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The main premise of Countdown to French is that you can learn this extremely useful and beautiful language quickly and effectively. If you are willing to spend just 24 hours of your time studying the grammar, vocabulary, and phrases presented in the lessons, you will find that you will be able to
GAIL STEIN 00 (i-xiv) front matter 7/18/03 12:08 Page i Copyright © 2004 by The McGraw-HIll Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a data- base or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. 0-07-142863-1 The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: 0-07-141422-3 All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. Rather than put a trademark symbol after every occurrence of a trademarked name, we use names in an editorial fashion only, and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. Where such designations appear in this book, they have been printed with initial caps. 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McGraw-Hill has no responsibility for the content of any information accessed through the work. Under no circumstances shall McGraw-Hill and/or its licensors be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive, consequential or similar damages that result from the use of or inability to use the work, even if any of them has been advised of the possibility of such damages. This limitation of lia- bility shall apply to any claim or cause whatsoever whether such claim or cause arises in contract, tort or otherwise. DOI: 10.1036/0071428631 ebook_copyright 6x9.qxd 10/7/03 3:22 PM Page 1 This book is dedicated to: My wonderfully patient and supportive husband, Douglas My incredibly loving, understanding, and proud sons, Eric and Michael My proud parents, Jack and Sara Bernstein My creative sister and her family, Susan, Jay, and Zachary Opperman My superior consultant and advisor, Roger H. Herz My good friend and supporter, Christina Levy My seventh-grade buddy, who kept my interest in French alive, Ray Elias 00 (i-xiv) front matter 7/18/03 12:08 Page iii This page intentionally left blank. Contents Introduction xiii 24:00 Focusing on Pronunciation 1 Master These Skills 1 Perfecting Your Pronunciation 2 Stress 2 Liaison 2 Elision 2 Accents 3 Vowels 4 Nasals 6 Non-Nasal Combinations 9 Consonants 9 A Final Suggestion 13 Time’s Up! 13 23:00 Recognizing and Using Nouns 15 Master These Skills 15 Gender 16 Noun Markers 16 Nouns 19 Cognates 26 Time’s Up! 28 22:00 Working with Present-Tense Verbs 29 Master These Skills 29 Subject Nouns and Pronouns 30 Verbs 31 Shoe Verbs 36 v 00 (i-xiv) front matter 7/18/03 12:08 Page v For more information about this title, click here. Copyright 2004 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Click Here for Terms of Use. Irregular Verbs 39 Uses of the Present Tense 45 Time’s Up! 45 21:00 The Past Tense (The Passé Composé) 47 Master These Skills 47 Forming the Passé Composé with Avoir 48 Using the Passé Composé with Être 50 Forming the Passé Composé with Être 51 Special Verbs 52 The Imperfect 53 Deciding When to Use the Passé Composé or the Imperfect 55 The Pluperfect 58 The Passé Simple (The Past Definite) 59 Time’s Up! 61 20:00 Back to the Future: Speaking Conditionally 63 Master These Skills 63 The Future 64 The Future Perfect 67 The Conditional 67 The Past Conditional 69 Conditional Sentences 70 Time’s Up! 72 19:00 Using Adjectives and Adverbs 73 Master These Skills 73 Making Adjectives Feminine 74 Past Participles Used as Adjectives 76 Forming Irregular Adjectives 76 Special Forms 79 Making Adjectives Plural 79 Position of Adjectives 80 Adjectives with Different Meanings 81 Adverbs 83 Exceptions to the Rules 84 Adverbs Not Formed from Adjectives 85 CONTENTS vi 00 (i-xiv) front matter 7/18/03 12:08 Page vi Adverbs of Quantity 87 Position of Adverbs 87 Time’s Up! 88 18:00 Making Acquaintances 89 Master These Skills 89 Greetings and Good-Byes 90 Reflexive Verbs 91 Origins 95 Nationalities 97 The Family 98 Showing Possession 99 Time’s Up! 102 17:00 Inviting and Replying with Verbs and Prepositions 103 Master These Skills 103 Verbs for Invitations 104 Prepositions 105 Places 107 Stress Pronouns 108 Extending an Invitation 109 Accepting an Invitation 110 Refusing an Invitation 111 Expressing Indecision and Indifference 111 No 112 Ne . . . pas with Reflexive Verbs 112 Time’s Up! 113 16:00 Working with Numbers 115 Master These Skills 115 Cardinal Numbers 116 Nouns of Number 117 Pronunciation Guide 118 Ordinal Numbers 118 Days, Months, and Seasons 119 Telling Time 122 Time’s Up! 125 CONTENTS vii 00 (i-xiv) front matter 7/18/03 12:08 Page vii 15:00 Offering Ideas and Issuing Commands 127 Master These Skills 127 Making Proposals 128 Giving Commands 129 Giving and Receiving Directions 130 Using the Pronoun Y 133 Using Idioms 135 Positive Reinforcement 135 Complaints 136 Using Ce + Être or Il Est 136 Time’s Up! 138 14:00 Using French Around the Home 139 Master These Skills 139 House and Home 140 Chores 141 Getting Help in a Store 142 Devoir—to Have to 143 Impersonal Expressions 144 Understanding and Forming the Present Subjunctive 144 The Past Subjunctive 149 Offering Encouragement 149 Time’s Up! 150 13:00 Asking Questions 151 Master These Skills 151 Asking Yes/No Questions 152 Information Questions 155 Using Il Y A 159 Asking for Directions 159 Asking for a Price 160 Questioning New Acquaintances 160 Lack of Communication 161 Time’s Up! 162 CONTENTS viii 00 (i-xiv) front matter 7/18/03 12:08 Page viii [...]