French everyday grammar

Describe what something is like, whose it is, how much there is, and where it belongs. These lessons connect agreement and small grammatical words to a scene you can picture.

Describe a person, thing or scene precisely

Adjectives add properties, possessives identify relationships, quantity expressions say how much, and location phrases establish where something is. These lessons begin with a scene you can picture so that the grammar can be checked against a concrete meaning. Two bags can be green and heavy, one shared address can belong to several people, and a glass can contain an amount of water without making water a plural noun.

Keep the controlling information visible

The gender of an owner does not necessarily choose a possessive, and a large amount does not necessarily make a noun plural. Identify the noun being described, the item being counted, or the place used as a landmark. Then choose the form that represents that relationship. Each lesson includes a boundary case so that a useful regular pattern does not become a rule applied to unrelated constructions.

Move one detail and rebuild the phrase

Change a singular item into several items, a destination into an origin, or an unspecified amount into a measured quantity. Explain which parts of the French phrase must change and which remain stable. The worked examples support that reasoning before the production tasks ask you to create a full message. Later answer choices provide feedback on meaning as well as form.

Sources

• University of Texas, Tex’s French Grammar: Adjective formation and placement
• University of Texas, Tex’s French Grammar: Possessive determiners
• University of Texas, Tex’s French Grammar: Expressions of quantity
• University of Texas, Tex’s French Grammar: Prepositions with places
• University of Texas, Tex’s French Grammar: Possessive pronouns
• University of Texas, Tex’s French Grammar: Pronoun en