Observe the following from the dialogue:
—Hélas, non. Le matin, je vais étudierà la bibliothèque et l’après-midi, je vais sortiravec mon frère.
To express a future action where there is a high degree of certainty, the formula is:
subject+aller+infinitive (conjugated
in the present tense) On va célébrer le nouvel emploi de Muriel.
Le futur proche and pronominal verbs
As in the passé récentwith pronominal verbs, the unstressed pronoun must agree with the subject pronoun, even though the verb remains in its infinitive form.
Demain, jevais mecoucher très tard.
Locating events in time or temporal expressions
To specify particular times of the day, French offers different possibilities.
Locating an event within a day
In Chapter 4 we studied parts of the day. In that section we saw the different parts of the day in French and their equivalents in English.
le matin le mat˜e morning
l’après-midi laprèmidi afternoon
le soir le swar evening
la nuit la nÿi night
However, a big difference between English and French is that when specifying an event within a day, a preposition is necessary in English but not in French. Observe the following example from the dialogue:
—Hélas, non. Le matin,je vais étudier à la bibliothèque et l’après-midi,je vais sortir avec mon frère.
In these examples, what is meant is not the part of the day, but in whichpart of the day the event takes place. English requires in the.
le matin le mat˜e in the morning
l’après-midi laprèmidi in the afternoon
le soir le swar in the evening
la nuit la nÿi in the night
Locating an event in relation to “now”
Observe the following line from the conversation:
—C’est l’anniversaire de notre mère la semaine prochaine et on va acheter un cadeau.
If we locate ourselves at the moment of speaking, we can locate the event we are referring to at a precise moment in the past, in the present, or in the future by means of time expressions.
These expressions and their equivalents in English are summarized in the following table.
Past events Now Future events
avant before maintenant now après after, later
tout à l’heure a short while ago maintenant now tout à l’heure in a short while
hier yesterday aujourd’hui today demain tomorrow
la semaine dernière last week cette semaine this week la semaine prochaine next week le mois dernier last month ce mois-ci this month le mois prochain next month l’année dernière last year cette année this year l’année prochaine next year
TABLE 6-1 Time expressions for the past, present, and future
Dialogue 6.2
Lucie is reading something important for her studies, but her brother Paul is making too much noise. Read the conversation carefully.
Lucie est en train de lire quelque chose d’important pour ses études, mais son frère Paul fait beaucoup de bruit. Lisez le conversation attentivement.
LUCIE Arrête de faire du bruit ! arèt de fèr dü brÿi.
PAUL Pourquoi ?
purkwa ?
LUCIE Tu ne vois pas que je suis en train de lire ? tü ne vwa pâ ke zhe sÿi ã tr˜e de lir ?
PAUL Oui, mais j’aime beaucoup cette musique.
wi, mè zhèm boku sèt müzik.
LUCIE Musique ! C’est du bruit.
müzik ! sè dü brÿi.
PAUL Si ỗa te dộrange, ferme la porte.
si sa te dérãzh, fèrm la pòrt.
LUCIE Paul, s’il te plaợt. Sois gentil avec moi. J’ai mal à la tờte.
pol, silteplè. tü nè pâ zhãti avèk mwa. zhé mal a la tèt.
PAUL D’accord. Je baisse le son tout de suite.
dakòr. zhe bès le sõ tudsÿit.
Translation
LUCIE Stop making noise!
PAUL Why?
LUCIE Don’t you see that I’m reading?
PAUL Yes, but I like this music.
LUCIE Music! That’s noise.
PAUL If it bothers you, close the door.
LUCIE Paul, please. Be nice to me. I’m getting a headache.
PAUL OK. I’ll lower the volume right away.
Useful vocabulary
le bruit le brÿi noise
faire du bruit fèr dü brÿi to make noise
gentil (m.) zhãti nice
gentille (f.) zhãtiy
la tête la tèt head
avoir mal à la tête avwar mal a la tèt to have a headache
s’il te plaợt silteplố please (informal)
le son le sõ sound, volume
tout de suite tudsÿit right away
New verbs
arrêter arèté to stop
déranger dérãzhé to bother, to disturb
baisser bèsé to lower, to put down
lire lir to read
Notes
1. All of the verbs above, except lire,are regular -erverbs and are conjugated with avoir except lire.However, dérangeris a little different. See below for details.
2. When the verb arrêtermeans to stop doing something,it is followed by the preposition de and a verb in the infinitive form. If the verb in the infinitive begins with a vowel or silent h, debecomes d’.
Sébastien a arrêté de travailler à 6 h 00 du matin. Sébastien stopped working at 6:00 A.M.
Verbs whose stems end in g-
Verbs whose stems end in g(pronounced /zh/) must add an ebefore an a, o,or u.This change is necessary to maintain soft “g” sound. Observe the following verbs:
déranger dérãzhé to bother
je derange zhe dérãzh I bother
tu deranges tü dérãzh you bother
il/elle/on derange il/èl/õ dérãzh he/she bothers
nous dérangeons nu dérãzhõ we bother
vous dérangez vu dérãzhé you bother
ils/elles dérangent il/èl dérãzh they bother
manger mãzhé to eat
je mange zhe mãzh I eat
tu manges tü mãzh you eat
il/elle/on mange il/èl mãzh he/she eats
nous mangeons nu mãzhõ we eat
vous mangez vu mãzhé you eat
ils/elles mangent il/èl mãzh they eat
The verb lire
lire lir to read
je lis zhe li I read
tu lis tü li you read
il/elle/on lit il/èl/õ li he/she reads
nous lisons nu lizõ we read
vous lisez vu lizé you read
ils/elles lisent il/èl liz they read
Expressing actions that are happening at the moment of speaking and simultaneously
Quick Tips
1. English indicates that an action is in progress using the present continuous (to be +-ingform). There is no real equivalent form for this in French.