Gender Of Nouns

The gender of nouns can often be determined by their ending, but there are always exceptions:

Masculine
-acle eg. le spectacle, but la debacle
-age eg. le fromage, but la plage
-e eg. le marche
-eau eg. le chapeau, but la peau
-ege eg. le college
-eme eg. le theme, but la creme
-isme eg. le tourisme
-asme eg. l'enthousiasme
-o eg. le numero, but la dynamo, and abbreviations: la photo, la meteo
-ou eg. le genou

-any consonant eg. le placard, but exceptions are:

1. nouns ending -tion, -sion, -ation, -aison, -ison
2. abstract nouns ending -eur
3. some nouns ending -f (la clef), -m (la faim), -n (la fin), -r (la mer), -s (la souris), -t (la dent), -x (la voix)

Feminine
-ace eg. la place, but un espace
-ade eg. la salade, but le stade
-ance eg. la puissance
-anse eg. la danse
-ee eg. la soiree, but le musee
-ence eg. une evidence, but le silence
-ense eg. la defense
-ere eg. la lumiere, but le mystere
-eur eg. la peur, but le bonheur
-ie eg. la pluie, but le genie
-iere eg. la biere, but le cimetiere
-oire eg. la gloire, but le laboratoire
-tion eg. la fiction
-sion eg. la tension
-ation eg. la nation
-aison eg. la raison
-ison eg. la prison
-te eg la bonte, but le comte
-tie eg. la pitie
-silent e following 2 consonants eg. la terre, but le verre

Difficulties

1. Some nouns have either gender depending on the sex of the person, eg. un artiste/une artiste, un enfant/une enfant
2. Other nouns have only one gender regardless of sex, eg. le medecin, une personne, le professeur
3. Some nouns change meaning according to gender eg. critique: m-critic/f-criticism, livre: m-book/f-pound, manche: m-handle/f-sleeve, memoire: m-dissertation/f-memory, mode: m-mode/f-fashion, mort: m-dead man/f-death, physique: m-physique/f-physics
4. Gens is masculine but is feminine after an adjective eg. de bonnes gens

The Partitive Article (Some/Any)

Forms
du - with a masculine singular noun
de la - with a feminine singular noun
des - with a plural noun

Use
Used in French where it is in English but English often omits the partitive article whereas French does not:
je voudrais de la viande
vous avez du bierre?

de is used instead of du, de la, des in the following cases:

a. in negative sentences (je n'ai pas de verres)

But not where the nouns identity is concerned or with the expression ne.. que:
ce n'est pas du cuir, c'est du plastique - its not leather, its plastic
elle ne veut que du cafe - she only wants coffee

b. after expressions of quantity (il boit trop de cafe - he drinks too muc coffee)

c. after avoir besoin de (j'ai besoin de timbres - I need some stamps)

d. where an adjective is followed by a plural noun (de grands enfants - some tall children), but des is used if the adjective and noun form a phrase (des jeunes filles - some girls)

The Indefinite Article (A)

Forms
un - with a masculine singular noun
une - with a feminine singular noun
des - with a plural noun

Use
The English indefinite article is not always translated in French:

a. when stating someones profession (elle est medecin)

b. with nouns in apposition (Madame Leclerc, employee de bureau)

c. after quel in exclamations (quelle surprise!)

d. after sans (c'est un village sans medecin)

In negative sentences, de is used instead of un, une, des (je n'ai pas d'amis)

In French the indefinite article is used with abstract nouns followed by an adjective (avec une patience remarquable), but not when there is no adjective (avec plaisir).

Dictionary found!

I've found my English-French dictionary from 20 years ago. It also has grammar in it, so as I come across the various grammar on the Learn French By Podcast lessons I'll note down the grammar rules from my dictionary.

Definite Article (The)

Forms
le - with a masculine singular noun
la - with a feminine singular noun
les - with a plural noun

le & la change to l' before a vowel or a silent h

Forms with the prepositions a & de
a+le = au
a+la = a la
a+les = aux
a+l' = a l'

de+le = du
de+la = de la
de+les = des
de+l' = de l'

Use
The definite article is used more frequently in French than in English. It is used in the following cases where English uses no article:

a. when the noun is used in a general sense

• to refer to all things of a kind (vous acceptez les cheques?)
• to refer to abstract things (la musique classique)
• when stating likes and dislikes (J'aime la viande)

b. with geographical names

• continents, countries, areas (la France)
• mountains, lakes, rives (le mont Everest)

c. with seasons (le printemps)

d. with languages (J'apprends le francais)

e. with parts of the body (J'ai les cheveux roux)

f. with names following an adjective (le petit Pierre)

g. with titles (le docteur Coste)

h. with days of the week to express regular occurences (que fais-tu le samedi?)

i. with subjects and leisure activities (les maths, le tennis)

j. in expressions of price, quantity (c'est combien le kilo?)

