children, my friends.
15 How many nouns are there in the sentence below? What are they? The car has got a flat tyre and a big dent in the door.
ADJECTIVES
An adjective is a describing word which tells you what things are like: flat shoes are shoes that don’t have high heels. A flat tyre is a tyre with no air in it.
16 How many adjectives are there in the sentence below? What are they? She’s got brown hair and blue eyes.
Some words have a noun meaning and an adjective meaning. In the dictionary there is a box to tell you about this. The different meanings usually have different translations in French.
sweet
sweet can be a noun or an adjective.
A NOUN
1 le bonbon masc (candy) a bag of sweets un paquet de bonbons
2 le dessert masc (pudding) Sweets: ice cream or chocolate mousse Desserts: glace ou mousse au chocolat
B ADJECTIVE
1 sucré masc sucrée fem (sugary) It’s too sweet. C’est trop sucré.
2 gentil masc gentille fem (kind) She’s a sweet person. Elle est gentille.
3 mignon masc mignonne fem (cute) Isn’t she sweet? Comme elle est mignonne!
17 You want to ask someone if they would like a sweet. Fill in the gap. How can you be sure this is the right translation?
Tu veux un __________?
ADVERBS
An adverb is a word which describes a verb or an adjective:
She writes neatly. The film was very good.
18 How many adverbs are there in the sentence below? What are they? What do they have in common? The children sat quietly and played happily.
Some words have an adjective meaning and an adverb meaning. The different meanings have different translations in French.
hard
hard can be an adjective or an adverb.
A ADJECTIVE
1 difficile (difficult) This question’s too hard for me. Cette question est trop difficile pour moi.
2 dur masc dure fem (not soft) This cheese is very hard. Ce fromage est très dur.
B ADVERB dur Colette works hard. Colette travaille dur.
19 You want to say you work hard. Fill in the gap in the sentence below:
Je travaille __________.
VERBS
Verbs are sometimes called ‘doing words’. They often go with words like ‘I’ and ‘you’, and with names, eg I play football, What do you want?, Hugo likes mashed potato.
Verbs tell you about the present: eg I’m listening; the past: I scored a goal; and the future: eg I’m going to get an ice cream.
20 How many verbs are there in the sentence below? What are they? School starts at 9.00 and finishes at 3.30.
Some words have an adjective meaning and a verb meaning. The different meanings have different translations in French.
clean
clean can be an adjective or a verb.
A ADJECTIVE
propre a clean shirt une chemise propre
B VERB
nettoyer Clean the board please! Nettoie le tableau s’il te plaît!
21 If you want to ask for ‘a clean glass’, how do you know that propre is the translation, not nettoyer?
Some words have a noun meaning and a verb meaning.
rain
rain can be a noun or a verb.
A NOUN
la pluie fem in the rain sous la pluie
B VERB
pleuvoir It’s going to rain. Il va pleuvoir. It rains a lot here. Il pleut beaucoup par ici.
It’s raining. Il pleut.
22 Is la pluie a noun or a verb?
23 Why is It rains a lot here. in part B?
Learn useful phrases
In the dictionary you’ll see phrases that are especially important in orange boxes. Try to learn these when you come across them, and you’ll soon know lots of useful things to say in French.
What time is it? Quelle heure est-il? It’s lunch time. C’est l’heure du déjeuner. How many times? Combien de fois?
Find out interesting things about life in France
There are also boxes which tell you about French customs, and about differences between life in France and Britain.
Did you know…?
In France, Easter eggs are said to be brought
