Quel ? Quelle ?

In French, you often ask for information with quel and quelle. Use quel with a masculine noun and quelle with a feminine noun. For example: Quel est votre nom ? and Quelle langue vous parlez ? At A1 level, the spoken pattern Quelles langues vous parlez ? is very useful.

For identity and profession, French usually has no article after être: Je suis ingénieur / Je suis ingénieure. The same idea works for nationality in this module: Je suis allemand / Je suis allemande, but in the story the learner says Je suis d'Allemagne because that is simpler and very common.

After parler, a language name can stand without an article: Je parle allemand. The article is also possible: Je parle l’allemand. Both mean “I speak German”. With aimer and étudier, keep the article: J’aime le français, J’étudie le français. After un peu de, say un peu de français.

When you spell, you can simply say the letters one by one: B, E, C, K, E, R. French names for letters exist, but in beginner material we usually just present the letters clearly.

Il y a / il n'y a pas de

Use il y a to say that something exists or is somewhere: Il y a une table dans la cuisine. To make it negative, use il n'y a pas de plus a noun: Il n'y a pas de table. Before a vowel sound, de becomes d’: Il n'y a pas d'armoire ici.

A very important contrast is c'est versus il/elle est. Use c'est to identify something: C'est la salle de bain. Use il est / elle est for description: Elle est vieille. In the story: C'est la salle de bain but L'armoire est très vieille.

French keeps de after negation, not un/une/des: Il y a des chaises becomes Il n'y a pas de chaises. This is a key pattern.

You can also use rien in a simple fixed expression: Il n'y a rien ici. This is a useful chunk. It is a little more advanced than the core pattern, so learn it as one expression.

Les adjectifs

French adjectives often change for masculine/feminine and singular/plural. Compare petit and petite, grand and grande, vieux and vieille. In this module you see: un petit appartement, une grande armoire, une vieille armoire.

Colours also agree when they work as normal adjectives: un canapé jaune, une lampe rouge, des chaises blanches. At A1, learn the full phrase, not only the colour word alone.

Plural usually adds -s: petits, petites, grands, grandes. Some forms are special: vieux becomes vieille in the feminine singular.

When the learner is described, the form must match the learner's sex too: Vous êtes nouveau ici or Vous êtes nouvelle ici. This course writes both forms when needed.

Les pluriels

To talk about more than one thing, French often uses des for some plural things and les for specific plural things. For example: des chaises and les chaises. In writing, many nouns add -s in the plural: une chaise → des chaises.

After a number, the noun is plural too: deux chaises, trois tables. You usually do not say des after a number.

Use les when the listener knows which things you mean: Où sont les chaises ? Use des when you introduce them: Il y a des chaises dans la cuisine.

In negative sentences, des changes to de: Il n'y a pas de chaises. This links back to the previous grammar point.

Nous, vous, on

Plural forms of être and avoir are very useful: nous sommes, vous êtes, ils sont; nous avons, vous avez, ils ont. In spoken French, people often use on for we: On va regarder ! This means we are going to look!

Use nous and vous as subject pronouns: Nous aidons. Vous avez besoin d'une table. They can also be object pronouns: Elle nous aide. Je vous remercie. In this module, adults say vous to the learner.

The spoken on is extremely common in natural French. Grammatically it takes singular verb forms: on va, on a, on est. Meaning: it often means we.

A1 tip: learn whole chunks like On va regarder ! and Vous avez besoin de... They are very common and productive.

Je voudrais is a polite chunk that means I would like. Learn it as one useful expression. It is not a future form.

Two useful present-tense patterns complement regular -er verbs. Second-group -ir verbs such as finir use je finis, tu finis, il finit, nous finissons, vous finissez, ils finissent. Not every verb ending in -ir follows this pattern; dormir is learned separately.

A common -re pattern is attendre: j’attends, tu attends, il attend, nous attendons, vous attendez, ils attendent. Learn these useful patterns without changing them for the speaker’s sex.