Vocab from Learning French By Podcast Lesson 1

to be called - s'appeler
to live - habiter
to be - etre
teacher - professeur
to chop - hacher
owl - hibou
to boo - huer
crowd - foule
engineer - ingenieur
florist - fleuriste
doctor - docteur
mechanic - mecanicien, -ienne
until next time - a la prochaine
Germany - Allemagne
England - Angleterre
Spain - Espagne
at, in, to, away, by, on, with, from - a
in, by, of, as, into - en

Learn French By Podcast Lesson 1

Well I've just done lesson 1 of Learn French By Podcast and I have to say I'm feeling good. Ok admittedly all "Amelie" did was introduce herself but hey, it still went well, and I'm going to celebrate all my successes.
My 20 year old French brain was like a finely tuned athlete - focused and ready for action. When Amelie said "J'habite en France" the athlete in my head instantly knew what she mean't. I was so proud of my brain!

Learn French By Podcast

So how do I go about learning French? To be honest I'm not really sure. Depending on how you like to learn theres books, websites, videos, and CD's. You could also watch French films or listen to French radio. Now while French films sound attractive I'm not sure how beneficial they'll actually be. I have a feeling my fat lazy brain would take the easy option of reading the subtitles and paying no attention to the audio. I'd be entertained but would learn no French. So I'm going to put my responsible hat on and say no to the films.

Theres also podcasts. And podcasts are currently exciting me a lot, in all manner of ways. They make me laugh, they make me think, they entertain me, and they keep me up to date. And they do this when I'm out and about and would otherwise be bored stiff.

So a podcast it is then. Learn French By Podcast seems to be the biggest so I'm going for them. Now the podcasts are free but theres some PDF's that go with them that you have to pay for. I've always been a little bit of a tight arse so I'm going to try and do without these. I understand this could very well be my first big mistake, but oh well, theres always French films to fall back on!

Let the learning begin...

Well I've learnt my first load of vocab and here it is:

again - encore
almost - presque
also - aussi
always - toujours
and - et
book - le livre
boy - le garcon
but - mais
cat - le chat
dog - le chien
especially - surtout
except - sauf
friend (fem) - une amie
friend (masc) - un ami
girl - la fille
here is - voici
its - c'est
job - le travail
late - en retard
man - l'homme
money - l'argent
not bad - pas mal
now - maintenant
of course - bien sur
often - souvent
paper - le papier
pen - le stylo
pencil - le crayon
so so - comme ci comme ca
sometimes - quelquefois
there is - il y a
there is - voila
usually - d'habitude
woman - la femme

Amazingly, incredibly, most of this lot came back to me pretty easily from the cobwebbed disused depths of my fat lazy brain. I am encouraged!

Thinking About Vocabulary

So I've been thinking. Big decisions like these need lots of thought before you can actually begin on anything. Ideally seven days on a Fijian beach worth of thought is about right.

Anyway, I was thinking I should be able to learn 50 words a week - 10 a day, Monday to Friday. Then I thought what if I don't achieve this? I may get disheartened and give up. So I'm now thinking we'll go for 30. This will give me 1500 words in a year with 2 weeks off for Fiji. Great!

And 1500 is all I'll ever need I reckon. Do I really use more than 1500 English words in my day to day life? I don't use any in the first two hours until I've properly woken up. I largely work alone so few are uttered there. My son is barely 18 months old therefore we still communicate in nonsensical baby language. And my wife and I watch TV all night and only manage an occasional grunt. 1500 may in fact be overkill!

The Decision

Ok so I've made a big decision. I've made plenty of decisions to do things before but for some reason this one feels real, feels good. It feels big, it feels right, it feels like I may even pull it off instead of giving up after 3 weeks like most other things I've decided on.

I'm going to learn French.

I used to study French at school from the age of 11 to 16 but that was 20 years ago. I can't even remember what I did last week when sober, let alone dull lessons from two decades ago. I remember the teacher. We used to imitate him and debate his sexual preferences, but the verbs? No. They were dull. Therefore I am very definitely a complete French beginner.

I hope that 5 years worth of study is still in there somewhere just waiting to be jogged, prompted and poked back into conciousness. I suspect though it will have got mixed up with all the other stuff thats been floating around my brain for the last 20 years. We shall find out.

So a bit about this blog. I thought I'd write the stuff I learn here, intermixed with my thoughts about all things French - the French language, the French people, French culture, France. I can tell you how I'm coping with the learning, and most probably why, after 3 weeks, I've chosen to give up this stupid idea. Whatever happens I think it'll be fun. At 34 I can say things I could never say in those dull lessons. I can speak my mind. I can be myself.

As far as you, the reader goes, I'm hoping that a few of you might learn along with me - you'll have all my notes and I could do with some partners to talk French with. I'm hoping that a few of you might tag along because you find my French experiences mildly entertaining, possibly even amusing for a few twisted individuals. I have to concede that most likely though, I think you'll be reading this just to see whether I give up after 3 weeks!