Why Audio Lessons are Important in Studying French

by Amelie Hurford

March 3, 2020

In the wake of going through months taking in French from the typical books you at last travel to France, and there a shock! The French individuals you are conversing with can’t get you. Your French sentences are right, your French articulation appears to be correct… what’s going on? So many organizations are working to provide peoples better opportunities to learn French well just as learn French Brisbane.

The Disparity between English Spoken and French Spoken

The issue with taking in French from books is that communicated in French – French everyone utilizes each day altogether different from the “scholastic French” you’ll find in books.

Not exclusively does the articulation change however the contacts are unique, the glidings are significantly more present and a portion of the French pronouns or articles appear to vanish out and out

Your French language aptitudes could be book great, you will make some hard memories in the city, conversing with flawlessly “ordinary” French individuals.

Watch out: when I state “the road”, I’m not discussing slang French or “gangsta” French… Just the advanced French language everyone utilizes these days – well, perhaps not 70 years of age government officials on TV, yet the remainder of us in ordinary circumstances.

if your objective in learning French is simply to peruse and examine French Literature or breeze through-composed assessments, at that point taking in French from books will be adequate.

Most grown-ups, be that as it may, learn French to have the option to travel in Francophone nations and have the option to cooperate with individuals. For this situation, you have to become familiar with the present French and, particularly, hear “genuine” communicated in French elocution.

The Benefits of Learning Today’s French Through Audio

An ideal case of the contrast between communicated in French today and in books is the expression: “Il n’y a pas de quoi”.

The normal French individual will articulate it: “ya cushion koa”. As you talk, the seven syllables that you learned on paper become four! No big surprise you start questioning your French language aptitude.

This is the reason you have to hear, not simply perusing, all that you are examining is vital to bring your French articulation and listening aptitudes adequate with local “road” French.

Besides, tuning in to French sound exercises should be possible anyplace, in your vehicle, on the treadmill, while planting…

Finding the Right Audio Tool

There is a great deal of sound material out there, and it is significant you invest energy choosing the one that is directly for you.

This is particularly significant in case you are a child or middleman since the sound material with which you work should be difficult, but achievable, and give you a sense of accomplishment.

It is significant as you are building your insight into the language that you likewise manufacture your self-assurance in it. I worked an entire article about discovering your French level and right book recording to consider, I recommend you read it.

I am predisposed to my very own material that I structured explicitly for that reason. Look at my reachable French book recordings and simple French books.

Conclusion

Learning French can be exceptionally fulfilling and an incredible aptitude in your arms stockpile however you need to ensure that the French you learn can be utilized on your next outing to Paris, else, you will get debilitated rapidly with your French language tries.

French Grammar, French Online Courses

What is the French Imperative mood used for?

by Amelie Hurford

July 25, 2018

You already know how to describe something and how to ask for things. The indicative mood has no secret for you anymore (well not too many at least 😉 ).

So, you have now decided to take your learning of French a bit further and to study the imperative mood? That’s great! You’ll soon be fluent, I’m sure!

In this blog, I will make sure you understand absolutely everything you need to know about the imperative mood.

L’impératif in French. It’s actually a pretty easy(ish) tense so don’t start pulling your hair out for nothing!

I want to be as clear as possible, so here is how my blog will be divided.

First, I will tell you what the imperative mood is used for.

Then, I will get into the heart of the matter and I will tell you a bit more about how to conjugate verbs depending on their ending (you know, the -ER, the -IR and -RE endings).

Finally, I will highlight the main points of affirmative and negative uses of the imperative and speak about pronominal verbs.

And because, at French Lessons Australia, we always want the best for our students and for our readers, you will find some exercises and their correction at the end of this blog!

Does this sound good to you? Perfect! Let’s start!

1) What is the imperative mood used for?

First, let’s use the correct vocabulary. The imperative is not a tense. It is a mood. The imperative mood contains two tenses: present and past (le présent de l’impératif and le passé de l’impératif).

Note though that le passé de l’impératif is very obsolete and not used anymore. Hurray! We’re down to one tense to learn!

So, what is that mood and what do we use it for?

The imperative is usually used to give an order or an advice in a personal way as you speak directly to the person/persons.

Here are some examples:

Mange des légumes verts. Tu te sentiras mieux. → Eat some green vegs. You will feel better.

Révisons bien pour notre contrôle. → Let’s revise well for our test.

Finissez vos assiettes! → Finish your plates!

As you will more than likely have already noticed, the sentences above are all affirmative.

However, of course, the imperative mood can be used in the negative form too. That is the case when you want to forbid someone to do something.

You know that moment when you look at your child with big rounded eyes but that he/she is still about to do that one thing he/she is not allowed to do so you have to issue commands and use the imperative mood: n’écris pas sur le mur! (don’t write on the wall!). Surely this doesn’t just happen to me… Does it?

Well, just like you would do in the indicative mood, you have to put the ne in front of the conjugated verb and the chosen adverb (pas, jamais, plus…) after the verb.

Ne réponds jamais insolemment! → Never answer back insolently!

Ne mangez pas tout le chocolat! → Do not eat all the chocolate!

Ne nous énervons pas! → Let’s not get angry!

Now, let’s see if you’re paying attention. What do you notice in all the examples I have chosen? Tick-tock, tick-tock, time is up! So?…

Yes, you’ve got it in one! There are only three grammatical persons used in the imperative mood (tu, nous and vous) but the subject pronoun is not used.

OK, and what’s more? I give you a clue: use your knowledge of the indicative mood.

So?…

Yep, you’re right again! You’re pretty good at French, aren’t you?! Most of the conjugations are the same as the indicative present (le présent de l’indicatif). Didn’t I tell you it would be easy to learn? Easy peasy!

Now, let’s get onto the second part of the blog: the conjugations of the verbs depending on their endings.

2) Imperative mood conjugations

a) -ER verbs (les verbes du premier groupe)

Before I develop this part, let me warn you: I will test you a bit further down so pay attention, my friend!

If we do a quick recap: we said the present of the imperative mood is similar to the present of the indicative except that we don’t use the subject pronouns.

Now comes the time when I am going to test your knowledge (I did warn you, remember?).

So, what do you have to add at the end of a verb conjugated in the indicative present at the second person of the singular (tu)?

Exactly. An s.

What difference do you notice in the present of the imperative?

Again, you’re right! There is no s. This is a particularity of the -ER verbs conjugated in the imperative mood.

It is also the case with other ending verbs that are conjugated like -ER verbs (ending in -es with tu).

For example, the verb couvrir (to cover).

b) -IR and -RE verbs (les verbes du deuxième et troisième groupes)

Once again, you will have to make use of your knowledge of the indicative mood. Indeed, verbs which are irregular in this mood are, for most of them, irregular in the imperative mood too.

The main difference with -ER verbs is that -IR and -RE verbs take an -s at the second person of the singular (tu).

Here are some examples.

Franchir To jump over, to overcome

(tu) Franchis Jump over / overcome

(nous) Franchissons Let’s jump over / let’s overcome

(vous) Franchissez Jump over / overcome

Atteindre To reach

(tu) Atteins Reach

(nous) Atteignons Let’s reach

(vous) Atteignez Reach

Faire To do, to make

(tu) Fais Do / make

(nous) Faisons Let’s do / let’s make

(vous) Faites Do / make

c) Exceptions

Do you know the very famous French saying “c’est l’exception qui confirme la règle” (it is the exception that confirms the rule)?

In other words, yes, like in most French grammar rules, there are some exceptions. Four to be precise.

