Putting It Together
French Grammar 1
Chapter 10 · Putting It Together
🧩 Putting It Together — Tout ensemble
Nine chapters have given you the pieces of the French noun phrase: the sounds, the gender and number of the noun, the articles, the partitive, the adjectives and the other determiners. This chapter assembles them. First the order of the words in a phrase, then a seven-step procedure you can run on any noun, then an error clinic built from the typical mistakes of the whole course, and finally the recap.
The whole noun phrase in order
| Determiner | Number | Before (BAGS) | Noun | After |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| mes | deux | grandes | sœurs | sportives |
| ce | bel | ami | italien | |
| nos | nouvelles | voitures | rouges | |
| de (for des) | jolies | robes | vertes | |
| tous mes | amis | français |
The seven-step procedure
When you build a noun phrase, run through these steps. It takes a few seconds once it becomes a habit:
| Step | Question | Where you learned it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Is the noun masculine or feminine? Check its ending, then learn it with its article. | French Grammar 1 3 |
| 2 | Is it singular or plural? Add -s, use -x or -aux, or leave it. | French Grammar 1 4 |
| 3 | Which determiner: definite, indefinite, partitive, possessive, demonstrative or quantity? | French Grammar 1 5, 6 and 9 |
| 4 | After a negative or a quantity word: use plain de. Before le or les after à or de: contract. | French Grammar 1 5 and 6 |
| 5 | Give the adjective the noun's gender and number. | French Grammar 1 7 |
| 6 | Put it before (BAGS) or after the noun; use bel, nouvel, vieil before a masculine vowel. | French Grammar 1 8 |
| 7 | Say it: elide (l', d'), link (liaison) and keep final consonants silent. | French Grammar 1 1 and 2 |
🔧 Error Clinic
These are the typical mistakes of the course. Cover the right-hand column and correct each one.
| Error | Correct | Rule and chapter |
|---|---|---|
| une voyage | un voyage | -age is masculine (French Grammar 1 3) |
| des chevals | des chevaux | -al → -aux (French Grammar 1 4) |
| à le marché | au marché | à + le = au (French Grammar 1 5) |
| Il est un médecin. | Il est médecin. / C'est un médecin. | no article after être + profession (French Grammar 1 5) |
| J'aime du café. | J'aime le café. | liking takes the definite article (French Grammar 1 5 and 6) |
| Je ne bois pas du café. | Je ne bois pas de café. | negative → de (French Grammar 1 6) |
| la plupart de gens | la plupart des gens | exception to de after a quantity word (French Grammar 1 6) |
| une amie italien | une amie italienne | feminine of -en (French Grammar 1 7) |
| des fleurs oranges | des fleurs orange | orange is invariable (French Grammar 1 7) |
| un beau ami | un bel ami | bel before a vowel (French Grammar 1 8) |
| des grandes maisons | de grandes maisons | des → de before a plural adjective (French Grammar 1 6 and 8) |
| ma amie | mon amie | mon before a vowel (French Grammar 1 9) |
| cette ami | cet ami | cet before a masculine vowel (French Grammar 1 9) |
🗣️ In Use — En situation
One last set of exchanges that uses the whole noun phrase. Read them aloud and run the seven steps on each phrase.
① Family photo
② Shopping
③ Friends
✏️ Try It Yourself — Exercices
Build each phrase with the seven steps, then click to check.
1. Build: "my two big sisters" (sœur, grand, sportif: "my two big, sporty sisters").
Show answer
mes deux grandes sœurs sportives (possessive, number, BAGS adjective, noun, other adjective).
2. Build: "this lovely Italian friend" (masculine, ami, beau, italien).
Show answer
ce bel ami italien. Bel is chosen because ami starts with a vowel, and ce (not cet) because the next word, bel, starts with a consonant.
3. Build: "pretty green dresses" (robe, joli, vert, no determiner but the indefinite plural).
Show answer
de jolies robes vertes (des → de because a plural adjective stands in front).
4. Build: "all my French friends" (ami, français).
Show answer
tous mes amis français (tout comes first and agrees with the plural masculine noun).
5. Say "I don't have any brothers, but I have a lot of cousins".
Show answer
Je n'ai pas de frères, mais j'ai beaucoup de cousins (negative de, quantity de).
6. Make this correct: Il est un étudiant. · J'aime du thé. · une amie français.
Show answer
Il est étudiant (or C'est un étudiant) · J'aime le thé · une amie française.
7. Make this correct: ma amie · des chevals · un beau ami · cette ami.
Show answer
mon amie · des chevaux · un bel ami · cet ami.
8. Which of the seven steps is each: (a) choosing bel; (b) pas de; (c) chevaux?
Show answer
(a) step 6 (position and special forms); (b) step 4 (negative → de); (c) step 2 (plural).
🏁 Course Complete — Terminé !
You have finished French Grammar 1. Here is what these ten chapters gave you.
| Chapters | What you can now do |
|---|---|
| 1–2 | Read the sound map of French (letters, accents, silent letters, nasal vowels) and apply elision and liaison. |
| 3–4 | Predict a noun's gender from its ending, form masculine and feminine pairs, and write regular and irregular plurals. |
| 5–6 | Use the definite, indefinite and partitive articles, the contractions au, aux, du, des, and plain de after a negative or a quantity. |
| 7–8 | Make adjectives agree, place them before or after the noun and use bel, nouvel, vieil. |
| 9 | Use possessives, demonstratives and the other determiners. |
| 10 | Build a whole noun phrase in seven steps and correct typical mistakes. |