French Test Study Guide: Time, Dates, Articles, Possessives, and Numbers (2026)

This guide covers telling time, months, seasons, dates, possessive adjectives, definite and indefinite articles, and numbers — with explanations, examples, and drills with answers.

Use this as a long-form study guide. Every drill has its answers printed right after it, so cover the answer section until you have written your own.

1. Bienvenue

Bonjour, and welcome. This is your complete French test study guide, and it covers the seven topics your test will ask about: telling time, the months, the seasons, dates, possessive adjectives, definite and indefinite articles, and numbers.

Every topic works the same way here. First you get the rule in plain English, then you get the French examples, then you get a drill with the answers, so you can test yourself and find out exactly what you still need to practise.

Keep something to write with nearby. When a drill starts, pause the episode, write your answers, and then come back and check them against mine.

2. How to use this French study guide

This is a complete study guide for a French test, built around the seven topics you need: telling time, the months, the seasons, dates, possessive adjectives, definite and indefinite articles, and numbers. Each topic gets explained in plain language, then shown in examples you can repeat out loud, and then drilled with questions and answers.

Use this episode the way you would use a workbook, not the way you would use background music. Listen to one topic, repeat the examples, and only then move on. When a drill section starts, pause the audio, write your answers, and come back to check them. The pause is where the learning happens.

The topics are not separate on a real test. A single question can ask for a date, and the answer needs a month, a number, and the little word le in front of it. Another question can ask you to describe a friend, and the answer needs a possessive adjective that agrees with the noun you chose. That is why this guide finishes by putting the topics back together.

One habit makes all of this lighter: learn the short fixed lists first. The months are a fixed list of twelve. The days of the week are a fixed list of seven. The numbers up to twenty are a fixed list too. Once those lists are automatic, the grammar has something solid to stand on.

A second habit: never learn a French word on its own. Learn it inside the phrase where it lives. Not the month by itself, but en janvier. Not the article by itself, but le livre and un livre. Tests rarely ask for a bare word; they ask for a sentence.

One last note before we start. French belongs to the ear as much as to the page, so say every example out loud, even the numbers and the dates. If an item feels easy when you read it and strange when you say it, that is exactly the item to repeat.

3. Telling time: the basic frame

Almost every French time sentence starts with the same two words: il est. Those words mean it is, and the time word follows them. The frame is il est, then the hour, then the minutes. Il est trois heures dix means it is three ten.

The hour word is heure when there is only one hour, and heures when there is more than one. So we say il est une heure for one o'clock, but il est deux heures for two o'clock, il est trois heures for three o'clock, and il est dix heures for ten o'clock. English says o'clock in both cases, so this is the detail that English speakers lose first.

The word heure begins with a silent h and the sound is the same as the letter r in English. Heure is feminine, which is worth remembering now, because that gender decides one of the expressions in the next section.

When your teacher asks the time, the whole answer travels as one sentence. Il est une heure. Il est deux heures. Il est cinq heures. Il est onze heures. Say the numbers out loud, because un, deux, cinq, and onze have to be automatic before you can add minutes to them.

Minutes come after the hour in the same breath, with no word for past between them. Il est trois heures dix. Il est neuf heures cinq. Il est dix heures vingt. The French sentence keeps the hour first, then the minutes, and it never inserts a word like o'clock in the middle.

One caution: il est is also the way French says he is, so do not translate it word by word. In a time sentence, il est is impersonal and means nothing more than it is, and the time expression after it is what carries the meaning.

4. Telling time: et quart, et demie, and moins le quart

Three expressions cover the three most common minute marks and they show up constantly on tests, so learn them as single sounds rather than as pieces.

et quart means and a quarter, so it marks fifteen minutes past the hour. Il est quatre heures et quart means it is four fifteen.

et demie means and a half, so it marks thirty minutes past. Il est sept heures et demie means it is seven thirty.

moins le quart means a quarter to the next hour, so it marks forty-five minutes. Il est six heures moins le quart means it is six forty-five. The words literally mean less the quarter, that is, one quarter of an hour before the hour you are naming, so the hour you say is always the hour that has not arrived yet.

That last point is where marks are lost. For six forty-five, French names seven, not six, and then takes a quarter away from it. Six heures moins le quart is not six forty-five in the sense of six plus something; it is seven minus a quarter. If you hear moins, add an hour and take a quarter off.

Now the gender detail that tests love. Demie takes a final e because heure is feminine. So it is et demie when you are talking about an hour, and never et demi. The same feminine form appears in une demi-heure, which means half an hour on its own.

Quart does not change, and the quarter phrase keeps its article: moins le quart, with the, not moins quart. Notice too that et demie and et quart attach to the hour you are in, while moins le quart points at the hour ahead.

One special pair is worth memorising now. At twelve forty-five French can say midi moins le quart, because noon is the hour coming up, and at eleven forty-five the same expression appears from the other side: midi moins le quart is the natural way to say a quarter to twelve in the middle of the day.

5. Telling time: other minutes, noon, and midnight

For every minute that is not quarter past, half past, or quarter to, French simply says the number of minutes after the hour. Il est neuf heures cinq means nine oh five. Il est dix heures vingt means ten twenty. Il est trois heures quarante means three forty.

You will also hear a small et in careful speech, especially with short minute numbers: il est huit heures et cinq, il est onze heures et dix. Both forms are correct, and in many classrooms saying the number directly is perfectly acceptable. If your teacher writes et in the model, use et in your answer.

Now the two special hours. Midi means noon, and minuit means midnight, and each replaces the hour word entirely. Il est midi means it is twelve noon. Il est minuit means it is twelve midnight. You do not say douze heures for noon in ordinary conversation.

Because midi and minuit behave like hours, minutes attach to them the same way. Il est midi trente is twelve thirty in the middle of the day. Il est midi et quart is a quarter past noon. Il est minuit et demie is half past midnight. Mixing the quarter expressions with midi and minuit is completely normal French, not a shortcut.

A warning that appears in almost every marking scheme: do not build a clock time out of English word order. French never says the equivalent of it is twelve and thirty. It says midi trente, hour first, minutes second.

Say these out loud until they feel ordinary. Il est midi. Il est minuit. Il est une heure. Il est deux heures et quart. Il est cinq heures et demie. Il est huit heures moins le quart. Six sentences carry the whole system.

6. Telling time: parts of the day and the twenty-four-hour clock

French often adds a piece of the day to a time so that it cannot be confused with another hour. In the morning is du matin, in the afternoon is de l'après-midi, and in the evening is du soir.

The expressions sit after the time, as a tail on the sentence. Il est huit heures du matin means it is eight in the morning. Il est trois heures de l'après-midi means it is three in the afternoon. Il est neuf heures du soir means it is nine in the evening.

Notice the shape of the middle one. Après-midi begins with a vowel sound, so the definite article shortens to l', and we say de l'après-midi rather than de la après-midi. The same shortening happens with l'école and l'ami, and it exists purely so the two vowel sounds do not crash into each other.

Watch the boundary between the parts of the day, because it decides which tail you use. Noon itself is midi, with no tail at all. Anything after noon and before the evening belongs to de l'après-midi. From about six in the evening, French switches to du soir, and that tail stays until midnight.

Schedules, timetables, signs, and written programs usually use the twenty-four-hour clock instead. The written notation puts the letter h where English puts a colon: quatorze heures for two in the afternoon, dix-huit heures trente for six thirty in the evening, vingt heures quinze for eight fifteen at night. The letter h in writing stands for heure or heures.

Read aloud, the twenty-four-hour clock is just the number and the word heure. Quatorze heures is fourteen hours, which is two o'clock in the afternoon. Vingt heures is eight in the evening. You do not add du soir to a twenty-four-hour time, because the number already said it.