Considering how easy, compared to some other French conjugations, the present of the imperative is, I supposed we can let the French of this time and simply learn these four exceptions.

They don’t follow the pattern of the present of the indicative at all.

Here they are in alphabetical order.

3) Affirmative and negative uses of the imperative mood

a) Negative form

Like I mentioned previously, the negative form doesn’t differ in the imperative mood. Just like you would in the indicative mood, you will have to put the negative structure around the conjugated verb. Thus, you will first write ne then your chosen imperative verb followed by any negative adverb (pas, jamais, plus…).

Have a look at the following table to understand exactly what I mean.

See, it’s rather easy, isn’t it?

Things get a bit trickier when it comes to affirmative commands. Let me tell you why.

b) Affirmative form

Like I have just said, affirmative commands are a bit more difficult. We could say that they are a bit more challenging. It doesn’t sound as bad!

Why? For various reasons. Four to be exact. Two are to do with word order and two with pronouns.

The pronoun comes after the verb and is linked to it with a hyphen.

Excusez-nous (excuse us)

Bois-le (drink it)

Please, note that, in the case of object pronouns, they are after the verb in the affirmative form but before the verb in the negative form.

For example:

Parle-moi → Speak to me

Ne me parle pas → Don’t speak to me

Sometimes you will find both direct and indirect object pronouns.

When that is the case, remember that the direct object pronoun always comes before the indirect object pronoun.

For example:

Donnez-le moi! → Give it to me!

Parle-lui-en! → Speak to him about it!

You’ll find that some French people might try to correct you if you get that order wrong. For instance, if you say donne moi le instead of donne-le-moi, they could ask you: donne toi quoi ? (give you what?).

* In the imperative mood and when using the affirmative form, the pronouns me and te change to moi and toi. These are stressed pronouns.

For example,

Réveille-toi! → Wake up!

Taisons-nous → Let’s be quiet!

Please note that if the pronoun is followed by y or en you will have to contract it. It is to do a liaison and therefore ease the pronunciation.

For example,

Va-t-en! → Go away! / Leave!

Have you forgotten what the French stressed pronouns are? Not a problem. Here’s a little reminder.

* I spoke about liaison and easier pronunciation just above. Well, this last point is also linked to this. Indeed, if you are using the second person of the singular form (tu) and either the pronoun y or the pronoun en, you will have to keep the s (despite using an -ER verb)

For example,

Manges-en! → Eat some!

c) Pronominal verbs

In the affirmative form, pronominal verbs are used with tonic personal pronouns placed after the verb. In the negative form, atonic personal pronouns are positioned before the verb.

So, that’s it, you’ve got it all. A full lesson to be unbeatable when it comes to the imperative mood!

Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, eh! Let’s see if you have understood everything perfectly well. Have a look at the exercises below, give it your best shot and then (and only then) check your answers! Good luck!

1) Put the following sentences in the present of the imperative.

Then translate your sentences.

For example,

Il ne faut pas courir autour de la piscine → (Vous) → Ne courez pas autour de la piscine → Don’t run around the swimming pool.

Now, it’s your turn!

a) Il est interdit de fumer dans les lieux publics → (Tu)

→ _____________________________________________________________________________

b) Nous devons réviser pour notre contrôle → (Nous)

→ _____________________________________________________________________________

c) Il faut prévenir si vous êtes absents → (Vous)

→ _____________________________________________________________________________

d) Il ne faut pas crier dans les couloirs → (Tu)

→ _____________________________________________________________________________

e) Il faut envoyer notre lettre avant la fin du mois → (Nous)

→ _____________________________________________________________________________

f) Il est obligatoire d’amener sa pièce d’identité. → (Vous)

→ _____________________________________________________________________________

2) Choose the correct answer.

a) Vas chercher ton frère.

Va chercher ton frère.

b) Manges ton entrée.

Mange ton entrée.

c) Soyez sages.

Soyiez sages.

d) Faisez vos devoirs.

Faites vos devoirs.

e) Aies du courage.

Aie du courage.

f) Veuilliez nous excuser

Veuillez nous excuser.

Correction

1) Put the following sentences in the present of the imperative. Then translate your sentences.

a) Il est interdit de fumer dans les lieux publics → (Tu)

→ Ne fume pas dans les lieux publics.

→ Don’t smoke in public places.

b) Nous devons réviser pour notre contrôle → (Nous)

→ Révisons pour notre contrôle.

→ Let’s revise for our test.

c) Il faut prévenir si vous êtes absents → (Vous)

→ Prévenez si vous êtes absents.

→ Let people know if you are absent.

d) Il ne faut pas crier dans les couloirs → (Tu)

→ Ne crie pas dans les couloirs.

→ Don’t scream in the corridors.

e) Il faut envoyer notre lettre avant la fin du mois → (Nous)

→ Envoyons pas notre lettre avant la fin du mois.

→ Let’s send our letter before the end of the month.

f) Il est obligatoire d’amener sa pièce d’identité. → (Vous)

→ Amenez votre pièce d’identité.

→ Bring your ID.

2) Choose the correct answer.

a) Vas chercher ton frère.

Va chercher ton frère.

b) Manges ton entrée.

Mange ton entrée.

c) Soyez sages.

Soyiez sages.

d) Faisez vos devoirs.

Faites vos devoirs.

e) Aies du courage.

Aie du courage.

f) Veuilliez nous excuser

Veuillez nous excuser.

Conclusion
Please do share your story in the comment section on your experience with grammar.

Side Note: Want a light introduction to French Courses Online? Check Out Our French Courses Online for grammar

French Grammar

How to Use the Pronoun EN and Y in French?

by Amelie Hurford

July 10, 2018

What are the two French adverbial pronouns?

If you’re reading this article, you probably have been browsing the Internet looking to resolve a French grammatical mystery (well not a mystery for long!):

How do we use the French pronouns en and y? What do they replace? In other words, what are these tiny words that seem so important in French?

Don’t worry, it is absolutely normal you’re asking yourself all this and I am here to help you find the answers you need!

French grammar can sometimes (often?) seem pretty tough to grasp but with a bit of help and some assiduous work, you’ll see that it’s actually not that difficult and that, in fact, it’s rather logical and enjoyable to learn! Yes, trust me, it is!

I hope that this is what you will think after having read my article anyway!

In this blog, I will highlight the various uses of two French pronouns, en and y.

You must have seen or heard them many times but they might give you some hard time when it comes to using them yourself in a sentence.

1) What is a pronoun?

Before we get into the heart of the matter, let’s start from the beginning and check your knowledge of French grammar.

What actually is a pronoun? As the word indicates it, a pronoun replaces the noun.

It helps to avoid repetitions and, therefore, makes your speech a lot smoother.

There are many different types of pronouns in French. We can classify them into two main categories: personal pronouns and impersonal pronouns.

A) Personal pronouns

Why personal? Simply because they refer to a person and, therefore, agree in number and gender with the grammatical person they represent.

In French, you will find five different types of personal pronouns:

→ subject (je, tu, il, elle, on, nous, vous, ils, elles)

→ reflexive (me, te, se, nous, vous, se)

→ stressed (moi, toi, lui, elle, soi, nous, vous, eux, elles) → direct object (me, te, le, la, nous, vous, les)

→ indirect object (me, te, lui, nous, vous, leur)

As interesting as these can be, they are not the topic of this article so I won’t tell you much more about French personal pronouns.

This could always be the subject of another blog if you want me to teach you a bit more about them! Let me know in your comments.

