frenchwithash.ca French with Ash Book 1 · Chapter 1

Book 1 · Chapter 1

Chapitre 1 — Bonjour!

Saying hello and introducing yourself

What you’ll be able to do

By the end of this chapter, you can:

Five new ideas. That’s the whole chapter. We drill them until they’re automatic.

Start talking now

Read this out loud. Tap to hear it.

— Bonjour! Je m’appelle Camille. Et vous?

— Bonjour. Moi, c’est Marc. Enchanté.

— Enchantée. Vous êtes d’ici?

— Non, je suis de Québec. J’habite à Montréal maintenant.

English translation

— Hello! My name’s Camille. And you?

— Hello. I’m Marc. Nice to meet you.

— Nice to meet you. Are you from here?

— No, I’m from Quebec City. I live in Montréal now.

Now make it yours. Say the same exchange with your own name and your own city. Out loud, right now. Don’t write it yet. Just say it. It’ll feel clumsy and slow. That’s exactly what it’s supposed to feel like on day one.

Words you need

Greetings and politeness 0/13 known
  1. Bonjour tap to flip
    Hello / Good day English hidden
1 / 13
0 known
FrançaisEnglish
Bonjour Hello / Good day
Bonsoir Good evening
Salut Hi / Bye (casual)
Au revoir Goodbye
À bientôt See you soon
À demain See you tomorrow
Merci Thank you
Merci beaucoup Thank you very much
S’il vous plaît Please (formal)
De rien You’re welcome
Pardon / Excusez-moi Sorry / Excuse me
Enchanté(e) Nice to meet you
Oui / Non Yes / No
Saying who you are 0/7 known
  1. Je m’appelle… tap to flip
    My name is… English hidden
1 / 7
0 known
FrançaisEnglish
Je m’appelle… My name is…
Comment vous appelez-vous? What’s your name? (formal)
Comment tu t’appelles? What’s your name? (casual)
Je suis… I am…
J’ai ___ ans. I’m ___ years old.
Je viens de… I’m from…
J’habite à… I live in…

Quick reference: numbers for your age (0–20)

You only need these right now for one thing: saying how old you are. Don’t sit and memorize them as a list. You’ll absorb the rest later.

How French works here

Who’s doing it: subject pronouns

Before almost any verb, French makes you say who. Here’s the full set.

0/7 known
  1. je tap to flip
    I English hidden
1 / 7
0 known
FrançaisEnglish
je I
tu you (one person, casual)
il / elle he / she (also it)
on we (casual — you’ll hear this constantly in Montréal)
nous we
vous you (formal, or more than one person)
ils / elles they (m / f)

One thing trips up every English speaker: French has two words for “you.” Use tu for one person you’re relaxed with: a friend, a kid, family. Use vous for someone you don’t know, someone older, anyone you’re being polite to, or a group. When you’re not sure, use vous. Nobody is ever offended by vous.

To be: être

The single most common verb in French. Learn this table cold. You’ll reach for it every day.

je suis
nous sommes
tu es
vous êtes
il / elle / on est
ils / elles sont

Use être for who you are, how you are, and where you are.

Je suis canadien. (I’m Canadian.)

Je suis ingénieur. (I’m an engineer.)

Je suis à Montréal. (I’m in Montréal.)

To have: avoir

The second verb you can’t live without.

j' ai
nous avons
tu as
vous avez
il / elle / on a
ils / elles ont

Notice je becomes j’ in front of a vowel. It’s j’ai, never “je ai.”

The big surprise: in French you have your age, you don’t be it. French counts the years you’ve got.

J’ai trente ans. (I’m thirty. Literally: I have thirty years.)

The four phrases that introduce you

You don’t need any grammar for these yet. Learn them as whole phrases, the way you learned “thank you” as one thing. These four do most of the work in a first conversation.

How it sounds

Three things to notice. We’re not drilling pronunciation yet. For now, just train your ear.

  1. French is flatter than English. English punches one syllable hard (com-PU-ter). French keeps the syllables even, with a small rise at the end of a group, then a reset.
  2. Many final letters are silent. The -t in salut. The -s in trois. The -d in grand. You see them. You don’t say them.
  3. “Bonjour” has a nasal sound. The on goes through your nose. Don’t tack a hard “n” on the end of it. Same sound lives in non and bon.
Understand · don't produce

What you’ll hear in Montréal

For your ears, not your mouth. Recognize these. You don’t need to produce any of them.

Practice

Exercise 1 — être or avoir?

Fill each gap with the right form.

  1. Je étudiant.
  2. Tu vingt ans.
  3. Elle de Toronto.
  4. Nous canadiens.
  5. Vous un café? (Do you have a coffee?)
  6. Ils à Montréal.

Exercise 2 — Match the French to its English.

  • 1. À demain
  • 2. Enchanté
  • 3. De rien
  • 4. Comment tu t’appelles?
  • 5. Je viens de…
  • a. You’re welcome
  • b. What’s your name?
  • c. See you tomorrow
  • d. I’m from…
  • e. Nice to meet you

Exercise 3 — Introduce this person.

Write four sentences.

Léa · 28 ans · Lyon, France · professeure
Show a model answer

Elle s’appelle Léa. Elle a vingt-huit ans. Elle est de Lyon, en France. Elle est professeure.

Exercise 4 — Your first role-play.

You meet someone at a language exchange. Greet them, introduce yourself, and ask their name. Write the lines, then say them out loud.

Show a model answer

— Bonjour! Je m’appelle [your name]. Et vous?

— …

— Comment vous appelez-vous?

Answers

Show answers

Exercise 1: 1. suis · 2. as · 3. est · 4. sommes · 5. avez · 6. sont

Exercise 2: 1-c · 2-e · 3-a · 4-b · 5-d

Exercise 3 (one good version):

Elle s’appelle Léa. Elle a vingt-huit ans. Elle est de Lyon, en France. Elle est professeure.

Exercise 4 (one good version):

— Bonjour! Je m’appelle [your name]. Et vous?

— …

— Comment vous appelez-vous?

Your turn

This is the part that matters most. Pick one. Do both if you can.

This week’s work

Flashcards. Add these today, around twenty cards. Review ten minutes a day, both directions.

Listening. Find one slow French introduction or conversation. News in Slow French works, or any beginner podcast. Listen twice before you read a single word of transcript. You won’t catch everything. Catch the greetings and the verbs.

Production. The recording or the written profile above.

Check yourself

Tick these off honestly.

If a box is empty, go back to that section before Chapter 2. There’s no rush here. This is the floor you build everything else on. Make it solid.

Clears this chapter’s checklist, flashcards, and exercise answers on this device.

Next chapter

Next chapter Chapitre 2 — Les gens et les choses. You start describing people and things: a tall guy, a small coffee, a French book. That means articles and gender, the un/une, le/la thing everyone frets about, made simple. You get your first full set of regular verbs, enough to build hundreds of sentences. And you learn how to say no. You’ll go from four fixed phrases to real sentences of your own.

À la semaine prochaine.