Grammar

edumaterial's parts within the level. The European framework does not subdivide them.

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CEFR A1 part 1

• Gender and the article: le, la, l', un, une

  French nouns have masculine or feminine gender; it cannot be guessed from meaning alone and, in regular cases, before a vowel both “le” and “la” become “l'”.

  A13 Your turn

  Connects to · 6 explicit connections

  • The present tense and the explicit subject
  • Two-part negation: ne… pas wraps around the verb
  • Accents and the cedilla: they do not tell you where the stress falls
  • Du, de la, des: the article your language leaves out
  • Au, aux, du, des: when à and de collide with the article
  • The passé composé: two pieces and an auxiliary you have to choose

• The present tense and the explicit subject

  In a basic personal present-tense sentence, French expresses the subject; the same present covers habits and actions happening now.

  A13 Your turn

  Connects to · 6 explicit connections

  • Gender and the article: le, la, l', un, une
  • Two-part negation: ne… pas wraps around the verb
  • Accents and the cedilla: they do not tell you where the stress falls
  • Du, de la, des: the article your language leaves out
  • Au, aux, du, des: when à and de collide with the article
  • The passé composé: two pieces and an auxiliary you have to choose

• Two-part negation: ne… pas wraps around the verb

  In French the negative is not one word before the verb: it is two, and the verb sits between them.

  A13 Your turn

  Connects to · 6 explicit connections

  • Gender and the article: le, la, l', un, une
  • The present tense and the explicit subject
  • Accents and the cedilla: they do not tell you where the stress falls
  • Du, de la, des: the article your language leaves out
  • Au, aux, du, des: when à and de collide with the article
  • The passé composé: two pieces and an auxiliary you have to choose

• Accents and the cedilla: they do not tell you where the stress falls

  The French accent does not mark the stressed syllable: it either changes the sound of the letter or tells apart two words that would otherwise look the same.

  A13 Your turn

  Connects to · 6 explicit connections

  • Gender and the article: le, la, l', un, une
  • The present tense and the explicit subject
  • Two-part negation: ne… pas wraps around the verb
  • Du, de la, des: the article your language leaves out
  • Au, aux, du, des: when à and de collide with the article
  • The passé composé: two pieces and an auxiliary you have to choose

5 materials

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CEFR A1 part 2

• Du, de la, des: the article your language leaves out

  To talk about an unspecified quantity or unidentified plural items, French requires a determiner: du, de la, de l’ or des.

  A13 Your turn

  Connects to · 6 explicit connections

  • Gender and the article: le, la, l', un, une
  • The present tense and the explicit subject
  • Two-part negation: ne… pas wraps around the verb
  • Accents and the cedilla: they do not tell you where the stress falls
  • Au, aux, du, des: when à and de collide with the article
  • The passé composé: two pieces and an auxiliary you have to choose

• Au, aux, du, des: when à and de collide with the article

  “à” and “de” cannot sit next to “le” and “les”: they merge, and it is not a stylistic choice.

  A13 Your turn

  Connects to · 6 explicit connections

  • Gender and the article: le, la, l', un, une
  • The present tense and the explicit subject
  • Two-part negation: ne… pas wraps around the verb
  • Accents and the cedilla: they do not tell you where the stress falls
  • Du, de la, des: the article your language leaves out
  • The passé composé: two pieces and an auxiliary you have to choose

• The passé composé: two pieces and an auxiliary you have to choose

  French very often uses two pieces for a completed everyday event: “avoir” or “être” plus the participle; the auxiliary is part of the construction.

  A13 Your turn

  Connects to · 6 explicit connections

  • Gender and the article: le, la, l', un, une
  • The present tense and the explicit subject
  • Two-part negation: ne… pas wraps around the verb
  • Accents and the cedilla: they do not tell you where the stress falls
  • Du, de la, des: the article your language leaves out
  • Au, aux, du, des: when à and de collide with the article

• Chez moi or chez toi: whose place is it?

  Moi and toi change reference when the speaker changes; chez points to that person’s place.

  A1

  Connects to · 1 explicit connection

  • The present tense and the explicit subject

• Il faut: obligation, prohibition and permission

  Having no obligation to do something does not mean it is forbidden.

  A1

  Connects to · 1 explicit connection

  • Two-part negation: ne… pas wraps around the verb

5 materials

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CEFR A2 part 1

• Le, la, les, lui or leur: object and position

  With the core verbs in this lesson, le/la/les replace a direct object and lui/leur replace a person object with à; all go before the verb that governs them.

