The comparative and the superlative - Les comparatifs et les superlatifs

Every human can't help making a comparison or tell this group of person, this person, this animal or this thing is the best or the nicest...
So to make it these, we have to use equality, comparative or superlative.

👀  If you prefer to watch the same topic as a video, here is the link: https://youtu.be/SzvMju0SXUM

Comparative

You use two locutions when two items are equal.

Aussi...que, Autant...que

Aussi...que is used when you compare someone or something in a level of equality.

Julie est aussi serviable que Marie.
Julie is as helpful as Marie. Here, these girls are both helpful.

Léa court aussi rapidement qu'avant.
Léa runs as fast as before.

Autant...que is used when you use the verb "avoir" (to have) to compare.

Julien a autant de mérite que sa soeur.
Julien deserves as much as his sister.

When you want to compare 2 or several persons or items, you use moins...que (less...than) and plus...que (more...than).

For example you see 2 persons, one is tall and the other is small:

- Jean is tall, (Jean est grand)
- Pierre is small. (Pierre est petit)

Let's make a comparison between them.

Plus...que

If you want to mean that Jean is taller, clever or more confident than Pierre, you use plus...que.

Jean est plus grand que Pierre.
Pierre est plus petit que Jean.

Moins...que

Let's give another exemple:

Jean is less clever than Pierre. You will say:
Jean est moins intelligent que Pierre.

Some adjectives become irregular when they compare one item to another.

Bien, bon = mieux

Mal, mauvais = pire

Moins que, plus que

For some situations, you don't need to place a verb, an adjective or an adverb between these locutions.

For example

Ce n'est qu'un moins que rien. That's less than nothing.

Il ne mange plus que de raison. He eats more than necessary.

Superlative

You employ superlative when you want to express a superior quality of the highest degree for someone or for something.

Le plus...

Imagine Jean is in a group and he is the tallest.
Jean est le plus grand du groupe.

Le moins... 

Imagine Pierre is not the tallest of the group.
Pierre est le moins grand du groupe.

Notice

Irregular adjectives:

Bon, bien = Le meilleur (M -S)

The adjective "bon" agrees with the gender and the number whereas “bien” doesn’t change.

Bonne = la meilleure (F-S),

Bons = les meilleurs (M-P),

Bonnes = les meilleures (F-P),

Example: Nathalie est la meilleure de sa classe.

Mal, mauvais= le pire  (M-S), 

Mauvaise = la pire (F-S),

Mauvais = les pires (M-P),

Mauvaises = les pires (F-P),

“Mauvais” agrees with the gender and the number whereas “mal” doesn’t change because it is an adverb.

Example: cet homme est le pire de tous.

A few expressions with mieux- meilleur - pire

A qui mieux mieux : by looking for doing better than others

De mieux en mieux : that goes better and better.

De mal en pis : (pis is an old word that means "pire"), that goes worse and worse.

👀 Want to watch this topic as a video, here is the link: 

https://youtu.be/SzvMju0SXUM

If you know this, it's easy to conjugate this verb.

Do you know how to conjugate the verb "venir"? If not, that's the verb that you should know. From this, there are many verbs that are formed. You will find out some later in the video. First we are going to see how to conjugate this verb in the present tense.

Look at this verb the way it is formed. With the singular part :

With "je" "tu" "il" "elle" venir has the same sound and shape. The lonely difference is with the couple "je / tu", you add s and with the couple "il / elle", the ending is t.

If you look at the plural part :

ils and elles ; venir has almost the same shape but not the same sound Because the body of venr has double n and the ending is e.n.t.

Here, the shape of "venir" changes when 

it is conjugated with those personal pronouns "nous" and "vous".

For the other tense in indicative, the roots are the same for each personal pronoun. 

If you notice the simple past and the future have the same roots.

That’s also the case for conditional present tense.

Venir has several uses.

• Venir :

You can simply use this verb without preposition: Je viens manger à la maison.

• Venir de :

Employ it to mean an origin:

Paul vient de Suisse.