... much.) 13 This page intentionally left blank Recognizing and Using Nouns MASTER THESE SKILLS Recognizing and using noun markers Using nouns properly Making nouns plural Recognizing and using cognates In this chapter youll learn how to differentiate masculine and feminine nouns and how to form the plural of nouns Cognates will be explained, and a useful working list will be presented to allow for immediate... a unique combination of the two that gives you the essentials for an immediate jump start in speaking and understanding French Unlike any other foreign language book on the market, Countdown to French is organized into a series of tasks that speakers will find useful and adaptable in a wide variety of situations: socializing, giving and receiving information, persuasion, expressing feelings and emotions,... 243 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 Choosing and Buying Clothing 251 Master These Skills Clothing Selecting Sizes and Getting Alterations Problems Colors Fabrics Patterns Sales Making a Purchase Variable Demonstrative Pronouns Times Up! 04:00 Medically Speaking Master These Skills At the Pharmacy Prepositional Modifiers Parts of the Body Medical Problems At the Doctors Office Asking and Answering How... roi rwah king Nouns that refer to females are obviously feminine FRENCH PRONUNCIATION MEANING fille fee-y girl femme fahm woman mốre mehr mother reine rehn queen 19 COUNTDOWN TO FRENCH Some nouns can be either masculine or feminine depending upon whom you are speaking about Make sure to use the gender marker that identifies the person correctly Nouns for Either Gender FRENCH PRONUNCIATION MEANING artiste... Countdown to French is divided into 24 one-hour lessons Each lesson is then subdivided into logical and manageable parts, which will enable you to learn the material with ease and self-assurance Just divide the lesson so that you allow an equal number of minutes for each major heading Do not worry about memorizing all the words in every table That would prove to be an impossible and frustrating task Instead,... Inc Click Here for Terms of Use COUNTDOWN TO FRENCH GENDER Like English, all French nouns have a number: singular (one), as in la famille, or plural (more than one), as in les parents Unlike English, however, all French nouns also have a gender: masculine or feminine In some instances, the gender of the noun is blatantly obvious: un homme (a man) is masculine, whereas une femme (a woman) is feminine... fille Find that boy and that girl NOUNS A noun is a word used to name a person, place, thing, idea, or quality All French nouns are either masculine or feminine, and the gender of some of them can be determined by their meaning or ending Most nouns, however, must be learned on an individual basis Gender-Obvious Nouns Nouns that refer to males are obviously masculine FRENCH PRONUNCIATION MEANING garỗon... you are willing to spend just 24 hours of your time studying the grammar, vocabulary, and phrases presented in the lessons, you will find that you will be able to understand and communicate in French in various types of everyday situations You can immediately feel confident that you will meet this challenge and accomplish your goals effortlessly and rapidly To make the task of learning French as time-efficient... and expressing needs These are the rudimentary task elements of any language that are necessary for anyone who wants to understand and be understood: to communicate as effectively as possible Remember that dictionaries just give you words without teaching you how to put them together to form logical, comprehensive thoughts Countdown to French will allow you to reach this goal Hours 24: 00 to 19:00 present... kahN in (im), ain (aim) These nasal sounds are different from those in the preceding section in that the lips are not as open and the mouth is in a wider position NASAL SYMBOL PRONUNCIATION in (im), ain (aim) aN similar to an with little emphasis on n Alain Rimbaud, a simple and sincere man, eats bread and turkey with his friend Alain Rimbaud, un homme simple et sincốre, mange du pain et de la dinde . Stress Pronouns 108 Extending an Invitation 109 Accepting an Invitation 110 Refusing an Invitation 111 Expressing Indecision and Indifference 111 No 112. the Doctor’s Office 248 Asking and Answering “How Long?” 249 Time’s Up! 250 04:00 Choosing and Buying Clothing 251 Master These Skills 251 Clothing 252