Review
You just watched a video on how to discuss your favorite activities. Let’s look at some expressions using jouer à, the conjugation of jouer, and the different forms of à that you’ll need to know.
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Jouer à + a sport |
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|---|---|
| Jouer au football | To play soccer |
| Jouer au football américain | To play football |
| Jouer au base-ball | To play baseball |
| Jouer au basketball | To play basketball |
| Jouer au volleyball | To play volleyball |
| Jouer à la pétanque | To play pétanque |
| Jouer au tennis | To play tennis |
| Jouer au rugby | To play rugby |
| Jouer au golf | To play golf |
| Jouer aux échecs | To play chess |
| Jouer aux dames | To play checkers |
Pétanque is a French game in which a person stands in a circle and attempts to get as close to the primary small ball (boule) by throwing their own larger ball in its direction.
Jouer is a regular -er verb. Here is a quick review of how to conjugate a regular -er verb in the present tense:
To conjugate an -er verb, like jouer, start by removing the -er.¬ You are left with the stem: jou-. Then, add the correct endings to the stem. See below for those endings:
| Je joue | Nous jouons |
| Tu joues | Vous jouez |
| Il/Elle/On joue | Ils/Elles jouent |
Now, about those different forms of à. These forms exist because the preposition à contracts with the articles le or les. It does not contract with la or l’. Look at the table below.
| à + | le = | au |
| à + | les = | aux |
| à + | la = | à la |
| à + | l’ = | à l’ |
Je joue à + le football américain. = Je joue
au football américain.
Moi et mon frère, nous jouons à + les dames. = Nous jouons
aux dames.
Tu joues à la pétanque. = Tu joues à la pétanque. (no
change)
Do you see how to use the contractions with jouer to talk about what sports you like to play? Use the following practice activity to test your knowledge. Choose the form of à that correctly completes each sentence.
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The à + le becomes au.
The à + le becomes au.
|
|
Ma soeur joue
volleyball.
|
|
au
à la
aux
|
|
The à + les becomes aux.
The à + les becomes aux.
|
|
Moi et mon cousin, nous jouons
échecs.
|
|
à l’
aux
au
|
|
The form à l’ has no contraction.
The form à l’ has no contraction.
|
|
Tu joues
pétanque.
|
|
aux
au
à la
|
|
The à + le becomes au.
The à + le becomes au.
|
|
Vous jouez
golf.
|
|
à la
au
aux
|
|
The à + le becomes au.
The à + le becomes au.
|
|
Ma sœur joue
football américain.
|
|
au
à la
à l’
|
Complete
How did you do? Did you understand how to use jouer with the preposition à and its contractions? If you are still a little confused, go back and review the information presented in this slide. When you are ready, click to the next slide to learn how to talk about playing music.
