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Introduction to French:
Lesson 5

By Linas

French for hi is salut.

It comes from the word salute. Imagine firing a salute every time you say hi.

French for that is ça.

It’s actually a shortened form of cela but that doesn’t really matter because you usually simply say ça.

French for goes is va.

How would you say:

That goes.

Answer: Ça va.
Not correct. Please try again.

How would you ask in the cool way:

Does that go?

Answer: Est-ce que ça va ?
Not correct. Please try again.

That’s how the French say how are you doing. Except they say that so much that they skip that est-ce que and they simply ask ça va ?. This ça va ? means how are you doing, what’s up or something like that. Literally it means that goes, though.

You would answer that goes well to mean I am fine. How do you say that goes well:

I am fine.

Answer: Ça va bien.
Not correct. Please try again.

As we have some more time left, let’s learn a few more things.

French for he wants is je veut.

It does not end with an e so the forms for you and I must be the same.

French for I want is je veux.

Try saying:

I want that.

Answer: Je veux ça.
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Not that.

Answer: Pas ça.
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What do you want?

Answer: Qu’est-ce que tu veux ?
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Whenever you have words that end with e in the he form, you can do a trick:

To make a "he form" word (he does) into a "to form" word (to do; i.e. the infinitive) when the word ends with e, you simply add r to the end.

How would you say:

To speak

Answer: Parler
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Say:

I don’t want to speak English.

Answer: Je ne veux pas parler l’anglais.
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French for I can is je peux.

This word is absolutely completely the same as veux except it starts with a p instead of a v. Say:

I can speak French.

Answer: Je peux parler le français.
Not correct. Please try again.

French for now is maintenant.

It is spelled exactly like main tenant. Imagine that you are a landlord and you have a lot of tenants and you have to find your main tenant now.

The word for now goes at the end of the sentence.

Say:

I can speak French now.

Answer: Je parle le français maintenant.
Not correct. Please try again.

This means that it’s time to wrap up this short course.

Before that, though, let’s have a short conversation to show off what you have learnt:

Hi.

Answer: Salut.
Not correct. Please try again.

Hi. How are you doing?

Answer: Salut. Ça va ?
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I am fine. And ya?

Answer: Ça va bien. Et toi ?
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Me too, I’m doing good. Where are you from?

Answer: Moi aussi, ça va bien. D’où es-tu ?
Not correct. Please try again.

I am from France. And ya?

Answer: Je suis de la France. Et toi ?
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I am from England, me.

Answer: Je suis de l’Anglaterre, moi.
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Do you speak French?

Answer: Est-ce que tu parles le français ?
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I speak French but I do not understand well. I can speak English.

Answer: Je parle le français mais je ne comprends pas bien. Je peux parler l’anglais.
Not correct. Please try again.

I want to speak French now. I can’t speak English.

Answer: Je veux parler le français maintenant. Je ne peux pas parler l’anglais.
Not correct. Please try again.

This should do it.