

[FritsPeter]

Dear Herman,

a question about the article 'des'.

You just explained 'des' being the plural, indefinite article. A boy = un gar

çon.

1) would 'des garçons' be translated by: some boys?

2) 'des': is 'des' also used in: the plural of 'du pont', thus: 'des ponts' (meaning: from the bridges)?

Am I right here?

greetings.

FP

[FrenchTastic1]

I'm afraid, no. The 'des' used in 'Des ponts' with the meaning 'from the bridges' is not the same as 'des'(some). 'des' in 'des ponts' in this case is DE+LES PONTS (from + the bridges),but since DE+LES in French must be contracted into a single form, we have DES, but it is different from the DES(some). I know, it is a bit confusing at times, but (DE+LES PONTS) shows the origin ('DE' is a preposition in French that can indicate an origin), not a certain quantity of bridges. Hope it helps,

Herman

[FritsPeter]

Dear Herman,

i have a question here. E.g, the sentence: Il y a des oiseaux sur cette branche.

Shouldn't the right translation be: there are some(!) birds on that branch?

I mean, the plural of 'un/une' being 'des'.

[FrenchTastic1]

Yes Frits, that's correct! But could you please tell me where, you think, the error occurred? Include the lesson number/week AND the time at which it happens in the clip so I can quickly retrieve it and give you an appropriate answer. Merci!

Herman

[floripa12]

Fantastic course, thanks a lot for shared.....

[AbUs3]

Merci Mr Frenchtastic I recently got three french students in my school. I heard them speak and they had trouble understanding my english. they're not going to be in America for long but I still want to learn to be able to speak French. You are the best French teacher ive seen so far. And what's even better is you do it for free. Again, merci.

[flyguytilidie]

I don't think my last comment posted.

As a guide, can't one assume that words ending in ette, ière, tion, ie, ance, ence, ée, ure are feminine??

What about words ending in eau and consonants being masculine?

[flyguytilidie]

Of course it is always best to learn the gender with the noun, but a good indication of a noun being feminine is if it ends with ette, ière, tion, ie, ance, ence, ée, ure.

Masculine nouns tend to end with eau and consonants. Am I right? You said in one of your earlier lessons to look for patterns :)

[FrenchTastic1]

Salut Flyguytilidie!

Your suggestions are indeed an excellent way to predict french genders (even if not all French nouns end in ette, ière, tion, ie, etc). Oops, i failed to mention this important point to my students. Hope they don't get upset. I really appreciate your input. Feel free to join my class. I'd love to count you among us.

Herman

[cab711]

Tu dis "près le l'homme" ou "près l'homme"?..."near the man" en anglais.

[FrenchTastic1]

"près de l'homme" = "near the man". You can also say "à côté de l'homme"

[JesusTickles777]

I don't know if this is sad or funny but I didn't learn what a definate or indefinate article(s) was/were until I learned Spanish. They made no sense when taught in English. It wasn't until I learned my first foreign language when it made sense. Que patetico!

[FrenchTastic1]

Hi, you sent me an email but when i tried to reply, i got this following message "This person has enabled friend lock. You will not be able to send messages to them unless they add you as a friend."

I find it quite annoying. Why email me when you restrict my answers???

[JesusTickles777]

Im sorry. I forgot I had it blocked like that. Lo siento mucho. I will try to fix that. No harm meant.

[kawaienvy123]

in french now we dont use "mathematique" its an old therm now in french we use "maths" for "math"

[FrenchTastic1]

Really? I didn't know that. The last time i checked, no official rule from the French Academy changed "mathématiques" into "maths".

Btw, you wrote "therm" but I'm sure you actually meant "term", didn't you? Please, check your "mathématiques" again, and leave me a comment when you can back up your argument with an external verified source, not just your "personal" assumptions :-)

Prof. Frenchtastic

[kawaienvy123]

yes we use "math" and "geo" for geographie 99per cent of french in french use "math" in english "mathematic" was desapear for "math" and its happen in french too ....not exactly but in 100 years im sure all french-speaker will useeee "math" ^_^ lol, some poeple in france in some germanic region speak with the "h" like in german ^_^ but its not for all french-speaker

thanks u too u are a goooooood professsorrrrrr bye bye

[FrenchTastic1]

wow,it appears to me now that u're pretty "determined" to prove yourself right on this topic. I have no idea where you got ur 99% from,(maybe your OWN survey?). So again, u're making "another" personal assumption without evidence...

[kawaienvy123]

no its because i live in france ,so i know thats lol math its more use than "mathematique" by the poeple

[ScotsmanRS]

On the topic of "les maths"/"les mathématiques", here's my input:

In English, it is acceptable to say "maths"/"math" (British/American respectively) or "mathematics". Both are used, and though "maths" may be more common these days, "mathematics" certainly hasn't died out, and I don't see it dying out soon.

(Also, note that in English, we never say "mathematic" without the "s" on the end.)

Thanks for another great lesson, I find your lessons great for pronunciation.

[FrenchTastic1]

...But until we reach those 100 years you've "predicted", french speakers like myself use BOTH terms interchangeably. And btw, it's a mistake to use France's French as a reference point everywhere as u did. It's like telling an American that British English is the most correct form of English IN THE WORLD. This can be interpreted as a lack of understanding of the dynamic and amorphousness of ANY language. My best regards

[xdayz]

excellent lessons mr. frenchtastic!

[nnekase]

Another excellent lesson. Merci..

[FrenchTastic1]

De rien..by the way are you also a student in my virtual classroom?

[nnekase]

(Yes- I'm "Von" in your Yahoo group.. :-)