B) Impersonal pronouns

This time around you might wonder why they are called impersonal. Well, like I mentioned it a bit further up, French grammar (and grammar in general) is very logical.

Personal pronouns change depending on the grammatical person they represent. Therefore, impersonal pronouns do not change according to a grammatical person.

Watch out though, this does not mean they never change to agree with the noun they replace.

There are more French impersonal pronouns than personal pronouns.

Well, in fact, there are double more as there are ten different types.

→ subject (ce, il)

→ indefinite (plusieurs, quiconque, tout…)

→ demonstrative (celui, celle, ceux, celles)

→ indefinite demontrative (ce, ceci, cela, ça)

→ possessive (le mien, la mienne, les miens, les miennes, le tien, la tienne, les tiens, les tiennes, le sien, la sienne, les siens, les siennes, le nôtre, la nôtre, les nôtres, le vôtre, la vôtre, les vôtres, le leur, la leur, les leurs)

→ relative (qui, que, quoi, dont, où, lequel…)

→ indefinite relative (ce qui, ce que, ce dont…)

→ negative (ne…jamais, ne…rien, …)

→ interrogative (qui, que, lequel…)

→ adverbial (y, en)

I could tell you many things about all these impersonal pronouns but, in this lesson, we will concentrate on the last category: the adverbial pronouns.

2) Adverbial pronouns

How can two so tiny words be so important than a full blog is written just for them?

Well, that is because, as small as they are, they are very often used in French and if you don’t use them correctly you can either change the sense of a sentence or your sentence may not make sense at all!
So let’s focus and become unbeatable when it comes to en and y!

A) En
En is usually translated by “of it” or “about it”.

A1) A pronoun which replaces a noun introduced by de

The French adverbial pronoun en is used with verbs that take de such as avoir besoin de, avoir

envie de, parler de, s’occuper de, revenir de …

For example:

• Avez-vous besoin de ce livre ? → En avez-vous besoin?Do you need this book? Do you need it?

In this example, what does en replace? Yes, you’re right. Here, en replaces ce livre.

• Parle-lui de ton expérience → Parle-lui-en.Tell him about your experience → Tell him about it.

In this example, what does en replace?
Again, you’ve got it right! Yes, here, en replaces ton expérience.

When you speak about a person, you have to use the tonic or stressed pronouns (moi, toi, lui, elle, soi, nous, vous, eux, elles). Don’t use en in that case.

For example:

• Tu parles de ta voisine? Oui, je parle d’elle.
Are you speaking about your neighbour? Yes, I am (speaking about her).

In this example, ta voisine is a person so you have to use a tonic pronoun.

• Tu parles de ton travail? Oui, j’en parle.
Are you speaking about your work? Yes, I am (speaking about it).
Here, we don’t speak about someone but about something so you have to use the adverbial pronounen.

I hear what you’re saying: “Why do French people make things so difficult for us to learn?!”.
Well, just take it as a little challenge and realistically it’s not a very complicated rule to remember, is it?

En can also replace a place if that place is introduced by a verb + de

For example:

• Je reviens de la bibliothèque → J’en reviens.
I am coming back from the library → I am coming back from it.

As you more than likely have understood it, in this example, en replaces la bibliothèque.

A2) A pronoun which replaces a noun introduced by a partitive article or an indefinite article.

En is used instead of a partitive article + a noun or an indefinite article + a noun.

Let me give you a few examples.

– Je vais faire un gâteau mais je ne suis pas certaine d’avoir tous les ingrédients nécessaires. A-t-on du beurre?
– Non, il n’y en a plus.
– Et du sucre?
– Oui, il en reste.
– Et des oeufs? Il m’en faut trois.
– On en a quatre.
– I will bake a cake but I am not sure we have all the required ingredients. Do we have some butter?
– No, there isn’t any left
– What about sugar?
– Yes, there is some.
– And eggs? I need three.
– We have four.So, what do the various en replace in this little dialogue? Let’s go through it together.

– Non, il n’y en a plus.
Here en replaces le beurre (butter).

– Oui, il en reste.
Here en replaces le sucre (sugar).

– Il m’en faut trois.
Here en replaces les oeufs (eggs).

– On en a quatre.
Again, here en replaces les oeufs (eggs).

This last sentence “On en a quatre” highlights an important rule.
In French, when en replaces the noun after a number, that number as to be put at the end of the sentence.

Have a look at the following example.

J’ai trois oeufs → J’ en ai number noun en replaces “oeufs”

I have three eggs → I have three of them.

trois. number

B) Y
As an English-speaker, you probably got told that y translates to “there” which is true but rather reductive. Indeed, y has a few more uses. I will bring them out.

B1) A pronoun which replaces the name of a place (à + name of the place)
This is probably the case you encoutered the most or, at least, the case you most got told about. When y replaces the name of a place, it is translated by “there”.

Let’s see it in the following text.

– Pars-tu souvent en vacances?
– Oui, je vais souvent à Paris.
– Tu y vas quand?
– J’y vais à Noël car c’est magnifique! Et toi, où pars-tu en vacances? – Moi, je vais parfois à Londres. J’y vais pendant les vacances d’été. – Avec qui y vas-tu?

– J’y vais avec mon conjoint et nos enfants.

– Do you often go on holiday?
– Yes, I often go to Paris.
– When do you go there?
– I go there at Christmas because it’s amazing! What about you, where do you go on holiday?
– Me, I sometimes go to London. I go there during the summer holidays.
– Who do you go there with?
– I go there with my husband and our chilren.
As you can see in this text, y is used to answer the question “where” (où). Therefore, this adverbial pronoun replaces “to Paris” and “to London” (à Paris and à Londres).
However, note that it doesn’t just replace the name of a country.

It can be used for any type of places.

For example:

• Tu vas au centre aéré mercredi → Tu y vas mercredi.
You are going to summer camps on Wednesday → You go there on Wednesday.

• Avec qui allez-vous aux Galeries Lafayette? → Nous y allons avec Charlotte.Who do you go to the Galeries Lafayette with? → We are going with Charlotte.

B2) A pronoun which replaces a noun introduced by à

The French adverbial pronoun y is used with verbs that take à such as penser à, s’intéresser à, réfléchir à, croire à, jouer à…
In this case, you can translate it by “it”.

For example:

• Veux-tu jouer à la marelle? → Veux-tu y jouer?
Do you want to play hopscotch? → Do you want to play it?

• S’intéresse t-il au rugby? → S’y intéresse t-il?Is he interested in rugby? → Is he interested in it?

• Elle pense beaucoup à son voyage. → Elle y pense beaucoup.She thinks a lot about her trip. → She thinks about it a lot.

What do you notice in all these examples? I’ll give you a clue: inanimate objects, places, ideas… So? Yes, that’s it!!! Y replaces something but never someone. It replaces inanimate objects, places, ideas but never a person.
You’re getting pretty good at French! I’m impressed!

C) The position of adverbial pronouns in a sentence C1) With simple tenses

When used with simple tenses (le présent, le passé simple, l’imparfait, le futur), both adverbial pronouns, en and y, have to be put in between the subject and the verb.

For example:
– Tu vas chez ta grand-mère ce soir? (Are you going to your nan’s tonight?)- Oui, j’y vais.(Yes, I am)

In “Oui, j’y vais”, j’ is the subject and vais is the conjugated verb. Therefore, you have to write y in between them both.

