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Free French Lessons
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Inversion: When Subjects and Verbs Switch PlacesLesson 34. GrammarThe normal word order in both French and English is "subject + verb," as in il dit (he says). But in certain situations, such as asking questions and using quotations, it is very common in French to switch the order to "verb + subject": dit-il. This is common in English as well: "They are going to the concert" versus "Are they going to the concert?" This switch from "subject + verb" to "verb + subject" is known as inversion.
In French, most instances of inversion occur between pronouns and verbs. When a pronoun and its verb are inverted, the two must be joined with a hyphen:
Eh bien, mon garçon, dis-moi, que sais-tu?
Well, my boy, tell me, what do you know?
Caption 10, Il était une fois...: L’Homme - Part 5
"Non, je ne veux pas sortir avec toi", répond-elle.
"No, I don’t want to go out with you," she responds.
When inverting a third-person pronoun (il, elle, on, ils, elles) and verb, you must pronounce the two with a liaison (see our lesson on liaison here). Thus we have "dit-Til," "répond-Telle," "est-Til," and so on.
When a third-person singular verb does not end in a t or d, you must insert a -t- between the inverted pronoun and verb. This inserted -t- does not have any meaning by itself; its sole purpose is to create the liaison:
A-t-il peur du noir?
Is he afraid of the dark?
Combien d’années, combien de siècles faudra-t-il, avant que ne se retrouvent pareilles constellations?
How many years, how many centuries will be needed before such constellations can be found again?
Captions 3-4, Il était une fois...: L’Homme - Part 6
For third-person plural verbs, the final t (which is usually silent) is pronounced in inversion:
ils donnent ("they give," pronounced like il donne)
donnent-ils (pronounced "donne-Tils")
In other words, all inverted third-person pronouns must be preceded by a t sound.
The first-person pronoun je is rarely inverted, except in interrogative constructions such as puis-je... (may I...), dois-je... (must I...), and suis-je... (am I...).
Although not as frequently as pronouns, nouns can also be inverted with their verbs, as the above example in blue demonstrates (se retrouvent pareilles constellations). In this case, a hyphen is not required:
"Non, je ne veux pas sortir avec toi", répond Christine.
"No, I don’t want to go out with you," Christine responds.
A common way to ask questions in French is to use a "double subject," in which a noun is followed by an inverted verb and pronoun. This can be seen in the title of the video Alsace 20: Pourquoi le bio est-il plus cher? (Why is organic more expensive?) and in this caption:
L’art est-il moins nécessaire que la science?
Is art less necessary than science?
Caption 3, Micro-Trottoirs: Art ou science?
Although the inversion method is a bit more concise, these two questions could easily be rephrased with est-ce que:
Pourquoi est-ce que le bio est plus cher?
Est-ce que l’art est moins nécessaire que la science?
To learn more about asking questions in French, including some notes on inversion, see this page. Si, Si, Si!Lesson 33. VocabularyInterviews à Central Park - Discussion politique
Dauer: 2:13Schwierigkeitsgrad:  Untertitel:15,16,17 Si is a little French word that mainly corresponds to three little English words: "if," "so," and "yes." Although these are three very different words, it’s usually easy to tell which one si is referring to in context. So let’s see what si can do! Most of the time, you’ll probably hear si used to mean "if," as Bertrand Pierre uses it in his emotional song Si vous n’avez rien à me dire (with text by Victor Hugo, of Les Misérables fame):
Si vous n'avez rien à me dire / Pourquoi venir auprès de moi? If you have nothing to say to me / Why come up to me? Captions 1-2, Bertrand Pierre: Si vous n'avez rien à me dire
Note that when si meaning "if" is followed by il ("he" or "it") or ils ("they," masculine), it is contracted to s'. This is perhaps most commonly seen in the expression for "please," s’il vous plaît (formal) or s’il te plaît (informal), which literally translates to "if it pleases you."
Si can also be used to indicate a contrast or opposition, in which case it means "whereas":
Si Émilie aime la musique rock, Henri la déteste. Whereas Émilie loves rock music, Henri hates it.
Since si and "so" look quite similar, it shouldn’t be too hard to remember this meaning of the word. Just keep in mind that si refers to the adverb "so" (as in "so happy"), not to "so" as a conjunction (as in "move so I can see"):
Pourquoi si long et pourquoi si las, tenir à bout de bras? Why so long and why so weary, to hold at arm's length? Caption 26, Dahlia: Contre courant
One of the first words you learn in French is the word for "yes," oui, but sometimes si can also mean "yes" (as it does in Spanish and Italian). However, si only means "yes" in a very specific context: when someone is contradicting a negative question or statement. In case that sounds kind of convoluted, here's an example:
Non! Il n'est pas bien, Sarkozy! -Si, si, si. -Si, il est bien. No! He's not good, Sarkozy! -Yes, yes, yes. -Yes, he's good. Captions 15-17, Interviews à Central Park: Discussion politique
If oui were used here instead of si, the speaker would just be confirming the negative statement ("Yes, Sarkozy is not good"). On the other hand, si takes a negative proposition ("He's not good, Sarkozy!") and turns it into a positive one ("Yes, he's good"). This is why it can come in very handy when you want to correct someone or express a contrary opinion.
