Verbs and Numbers
If you're learning Chinese, you probably know that verbs never conjugate in Chinese. This is a cause for rejoicing when learning Chinese, but I've gotten fed up with trying to figure out the way verbs are conjugated in French because my book doesn't list all of the conjugations like I'd like it to. (Is it really so much to ask? All I need is present indicative, for crying out loud!) Most of the mistakes I made on my test were mis-conjugated verbs. I knew, though, that there's a verb dedicated entirely to French verbs, their conjugations, their usage, etc. When I got to the bookstore, I found out that the books had been updated! (In 2007? I guess I didn't noticed because I was too busy learning Mandarin.)
In high school, I took 5 years of Spanish. My teacher gave out a list of books that she recommended for us to get. Among the list was the 501 Spanish Verbs book. The version I have is 5th edition. It's white and very thick. In the book, 501 verbs have their own pages with conjugations, phrases that use the verbs, and example sentences. The verb "gustar" has a somewhat odd page because it only has two forms to each tense. ("Gustar" is an odd verb that doesn't exactly mean "to like" because it's conjugated like "to be pleasing to." You never use first or second person, only third person.) It has a list of verbs that change meaning between the two past tenses (preterite and imperfect). There are actually thousands of verbs in the book with references as to which verbs they are conjugated like. There are activities to practice conjugating verbs. In short, this book is an invaluable resource for learning any language that has lots of verb conjugations. (I think it'd be useless for something like Chinese, though, since the pages would be full of 我是, 你是, 他是, etc.)
The 501 French Verbs book I have is 6th edition. It has a clearly marked explanation for "si" clauses, which is good. ("Si" clauses aren't for beginners. I don't think we ever used them until Spanish 4 or AP. I probably won't get to that point in French class. English teachers in public schools never mention subjunctive, so something dies inside of me whenever I hear an English-speaking person make an "if" clause.)
Besides the "si" clauses, I like how the front inside cover gives a sample page using the English verb "to go." The book also comes with a CD with a program that has even more practice exercises with verbs. (I haven't tried it. It's probably too advanced for me, since I only started taking French weeks ago.) 55 of the verbs are considered important enough to get not just one, but two pages in this new edition!
Last week, we started working on numbers in French class. I suppose this is one of those things the teacher kind of expects you to know in a college class, but if you've never taken French before, how on earth do you know?! At first, you look at the list and think, "Oh, it's like Spanish!" Then, you hit 70 and go, "Huh?" That part is seriously like no other language I've studied. You go to 60-and-10, and then you have 4 scores! Why does it jump to scores?! But Chinese numbers were so simple. You just had to remember that a million is really a hundred ten-thousands. Even writing the characters for the numbers isn't so hard, especially 一, 二, and 三, which just goes to show that people who say that Chinese is hard are crazy. No verb conjugations and simple numbers.
And my teacher is, indeed, from Côte d'Ivoire. I thought I might have misheard that on the first day, but I didn't.
In high school, I took 5 years of Spanish. My teacher gave out a list of books that she recommended for us to get. Among the list was the 501 Spanish Verbs book. The version I have is 5th edition. It's white and very thick. In the book, 501 verbs have their own pages with conjugations, phrases that use the verbs, and example sentences. The verb "gustar" has a somewhat odd page because it only has two forms to each tense. ("Gustar" is an odd verb that doesn't exactly mean "to like" because it's conjugated like "to be pleasing to." You never use first or second person, only third person.) It has a list of verbs that change meaning between the two past tenses (preterite and imperfect). There are actually thousands of verbs in the book with references as to which verbs they are conjugated like. There are activities to practice conjugating verbs. In short, this book is an invaluable resource for learning any language that has lots of verb conjugations. (I think it'd be useless for something like Chinese, though, since the pages would be full of 我是, 你是, 他是, etc.)
The 501 French Verbs book I have is 6th edition. It has a clearly marked explanation for "si" clauses, which is good. ("Si" clauses aren't for beginners. I don't think we ever used them until Spanish 4 or AP. I probably won't get to that point in French class. English teachers in public schools never mention subjunctive, so something dies inside of me whenever I hear an English-speaking person make an "if" clause.)
Besides the "si" clauses, I like how the front inside cover gives a sample page using the English verb "to go." The book also comes with a CD with a program that has even more practice exercises with verbs. (I haven't tried it. It's probably too advanced for me, since I only started taking French weeks ago.) 55 of the verbs are considered important enough to get not just one, but two pages in this new edition!
Last week, we started working on numbers in French class. I suppose this is one of those things the teacher kind of expects you to know in a college class, but if you've never taken French before, how on earth do you know?! At first, you look at the list and think, "Oh, it's like Spanish!" Then, you hit 70 and go, "Huh?" That part is seriously like no other language I've studied. You go to 60-and-10, and then you have 4 scores! Why does it jump to scores?! But Chinese numbers were so simple. You just had to remember that a million is really a hundred ten-thousands. Even writing the characters for the numbers isn't so hard, especially 一, 二, and 三, which just goes to show that people who say that Chinese is hard are crazy. No verb conjugations and simple numbers.
And my teacher is, indeed, from Côte d'Ivoire. I thought I might have misheard that on the first day, but I didn't.