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Dialogue · At an art gallery
Culture · Art in France
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Grammar · Regular -re verbs · Les verbes en -re
The third category of regular verbs is made up of -re verbs. Relative to -er verbs, -re verbs are not very common. Many common verbs ending in -re , such as prendre , mettre , and connaître , have irregular conjugations.
Formation
To conjugate, drop the -re to find the "stem" or "root". Add endings to the root based on the subject and tense, as demonstrated below for the present tense.
| Pronoun | Ending | Verb | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|
| je (j') | -s | attends |  |
| tu | -s | attends | |
| il/elle | - | attend | |
| nous | -ons | attendons | |
| vous | -ez | attendez | |
| ils/elles | -ent | attendent | |
Supplementary vocabulary · Example -re verbs
| vendre | | to sell | |||
| attendre | | to wait | J’attends mon cousin à la gare. | I am waiting for my cousin at the station. | |
| descendre | | to go down, to put down | |||
| rendre | | to give back, to return | |||
| perdre | | to lose | |||
| mordre | | to bite |
Vocabulary · Music · La musique
| écouter de la musique | to listen to music | ||||
| la chanson | | song | |||
| des paroles | | lyrics | la parole means word | les paroles d'une chanson | the lyrics of a song |
| Composing | |||||
| le musicien la musicienne | | musician | |||
| le compositeur la compositrice | | composer | C’est un savant compositeur. | This is a clever composer. | |
| l’auteur (des paroles) | | (lyrics) writer | |||
| Instruments | |||||
| l'instrument (de musique) (m) | | instrument | |||
| la clarinette | | clarinet | |||
| le violon | | violin | |||
| la harpe | | harp | |||
| la guitare (basse, électrique, acoustique) | | (bass, electric, acoustic) guitar | |||
| le piano | | piano | |||
| la flûte | | flute | |||
Vocabulary · Museums · Les musées
| le musée | | museum | |||
| l'exposition (artistique, d'art) | | (art) exhibit | |||
| la galerie | | gallery | |||
| le/la portraitiste | | portraitist | |||
| le portrait | | portrait | |||
| le tableau la peinture | | painting | Il y a de belles peintures dans ce palais. | There are beautiful paintings in this palace. | |
| le sculpteur (en marbre, en bois) la sculptrice | | (marble, wood) sculptor | |||
| la sculpture | | sculpture | p is not pronounced | ||
| l'œuvre d’art (f) | work of art | ||||
| admirer | | to admire | J'admire sa magnificence. | I admire its magnificence. | |
| visiter | | to visit | |||
| la visite | | visit |
Usage notes · Visiter and rendre
Visiter /vizite/, meaning to visit, is used for places (and not for people) :
- Tu dois visiter Paris un jour.You must visit Paris one day.
- Je vais visiter mon frère. is not a correct sentence in french. It's a common (but understanble) mistake made by foreign people.
Rendre /ʁɑ̃dʁ/ or rendre visite (à) /ʁɑ̃dʁ vi.zit/, meaning to pay a visit (to), is used for people:
- Je rends visite à mon père à Paris.I'm visiting my father in Paris.
- Amour viens rendre à mon âme.Love comes to pay a visit to my soul.
Rendre has other meanings, such as to produce, to express, to make, and to give back:
- Tu me rends malade.You make me ill.
Grammar · Beautiful, new, and old · Beau, nouveau, et vieux
Formation
| Masc. consonant | Masc. vowel | Fem. sing. (all) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beau | Singular | un beau garçon | un bel individu | une belle fillette |
| Plural | de beaux garçons | de beauxzindividus | de belles fillettes | |
| Nouveau | Singular | un nouveau camion | un nouvel ordre | une nouvelle idée |
| Plural | de nouveaux camions | de nouveauxzordres | de nouvelles idées | |
| Vieux | Singular | un vieux camion | un vieil ordre | une vieille idée |
| Plural | de vieux camions | de vieuxzordres | de vieilles idées |
Sentences placement
Most adjectives come after the noun they modify in French:
- un homme intelligentan intelligent man
- des hommes intelligentsintelligent men
Beau, nouveau, and vieux, as well as some other common French adjectives, precede the noun:
- une jolie voiturea pretty car
Des is replaced with de when an adjective comes before the noun:
- de jolies voiturespretty cars
In informal speech, des is often used in place of de.
Vocabulary · Plays · Les pièces
| At the theater | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| le théâtre | | theater | |||
| la pièce (de théâtre) | | (theatrical) play | |||
| l'acte (f) la scène l'entracte (m) | | act scene intermission | |||
| chanter le (la) chanteur (-euse) | | to sing singer | |||
| danser le (la) danseur (-euse) | | to dance dancer | |||
| Play genres | |||||
| le ballet | | ballet | |||
| la comédie | | comedy | |||
| la comédie musicale | musical comedy | ||||
| le drame | | drama | Macbeth est un drame de William Shakespeare. | Macbeth is a drama of William Shakespeare. | |
| la tragédie | | tragedy | Cet acteur est admirable dans la tragédie. | This actor is admirable in the tragedy. | |
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