Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Practice Makes Perfect: Intermediate French Grammar: With 145 Exercises
Practice Makes Perfect: Intermediate French Grammar: With 145 Exercises
Practice Makes Perfect: Intermediate French Grammar: With 145 Exercises
Ebook395 pages3 hours

Practice Makes Perfect: Intermediate French Grammar: With 145 Exercises

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

5/5

()

Read preview

About this ebook

Master French grammar through hands-on exercises and practice, practice, practice!

Practice Makes Perfect: Intermediate French Grammar helps you take your grammar skills to a higher level and gives you the confidence to speak and write in your new language. This workbook leads you through French grammar using concise, easy-to-understand language, keeping you focused on achieving your goal of total fluency.

Practice Makes Perfect: Intermediate French Grammar is packed with:

  • Example sentences that illustrate and clarify each grammatical point
  • Hundreds of exercises in formats suited to your learning style
  • Practical and high-frequency French vocabulary

Master these tricky subjects:
Prepositions and prepositional phrases * Idiomatic uses of irregular verbs * Negative and interrogative structures * Imparfait and passe compose * The subjunctive mood * Relative pronouns

LanguageEnglish
Release dateOct 5, 2012
ISBN9780071775397
Practice Makes Perfect: Intermediate French Grammar: With 145 Exercises

Read more from Eliane Kurbegov

Related to Practice Makes Perfect

Related ebooks

French For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for Practice Makes Perfect

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5

2 ratings0 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

    Book preview

    Practice Makes Perfect - Eliane Kurbegov

    Copyright © 2013 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

    ISBN: 978-0-07-177539-7

    MHID:       0-07-177539-0

    The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: ISBN: 978-0-07-177538-0, MHID: 0-07-177538-2.

    All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. Rather than put a trademark symbol after every occurrence of a trademarked name, we use names in an editorial fashion only, and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. Where such designations appear in this book, they have been printed with initial caps.

    McGraw-Hill eBooks are available at special quantity discounts to use as premiums and sales promotions, or for use in corporate training programs. To contact a representative please e-mail us at bulksales@mcgraw-hill.com.

    TERMS OF USE

    This is a copyrighted work and The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (McGraw-Hill) and its licensors reserve all rights in and to the work. Use of this work is subject to these terms. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976 and the right to store and retrieve one copy of the work, you may not decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer, reproduce, modify, create derivative works based upon, transmit, distribute, disseminate, sell, publish or sublicense the work or any part of it without McGraw-Hill’s prior consent. You may use the work for your own noncommercial and personal use; any other use of the work is strictly prohibited. Your right to use the work may be terminated if you fail to comply with these terms.

    THE WORK IS PROVIDED AS IS. McGRAW-HILL AND ITS LICENSORS MAKE NO GUARANTEES OR WARRANTIES AS TO THE ACCURACY, ADEQUACY OR COMPLETENESS OF OR RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED FROM USING THE WORK, INCLUDING ANY INFORMATION THAT CAN BE ACCESSED THROUGH THE WORK VIA HYPERLINK OR OTHERWISE, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. McGraw-Hill and its licensors do not warrant or guarantee that the functions contained in the work will meet your requirements or that its operation will be uninterrupted or error free. Neither McGraw-Hill nor its licensors shall be liable to you or anyone else for any inaccuracy, error or omission, regardless of cause, in the work or for any damages resulting therefrom. McGraw-Hill has no responsibility for the content of any information accessed through the work. Under no circumstances shall McGraw-Hill and/or its licensors be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive, consequential or similar damages that result from the use of or inability to use the work, even if any of them has been advised of the possibility of such damages. This limitation of liability shall apply to any claim or cause whatsoever whether such claim or cause arises in contract, tort or otherwise.

    Contents

    Introduction

    1   Present tense and uses of regular and stem-changing verbs

    Uses of the present tense

    The present tense of regular verbs

    The present tense of stem-changing -er verbs

    2   Articles and genders

    Review of articles and genders

    Using the appropriate article

    Contractions

    Omitting articles

    The definite article with parts of the body

    3   The present tense and idiomatic uses of the irregular verbs aller, avoir, être, and faire

    The present tense conjugation of the irregular verbs aller, avoir, être, and faire

