That apostrophe thing... I have only just realised how confusing it must be for students that sometimes je/me/te/se/le/la or event ce have an apostrophe and sometimes the article or pronoun does not take one. So shall we attempt a little explanation? 1st things 1st: an apostrophe is used when a little word ends with a vowel and the following starts with a vowel or an H - why? To make things prettier of course! So Je becomes j in front of any verb starting with a vowel or H. You would therefor say: Je mange, je bois, je dors but you go jaime, jécris; jhabite. And of course je can be followed by a verb or a pronoun (because pronouns precede verbs - in French, and you already knew that, right?). So you mignt also see jy vais and jen prendrais bien un peu. Now that you understood the Je or J you may wonder about tu, il, elle, nous, vous, ils, elles. No apostrophe for any of the other subject pronouns so lets move on to the other category of pronouns with an apostrophe. The rule stays the same: me, te, se will become m, t, s when followed by a verb starting with a vowel or H because it is just prettier! So you say je me lève, tu te laves, il se douche, elle se maquille, ils se parfument, elles se coiffent but you will say je mhabille, tu tépiles, il sassied, elle sinscrit, ils sadmirent, elles séclatent. And youve guessed it, these are the pronouns used with reflexive verbs. Ah, how to explain a reflexive verb or verbe pronominal? The things that only you can do for yourself. Most of the reflexive verbs are used with all activities relating to getting ready in the morning but thats the next lesson so lets carry on with the pronouns. You also have me, te (again) followed by le, la, nous, vous, les as the direct object pronouns but only me, te, le and la get to lose the vowel and get an apostrophe as they preceed a verb. So it will be je la mange ou je lépluche - were talking about an apple by the way, eating it or peeling it. And then the same rule applies again to me, te, lui, elle, nous, vous, leur but these are now the indirect pronouns. The moral of the story is that it is all rather easy. Once you know a grammar rule for one item, it is likely to be the same for something else since the rule for the use of apostrophe applies to pronouns and articles. The other moral of the same story is that the pronouns are pretty difficult and maybe we should talk about that, but how about fun reflexive verbs first? And the last moral of the story is that there is a reason why I didnt write anything about ce and c. How about you make some of your own sentences? You can send them in private messages if you prefer. Oh, now the very, very last moral of the story: French is very pretty. So finally, here is an exercise for you to practise using the apostrophe or not. francaisfacile/exercices/exercice-francais-2/exercice-francais-35421.php
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 15:47:41 +0000
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