On a test, the twenty-four-hour clock usually appears as a conversion question in one direction or the other. Read fourteen as two in the afternoon by subtracting twelve, and read eight in the evening as twenty by adding twelve. Midi stays midi, and minuit stays minuit.

7. Time drills: questions, then answers

Time to practise. For each item, say the French time out loud before the answer arrives. The items move from easy to harder, and the answers use the school forms we just covered.

Items one to ten. Number one: it is one o'clock. Number two: it is two o'clock. Number three: it is four fifteen. Number four: it is seven thirty. Number five: it is six forty-five. Number six: it is nine oh five. Number seven: it is ten twenty. Number eight: it is noon. Number nine: it is midnight. Number ten: it is eleven forty-five in the morning.

Here are the answers. One: il est une heure. Two: il est deux heures. Three: il est quatre heures et quart. Four: il est sept heures et demie. Five: il est six heures moins le quart. Six: il est neuf heures cinq. Seven: il est dix heures vingt. Eight: il est midi. Nine: il est minuit. Ten: il est midi moins le quart, because eleven forty-five is a quarter to twelve at midday.

Items eleven to twenty, this time from French into English. Eleven: il est trois heures et demie. Twelve: il est huit heures moins le quart. Thirteen: il est une heure et quart. Fourteen: il est midi trente. Fifteen: il est minuit et demie. Sixteen: il est cinq heures dix du matin. Seventeen: il est quatre heures de l'après-midi. Eighteen: il est neuf heures du soir. Nineteen: il est onze heures moins le quart du soir. Twenty: il est six heures et demie du matin.

Here are those answers. Eleven: it is three thirty. Twelve: it is a quarter to eight. Thirteen: it is a quarter past one. Fourteen: it is twelve thirty in the middle of the day. Fifteen: it is half past midnight. Sixteen: it is five ten in the morning. Seventeen: it is four o'clock in the afternoon. Eighteen: it is nine in the evening. Nineteen: it is a quarter to eleven at night. Twenty: it is six thirty in the morning.

Items twenty-one to thirty are conversions between the two clocks. Twenty-one: write two in the afternoon in twenty-four-hour notation. Twenty-two: write six thirty in the evening. Twenty-three: write eight fifteen at night. Twenty-four: read quatorze heures as a twelve-hour time. Twenty-five: read dix-huit heures trente as a twelve-hour time. Twenty-six: read vingt heures quinze as a twelve-hour time. Twenty-seven: give the French for half past five in the evening. Twenty-eight: give the French for a quarter past twelve at midday. Twenty-nine: give the French for twenty minutes past seven in the morning. Thirty: give the French for ten minutes to four in the afternoon.

Answers twenty-one to thirty. Twenty-one: quatorze heures. Twenty-two: dix-huit heures trente. Twenty-three: vingt heures quinze. Twenty-four: two in the afternoon. Twenty-five: six thirty in the evening. Twenty-six: eight fifteen at night. Twenty-seven: il est cinq heures et demie du soir. Twenty-eight: il est midi et quart. Twenty-nine: il est sept heures vingt du matin. Thirty: il est quatre heures moins dix de l'après-midi, since ten minutes to four is four minus ten minutes.

If you missed more than three items in that drill, do one thing before moving on: reread only the section on et quart, et demie, and moins le quart, then repeat items three, five, ten, twelve, and nineteen. Those five items carry the whole pattern.

8. The twelve months, in order

The months in French are a fixed list, and the test will expect the order as well as the spelling. Here they are. Janvier, février, mars, avril, mai, juin, juillet, août, septembre, octobre, novembre, décembre.

Say them again slowly, because several of them hide traps. Janvier sounds like zhahn-vee-ay. Février carries an accent on the first e and sounds like fay-vree-ay. Mars sounds like the English word mars, with a silent final s. Avril is ah-vreel. Mai is may. Juin is zhwan. Juillet is zhwee-yay. Août is simply oot, or oo in some regions, and it carries the little hat on the u. Septembre, octobre, novembre, and décembre all follow the same shape: septembre, octobre, novembre, décembre.

Three spelling traps are worth writing down. Février takes an accent on the first e. Août takes the circumflex on the u, and it is the shortest-looking month with the strangest sound. Décembre takes an accent on the first e, and its final r is pronounced.

Two pairs are easy to confuse, so practise them as pairs rather than alone. Juin and juillet: juin is the sixth month, juillet is the seventh, and the shorter word is the earlier month. Mars and mai: mars is the third month, mai is the fifth, and the short one comes later this time.

One rule surprises English speakers. Months in French are not capitalised. Janvier, février, and décembre begin with a small letter inside a sentence. Only at the start of a sentence, or in a title that follows that convention, does a month take a capital.

The order of the months is also the order of the seasons, and we will use exactly that order in the next two sections. Learn the list once, in a rhythm, and you will use it for the rest of this guide.

9. Months inside sentences

A month on its own answers one kind of question. A month inside a sentence answers all the others, and the little word that carries most of the work is en.

To say that something happens in a month, French uses en plus the month, with no article in between. Nous allons en juillet means we are going in July. Mon anniversaire est en décembre means my birthday is in December. The test is en mars. We travel en août.

Notice that the month keeps its small letter inside the sentence, and that nothing stands between en and the month. English needs the word in; French needs the word en in exactly the same place.

You will also meet a slightly fuller version, au mois de plus the month. Au mois de janvier is a common way to say in the month of January, and it appears in written notices and formal speech. Both forms are correct, and en janvier is the one to use in ordinary conversation.

Dates work differently, and this is the contrast worth noticing now. A month with en names the month something happened in. A date names the exact day, and it uses le instead of en: le cinq avril. When we reach the date section we will build that pattern properly.

Here are six sentences to say out loud. Nous allons en juillet. Mon anniversaire est en décembre. Le cours commence en septembre. Il fait froid en février. Les vacances commencent en juin. Le test est en mars. Say each of them twice, once while watching the month and once while looking away.

10. The four seasons and their articles

French has four seasons, and each one carries an article that you have to remember along with the noun.

Spring is le printemps, with le. Summer is l'été, with l' because été begins with a vowel sound. Autumn is l'automne, also with l'. Winter is l'hiver, with l' as well, because the h in hiver is silent and the word opens with a vowel sound.

That is the pattern: printemps keeps its full article le, and the other three borrow the shortened article l' purely for sound. If you can remember that spring is the odd one out, the rest of the group follows.

At school level, the months are usually grouped with the seasons in this standard way. Le printemps covers mars, avril, and mai. L'été covers juin, juillet, and août. L'automne covers septembre, octobre, and novembre. L'hiver covers décembre, janvier, and février.

Notice that winter is the season that straddles the year, and that is why it owns December at the end and January and February at the beginning. If your teacher groups the months differently, follow your teacher, but this grouping is the one most tests expect.

Here they are again in order, with their articles: le printemps, l'été, l'automne, l'hiver. Say them as four sounds, not as four words, and say them in that order until the order itself is automatic.

11. Seasons in sentences and the prepositions that go with them

The seasons take two different prepositions, and the split follows the same logic as their articles. Spring takes au, and the other three take en.

Au printemps means in spring. En été means in summer. En automne means in autumn. En hiver means in winter. The reason is partly habit and partly sound, and the practical answer is simply to memorise the four as they are: au printemps, en été, en automne, en hiver.

These expressions sit inside ordinary sentences in exactly the way their English equivalents do. J'aime voyager au printemps means I like to travel in spring. Il fait chaud en été means it is hot in summer. Il pleut souvent en automne means it often rains in autumn. Il neige en hiver means it snows in winter.

