The way you’re going to play with them is like this: below, they have been put in four piles and all I want you to do is to make sentences with them. You’ll do this by using one building block from the first pile, one from the second, one from the third and one from the fourth.
You will find that you can say a lot of different things using them in this way and it’s up to you what sentences you make. The only thing I want you to make sure you do is to use every building block at least once. Also, please don’t bother writing down the sentences you make. Instead, say them out loud. Or, if you’re not in a place where you can do this, say them in your head. Now, off you go – make as many sentences as you can!
The Checklist
You have now reached the final part of the first chapter. Once you have finished this short section you will not only have completed your first chapter but you will also understand how this book works. All the other chapters follow the same pattern, with your French becoming ever more sophisticated as you complete each chapter.
The section you are now on will be the final part of each chapter and is what I call “The Checklist”. It involves nothing more than a read-through of a selection of the words or expressions you have so far encountered.
You will actually see The Checklist twice. The first time you will see that the French words are written in black (on the left-hand side) and that the English words are written in blue (on the right-hand side) – and you know what blue means… cover up!
So, what I want you to do here is to cover up the English words (which are written in blue on the right-hand side) while you read through the list of French words on the left. Read through them all, from the top of the list to the bottom, and see if you can recall what they mean in English (uncover one blue word at a time to check if you’ve remembered the meaning correctly). If you can go through the entire list, giving the correct English meaning for each of the French words / expressions without making more than three mistakes in total, then you’re done. If not, then go through the list again. Keep doing this, either working from the top of the list to the bottom or from the bottom to the top (it doesn’t matter which) until you can do it without making more than three mistakes.
Got it? Then let’s go!
| le week-end (luh weekend) | the weekend |
| romantique (roe-mon-teek) | romantic |
| fantastique (fon-tass-teek) | fantastic |
| typique (tip-eek) | typical |
| politique (po-lee-teek) | political |
| J’ai (zhay) | I have |
| visité (visit-ay) | visited |
| J’ai visité (zhay visit-ay) | I have visited / I visited / I did visit |
| Paris (pa-ree) | Paris |
| Notre-Dame (not-re darm) | Notre-Dame |
| J’ai visité Notre-Dame. (zhay visit-ay not-re darm) | I have visited Notre-Dame / I visited Notre-Dame / I did visit Notre-Dame. |
| passé (pass-ay) | spent |
| J’ai passé (zhay pass-ay) | I have spent / I spent / I did spend |
| Vous avez (voo za-vay) | You have |
| Vous avez passé (voo za-vay pass-ay) | You have spent / You spent / You did spend |
| Nous avons (noo za-von) | We have |
| Nous avons passé (noo za-von pass-ay) | We have spent / We spent / We did spend |
| septembre (sep-tom-bruh) | September |
| Noël (no-ell) | Christmas |
| à Paris (a pa-ree) | in Paris |
| en France (on fronce) | in France |
| en Suisse (on swees) | in Switzerland |
| Nous avons passé Noël en Suisse. (noo za-von pass-ay no-ell on swees) | We spent Christmas in Switzerland. |
| Vous avez passé septembre en France. (voo za-vay pass-ay sep-tom-bruh on fronce) | You spent September in France. |
| et (ay) | and |
| c’était (set-ay) | it was |
| C’était fantastique. (set-ay fon-tass-teek) | It was fantastic. |
| très agréable (trez ag-ray-arb-luh) | lovely / very agreeable |
| C’était très agréable. (set-ay trez ag-ray-arb-luh) | It was lovely / It was very agreeable. |
| J’ai passé le week-end à Paris… et c’était très agréable. (zhay pass-ay luh weekend a pa-ree ay set-ay trez ag-ray-arb-luh) |