In Class
Les fournitures scolaires
Teachers, pencils, pens, staplers, and desks are just a few of the many things that are located in a school. Knowing how to pronounce these words in French is very important. How would you get through a day in the life of a French student if you did not know the names of common materials? What if you forgot an item and needed to borrow one from another student? In this interactivity, learn about les fournitures scolaires, or school supplies. Click the player to begin.
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Cognates and Noncognates
Many of the terms for school supplies may have looked very familiar. These words are cognates. Cognates are words that look the same in both languages. In this case, the English and French words have similar spellings and pronunciations. The table below contains the same list of vocabulary words from les fournitures scolaires. The table categorizes the terms into cognates and noncongnates. Familiarize yourself with these phrases and practice your pronunciation by repeating each phrase aloud after the speaker. Click each term to hear the pronunciation. Some terms include both the masculine (m) and feminine (f) gender.
| Cognates | Noncognates | ||
| French | English | French | English |
| un dictionnaire | a dictionary | une gomme | an eraser |
| un professeur (m) une professeure (f) |
a teacher | un tableau | a chalkboard |
| un bureau | a desk | une école | a school |
| une carte | a map | un lycée | a high school |
| une calculatrice | a calculator | un collège | a middle school |
| une feuille de papier | a piece of paper | un étudiant (m) une étudiante (f) |
a university student |
| un élève (m) une élève (f) |
a middle/high school student | ||
| un classeur | a binder | ||
| un pupitre | a desk | ||
| un carnet | a small notebok | ||
| la colle | glue | ||
| une trousse | a pencil case | ||
| un cahier | a notebook | ||
| un sac à dos | a backpack | ||
| un crayon | a pencil | ||
| un stylo | a pen | ||
| une agrafeuse | a stapler | ||
La technologie
Technology is now a big part of the classroom and in the lives of students. If you are taking this course, you are on a computer, tablet, or mobile device right now! Do you know the different parts of a computer in French? Learning this information is important, especially since you will want to use technology in a French classroom. In this interactivity, investigate different French terms related to the use of technology. Click the player to begin.
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Les activités dans la classe
Now that you know the names of several items in the classroom and how to talk about the technology that you use, there are many verbs and actions you may hear while in the classroom. In this interactivity, explore a few of the verbs and actions that are used in the French classroom. Again, pronunciation is very important if you want to be understood while speaking French. It may be helpful to review the verbs and actions in this interactivity more than once. Click the player to begin.
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Les articles indéfinis
Now that you have learned vocabulary associated with the classroom, technology, and some important actions and verbs, you need some information related to grammar. Notice that the vocabulary words listed in the table above have an article like un or une preceding them. These words translate to “a” or “an”. In French, all nouns have either a masculine or feminine gender. Use un before masculine nouns and une before feminine nouns. The gender of the noun is based on the spelling of the word, not on who uses it, who owns it, or even qualities of the noun. Most words that end in “e” are feminine; however, there are exceptions to this rule. How are you supposed to remember if a noun is masculine or feminine? Well, the best way to remember is to review the terms and memorize the gender. As you learn new vocabulary words, be sure to learn the correct article that precedes it.
How can you tell if a noun is plural? That’s easy! C’est facile. Just as in English, there is an “s” at the end of the noun. Be careful though. That “s” is silent!
When a statement becomes negative, do not use un, une, or des. Use de or d’ (if the word begins with a vowel) to indicate that you don’t have any of the item. Take a look at the example un livre, meaning book. In English, the plural form of book is books. How would you write the plural for this example in French? In French, the plural form is determined by the article that precedes the noun. Books in French is written des livres. For example:
- J’ai un livre means I have a book - Je n’ai pas de livre means I do not have any book.
- J’ai des livres means I have books - Je n’ai pas des livres means I do not have any books.
- Vous avez un classeur means You have a binder - Vous n'avez pas de classeur means You do not have a binder.
- Nous avons une agrafeuse means We have a stapler - Nous n'avons pas d'agrafeuse means We do not have a stapler.
Familiarize yourself with the articles for singular and plural and practice your pronunciation by repeating each article aloud after the speaker. Click each term to hear the pronunciation.
| Les articles indéfinis | ||
| Masculin | Féminin | |
| Singular | un | une |
| Plural | des | des |
In Class Review
Review your knowledge of les fournitures scolaires, la technologie, les activités dans la classe, and les articles indéfinis in this non-graded interactivity. Read the directions associated with each question to provide the correct responses. Click the player to get started.