These files can be consulted on their own or used in conjunction with the Professor's French for Reading Knowledge course. They cover many aspects of French grammar, from the very basic (e.g., articles; uses of the present indicative) to the quite advanced (e.g., uses of the literary subjunctive tenses). For topics not covered in these files, see Recommended French Language Resources.
Adjectives & Nouns
Comparisons
Conjunctions
Constructions
Determiners
Lexicalia
- Aussi, the Many Meanings of
- -Vindre Verbs
- Irregular Verb Groupings
- Fun with Regular –(d)re Verbs
- Tout sur tout (All About Tout)
Expressions Using the Word Tout - Si, the Many Meanings of
- Devoir
A Semi-Auxiliary Without Peer - Bien, the Many Uses of
A Little Word That Means So Much - The Adverbial Pronoun En: Its Odder Uses
En Absent Any Antecedent - C’est que… = “The reason is that…”
- Half-False Friends: French Words of Two Meanings
Friends That May Turn on You Unexpectedly - Avoir, Faire, et cetera: Verb-Noun Phrases
Combinations That May Trip You Up
Negative
Pronouns
Pronunciation
Verbs
- Functions of the Present Tense
- Four Meanings of Pronominal Verbs
- Forms & Uses of the Conditional
- Examples of Conditional Sentences
- -Vindre Verbs
- Irregular Verb Groupings
- Simple Past
- Temporal Expressions & Their Tenses
- Aspects of French Past Tenses
- To & Fro Twixt English & French Past Tenses
What Each Tense in One Language Can Be in the Other - Compound Past
The Ins & Outs of the Passé composé - Imperative Mood
Forms & Environments of the Imperative - Faire Causatif or Causal Faire
Making Other People Do Things for You - House of Being Verbs
Verbes de la Maison d'Être - Fun with Regular –(d)re Verbs
- Compound Past and the Poet
Passé composé in Alfred de Musset's "Tristesse" - The -Ant Form of the Verb
Le Participe présent et le gérondif - Infinitives Following Verbs
Are They Introduced by À, DE, or nothing? - Savoir
Both a Semi-Auxliary and a Verb in Its Own Right - Devoir
A Semi-Auxiliary Without Peer - The Elusive English Subjunctive
An Overview Almost as Brief as its Matter - Compound Past: Tips for Translating
Don't Let the Passé composé Trip You Up! - French Verbs and their Favorite Past Tenses
Predilections of Classes of French Verbs - Formation of the Present Subjunctive (and the Past)
One Rule to Govern Them All - French Subjunctive, Main Uses
Splendeurs et mystères d'un mode verbal - Indefinite Expressions Using the Subjunctive
When You Need to Cast the Net Widely - Avoir, Faire, et cetera: Verb-Noun Phrases
Combinations That May Trip You Up - The French Literary Subjunctive: Formation
Forms You Won't Want To Be Without - The French Literary Subjunctive: Uses
When an Ordinary Tense Is Not Enough - Concessive Conditions in Les Liaisons dangereuses
An Elegant Construction Still in Use Today - Some Pronominal Verbs of Note
Many Are Strange; All Are Useful