    Idiomatic uses of aller

    Idiomatic uses of avoir

    Idiomatic uses of être

    Idiomatic uses of faire

    4   Adjectives and comparisons

    Use and agreement of adjectives

    Descriptive adjectives

    5   The present tense of irregular verbs ending in -oir, -re, and -ir

    Verbs ending in -oir

    Verbs ending in -re

    Verbs ending in -ir

    6   Prepositions, prepositional phrases, and verbal structures after prepositions

    Prepositions and prepositional phrases introducing nouns or pronouns

    Prepositions and prepositional phrases followed by verbal structures

    7   Imperative, infinitive, and present participle structures

    Imperative structures

    Use of infinitive forms of verbs

    The present participle

    8   Reflexive verbs

    Reflexive verbs in the present tense

    Transitive verbs

    Expressing reciprocity with reflexive verbs

    Reflexive verbs in the imperative mood

    Use of the definite article with parts of the body

    9   Future tenses

    The near future tense of verbs

    The simple future tense of verbs

    The future tense after quand, lorsque, dès que, aussitôt que

    10  Negative and interrogative structures

    Negative expressions in simple tenses

    Negative expressions with infinitives

    Negative expressions in compound tenses

    Interrogative expressions in simple tenses

    Interrogative structures in compound tenses

    11  Imparfait and passé composé

    Formation of imparfait tense

    Uses of the imparfait

    Formation of passé composé tense

    Uses of the passé composé

    Using the imparfait and/or passé composé in a sentence

    Using the imparfait and passé composé in extended writing

    12  Adverbs and adverbial phrases

    The functions of adverbs

    Formation of adverbs derived from adjectives

    Placement of adverbs

    Adverbial phrases

    13  Conditional sentences

    Conditional sentences with the imparfait and present conditional

    Conditional sentences with the pluperfect and past conditional

    14  Object pronouns

    Position of object pronouns

    Personal object pronouns me, te, nous, vous, and se

    Direct object pronouns le, la, l’, and les

    Object pronouns y and en

    15  Past infinitive structures and agreement of past participles

    Past infinitive structure of avoir verbs

    Past infinitive structure of être verbs

    Past infinitive structure of reflexive verbs

    Agreement of past participles in compound tenses

    Agreement of past participles for verbs conjugated with either avoir or être

    16  Demonstrative, interrogative, and possessive pronouns

    Demonstrative pronouns

    Interrogative pronouns lequel, laquelle, lesquels, and lesquelles

    Possessive pronouns

    17  The subjunctive mood

    Formation of present subjunctive

    Past subjunctive

    18  Relative pronouns

    Function of relative pronouns

    Answer key

    Introduction

    You have a good understanding of French and feel you are ready to move on. You want to progress toward a higher level of proficiency in the French language, but advanced grammar books still look overwhelming. Then this book is for you.

    This highly useful book is well suited for the student who has mastered the basics of French grammar. It can also be used as a review book at the end of a second- or third-year course or as a supplement to an online French course. Intermediate French Grammar aims at expanding your knowledge and usage of verb tenses as well as your knowledge and usage of syntactical structures. It also aims to familiarize you with function words (such as relative pronouns), which make sentences richer and more detailed.

    Each unit in the book is self-contained and therefore can be studied independently. A total of 18 lessons follow a simple and progressive format designed to help you learn, review, and retain knowledge of intermediate grammatical forms and structures. User-friendly charts serve as preparation for exercises, and an Answer key at the end of the book will help you verify your mastery of the material. You will practice present, past, and future tenses in addition to commonly used present and past conditional as well as present and past subjunctive mood verb forms. Adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and pronouns are also important parts of this book.

    As the focus of the book is grammar, vocabulary will be presented as a context in which to review and practice grammatical and syntactical forms. Each new concept or structure is introduced with explanations, followed by highlighted examples illustrating and clarifying the new grammatical points, and a variety of exercises for practice. Among those exercises, some are designed to test your writing skills and some are embedded in contextualized reading material designed to help you review and practice essential structures and concepts in an interesting and fun manner. These exercises allow you to practice what you are learning and assess your understanding of concepts as well as put your knowledge into real-world tasks such as reading about the Olympic Games and writing about what the world will look like in 50 years.

    À vous la parole! Amusez-vous bien tout en apprenant!

    •1•

    Present tense and uses of regular and stem-changing verbs

    Uses of the present tense

    In French, the present tense is used to indicate that an action or a situation takes place at the very moment when one is speaking or that it takes place routinely.

    Note that there is no direct equivalent of the English progressive present tense in French. To state that something is happening, simply state that it happens.

    You may also use the idiomatic expression être en train de (to be in the middle of) followed by an infinitive verb to stress the progressive present.

    The present tense is sometimes used for future actions.

    The present tense is used after depuis to indicate that the action started in the past is still going on in the present.

    The present tense of regular verbs

    Remember that the first step in conjugating a regular -er, -ir, or -re verb in the present tense consists of identifying the stem or root of the verb by dropping its infinitive ending.

    The second step consists of adding the appropriate endings for that category of verbs and for the subject of the verb.

    Here are some commonly used regular -er, -ir, and -re verbs in their infinitive forms, which you may use in exercises found in this chapter.

    Remember that the verbs ouvrir (to open), couvrir (to cover), découvrir (to discover), and offrir (to offer) are conjugated like regular -er verbs.

    Note that a verb remains in the infinitive form when it appears after a preposition such as de, avant de, or pour.

    DU VOCABULAIRE UTILE. Useful vocabulary.

    Examine this vocabulary list before doing the next exercises.

    EXERCICE 1•1

    Ma famille et moi. My family and I. Write the correct present tense form of each verb in parentheses on the line provided.

    Dans ma famille, on (raccrocher).

    EXERCICE 1•2

    Mes frères, ma sœur et moi. My brothers, my sister, and I. Write the correct present tense form of each verb in parentheses on the line provided.

    Mon frère aîné Jérôme (grandir) trop vite, ma petite sœur.

    EXERCICE 1•3

    À vous d’écrire! Your turn to write! Write this paragraph in French, remembering to conjugate all verbs appropriately.

    I have a small family: a mom, a dad, one brother, and one sister. We eat dinner together every night. My mom and my sister Nina cook. During dinner, Dad talks a lot and we listen. He is very funny and loves to tell jokes.

    After dinner, I clean up the table; my dad and my brother wash the dishes. My sister who has many friends spends a lot of time on the phone. My mom stays in her room and answers e-mails.

    The present tense of stem-changing -er verbs

    Remember that some regular -er verbs have a slight stem change as they are conjugated in the present tense.

       -Er verbs that have a g in the stem will end in -eons in their nous form. Similarly, if an -er verb has a c in the stem, it will become ç in the nous form.

       l → ll:

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1