All nouns in French have a gender, either masculine or feminine.  For the most part, you must memorize the gender, but there are some endings of words that will help you decide which gender a noun is.  Nouns ending in -age and -ment are usually masculine, as are nouns ending with a consonant.  Nouns ending in -ure, -sion, -tion, -ence, -ance, -té, and -ette are usually feminine.

Articles and adjectives must agree in number and gender with the nouns they modify.  And articles have to be expressed even though they aren't always in English; and you may have to repeat the article in some cases.  Demonstratives are like strong definite articles.

If you need to distinguish between this or that and these or those, you can add -ci to the end of the noun for this and these, and -là to the end of the noun for that and those.  For example, ce lit-ci is this bed, while ce lit-là is that bed.

Subject Pronouns

To Be and to Have

Note: Je and any verb form that starts with a vowel (or silent h) combine together for ease of pronunciation.

Note:  You must use the subject pronouns; but I will leave them out of future conjugations.

Present tense of avoir - to have (ah-vwahr)

I have	j'ai	zhay	We have	avons	ah-vohn
You have	as	ah	You have	avez	ah-vay
He/she has	a	ah	They have	ont	ohn

Avoir and être are used in many common and idiomatic expressions that should be memorized:

avoir chaud - to be hot avoir froid - to be cold avoir peur - to be afraid avoir raison - to be right avoir tort - to be wrong avoir faim - to be hungry avoir soif - to be thirsty avoir sommeil - to be sleepy avoir honte - to be ashamed avoir besoin de - to need avoir l'air de - to look like, seem avoir envie de - to feel like avoir de la chance - to be lucky

être de retour - to be back être en retard - to be late être en avance - to be early être d'accord - to be in agreement être sur le point de - to be about to être en train de - to be in the act of être enrhumée - to have a cold nous + être (un jour) - to be (a day)

To Know People and Facts

Note:  Connaître is used when you know people or places, savoir is used when you know facts.  When savoir is followed by an infinitive it means to know how.

Je connais ton frère.  I know your brother.
Je sais que ton frère s'appelle Jean.  I know that your brother is named John.
Connaissez-vous Grenoble?  Do you know (Are you familiar with) Grenoble?
Oui, nous connaissons Grenoble.  Yes, we know (are familiar with) Grenoble.
Tu sais où Grenoble se trouve.  You know where Grenoble is located.
Ils savent nager.  They know how to swim.