Le Journal de Francais

Lesson 1

Who Wants to Learn French?

         You want to learn French, or le français? Good, we will work together. Learning won't be that hard. Many words in French are identical to words in English, l'anglais. Sometimes the words may be pronounced differently, but they are spelled the same and have the same meaning. Some words may be spelled slightly differently, but they can still be recognized by anyone who speaks English.

         Here is a list of words that are spelled the same in English and in French, some have la, le, or l' before the French word because ‘the' is used before nouns in French:

  blond             la blouse            le boulevard              l'accident

  certain            la boutique            le bureau               l'age

  cruel             la nation             le café              l'animal

  différent           la photo              le camarade           l'automobile

  élégant            la phrase            le chef              l'avenue

  excellent           la question           le client             l'éléphant

  horrible           la radio             le cousin             l'hôtel

  immense            la région              le fruit              l'océan

  important            la table             le guide

  intelligent           la télévision           le menu

  orange            le parent

  sincère             le président

                                le pull-over

                                le restaurant

                                le sandwich

                                le snack-bar

                                le sport

                                le téléphone

                                le ticket

                                le train

                                le village

                                le voyage

                                le zoo



Now, I know you're asking why some nouns have la, some have le, and some have l', although every form means ‘the.' In many foreign languages, nouns are given a gender. I don't know why or how, just that they are considered either feminine or masculine. La is the feminine form of ‘the.' Le is the masculine form. L' is used before nouns that begin with a vowel, whether the noun is considered feminine or masculine. No, that doesn't mean the item is male or female, boy or girl. Later we will learn about how some words can be masculine in gender and then become feminine, but that lesson is later.



French words, also, some times have accents over or under letters. Those accents help us know how to pronounce the letters. Again, we'll cover accents in another lesson.



I hope you enjoy the first beginning lesson in French, le français. Just think, you already knew some French words, and you didn't even know that you did.





Bonjour (good day or goodbye), mes amis (my friends),

Viv



Viv

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