31 October demonstrations: 320,000 marchers according to the Interior Ministry

Les organisateurs annoncent près de 500 000 personnes : l’écart est important.

Être in the present is est for a singular subject and sont for a plural one. It describes nature, state or place (“is”, “is located”). If what follows (the attribute) is a noun, adjective or prepositional phrase, it is not a passive. If a past participle follows, it is a passive (est annoncé). Headlines and summaries often use the present to describe the current situation.

Le ministre de l’Intérieur Laurent Nuñez a estimé que les cortèges s’étaient bien déroulés, tout en dénonçant la violence de casseurs.

The passé composé is the most common past tense, used for “did” and “has done” — actions completed in the past. It is formed with the auxiliary avoir (a / ont…) in the present + a past participle. Past participles of -er verbs end in -é (annoncer → annoncé); learn the irregular ones (faire → fait, prendre → pris, voir → vu). In the negative, ne … pas wraps the auxiliary (n’a pas annoncé). In the news it reports facts that have already happened, such as “announced” or “voted”.

Le 24 octobre, les autorités comptaient 410 000 personnes en France, dont 110 000 à Paris.

The imparfait describes states, background, habits and actions in progress in the past (il était, elle avait, ils pensaient). Take the nous form of the present, drop -ons, and add -ais / -ais / -ait / -ions / -iez / -aient. If the passé composé gives “the event itself”, the imparfait paints “the situation at the time”.

Voici ce qui était connu dans la soirée et les prochaines échéances annoncées.

The passive means “is done” or “is being done”. It is formed with être + past participle, which agrees with the subject in gender and number (la mesure est adoptée / les mesures sont adoptées). The agent is introduced by par (or de). In the news it is common when the event, rather than the actor, is the focus (est prévu / est annoncé / est connu).

À Paris, un gendarme mobile a été visé par un cocktail Molotov à la fin de la manifestation.

The past passive means “was done”. Its form is present of avoir + été (past participle of être) + past participle. Été does not change, but the last participle agrees with the subject in gender and number (la loi a été votée / les textes ont été votés). It is frequent in news reporting results such as votes, decisions and announcements.

Le ministre de l’Intérieur Laurent Nuñez a estimé que les cortèges s’étaient bien déroulés, tout en dénonçant la violence de casseurs.

The gerund means “while doing”, “by doing” or “when doing”. Its form is en + present participle (-ant). Take the nous form of the present, drop -ons and add -ant (faire → faisant). The subject is normally that of the main clause. It shows things happening at the same time, or the means.

Il s’agit d’appels lancés par les organisateurs : leur déroulement et leur ampleur ne sont pas confirmés.

A pronominal verb is used with a reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nous, vous) before the verb. It can mean “do to oneself”, “be done” or “do to each other”. In the news, se traduire (to result in), se tenir (to take place), s’agir de (to be a matter of) and se diffuser (to spread) are frequent. The pronoun changes with the subject (il se tient / ils se tiennent / je me souviens).

Les chiffres des organisateurs ne reposent pas forcément sur la même méthode : on ne peut pas les comparer directement.

Normally ne and pas wrap the verb. Before a vowel, ne becomes n’. Check which part of the sentence the negation covers. Ne … plus means “no longer”.

Selon franceinfo, le ministère de l’Intérieur compte 320 000 manifestants en France le 31 octobre, dont 70 000 à Paris (chiffre de la préfecture de police).

Selon means “according to”. Put a person or organisation after it as the source. It separates facts the writer checked directly from what another body or report said. Citing a source does not turn a forecast into an accomplished fact.

Les chiffres des organisateurs ne reposent pas forcément sur la même méthode : on ne peut pas les comparer directement.

Put a base-form verb after pouvoir. Peut means “can” or “may”; the conditional pourrait gives a more reserved possibility, “might”. It does not necessarily mean implementation is settled.

Il s’agit d’appels lancés par les organisateurs : leur déroulement et leur ampleur ne sont pas confirmés.

It explains what something is about: “it is a matter of…”. The il is not a particular man but a formal subject of this construction. The negative il ne s’agit pas de means “this is not about…”.

Voici ce qui était connu dans la soirée et les prochaines échéances annoncées.

Qui continues a description of the person or thing just mentioned (“the one that does…”). Because qui is itself the subject of the next verb, do not repeat the subject. The verb agrees with the noun qui refers to.

franceinfoによると、内務省は31日の参加者を全国で32万人（パリは7万人、パリ警視庁の数字）としました。

As in “LCPによると”, it shows where the information comes from. What that source reported follows. It is used differently from “私にとって”, which gives one’s own opinion.

夜の時点で分かっていることと、今後の予定を整理します。

予定 is a plan, 見込み a forecast and 方針 a course of action or intention. None of them asserts that something has already been carried out. Note the difference from expressions such as “決まりました”.

どちらも「推計」であり、正確な人数ではありません。

They negate a noun and similar content. “ではありません” is the polite form and “ではない” the plain form. “成立ではありません” shows that it cannot be said to have been concluded.

数え方の違いについては、記事では説明されていません。

As in “予算について”, it shows the topic to be talked about or explained. In the form “〜についての報道”, の is added so that the group qualifies the following noun.

高校生・学生の組織の連合（UE、Fage、Unef、USL）は、全国で約50万人（パリは20万人）と発表しました。

In “発表しました”, ました makes a verb polite past. The negative is “ませんでした”. Read the actual date together with the date and time in the text.

主催者側は約50万人と発表し、数字に大きな差があります。

と takes the content that is reported or explained. In “改定する方針だと報じました”, “改定する方針だ” is what the report said. Separating the content from who said it and how makes long sentences easier to read.