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Cheat sheet
Reading the real world: cheat sheet
The summary, key terms and the trap to avoid for every lesson, in order. Print it, or read it, cover it, and say it back.
- The passé simple is for writing: novels, history, some press. In speech use the passé composé.
- Regular third person: -a / -èrent (-er verbs); -it / -irent (-ir and -re); -ut / -urent (verbs in -u).
- Learn by sight: fut, eut, fit, vint, dit, prit, vit, mit, and the plural furent, eurent, firent, vinrent, dirent, prirent, virent, mirent.
- The passé simple moves the story on; the imparfait gives the background.
- To find the infinitive, read the ending, then match the stem: il fit → faire.
- passé simple
- a past tense of writing for completed actions in a narrative
- il parla / ils parlèrent
- passé simple of an -er verb
- il finit / ils finirent
- passé simple of an -ir or -re verb
- il voulut / ils voulurent
- passé simple of a verb with a participle in -u
- il fut, il eut
- passé simple of être, avoir
- il fit, il vint
- passé simple of faire, venir
- il dit, il prit, il vit, il mit
- passé simple of dire, prendre, voir, mettre
- imparfait
- the tense of background and description in a narrative
Watch out: Using the passé simple when you speak or write a message: wrong: Hier, je parlai avec ma sœur sounds like reading a novel aloud. Say Hier, j'ai parlé avec ma sœur.
- A headline often replaces a verb with a noun: hausse, baisse, départ, décision, réforme, fermeture.
- Headlines drop the article and often the verb; de shows who acts or what is affected.
- To rebuild the sentence: find the verb, make the word after de its subject, choose a tense.
- Gender helps: -tion, -sion, -ure, -ée usually feminine; -ment almost always masculine; learn départ and refus one by one.
- Formal writing uses the same trick: en raison de la hausse des prix, suite à la décision du conseil.
- la nominalisation
- turning a verb into a noun (augmenter → la hausse)
- le titre
- the headline
- la hausse / l'augmentation
- the rise
- la baisse
- the fall
- le départ
- the departure
- la décision
- the decision
- en raison de
- because of (formal)
- suite à
- following, as a result of
Watch out: Keeping the verb form where a noun is needed, or getting the gender wrong: wrong: le décider du conseil, wrong: le baisse des prix, wrong: un fermeture. The nouns are la décision, la baisse, une fermeture.
- Ce qui (subject), ce que (object), ce dont (de), ce à quoi (à): what the missing noun is in the second clause.
- Preposition + lequel for things: dans lequel, pour laquelle; à and de merge: auquel, auxquels, duquel, desquelles.
- À laquelle and de laquelle never change; for people, à qui and de qui are simpler.
- Dont cannot follow a preposition: after près de, au bout de, à côté de use duquel / de laquelle.
- The verb decides: avoir besoin de, parler de, s'occuper de → de; penser à, tenir à, participer à → à.
- ce qui
- what (subject)
- ce que
- what (direct object)
- ce dont
- what ... of (verb or phrase with de)
- ce à quoi
- what ... to (verb with à)
- auquel / à laquelle
- to which
- duquel / de laquelle
- of which (after a compound preposition)
- dont
- of which, whose
Watch out: Choosing the relative from the English instead of from the French verb: wrong: Ce que me plaît (the thing is the subject: ce qui me plaît); wrong: Le projet dont je participe (participer à: le projet auquel je participe); wrong: Ce dont je pense (penser à: ce à quoi je pense).
- A column argues: find the thesis, the arguments and the counter-argument.
- Certes… mais: the real view comes after mais.
- Tone: ironie, indignation, prudence; check it against the word choice and punctuation.
- Prétendument and soi-disant show distance; selon lui attributes a claim to someone else.
- Fact = checkable (figure, date, source); opinion = judgement, prediction or order.
- Force est de constater que is a formal expression: the author insists.
- la thèse
- the main claim of a text
- l'argument
- a reason given for the thesis
- le contre-argument
- a point from the other side
- la concession (certes… mais)
- admitting a point before making yours
- l'ironie
- saying the opposite, or mocking
- l'indignation
- anger at something felt to be unfair
- la prudence
- caution in what is claimed
- prétendument
- supposedly (the author doubts it)
- soi-disant
- so-called (the author doubts it)
- force est de constater que
- one has to admit that (formal)
Watch out: Reading the concession as the author's view: wrong: L'auteure pense que la mesure déplaira, donc elle est contre. The certes part grants a point; the thesis follows mais.