French A2: Basics

Time arrives at this level. You can report what happened and announce what you mean to do. Sentences get longer because they join up: the first linking words — and, but, because, when — come into play.

The vocabulary covers daily life — work, housing, travel, health, weather. Anything unfamiliar is still hard, anything familiar runs smoothly.

Tenses and if-sentences7

Verbs: modals, subjunctive9

être, avoir and there is

A2c’est or il estAn article after it means c’est in front of it.

Requests and commands

A2Irregular imperatives: sois, aieFour forms to memorise, and a swap between «be» and «have».A2Pronouns with the imperativeEnglish objects never move; here they move twice.A2Asking without the imperativeOn a sign French uses the infinitive, not the -ing form.

Can, must, want

A2Must: devoir and il faut«must» and «have to», with the same split you already make.A2To know: savoir or connaître«Know» is two verbs, and so is «can».A2Asking politely«I would like», «could you», «may I» — three for three.

The passive

A2on instead of the passiveOne word for «one», «you», «they», the passive — and «we».

Verb + infinitive

A2Infinitive without prepositionWhere English says to or -ing, French often says nothing.

Articles, nouns and pronouns13

The articles

A2Leaving out the articleThe few places where the noun stands on its own.

The nouns

A2Gender from the endingNot a law, but a bet worth taking.A2Quantities: beaucoup deAfter a quantity, de stands alone.A2Possession with deThe owner goes last, with de in front of them.

The adjectives

A2Irregular adjectives: beau, vieuxThree adjectives with a fourth form before a vowel.A2Comparisons: plus, moins, aussiplus, moins, aussi — and the adjective itself is left alone.A2Adverbs in -ment-ment hangs on the feminine, not on the plain form.

The pronouns

A2Demonstratives: celui, celleOne word for both distances — and «the one» always needs a tail.A2Object pronouns: le, luiBefore the verb — and English uses one word where French uses two.A2The pronouns y and enTwo words English has to answer without.A2Stressed pronouns: moi, toiA second set of words where English reuses the first.

Prepositions

A2Countries, cities, directionsThe gender of the country picks the preposition.A2Prepositions of place and timechez is your possessive of place, in one word.

Spelling, sound and style2

Spelling and sound

A2Liaison: linking wordsOne of the few places the plural can be heard at all.

Fine points and style

A2Punctuation and capitalsNo capital on Monday, March, French or German.

Sentence structure3

Questions and negation

A2Negatives: jamais, rienThe same bracket, and the double negative is compulsory.A2Questions by inversionThe main verb itself moves, which English never does.

Joining sentences

A2Relative pronouns: qui, queEnglish asks whether it is a person; French asks whether it is the subject.

Word lists at level A2

Lists: 14 · words: 637

Reading texts at level A2

Sentences from this level’s topics

C’est ma voisine. Elle est architecte.That is my neighbour. She is an architect.

Comment tu t’appelles ?What is your name?

Il met la table pendant que je cuisine.He lays the table while I cook.

En ce moment, je suis en train de chercher un appartement.At the moment I am looking for a flat.

Practise level A2 only