– As-tu du chocolat? (Have you got some chocolate?)
– Non, je n’en ai pas. (No, I haven’t got any).In “Non, je n’en ai pas”, je is the subject and ai is the conjugated verb. Therefore, you have to writeen in between them both.
As you will have already noticed, the negative (highlighted in blue) surrounds the pronoun and the verb.C2) With composed tensesWhen used with composed tenses (le passé composé, le plus-que-parfait…), both adverbial pronouns, en and y, have to be put in between the subject and the auxiliary avoir or être.For example:

– As-tu mangé des légumes verts à midi? (Have you eaten some green vegs at lunchtime?)
– Oui, j’en ai mangé. (Yes, I have eaten some).
– Avez-vous réfléchi à votre projet? (Have you thought about your project?)
– Non, nous n’y avons pas réflechi. (No, we have not thought about it).With composed tenses, the first part of the negative (ne) has to be put before the adverbial pronoun and the second part of the negative (pas in this example) has to be after the auxiliary.We’re coming to the end of this blog.
Before we check your new knowledge, let me give you some great news!
You can practice everything you have learnt above and learn much more thanks to our conversational classes!

At French Lessons Australia, you will get the opportunity to take part in our fun and interactive classes.

We have everything you need to improve your French and to boost your confidence.

So what are you waiting for?! Check our website for more information!https://frenchlessonsaustralia.com.au/french-lessons-adults-2/

D) Your turn!

Let’s check if you have completely understood the whole lesson thanks to the following exercises!

I have created a couple of exercises especially for you so you can practice what you have just learnt as remember “practice makes perfect”!
You will find the correction just underneath the exercises but do not cheat! Only check your answers once you have given it your best shot!

Bonne chance! (Good luck!).

1) Choose the correct answer

As-tu pensé à prévenir ta professeur de ton absence?→ Oui, j’y ai pensé.
→ Oui, j’ai pensé à elle.
As-tu acheté du pain? → Oui, j’ai en acheté. → Oui, j’en ai acheté.
Combien y a-t-il de personnes? → Il y en a cinq.
→ Il en y a cinq.
Allez-vous souvent à Marseille? → Non, on n’y va jamais.
→ Non, on ne va y jamais.

2) What do the pronouns en and y replace in the following sentences?

Je vais à Nîmes ce soir. J’y vais en train.→ à Nîmes → en train
J’aimerais tellement devenir actrice à Hollywood! J’en rêve depuis toujours. → à Hollywood
→ devenir actrice
– N’oublie pas de téléphoner à ta soeur! – Oui, j’y penserai. → de téléphoner à ta soeur
→ à ta soeur
– Veux-tu une mousse au chocolat en dessert? – Non merci, je n’en veux pas. → une mousse au chocolat
→ en dessertCorrection

2) Choose the correct answer

As-tu pensé à prévenir ta professeur de ton absence? → Oui, j’y ai pensé.
→ Oui, j’ai pensé à elle.
As-tu acheté du pain? → Oui, j’ai en acheté. → Oui, j’en ai acheté.
Combien y a-t-il de personnes? → Il y en a cinq.
→ Il en y a cinq.
Allez-vous souvent à Marseille? → Non, on n’y va jamais.
→ Non, on ne va y jamais.

2) What do the pronouns en and y replace in the following sentences?

Je vais à Nîmes ce soir. J’y vais en train.→ à Nîmes→ en train
J’aimerais tellement devenir actrice à Hollywood! J’en rêve depuis toujours. → à Hollywood
→ devenir actrice
– N’oublie pas de téléphoner à ta soeur! – Oui, j’y penserai. → de téléphoner à ta soeur
→ à ta soeur
– Veux-tu une mousse au chocolat en dessert? – Non merci, je n’en veux pas. → une mousse au chocolat
→ en dessert

French Grammar

French Accents – Here is what you need to know (Free Exercises Inside)

by Amelie Hurford

April 30, 2018

French Accents

What are these strange little things on top of some French letters?

What do they do to words?

And (more importantly) can they be forgotten about, you know just to make our learner’s life a tad easier?

Well, my dear, let’s just say accents are a singularity of the French language (even though, let’s not forget you can find accents in other languages such as Spanish).

After all, we all know how much French people really like being unique. And rightly so!

In this blog, I will tell you everything you need to know about French accents.

To help you with pronunciation and get you to practice it, I will also add some audios.

And finally, to make sure you master French accents perfectly well, you will find, at the end of this blog, some exercises and their correction so you can evaluate your understanding of this grammar point.

Does this sound good to you?

Yes !!

Great, so now, let’s get started 🙂

Lets Dive Into French Accents Pronunciation Guide

1) What is the point in having accents and where do they come from?

I know that studying French accents can be a bit of a pain and that, just like most learners do, you wish you could simply forget about them completely but, let me tell you, that would be such a shame.

Why?

Well, simply because accents are actually very important in French (even though some people would disagree with that but I’ll tell you more about this point later).

Accents, also known as diacritical marks, totally change the pronunciation but also the sense of a word and omitting them could lead to some rather embarrassing situations!
Imagine writing “mais oui, je suis sur Brigitte” (yes, I am on top of Brigitte) instead of “mais oui, je suis sûr Brigitte!” (yes, I am sure Brigitte). ..

They can also replace a letter that used to be written in the old version of French words but that has disappeared in modern French.
The most common example of this language evolution is the letter “s”.

Let’s take the word “hôpital” for example. It used to be “hospital”. As you can see, we dropped the “s” and replaced it with a circumflex accent (l’accent circonflexe).

However, the letter “s” is still present in other words that contain the same root as “hôpital” like in “hospitalier”. Because the “s” is written, you don’t need the circumflex accent.

French accents are also used to distinguish some homophones. There are plenty but just to name a few, here are some homophones you could come across:

ou (or) / où (where)

il a (verb to have → he has) / à (to)

des (some) / dès (dice)

Finally, French accents are used to make a difference between some verbal forms. Thus, you could find “il donna” (donner – to give – conjugated in the passé simple tense) and “qu’il donnât” (donner – to give – conjugated in the subjonctif imparfait tense).Well, let me reassure you on one thing: no one ever uses the subjonctif imparfait (never ever).
It’s totally old-fashioned and really not used in today’s French (phew).And, the passé simple is mainly (if not all the time) used in written French not spoken French.
In other words, don’t worry yourself too much about this use of French accents!

Okay, so now that you know, why there are some accents in French, let’s learn a bit more about them!

2) Different types of French accents and diacritical marks

We count only five accents in French so I’m sure you will master them all in no time!

You will find them on four of the vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and on one consonant (c).

a) What are they called?

Next to their written name, you can click on the audio to hear how to pronounce these words.

L’accent aigu (the acute accent)

L’accent grave (the grave accent)

L’accent circonflexe (the circumflex accent)

Le tréma (the diaeresis)

La cédille (the cedilla)

b) L’accent aigu (the acute accent)

Usually, l’accent aigu (the acute accent) only occurs on “e”. It is pronounced [e] like in

Café [kafe]

Musée [myze]

Poésie [poezi]

There are a few rules you should know when it comes to the accent aigu.

You will have to write an “e” with an acute accent when this vowel is the first letter of a word.

For example

Un éléphant (an elephant)

Un électricien (an electrician)

Un éditeur (a publisher)

And, because we know how much the French love exceptions, there is an exception to this rules!

You don’t use an acute accent on the letter « e » when it is the first letter of the word if that word takes -ère and -es. In that case, you will need the grave accent or no accent at all.

Have a look at the following examples. It will probably make more sense!

Une ère (an era)

Un escargot (a snail)

There is an acute accent on the « e » when it is the last vowel of the word or when a word finished by a silent « e ».

