Il ne s’est pas rasé. He did not shave. Special negation expressions. French has several other types of negation where other words than ‘pas’ make the negation. These can be referred to as negative adverbs and the most common examples are: ne…jamais (never), ne…rien (nothing, anything) and ne…personne (nobody, anybody) replace the Cases where French does not use the definite article (−> le, la, les) are rare. A lot rarer then in English. In it's night you don't use the definite article in English because here night is an abstract noun. In French you have to use the definite article in front of night in that case. There are, essentially, four ways to ask questions in French. Remember that when you ask a question in French, the verb is not demander but poser; the expression is " poser une question ." Polar questions or closed questions ( questions fermées) that result in a simple yes or no answer. "WH-" questions (who, what, where, when, and why, along Tex's French Grammar is the integral grammar component of Français Interactif, an online French course from the University of Texas at Austin. Français Interactif includes authentic, spoken French language via digital audio and video clips, a French grammar reference (Tex's French Grammar), self-correcting French grammar exercises, vocabulary and phonetics sections, Internet-based activities When you want to insist on the ongoing, continuous nature of a current action in French, use the expression être en train de with an infinitive denoting the action. For example: Je suis en train de parler. > I am (in the process of) speaking (right now). The French equivalent of the English past progressive (I was speaking) is the imperfect RonRonner L2, BA in French • 9 yr. ago. In the phonetic alphabet, the difference is represented by the following symbols: ɛ and e . "Est" is pronounced like ɛ, this is the same vowel sound in the word "belle". In English, I might write it as "eh". "Et" is pronounced like e, this is same vowel sound as the accent aigu. In French the subject pronouns are: je (I), tu (you singular informal), il, elle, on (he, she, one) nous (we), vous (you formal and plural) and ils, elles (they). These are also called personal pronouns. A subject pronoun is the person who carries out an action on a verb. When formulating sentences, a subject pronoun often starts the sentence. Other Forms. Soit (formal adv): so be it, very well then. Il veut partir ? Alors, soit, qu'il parte / He wants to leave? Very well then, let him leave. Note: Soit is also the third person singular subjunctive of être (to be) Learn about the commonly-used French word soit, including details on alternate meanings as well as instruction on how is A COI is usually preceded by the preposition à. A COD answers the questions what or who, while a COI answers the questions to whom or for whom. Examples: J’aime ma mère (I love my mother). COD= ma mère. Il achète des bonbons pour ses enfants (He’s buying candy for his children). COI= ses enfants, COD= des bonbons. Quick Answer. soy = I am/I'm when talking about permanent or lasting attributes. estoy = I am/I'm when talking about temporary states or locations. Estoy is also used as an auxiliary verb in the present continuous. v40JCt3.