By the end of this lesson you'll be able to write about your typical day and week: when you get up, what you do, what you don't do, and how your weekend differs from the working week.
What you've learned
This unit has been about everyday life. Skim the list and go back to anything that feels shaky.
- Use regular verbs. You can use the three families, from the lesson on -er verbs and the lesson on -ir and -re verbs.
- Say what you enjoy. You know j'aime, j'adore and je déteste from the lesson on likes and dislikes.
- Say what isn't so. You can use ne…pas and pas de, from the lesson on negation.
- Count to 100. That comes from the lesson on numbers 21 to 100.
- Give the date. You know the days and months from the lesson on days, months and dates.
- Tell the time. You know il est and à huit heures from the lesson on telling the time.
- Describe your routine. You know reflexive verbs from the lesson on daily routines.
A few words to hold it together
Only a handful of words are new here. Du lundi au vendredi is a fixed phrase for now. You'll see how it's built in the lesson on à and de with articles.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| tôt | toh | early |
| tard | tar | late |
| tous les jours | too lay ZHOOR | every day |
| du lundi au vendredi | dew luhn-DEE oh vahn-druh-DEE | from Monday to FridayFixed phrase for now. |
| le travail | luh trah-VAH-y | work |
| des amis | day-zah-MEE | some friends |
| avec | ah-VEK | with |
A model paragraph
Imagine Inès is writing about a typical week for a French class. Here it is, line by line.
Du lundi au vendredi, je travaille à Grenoble.
From Monday to Friday, I work in Grenoble.
Je me lève à sept heures et je me dépêche.
I get up at seven and I hurry.
Je finis le travail à dix-sept heures trente.
I finish work at 5:30 p.m.
Je rentre à six heures et je dîne à huit heures.
I get home at six and I have dinner at eight.
Le samedi, je ne travaille pas et je me lève tard.
On Saturdays, I don't work and I get up late.
Le dimanche, j'adore cuisiner avec des amis.
On Sundays, I love cooking with friends.
Je me couche à onze heures, tous les jours.
I go to bed at eleven, every day.
Look at the mix in this paragraph: -er, -ir and reflexive verbs, a negative, an activity after j'adore, and two ways of giving the time. The days with le show that these are habits.
Your turn
Write your own paragraph on paper or in a notes app. It can be about your real week or an invented one. Aim for eight sentences or so, and include:
- what you do from Monday to Friday, using an -er verb
- at least two reflexive verbs, with times
- one -ir or -re verb, such as je finis or j'attends
- something you don't do, with ne…pas
- something you love or hate doing
- a day with le, to show a habit
- one time in 24-hour style
Check your work
Go through your paragraph once for each question below.
- Does each reflexive verb have a pronoun that matches its subject?
- Is every heures in place, and did et demie get its -e?
- Are days and months in small letters?
- After a negative verb, did un, une and des change to de?
What's next
The next unit is about free time. It starts with the lesson on faire and aller, two verbs you'll need all the time. Then the lesson on à and de with articles shows you how to say where you're going.