When the origin comes from someone or something

From someone Cette initiative vient de moi. This initiative comes from me.

From something Cette odeur vient de la cuisine. This smell comes from the kitchen.

Venir de : to express something, an event has just happened:

Elles viennent de finir leurs devoirs (they have just to finish their homeworks).

In the introduction, I told you that If you know how to conjugate the verb “venir”, you can conjugate all verbs with the suffix “venir”.

advenir, convenir, devenir, intervenir, revenir, se souvenir, prévenir, provenir, parvenir, subvenir, survenir...

Je me souviens du chien de ma grand-mère.

Le ciel devient bleu après la tempête.

Exercise

1- Je _______________________ des courses. (revenir)

2- Nous nous ____________________________ de nos conjugaisons; (souvenir)

3- Les chenilles ______________________ des papillons. (devenir)

4- Cet emploi du temps me ________________________________. (convenir)

If you want to watch the video, click on it.

10 facts about French schools

All pupils are back at school and college in France.That’s the opportunity to speak about that. So I will unveil 10 facts about French school.

School in France is really different from school in the UK. To make an equivalent, I will use the school system from England because that’s the best I know.

            FACT 1

            Pupils at school don’t wear uniforms.

FACT 2

Application for the most of the schools (école maternelle, école primaire, collège, lycée) are opened from the 2nd term and the parents know on May a reply.

FACT 3

Children start school at 3 (sometimes at 2). It is called “l’école maternelle”, that’s the equivalent of an early year school in the UK.

They stay 3 years (4 those who start at 2). Pupils at primary school are 6 years old and they remain for 5 years. At secondary school, It lasts 4 years and College 3 years.

FACT 4

Clubs in the morning and after class are free for early year school and primary school. From primary school, the club is a homework club.

FACT 5

Teachers give a lot of homework every day even for the weekend. On holidays, some teachers give long homeworks. That gets pupils in a bad mood.

FACT 6

Lunchtime lasts 2 hours for early school years and primary school.

One hour for lunch and one hour to play.

From secondary school is 1 or 2 hours according to the time table and the school.

FACT 7

Children at primary school are evaluated with marks out of 10. 0 is the lowest mark whereas 10 is the highest.

FACT 8

It is not the marks of the exams that determine the rest of your school career but the marks of the year. Examiners give marks and not grades like in England.

FACT 9

At the end of each term (in secondary school and college), the teachers meet to discuss the case of each student. This is called “le conseil de classe” (the class council). It is made up of the headteacher, the teachers and the head of class who is a pupil elected at the beginning of the year by his peers.

FACT 10

Do not confuse “collège” (secondary school) and “lycée” (college).

Teenagers stay 3 years at College. Several paths: professional path, technologic path and general path.

There are other facts that I couldn't display because there are more than 10, as you can imagine it.

From secondary school (collège) they are evaluated with marks out of 20. Pupils begin on 6th and leave on 3th.

diagram of the school system in France

             

* There is another type of technological study is "Brevet de technicien". Studies last 2 years after the secondary school.

 Students who will to get a "baccalauréat professionnel" study in the "Lycée professionnel". They have several trainings in a firm and have subjects in the relationship with a job. They study to get a job after obtaining their diploma. They also can study to a college to get a "Baccalauréat Supérieur Technologique", a Technological university (IUT) or to the university if they wish to study further.

About the "baccalauréat technologique", students don't have professional trainings, however they learnt in this route to get a job when holding their "baccalauréat technologique", they can follow studies Graduate studies.

If you prefer to watch the video, click on this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq3KPNoJFdo

Have you 5 minutes to learn holidays accommodations words in french?

 

Hi my readers,

As holiday is finished, I post the last video from the serie "holiday in France" or "how to survive on holiday in France (or in a French speaking country).

This video will show you expressions and words that you should know when you travel to France. Don't forget to subscribe to my channel if you want to enrich your vocabulary. 

I wish everyone "une bonne rentrée"!

See you soon.

If the page doesn't open directly, click on this link:

https://youtu.be/Ex4oixTqEF0