Loading lesson...
Vocabulary
Objective: Express emotional states with être and avoir, apply gender agreement to emotion adjectives, and use the prepositions de and à correctly.
| French | English | Pattern |
|---|---|---|
| être content | to be happy | être + adjective |
| être triste | to be sad | être + adjective |
| être fatigué | to be tired | être + adjective |
| avoir peur | to be afraid | avoir + noun |
| avoir honte | to be ashamed | avoir + noun |
| avoir le moral | to be in good spirits | avoir + definite article + noun |
| avoir le trac | to have stage fright | avoir + definite article + noun |
Emotion adjectives agree with the subject in gender, so the feminine subject elle takes the ending -e on contente.
Avoir peur de takes the preposition de, which contracts with the masculine article le to produce du.
The masculine singular adjective content agrees with the subject. The preposition de introduces the source of the emotion.
Triste has the same form in the masculine and the feminine, so no ending is added.
Avoir peur de takes de, which contracts with the plural article les to produce des.
The expression avoir honte de takes de before the source of the shame.
The plural subject takes the plural ending -s on the adjective fatigués.
6 exercises · about 9 minutes
| to feel good |
| reflexive + adverb |
| se sentir mal | to feel bad | reflexive + adverb |
| être de bonne humeur | to be in a good mood | être + de + adjective + noun |
| être de mauvaise humeur | to be in a bad mood | être + de + adjective + noun |
| avoir du mal à | to find it difficult to | avoir + du + noun + à |
Fear is expressed with avoir, not être. The fixed expression is avoir peur, alongside avoir honte and avoir le moral.
This is a meaning distinction, not a form error. Stressé describes the person who feels stress, while stressant describes the thing that causes stress, such as a difficult exam.
The -ant form surprenante describes the news as the cause of surprise, not the person feeling it.
The fixed expression de bonne humeur uses the preposition de with no article before the adjective bonne.
The reflexive verb se sentir takes an adjective that agrees with the subject. The -é form describes the person, not the cause.