French structured sentence (Video)

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How to make a French structured sentence ?

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Hi English speakers who want to Learn french 🙂  !

Subscribers asked me How to structure a sentence in French ?

• How to structure a sentence in French ?
• To express yourself more clearly, to make yourself understood by the people you speak with

The simplest sentence is structured in this way :

SUBJECT + VERB + COMPLEMENT

• The subject indicates who is being talked about in the sentence.
• The verb gives information on the subject (its state or the action it does).
• The complement gives details of the circumstances of the sentence.

 

French structured sentence : the subject and the verb

To identify the subject and the verb in a sentence, you have to go through two steps.

Step 1 : Finding the verb (the word that designates an action or a state).

Examples :

-Les fleurs sont blanches. → The flowers are white.

sont (the verb ETRE in the 3rd person of the plural) designates the state of the flowers.

ETRE Je suis Tu es Il/elle est Nous sommes Vous êtes Ils/elles sont

-Je vais à la plage. → I am going to the beach.

vais (the verb ALLER in the 1rst singular person) designates the action of Je.

ALLER Je vais Tu vas Il/elle va Nous allons Vous allez Ils/elles vont

 

2^nd step : Once I found the verb I can find the subject, I use the verb to find the subject.

I ask Qui est-ce qui…? / Qu’est-ce qui…? → Who/What is/are …? that I place in front of the verb :

-Les fleurs sont blanches. → The flowers are white.

Qu'est-ce qui sont blanches ? → What are white ?

The answer to this question is the subject.

Ce sont les fleurs de mon jardin qui sont blanches. → These are the flowers in my garden that are white.

les fleurs du jardin is the subject.

- Je vais à la plage. → I am going to the beach.

Qui va à la plage ? → Who is going to the beach ?

C’est Je (moi) qui va à la plage. → This is I (me) who is going to the beach.

Je is the subject.

A sentence can consist only of a subject and a verb.

Example :

Marie mange. → Marie is eating.

But to enrich the meaning of the sentence we can add a complement.

 

A French structured sentence : the complement

The complement brings a precision to the sentence, it completes the sentence.

It brings new information to clarify the meaning of the sentence.

Example :

Marie mange. → Marie is eating.

A six heures, Marie mange au restaurant près de chez elle. → At six o’clock, Marie eats at the restaurant near her home.

The 1st sentence gives little information.

The 2nd sentence indicates the same information but with more details.

There are several types of complements :

• The place complement
  

Je marche sur la plage. → I’m walking on the beach.

Je marche OÙ ? – sur la plage. → WHERE am I walking ? – on the beach.

sur la plage is the place complement

• The time complement
  

Il pleut, aujourd’hui. → It’s raining today.

Il pleut QUAND ? – aujourd’hui. → WHEN is it raining  ? – today.

aujourd’hui is the time complement

 

Exercise

1 - Le chat dort sur la chaise de la cuisine.
The cat sleeps on the kitchen chair.

2 – Des amis viennent à la maison.
Friends come at home.

3 - Pierre va à l’école tous les jours.
Pierre goes to school every day.

4 - Les feuilles des arbres tombent en hiver.
The leaves of the trees fall in winter.¨

5 - Pierre et Sophie mangent au restaurant.
Pierre and Sophie are eating at the canteen.

6 - Nous mangeons habituellement à 6 heures du soir.
We usually eat at 6 o'clock in the evening.

7 - Nous allons à Paris tous les ans.
We go to Paris every year.

8 - Les festivals se déroulent en été.
The festivals take place in the summer.

9 - Il joue au golf près de chez lui.
He plays golf near his home.

10 - Elle est partie en Guadeloupe pour les vacances.
She went to Guadeloupe for the holidays.

 

Answers

1 - Le chat dort sur la chaise de la cuisine.
Le chat = the subject
dort (Dormir → to sleep) = the verb
sur la chaise de la cuisine = the place complement.

2 - Des amis viennent à la maison.
Des amis = the subject
viennent (Venir → to come) = the verb
à la maison → the place complement

3 - Pierre va à l’école tous les jours.
Pierre = the subject
va (Aller → to go) = the verb
à l’école = a place complement
tous les jours = the time complement

4 – Les feuilles des arbres tombent en hiver.
Les feuilles des arbres = the subject
tombent (Tomber → to fall) = the verb
en hiver = the time complement

5 - Pierre et Sophie mangent au restaurant.
Pierre et Sophie = the subject
mangent (Manger → to eat)
au restaurant = the time complement

6 - Nous mangeons habituellement à 6 heures du soir.
Nous = the subject
mangeons (Manger → to eat) = the verb
à 6 heures du soir = the time complement

7 - Nous allons à Paris tous les ans.
Nous = the subject
allons (Aller → to go) = the verb
à Paris = place complement
tous les ans = the time complement

8 - Les festivals se déroulent en été.
Les festivals = the subject
se déroulent (Se dérouler → to take place) = the verb
en été = the time complement

9 - Il joue au golf près de chez lui.
Il = the subject
Joue (Jouer → to play) = the verb
près de chez lui = the place complement

10 - Elle est partie en Guadeloupe pour les vacances.
Elle = the subject
est partie (Partir → to go) = the verb
en Guadeloupe = place complement

Thanks for watching this video 🙂

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Thomas Ricomard