Two small details cause most of the errors. First, the preposition does not change when you talk about a different person or a different activity, so en hiver is en hiver whether you are skiing or studying. Second, do not carry the article into the preposition: the phrase is au printemps, not en le printemps, and it is en été, not au été.

Seasons also appear in questions about weather, and the question often uses the same expression: quel temps fait-il en hiver, what is the weather like in winter. Answer with the same phrase you were asked with, and the sentence builds itself.

Say the four phrases, then the four sentences. Au printemps, en été, en automne, en hiver. J'aime voyager au printemps. Il fait chaud en été. Il pleut souvent en automne. Il neige en hiver.

12. Months and seasons drills: questions, then answers

This drill mixes the months and the seasons, the way a test does. Answer each item out loud or on paper first, then check.

Items one to twelve. One: give the months in order. Two: which month comes after avril. Three: which month comes before octobre. Four: how do you say March in French. Five: how do you say August in French. Six: which two months look alike and are easy to mix up. Seven: is the month février written with a capital letter in the middle of a sentence. Eight: give the French for in January. Nine: give the French for in July. Ten: name the four seasons in French with their articles. Eleven: give the French for in spring and in winter. Twelve: which months belong to l'été.

Answers one to twelve. One: janvier, février, mars, avril, mai, juin, juillet, août, septembre, octobre, novembre, décembre. Two: mai comes after avril. Three: septembre comes before octobre. Four: mars. Five: août. Six: juin and juillet, and mars and mai are the other risky pair. Seven: no, months are not capitalised in French. Eight: en janvier. Nine: en juillet. Ten: le printemps, l'été, l'automne, l'hiver. Eleven: au printemps and en hiver. Twelve: juin, juillet, and août.

Items thirteen to twenty-four. Thirteen: translate we are going in September. Fourteen: translate my birthday is in December. Fifteen: translate it is cold in February. Sixteen: translate the holidays start in June. Seventeen: translate it is hot in summer. Eighteen: translate it snows in winter. Nineteen: translate it rains in autumn. Twenty: translate I like to travel in spring. Twenty-one: which preposition goes with printemps. Twenty-two: which preposition goes with hiver. Twenty-three: is it correct to say en le printemps. Twenty-four: what is the French for the school year starts in September.

Answers thirteen to twenty-four. Thirteen: nous allons en septembre. Fourteen: mon anniversaire est en décembre. Fifteen: il fait froid en février. Sixteen: les vacances commencent en juin. Seventeen: il fait chaud en été. Eighteen: il neige en hiver. Nineteen: il pleut en automne. Twenty: j'aime voyager au printemps. Twenty-one: au, giving au printemps. Twenty-two: en, giving en hiver. Twenty-three: no, the correct form is au printemps. Twenty-four: l'année scolaire commence en septembre.

Items twenty-five to thirty-four are spelling and meaning, since tests mark spelling hard. Twenty-five: spell the second month of the year. Twenty-six: spell the eighth month. Twenty-seven: spell the twelfth month. Twenty-eight: which month has a circumflex on the u. Twenty-nine: which months end in the same four letters as septembre. Thirty: which season contains décembre, janvier, and février. Thirty-one: which season contains juin, juillet, and août. Thirty-two: give the French for autumn with its article and its preposition. Thirty-three: give the French for spring with its article and its preposition. Thirty-four: translate the four seasons in order with the preposition for each.

Answers twenty-five to thirty-four. Twenty-five: février, f, e accent acute, v, r, i, e, r. Twenty-six: août, a, o, u with the circumflex, t. Twenty-seven: décembre, d, e accent acute, c, e, m, b, r, e. Twenty-eight: août. Twenty-nine: octobre, novembre, and décembre end in the same four letters as septembre. Thirty: l'hiver. Thirty-one: l'été. Thirty-two: l'automne, and en automne. Thirty-three: le printemps, and au printemps. Thirty-four: au printemps, en été, en automne, en hiver.

13. Dates: le plus the number plus the month

A French date has three parts and they always come in the same order: the word le, then the day number, then the month. Le cinq avril means the fifth of April. Le douze septembre means the twelfth of September.

The word le is not optional. It is the piece that turns a number and a month into a date, and it stays there even when the date sits in the middle of a sentence. Nous avons un test le dix mars means we have a test on the tenth of March. Mon anniversaire est le deux juin means my birthday is the second of June. La fête est le vingt-cinq décembre means the party is on the twenty-fifth of December.

The first day of the month is special. French writes it with a small er attached to the number one, and says the word premier rather than the number. The first of January is written as le premier janvier, and it can be written with the abbreviation le premier with er raised, but it is always said with the word premier. The little er exists only for the first day; every other day uses a plain number.

So the second of the month is le deux, the third is le trois, the fourth is le quatre, and the thirty-first is le trente et un. Nothing is added, nothing is shortened, and no ordinal words appear after the first of the month.

Numbers above twenty are built from the same pieces you already know: le vingt et un, le vingt-deux, le trente et un. If a number is hard to say, it will be just as hard inside a date, so practise the numbers in the last part of this guide until dates stop feeling like two different skills.

Say five dates out loud to fix the pattern. Le premier janvier. Le deux février. Le quatorze juillet. Le vingt-cinq décembre. Le trente et un octobre. Notice that le never disappears and that the month follows immediately.

14. Dates in sentences, and the day of the week

There are a few fixed sentence openings for dates, and a test will usually give you one of them to finish.

To say today's date, French uses nous sommes le plus the date, or aujourd'hui, c'est le plus the date. Nous sommes le quatorze juillet means we are on the fourteenth of July. Aujourd'hui, c'est le huit mars means today is the eighth of March. Both openings are common, and both keep the word le.

French writes dates in the order day, month, year, which is the opposite of the common English order. The fifteenth of April twenty twenty-six is written as the fifteenth, then the month, then the year. Read aloud it becomes le quinze avril deux mille vingt-six. When a test asks you to write the date in full, check the order before you check the spelling.

The days of the week come before the date when they are used at all. Lundi means Monday, mardi Tuesday, mercredi Wednesday, jeudi Thursday, vendredi Friday, samedi Saturday, and dimanche Sunday. Said with a date, the pattern is the day, then the number, then the month: lundi douze octobre, vendredi trois juin.

Days of the week are not capitalised in French, exactly like months, so they appear with small letters in the middle of a sentence. Written with a date, they can take le in front for a repeated weekly event, as in le lundi douze octobre for a class that meets on Mondays, but the plain form without le is perfectly correct for a single date.

Say the whole set once, then use it. Lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche. Nous sommes le quinze avril. Mon anniversaire est le deux juin. Le test est le dix-huit mai. La fête est le premier janvier.

15. Date drills: questions, then answers

Every item here is a date question of the kind you will meet. Write your answer down, because dates are marked on spelling as well as form.

Items one to ten, from English into French. One: the fifth of April. Two: the first of January. Three: the twelfth of September. Four: the twenty-fifth of December. Five: the fourteenth of July. Six: the second of June. Seven: the thirty-first of October. Eight: the third of March. Nine: the eighth of March. Ten: the thirtieth of November.

Answers one to ten. One: le cinq avril. Two: le premier janvier. Three: le douze septembre. Four: le vingt-cinq décembre. Five: le quatorze juillet. Six: le deux juin. Seven: le trente et un octobre. Eight: le trois mars. Nine: le huit mars. Ten: le trente novembre.