La liberté (freedom)

Un lycée (high school)

You will always see an acute accent on the ending of the past participle of an -er verb.

Chanté (sung)

Donné (given)

To spice things up a little bit, you can sometimes hear the sound made by an accent aigu on a « e » (the [e] sound) but it’s not actually written… Here are a couple of examples :

Pedigree (pedigree)

Revolver (revolver)

There never is an acute accent on an « e » when there is either an « x » or a double consonant before.

Un accent circonflexe ( circumflex accent)

Une étiquette (a tag)

c) L’accent grave (the grave accent)

This accent is found on «a », « e », and « u ». When it is placed on top of either an « a » or an « u », it doesn’t modify the pronounciation of the word.

It is just used to distinguish one word from another.

Just like the acute accent, the grave accent obeys to some rules.

You have to write a grave accent at the end of a word when this word finishes with a “s” despite being in the singular form.

Abcès (abscess)

Accès (access, entrance)

Après (after)

Auprès (close to)

Congrès (congress)

Décès (death)

Excès (excess)

Exprès (on purpose)

Près (close)

Procès (trial)

Progrès (progress)

Succès (success)

Très (very)

Here’s a rule not many people know about (even French people only tend to do it naturally without thinking about it):

You have to write a grave accent on the “e” if it is before a group of consonants and that the second consonant of that group is either an “l” or an “r”.

Lièvre (hare)

Fièvre (high temperature)

Homophones with -à

You have to write a grave accent on top of the « a » in the adverb of place « là » (there) to distinguish it from the definite article « la » (the).

The grave accent is also used to differenciate the verbe -avoir (to have) as in il a from the preposition “à”.

Homophones with -ù

The only time you will find the letter “u” with a grave accent is in the relative or interrogative pronoun où. It is to distinguish it from the coordinating conjunction ou.

Blanc ou noir (white or black)

Où habites-tu? (where do you live?)

d) L’accent circonflexe (the circumflex accent)

This accent is found on all the vowels except “y”.

As with the grave accent, it is sometimes used to avoid confusion between similar looking words.

This is, for example, the case with the following words.

Sur (on) / sûr (sure)

Hâler (to weather) / haler (to haul)

Une boîte (a box) / il boite (he limps)

Une châsse (a shrine) / la chasse (hunting)

It is usually put on top of an « o » in possessive pronouns like in: le nôtre (ours), le vôtre (yours), les nôtres (ours), les vôtres (yours).

You will also find it on top of the « i » in verbs ending in – aître and in -oître. It also needs to be used when you conjugate the verb plaire and that the « i » is followed by a « t ».

Il connaît (he knows)

Il paraît (it seems)

Il croît (he grows)

C’est un homme qui plaît aux femmes (he’s the kind of man most women like).

Finally, the circumflex accent is also used in words that used to take an « s »in old French.

We can mention the following examples :

Âne (donkey)

Château (castle)

Fenêtre (window)

Hôpital (hospital)

Fête (party)

Don’t forget that sometimes the « s » appears in words that contain the same root such s :

Hôpital → hospitalier

Fête → festif

e) Le tréma (the diaeresis)

A diaeresis over the vowels « e » and « i » indicates that the preceding vowel is pronounced separately.

Canoë (canoeing)

Égoïste (selfish)

f) La cédille (the cedilla)

The cedilla is put under the letter “c” in front of the vowels -a, -o, and -u to change its sound. A”c” with a cedilla loses its hard k sound and get a soft one. It is pronounced like the sound “ss”.

I would strongly advise you to pay particular attention to the word leçon which means lesson. Well, that is if you pronounce the cedilla correctly (with a soft sound).

If unfortunately, you forget and pronounce it with a k sound (lecon), you will actually say le con which is rather pejorative as it means the moron…

Here are some examples of words with a cedilla.

Français (French)

Soupçon (suspicion)

Have you enjoyed reading this blog? If so, why don’t you have a look on our website.

We have so many more useful and interesting articles for you to learn French from!

And that’s not all, we offer fantastic conversation courses. Have a look at all our services

Now it is Practice time!

Lets dive into exercise on French Accents

Try to do our exercises and then check your answers.

Good luck!

1) Write the following words correctly?

Un eleve : ____________________________________________________

Une chaine: ____________________________________________________

Un batiment: ____________________________________________________

Un cote: ____________________________________________________

Une brulure: ____________________________________________________

Une ile: ____________________________________________________

Un gateau: ____________________________________________________

Une fenetre: ____________________________________________________

Un chateau:____________________________________________________

Une buche:____________________________________________________

Une fete: ____________________________________________________

Une ecoliere: ____________________________________________________

2) Choose the correct accents for some of the words in the following sentences:

Le bucheron se promene dans la foret.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

L’eleve entete refuse de faire cet exercice.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

L’ecoliere prefere flaner dans la foret avec son frere.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3) Choose the correct spelling.

Ma mere / mére / mère est partie en voyage (my mum has gone on holidays).

L’éléphant / èlèphant /élèphant vit en Afrique (the elephant lives in Africa).

Je suis entiêrement / entièrement / entiérement d’accord avec toi! (I totally agree with you).

Il a eu une tèrrible / térrible / terrible peur! (He got very scared).

À la fin du match, il y avait ègalitè / égalitè / égalité. (At the end of the match, they drew).

Ce procês / procés / procès a fait la une des journaux. (This trial was on every newspaper’s front page).

Son texte contient beaucoup de rèpétitions / répétitions / rêpétitions. (Her text contains a lot of repetitions).

Le mystère / mystêre / mystére reste en entier. (It still is a mystery).

Correction

1) Write the following words correctly?

Un élève, une chaîne, un bâtiment, un côté, une brûlure, une île, un gâteau, une fenêtre, un château, une bûche, une fête, une écolière.

2) Choose the correct accents for some of the words in the following sentences:

Le bûcheron se promène dans la foret.

L’élève entêté refuse de faire cet exercice.

L’écolière préfère flâner dans la forêt avec son frère.

3) Choose the correct spelling.

Ma mere / mére / mère est partie en voyage (my mum has gone on holidays).

L’éléphant / èlèphant /élèphant vit en Afrique (the elephant lives in Africa).

Je suis entiêrement / entièrement / entiérement d’accord avec toi! (I totally agree with you).

Il a eu une tèrrible / térrible / terrible peur! (He got very scared).

À la fin du match, il y avait ègalitè / égalitè / égalité. (At the end of the match, they drew).

Ce procês / procés / procès a fait la une des journaux. (This trial was on every newspaper’s front page).

Son texte contient beaucoup de rèpétitions / répétitions / rêpétitions. (Her text contains a lot of repetitions).

Le mystère / mystêre / mystére reste en entier. (It still is a mystery).

Here’s The Next Step…

Have you understood everything about French Accents?

let me know by leaving a comment below right now.

Side Note: Want a light introduction to French Courses Online? Check Out Our French Courses Online for Beginners

French Grammar

Here is what you need to know about plus que parfait in French

by Amelie Hurford

April 4, 2018

Are you an intermediate to advanced learner?

In that case, you will soon start to learn about the pluperfect, le plus que parfait in French.

I personally find the French conjugation slightly (quite a lot, let’s face it) more difficult than the English one. Luckily though, the French and the English pluperfect are rather similar.

Are you not too sure of what the plus que parfait exactly is nor when this tense should be used?

Not a problem, you have come to the right page as I will refresh your memory thanks to a quick brush-up on the notion.

Perfect?

I’d say it’s even pluperfect!

Ok, my joke was a bit of a fail.

Never mind.

