| The French are world renowned as being very | | | | than present or future, the past tense is used more so |
| passionate about the film and their film industry, a | | | | than in most other languages. If you look to the French |
| central point of France's economy and culture. | | | | verb tenses lesson ( my learn French site, you will see |
| Ask virtually anyone walking through the streets of | | | | that the past tense is also the most basic, easy to |
| France about their thoughts or opinions on film, their | | | | learn conversational tense. Just take the verb 'avoir' |
| favorite movies, or the last time they watched a film, | | | | and use it with the past participle to form the past |
| and you will quickly get to meet a range of interesting | | | | tense. |
| people and find yourself deep in French conversation. | | | | Although forming the past participle for French verbs is |
| For this reason, knowing a few words and being able | | | | done differently for each verb, if you are using 'regular' |
| to talk a little about film in French is a great tool as this | | | | verbs, the ending will remain consistent. |
| is a good opportunity to practice your French speaking | | | | 'er' verbs: remove 'er' from the infinitive and add 'e' |
| with native speakers. | | | | 'ir' verbs: remove 'ir' from the infinitive and add 'i' |
| For starters you need to know the basics. Below are | | | | 're' verbs: remove 're' from the infinitive and add 'u' |
| a few words you will commonly use when discussing | | | | Parler(speak): parle |
| your film interests. The soundings of many of these | | | | Remplir(fill): rempli |
| French words also give you a reasonable indication of | | | | Entendre (hear): entendu |
| what the word means in English.actors: | | | | Go back to the second conversation we covered, 'Oui, |
| comediensactresses: comediennesadventure: | | | | j'ai beaucoup aime le scenario'. See how the verb |
| adventureanimated films: dessins animesbest film: | | | | 'aimer' (to like) is an 'er' verb, here we removed the 'er' |
| meilleur filmbest screenplay: meilleur scenario | | | | and added 'e', so it became 'j'ai aime le scenario'. |
| Cannes film festival: le festival de Cannes | | | | Of course, since we liked it very much, we have to |
| Cesars: the Cesars (French version of the | | | | insert 'beaucoup' to the middle. (In the case of the 'er' |
| Oscars)crime: policiercomedy: comediedirector: le | | | | verbs, however, both the infinitive and the past |
| metteur en scene (literally-a putter in stage) | | | | participle end up sounding similar, despite the fact that |
| Golden Palm: La Palme d'Or (honorable prize at the | | | | the spelling is different. In this case, an 'ay' sound is |
| Cannes film festival)movie: le filmmovie theater: le | | | | achieved by the 'er' and 'e' endings. |
| cinema | | | | See if you are able to take the following short |
| A Quick French Movie Phrase | | | | sentences and create the past tense using 'ir' and 're' |
| - 'Et maintenant, le moment que nous attendons tous: le | | | | verbs. |
| Cesar du meilleur metteur en scene.' | | | | 'J'ai rempli le verre.' I filled the glass |
| - And now, the moment we have all been waiting for: | | | | 'Il a entendu sa mere.' He heard his mother. |
| the Oscar for the best director.... | | | | For more examples of how to transform into and |
| As mentioned earlier, the cultural and language trends | | | | converse in the past tense visit my other lessons on |
| are often very similar between the French and English. | | | | speaking French in the past tense. |
| this make it reasonably simply to learn the language, | | | | You will be comfortable with using 'tenses' in English, |
| the transition or conversion from English to French is | | | | however when you have already had to deal with |
| really quite intuitive. In regards to the above French | | | | learning another language, understanding tenses, how |
| sentence, if I told you that 'maintenant' is 'now' in | | | | to use tenses, and the small differences between |
| French, it would be easy to understand what was | | | | French and English tenses can sometimes be rather |
| being said. | | | | challenging. Keep in mind that, for the most part the |
| Below are some more French sentences about film. | | | | French and English languages share many of the |
| Read the French sentence first, see if you understand | | | | same language trends. Both the French and English |
| what is going on and being said, then see if you were | | | | language contain some very complicated tenses, the |
| correct with the English translation. | | | | majority of which we will never even use in our |
| -'Avez-vous vu (voo) le dernier (dare nee ay) film de | | | | everyday conversation. So for my introductory French |
| Spike Jones?' | | | | lessons, I try and keep things simple and focus mainly |
| - Have you seen the last Spike Jones film? | | | | on the most common (and useful) tenses.... the |
| - 'Oui, j'ai beaucoup aime le scenario, mais pas la mise | | | | present.... the future.... and the past. With my lessons |
| en scene.' | | | | you don't need to know the French names for theses |
| - Yes, I really liked the screenplay, but not the direction. | | | | tenses, you simply need to understand at when to use |
| - 'Est'ce que le film passe en VO ou en VF?' | | | | each tense, and at what time the action is taking place. |
| - Is the film in the original language version or dubbed | | | | With the French language, it is the end of a verb that |
| into French? (VO is an abbreviation for Version | | | | indicates the tense of the word. The endings also |
| Originale and VF means the Version Francaise.) | | | | depend on whether you're using a regular or irregular |
| - 'Heureusement (uhr uz mehn), en VF. Je ne | | | | French verb. To put it simply, regular verbs always |
| comprends (com prahn) pas Anglais tres bien.' | | | | have the same endings, whereas irregular verbs have |
| - Happily, dubbed into French. I don't understand English | | | | their own unique endings. Of the regular there are |
| very well. | | | | three kinds that you will come accross and become |
| You may notice that the first two conversations | | | | familiar with as your learning continues: "er" verbs, "ir" |
| above are spoken in the past tense. In France it's | | | | verbs and "re" verbs. |
| actually more common to converse in the past tense | | | | |