Chapter 10Correctly Using Often Misused Verbs in Daily Conversation In This Chapter Knowing the verbs connaître and savoir Identifying the differences between jouer à and jouer de Formi
Trang 1Chapter 10
Correctly Using Often Misused Verbs
in Daily Conversation
In This Chapter
Knowing the verbs connaître and savoir
Identifying the differences between jouer à and jouer de
Forming expressions with avoir
Understanding how to use faire
Every language has different ways of saying things and of expressing yourself that can’t
be translated into another language word for word French is no exception For instance
the phrases How are you doing? or How are you? are expressed in French not by the verbs
faire (to do, to make) or être (to be), but by the verb aller (to go) To ask these questions in
French, you say Comment allez-vous? or Comment vas-tu?
In this chapter, I focus on some verbs that have the same meaning in English, but different usage in French You want to make sure you use the right verb so that people know what
you’re talking about I also cover two common verbs: avoir (to have) and faire (to do, to
make) and how you can correctly utilize these verbs in your conversations (You can also check out Chapter 23, which focuses on ten often-misused verbs.)
Knowing the Difference between Connaître and Savoir
French has two verbs that mean to know One is connaître, and the other is savoir Even
though the English language translates them the same, the French language uses them in different circumstances In this section, I show you how to use each verb Both verbs are irregular
connaître (to know)
je connais nous connaissons
tu connais vous connaissez il/elle/on connaît ils/elles connaissent
Je connais Aix-en-Provence (I know Aix-en-Provence.)
Trang 2savoir (to know)
je sais nous savons
tu sais vous savez il/elle/on sait ils/elles savent Nous savons la date de ton anniversaire (We know your birthday.)
So are you wondering what the differences are between the two verbs? Well, you use
the two verbs with different types of information For example, use connaỵtre when
you mean to know or to be acquainted with a person, a place, or a thing Meanwhile,
use savoir when you mean to know a fact, to know something by heart, or to know
specific information,such as a telephone number, an address, or someone’s name
You can also use savoir with the clauses in Table 10-1.
Table 10-1 Clauses That Use Savoir (to know)
Common Clause Translation Example Translation savoir à quelle to know (at) Je sais à quelle I know (at) what time he is
heure what time heure il va venir. going to come
savoir combien to know Je sais combien I know how much that
how much ça cỏte. costs
savoir comment to know how Je sais comment I know how to conjugate
conjuguer connaỵtre. connaỵtre
savoir ó to know where Je sais ó est la I know where the class is
classe.
savoir pourquoi to know why Je sais pourquoi I know why Henri is late
Henri est en retard.
savoir quand to know when Je sais quand le I know when the train is
train part. leaving
savoir que to know that Je sais que tu aimes I know that you like
le chocolat. chocolate
savoir quel, quelle, to know which Je sais quelle heure I know what time it is
savoir qui to know who Je sais qui est là. I know who is there
savoir si to know if Je sais si tu I know if you’re watching TV
regardes la télé.
To say I know! or I don’t know, you simply say Je sais or Je ne sais pas.
You can also follow savoir with an infinitive, but you can’t do that with connaỵtre.
In this way, savoir means to know how to do something For example, Tu sais parler
français means You know how to speak French, and Nous savons faire du ski means
We know how to ski.
Trang 3Which verb, connaỵtre or savoir, do you use in the following sentences? Conjugate
the verbs and translate the sentences
Q.Les enfants _ compter en français
A.Les enfants savent compter en français (The children know how to count in French.)
1 Est-ce que tu _ New York?
2 Marie ne _ pas parler japonais.
3 Nous _ ó il habite.
4 Ils ne _ pas la famille du professeur.
5 Vous _ conduire.
Identifying What to Play
Jouer is a regular -er verb that is used with different prepositions in order to convey
either playing a sport or playing a musical instrument More specifically, jouer à is used with sports and jouer de with instruments If the sport or instrument is masculine, make the necessary contractions: à + le = au; de + le = du See the following examples.
Je joue au tennis (I play tennis.)
Je joue du piano (I play the piano.)