Items eleven to twenty, from French into English. Eleven: le premier mai. Twelve: le six juin. Thirteen: le vingt et un juillet. Fourteen: le dix octobre. Fifteen: le quinze août. Sixteen: le quatre novembre. Seventeen: le premier décembre. Eighteen: le neuf février. Nineteen: le dix-sept janvier. Twenty: le vingt-huit septembre.

Answers eleven to twenty. Eleven: the first of May. Twelve: the sixth of June. Thirteen: the twenty-first of July. Fourteen: the tenth of October. Fifteen: the fifteenth of August. Sixteen: the fourth of November. Seventeen: the first of December. Eighteen: the ninth of February. Nineteen: the seventeenth of January. Twenty: the twenty-eighth of September.

Items twenty-one to thirty are full sentences. Twenty-one: we have a test on the tenth of March. Twenty-two: my birthday is the second of June. Twenty-three: the party is on the twenty-fifth of December. Twenty-four: today is the eighth of March. Twenty-five: we are on the fourteenth of July. Twenty-six: the class starts on the fifth of September. Twenty-seven: the first of January is a holiday. Twenty-eight: the exam is on the twenty-second of April. Twenty-nine: my sister's birthday is the third of August. Thirty: the trip is on the twelfth of July.

Answers twenty-one to thirty. Twenty-one: nous avons un test le dix mars. Twenty-two: mon anniversaire est le deux juin. Twenty-three: la fête est le vingt-cinq décembre. Twenty-four: aujourd'hui, c'est le huit mars. Twenty-five: nous sommes le quatorze juillet. Twenty-six: le cours commence le cinq septembre. Twenty-seven: le premier janvier est un jour férié. Twenty-eight: l'examen est le vingt-deux avril. Twenty-nine: l'anniversaire de ma sœur est le trois août. Thirty: le voyage est le douze juillet.

Two reminders before you check your marks. The word le stays in every sentence, even in the middle. And the first of the month is the only date that uses premier.

16. Possessive adjectives: the rule that decides everything

Possessive adjectives are the small words that mean my, your, his, her, our, and their. French has six families of them, and one rule runs the whole system: the adjective agrees with the thing that is owned, not with the person who owns it.

That is the opposite of what English speakers expect. In English, my sister and my brother use the same word my, and only the noun changes. In French, le livre, the book, is masculine, so the word for my in front of it is mon: mon livre. La maison, the house, is feminine, so the word for my in front of it is ma: ma maison. Les livres, the books, is plural, so the word for my is mes: mes livres. The owner never changed; the noun did, and that is what the adjective followed.

So when you write a possessive adjective, the question to ask is never who owns it. The question is what the thing is: masculine singular, feminine singular, or plural. Everything else follows from that answer.

There is one extra rule, and it only appears with a single noun: when a feminine singular noun begins with a vowel sound or a silent h, French uses the masculine form of the possessive adjective instead. So it is mon amie, my friend, even though amie is feminine, and mon école, my school, with mon rather than ma. The reason is purely sound: ma amie would run two vowel sounds together, and French dislikes that.

Notice the word for friend in both forms, because it is a favourite on tests. Un ami is a male friend, une amie is a female friend, and with a possessive adjective both keep the masculine-looking mon: mon ami and mon amie. Read the noun's gender from the article when the noun is alone, and read the vowel at the start of it when a possessive adjective is in front.

Here is the whole system in one breath. Mon, ma, mes. Ton, ta, tes. Son, sa, ses. Notre, nos. Votre, vos. Leur, leurs. Every one of those forms answers the same question: how does the owned noun look, singular masculine, singular feminine, or plural.

17. Possessives: mon, ma, and mes

My has three forms in French and they divide the nouns by gender and number.

Mon goes before a masculine singular noun. Mon livre, my book. Mon frère, my brother. Mon cahier, my notebook. Mon père, my father. Mon ami, my friend, when the friend is male.

Ma goes before a feminine singular noun. Ma maison, my house. Ma sœur, my sister. Ma table, my table. Ma mère, my mother. Ma voiture, my car.

Mes goes before any plural noun, whatever the gender. Mes livres, my books. Mes amis, my friends. Mes sœurs, my sisters. Mes cahiers, my notebooks. Notice that mes does not change for gender at all: the plural form is the same for masculine and feminine nouns.

Then the vowel exception returns. If a feminine singular noun begins with a vowel sound or a silent h, mon is used instead of ma. Mon amie, my friend, when the friend is female. Mon école, my school. Mon adresse, my address. Mon histoire, my story. The noun is still feminine, and its article would still be la, but the possessive adjective takes the masculine shape to keep the sounds apart.

A practical way to remember which form is which: look at the article the noun would take on its own. If it is le, the possessive adjective is mon. If it is la, the possessive adjective is ma, unless the word starts with a vowel sound, in which case it is mon again. If it is les, the possessive adjective is mes. Learn the noun with its article, and the possessive adjective answers itself.

18. Possessives: ton, ta, and tes

Your works exactly like my, with the same three shapes and the same vowel exception. The forms are ton, ta, and tes.

Ton goes before a masculine singular noun. Ton frère, your brother. Ton livre, your book. Ton cahier, your notebook. Ton nom, your name, and you will see this one on forms and test papers constantly.

Ta goes before a feminine singular noun. Ta sœur, your sister. Ta chaise, your chair. Ta chambre, your room. Ta voiture, your car.

Tes goes before a plural noun. Tes livres, your books. Tes cahiers, your notebooks. Tes parents, your parents. Tes amis, your friends.

The vowel exception applies here too, and it is easy to see with one pair: ton amie, your friend, when the friend is female, rather than ta amie. The same happens with ton école, your school, and ton adresse, your address.

One warning about the pronunciation of these words. Ton, ta, and tes are not the same word; they are three different words with three different sounds, and French ears hear the difference immediately. Ton has the nasal sound of the word we already met in mon. Ta is short and open, like the sound in the English word ah. Tes sounds like the English word tay. Say the three side by side until the difference is obvious: ton, ta, tes.

One more detail while we are here. French has two words for your, and we have only met one of them. Ton, ta, and tes are for one person you know well, a friend, a classmate, a family member. There is a separate set for when you speak to someone formally or to several people at once, and we will meet it a few sections from now.

19. Possessives: son, sa, and ses

His and her share a single set of forms in French, and this is the most misunderstood part of the whole system for English speakers.

The forms are son for a masculine singular noun, sa for a feminine singular noun, and ses for a plural noun. That is all. There is no separate word for his and her, and nothing in the adjective tells you whether the owner is male or female.

So son livre can mean his book or her book. The adjective tells you that livre is masculine singular; the context tells you who owns it. Sa sœur can mean his sister or her sister, and ses stylos can mean his pens or her pens.

This means that in French the gender of the owner simply does not appear on the possessive adjective. If a test sentence says Marie cherche son livre, the word son does not tell you that the book belongs to Marie because Marie is female; it tells you that livre is masculine. If the sentence were Marie cherche sa sœur, the word sa would still have nothing to do with Marie, and everything to do with sœur.

The vowel exception works here as well. Son is used before a feminine singular noun that begins with a vowel sound, so son amie can mean his friend or her friend even though amie is feminine. Son école, his or her school. Son adresse, his or her address.

Here are the three forms in use. Son père, his or her father. Sa mère, his or her mother. Ses parents, his or her parents, and notice that parents is plural, so it takes ses regardless of who owns them. Son frère et sa sœur, his or her brother and sister. Ses cahiers, his or her notebooks.

If you take one sentence away from this section, take this one: the possessive adjective follows the noun, and never the owner. Adding an owner's gender to the sentence changes nothing about the adjective, so never let that gender decide your answer.

