C'est, il y a and questions
Three constructions that turn up in the first conversation. C'est introduces or identifies and takes a noun or a proper name: c'est mon frère, c'est difficile. Il est describes and takes an adjective or a profession with no article: il est médecin, il est grand. Il y a is “there is” and “there are” at once, never changing: il y a un livre, il y a des livres; its negative is il n'y a pas de. And there are three registers for asking the same question: intonation alone (tu viens ?), est-ce que in front (est-ce que tu viens ?) and inversion (viens-tu ?), from least to most formal.
Where this sits
- Comes after
- Present tense
Exercises from this rung
Generated by the app, from easiest to hardest
___ des livres sur la table.
- Il y a
- Il est
- Ils sont
- C'est
Why il y a is “there is” and “there are” at once and never changes: il y a un livre, il y a des livres. Its negative is il n'y a pas de, with the partitive reduced.
easier___ -vous du café ?
- Voulez
- Voulez-vous que
- Vous voulez
- Est-ce que vous voulez
Why Inversion puts the verb before the pronoun with a hyphen: voulez-vous, avez-vous. It is the most formal register, that of notices and letters. With il and elle a euphonic t is inserted: a-t-il, parle-t-elle.
in between___ heure est-il ?
- Quelle
- Qu'est-ce que
- Quel
- Quels
Why quel is an adjective and agrees with its noun: quel livre, quelle heure, quels amis, quelles idées. It cannot stand alone: to ask “what?” with no noun after it, use qu'est-ce que.
harder