Copy of Week 15 Day 1: Placement of Adverbs and Vocabulary Related to Trees
We’ll be talking about two things in this lesson:
- The placement of adverbs
- Vocabulary related to trees
We have already talked about adverbs before. Let’s continue with the topic. This lesson will teach you how to place the adverb in a French sentence.
Before we start, let’s ask ourselves where we place the adverb in English?
Consider some examples…
I will never return to this place! So, before the verb? But, wait…
See you soon! Oh, now it comes after the verb…
Suddenly he enters the room! Now it comes even before the subject!
Don’t worry! The rules for French adverbs are rather easier to recall than its English counterparts.
- The first rule is that, when an adverb modifies a verb, it generally comes after the verb. However, when it modifies an adjective or another adverb, it comes before the word it modifies.
Listen to Week 15 Day 1 Track 1
Je travaille beaucoup pour réussir l’examen. I work very hard to succeed on the exam. (beaucoup modify travaille, it goes after)
Ils ont une très belle voiture. They have a very nice car. (très modify belle, it goes before)
C’est trop tard pour rentrer ! It’s already too late to return. (trop modify tard, it goes before)
- However, when it comes to a verb, you need to be careful with the tense. For simple tense (present, simple future, imperfect tense…) the adverb generally goes after the verb.
Je travaille souvent le week-end.- I usually work on the weekend.
Je croyais toujours qu’il reviendrait. - I always believed that he would come back.
- If you see a compound tense (with an auxiliary, such as the perfect tense or the pluperfect tense), the adverb will most likely come between the auxiliary and the participle.
Il a trop mangé - He’s eaten too much.
J’ai déjà fini mes devoirs. - I’ve already finished my homework.
- However, some adverbs don’t follow the rule above (for compound tense). They will come even after the past participle. You will notice in some of the examples later on in this lesson that in some cases, the adverb placement may change in order to emphasize something different in the sentence.
Speaking Practice 1
Here’s the list of most used adverbs:
On les a vus partout. - We saw them everywhere.
Il a couru vite. - He ran fast.
- Most of them are time adverbs.
Speaking Practice 2
Dialogue:
Now, let’s proceed to the second topic: vocabulary related to trees.
We have already talked about flowers and fruits in previous lessons. Today’s lesson will help you to memorize the names of trees that you may see when you come to France, or ones in your country that you want to talk to your French friends about.
This lesson will also teach you a rule to name the tree if you already know its flower/fruit. Let’s see some examples:
Listen to Week 15 Day 1 Track 5
- pomme (apple) -> pommier (apple tree)
- orange -> oranger (orange tree)
- rose -> rosier (rose bush)
- abricot (apricot) -> abricotier (apricot tree)
- prune (plum) -> prunier (plum tree)
This rule applies in general to plants that produce well-known flowers or fruit (called plante fleurie/fruitière in French)
Dialogue
Speaking Practice 3
A Quick Recap of this Lesson-
Un petit résumé de la leçon
Sharpen Your Knowledge with Exercises
Exercise 1
Exercise 2
Answer the questions about the dialogue:
Exercise 3
Exercise 4
Exercise 5
Answer the questions about the dialogue: