FREN 100 AMU Week 4 lesson French I American Military University

FREN 100 AMU Week 4 French I American Military University assistance is available on Domyclass

Week 4 Overview

•  Bonjour à tous! This week, will mark our halfway point. Can you believe it? To that end via Rosetta Stone and our weekly activities, you will be learning about Greetings, Introductions, Questions, Negations, Partitives, Clothing, Colors, Physical Attributes, Physical States, Conversational Dialogue, Articles with Prepositions (à, au, à la, aux). You should complete your second Unit of Rosetta Stone this week as well as Forum 2 and Skill-builder 4.
  
  Students will be able to:
  • Differentiate French structures, sounds and vocabulary for Greetings, Introductions, Questions, Negations, and Partitives
  • Differentiate French structures , sounds, and vocabulary for Clothing, Colors, and Physical Attributes, Physical States, Conversational Dialogue
    
    In this lesson, we will discuss:
  • Greetings, Introductions, Questions, Negations, Partitives, Clothing, Colors, and Physical Attributes, Physical States, Conversational Dialogue, Articles with Prepositions (à, au, à la, aux)
     
  • Questions
  • Negations
  • Partitives
  • à, au, à la, aux
  • Art and Architecture
    The following activities and assessments need to be completed this week:
  • Lesson, Week 4
  • Readings and Resource
  • Rosetta Stone Unit 2, Lessons 3 and 4
  • Week Forums 4 
  • Skill-Builder 4 

Introduction

Topics to be covered include:

• Comparing French and American culture
• Asking questions
• Negatives
• Partitive articles and prepositions plus articles
• Physical descriptions and clothing

In this lesson, you will learn more about French culture, learn how to ask questions, and learn more about answering questions. You will be able to make negative statements after completing this lesson, and have a greater understanding of partitive articles, and the ways prepositions combine with articles. Finally, you will learn how to describe yourself or others in physical terms, and learn the vocabulary for clothing in French.

Comparing French and American Culture

You have already been introduced to some differences between French and American culture, including differences in mealtimes, drinking habits, and work-life balance. In this section, you will learn more about the cultural differences. Understanding cultural differences can help you to function better when interacting with the French, or visiting France. Some of these differences are quite important, in order to be well-received and thought of, while others are sometimes funny. 1/8

• Formality Formality is quite important in France, both in spoken and written French. In past lessons, you have learned to address people as Madame or Monsieur. While this is appropriate, it is essential that these be used alone, for a stranger, or with a last name. In parts of the U.S., it is relatively common to use Mr. or Miss First Name. This should be avoided in France! If you use Madame First Name, you are not using an honorific, but instead, suggesting that she operates a brothel. Remember not to use first names until you’re asked to and avoid using tu until asked as well.

The Four Ways to Ask a Question

There are four different ways to ask a question in French. These vary in difficulty, but you should learn each of the four types. The first of these is common in English as well; however, the second and third ways to ask questions are not used or common in English. The fourth is the most common way to ask questions in English, relying upon question words.

• Rising Intonation
• Est-ce que…?
• Switch Subject and Verb
• Question Words

Rising intonation is the first way to ask a question. You likely already do this in English, in some cases. A rising intonation creates a question from a statement by changing the tone of the voice. Consider the sentence, “You want a cookie.” Say this aloud to yourself, as a statement. Now, say this aloud again, but make it “You want a cookie?”

In order to use rising intonation, you do not need to add any extra words to the question. In writing, it is indicated only by a question mark at the end of the statement, rather than a period.

• Le chat est sur la table?
• Tu as un chat?

Negation

Negation changes an affirmative or positive statement into a negative statement. In English, you typically do this with the word “not,” but may also use other words that imply or suggest that negativity.

French uses two words in combination to negate a statement. This is ne…pas. The ne is placed in the sentence order before the verb, with pas after the verb.

English	French
She speaks French (an affirmation).	Elle parlefrançais.
She does not speak French (a negation).	Elle ne parle pas le français.
He eats bread.	Il mange du pain.
He does not eat bread.	Il ne mange pas de pain.
I drink wine.	Je bois du vin.
I do not drink wine.	Je ne bois pas de vin.

While ne _____ pas is the most common form of negation, it is not the only one. The initial ne can also be paired with jamais (never) or rien (nothing).

English	French
I neverdrink.	Je ne bois jamais.
I am not eating anything.	Je ne mange rien.

N’est-ce pas?

While not technically a formal way to ask a question, you can also, if you are pretty sure you know the answer to the question, ask a question by adding n’est-pas to a statement. Think of this as “is it not?” or “right?” Examples of n’est pas include:

English	French
You dance, right?	Tu danses, n’est-ce pas ?
He likes cookies, right?	Il aime les biscuits, n’est-ce pas?
You have a dog, right?	Tu as un chien, n’est-ce pas?

As you can see in these questions, n’est-ce pas is used when you’re pretty sure of the answer to the question. You are simply asking for confirmation of what you already know.