20. Possessives: notre, nos, votre, vos, leur, and leurs

The last three families are simpler, because each of them has only two forms: one for singular nouns and one for plural nouns. Gender does not matter at all here.

Our is notre before a singular noun and nos before a plural noun. Notre école, our school. Notre professeur, our teacher. Nos livres, our books. Nos amis, our friends. Notice that notre serves both a masculine noun like professeur and a feminine noun like école; the noun's gender is invisible in this family.

Your has two sets of forms in French, and this is where the formal version lives. Votre and vos are used for one person you address formally, or for several people at once. Votre nom, your name, on a form you fill in politely. Votre maison, your house. Vos amis, your friends. Vos cahiers, your notebooks.

That means a test sentence can contain both words for your, and the choice depends on the relationship, not on the thing owned. To one friend: ton livre. To a teacher: votre livre. To two friends at once: votre livre as well, because deux people are plural. The plural meaning of votre and vos is easy to miss, because in English the same word your covers all of them.

Their is leur before a singular noun and leurs before a plural noun. Leur maison, their house. Leur livre, their book. Leurs maisons, their houses. Leurs livres, their books. The difference between leur and leurs is one letter, and it is decided entirely by whether the noun after it is singular or plural.

Watch the spelling carefully, because leur and leurs are marked hard. If the thing is one, the adjective has no s. If the things are several, the adjective does. And notice that this is not about the owners either: leurs maisons means their houses, whether the owners are two people or ten.

Here is the full set once more, in one line. Notre, nos. Votre, vos. Leur, leurs. Singular nouns take the short form without s, and plural nouns take the form with s, and in trois families nothing else changes.

21. Possessive drills: questions, then answers

This drill works the one rule from the beginning of this topic: the possessive adjective agrees with the noun in front of it.

Items one to twelve. Fill the gap with the correct form of my. One: blank livre. Two: blank maison. Three: blank amis. Four: blank école. Five: blank sœur. Six: blank frère. Seven: blank cahiers. Eight: blank adresse. Nine: blank parents. Ten: blank voiture. Eleven: blank histoire. Twelve: blank stylos.

Answers one to twelve. One: mon livre, because livre is masculine singular. Two: ma maison, feminine singular. Three: mes amis, plural. Four: mon école, because école is feminine but begins with a vowel sound. Five: ma sœur, feminine singular. Six: mon frère, masculine singular. Seven: mes cahiers, plural. Eight: mon adresse, feminine but vowel-initial. Nine: mes parents, plural. Ten: ma voiture, feminine singular. Eleven: mon histoire, feminine but vowel-initial. Twelve: mes stylos, plural.

Items thirteen to twenty-four, with your in the familiar form, ton, ta, or tes. Thirteen: blank frère. Fourteen: blank chambre. Fifteen: blank cahiers. Sixteen: blank amie. Seventeen: blank nom. Eighteen: blank parents. Nineteen: blank table. Twenty: blank école. Twenty-one: blank stylos. Twenty-two: blank sœur. Twenty-three: blank adresse. Twenty-four: blank livres.

Answers thirteen to twenty-four, with your in the familiar form, ton, ta, or tes. Thirteen: ton frère. Fourteen: ta chambre. Fifteen: tes cahiers. Sixteen: ton amie, because amie is vowel-initial. Seventeen: ton nom. Eighteen: tes parents. Nineteen: ta table. Twenty: ton école. Twenty-one: tes stylos. Twenty-two: ta sœur. Twenty-three: ton adresse. Twenty-four: tes livres.

Items twenty-five to thirty-six, with his or her in the form son, sa, or ses. Twenty-five: blank livre. Twenty-six: blank sœur. Twenty-seven: blank amie. Twenty-eight: blank parents. Twenty-nine: blank cahier. Thirty: blank maison. Thirty-one: blank stylos. Thirty-two: blank voiture. Thirty-three: blank école. Thirty-four: blank frère. Thirty-five: blank histoires. Thirty-six: blank adresse.

Answers twenty-five to thirty-six, with his or her in the form son, sa, or ses. Twenty-five: son livre. Twenty-six: sa sœur. Twenty-seven: son amie. Twenty-eight: ses parents. Twenty-nine: son cahier. Thirty: sa maison. Thirty-one: ses stylos. Thirty-two: sa voiture. Thirty-three: son école. Thirty-four: son frère. Thirty-five: ses histoires. Thirty-six: son adresse.

Items thirty-seven to fifty, the last three families, mixing our, your formal or plural, and their. Thirty-seven: blank école, meaning our. Thirty-eight: blank livres, meaning our. Thirty-nine: blank nom, meaning your, formal. Forty: blank amis, meaning your, formal. Forty-one: blank maison, meaning their. Forty-two: blank livres, meaning their. Forty-three: blank professeur, meaning our. Forty-four: blank cahiers, meaning our. Forty-five: blank voiture, meaning their. Forty-six: blank adresse, meaning your, formal. Forty-seven: blank sœurs, meaning their. Forty-eight: blank stylos, meaning our. Forty-nine: blank parents, meaning your, formal. Fifty: blank histoires, meaning our.

Answers thirty-seven to fifty. Thirty-seven: notre école. Thirty-eight: nos livres. Thirty-nine: votre nom. Forty: vos amis. Forty-one: leur maison. Forty-two: leurs livres. Forty-three: notre professeur. Forty-four: nos cahiers. Forty-five: leur voiture. Forty-six: votre adresse. Forty-seven: leurs sœurs. Forty-eight: nos stylos. Forty-nine: vos parents. Fifty: nos histoires.

22. Definite articles: le, la, l', and les

French has two kinds of article, and the difference between them is one of the most reliable sources of easy marks on a test. The first kind is the definite article, which means the.

The definite article has four forms. Le goes before a masculine singular noun: le chien, the dog; le livre, the book; le professeur, the teacher. La goes before a feminine singular noun: la voiture, the car; la maison, the house; la table, the table. Les goes before any plural noun, whatever the gender: les livres, the books; les maisons, the houses; les amis, the friends.

The fourth form is the shortened one. When a singular noun begins with a vowel sound or a silent h, both le and la become l' with no space: l'ami, the friend; l'école, the school; l'homme, the man; l'hiver, the winter; l'eau, the water. This form does not tell you the gender of the noun, because it belongs to both masculine and feminine words. That is why you should learn l'école as a feminine noun even though nothing in the phrase shows it.

So the pattern is: masculine singular takes le, feminine singular takes la, a singular noun starting with a vowel sound takes l' either way, and any plural noun takes les.

Use the definite article when you mean one particular thing, or when you are talking about the whole category of something. Je vois la voiture means I see the car, one specific car. Le chien est un animal fidèle means the dog is a loyal animal, and here le chien is the whole species, not one animal.

That second use catches English speakers, because English can drop the article where French keeps it. French says j'aime le chocolat for I like chocolate, and le français est difficile for French is difficult. When you like something in general, or describe a subject in general, French keeps the definite article in place.

Say the four shapes out loud in one rhythm. Le, la, l', les. Then with nouns: le livre, la maison, l'école, les amis. Practise them as sounds and the gender of new nouns becomes easier to hear as you meet them.

23. Indefinite articles: un, une, and des

The second kind of article is the indefinite article, which means a, an, or some. It points at something without identifying which one.

Un goes before a masculine singular noun: un livre, a book; un chien, a dog; un ami, a friend. Une goes before a feminine singular noun: une maison, a house; une table, a table; une amie, a friend, this time a female one.

Des goes before a plural noun: des livres, some books; des amis, some friends; des maisons, some houses. English often leaves this word out entirely, so des is easy to forget. Where English says I have books, French says j'ai des livres.