On a more serious note, I think that after my little lesson on the plus que parfait, all your questions will be answered to.

If unfortunately, that is not the case, I will recommend you some very interesting and easy to understand websites to learn the plus que parfait tense in French.

Let’s start!

What exactly is the pluperfect tense?

Here’s a quick reminder of what this tense is in … English!

It has different names (it adds a bit of spice, don’t you think?).

It can either be called the pluperfect, the past perfect, the past perfective or even the past in the past. As you would have understood, it is a tense that belongs to the past.

It basically entitles you to express an action in the past that has been completed before another action in the past.

Does it make sense?

Let me give you an example to illustrate what I’m saying.

We had already started eating when he arrived.

How do you form the pluperfect in English?

As you will have noticed in my example just above, the pluperfect is formed with the auxiliary had and the past participle of the verb (started in our example).

The pluperfect in hypothetical clauses

This tense can also be used when you want to express a hypothetical action that would have taken place in the past.

For example: If you had woken up earlier, you wouldn’t have missed the bus.

In this type of sentences, many English speakers would say: If you would have woken up earlier instead of using the pluperfect. It’s a common use but it’s grammatically incorrect.

What about the French version of the pluperfect: the plus que parfait?

Getting its name from the Latin plus quam perfectum (more than perfect in English), the French plus que parfait is sort of used like its English version. Indeed, it is also used when you want to speak about an action in the past that happened before another one also in the past.

Nous avions déjà commencé à manger quand il est arrivé → We had already started to eat when he arrived.

Just like in English, the plus que parfait is used in French when expressing hypothetical situations.

Si j’avais su qu’il aimait le café, je lui aurais acheté une cafetière → If I had known he liked coffee, I would have bought him a coffee machine.

How do you form the plus-que-parfait in French?

If you want to learn about the French pluperfect, I assume that you already know quite a bit about compound tenses such as the passé composé (the perfect tense).

You must, for example, know that a compound tense is formed with an auxiliary verb (also known as a helping verb) followed by the past participle of the verb (the one giving meaning to your sentence). In French, the auxiliary verbs are être and avoir.

To form the plus que parfait, you have to conjugate one of the auxiliary in the imperfect form (à l’imparfait) and add the past participle of the verb.

Imperfect of avoir or être + past participle of the verb

To make it a bit more interesting (challenging? Difficult?), don’t forget that, in French, there are agreements to make. Here’s the rule:

→ If the auxiliary verb être is used, the past participle needs to agree with the subject.

→ If the auxiliary verb is avoir, the past participle has to agree with its direct object.

When should you use the auxiliary verb avoir and when should you use être?

Just like when forming the passé composé, avoir is the most commonly used auxiliary verb. However, several intransitive verbs (verbs that don’t need an object to complete them such as dormir, to sleep in English, for example) take the auxiliary être. Among these verbs, you have naître, mourir, monter, venir, revenir, aller, arriver, rentrer, tomber, sortir, descendre, partir, rester and passer.

Be careful though as some verbs can be intransitive as well as transitive (in that case they would require an object). The same rule applies: when they are intransitive, they take être and when they are transitive they take avoir.

3 Here’s an example to make things a little bit clearer.

Enzo était sorti (Enzo had gone out) → here sortir is an intransitive verb → auxiliary être

Enzo n’avait pas sorti son cahier (Enzo hadn’t get his book out) → here sortir is a transitive verb → auxiliary avoir.

Quick reminder on how to conjugate both auxiliaries avoir and être in the imperfect (form needed to form the plus que parfait, remember?)

Avoir Être

J’avais J’étais

Tu avais Tu étais

Il/elle/on avait Il/elle/on était

Nous avions Nous étions

Vous aviez Vous étiez

Ils/elles avaient Ils/elles étaient

I think you now have all the keys you need to be able to form and use the plus que parfait perfectly. However, if you are still unsure, here are some good websites.

https://www.talkinfrench.com/french-pluperfect/

https://francais.lingolia.com/en/grammar/tenses/le-plus-que-parfait

http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/tap9.html

Learn French

Reflexive Verbs in French – Learn Everything You Need To Know

by Amelie Hurford

March 29, 2018

If you’re serious about learning French, you NEED to learn Reflexive verbs

Why?

Reflexive verbs, also known as pronominal verbs or “se” verbs, and called “les verbes pronominaux” in French, are verbs that need a reflexive pronoun.

They usually are confusing for students.

But don’t worry if you feel lost

In today’s article you’re going to learn everything you need to know about Reflexive verbs in French.

Let’s do this.

Specific grammatical terms

Before we start, let’s be clear on a couple of specific grammatical terms:

subject pronouns and reflexive pronouns.

Do these two different types of pronouns ring a bell? You probably studied them at some point but it might be all a bit blurry now… Well, it won’t be for long! Here’s a quick reminder.

A) Subject pronouns

A subject pronoun determinates either someone or something that is doing an action (the action being illustrated by the verb).

For example, in the sentence “J’apprends le français” (I learn French), J’ (je) is the subject pronoun.

Subject pronouns can either be feminine or masculine, and singular or plural to agree with the noun they replace.

For example: “le garçon est mignon” (the boy is cute) can be replaced by “il est mignon” (he is cute).

The French subject pronouns are:

	Singular	Plural
1^st person	Je → I	Nous → We
2^nd person	Tu → You	Vous → You
3^rd person	Il → He, it Elle → She, it On → One, we, they	Ils, elles → they

B) Reflexive pronouns

Reflexive pronouns indicate that the subject is doing the action to itself.

For example, in the sentence, “Je me regarde” (I look at myself), me is the reflexive pronoun.

Reflexive pronouns are used with pronominal verbs, agree with the subject in number and gender and may be direct or indirect objects.

The French reflexive pronouns are:

	Singular	Plural
1^st person	Me, m’ → myself	Nous → Ourselves
2^nd person	Tu, t’ → Yourself	Vous → Yourselves
3^rd person	Se, s’ → himself, herself, itself	Se, s’ → themselves

So, you are now clear about the fact that a conjugated verb needs a subject pronoun and that a pronominal verb is a bit more greedy as it takes a subject pronoun as well a reflexive pronoun.

Pronominal verbs

A) Why are there some « se »verbs?

Unlike in English where the person who receives the action (if it’s the same as the person who does the action/the subject pronoun) is often implicitly understood, in French, you must use a pronominal verb.

Look at the following example :

Je me lève → I get up (meaning I get myself up).

If you don’t use the pronominal verb se lever but its non-pronominal version lever, you totally change the meaning of your sentence !

Je lève → I raise

B) Three main types of reflexive verbs

There are three main types of pronominal verbs.

I have listed a fair amount of the main ones on my « French reflexive verbs lists and exercises » PDF. Have a look!

a) Reflexive verbs

To make things easier, we can say that reflexive verbs either :

Reflect the action back onto the subject ( e.g. Je m’habille → I dress myself / I am getting dressed).
Have the meaning of « each other » (e.g. Ils s’embrassent → They kiss each other).
Often have to do with one ‘s relationship, body, or clothes.

Regarding that last point : when a reflexive verb refers to a part of the body, some grammar rules differ from English to French.

In English, you would use a possessive adjective to say that the part of the body mentioned belongs to the subject (the owner of that body part).

I brush my teeth → Whose teeth am I brushing ? Mine (the ones belonging to I).

My is the possessive adjective.

In French, things are slightly different. Indeed, you don’t use a possessive adjective to refer to the owner but a pronominal verb (well a reflexive pronoun and a definite article to be more precise).

