4. To be, to have, to do

Saint Pierre sur Dîves

One of the highlights of our stay in Tordouet is always the Monday morning trip to St. Pierre sur Dîves for the weekly market. 

The market at Saint Pierre sur Dîves

We fill our bags with loads of fresh fruit, vegetables, cheese and some fish, have a beer at the brasserie and then head back to the holiday home, pleased with ourselves that protocol has been observed and delighted that the holiday has properly begun.

 Alan and Ken relax after a big shop

While many of the St. Pierre market traders operate in the open air, a special feature of the market square is the vast, beamed hall that houses many of the stalls. 

The St Pierre covered market hall

This market hall is a reconstruction of the original 11th century building that was badly damaged in World War II.

Another feature of these markets that doesn't seem to have changed since the 11^th century is that live animals (ducks, chickens, rabbits, …) are offered for sale, all sitting happily alongside the cheese and paté. It seems to me that, when it comes to health and safety, 'les citoyens' of rural France have a pleasing disregard for any legislation that comes out of Brussels!

Lemons (citrons), 3 per Euro

Last year, as we passed the meat stall, madame tried to catch Ken's eye, and tempt him with her saucisson. Ken smiled and said, "Non merci, je suis végétarien' (No thanks, I'm a vegetarian). Her response was one of dumbfounded amazement and, then much to all our amusement, she made the 'You big liar!' Pinocchio gesture with the long nose. This is an action that has now gone into our holiday folk-lore.

Vous- êtes végétarien'??

Sheila's wrinkles

There are some French words that I never forget and it's because I have an association with them and with something else. For example: * When I'm shopping at the Saint Pierre market, I never forget the word for a leek. It's 'poireau', pronounced like Inspector Poirot. Now I can never watch the programme without thinking, "Inspector Leek"! * 'Mange tout' peas are common, even in English supermarkets. 'Manger' means to eat, 'tout' means all, so those lovely, whole pea pods are called 'eat all', which is what you do with them. * Another phrase I always remember is 'pomme de terre', meaning a potato. But it literally means 'apple of the earth', which I think is lovely. Sheila

French verbs

Ken's use of "je suis" (I am) is as good a starting point as any to begin this week's theme – French verbs. Before starting with serious 'verbing' action, however I want to set down two  important features of verbs – the person (i.e. who is speaking) and the tense.

The person

To 'conjugate' a verb means to set down all its forms when used with whoever is speaking:  I, you, he/she/one are used when you're talking to or about one person. We, you and they are used when talking to or about more than one person. These are set out in the table below in the form that you may have learnt at school.

	Singular	Plural
1st person	I	we
2nd person	you	you
3rd person	he / she / one	they

So, for example, 'we' is first person plural, 'she' is third person singular, and so on.

The tense

The tense of a verb tells you whether you are speaking in the present (I eat), the future (I will eat), the past (I ate or I have eaten) or something else more complicated which I will not even think about until I need to. In this post I'll be using only the present tense.

I'll start with what is probably the most commonly-used verb - the verb 'to be', être.

Ken's gems

Some songs that I found helpful – I can remember: "Je t'aime … moi non plus" (I love you … me neither) by Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg. "Je suis un rock star" by The Rolling Stones. "Voulez-vous?" (Do you want?) by Abba.

être (to be)

English	French
I am	je suis [juh swee]
you are	tu es [too ay]
he/she/one is	il/elle/on est [eel/el/on ay]
we are	nous sommes [noo som]
you are	vous êtes [vooz et]
they are	ils/elles sont [eel/el son]

Examples:

English	French
I am happy	je suis heureux [juh sweez ur-ruh]
you are sad	tu es trist [too ay treest]
she is sad	elle est triste [eel ay treest]
we are in the garden	nous sommes dans le jardin  [noo som don le jardan]
you are here	vous êtes ici [voozett ee-see]
they are in France	ils/elles sont en France [eel/el son en France]

A note about 'tu' and 'vous'

You should use the word 'tu' when you are talking to a family member (of any age) or a friend, a child or, more generally, someone with a similar social standing to yourself. Otherwise, when saying 'you', use the 'vous' form. So, 'vous' is more formal and would generally be used when talking to a stranger or if a child is talking to an adult outside the family circle.

Here's a helpful link with more info on the 'tu/vous' distinction.

avoir (to have)

English	French
I have	j'ai [jay]
you have	tu as [too a]
he/she/one has	il/elle/on a [eel/el/on a]
we have	nous avons [nooz avon]
you have	vous avez [vooz avey]
they have	ils/elles ont [eels/els on]

Examples:

English	French
I have a cat	j'ai un chat [jay un sha]
you have a dog	tu as un chien [too a un shee-an]
he/she/one has a rose	il/elle/on a un rose [eel/el/on a un roz]
we have friends	nous avons des amis [nooz avon dez amie]
you have lots of money	vous avez beaucoup d'argent [vooz avey bo-koo dar-gen]
they have a car	ils/elles ont un voiture [eels/els on an vwatoor]

faire (to do or to make)

English	French
I do	je fais [juh fay]
you do	tu fais [too fay]
he/she/one does	il/elle/on fait [eel/el/on fay]
we do	nous faisons [noo faison]
you do	vous faites [voo fet]
they do	ils/elles font [eel/el fon]

Être et Avoir

If you want to give yourself a real treat, try to track down the DVD (see Amazon link) of a delightful and heart-warming French documentary film, Être et Avoir. Set in a tiny, rural one-teacher school, it follows the lives of a small group of children as they struggle with conjugating verbs, learning maths and dealing with a range of personal life problems, all wonderfully supported by their caring teacher, Monsieur Georges Lopez. Bliss!

Video

To support this post I’ve put up on Youtube another short video dealing with these three irregular verbs, être (to be), avoir (to have) and faire (to do).

Here is the link: Teaching my wife French: être, avoir, faire.

Au revoir.