4.26 Connectors — building a paragraph — Epoché
What you will be able to do Order the steps of a text with d'abord , ensuite , enfin and their relatives. Contrast with mais , cependant , pourtant , par contre and en revanche , and know which belong to speech and which to writing. Give reasons and consequences with parce que , car , puisque , donc , par conséquent and c'est pourquoi . Avoid the false friends of this field: en effet is not in effect , and enfin is not always finally . Build a paragraph of five or six sentences that a French reader would find well joined. Sentences from this lesson, before the explanation. Read the French aloud; all of them come back below. French English Tout d'abord, il alla à la gare. [1] First of all, he went to the station. Je parle en connaissance de cause puisque j’y étais. [2] I know what I'm talking about, since I was there. Apprendre une langue étrangère demande beaucoup de temps. [3] To learn a foreign language requires a lot of time. Il faut du temps pour bien parler une langue étrangère. [4] Learning to speak a foreign language well takes time. Nous avons beaucoup à apprendre des autres cultures. [5] We have a lot to learn from other cultures. Prerequisites : 4.25 — this is the last grammar lesson of the phase and follows 4.25 Grammar . It uses the subjunctive after bien que from 4.18 Grammar and the conjunctions of 4.19 Grammar . The grammar lessons so far have been about sentences. This one is about how sentences join. French writing, from school essays to newspaper columns, is built on a small set of connecting words, and French readers notice when they are missing: a text without them reads as a list rather than an argument. French school teaches these words explicitly, under the name connecteurs logiques , and the argument lessons of the next phase will expect you to use them. Most connectors have a clear English equivalent, and you can use them as you would in English. The interest of the lesson is in the exceptions: three false friends, a difference of register between pairs that mean the same thing, and the French habit of starting a sentence with a connector and a comma where English often starts with the subject. How English does it English and French connectors mostly match one for one. First , d'abord ; however , cependant ; so , donc ; for example , par exemple . You can rely on English most of the time. English in effect is not en effet . En effet confirms or explains what came before: indeed , or you see , or the reason is that . It never means practically speaking . English in fact is closer to en fait , which corrects or adds something unexpected. The two French phrases sound almost alike, and French speakers sometimes confuse them too. English finally is two French words. Finalement is in the end , after some delay or change of plan. Enfin is finally at the end of a list, at last with relief, and in speech also well or I mean , correcting oneself. English on the other hand has a spoken and a written French form. Par contre is everyday and very common; en revanche is the written form, and some teachers still mark par contre as too informal for an essay. Use en revanche when you write. English because is three French words. Parce que answers why? and is the everyday word. Car , for , adds a justification and is mostly written; it cannot start a sentence. Puisque , since , gives a reason the listener already knows or accepts. Ordering: first, then, finally French English D'abord, tu dois arrêter de fumer. [6] First, you have to stop smoking. Premièrement, tu dois fortifier ton corps. [7] To begin with, you must build up your body. Ensuite, tu arroseras ce bol de farine d'un peu d'eau. [8] Then you water the bowl of flour with a little water. Tout d'abord, nous décidons ce que doit être décidé, et ensuite nous nous divisons en deux équipes. [9] First, we decide on what needs to be decided, then we split into two teams. Finalement, le bus s'arrêta. [10] At last, the bus stopped. Enfin, tu arrives. [11] Finally, you're here. D'abord and premièrement open a sequence; tout d'abord , in the fourth, is a slightly more emphatic first of all . Ensuite and puis continue it. The fifth uses finalement after a wait, in the end, the bus stopped , and its verb is the literary past s'arrêta . The sixth uses enfin for relief: at last, you're here . The two glosses in the table swap at last and finally ; go by the French. To close a list of points in an essay, use enfin , not finalement : d'abord … ensuite … enfin is the standard skeleton of a French paragraph of three points. Contrast French English Cependant, il existe une solution. [12] However, there is a solution. Cependant, je pourrais me tromper. [13] However, I could be mistaken. Pourtant, abandonner n'est pas impossible. [14] Yet giving up is not impossible. Et pourtant, elle bouge ! [15] And yet it moves! Moi, par contre, je préfère les sucreries. [16] I, on the other hand, prefer sweets. Devenir père n'est pas difficile, être père, en revanche, est très difficile. [17] Becoming a father isn't difficult, however, being a father is very difficult. Toutefois, le sujet mérite d'être débattu. [18] Nevertheless, the topic is worth discussing. Cependant and toutefois are the neutral written however . Pourtant is stronger: and yet , something that should not be true given what came before. The fourth sentence, et pourtant, elle bouge , is the words attributed to Galileo about the Earth, and yet it moves . Par contre and en revanche compare two things that differ, as English on the other hand does: being a father against becoming one. They do not mean but surprisingly , which is pourtant . Within a sentence, bien que with the subjunctive from 4.18 Grammar does the same job as pourtant across two sentences. And malgré , despite , does it with a noun: je l'aime malgré tout . Cause and consequence French English C'est parce que je l'aime. [19] It's because I love her. Mange, car tu as faim. [20] Eat, for you are hungry. Tu devrais arrêter de fum