French 22

French I: Assignment 22
• Review the grammar and memorize the vocabulary in this assignment.
• Review the explanation of ce que and ce qui on page 329 of the textbook. Then do the exercises
on page 331, to be handed in.
• Do exercises ii and iii on page 305 of the textbook, to be handed in. In exercise ii, you should
substitute a pronoun for the subject when answering. Make sure that when answering the
questions, you switch speakers – you don’t answer the question “Do you like cake?” with
“Yes, you like cake.”
• Do the exercises in this assignment.
• Write five sentences (they may be simple) using object pronouns. Make it clear what the
pronoun is referring to.
• Practice saying the following verse (track 45).
Tout ce que vous faites, faits-le de bon cœur,
comme pour le Seigneur et non pour des hommes.
(Colossiens 3.23)
Vocabulary
lire
lir
to read
écrire
ekrir
to write
comme
kɔm
like, as
autre
otr
other
sous
su
under
trop
tro
too (much)
C’est trop mignon !
sɛ tro miɲɔ̃
This is too cute!
Conjugation
écrire
j’écris
tu écris
il écrit
nous écrivons
vous écrivez
ils écrivent
ʒekri
ty ekri
il ekri
nu ekrivɔ̃
vu ekrive
il ekriv
The past participle of écrire is écrit; the past participle of lire is lu. The conjugation of lire is like dire.
Assignment 22
1
“That which”
Look at the following sentences:
(1) a. I saw the thing that you did.
b. I saw what you did.
(2) a. I saw the thing that is in the garden.
b. I saw what is in the garden.
In (1a), ‘the thing’ refers to what I saw, and ‘that’ refers back to it, as the object of ‘did’. If you broke
up the sentences, they would be: “I saw the thing. You did that.”
In (1b), ‘what’ does double duty: it establishes what I saw, and it also refers back to itself, saying that
you saw the same thing. In archaic English, you might say ‘I saw that which you did’.
(2a) and (2b) are similar, except that in this case, that is the subject of the second part of the
sentences: “I saw the thing. That was hidden.” Again, what does double duty as both the object of
the first part and the subject of the second part.
In French, there is no word that does double duty. Instead, ce que or ce qui is used – a construction
similar to ‘that which’ in English.
(3) a. J’ai vu la chose que vous avez fait.
b. J’ai vu ce que vous avez fait.
(4) a. J’ai vu la chose qui se trouve dans le jardin.
b. I saw ce qui se trouve dans le jardin.
In French, ce que and ce qui can only refer to things; for people, celui (singular) or ceux (plural) must
be used instead instead of ce. These words are more specific; they can refer to objects as well, but then
they have the sense of ‘the one that’.
(5) a. J’ai vu ce que vous avez cuisiné. (I saw what you cooked.)
b. J’ai vu celui que vous avez cuisine. (I saw the one that you cooked.)
Assignment 22
2
Exercise: Pronoun substitution
Rewrite the following sentences by substituting a pronoun for the underlined word phrase.
Remember to change its position if needed. You may also need to change an adjective for agreement
with the new object pronoun.
1. Emma voit la voiture.
2. Éric a trouvé ton sac à dos.
3. Est-ce qu’elle a donné le cadeau ?
4. Émilie préfère les œufs.
5. Est-ce que tu as mangé la glace ?
Assignment 22
3