  A23 Your turn

  Connects to · 5 explicit connections

  • En and y: replacing quantities, de, à and places
  • Imparfait or passé composé: setting, habit and event
  • Future and conditional: stems, endings and uses
  • Qui, que, où or dont: find the gap
  • The verb and its preposition: à, de or none

• En and y: replacing quantities, de, à and places

  “En” picks up a “de” and “y” picks up an “à”, and both go in front of the verb so that you do not repeat what has already been said.

  A23 Your turn

  Connects to · 5 explicit connections

  • Le, la, les, lui or leur: object and position
  • Imparfait or passé composé: setting, habit and event
  • Future and conditional: stems, endings and uses
  • Qui, que, où or dont: find the gap
  • The verb and its preposition: à, de or none

• Imparfait or passé composé: setting, habit and event

  They are not two interchangeable pasts: the imparfait paints the set and the passé composé tells you what happens in front of it.

  A23 Your turn

  Connects to · 5 explicit connections

  • Le, la, les, lui or leur: object and position
  • En and y: replacing quantities, de, à and places
  • Future and conditional: stems, endings and uses
  • Qui, que, où or dont: find the gap
  • The verb and its preposition: à, de or none

• On: we, someone or people in general

  On takes a singular verb, but context determines whether it includes the speaker.

  A2

  Connects to · 1 explicit connection

  • Le, la, les, lui or leur: object and position

• Depuis, pendant, il y a: duration and reference point

  The same length of time can measure an activity, locate a past event or link a start to the present.

  A2

  Connects to · 1 explicit connection

  • Imparfait or passé composé: setting, habit and event

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CEFR A2 part 2

• Future and conditional: stems, endings and uses

  The future and the conditional are built on the same stem and differ only in their endings: one says what will happen, the other what would happen.

  A23 Your turn

  Connects to · 5 explicit connections

  • Le, la, les, lui or leur: object and position
  • En and y: replacing quantities, de, à and places
  • Imparfait or passé composé: setting, habit and event
  • Qui, que, où or dont: find the gap
  • The verb and its preposition: à, de or none

• Qui, que, où or dont: find the gap

  You do not choose the relative by what it means, but by the hole it fills inside its own clause.

  A23 Your turn

  Connects to · 5 explicit connections

  • Le, la, les, lui or leur: object and position
  • En and y: replacing quantities, de, à and places
  • Imparfait or passé composé: setting, habit and event
  • Future and conditional: stems, endings and uses
  • The verb and its preposition: à, de or none

• The verb and its preposition: à, de or none

  The preposition following a verb belongs to its pattern: learn it with the verb and check it in context, because translation cannot choose it reliably.

  A23 Your turn

  Connects to · 5 explicit connections

  • Le, la, les, lui or leur: object and position
  • En and y: replacing quantities, de, à and places
  • Imparfait or passé composé: setting, habit and event
  • Future and conditional: stems, endings and uses
  • Qui, que, où or dont: find the gap

• Pour or parce que: purpose and cause

  A purpose explains what you act for, but does not prove the result has been achieved.

  A2

  Connects to · 1 explicit connection

  • The verb and its preposition: à, de or none

• Ne… plus, pas encore, jamais: what history do you claim?

  Denying an action now does not itself tell you whether it happened earlier or will happen later.

  A2

  Connects to · 1 explicit connection

  • Two-part negation: ne… pas wraps around the verb

3 materials

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CEFR B1 part 1

• French subjunctive: forms, triggers and contrast with the indicative

  You do not choose the mood by translating: first identify the expression introducing the subordinate clause, then check whether the two verbs share a subject.

  B13 Your turn

  Connects to · 5 explicit connections

  • Past participle agreement: auxiliary, object and position
  • Reported speech: person, tense and viewpoint
  • Si clauses: real, imagined and past conditions
  • On and the passive: choosing sentence focus
  • Spoken and written French: adapting register

• Past participle agreement: auxiliary, object and position

  The question is not only “which auxiliary is used?” but “what can it agree with, and where does that element appear?”

  B13 Your turn

  Connects to · 5 explicit connections

  • French subjunctive: forms, triggers and contrast with the indicative
  • Reported speech: person, tense and viewpoint
  • Si clauses: real, imagined and past conditions
  • On and the passive: choosing sentence focus
  • Spoken and written French: adapting register

• Reported speech: person, tense and viewpoint

  Reporting someone’s words is not a matter of replacing quotation marks with “que”: rebuild who speaks, when the report happens and from where.

  B13 Your turn

  Connects to · 5 explicit connections

  • French subjunctive: forms, triggers and contrast with the indicative
  • Past participle agreement: auxiliary, object and position
  • Si clauses: real, imagined and past conditions
  • On and the passive: choosing sentence focus
  • Spoken and written French: adapting register

3 materials

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CEFR B1 part 2

• Si clauses: real, imagined and past conditions

  In the three patterns studied here, the tense immediately after conditional si helps identify how the speaker presents the condition: open, imagined or past counterfactual.