Check out Table 10-2 for playing other sports and games or playing other instruments
Table 10-2 The Different Ways to Play
Jouer à (+ sports or games) Jouer de (+ instruments)
Je joue au basket(ball) (I play basketball.) Je joue du saxophone (I play the saxophone.)
Je joue au foot (I play soccer.) Je joue du violon (I play the violin.)
Je joue au volley (I play volleyball.) Je joue de la batterie (I play the drums.)
Je joue au golf (I play golf.) Je joue de la flûte (I play the flute.)
Je joue au hockey (I play hockey.) Je joue de la guitare (I play the guitar.)
Je joue au bridge (I play bridge.) Je joue de la trompette (I play the trumpet.)
(continued)
Trang 4Table 10-2 (continued)
Jouer à (+ sports or games) Jouer de (+ instruments)
Je joue aux cartes (I play cards.) Je joue du violoncelle (I play the cello.)
Je joue aux dames (I play checkers.) Je joue de la basse (I play bass.)
Je joue aux échecs (I play chess.) Je joue de la clarinette (I play the clarinet.)
In the negative, the prepositions à, au, à la, à l’, and aux don’t change However, du,
de la, de l’, and des do change to de or d’ after the negative, such as Je ne joue pas
de piano, which means I don’t play the piano.
Now, it’s your turn Conjugate the verb jouer (to play) and provide the correct
prepo-sitions Translate the following sentences
Q.Mon père _ (jouer) golf
A.Mon père joue au golf My father plays golf.
6 Georges _ (jouer) violon.
7 Ils _ (ne pas jouer) batterie.
8 Je _ (jouer) échecs.
9 Mon frère _ (jouer) guitare.
10 Les enfants _ (jouer) basketball.
Keeping Avoir and Faire in Line
French has two very important verbs, avoir (to have) and faire (to do, to make), that
are responsible for many sentence formations From these two simple verbs you can form dozens of everyday expressions
This section looks at each verb, avoir and faire, and helps you with any questions
you may have I show you the correct conjugations (you can also find them in Chapter 4) as well as several common expressions formed with these two verbs
Trang 5Using avoir
The verb avoir is very versatile in French and has several meanings in English This verb
is living proof that translating literally from one language to another doesn’t always work Check out the conjugation in the present tense
avoir (to have)
j’ai nous avons
tu as vous avez il/elle/on a ils/elles ont Ils ont trois enfants (They have three children.)
In French, one isn’t a certain age, but has a certain age Therefore, the question How
old are you? is What age do you have? In French if someone asks you Quel âge as-tu/
avez-vous? (How old are you?), you respond as follows: J’ai (your age) ans For
exam-ple, J’ai vingt ans (I am 20 years old).
Check out Table 10-3 for other important avoir expressions.
Table 10-3 Important Avoir Expressions
avoir raison (de) to be right
avoir peur (de) to be afraid (of)
avoir envie de to want, to feel like
avoir l’intention de to have the intention of
avoir l’habitude de to be accustomed to, to be used to
avoir l’occasion de to have the chance to, to have the opportunity to
avoir de la chance to be lucky
avoir honte (de) to be ashamed of
avoir mal (à + a part of the body) to ache, to have pain in a part of the body
Trang 6You can use the expressions in Table 10-3 with the preposition de in parentheses
alone or followed by an infinitive or a noun For example, J’ai tort means I am wrong and J’ai tort de mentir means I am wrong to lie When these expressions are followed
by an infinitive, you must use the preposition de in front of the infinitive, as in the
fol-lowing examples:
J’ai l’occasion de voyager cet été (I have the chance/the opportunity to travel this
summer.)
Nous avons l’habitude de sortir le samedi soir (We are used [accustomed] to
going out Saturday evenings.)
Avoir besoin de and avoir envie de can be followed by an infinitive or a noun In
either case, the preposition de is necessary before the infinitive or the noun.
Tu as besoin d’étudier (You need to study.) J’ai envie de chanter (I feel like singing.) J’ai envie de chocolat (I feel like chocolate.)
