A french grammar complement to assimil

[Speakeasy]

I fully endorse the idea of keeping a “simple” grammar at hand whilst working with Assimil, particularly as the course notes are rather opaque. My standard viewpoint on grammars follows:

I would abstain from acquiring an elaborate/advanced grammar before entering the intermediate level of language study. Often, the examples used to illustrate a point of grammar (1) involve complex sentences which are simply too challenging for the beginner, (2) use vocabulary well beyond his level, causing him to divert his attention to a dictionary where he will be confronted with multiple meanings of a word which might not even clarify the situation for him, particularly in cases where relatively common idiomatic expressions have been used in the example, and (3) contain other elements of grammar which are not readily apparent to the beginner, but which are essential to his understanding of the example and the rule of grammar presently under discussion. Consulting an elaborate/advanced grammar before one is truly ready to do so can have the paradoxical effect of confusing rather than illuminating the beginner.

While I greatly appreciate the Shaum’s Outline series, from my experience, it falls into the category of “elaborate” in that it has the potential for leading a beginner rather quickly down the rabbit-hole. My preference, in the initial stages, would be for the excellent (and quite succinct) “French Verbs & Essentials of Grammar” by McGraw-Hill.

Whichever French grammar the OP ultimately decides to purchase for use with the Assimil course, I would recommend the following:
• Familiarize yourself with the contents of your simple grammar. That is, simply leaf through the grammar and become reasonably comfortable with the manner in which the information is presented.
• Briefly review, but do not try to master, the sections on (a) nouns, and (b) the conjugation of regular verbs in the present indicative tense. Note that, in many European languages, the verbs “to be” and “to have” are irregular.
• Simply use the Assimil course as your main source for learning the language and clarify any questions you might have by consulting the simple grammar.
• Do not become “fixated” on French grammar. The intensive study of grammar is often reserved for the intermediate level in most university courses.
• I suggest that you delay working through exercises on grammar (Makes Perfect series, Shaum’s series, Step-by-Step series, Mystified series, etc.) until after you have completed the Assimil course and are ready to move into the intermediate level.

EDITED:
Tinkering.

[tomgosse]

Is there any ease French Grammar book? Am I asking for too much? May be I just should wait into finishing Assimil and then look further into this grammar world. What about that?

I like this book. French Demystified.

Why do you like it? I have it but I hate exercises and quizzes. There must be a better way. Just straight to the point. Maybe I am asking too much, but I am aware of research on the useless of grammar exercises for language learning.

Here is another basic grammar: Essential French Grammar. It has no quizzes or tests.

[lusan]

I found it, too. It is my best choice. I will be using it by creating cloze anki cards for the model examples. I will reevaluate the grammar issue after finishing Assimil -Only passive wave.

My current study materials are:

1. New French Assimil with Ease
2. Essential French grammar language - Grammar
3. 501 French verbs - Reference
4. French student dictionary - Reference Laroussse
5. 500 words read words everyday at lingq.com - Reading
6. Anki - Study tool

I am doing a lesson a day and study about 1.5-2.0 hour.
I am finding out that maybe I made a mistake in purchasing the English version Assimil. It would be better to get the Spanish version. I am noticing that the vocabulary and the grammar are pretty similar to Spanish -it means that the subjetive tense is really too ease as well as the noun genders. Surprisingly I see not crossover with Polish. I read polish everyday and sometimes I speak it and not interference. It feels as if there is wall between the languages. Happy that I do not have to deal with a bunch of noun cases.

Thanks to all. Let us see how far I can go.

[lowsocks]

I am a bit late to the thread, but I would like to suggest two older books. They are unfortunately out of print, but both are available on the internet, and are legal to download, as far as I know.

1) Teach Yourself French Grammar, by E.S. Jenkins, 1961. Two copies available on the Internet Archive: here and here.

2) Cortina Method Conversational French in 20 Lessons, by R. Diez de la Cortina, revised by Douglas W. Alden, 1977. The entire course (book and audio files) is available on the Yojik Website, with the full course here, and the book itself here. The second half of the book consists of a very thorough reference grammar, which may, if you wish, be used independently of the rest of the book.

However, these may be a bit too much if you are just beginning in your French studies. As Jenkins says in the preface to Teach Yourself French Grammar,

This Grammar is not intended for absolute beginners who are learning a language for the first time. The reader should have worked conscientiously through a course such as Teach Yourself French or already made some progress in the language.

It has been written with certain purposes in mind. It is fairly exhaustive, but the author hopes that one will not find it exhausting. Much has been included that could have been left out: it is possible to make oneself understood with a bare minimum of grammatical knowledge. However, this is an inquiring age, and a student may well wish to find out the reason for certain turns of phrase in the works of some of the great authors. It therefore follows that the learner must not be disheartened if he cannot at once remember ail the points in a book like this. If he did, he would know more about French grammar than the average Frenchman. In practice, he will discover that the grammatical puzzles which give him difficulty are the very ones that also trouble the native speaker.

It is hoped that the book will be used in two ways. First, that it will be read as a book from cover to cover or at least from beginning to end of a chapter: secondly, that it will serve as a reference. It will then explain a baffling sentence and help the student to speak and write French correctly. With these aims in view, we have set out at the beginning of the book a comprehensive list of contents. However, we must warn you that a grammar cannot include everything, and a good dictionary should never be far away.

French is a difficult language to write elegantly and correctly, and any attempt to gloss over this fact would be unfair to the student. However, even French people have sometimes to content themselves with something short of perfection, so we hope that this will help to console anyone worried about making a mistake. Your French vis-à-vis may be quite as uncertain about the correct preposition or tense as you are yourself!

To write a grammar book without using grammatical terms is an impossibility. Every branch of knowledge has its jargon, and the reader will learn more quickly if he knows the difference between a noun, a verb and an adjective. In fact, grammatical terms have been kept to a minimum, and if any explanation proves difficult there is always an example together with a translation to help.

The author has made an honest attempt to include the fruits of many years of teaching the French language. He hopes that this volume will prove of some benefit to ail students.

And I believe that similar comments would apply to the Cortina grammar. So perhaps they are books to save for later on.