Dialogue

Culture · Education in France

Vocabulary · School and students

File:French/Vocabulary/Schools and students.ogg
l'école (f)	/ekɔl/	school
l'élève (m)	/e.lɛv/	pupil
l'étudiant (m) l'étudiante (f)	/etydjɑ̃/ /etydjɑ̃t/	student
le collège (classes 6-4)	/kɔ.lɛʒ/	jr. high school (grades 6-9)
le collégien la collégienne	/kɔ.le.ʒjɛ̃/ /kɔ.le.ʒjɛn/	jr. high school student
le lycée (classes 3-terminale)	/li.se/	high school (grades 10-12)
le lycéen la lycéenne	/li.se.ɛ̃/ /li.se.ɛn/	high school student
l'université (f) la fac(ulté)	/y.ni.vɛʁ.si.te/ /fak/ /fa.kyl.te/	university
l'enseignement supérieur		higher education graduate school

Grammar · Present perfect with regular verbs

The passé composé^{present perfect} is a compound tense, and is therefore composed of an auxiliary verb and a past participle. With most verbs, that auxiliary verb is avoir.

Vocabulary · At school · À l'école

File:French/Vocabulary/School.ogg
le professeur la prof	/pʁɔ.fɛ.sœʁ/ /pʁɔf/	teacher, professor
la bourse	/buʁs/	scholarship
le diplôme (professionnel)	/di.plom/	diploma
le bac(calauréat)	/bak/ /bakalɔʀea/	high school exit exam
la bibliothèque	/bi.bli.jɔ.tɛk/	library
la note	/nɔt/	grade, mark (as on a test)
les cours	/kuʁ/	classes or courses
la classe	/klas/	grade (e.g. 6th Grade)
en cours de [...]		in [...] class
Pendant les cours
le tableau	/ta.blɔ/	chalkboard
la craie	/kʁɛ/	chalk
le pupitre	/pypitʁ/	school desk
l'examen (m)	/ɛɡzamɛ̃/	exam, test
les devoirs	/dǝ.vwaʁ/	homework
la classe	/klas/	class
la cantine	/kɑ̃.tin/	cafeteria
la récréation la cour	/ʁe.kʁe.a.sjɔ̃/ /kuʁ/	recess courtyard
Describing teachers and students
intelligent(e)	/ɛ̃teliʒɑ̃/ /ɛ̃teliʒɑ̃t/	intelligent
strict(e)	/stʁikt/	strict

^ The word professeur is considered masculine at all times, even if the teacher is female. The only case when "professeur" can be preceded by feminine determinant is either when contracting it in colloquial language "la prof", or when adding a few words before : "madame/mademoiselle la/le professeur".

Vocabulary · Actions

File:French/Vocabulary/School-related actions.ogg
passer un examen		to take a test
étudier	/e.ty.dje/	to study		Il étudie nuit et jour.	He studied night and day.
écrire	/e.kʁiʁ/	to write
lever (la main)		to raise (your hand)
poser (une question)		to ask (a question)
répondre (à)	/re.pɔ̃dʁ/	to answer, to reply (to)		Il a répondu à toutes les questions.	He answered all of the questions.
parler	/paʁle/	to speak		Ils ont parlé plusieurs heures avant d'aller se coucher.	They talked for several hours before bedtime.
écouter	/ekute/	to listen (to)		J’écoute la radio.	I listen to the radio.
entendre	/ɑ̃.tɑ̃dʁ/	to hear (of)		Elle entend des voix.	She hears voices.
regarder	/ʁǝ.ɡaʁ.de/	to watch
déjeuner	/de.ʒœ.ne/	to (eat) lunch		Déjeunez- vous á onze heure?	You (formal) eat lunch at eleven O'clock?

In French, you do not "own" body parts. While in English, you would say my hand or your hand, the definite article is almost always used in French:

la main^{my hand}

la jambe^{my leg}

le bras^{my arm}

To and of are part of the verbs écouter and entendre respectively. It is not necessary to add a preposition to the verb. Other verbs, such as répondre (à), meaning to respond (to), are almost always followed by a preposition.

