Lesson 18: Days of the Week

A quick lesson on the days of the week:

Lundi = Monday

Mardi = Tuesday

Mercredi = Wednesday

Jeudi = Thursday

Vendredi = Friday

Samedi = Saturday

Dimanche = Sunday

Le jour = day

Aujourd'hui = today

Hier = yesterday

Demain = tomorrow

Quel jour est-il aujourd'hui ? What day is it today?

C'est dimanche. It's Sunday.

Learning Tip: Keeping Up With Vocabulary

Here's a quick tip about learning a language: make sure that you're keeping up on your vocabulary. Once you fall behind it's hard to catch up.

When I'm trying to learn new vocabulary, I usually use Quizlet to help me remember the words. One of my friends told me about this site, and I've found it really useful since it's based on the same concept as using flashcards, but it's better because it makes sure that you know how to spell the words by having you type the vocabulary.

Granted, if you don't spend a lot of time on the internet then you may want to make traditional flashcards. Or if flashcards don't work for you, then find another way to study the vocabulary. Just don't fall behind!

Lesson 17: Asking Questions II

More common question words for you to learn:

Qui ? (Who?)

Quoi ? (What?)

Quand ? (When?)

Où ? (Where?)

Pourquoi ? (Why?)

Qui mange ma pizza ? Who's eating my pizza?

Quoi ? Est-ce que c'est vrai ? What? Is it true? (Literally: is it that it's true?)

Quand est la fête ? When is the party?

Où est votre maison ? Where is your house?

Pourquoi est-ce que vous me posez tant de questions ? Why are you asking me so many questions? (Literally: why is it that you ask me so many questions?)

Vocabulary:

La pizza (pizza)

La fête (party)

La question (question)

Vrai (true)

Poser (to pose/to ask)

Lesson 16: Asking Questions I

Comment?

Okay, so you're sitting in a restaurant and you want to ask your waiter for a croque-monsieur (it's like a grilled cheese with ham). Except that you can't because you don't know how to ask questions in French.

At least you didn't, until now.

Est-ce que. Learn this phrase. Right now. It sounds like ess-kuh when you say it.

Est-ce que je peux avoir un croque-monsieur ? Où est-ce que j'ai mis mes clés ? Qu'est-ce que vous avez dit ?*

Est-ce que means, literally, is it that...

If we were translating it we would replace it with the words do/does/did...

*Can I have a croque-monsieur? Where did I put my keys? What did you say?

(Literally: Is it that I can have a croque-monsieur? Where is it that I put my keys? What is it that you said?)

Next lesson I'll hook you up with more question-words.

Lesson 15: Venir

This is the last in the very irregular verb series. Before you move on to the following lessons, I would urge you to go back and memorize the conjugations for the very irregular verbs... they're widely used and knowing them will serve you well.

Venir (to come)

Je viens

Tu viens

Il/elle/on vient

Nous venons

Vous venez

Ils/elles viennent

Lesson 14: être

être (to be)

A lot of English speakers get confused about the verb to be, probably because this verb is irregular in English as well as in French. So first I'll give you the conjugation in English:

To Be

I am

You are

He/She is

We are

They are

In French:

être

Je suis

Tu es

Il/Elle/On est

Nous sommes

Vous êtes

Ils/Elles sont

Je suis une fille. (I am a girl.)

Il est un garçon. (He is a boy.)

Lesson 13: Faire

I'm sorry -- I didn't have a lot of time to write a lesson today so I'll leave you with another very irregular verb conjugation: faire (to make/to do). You might be getting sick of verb conjugations but don't worry, there are only a couple very irregular verbs left to learn and then it'll get easier. So...

Faire

Je fais

Tu fais

Il/elle/on fait

Nous faisons

Vous faites

Ils/elles font

Examples of sentences with the verb faire:

Je fais un gâteau. (I make a cake.)

Tu fais tes devoirs. (You do your homework.)

Elle fait un dessin. (She does a drawing.)

Ils font du sport. (They do sports.)

Vocabulary:

Les devoirs = homework

Le dessin = drawing

Le sport = sports

I wanted to mention, if you have any questions about the lessons you can feel free to leave a comment!