Use the indefinite article for something not yet identified, something one of many. J'ai un livre means I have a book, one book, not a particular one. Je vois une voiture means I see a car, some car or other.

Notice what happens when the meaning changes with only the article. J'ai un livre is I have a book. J'ai le livre is I have the book, the particular one we both have in mind. Je vois une voiture is I see a car. Je vois la voiture is I see the car, the one we were talking about. Nothing else in the sentence changes; the article carries all of the difference.

There is no shortened form of un or une, and no vowel problem to solve, because neither word ends in a vowel. So the indefinite set is simply un, une, and des, and the only decision you make is whether the noun is masculine singular, feminine singular, or plural.

Say the six forms with their nouns. Un livre, une maison, des livres. Un chien, une voiture, des amis. Un professeur, une école, des cahiers. The definite and indefinite sets are what you are learning here, so once both rhythms are in your ear, the next section puts them side by side.

24. Choosing between the and a

Putting the two sets together is the skill a test actually measures, so here is the whole decision in order.

Step one: is the noun singular or plural. If it is plural, the choices are les for the and des for a or some, and nothing else applies.

Step two, for singular nouns: do you mean one particular thing, or one of many. The particular thing takes the definite article, le, la, or l'. Something unidentified takes un or une.

Step three: if you want the, check the beginning of the noun. A vowel sound or a silent h means l', whether the noun is masculine or feminine. If it starts with a consonant, the gender decides: le for masculine, la for feminine.

Here is the whole system in contrasting pairs. Le livre and un livre. La maison and une maison. L'école and une école, because the definite form shortens before the vowel while the indefinite form keeps its full spelling. Les amis and des amis. L'homme and un homme.

Now a set of sentences where the article is the only thing that changes the meaning. J'ai un cahier, I have a notebook. J'ai le cahier, I have the notebook, the one we mean. Elle cherche une amie, she is looking for a friend. Elle cherche l'amie de Marie, she is looking for Marie's friend, and here the definite article is doing the identifying work that the name does in English.

One more habit worth building: whenever you meet a new noun, store it with both articles attached. Un livre, le livre. Une école, l'école. That way the gender travels with the word, and the article question on the test becomes a question of memory rather than a question of guessing.

Say these four lines, which cover the whole section. Le chien, un chien. La voiture, une voiture. L'école, une école. Les amis, des amis.

25. Article drills: questions, then answers

This drill asks you to choose the article, which means you have to know the noun. Answer each item before the answer pass arrives.

Items one to twelve, choose the definite article: the word that means the. One: blank chien. Two: blank voiture. Three: blank école. Four: blank livres. Five: blank homme. Six: blank maison. Seven: blank table. Eight: blank ami. Nine: blank hiver. Ten: blank professeur. Eleven: blank amies. Twelve: blank cahier.

Answers one to twelve. One: le chien, masculine singular. Two: la voiture, feminine singular. Three: l'école, singular with a vowel at the start. Four: les livres, plural. Five: l'homme, singular with a silent h. Six: la maison, feminine singular. Seven: la table, feminine singular. Eight: l'ami, singular with a vowel at the start. Nine: l'hiver, singular with a silent h. Ten: le professeur, masculine singular. Eleven: les amies, plural. Twelve: le cahier, masculine singular.

Items thirteen to twenty-four, choose the indefinite article: the word that means a, an, or some. Thirteen: blank livre. Fourteen: blank maison. Fifteen: blank amis. Sixteen: blank école. Seventeen: blank table. Eighteen: blank chien. Nineteen: blank cahiers. Twenty: blank amie. Twenty-one: blank voiture. Twenty-two: blank professeur. Twenty-three: blank livres. Twenty-four: blank homme.

Answers thirteen to twenty-four. Thirteen: un livre. Fourteen: une maison. Fifteen: des amis. Sixteen: une école, because the indefinite form does not shorten for the vowel. Seventeen: une table. Eighteen: un chien. Nineteen: des cahiers. Twenty: une amie. Twenty-one: une voiture. Twenty-two: un professeur. Twenty-three: des livres. Twenty-four: un homme.

Items twenty-five to thirty-six, choose the article that fits the meaning in brackets. Twenty-five: j'ai blank livre, one book, not a particular one. Twenty-six: j'ai blank livre, the book we both mean. Twenty-seven: elle voit blank voiture, one car. Twenty-eight: elle voit blank voiture, the car we were discussing. Twenty-nine: j'aime blank chocolat, chocolate in general. Thirty: il cherche blank amie de Paul. Thirty-one: nous avons blank test, a test. Thirty-two: blank test est facile, the test is easy. Thirty-three: elle a blank sœur, one sister. Thirty-four: blank sœur de Marie est gentille. Thirty-five: j'apprends blank français. Thirty-six: il achète blank livres.

Answers twenty-five to thirty-six. Twenty-five: un livre. Twenty-six: le livre. Twenty-seven: une voiture. Twenty-eight: la voiture. Twenty-nine: le chocolat, because French keeps the definite article for things in general. Thirty: l'amie de Paul, since the definite article identifies her. Thirty-one: un test. Thirty-two: le test. Thirty-three: une sœur. Thirty-four: la sœur de Marie. Thirty-five: le français. Thirty-six: des livres.

Two reminders before you count your marks. L' belongs to definite articles only, so an indefinite answer never shortens. And a plural noun can never take le, la, or l', so if the noun ends in an s, your answer is les or des.

26. Numbers zero to twenty

Numbers carry more weight on a French test than their size suggests, because they appear inside times, dates, ages, prices, and pages. Start with the list up to twenty and make it automatic.

Zéro, un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix. Then onze, douze, treize, quatorze, quinze, seize, dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf, vingt.

Four of these need a moment of attention. Un means one, and it becomes une before a feminine noun, so one book is un livre and one table is une table. Onze is the number eleven, and it is easy to confuse with the word onze in other contexts; keep it as a sound. Seize means sixteen and it ends in a silent e. Vingt means twenty, and its final letters are silent when it stands alone.

Listen for the pattern from seventeen to nineteen: dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf. Those three are built from ten plus seven, ten plus eight, and ten plus nine, written with hyphens. English does the same thing, so those three are the easy part of the teens.

Then notice the irregular ones. Fourteen is quatorze, not anything built from quatre. Fifteen is quinze. Sixteen is seize. Those three are the ones to repeat, because there is no rule to reason your way to them.

Say the whole list once slowly, then once quickly. Zéro, un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix, onze, douze, treize, quatorze, quinze, seize, dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf, vingt. If you can say it quickly without stopping, you have the foundation for every other number skill in this guide.

27. Numbers twenty-one to sixty-nine and the little word et

From twenty-one upward, French builds numbers the way English does: a tens word plus a units word. Twenty-one is vingt et un, literally twenty and one.

The special detail is the word et, which means and. It appears in the numbers that end in one: vingt et un, thirty-one is trente et un, forty-one is quarante et un, fifty-one is cinquante et un, sixty-one is soixante et un.

For all the other units, the pieces are simply joined with a hyphen. Twenty-two is vingt-deux. Twenty-three is vingt-trois. Thirty-five is trente-cinq. Forty-seven is quarante-sept. Fifty-eight is cinquante-huit. Sixty-nine is soixante-neuf.

The tens words themselves are worth learning as a small separate list, because they repeat inside every larger number. Twenty is vingt. Thirty is trente. Forty is quarante. Fifty is cinquante. Sixty is soixante. Say those five until they are as familiar as their English equivalents.

