12.3 Review — agreement — Epoché
What this lesson reviews Agreement in French: adjectives that take the gender and number of their noun, the special forms bel , vieil , nouvel , irregular plurals, tout , and the agreement of the past participle with être , with a direct object placed before avoir , and in reflexive verbs. Much of this agreement is silent in speech and visible only in writing, which is why it needs a review of its own. This lesson explains nothing new. Sentences from this lesson, before the explanation. Read the French aloud; all of them come back below. French English Elles sont toutes parties. [1] They're all gone. Elles croient que nous sommes parties. [2] They think we left. Elles doivent être lavées. [3] They need washing. Nous nous sommes rencontrés dimanche. [4] We met on Sunday. Tes mains ont besoin d'être lavées. [5] Your hands need to be washed. Elle a un nouvel homme dans sa vie. [6] She has a new man in her life. Toutes les choses que j'ai achetées sont déjà arrivées. [7] All the things I bought have already arrived. Prerequisites : 12.2 — and in practice 4.3 Grammar and 4.4 Grammar for nouns and adjectives, 3.9 Conjugation for the perfect with être , 4.9 Grammar and 4.13 Grammar for a direct object placed before the verb, and 4.12 Grammar for reflexive verbs. Work through the sections in order and score yourself at the end. Twenty sentences All twenty are real sentences from the corpus. Cover the English, translate the French, and for each sentence name every agreement and its reason. French English Elle est belle. [8] She is beautiful. Ils sont heureux. [9] They are happy. Ils sont grands. [10] They are big. C'est une belle maison. [11] This is a beautiful house. C'est un bel homme. [12] He's a good-looking man. C'est un vieil avion. [13] It's an old airplane. C'est ma nouvelle voiture. [14] This is my new car. J'aime les chevaux. [15] I like horses. Douche-toi tous les jours. [16] Shower every day. Je mange toute la journée. [17] I eat all day. Elle est venue. [18] She came. Elles sont parties. [19] They're gone. Nous sommes arrivés. [20] We have arrived. Elle est morte. [21] She is dead. Je l'ai reconnue dès que je l'ai vue. [22] I recognized her as soon as I saw her. C'est la lettre que j'ai écrite. [23] This is the letter which I wrote. As-tu vu la voiture que j'ai achetée ? [24] Have you seen the car that I bought? Ils se sont rencontrés à 10h. [25] They met at ten. Elles se sont lavé les mains. [26] They've washed their hands. Il s'est cassé la jambe. [27] He broke his leg. The groups: numbers 1 to 3 are adjectives after être ; numbers 4 to 7 adjectives before the noun, two with a special form before a vowel ( bel , vieil ); number 8 an irregular plural; numbers 9 and 10 tout ; numbers 11 to 14 the perfect with être ; numbers 15 to 17 a direct object before avoir ; numbers 18 to 20 reflexive verbs, one with agreement and two without. Dictation Five sentences to write from the English. In each, an agreement is silent: you must know it to write it. The new flat is beautiful. (Which form of nouveau before a vowel?) She has arrived. (Which auxiliary, and what agrees?) Here are the flowers that I bought. (Where is the direct object?) They (all women) washed their hands. (Is there agreement?) All the girls are happy. (Two agreements in one sentence.) Read aloud Read these five twice each. Some agreements are heard; make them clear. Ils sont heureux. — the final x is silent; in the feminine, heureuses , a z sound appears. C'est un bel homme. — bel joins the vowel of homme . C'est un vieil avion. — vieil sounds like vieille . Elle est morte. — the feminine adds a heard t . C'est la lettre que j'ai écrite. — the agreement adds a heard t . Find the mistake Five sentences, each with exactly one error of agreement. Correct it and name the rule. Elle est content. C'est un beau homme. Elle est arrivé hier. Voici la lettre que j'ai écrit. Elles se sont lavées les mains. English adjectives and participles never change, so every one of these agreements has to be learned against habit. The last is the hardest: with a reflexive verb, the participle agrees with a direct object placed before the verb — the reflexive pronoun when it is the direct object, or a que standing for the object, as in la voiture qu'elle s'est achetée . Here the direct object is les mains , placed after the verb, so there is no agreement. Practice Read and translate. Read them aloud, then translate each into English: Nous sommes tous les deux heureux pour vous. [28] / Nous sommes tous fils et filles de Dieu. [29] / Elles nous ont fait travailler toute la journée. [30] / Elles sont toutes en train de nous regarder. [31] / J'étais à la maison toute la journée d'hier. [32] / Nous sommes arrivés il y a trois jours. [33] / Nous sommes arrivés à la maison en même temps. [34] Into French. Say these in French; every word has come up in the course: She played tennis all day yesterday. / Yesterday she got a letter from an old friend. / I'm tired of being at home all day. Summary Read these back before you leave: every word in them has already appeared in the course. French English Elles sont toutes parties. [1] They're all gone. Elles croient que nous sommes parties. [2] They think we left. Elles doivent être lavées. [3] They need washing. Nous nous sommes rencontrés dimanche. [4] We met on Sunday. Tes mains ont besoin d'être lavées. [5] Your hands need to be washed. Elle a un nouvel homme dans sa vie. [6] She has a new man in her life. Toutes les choses que j'ai achetées sont déjà arrivées. [7] All the things I bought have already arrived. De quelle couleur est la voiture qu'elle s'est achetée ? [35] What colour is the car which she bought for herself? Elle a tellement changé que nous ne l'avons pas reconnue. [36] She changed so much that we didn't recognise her. Je pensais t'avoir reconnue. [37] I thought I recognized you. A-t-elle un nouvel ordinateur ? [38] Does she have a new computer? La maison a été achetée. [39] The house has been bo