Faire

French I textbooks (and there are several being used in various school systems) can't seem to agree on what irregular verbs to teach first. The particular book we are using in class would have us first learn to conjugate regular -er verbs, etre and faire in that order. Avoir, vouloir, pouvoir, etc., come a little later.

Faire is pretty straightforward and actually can replace at least two English verbs, to do and to make. Unfortunately, present tense conjugaisons of faire seem to give beginning French students fits. Once they start using it, though, they tend to do everything from their homework to their boyfriends and girlfriends. To say faire is sometimes overused is, well, faire entendre une vérité.

Here are some common (different from English uses of faire):

Il fait du soleil - It's sunny

Il fait froid - It's cold out.

Je fais du ski - I ski.

Je fais du golf - I golf.

Deux et deux font quatre - Two plus two equals (makes) four.

Je fais de l'autostop - I'm hitchhiking.

Il fait à sa tête - He acts impulsively.

Ça fait parti de notre projet - That's part of our plan.

HOMEWORK (for Tuesday 1/13/09)

- Study Unit 3 Vocab Words

- Review Conjugaison for Etre, Faire and regular -er verbs