Beginner French Grammar Baseline Check

Bonjour. In the first diagnostic segment, we checked recognition of greetings, numbers, days, and personal-information vocabulary. If you have not yet sent those answers, complete them together with this segment in one response.

This is still a no-aid baseline check, not a teaching lesson and not a grade. Please do not consult the conjugation image, dictionaries, translation tools, notes, videos, or AI. Your answers help distinguish what you already know from what we should build carefully from the beginning.

In this segment, we check recognition of:

• subject pronouns: je, tu, il, elle, nous, vous, ils, elles;
• basic articles: un, une, des, le, la, les;
• the present forms of être (“to be”) and avoir (“to have”);
• a few very common present-tense verbs.

For each item, choose one answer and add:

• C = confident
• G = guess
• ? = I do not know

Part A — Subject pronouns

Choose the correct French subject pronoun.

1. “I am Samir.”
   a) je
   b) tu
   c) nous

2. “You are my friend.” — speaking to one friend informally
   a) tu
   b) vous
   c) ils

3. “She is Canadian.”
   a) il
   b) elle
   c) elles

4. “We are students.”
   a) nous
   b) vous
   c) ils

5. “You are a teacher.” — speaking politely to one person
   a) tu
   b) vous
   c) elles

6. “They are at home.” — a group of women
   a) ils
   b) elles
   c) nous

7. “They are at work.” — a mixed group, or a group containing at least one man
   a) ils
   b) elles
   c) vous

Part B — Articles: un, une, des, le, la, les

Choose the most likely correct article. Do not worry if you do not know the gender of a noun; guessing is useful diagnostic information.

8. ___ livre — “a book”
   a) un
   b) une
   c) des

9. ___ voiture — “a car”
   a) un
   b) une
   c) des

10. ___ enfants — “some children”
    a) un
    b) une
    c) des

11. ___ professeur — “the teacher”
    a) le
    b) la
    c) les

12. ___ maison — “the house”
    a) le
    b) la
    c) les

13. ___ amis — “the friends”
    a) le
    b) la
    c) les

14. Choose the French phrase for “a friend” when the friend is female.
    a) un ami
    b) une amie
    c) des amis

15. Choose the French phrase for “a friend” when the friend is male.
    a) un ami
    b) une amie
    c) la amie

Part C — être in the present

Choose the form of être that completes each sentence.

16. Je ___ étudiant. — “I am a student.”
    a) suis
    b) es
    c) est

17. Tu ___ à Montréal. — “You are in Montreal.”
    a) suis
    b) es
    c) sommes

18. Elle ___ médecin. — “She is a doctor.”
    a) est
    b) êtes
    c) sont

19. Nous ___ amis. — “We are friends.”
    a) sommes
    b) avez
    c) sont

20. Vous ___ prêts. — “You are ready.”
    a) êtes
    b) est
    c) avons

21. Ils ___ français. — “They are French.”
    a) sont
    b) sommes
    c) avez

Part D — avoir in the present

Choose the form of avoir that completes each sentence.

22. J’___ une question. — “I have a question.”
    a) ai
    b) as
    c) a

23. Tu ___ vingt ans. — “You are twenty years old.”
    a) es
    b) as
    c) avons

24. Il ___ un frère. — “He has a brother.”
    a) a
    b) est
    c) ont

25. Nous ___ un rendez-vous. — “We have an appointment.”
    a) sommes
    b) avons
    c) avez

26. Vous ___ une adresse e-mail. — “You have an email address.”
    a) avez
    b) êtes
    c) ont

27. Elles ___ deux enfants. — “They have two children.”
    a) sont
    b) ont
    c) avons

Important diagnostic detail: in French, age normally uses avoir, not être: J’ai 30 ans literally means “I have 30 years.” Arabic and English use a different structure, so we will revisit this deliberately in the A1 identity module.

Part E — Common present-tense verbs

Choose the correct form.

28. Je ___ à Toronto. — “I live in Toronto.”
    a) habite
    b) habites
    c) habite

29. Tu ___ le français. — “You speak French.”
    a) parle
    b) parles
    c) parlons

30. Nous ___ le français. — “We study French.”
    a) étudions
    b) étudiez
    c) étudient

31. Elle ___ le café. — “She likes coffee.”
    a) aime
    b) aimes
    c) aimons

32. Vous ___ au Canada. — “You are going to Canada.”
    a) vais
    b) allez
    c) vont

33. Ils ___ au travail. — “They work.”
    a) travaille
    b) travaillez
    c) travaillent

34. Which sentence means “I speak English and Arabic”?
    a) Je parle anglais et arabe.
    b) Tu parles anglais et arabe.
    c) Nous parlons anglais et arabe.

Reply format

Please send your answers in this format:

1. a — C
2. ...
...
34. ...

Optional: I have / have not completed Diagnostic Part 1 (greetings, numbers, days, personal information).

Do not correct yourself after submitting. Even incorrect answers provide useful information about whether the issue is pronouns, noun gender, verb forms, or simply unfamiliarity with French spelling.

What I will do after your response

I will give you:

1. a diagnostic breakdown by category;
2. your initial grammar-recognition baseline;
3. an error log with only genuine patterns, not one-off guesses;
4. a short explanation of the forms you missed;
5. the next diagnostic segment, focused on beginner French sound contrasts and short listening comprehension.