To conclude, here are two expressions with si that you might find useful: si ça se trouve... ("maybe" or "it could be the case that") and si ce n'est que... (apart from the fact that):
Si ça se trouve, Georges n'a jamais terminé ses études. It could be that Georges never finished school.
Nous n'avons rien en commun, si ce n'est que nous sommes tous les deux français. We have nothing in common apart from the fact that we are both French.
This tiny word is probably one of the most versatile in the French language. So now that you know all about si, here's a challenge for you: try writing a two-sentence dialogue using as many meanings of the word as you can. Just use this lesson as a guide, and it'll be easier than you think! See here, see there!Lesson 32. Vocabulary
Voilà is a very common word in French, and depending on the context, it can take a number of different meanings, the most general of which is "there/here it is." In grammatical terms, voilà is categorized as a presentative, or a word that is used to introduce something. Voilà comes from the imperative phrase vois là (see there), which makes the presentative nature of the word even more apparent. At its most basic, voilà is used to present a specific object or person: Donc voilà mon super falafel, avec de l’aubergine grillée.... So here is my super falafel, with grilled eggplant.... Caption 8, Mon Lieu Préféré: Rue des Rosiers - Part 2 Ah! Ben tiens, voilà Socrate. Oh! Well look, here comes Socrates. Caption 8, Il était une fois...: L’Homme - Part 5 In these two examples, we see how voilà can be used to direct our attention to both an object (Caroline's "super falafel") and a person (Socrates). But when voilà isn't literally presenting us with something, it is often used as a way of emphasizing a statement: La poésie c'est comme l'amour: c'est le plus court chemin entre deux êtres. Voilà. Poetry is like love: it's the shortest path between two people. There. Caption 34, Marché de la Poésie: Des poètes en tout genre In a sense, you could say that voilà is "presenting" us here with the metaphor on poetry that precedes it. But on a slightly less articulate note, when voilà is used for emphasis, it often acts as a sort of filler word, used when someone wants to end one topic and move on to another: Euh... voilà. Après, l'inspiration, elle... elle vient de plein de sources diverses et variées. Uh... there you are. Well, inspiration, it... it comes from a lot of different and varied sources. Caption 45, Niko de La Faye: "Visages" - Part 2 You can also use voilà to affirm another person's statement: Voilà, vous pouvez même voir le petit bateau en photo, euh... ici. That's right, you can even see the little boat in the picture, uh... here. Caption 50, Arles: Le marché d'Arles Or you can use it to express a period of time: Voilà près de sept ans que les professionnels du bois attendaient ça. For nearly seven years, the lumber business has been waiting for this. Caption 4, Le Journal: Firewood Because voilà can be used in so many different situations, it is often tricky to translate ("there," "here," "there you go," "there you have it," "that's it," "there you are," and so on). And since no English word can really capture voilà's breadth of meaning, sometimes it's best not to translate it at all. In fact, the difficulty of translating voilà might be why it's become an (often humorous) English exclamation as well. Now let's take a look at voilà's sister word, voici (from vois ici, "see here"). Like voilà, voici is also a presentative, but whereas voilà can either mean "there it is" or "here it is," voici usually just means "here it is." And unlike voilà, voici isn't used for emphatic or filler purposes, but almost exclusively for introducing or presenting a specific person or thing: Nous voici devant une des quatre Statues de la Liberté que l'on peut trouver dans la ville de Paris. Here we are in front of one of the four Statues of Liberty that you can find in the city of Paris. Caption 22, Voyage dans Paris: Jardin du Luxembourg You can get a better sense of the difference between voici and voilà when they are both used in the same sentence: Voici ma maison et voilà celle de mon ami. Here is my house and there is my friend's. As you can see, voilà is used to point out something at a distance, whereas voici indicates something close by. The difference between voici and voilà is similar to the difference between ceci (this) and cela (that). In fact, another way of translating the sentence above would be, "this is my house and that is my friend's." You've probably heard voilà used in English before, but voici hasn't really managed to make the crossover. Besides the fact that voilà is often hard to translate (voici is much more straightforward), this could also be because voilà often acts as a standalone phrase (Voilà!), whereas voici never does. But don't underestimate a good voici when speaking French: if you want people to notice something that's right in front of them, it's the word to use! BienvenueLesson 31. VocabularyIn this lesson, we'll take a look at some of the different ways of welcoming people in French, all involving the word bienvenue (welcome). Either/OrLesson 30. VocabularyThere are two ways of saying "either... or..." in French, and they both involve repeating one word. The first is the construction soit... soit.... Soit is a conjunction that marks a set of alternatives, and it is also spelled the same as the third-person present subjunctive form of the verb être (to be):
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