> - Qu'est-ce que vous aimez faire? - J'adore les spectacles. What do you like to do? I adore shows. le son 'in' pronunciation practice faire to do, to make l'infinitif using verbs in the infinitive de la, du, de l', des describing undefined quantities le dimanche, le lundi... the days of the week Listen and repeat after each sentence. Pay special attention to distinguish the sound in: magasin shop la fin the end
Qu'est-ce que vous aimez faire? What do you like to do? Moi, qu'est-ce que j'aime faire? - Ça dépend des jours. What do I like to do? That depends on the day. Le dimanche, j'aime rester à la maison... On Sundays, I like to stay at home......mais le lundi, j'aime faire du sport, de la marche par exemple....but on Mondays I like to do some exercise, walking for example. J'aime aussi faire des courses dans les magasins, mais pas le lundi, plutôt à la fin de la semaine, le vendredi quand j'ai le temps. I also like to do the shopping in the shops, but not on Mondays, more at the end of the week, on Fridays when I have the time. Tu aimes faire le ménage? Do you like doing the housework? Tu aimes aller voir des spectacles? Do you like to go to see shows? Non, pas trop, je préfère me promener bien sûr. No, not very much. I prefer to go for a walk of course. Oh oui, j'adore sortir, j'aime le cinéma, le théâtre, le concert, l'opéra, la danse. Oh yes, I adore going out, I love the cinema, the theatre, concerts, the opera, dance. Qu'est-ce que tu détestes dans la vie? What do you dislike in life? Le matin, je déteste me lever tôt, je préfère dormir chez moi. In the morning, I hate to get up early, I prefer to sleep at my place. Je déteste travailler, comme tout le monde probablement.
I dislike work, like everybody probably. Non, pas comme tout le monde. Moi j'aime travailler! No, not like everybody. Me, I like to work! Ah bon! Pourquoi pas? Je trouve ça bizarre, mais... après tout... Really! Why not? I find that strange, but... after all......en quatre points The lesson in four points 1) The verb «faire» The verb faire means 'to do' or 'to make'. Here is its conjugation. faire - to do, to make le présent de l'indicatif je fais tu fais il fait elle fait nous faisons vous faites ils font elles font Je fais la cuisine. I do the cooking. Tu fais une bêtise. You do something stupid. Il fait son possible. He does what he can. Elle fait des histoires. She makes trouble.
Nous faisons du sport le dimanche matin. We exercise / play sport on Sunday mornings. Vous faites triste mine. You're looking grumpy. (lit: You make a sad face.) Ils ne font rien. They don't do anything. Elles font des efforts sérieux pour s'améliorer. They make some serious efforts to improve. 2) Using infinitives In a phrase like Qu'est-ce que vous aimez faire? What do you like to do? you will see that the verb vous aimez is followed directly by another verb, in this case faire. Faire is an infinitive, meaning 'to do'. When using the infinitive in French you don't need an equivalent for the English word 'to'. The sense of 'to' is contained in the one word infinitive form. For example, in English we say: I love to do something. In French the equivalent construction is direct: It is the same for the verbs: J'aime lire. I like to read J'aime me promener. I like to go for a walk. préférer - to prefer
3) De la, du, de l', des adorer - to adore détester - to detest Il préfère voyager seul. He prefers to travel alone. Nous adorons manger des produits frais. We adore eating fresh products. Vous détestez travailler le dimanche. You hate working on Sundays. Often when constructing a sentence in French you need to use the words de la, du, de l' and des. One common use of these words is when talking about an undefined quantity of something: J'aime boire de la bière. I like to drink beer. In English to talk about an undefined quantity we employ a noun without an article: 'beer'. In French to talk about 'beer' in this general way you can't just say bière, you must say de la bière. de la is used when the noun that follows is feminine. But when the thing you are talking about is masculine, de la becomes contracted. You can't say which becomes du J'adore boire du vin.
I adore drinking drink wine. When the thing you are talking about begins with a vowel, we have: And in the plural Je préfère boire de l'eau. I prefer to drink water. becomes des J'aime boire des boissons sans alcool, des jus de fruits par exemple. I like to drink non-alcoholic drinks, fruit juices for example. In English we simply drop the article before the noun - in French you need to insert de la, du, de l' and des. de la, du, de l' and des can turn up in other expressions where there is no direct equivalent in English. For example, the construction faire de: J'aime faire de la marche. I like to go walking. J'adore faire du sport. I adore playing sport / exercising. Je déteste faire des courses. I hate doing the shopping. jouer de is used for playing a musical instrument: Je préfère jouer du piano. I prefer to play the piano. You have already come across another, separate use of des: as the plural of un and une. Sometimes des would be translated in English by the word 'some'. Il y a des pommes et des poires sur la table.
There are some apples and pears on the table. But sometimes we wouldn't put anything in its place: J'ai des enfants, un fils et une fille. I have children, a son and a daughter. 4) Le dimanche, le lundi, le matin These are the days of the week: le lundi Monday le mardi Tuesday le mercredi Wednesday le jeudi Thursday le vendredi Friday le samedi Saturday le dimanche Sunday Notice there is no capital letter in French. is the ending that corresponds to 'dies' in Latin, in English 'day'. is Monday, the day of the moon Then there are other planets: -di lundi la lune Mars - mardi Mars Mercure - mercredi Mercury Jupiter - jeudi Jupiter
Vénus - vendredi Venus For samedi it's the sabbath, the Jewish feast day. And then it's dimanche dies dominici the day of the Lord If you want to say on Sundays, on Mondays or in the mornings you don't need a preposition, you just say: For example: le dimanche, le lundi, le matin Les magasins sont fermés le dimanche. The shops are closed on Sundays. To talk about a precise Sunday you can use dimanche without the article: En principe je ne travaille pas le dimanche mais, dimanche, je travaille. In general I don't work on Sundays, but Sunday, I am working. En principe je ne travaille pas le dimanche mais, dimanche, j'ai travaillé. In general I don't work on Sundays, but Sunday, I worked. In these examples, the Sunday being talked about is understood from the tense of the verb travailler. The first example clearly refers to next Sunday, while the second clearly refers to last Sunday. If you want to be more explicit you can say: dimanche prochain next Sunday
En principe je ne travaille pas le dimanche mais, dimanche prochain, je travaille. In general I don't work on Sundays, but next Sunday, I am working. dimanche dernier last Sunday En principe je ne travaille pas le dimanche mais, dimanche dernier, j'ai travaillé. In general I don't work on Sundays, but last Sunday, I worked.