January - March 2016 •
The Lion King
• 51
LANGUAGE CORNER |
LIFESTYLE
SHOW ME YOUR “CHRISTMAS FAMILY TREE”!
Hello and welcome to another edition of your ‘now’ favorite
French language series, Language Corner. In this issue, we
shall be learning how to make some short sentences with
nouns relating to the family and what in grammar is called
articles.
In the sentence, “This is a boy”, “a” is an article. In “That is an
egg”, “an” is an article. In French, articles reflect the gender
of their nouns and also tell whether the noun is singular or
BY JEREMIAH AFEKPOR
PRONUNCIATION – SOMETHING ABOUT SYLLABLES
The word ‘Bees’ is a one-syllable word. “Busi-ness” is a two-
syllable word (the ‘i’ being silent), “Busi-ness-man” has three
syllables while “Busi-ness-wo-man” has four. French words
are stressed on the last syllable. So, while we have co-RREC-
tion (English) we have co-rrec-TION (French), like souvenir
(souve-NIR), and while we have VI-sion (English), we have
vi-SION (French) like again (a-GAIN).
TEST YOUR TONGUE!
The following words can be both English and French words.
Show they are French by putting the syllable that has the
stress in capital letters. No. 1 has already been done for you.
1.
Di-rec-tion
Ans:
di-rec-TION
2.
Campus
3.
Active
4.
Ticket
CHIEF: This is a boy.
UNCLE: C’est un garçon (say ‘seh taŋ gar-soŋ’)
CHIEF: This is a man
UNCLE: C’est un homme (say ‘seh ta nom’)
CHIEF: A husband
UNCLE: Un mari (say ‘aŋ marry’)
CHIEF: A father
UNCLE: Un père (say ‘aŋ perr’)
CHIEF: A son
UNCLE: Un fils (say ‘aŋ feece’)
plural.
So the article you use for a male is not the one you use for a
female and the one you use for one thing is not the one you
use for two or more things. Now let us learn some sentences.
As usual, you are my Chief and I remain simply Uncle. Where
a pronunciation looks like an English word, just pronounce it
like one. Let’s go!
LANGUAGE
CORNER
Alright. I advise you re-read our previous lessons because
you will be helping me with some sentences as we reverse
our roles. You are now my teacher. But if you can’t find
the lessons, don’t worry. I will give you some hints.
Now, help me say the following in French, using the cor-
rect article.
CHIEF: This is a girl
UNCLE: C’est une fille (say ‘seh tune fee-yee’)
CHIEF: This is a woman
UNCLE: C’est une femme (say ‘seh tune farm’)
CHIEF: A wife
UNCLE: une femme (say ‘une farm’)
CHIEF: A mother
UNCLE: Une mère (say ‘une merr’)
CHIEF: A daughter
UNCLE: Une fille (say ‘une fee-yee’)
1.
You are a beautiful woman.
2.
My father is a Managing Director.
3.
I am a girl.
4.
My son is a businessman.
5.
You are a handsome boy.
HINT:
You are = Vous êtes; My = Mon; I am = Je suis; Is = Est; Businessman = Homme d’affaires; beautiful = belle; handsome = beau;
Managing Director = directeur général
