The phrases in French
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Sign up for freeA phrase (French: une phrase) is a set of ordered words that has meaning. A sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a mark, it can also be an exclamation (!) or a question (?) or a suspension (...) mark.
Here we are going to study the structure of the phrases in the French grammar.
It has three types of sentence structure:
- The simple phrases
- The composed phrases
- The complex phrases
Lesson outline
HideRecap : What is a proposition in French ?
In a sentence, each group of words organized around a verb (most often conjugated), is called a proposition.
There are four types of proposition. Therefore, you need to know about them in order to do a sentence structure
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Example
Tout le monde met un manteau quand c'est l'hiver. (Everybody puts a coat when it is winter)
- There is two conjugated verb in this sentence
- Therefore, two groups of words
- The verbs are "met" and "est"
- So two propositions separated by the word "quand"
The simples phrases in French
The simple phrase (French: la phrase simple) is a sentence formed of a proposition called the independent proposition.
Examples
- Il partira ce soir. (He will leave tonight)
- Théo fait ses devoirs. (Theo is doing his homework)
- Maman prépare le repas. (Mom is preparing the lunch)
The composed phrases in French
The composed phrases (French: la phrase composée) is a sentence formed of several or two independent propositions. It can be:
- Juxtaposed means that the sentences are separated from each other by commas
- Coordinates, means that they are connected by a coordination conjunction.
Examples
| Proposition | Examples | Translations |
|---|---|---|
| Juxtaposée | Le coq chante, le soleil brille, tout le village se réveille | (The fowl is singing, the sun is shining, the village is waking up) |
| Conjonction de coordination | Il partira ce soir et reviendra demain matin | (He will leave tonight and will come back tomorrow morning) |
The complex phrases in French
The complex phrase (French: la phrase complexe) consists of a main proposition and or several subordinate clauses.
It has a little similarity with the composed phrase.
Examples
- Je sais qu'il partira et qu'il ne reviendra jamais. (I know that he will leave and never come back again)
- Samantha te lira son discours quand tu seras prêt. (Samantha will read her speech for you when you will be ready)
Learn more about the French structure of the phrases in the next lessons of this course!