To make these expressions negative, add ne before the verb and pas or another
nega-tive word after it
Je n’ai pas envie de chanter (I don’t feel like singing.)
You can also add adverbs to these sentences Check out French For Dummies by
Dodi-Katrin Schmidt, Michelle M Williams, and Dominique Wenzel (Wiley) for more specific information about French grammar
The expression avoir mal is the only one from the list in Table 10-3 that’s followed by the preposition à Conjugate the verb avoir in the present and add mal, the preposi-tion à, and the part of the body that’s hurting now For example, if you have a back-ache, you say J’ai mal au dos The preposition à is followed by the part of the body
that is hurting along with the definite article
J’ai mal aux pieds (My feet hurt.) J’ai mal à l’épaule (My shoulder hurts.)
Now translate some of these expressions into French
Q.He doesn’t feel like going out
A.Il n’a pas envie de sortir.
11 We are thirsty.
12 They are right.
13 You need to read.
Trang 7
14 Michael is lucky.
15 Her head hurts.
Trying faire
Another important verb used in many common expressions is faire (to do, to make).
You need to know how to correctly use it because it’s very versatile and can be used
to express playing both an instrument and a sport without switching prepositions
This section shows you how to conjugate it and then provides numerous expressions using this verb
faire (to do, to make)
je fais nous faisons
tu fais vous faites il/elle/on fait ils/elles font
Il fait du tennis (He plays tennis.)
Table 10-4 shows many of the ways that you can use faire when talking about sports
as well as instruments When you use faire with sports and instruments, remember
that it has the same meaning as the verb jouer à or de (to play) These two verbs are
used interchangeably However, remember to use the correct prepositions Unlike
jouer, faire is followed by the preposition de whether you’re talking about a sport or
an instrument
Table 10-4 Using Faire with Sports and Instruments
faire de l’alpinisme to mountain climb
faire de la planche à voile to windsurf
faire de la voile to sail, sailing
faire du foot, football to play soccer
faire du football américan to play football
(continued)
Trang 8Table 10-4 (continued)
faire de la batterie to play the drums
faire de la flûte to play the flute
faire de la guitare to play the guitar
faire de la trompette to play the trumpet
faire du saxophone to play the saxophone
In addition to sports and instruments, you can also use faire in other ways Table 10-5 shows many common expressions that utilize faire.
Table 10-5 Faire in Everyday Conversation
faire la connaissance de to make someone’s acquaintance
faire la cuisine to cook, to do the cooking
faire la grasse matinée to sleep in late
faire la queue to form a line, to wait in line
faire la vaisselle to do the dishes
faire les courses to run errands, to do the shopping
faire les devoirs to do the homework
faire les provisions to do the grocery shopping
faire les valises/bagages to pack
faire une promenade to take a walk/stroll
Trang 9Translate the following sentences and correctly conjugate faire in the appropriate
form Remember that some may have more than one answer (I provide the most common answer in the answer key.)
Q.The baby is taking a nap
A.Le bébé fait la sieste.
16 My mother does the cooking.
17 The children do the dishes.
18 I play tennis.
19 We pay attention.
20 You sleep in late.
Trang 10
Answer Key
This section contains all the answers for the practice problems in this chapter Compare your answers to the correct answers to see how you fared
a Est-ce que tu connais New York? Do you know New York?
b Marie ne sait pas parler japonais Marie doesn’t know how to speak Japanese.
c Nous savons ó il habite We know where he lives.
d Ils ne connaissent pas la famille du professeur They don’t know the professor’s family.
e Vous savez conduire You know how to drive.
f Georges joue du violon Georges plays the violin.
g Ils ne jouent pas de batterie They don’t play the drums.
h Je joue aux échecs I play chess.
i Mon frère joue de la guitare My brother plays the guitar.
j Les enfants jouent au basketball The children play basketball.
k Nous avons soif.
l Ils ont raison.
m Tu as besoin de lire.
n Michael a de la chance.
o Elle a mal à la tête.
p Ma mère fait la cuisine.
q Les enfants font la vaisselle.
r Je fais du tennis.
s Nous faisons attention.
t Tu fais la grasse matinée.