French

Learn to:

•Speak French quickly and effectively

•Master basic grammar, verb conjugations, vocabulary, and pronunciations

The international leader in language instruction

Dodi-Katrin Schmidt

Michelle M. Williams

Dominique Wenzel

Zoe Erotopoulos, PhD

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French

FOR

DUMmIES‰

2ND EDITION

by Dodi-Katrin Schmidt, Michelle M. Williams, Dominique Wenzel, and Zoe Erotopoulos

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French For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Published by

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

111 River St.

Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 7486008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2011932271

ISBN 978-1-118-00464-7 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-13864-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-13865-6 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-13866-3 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Authors

Dodi-Katrin Schmidt has been a writer, translator, and editor for over a decade. Aside from translating German, French, and English texts of various kinds, including linguistic handbooks, film reviews, travel guides, and children’s books, she has also been involved in developing language textbooks, language courses, teachers’ handbooks, and grammar companions for video language courses. Dodi has been teaching for more than two decades at high school, adult education, and college levels in Europe as well as the United States. She also writes test items for various national language tests and recorded textbook and test material. Together with her husband, she travels a great deal, and they continually house and entertain foreign students and former students in their home in Princeton, NJ.

Michelle M. Williams is an editor at a major educational publisher. A former French teacher, she has taught students ranging from 2-years old to adults in both the public and private sectors. She is a firm believer in making the language fun and accessible to all who want to learn. Her most rewarding experience, however, is in watching and listening to her son Nathaniel learn to speak and sing in French.

Dominique Wenzel has been a freelance teacher of French and a translator for 15 years. Born and raised in France, she received a Master’s degree from the University of Paris-Sorbonne and studied at the University of Chicago on a postgraduate Fulbright scholarship. Her students include business professionals, children, and adults of all levels and interests. She travels regularly to France. Dominique raised two bicultural, bilingual children who are both active in the international field.

Dr. Zoe Erotopoulos was born in Greece and immigrated to the United States at a young age. Her love of the French language, literature, and culture inspired her to pursue her academic studies in these areas. She holds an MA, MPhil, and PhD in French and Romance Philology from Columbia University in New York, NY. Dr. Erotopoulos has also studied in Aix-en-Provence, at the Sorbonne, and at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris.

Her teaching experience in French ranges from elementary to advanced level courses, including literature and theater. Dr. Erotopoulos’s area of expertise is 17th-century French theater. Throughout her academic career, she has taught at a number of institutions, including Columbia University, Reid Hall in Paris, and Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. She is presently teaching in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. Dr. Erotopoulos is the author of French Verbs For Dummies and French For Dummies, Audio Set. She lives in Connecticut with her husband, Steve, and three children, Despina, Olga, and Stathi.

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Berlitz has meant excellence in language services for more than 120 years. At more than 400 locations and in 50 countries worldwide, Berlitz offers a full range of language and language-related services, including instruction, crosscultural training, document translation, software localization, and interpretation services. Berlitz also offers a wide array of publishing products, such as self-study language courses, phrase books, travel guides, and dictionaries.

The world-famous Berlitz Method® is the core of all Berlitz language instruction. From the time of its introduction in 1878, millions have used this method to learn new languages. For more information about Berlitz classes and products, please consult your local telephone directory for the Language Center nearest you or visit the Berlitz website at www.berlitz.com, where you can enroll in classes or shop directly for products online.

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Dedication

Zoe: To my family.

Acknowledgments

Zoe: I am very grateful to my family for their unwavering love and support, especially to my children who are my personal cheering squad. I would like to wholeheartedly thank my editor, Tracy Barr, for her professionalism, her insightful comments and suggestions, and her expertise. A special thank you goes to Michael Lewis for entrusting me with this project and to the technical reviewers, Eric Laird and Lydia de Faveri, for their expertise and careful attention to detail. I must also thank Dodi Schmidt, Michelle Williams, and Dominique Wenzel, who put so much time, effort, and knowledge into the first edition of this book. Last, but certainly not least, a heartfelt thank you to my colleagues in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Fairfield University and Cynthia Nadal for their friendship, encouragement, and sound advice.

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Publisher’s Acknowledgments

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