From subject to scientist
La physique → le physicien, la chimie → le chimiste
Three endings make the person. Most change for a woman (physicienne); those in -iste and -ome/-ogue stay the same and only the article changes (un / une chimiste).
-ien / -ienneChanges for a woman.
-isteSame for both: un / une.
-ome / -ogueSame for both: un / une.
The language of a lab report
On a mesuré, nous avons observé, les résultats montrent
French reports have three ways to avoid “I”: on (one, people), the “modest” nous (we, even for a single author), and the passive (être + past participle, where the thing acted on becomes the subject).
on + verbon a muh-zü-RAY la tan-pay-ra-TÜR · “The temperature was measured.”Why: on hides who did it. It takes the il/elle form of the verb: on a.
Ononea mesuréhas measuredla température.the temperature
nous de modestienoo za-von op-sair-VAY ün OHS duh trwa poor SAN · “We observed a 3% rise.”Why: Authors write nous even alone: it sounds less personal than je.
Nousweavons observéhave observedune haussea risede 3 %.of 3 %
the passivelay zay-shan-tee-YON on tay-TAY a-na-lee-ZAY · “The samples were analysed.”Why: être + participle; the participle agrees with the subject: analysés (masculine plural).
Les échantillonsthe samplesont étéhave beenanalysés.analysed
conclusionslay ray-zül-TA MONTR kuh lee-po-TEZ ay ZHÜST · “The results show that the hypothesis is correct.”Why: montrer que, indiquer que, confirmer que: the standard ways to state a finding.
Les résultatsthe resultsmontrentshowquethatl’hypothèsethe hypothesisestisjuste.correct
Writing and reading numbers
Trois virgule cinq, dix puissance six
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