Learn how to use the verb "to do"
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| Salut, je m'appelle Ingrid. Hi everybody! I’m Ingrid. |
| Welcome to FrenchPod101.com’s “Le français en 3 minutes”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn French. |
| In the last lesson, we learned how to use the verb aller which means "to go" in French. |
| In this lesson, we will continue our lesson series dedicated to very common French verbs. |
| The second verb in our series is faire, which means "to do." But as in English, you’ll see that the meaning of this verb is quite broad and it can be found in many different situations. |
| So imagine someone asks you Qu’est-ce que tu fais? |
| That means "What are you doing?" in an informal form. |
| So if you are doing your homework, for example, you will say in French Je fais mes devoirs. |
| [slowly] Je fais mes devoirs. |
| So let’s break down this answer: |
| First we had: |
| Je fais which is "I am doing." |
| It is the 1st person form of the verb faire, which is "to do" in present indicative tense. |
| Next was mes which is the possessive pronoun used for "My" in the plural form. |
| Finally we had devoirs which is a noun and means "homework." In French, this word is always plural. |
| Note that in French, you can use the present indicative to say that you are doing something right now. |
| For example if someone asks you to come and give him a hand but you are busy preparing a meal, you can say Désolé, je fais à manger! which literally means "Sorry, I am preparing the meal!" Here we are using the present indicative. |
| So now, let’s have a broader look at what can you say with this verb faire in French, |
| It is may be the most useful verb in French since you say almost everything with it! |
| It can mean "to prepare" as we saw just before, but it can also stand for "to play" or "to practice," as in Je fais du piano or Je fais du tennis which are "I’m playing the piano" and "I’m playing tennis." |
| Sometimes, it can also stands for "to work" as in Je fais du marketing which is "I’m working in marketing." |
| It can also replace a lot of other verbs, for example "to buy" as in Je fais des courses which is "I’m shopping." Or Je fais le ménage which is "I’m cleaning." |
| This verb can also express the verb "to make" or "to create" in English, as in Je fais mes vêtements moi-même which is "I make my own clothes." Also you can use it in Je fais de la sculpture for "I do sculpture." |
| Now it’s time for Ingrid’s Insights. |
| In French, we often say Qu'est-ce qu'on fait ce soir? that means What are we going to do tonight? |
| For example, if you are with some friends at night and you haven't decided your plans yet, you can ask it, it will sound very natural Qu'est-ce qu'on fait ce soir? |
| In this lesson, we learned how to use the verb faire in many different contexts and I’m sure it will help you a lot! |
| Next time we’ll learn another very useful and romantic verb, aimer. |
| Do you know what this French verb means? I’m sure you have an idea! |
| I’ll be waiting for you in the next Le français en 3 minutes. |
| A bientôt! |
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