Two details about the hyphen and the word et. The word et appears only with one, and never with any other unit: trente et un is correct, but thirty-two is trente-deux, with no et. And when a number is written in full, the hyphen joins the pieces: vingt-deux, trente-cinq, quarante-sept.

Finally, notice how these numbers behave inside the phrases you will actually use. J'ai vingt-deux cahiers. Il a trente et un livres. Elle a quarante-cinq ans. Le livre a cinquante-six pages. Numbers do not change their form for gender above one, so une table and un livre both take the same number: deux tables, deux livres.

Say the ones that carry et once more, because they are the marking points: vingt et un, trente et un, quarante et un, cinquante et un, soixante et un. Then say the ones that do not: vingt-deux, trente-deux, quarante-deux, cinquante-deux, soixante-deux.

28. Numbers seventy, eighty, and ninety

French numbering stops being regular after sixty, and this is the part of the topic that most students find strange. The good news is that there is a logic in it, and once you see the logic you can build the numbers yourself.

Seventy is soixante-dix, which literally reads sixty-ten. So seventy-one is soixante et onze, and seventy-two is soixante-douze. The pattern continues up to soixante-dix-neuf, which is seventy-nine. French is adding to sixty, in the same way English says sixty-ten and sixty-eleven, except that English switches to its own word seventy while French does not.

Eighty is quatre-vingts, which literally reads four twenties. Eighty-one is quatre-vingt-un, and it carries no s. Neither does eighty-two, quatre-vingt-deux, nor ninety, quatre-vingt-dix. The letter s appears on quatre-vingts only when the number eighty stands alone, with no other number after it.

That single s is worth its own line, because tests ask about it. Eighty on its own is quatre-vingts, with the s. Eighty-one is quatre-vingt-un, without it. Eighty-seven is quatre-vingt-sept, without it. Eighty books is quatre-vingts livres, with the s, because no number follows.

Ninety is quatre-vingt-dix, which literally reads four twenties ten. Ninety-one is quatre-vingt-onze, and ninety-two is quatre-vingt-douze. The series runs up to quatre-vingt-dix-neuf, which is ninety-nine. Notice that the word et appears in ninety-one, just as it appears in seventy-one and sixty-one.

Say the whole range once as a chain, because the chain is what makes it stick. Soixante-dix, soixante et onze, soixante-douze, soixante-dix-neuf. Quatre-vingts, quatre-vingt-un, quatre-vingt-deux, quatre-vingt-neuf. Quatre-vingt-dix, quatre-vingt-onze, quatre-vingt-douze, quatre-vingt-dix-neuf.

Here is the one-line summary for your notes. Seventy is sixty plus ten, eighty is four twenties, and ninety is four twenties plus ten, and the s on quatre-vingts survives only when nothing follows it.

29. Number drills: ages, prices, and pages

This drill puts numbers inside the phrases a test uses them in. Say each answer, then check.

Items one to sixteen: write the number in French. One: 14. Two: 16. Three: 17. Four: 19. Five: 21. Six: 22. Seven: 31. Eight: 40. Nine: 45. Ten: 60. Eleven: 61. Twelve: 70. Thirteen: 71. Fourteen: 80. Fifteen: 81. Sixteen: 99.

Answers one to sixteen. One: quatorze. Two: seize. Three: dix-sept. Four: dix-neuf. Five: vingt et un. Six: vingt-deux. Seven: trente et un. Eight: quarante. Nine: quarante-cinq. Ten: soixante. Eleven: soixante et un. Twelve: soixante-dix. Thirteen: soixante et onze. Fourteen: quatre-vingts, with the s, because the number stands alone. Fifteen: quatre-vingt-un, without the s. Sixteen: quatre-vingt-dix-neuf.

Items seventeen to twenty-eight: say what the French number is in English. Seventeen: trente-trois. Eighteen: quarante et un. Nineteen: cinquante-huit. Twenty: soixante-deux. Twenty-one: soixante-quinze. Twenty-two: soixante-dix-huit. Twenty-three: quatre-vingt-trois. Twenty-four: quatre-vingt-huit. Twenty-five: quatre-vingt-quatorze. Twenty-six: quatre-vingt-dix-sept. Twenty-seven: cent. Twenty-eight: zéro.

Answers seventeen to twenty-eight. Seventeen: thirty-three. Eighteen: forty-one. Nineteen: fifty-eight. Twenty: sixty-two. Twenty-one: seventy-five. Twenty-two: seventy-eight. Twenty-three: eighty-three. Twenty-four: eighty-eight. Twenty-five: ninety-four. Twenty-six: ninety-seven. Twenty-seven: one hundred. Twenty-eight: zero.

Items twenty-nine to forty: finish the sentence with the number in words. Twenty-nine: j'ai blank ans, meaning I am fifteen. Thirty: j'ai blank ans, meaning I am seventeen. Thirty-one: elle a blank ans, meaning she is twenty-one. Thirty-two: mon frère a blank ans, meaning my brother is thirty. Thirty-three: il y a blank élèves dans la classe, meaning there are twenty-eight students. Thirty-four: le livre a blank pages, meaning the book has ninety pages. Thirty-five: le cahier coûte blank euros, meaning the notebook costs four euros. Thirty-six: j'ai blank livres, meaning I have forty-two books. Thirty-seven: elle a blank sœurs, meaning she has three sisters. Thirty-eight: nous avons blank minutes, meaning we have fifty minutes. Thirty-nine: il est blank heures, meaning it is ten o'clock. Forty: le cours commence à blank heures, meaning the class starts at eight o'clock.

Answers twenty-nine to forty. Twenty-nine: j'ai quinze ans. Thirty: j'ai dix-sept ans. Thirty-one: elle a vingt et un ans. Thirty-two: mon frère a trente ans. Thirty-three: il y a vingt-huit élèves dans la classe. Thirty-four: le livre a quatre-vingt-dix pages. Thirty-five: le cahier coûte quatre euros. Thirty-six: j'ai quarante-deux livres. Thirty-seven: elle a trois sœurs. Thirty-eight: nous avons cinquante minutes. Thirty-nine: il est dix heures. Forty: le cours commence à huit heures.

One reminder that saves marks: ages use avoir, not être. French says I have fifteen years, j'ai quinze ans, and never I am fifteen years.

30. Putting the topics together on the test

Now let us look at how these seven topics actually meet inside a test sentence, because that is what a good mark depends on.

Look at this sentence: nous avons un test le dix mars. Every part of it belongs to something we have studied. Nous avons means we have, and the number of people comes from the verb form. Un test means a test, and un is the indefinite article for a masculine singular noun. Le dix mars is the date, with le in front, the day number, and the month. Four decisions, one sentence.

Now this one: ma sœur a trois livres et deux cahiers. Ma sœur means my sister, and ma is the possessive adjective that agrees with sœur, a feminine singular noun. A trois livres means has three books, with the number and the indefinite plural article des shortened to de after a number in careful French; in simple school French you will also meet trois livres with no article at all, and both are accepted. The pattern to take away is that the possessive adjective followed the noun, not the owner.

Now a time sentence with a date attached: il est quatre heures et quart, et nous partons le douze juillet. The first half is a time, with et quart for fifteen minutes past. The second half is a date with le, and a month in small letters. If you can say that sentence without hesitating, you have three topics working together.

Here is one more, this time about the seasons: nous partons en été, mais mes cousins partent au printemps. En été names the season with its preposition, au printemps names the other one with the preposition that goes with it, and mes cousins carries the plural possessive adjective mes for my cousins. Note that the season phrases needed no article of their own.

And a sample question of the sort you will meet in a written section: complete the sentence j'ai blank livre et blank sœur. The answer is un livre, a book, and ma sœur, my sister. The first blank chose an indefinite article for a masculine singular noun. The second chose a possessive adjective that agrees with a feminine singular noun, and note that the owner's gender never entered the decision.

