Video:Learn French: Introduction to Sentences
with Jihad MasmoudiFrench sentences change in structure when the type of sentence changes. Learn about the 4 sentence types in French with some examples in this how-to video from About.com.See Transcript
Transcript:Learn French: Introduction to Sentences
Bonjour I'm Jihad for About.com and today we are talking about French sentences, how they are formed and order of the parts of speech. These ideas and more can be found on our French site.
Types of Sentences in French
A sentence (une phrase) is a group of words including at minimum a subject and a verb. To that structure you can add a lot of elements to make the information more complete. There are four types of sentences: declarative, exclamatory, interrogative, imperative.
Examples of Types of Sentences in French
The most common sentence is the phrase assertive or phrase déclarative, if you want to make a statement: Je suis fatigué. I am tired. or Je vais à la banque. I am going to the bank.
In this category you can find les phrases déclaratives affirmatives (affirmative statements) like in this example: Je vais à la banque. I am going to the bank. Or les phrases déclaratives négatives (negative statements) as in: Il ne sera pas là. He won't be there.
Les phrases exclamatives (exclamatory sentences) express a strong reaction such as surprise or indignation. They look just like statements except for the exclamation point. For example: Je veux y aller! I want to go! J'espère que oui!I hope so!
Phrases interrogatives, more commonly known as questions, ask for or about something: As-tu mon livre?Do you have my book? Où est-il? Where is he? Another category is the command or phrase impérative: it is the only kind of sentence without an explicit subject; instead, the subject is implied by the conjugation of the verb, which is in the imperative: Va t'en! Go away! Sois sage!Be good!
For more helpful and excellent information on speaking and learning French, check us out at About.com.