  B13 Your turn

  Connects to · 5 explicit connections

  • French subjunctive: forms, triggers and contrast with the indicative
  • Past participle agreement: auxiliary, object and position
  • Reported speech: person, tense and viewpoint
  • On and the passive: choosing sentence focus
  • Spoken and written French: adapting register

• On and the passive: choosing sentence focus

  “On” and the passive can describe the same event but organise information differently: one keeps an action with an implicit human agent, while the other turns the affected entity into the subject.

  B13 Your turn

  Connects to · 5 explicit connections

  • French subjunctive: forms, triggers and contrast with the indicative
  • Past participle agreement: auxiliary, object and position
  • Reported speech: person, tense and viewpoint
  • Si clauses: real, imagined and past conditions
  • Spoken and written French: adapting register

• Spoken and written French: adapting register

  There are not two disconnected grammars but a continuum of registers. Judge a form by who is speaking, to whom, for what purpose and in which genre.

  B13 Your turn

  Connects to · 5 explicit connections

  • French subjunctive: forms, triggers and contrast with the indicative
  • Past participle agreement: auxiliary, object and position
  • Reported speech: person, tense and viewpoint
  • Si clauses: real, imagined and past conditions
  • On and the passive: choosing sentence focus

7 materials

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CEFR B2 part 1

• Advanced French negation: restriction, combinations and expletive ne

  The structures at this level often combine ne with a second element, but not all negate: ne… que restricts, while expletive ne only marks register.

  B23 Your turn

  Connects to · 5 explicit connections

  • Depuis, pendant, il y a, dans and en: duration, origin and deadline
  • Gérondif, participe présent and adjectif verbal: three -ant forms
  • Pronominal verbs: classes, auxiliary and participle agreement
  • Conditional for unconfirmed information: present, past and source
  • Nominalisation in written French: formation, complements and style

• Depuis, pendant, il y a, dans and en: duration, origin and deadline

  The choice does not depend on the number alone: distinguish continuity from an origin, bounded duration, distance into the past, future delay and completion time.

  B23 Your turn

  Connects to · 5 explicit connections

  • Advanced French negation: restriction, combinations and expletive ne
  • Gérondif, participe présent and adjectif verbal: three -ant forms
  • Pronominal verbs: classes, auxiliary and participle agreement
  • Conditional for unconfirmed information: present, past and source
  • Nominalisation in written French: formation, complements and style

• Gérondif, participe présent and adjectif verbal: three -ant forms

  Three forms end in -ant and perform different functions: the gérondif expresses a circumstance, the present participle often condenses a clause, and the verbal adjective assigns a quality and agrees.

  B23 Your turn

  Connects to · 5 explicit connections

  • Advanced French negation: restriction, combinations and expletive ne
  • Depuis, pendant, il y a, dans and en: duration, origin and deadline
  • Pronominal verbs: classes, auxiliary and participle agreement
  • Conditional for unconfirmed information: present, past and source
  • Nominalisation in written French: formation, complements and style

• Earlier events within a past narrative

  Reconstruct two past time frames without confusing narrative order with event order.

  B24 Your turn

  Connects to · 3 explicit connections

  • Depuis, pendant, il y a, dans and en: duration, origin and deadline
  • The passé composé: two pieces and an auxiliary you have to choose
  • Imparfait or passé composé: setting, habit and event

• Relative pronouns in prepositional phrases

  Reconstruct the complete preposition and make lequel agree with its antecedent.

  B24 Your turn

  Connects to · 3 explicit connections

  • Mise en relief: building focus in French
  • Qui, que, où or dont: find the gap
  • The verb and its preposition: à, de or none

• Two pronouns: function, order and commands

  Replace two complements while preserving their functions and governing verb.

  B24 Your turn

  Connects to · 3 explicit connections

  • Pronominal verbs: classes, auxiliary and participle agreement
  • Le, la, les, lui or leur: object and position
  • En and y: replacing quantities, de, à and places

• Expressing purpose while preserving who acts

  Choose an infinitive or pour que according to who performs the intended action.

  B24 Your turn

  Connects to · 1 explicit connection

  • French subjunctive: forms, triggers and contrast with the indicative

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CEFR B2 part 2

• Pronominal verbs: classes, auxiliary and participle agreement

  All pronominal verbs form compound tenses with être; agreement requires analysing the role of se and the pattern of each essentially pronominal verb.

