Week 3, Day 1: Professions (2nd Part) and Demonstrative Adjectives Copy Copy
Bonjour! It’s the start of your third week of lessons, and today we will continue learning about vocabulary related to professions. We will also discuss demonstrative adjectives.
By the end of this lesson, you should be better at introducing people and improving your conversations in French.
Professions
Speaking Practice 1
Listen to this dialogue to see how these words are pronounced:
What are French Demonstrative Adjectives?
Listen to Week 3 Day 1 Track 4
| Masculin | Féminin | Exemples | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singulier | ce (this) | cette (this) | ce garcon / cette fille (this boy/ this girl) |
| Pluriel | ces (these) | ces (those) | ces garçons / ces filles (these boys/ these girls) |
Note: “ce” becomes “cet” when it is placed before a noun that starts with a vowel (cet enfant) and a mute “h” (cet homme). It remains “ce” in front of a noun that starts with “y” (ce yaourt).
Demonstrative adjectives have two forms: simple and reinforced. We already know about the simple form (ce, cette, ces, cet).
Now let's take a look at the reinforced form.
The reinforced form of demonstrative adjectives makes use of -ci (this--here) and -là (that--there). You use these with ce, cet, cette and ces if you wish to be even more precise with the noun you are referring to and you want to show its proximity to you.
Let's take a look at how this applies in the table below:
Listen to Week 3 Day 1 Track 5
| Masculin | Féminin | Exemples | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singulier | ce + nom + -ci | cette + nom + -ci | ce garcon-ci (this boy here) / cette fille-ci (this girl here) |
| ce + nom + -là | cette + nom + -là | ce garcon-là (that boy there) / cette fille-là (that girl there) |
|
| Pluriel | ces + nom + -ci | ces + nom + -ci | ces garcons-ci / ces filles-ci (these boys/girls here) |
| ces + nom + -là | ces + nom + -là | ces garcons-là / ces filles-là (those boys/ girls there) |
Functions of Demonstrative Adjectives
In writing, demonstrative adjectives have two functions:
Listen to Week 3 Day 1 Track 6
Il est venu mercredi. Ce jour-là, il avait un collier au cou. (He came on Wednesday. He had a necklace that day.)
Listen to Week 3 Day 1 Track 7
Ce fut une catastrophe, la mort du general. (That was a catastrophe, the death of the general.)
Now that you know everything about demonstrative adjectives, let’s have a little chat.
Sample Dialogue
A Quick Recap of this Lesson
This lesson provided you with the following:
Sharpen Your Knowledge with Exercises
Exercise 1
Exercise 2
Listen to the dialogue and answer the following questions.
Exercise 3
Exercise 4
Guess the profession.
Responses