La famille : son, sa, ses

In French, son, sa and ses mean "his", "her" or sometimes "its". The form agrees with the thing owned, not with the owner. So son fils means "her son" because fils is masculine, and sa fille means "her daughter" because fille is feminine.

Use son before a masculine singular noun: son frère, son mari. Use sa before a feminine singular noun: sa sœur, sa mère. Use ses before plural nouns: ses parents, ses enfants.

This is very useful for family talk: mon fils, ma fille, son frère, ses parents. Remember: look at the noun after son/sa/ses, not at the person who owns it.

You can also use these words with objects and pets: son chat, sa photo, ses clés.

L'âge et les dates

To say age in French, use avoir: j'ai trente ans, il a dix ans, elle a neuf ans. French does not use "to be" for age.

For birthdays and dates, French often uses le + number + month: le dix juillet, le vingt-huit mars. For a birthday, you can say Mon anniversaire, c'est le dix juillet or ask C'est quand, ton anniversaire ?

To say someone is turning an age now, French often simply says J'ai dix ans maintenant ! or Elle a dix ans ! In the story, Zoé is nine and then ten on le vingt-huit mars.

You can also use premier for the first day of a month: le premier janvier. Other dates normally use the number: le dix juillet, le vingt-huit mars.

L'apparence

To describe people simply, French often uses être with adjectives: il est grand, elle est petite, il est vieux, elle est jolie. Some adjectives change form for masculine and feminine: petit / petite, vieux / vieille, joli / jolie.

For eyes and hair, French usually uses avoir: il a les yeux marron, elle a les cheveux noirs. Learn these patterns for “has brown eyes” and “has black hair.” You do not normally say elle est les yeux bleus.

Some adjectives come after the noun, but a few common ones often come before it: un grand gâteau, une petite photo, un vieux chat. At A1, it is enough to learn the common patterns as chunks.

In the module you see: les yeux marron, les cheveux noirs et frisés, une coupe de cheveux terrible, une grande femme. These are useful ready-made descriptions.

À et pour

French often uses pour to mean "for": C'est pour toi, un cadeau pour Zoé. This shows the person who receives something or the purpose.

French also uses à with some verbs to show the receiver: Je parle à Zoé, je donne la photo à Mme Martin. At A1, it is easiest to learn common chunks with each verb.

In this module, both are useful: C'est pour toi when giving a present, and de la part de Julien et de moi for "from Julien and me". You also see à Hambourg, à Paris, but that à shows place, not recipient.

A good simple contrast is: un cadeau pour Zoé = a present for Zoé; je donne le cadeau à Zoé = I give the present to Zoé.

C’était / j’étais

Use c’était for an identity or situation in the past: C’était mon appartement. The limited state forms j’étais, tu étais, il/elle était and vous étiez belong to the imperfect. They describe how things were; completed event stories are taught with the passé composé later.

An adjective still agrees with the person: j’étais petit for Lukas, j’étais petite for Lena. A singular polite vous also takes the appropriate singular adjective: vous étiez petit/petite.

Use il y avait for something that existed: Il y avait une trompette. Learn it as a useful past-state expression here. You can keep the story simple by describing the picture with these few forms.

For present personal information, say je suis marié/mariée or je ne suis pas marié/mariée. This describes now and should not be confused with a childhood photograph.

Age uses avoir in the past too: j’avais trente ans, il/elle avait dix ans, vous aviez dix ans. Learn these few imperfect state forms alongside j’étais and il était; a full imperfect paradigm is not required here.