Notice what all these examples have in common. Every answer was decided by the noun: its gender, its number, and whether it starts with a vowel sound. That is the single habit that carries this whole guide: identify the noun first, decide second.

31. Your quick review chart

This is the condensed version, the list to run through the night before the test.

Telling time. Il est plus the hour plus the minutes. Une heure for one o'clock, deux heures for two. Et quart for fifteen past, et demie for thirty past, moins le quart for a quarter to the next hour. Midi for noon and minuit for midnight. Du matin, de l'après-midi, and du soir for the parts of the day, and the twenty-four-hour clock for schedules.

Months in order. Janvier, février, mars, avril, mai, juin, juillet, août, septembre, octobre, novembre, décembre. No capital letters, and watch the accents on février, août, and décembre.

Seasons. Le printemps, l'été, l'automne, l'hiver. In spring is au printemps, and the other three take en: en été, en automne, en hiver.

Dates. Le plus the day number plus the month. Le cinq avril, le douze septembre, and le premier janvier for the first of the month. Days of the week come first when they appear: lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche.

Possessive adjectives. Mon, ma, mes. Ton, ta, tes. Son, sa, ses. Notre, nos. Votre, vos. Leur, leurs. The adjective agrees with the noun that is owned, singular masculine, singular feminine, or plural, and a feminine singular noun beginning with a vowel sound takes the masculine form.

Definite articles. Le, la, l', les. They mean the, and they are also used for things in general, as in j'aime le chocolat.

Indefinite articles. Un, une, des. They mean a, an, or some, and des is the one English speakers forget.

Numbers. Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix, onze, douze, treize, quatorze, quinze, seize, dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf, vingt. Then trente, quarante, cinquante, soixante. Then soixante-dix for seventy, quatre-vingts for eighty, and quatre-vingt-dix for ninety. Remember et with the endings in one, and no s on quatre-vingt-un.

That is the whole chart. If you can say it back without looking, you are ready for the grammar part of the test.

32. Your study plan and test-day strategy

Content is only half of a test mark; the other half is how you practise it. Here is a plan that fits the way this guide is built.

Start with the fixed lists, because they are memory work rather than reasoning work. Spend your first session on the months in order, the days of the week, and the numbers up to twenty. Say them aloud in a rhythm. Then add the tens words, then the numbers from seventy up. Two short sessions are usually enough for the lists, and everything else becomes easier once they are automatic.

Second, move to the patterns. Telling time and dates are patterns, not lists: once you know the frame il est plus hour plus minutes, and the frame le plus number plus month, you can build any answer. Practise by converting twenty times and twenty dates in both directions. Use the drills in this guide, and then make twenty more of your own from any clock or calendar.

Third, do the grammar choices last, because they depend on the nouns. Possessive adjectives and articles both ask the same question: what is this noun, masculine, feminine, or plural, and does it begin with a vowel sound. When you study a new noun, write it with its article: un livre, le livre; une école, l'école. That single habit removes most article and possessive errors.

Make flashcards in one direction and in the other. One side English, the other side French. Then, for the harder topics, add a third kind of card: a full sentence with one gap, so you practise choosing rather than just recognising. J'ai blank livre. Ma sœur a blank cahiers. Il est blank heures et quart.

A useful way to rehearse the mixed questions is to write one paragraph a day that uses at least four topics. For example: aujourd'hui, c'est le douze octobre, il est trois heures et demie, et ma sœur a un test en janvier. That single sentence uses a date, a time, a possessive adjective, an indefinite article, and a month with its preposition. Writing one of these each day builds exactly the skill the test measures.

On test day, work through the questions in the order that suits you, but never answer an article or a possessive adjective before you have identified the noun. Find the noun, decide its gender and number, then choose the word in front of it. Mark the items you are unsure about and come back, rather than stalling on one question.

And check the small things that mark schemes look for. Does the month have a small letter. Did you keep the word le in the date. Is it et demie rather than et demi. Does quatre-vingts have its s only when nothing follows it. These details are worth a surprising number of marks, and they are all quiet, so look for them deliberately at the end.

33. Final self-test with answers

This is the last drill, and it mixes everything in this guide. Treat it exactly like the test: answer on paper first, then check.

Items one to ten. One: it is four fifteen. Two: it is a quarter to seven. Three: it is half past noon. Four: the third month. Five: the season that contains juin, juillet, and août. Six: the fifth of April. Seven: the first of January. Eight: my book. Nine: his or her sister. Ten: our school.

Answers one to ten. One: il est quatre heures et quart. Two: il est sept heures moins le quart. Three: il est midi et demie. Four: mars. Five: l'été. Six: le cinq avril. Seven: le premier janvier. Eight: mon livre. Nine: sa sœur. Ten: notre école.

Items eleven to twenty. Eleven: the books, definite. Twelve: some friends, indefinite. Thirteen: a school, indefinite. Fourteen: the man, definite. Fifteen: I like chocolate. Sixteen: seventy-one. Seventeen: eighty-one. Eighteen: ninety-four. Nineteen: I have fifteen years of age. Twenty: there are twenty-eight students in the class.

Answers eleven to twenty. Eleven: les livres. Twelve: des amis. Thirteen: une école. Fourteen: l'homme. Fifteen: j'aime le chocolat. Sixteen: soixante et onze. Seventeen: quatre-vingt-un, with no s. Eighteen: quatre-vingt-quatorze. Nineteen: j'ai quinze ans. Twenty: il y a vingt-huit élèves dans la classe.

Items twenty-one to thirty. Twenty-one: we have a test on the tenth of March. Twenty-two: my birthday is the second of June. Twenty-three: it is nine in the evening. Twenty-four: the holidays start in June. Twenty-five: I like to travel in spring. Twenty-six: my sister has three books and two notebooks. Twenty-seven: she is looking for Marie's friend. Twenty-eight: our teacher is French. Twenty-nine: their houses are big, using the plural possessive. Thirty: today is the eighth of March.

Answers twenty-one to thirty. Twenty-one: nous avons un test le dix mars. Twenty-two: mon anniversaire est le deux juin. Twenty-three: il est neuf heures du soir, or vingt et une heures on a timetable. Twenty-four: les vacances commencent en juin. Twenty-five: j'aime voyager au printemps. Twenty-six: ma sœur a trois livres et deux cahiers. Twenty-seven: elle cherche l'amie de Marie. Twenty-eight: notre professeur est français. Twenty-nine: leurs maisons sont grandes. Thirty: aujourd'hui, c'est le huit mars, or nous sommes le huit mars.

Score yourself honestly, then use the result as a map. If most of the misses are in articles and possessive adjectives, go back to the noun habit: learn each noun with its article and decide the small word after that. If the misses are in numbers above sixty, say the seventy, eighty, and ninety chains out loud once more. And if the misses are in times and dates, take the frames again, il est plus the hour plus the minutes, and le plus the day plus the month, because those two frames cover most of what a test asks.

That is the whole guide. Work one topic at a time, say every example out loud, keep the lists automatic, and identify the noun before you choose the word in front of it. Bon courage, and good luck on your French test.

34. Bon courage

That is the end of the guide, and you now have all seven topics in one place: time, months, seasons, dates, possessive adjectives, articles, and numbers.

If you keep only one habit from this episode, keep this one: before you answer a grammar question, find the noun and decide whether it is masculine, feminine, or plural. That single step answers almost every question about articles and possessive adjectives.

Répétez à voix haute, say the examples out loud, and good luck. Bon courage pour ton test de français.