The easy way to master French grammar
French Grammar For Dummies is a logical extension and complement to the successful language learning book, French For Dummies. In plain English, it teaches you the grammatical rules of the French language, including parts of speech, sentence construction, pronouns, adjectives, punctuation, stress and verb tenses, and moods. Throughout the book, you get plenty of practice opportunities to help you on your goal of mastering basic French grammar and usage.
- Grasp the grammatical rules of French including parts of speech, sentence construction, and verb tenses
- Enhance your descriptive speech with adverbs, adjectives, and prepositions
- Benefit from plenty of practice opportunities throughout the book
- Use the French language confidently and correctly
Whether you’re a student studying French or a professional looking to get ahead of the pack by learning a second language, French Grammar For Dummies is your hands-on guide to quickly and painlessly master the written aspect of this popular language.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Introduction 1
Part I: Getting Started with French Grammar 5
Chapter 1: French Grammar in a Nutshell 7
Chapter 2: Sounding Out French Words 17
Chapter 3: Using Nouns and Determiners 35
Chapter 4: Describing Nouns with Adjectives 55
Chapter 5: Dealing with Numbers, Dates, and Times 69
Part II: Constructing Sentences, Saying No, and Asking Questions 85
Chapter 6: Acquainting Yourself with the Present Tense 87
Chapter 7: Acting on Oneself and on Each Other: Pronominal Verbs 107
Chapter 8: Just Say No: Negative Words and Phrases 119
Chapter 9: Handling Questions and Exclamations 131
Part III: Beefing Up Your Sentences 155
Chapter 10: Saying Where, When, and How with Adverbs 157
Chapter 11: Picking Up Prepositions 171
Chapter 12: It’s All Relative: Making Comparisons 187
Chapter 13: Using Pronouns 203
Chapter 14: Adding the Gerund and the Passive to Your Repertoire 227
Part IV: Talking about the Past or Future 237
Chapter 15: Noting Past Actions with the Present Perfect 239
Chapter 16: Reminiscing and Describing Ongoing Past Actions with the Imperfect 253
Chapter 17: Projecting Forward with the Future 265
Part V: Expressing Conditions, Subjectivity, and Orders 283
Chapter 18: Wondering with the Conditional 285
Chapter 19: Surveying the Subjunctive 301
Chapter 20: Giving Orders with the Imperative 319
Chapter 21: Discovering Compound Tenses 333
Part VI: The Part of Tens 341
Chapter 22: Ten Common French Grammar Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them) 343
Chapter 23: Ten (Or So) Useful French Idioms 349
Index 353
Über den Autor
Véronique Mazet has a doctorate in French from the University of Texas at Austin and is the author of two successful grammar books. She currently teaches French at Austin Community College in Austin, Texas.