French exercises

Exercise 1

Introduce yourself!

Say hello in French, say your name and nationality:

To say hello, you can say bonjour (pronounce bon joor with a soft j), or salut (informal – pronounce
saloo).

Depending on the time of the day, you can also use:

Bonsoir / good evening (from 5 pm onwards – pronounce bonswahr)

To say goodbye, you can say au revoir (pronounce hor vwar), or again salut (informal)

Depending on the time of the day, you can also use:

bonne journée / have a nice day (in the morning, pronounce bon joohrney)

bon après-midi / have a nice afternoon (from noon until 5 pm, pronounce bon aprey meedee),

or bonne soirée / have a nice evening (roughly from 5 pm onwards)

bonne nuit / good night is used only late at night (pronounce bon nwee)

Your name: je m’appelle + your name (je m’appelle Anaïs)

Exercise 2

How are you?

To ask people how they are, we can use the following sentences:

Comment allez-vous ? The personal pronoun vous corresponds to the 2nd person in the plural, but it
is also the polite you, used for addressing individuals you don’t know. You should use vous when
addressing a group of people, or anytime you are speaking to a stranger (in a shop, at the doctor’s,
etc.)

Comment vas-tu  ? Tu is the informal, familiar pronoun (2 nd person in the singular), always used with
friends, children, family.

Choose the most appropriate expression in the following situations. Add Bonjour or Salut at the
beginning, bearing in mind that salut is informal (in some situations, both can be correct)

1) At the baker’s
2) At the doctor’s
3) Meeting a friend for a coffee
 4) Greeting a group of students
5) Running into your boss
6) Collecting your son from school

Solutions:

1) Bonjour! Comment allez-vous?

2) Bonjour! Comment allez-vous?
3) Bonjour/Salut! Comment vas-tu?
4) Bonjour! Comment allez-vous?
5) Bonjour! Comment allez-vous?
6) Bonjour/Salut! Comment vas-tu?

Exercise 3

Pronunciation

French can be tricky to read out loud because often 2 vowels combined make only 1 sound (example:
au = o), and many of the letters at the end of words aren’t pronounced.

Using these simple rules, can you determine which letters should be silent in the words below? Cross
them out.

 Most consonants at the end of words are silent, except for c, f and l (generally pronounced)
 The final letter e is not usually pronounced, the preceding consonant is pronounced
 The letter h is nearly always silent, except when preceded by c (in ch, the equivalent of the
English sound sh)
 To form the plural of nouns, we usually add an s at the end, however, it is not pronounced.
So nouns in the singular and in the plural usually sound the same (example: enfant/child and
its plural form enfants/children are pronounced in the same way)

Règle (ruler) Vache (cow) Gravat(rock)

Vie (life) Fruit (fruit) Hamac (hammock)
Chef (leader or cook) Pêche (peach) Sol (ground)
Tablier (apron) Fruits (fruits) Verre (glass)

Solutions:

Règle(ruler) Vache (cow) Gravat (rock)

Vie (life) Fruit (fruit) Hamac (hammock)
Chef (leader or cook) Pêche (peach) Sol (ground)
Tablier (apron) Fruits (fruits) Verre (glass)

Exercise 4

Seasons
Let’s talk about the weather and seasons!

Le printemps = spring

L’été = summer

L’automne = autumn

L’hiver = winter

The seasons are usually introduced with different prepositions. Fill in the sentences below with the
correct expression:

Au printemps – in the spring (pronounce o prentam – always stress the last syllable in French)

En été – during summer (pronounce an ete)

A l’automne – in the autumn (pronounce a loton)

En hiver – during winter (pronounce an eever)

1) ……………………. le vent est glacial et on s’habille bien (……. the wind is freezing cold and we
dress warmly)
2) ....................... les arbres perdent leurs feuilles et les jours raccourcissent (........ trees lose
their leaves and days get shorter)
3) ........................ les oiseaux chantent et font leurnid (........... the birds sing and build nests)
4) ........................ on aime aller en vacances à la plage (…………. we like going on holidays to the
beach)

Solutions:

1) En hiver
2) A l’automne
3) Au printemps
4) En été

Exercise 5

Definite articles

Masculine singular Feminine singular Singular article for Plural (masc. and
words starting with fem.)
a vowel (masc. and
fem.): contracted
form
le la l’ les

Can you choose the right article for the words below? Remember, in this exercise,words ending in s
are nouns in the plural; and we use the contracted form l’ for all words starting with a vowel
(masculine and feminine)
Abbreviations: fem. – feminine; masc. – masculine

…… femme (woman, fem.) …… arbre (tree, masc.) …… calendrier (calendar,

masc.)
…… acteur (actor, masc.) …… chemises (shirts, fem.) …… plage (beach, fem.)
…… actrice (actor, fem.) …… enfants (children) …… enfant (child, masc.)

Solutions:

la femme (woman, fem.) l’arbre (tree, masc.) le calendrier (calendar, masc.)

l’acteur (actor, masc.) les chemises (shirts, fem.) la plage (beach, fem.)
l’actrice (actor, fem.) les enfants (children) l’enfant (child, masc.)