Grammar · To write and to read · Écrire et lire

Écrire

Écrire is an irregular French verb, meaning to write. It varies from other -re verbs in the plural conjugation, by adding a v. Its past particple, écrit, is also irregular.

écrire  /e.kʁiʁ/	to write
j'écris /e.kʁi/	I write
tu écris /e.kʁi/	you write
il écrit  /e.kʁi/	he writes
nous écrivons /e.kʁi.vɔ̃/)	we write
vous écrivez /e.kʁi.ve/	you write
ils écrivent /e.kʁiv/	they write
écrit  /e.kʁi/	written

The verb coécrire^{to co-write} /ko.e.kʁiʁ/ is conjugated the same way. The nouns écriture /e.kʁi.tyʁ/, meaning writing or handwriting, and écrivain /e.kʁi.vɛ̃/, meaning writer, are derived from écrire.

Lire

Lire is an irregular French verb, meaning to read. Its plural conjugation adds an s, and its past participle is lu.

lire  /liʁ/	to read
je lis  /'li/	I read
tu lis  /'li/	you read
il lit  /'li/	he reads
nous lisons /li.zɔ̃/	we read
vous lisez /li.ze/	you read
ils lisent /liz/	they read
lu /ly/	read

The verbs élire^{to elect} /e.liʁ/ and relire^{to reread} /ʁǝ.liʁ/ are conjugated the same way. The adjective lisible /lizibl/, meaning readable or legible, is derived from lire.

Supplementary vocabulary · School supplies · Les fournitures scolaires

File:French/Vocabulary/School supplies.ogg
la craie	/kʁɛ/	chalk		J'ai écrit au tableau avec de la craie.	I wrote on the blackboard with chalk.
le tableau	/ta.blɔ/	the board
le stylo (stylo à bille)	/stil.o/	(ballpoint) pen
le crayon	/kʀɛ.jɔ̃/	pencil
la calculatrice	/kal.ky.la.tʁis/	calculator
le livre	/livʁ/	book	une livre is a pound
le bouquin	/bu.kɛ̃/	book	colloquial; also rabbit	J'ai commencé un nouveau bouquin hier.	I started a new book yesterday.
le cahier	/ka.je/	notebook
le papier la feuille de papier	/pa.pje/	paper sheet of paper
le bloc-notes	/blɔk.nɔt/	notepad
le sac à dos	/sak.a.dɔ/	backpack
la gomme	Fr-gomme.ogg	eraser
la règle	/ʁɛɡl/	ruler
le feutre	/føtʁ/	marker
le cartable		backpack

Supplementary vocabulary · School subjects · Les matières d'enseignement

File:French/Vocabulary/School subjects.ogg
l'informatique (f)	/ɛ̃.fɔʁ.ma.tik/	computer science
la littérature	/li.te.ʁa.tyʁ/	literature
la musique	/myzik/	music
les langues
l'anglais	/ɑ̃.ɡlɛ/	English
le français	/fʁɑ̃.sɛ/	French		Il parle très bien français.	He speaks French very well.
l'espagnol (m)	/ɛs.pa.ɲɔl/	Spanish
l'allemand (m)	/al.mɑ̃/	German		L’allemand est une langue germanique. Mon stagiaire parle un allemand impeccable.	German is a Germanic language. My trainee speaks perfect German.
le russe	/ʁys/	Russian
l'italien (m)	/i.ta.ljɛ̃/	Italian
les sciences naturelles
la biologie	/bjɔ.lo.ʒi/	biology
la chimie	/ʃi.mi/	chemistry
la physique	/fi.zik/	physics		Ses matières préférées sont la chimie et la physique.	His preferred subjects are chemistry and physics.
les mathématiques
l'algèbre (f)	/al.ʒɛbʁ/	algebra
le calcul	/kal.kyl/	calculus
la géométrie	/ʒe.ɔ.me.tʁi/	geometry
les sciences sociales
l'économie (f)	/e.kɔ.nɔ.mi/	economics
la géographie	/ʒe.ɔ.ɡʁa.fi/	geography
l'histoire (f)	/is.twaʁ/	history

Supplementary vocabulary · Classes/grades

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Exercises