Grammar

11 lessons

1. 1 Past subjunctive and advanced uses of the subjunctive que j'aie fini, the subjunctive after superlatives and in relative clauses, and the «ne explétif».
2. 2 The past conditional: regrets, reproaches and unconfirmed facts j'aurais dû (I should have), tu aurais pu (you could have), and the «future in the past».
3. 3 The passé simple: the tense of literature Recognise it in books and articles: il parla, elle fit, ils vinrent.
4. 4 The past infinitive: après avoir mangé «after eating», «thank you for coming», «sorry for being late»: English -ing, French infinitive.
5. 5 Perfect participle and participle clauses Ayant terminé…, Arrivée à Paris…, Le travail fini…: dense written style.
6. 6 Emphasis: c'est… qui, c'est… que, ce qui… c'est How French stresses part of a sentence, since it can't rely on voice stress like English.
7. 7 Ce dont, ce à quoi and the relative «quoi» «what… about / of / on» and «which» referring to a whole clause.
8. 8 Conditions and hypotheses without si au cas où, à condition que, pourvu que, à moins que, en admettant que, si jamais.
9. 9 Concession: avoir beau, si… que, quel que soit «However much…», «whatever…», «wherever…»: advanced structures of concession.
10. 10 Faire + infinitive and laisser + infinitive «to have something done», «to make someone do», «to let someone do».
11. 11 Nominalisation: from verb to noun Les prix augmentent → l'augmentation des prix: the style of headlines, reports and essays.