Être and avoir, and telling your age
CEFR A1 · part 1
edumaterial's parts within the level. The European framework does not subdivide them.
Accents and the cedillaPlacing é, è, ê and ç correctly, and knowing that in French an accent changes the sound…Gender that does not match your languageChoosing le or la for nouns whose gender does not match your own language.Present tense of -er verbs, with its subjectConjugating the present tense and never dropping the subject pronoun.Negating with ne … pasPlacing both halves of the negation around the verb, and not doubling it.The plural you cannot hearMarking the plural where it shows —the article and the written -s— even though you…Numbers from 70 to 99Reading and writing the numbers from 70 to 99, which French builds by adding: 70 =…The rule, in three lines
Être: je suis, tu es, il est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils sont. Avoir: j'ai, tu as, il a, nous avons, vous avez, ils ont. And in French you HAVE your age: j'ai douze ans. Same for hunger, cold, thirst and fear.
The usual slip. Saying «je suis douze ans». You have your age: j'ai douze ans. And mixing up ils sont and ils ont, which sound almost the same.
Why it catches you out. English is the odd one out: you say I am twelve, with the verb «to be». So je suis douze ans comes out on its own — and the same with hunger, cold and fear, which all take avoir in French.