  B23 Your turn

  Connects to · 5 explicit connections

  • Advanced French negation: restriction, combinations and expletive ne
  • Depuis, pendant, il y a, dans and en: duration, origin and deadline
  • Gérondif, participe présent and adjectif verbal: three -ant forms
  • Conditional for unconfirmed information: present, past and source
  • Nominalisation in written French: formation, complements and style

• Conditional for unconfirmed information: present, past and source

  In a French news report, a conditional is not setting up a hypothesis: it is warning you that the paper could not confirm the fact.

  B23 Your turn

  Connects to · 5 explicit connections

  • Advanced French negation: restriction, combinations and expletive ne
  • Depuis, pendant, il y a, dans and en: duration, origin and deadline
  • Gérondif, participe présent and adjectif verbal: three -ant forms
  • Pronominal verbs: classes, auxiliary and participle agreement
  • Nominalisation in written French: formation, complements and style

• Nominalisation in written French: formation, complements and style

  Nominalisation can turn a process or quality into the topic of a text; it is frequent in formal writing, but it does not determine register on its own.

  B23 Your turn

  Connects to · 5 explicit connections

  • Advanced French negation: restriction, combinations and expletive ne
  • Depuis, pendant, il y a, dans and en: duration, origin and deadline
  • Gérondif, participe présent and adjectif verbal: three -ant forms
  • Pronominal verbs: classes, auxiliary and participle agreement
  • Conditional for unconfirmed information: present, past and source

• Past subjunctive: completion and deadlines

  Choose present or past subjunctive according to ongoing, intended or completed action.

  B24 Your turn

  Connects to · 3 explicit connections

  • The passé simple: recognising the written narrative past
  • French subjunctive: forms, triggers and contrast with the indicative
  • Past participle agreement: auxiliary, object and position

• Collocations: deciding, implementing and examining

  Choose a complete collocation preserving the stated decision stage or discourse action.

  B24 Your turn

  Connects to · 2 explicit connections

  • Nominalisation in written French: formation, complements and style
  • The verb and its preposition: à, de or none

• Sequence: après que and the past infinitive

  Preserve subjects and event order when converting a temporal clause to an infinitive.

  B24 Your turn

  Connects to · 3 explicit connections

  • Nominalisation in written French: formation, complements and style
  • The passé composé: two pieces and an auxiliary you have to choose
  • French subjunctive: forms, triggers and contrast with the indicative

• Relative clauses: established or sought existence

  Relate relative-clause mood to established existence or a sought property.

  B24 Your turn

  Connects to · 3 explicit connections

  • Conditional for unconfirmed information: present, past and source
  • Qui, que, où or dont: find the gap
  • French subjunctive: forms, triggers and contrast with the indicative

7 materials

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CEFR C1

• The passé simple: recognising the written narrative past

  The passé simple is a narrative tense found mainly in literary, historical and biographical writing. Everyday French usually uses the passé composé instead; at C1 the priority is to recognise the tense and understand its role in a narrative.

  C13 Your turn

  Connects to · 2 explicit connections

  • Mise en relief: building focus in French
  • Argument connectors: guiding the reasoning

• Mise en relief: building focus in French

  Mise en relief turns one constituent into explicit focus. French can also use intonation, dislocation and other marked orders, but cleft constructions state precisely which element is contrasted.

  C13 Your turn

  Connects to · 2 explicit connections

  • The passé simple: recognising the written narrative past
  • Argument connectors: guiding the reasoning

• Argument connectors: guiding the reasoning

  An argument connector is not decoration or a device for avoiding repetition: it signals the logical relationship the reader should build. Replacing it may leave two grammatical sentences while destroying the reasoning.

  C13 Your turn

  Connects to · 2 explicit connections

  • The passé simple: recognising the written narrative past
  • Mise en relief: building focus in French

• Inversion: adverb form and meaning

  Reformulate a formal statement with simple or complex inversion without making it a question.

  C14 Your turn

  Connects to · 3 explicit connections

  • Argument connectors: guiding the reasoning
  • The present tense and the explicit subject
  • Spoken and written French: adapting register

• Reading literary subjunctives while preserving the story

  Reconstruct subject and time relation of fût, vînt and eût + participle in context.

  C14 Your turn

  Connects to · 2 explicit connections

  • The passé simple: recognising the written narrative past
  • French subjunctive: forms, triggers and contrast with the indicative

• Impersonal forms: advice, findings and subject matter

  Choose an impersonal construction according to recommendation or finding.

  C14 Your turn

  Connects to · 3 explicit connections

  • Conditional for unconfirmed information: present, past and source
  • French subjunctive: forms, triggers and contrast with the indicative
  • Nominalisation in written French: formation, complements and style

• Correlative variation and the scope of an argument

  Build plus… plus and plus… moins while preserving both variables and their direction.

  C14 Your turn

  Connects to · 1 explicit connection

  • Argument connectors: guiding the reasoning

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