Chapitre Neuf
19 La francophonie; Pronouns with Countries
Exercice 9.10 - 9.13
French is the national language of 29 countries, and is one of three procedural languages of the European Union. It is widely spoken even in some places where it is not an official language. There are many dialects and variations of the language throughout the world, including different accents and vocabulary. This is a map of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) that gives you an idea of where French is spoken or where French culture has a strong influence. Algeria is not in color on this map as it is not a member of the OIF, but Algeria has a large French-speaking population. Note that membership in the OIF is subject to change and this map is accurate at the time of the writing, but could change significantly over time.
Nationalities, when used as adjectives, are not capitalized in French. They do need to agree with the person or group that they describe in gender and number. Here are some countries and nationalities to begin:
L’Algérie: algérien.ne La Belgique: belge Le Bénin: béninois.e
Le Burkina-Faso: burkinabais.e Le Burundi: burundais.e
Le Cameroun: camerounais.e Le Canada: canadien.ne
Le Congo-Brazzaville: congolais.e Le Djibouti: djiboutien.ne
La France: français.e Le Gabon: gabonais.e La Guinée: guinéen.ne Haïti: haïtien.ne
Luxembourg: luxembourgeois.e Madagascar: malgache
La République du Mali: malien.ne Le Maroc: marocain.ne
Le Niger: nigérien.ne Le Nigéria: nigérian.e Le Rwanda: rwandais.e
Le Sénégal: sénégalais.e
Les Seychelles: seychellois.e La Suisse: suisse
La Tunisie: tunisien.ne Le Togo: togolais.e
Le Vanuatu: vanuatais.e
Le Vietnam: vietnamien.ne Other nationalities: L’Allemagne: allemand.e La Chine: chinois.e
Les États-Unis: américain.e
La République Démocratique du Congo: congolais.e
Le Japon: japonais.e La Russie: russe
E x E r c i c E 9 . 1 0
D’où sont-ils ? We can learn a lot about a person’s culture by knowing their nationality. For each person described below, write one sentence to say where they are from in French. Then, discuss what the ending on the nationality also communicates to us.
- Juliette est marocaine.
- Raphael est chinois.
- Samuel et Paul sont haïtiens.
- Sara et Marie sont gabonaises.
- Mathieu est belge.
- Anne est sénégalaise.
- François et Marc sont congolais.
E x E r c i c E 9 . 1 1
Les drapeaux. For each flag, you will see the country’s name, as well as a person’s name (or names). Write a sentence to describe the nationalities of these people. You can either use être with a nationality or with de plus a country name.
- La République Démocratique du Congo: Gégène
- Luxembourg: Paul et toi
- Bénin: Danielle et moi
- Tchad: Hector et David
Pronouns with Countries
When we are talking about being in a country, going to a country, or coming from a country, we must know the country’s gender and number in order to be able to use the correct pronoun.
Country Gender & Number
|
to/in
au |
from
du |
|
en | d’ |
|
en | de |
|
en | d’ |
|
aux | des |
Islands and certain countries are unique and the rules don’t always apply. Here are a few:
à la Martinique. de Martinique
à Cuba. de Cuba
en Haïti. d’Haïti
au Japon. du Japon
en Sicile. de Sicile
à Hawaï. d’Hawaï
Modèle : la France
Je vais en France.
I go to France.
Je suis en France.
I am in France.
Je viens de France.
I come from France.
Modèle : le Canada
Il va au Canada.
He goes to Canada.
Il est au Canada.
He is in Canada.
Il vient du Canada.
He’s from Canada.
Modèle : le Luxembourg
On va au Luxembourg.
We go to Luxembourg.
On est au Luxembourg.
We are in Luxembourg.
On vient du Luxembourg.
We are from Luxembourg.
Modèle : Madagascar
Tu vas à Madagascar.
You go to Madagascar.
Tu es à Madagascar.
You are in Madagascar.
Tu es de Madagascar.
You’re from Madagascar.
E x E r c i c E 9 . 1 2
On est en vacances Based on the phrases below and the preposition used, circle if the country is feminine,
masculine, or plural. Write the article le, la, l’, or les in front of the country based on the information.
- Ils sont au Maroc.
- Vous êtes en Angleterre.
- Nous sommes en Irlande.
- Elle est de Russie.
feminine masculine plural article: Maroc feminine masculine plural article: Angleterre feminine masculine plural article: Irlande feminine masculine plural article: Russie
| E x E r c i c E 9 . 1 3
On est d’où ? Using the expression On est + de, write a sentence telling where one is from. Make sure you are paying attention to the gender and number of the country!
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