Je me brosse les dents.

Me is the reflexive pronoun and les is the definite article.

b) Reciprocal verbs

Reciprocal verbs being a type of pronominal verbs, they have the same characteristics as reflexive verbs.

However, they have a distinctive feature: the reflexive pronoun indicates that the action of the verb happens between two or more subjects which have an impact on each other.

For example :

Ils s’aiment → they love each other.

Vous vous battez → you fight with one another.

c) Idiomatic pronominal verbs

This last type of pronominal verbs uses a reflexive pronoun to change the meaning of the non-pronominal verb. Other than that, the reflexive pronoun serves no purpose.

For example :

Elles s’entendent bien → they get along.

Elles entendent bien → they hear well.

Now It’s Your Turn

French reflexive verbs are usually a bit tricky to get. I hope this blog has helped you understand better.

Try to do some of the exercises I have created on this topic !

Remember, good practice makes perfect !

Let me know by leaving a comment below.

Learn French

25 Awesome French blogs every French Learner Should Read

by Amelie Hurford

March 15, 2018

This article features the top 25 French blogs that every French learner from beginners to advanced level should read.

The Internet!

Such a wonderful and useful tool. Can you imagine living without it?

No?

Me neither!

You can find more or less absolutely everything when you browse the web! From videos to music, from learning about gardening to learning a new language.

In other words, basically, everything. Okay, that’s fab but the only downside from it all is that you can get lost very easily in the huge amount of websites. Discovering the rare gem isn’t always easy.

Well, congratulations you have actually just found THE blog which lists the top 25 French blogs to follow!

If you got on my page, you are very likely to have been looking for the best podcasts, websites, and resources to learn French Online. Look no further! I have searched the web to find the best learning sites to learn French.

These are inspirational and incredibly useful French blogs to increase your learning of French whether you have just started your learning journey or already are an advanced learner. I have listed great blogs hosted by the best bloggers out there!

Whether you are a French student looking to improve his/her level of French, a teacher looking for fantastic resources or simply just curious to see what some people passionately create to help others, these blogs will inspire you!

So here’s my list of 25 best French Blogs in no particular order

Talk in French

talkinfrench

Talk in French is a great blog hosted by Frederic Bibard. He creates fun and easy French lessons for learners of all levels. Not only will you learn the French language itself, you will also learn about the wonderful French culture. Frederic usually adds about 2 posts per month.

Have a look at this great website https://www.talkinfrench.com/

You can also follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

FluentU French

fluentu

Another gem right here just for you!

On this blog, you will have the wonderful (and ever so precious) opportunity to learn French through authentic resources. You will have plenty to choose from! Indeed, it gathers music videos, movie trailers, news, and inspiring talks. The possibilities are endless!

I love the fact that you can learn French in an engaging and immersive way. That really is their secret weapon!

Here is the website link https://www.fluentu.com/french/

Give them a like on Facebook and/or follow them on Twitter!

Learn French

learnfrench reddit
In this reddit , you will be able to learn the language of love thanks to many different articles on many various topics. You can also become the teacher and post your own lessons! And remember, you can learn so much when teaching others!

Click on the following link if you like the concept of this blog!

https://www.reddit.com/r/learnfrench/

Français Authentique

Français Authentique

In his blog, Johan, your host, will help you speak French. This blog is mainly aimed at learners who already understand French but struggle with its speaking part. And we all know that speaking is the hardest part of learning a language (with writing probably) . First, you understand, then you start speaking. Well, Johan has many tricks up his sleeve to help you on your online French learning journey!

Here is the direct link to his blog https://www.francaisauthentique.com/blog/

You can also follow him on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter!

French Today

French Today Blog

French Today’s blog features 500+ exclusive articles. Mainly aimed at adults, the articles (published weekly) cover French vocabulary, grammar, verb conjugations, culture, easy bilingual stories and more. French Today features both traditional and modern French, and prepares you for real interactions with modern French people.

Register and download their free 2.5 hour audiobook and receive weekly tips and exclusive lessons here: https://www.frenchtoday.com/register.

The French Today audiobook method actually gets 4.91 out of 5 on 496 reviews from verified customers! They have free Android, IOS and Desktop apps to learn French in your pyjamas or on the go.

Have a look for yourself https://www.frenchtoday.com/blog

You will also find them on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest!

Transparent French Language Blog

Transparent Language

Here is another very busy French blog as their hosts add about three posts per week!

Based in the USA, this blog is great for absolutely everyone. Indeed, if you are a French student, you will find whatever you’re looking for thanks to their scientifically proven methodology, their wide variety of high-quality learning material and their use of real-life French spoken by native French speakers.

If you are a teacher, you will get the opportunity to join the thousands of K-12 educators, schools, and universities! Not bad, is it?

Check their blog out on https://www.transparent.com/ or follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Fluent French Now

fluentfrenchnow

Created by Stanley Aléong, this blog is aimed at all levels. Whether you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced learner, you will find exactly what you are looking for. There are many authentic resources on which Stanley comments. You will also find transcriptions and translations to download.

This blog is pretty well organized as the articles are classed in three main parts: “how to articles”, “methods and strategies for learning French”, and “learning from the common mistakes in spoken French”.

You won’t find many illustrations as most posts are mainly text-based but, realistically, the quality of the articles will make you forget about that!

Here’s the website’s link http://www.fluentfrenchnow.com/

Learn French with daily podcasts

Daily French Pod

First of all, do you know what a podcast is? Basically, it is a digital audio or video file which a user can download and listen to. The great thing about podcasts is that you can download them and listen to them wherever and whenever you want! And what is even better is that you will be able to download podcasts for free on this blog and you can get a PDF transcript too!

Don’t waste any more time. Go and download some French podcasts on http://www.dailyfrenchpod.com/

FrenchConnect – Speaking a language is about connection, not perfection

French Connect

Based in India, this blog is hosted by Swati Rastogi who is a French teacher. She won’t only teach you French though but also many different aspects of the French culture. She writes about four posts per week to teach you French through videos, images, and audios that will stimulate your imagination and bring out the creativity in you!

Here is the direct link to her website https://swatifrenchconnect.wordpress.com/

French Together Blog

frenchtogether

This blog is hosted by Benjamin Houy, a language learning expert and a French native speaker (which always is a bonus). He will teach you “the 20% of French you need to understand 80% of conversations”. You’ll learn French you won’t find in textbooks!

Follow this link https://frenchtogether.com/blog/ or find him on Facebook and Twitter!

French Crazy

frenchcrazy

As his host says it perfectly well, French crazy is “a site designed for French teachers, French learners, and French culture enthusiasts”!

You will have the choice between plenty and more articles to learn French grammar, vocabulary but you will also get to know some very interesting facts about the French culture. I personally love the bit about French music!

To explore this great blog, simply click on the following link https://frenchcrazy.com/ or go on Facebook !

Love Learning Languages

The host, Jennifer, who taught French for 15 years at university, is now located in Béziers, in the South of France. She offers immersion courses but also online ones!

You can learn French for free on her YouTube channel or on a Facebook page! Her website is very well made.

Lawless French

Lawless French

Another blog bursting with great resources. Created by Laura K. Lawless. This blog will help you learn about essential French grammar and vocabulary. Laura also writes weekly posts about French expressions and idioms which can be very useful! Not only this though, she will also help you improve your pronunciation and listening and reading comprehension.

Check it out here https://www.lawlessfrench.com/

French Video Audio Lessons

French Video Audio Lessons

The name of this blog could not be any clearer! It’s all written on the tin! Its host, who posts new lessons and articles about once a week, will help you learn French thanks to videos and audios. Bonus: you can also download French PDF lessons!