Exercise 6

What’s your name? Learn how to ask people this simple question, and give an answer. The
conjugation below will help you. We will use personal pronouns in the singular: je / I, tu/you, il/he,
elle/she. Replace the nouns by the right personal pronoun.

Je m’appelle – my name is

Tu t’appelles – your name is

Il / elle s’appelle – his / her name is

Example: Comment s’appelle ta soeur? Elle s’appelle Juliette (what is your sister’s name? feminine
she)

1) Comment t’appelles tu? ……… (what’s your name?)

2) Comment s’appelle ton frère ? …… Fabien(what’s your brother’s name? – masculine he)
3) Quel est mon nom? …… Matthieu (what’s my name?)
4) Comment s’appelle cette fille ? …… Angélique Martin (what is this girl’s name? – feminine
she)
5) Comment s’appelle ton chien? ……… Médor (what is your dog’s name? – masculine he)

Solutions:

1) Je m’appelle …
2) Il s’appelle Fabien
3) Je m’appelleMatthieu
4) Elle s’appelle Angélique Martin
5) Il s’appelle Médor

Exercise 7
Question words

To build questions in French, we start with the question word, then comes the verb and finally, the
subject. Can you match the question words with the rest of the sentences?

Comment?: how?

Où?: where?

Qui?: who?

Quel/Quelle ?(masculine/feminine): what?

Qui … vas-tu ? Je vais bien, merci (… are you? I’m

well, thanks)

Quelle … a un chien? Antoine a un chien (… has a dog?

Antoine has a dog)

Où … est votre adresse? 45 rue des Filatiers, 45000

Orléans (… is your address? 45 rue des Filatiers,
45000 Orléans)
Comment
… est là ? C’est moi, Monsieur Durand(... is
there ? It’s me, Mr. Durand)
Qui
… sont mes chaussures ? Elles sont dans le
placard (… are my shoes? They are in the
cupboard)

Solutions :

Qui a un chien?

Quelle est votre adresse?

Où sont mes chaussures ?

Comment vas-tu ?

Qui est là ?

Exercise 8:

Free time!

What do you like doing? Reply with I like... j’aime… (pronounce like gem, but with a soft j sound)

And I don’t like… je n’aime pas … for things you don’t enjoy (pronounce je nem pa, with a soft j)
Remember final s are usually silent, as well as other final consonants!

… Paris

… partir en vacances (going on holidays)

… les pommes vertes (green apples)

… les repas de famille (family meals)

... ranger ma chambre (tidying my room)

… passer des coups de telephone (making phone calls)

Exercise 9

Comparisons

In French, we use plus (more) and moins (less – omit final s when saying them), combined with que
(than) to make comparisons (In French, we don’t form words such as bigbigger, we always say
plus/moins + adjective/adverb). Can you complete the following sentences?

Example: mon père est … vieux ... moi (my father is older than me)  mon père est plus vieux que
moi.

1) Dublin est ………. près de la mer ……… Madrid. (Dublin is closer to the sea than Madrid)
2) Charlotte a 5 ans, et Zoé a 9 ans. Zoé est ......... grande ......... Charlotte. (Charlotte is 5, and
Zoe is 9. Zoé is bigger than Charlotte)
3) J’étais fatigué, alors j’ai décidé de me coucher ……… tôt .......... d’habitude. (I was tired, so I
decided to go to bed earlier than usual)
4) Ce n’est pas juste ! J’ai eu ........... de bonbons que mon frère. (it’s not fair ! I got less sweets
than my brother)
5) C’est........... grave d’avoir une égratignure.......... de se casser la jambe (getting a scratch is ...
serious than braking your leg)

Solutions:

1) Dublin est plus près de la mer que Madrid.

2) Charlotte a 5 ans, et Zoé a 9 ans. Zoé est plus grande que Charlotte.
3) J’étais fatigué, alors j’ai décidé de me coucher plus tôt que d’habitude.
4) Ce n’est pas juste ! J’ai eu moins de bonbons que mon frère.
5) C’est moins grave d’avoir une égratignure que de se casser la jambe.

Exercise 10

Family
Let’s learn some words for family relations!

Fill in the sentences using the vocabulary below:

Mère, père= mother, father

Grand-mère, grand-père = grandmother, grandfather

Tante, oncle = aunt, uncle

Soeur, frère = sister, brother

1. Ma .................. est la fille de mon grand-père (my ....... is my grandfather’s daughter)

2. Mon .............. est marié avec ma mère (my ....... is married to my mother)
3. Ma ........... est la femme du frère de ma mère (my ....... is the wife of my mother’s brother)
4. Mon ............est marié à ma grand-mère (my ....... is married to my grandmother)
5. Le fils de mes parents est mon ......... (my parents’ son is my ......)
6. Le frère de mon père est mon .........(my father’s brother is my ......)
7. La ........... de ma mère est ma tante (my mother’s ........ is my aunt)
8. La mère de ma mère est ma .........(my mother’s mother is my ......)

Solutions:

1. mère
2. père
3. tante
4. grand-père
5. frère
6. oncle
7. soeur
8. grand-mère