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Possessive adjectives

Possessive adjectives agree with the thing possessed: mon père, ma mère, mes parents. For your, our and their, the singular and plural pairs are votre/vos, notre/nos and leur/leurs. French son, sa and ses mean his, her or its according to the noun that follows: son bureau can be his office or her office because bureau is masculine; sa mère can be his mother or her mother because mère is feminine. Before a vowel, the masculine form is used for easier pronunciation: son amie, mon amie.

Verbs ending in -er

The largest group of French verbs has infinitives ending in -er. The book reviews aimer as the pattern: j'aime, il or elle aime, nous aimons, vous aimez, ils or elles aiment. The final -ent is silent. Useful verbs from the first lessons include acheter, commander, demander, écouter, envoyer, essayer, habiter, marcher, parler, payer, regarder, rentrer and téléphoner. The past participle is formed by dropping the final r and adding an accent: trouver becomes trouvé, aimer becomes aimé.

Faire and pouvoir

Faire means both to do and to make: je fais, il or elle fait, nous faisons, vous faites, ils or elles font. Pouvoir covers can, may and to be able to: je peux, il or elle peut, nous pouvons, vous pouvez, ils or elles peuvent. After pouvoir, the next verb stays in the infinitive: vous pouvez prendre, je peux faire.

C'est and il est

Use c'est to identify or explain what something or someone is: Qu'est-ce que c'est ? C'est une photo de famille. C'est is also used with a noun qualified by an adjective: c'est un bon ami. The plural is ce sont. Use il est or elle est to refer back to a noun already mentioned, to talk about the weather, or to tell the time: il est sur la table, il pleut, il est huit heures et demie.

Adjectives

Most feminine singular adjectives add e to the masculine form: petit becomes petite, blond becomes blonde, fort becomes forte. Masculine adjectives already ending in -e usually do not change, while -é adds e, -er becomes -ère, and -eux becomes -euse. Adjectives generally follow the noun, but many common adjectives for beauty, age, goodness and size come before it, such as beau, joli, vieux, jeune, nouveau, bon, mauvais, gentil, grand and petit.

So much for the rules. In time the correct usage will start to feel natural, but from now on, when you memorize a noun's gender, try adding a simple adjective and making it agree.