Have a look, you won’t be disappointed! http://youlearnfrench.blogspot.fr/

Oui, c’est ça

ouicestcadotcom

Packed with fantastic resources, this blog has been created by a French teacher who owns a Master’s degree in French literature and a bachelor’s in French language. She has taught French in many countries across the globe. Saying this lady knows what she is talking about is, therefore, an understatement, don’t you think?

She uses her great teaching skills to transmit her knowledge thanks to very interesting resources written in English. You’ll learn about the French culture, language, French songs, news and so on.

Check it for yourself https://ouicestcadotcom.wordpress.com/learning-french/

The French Blog

The French Blog

This is an excellent blog! I like the fact that you will find fantastic content. This blog, hosted by William Alexander, author and IT director, bursts with great articles and videos! Articles are on a lot of different topics such as everyday life in France, cooking, news…

You don’t want to miss his “Wordsmith Wednesday” and “French Food Fight Friday”.

Have a look at his website to find out more www.thefrenchblog.com.

Oh, la, la, I speak French!

ohlalaispeakfrench

You will find a wide variety of material to learn French and have fun at the same time! French resources include written posts, exercise sheets, as well as many funny videos! You’ll be able to work on your speaking, listening, and writing skills and will laugh. A lot!

Here is the website link https://www.ohlalaispeakfrench.com/

Tex’s French Grammar – la grammaire de l’absurde

laits.utexas

After having read the name of this blog, you probably already have an idea of what most articles are about. Yes, you’ve got it: this blog deals mainly with French grammar. It was originally built for the University of Texas students as a French grammar guide but quickly got the approval of many more students and started to be used by any learner of French!

If you are the organized type, then you will love this blog. Indeed, every specific grammar item is categorized and everything is very clearly explained and defined!

Not only this though, you will also be able to follow the love story of Tex and Tammy, two star-struck armadillos.

With this blog, you are sure to learn many things and to have a lot of fun!

Like them on Facebook or have a look at their website http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/index.html

The Linguist on Language

The Linguist

The host of this blog, Steve Kaufmann, who has a channel on YouTube, is rather extremely impressive. He learnt French at school but was far from being fluent at the end of his studies.

He, therefore, decided to find a way to learn languages outside of textbooks and created, with his son Mark, an online language learning system and Web 2.0 community, whose members from all over the world help each other learn up to 21 languages.

Today, Steve knows 16 languages and can speak more or less fluently 12 of them!

What’s his secret?

Has he got a magic wand?

No…

Just a passion for languages and a very effective way to learn them. His method is mainly based on communication. He teaches you French from what you actually are interested in!

I won’t reveal too much though. Go and discover him on his website https://blog.thelinguist.com/ or read his book The Way of The Linguist: A Language Learning Odyssey.

The Heart of an Artichoke

The Heart of an Artichoke

Aimed for English and French speakers, this blog will teach French and the French culture in a light-hearted way and with a lot of humor! You will also learn about literature which is rather unusual in blogs like this.

The authors of The Heart of an Artichoke, Claire Lerognon, and Linda Phillips Ashour have a fabulous experience when it comes to languages and more specifically French.

I let you find out more on their website http://theheartofanartichoke.com/blog/#.WpxfG3ciGM8

Au son du FLE

Au son du FLE

Just in case you don’t know what the acronym FLE stands for, here is its full meaning: Français Langue Etrangère. In other words, French as a foreign language.

This blog’s host, Michel Billières, is a teacher at the University of Toulouse, France. In his blog, Michel pays a particular attention to French phonetics and how to master it.He uses a method called la méthode verbo-tonale d’intégration phonétique (MVT). What does it consist of, you may ask? Well, it basically helps French learners to understand corrective procedures to help them with their pronunciation.

If you and French pronunciation aren’t best friends, then you should definitely visit this blog! https://www.verbotonale-phonetique.com/

Le français entre quat’z’yeux.

lefrancaisentrequatzyeux

In this blog, Federica, an Italian lady who studied French, will not only teach French vocabulary, grammar rules or even idiomatic expressions, she will also give you the opportunity to have fun while learning.

In her blog, she regularly recommends TV programmes, books, videos and (which is extremely important!) she gives you their transcriptions and/or subtitles.

Basically, you will get all the tools you will need to understand everything you will read and watch! That way, you will learn French and enhance your French cultural knowledge in a great way.

Check it for yourself https://lefrancaisentrequatzyeux.blogspot.fr/ and like her on Facebook.

ProfMichelle

ProfMichelle

This blog is more specifically aimed at French teachers but not only. As a learner of French, you will find very useful resources.

In 2009, Michelle, the host, went on a professionnal development course to learn how to use computers and other technological resources in her classroom. From that day, she has totally changed her teaching methods. On her blog, she shares all the resources she creates.

They are mainly made for beginners and teenagers (A1/A2 level).

Here’s the link http://www.profmichelle.com/

Chez Jérôme

This blog is rather similar to the one above in its concept (educational blog) except it is aimed at intermediate to advanced learners.

Jérôme, the host, first created this blog for his Italian learners of French. Thanks to his blog, he establishes a real link between the French teachers’ community.

You will find articles about the news, history, exam preparations…

He also shares loads of good links, websites, and resources to improve your level of French but also to discover, listen to an read about anything to do with French learning.

Let’s see what you think on http://chezjerome.over-blog.com/

Les Z’experts FLE

leszexpertsfle

Last but not least, another fantastic blog to find great resources to learn French. In this blog, you should find about one new free post per week! Fab, isn’t it?

It’s aimed at all learner’s levels. It is packed with very interesting articles about conjugation, grammar, learning games, vocabulary, posters… This website was so successful that it has expanded. There is now the Zexpertistan. On that site, you can share your own resources and even find jobs!

I give you both links

https://leszexpertsfle.com/

https://leszexpertsfle.com/espace-auteur-invite/

Now I want to hear it from you:

So here you have it, a very comprehensive list of the top 25 best French language blogs!

Let me know by leaving a comment below right now on which of these French Blogs helped you in your online French learning journey!

French Words

26+ Commonly used French Expressions you should know

by Amelie Hurford

February 21, 2018

Say the right things at the moment you need it most. In theory, yes, that does sound perfect but, in practice, how do you do if you don’t know the most commonly used French Expressions?

So, yes, of course, you can walk around with your bilingual dictionary but it’s not quite ideal, is it?

The other solution is for you to learn some popular French phrases.

Imagine going to France and being told you speak well. That would be great, wouldn’t it?

Off Course, it would… but now, imagine going to France and being told you sound just like a real native speaker! Now, that would be amazing!

Learning French daily expressions will not only make you sound more French, it will also help you understand the French culture better. Indeed, in any language, the daily way of life often shows through common phrases.

It is now time to drop boring textbooks and to learn some real French, spoken every day by real French native speakers.

I have obviously explained the meaning of each French expressions but you will also find under each of them an audio to check their exact pronunciation.

One last thing before I start, have a look at this video. It’s a Tex Avery cartoon called La Symphonie de l’argot (the symphony of slang). Do you understand what the character is on about? Not really? You will once you will have read this article and check my very complete French expressions e-book!

C’est parti (mon kiki)!

As a teacher, I (very) often get asked how to say such or such swear word in French… It seems to be the first, or at least one of the first, interest my students have when they learn French.

In this first part, I will not teach you how to swear in French but I will tell you about a few colloquial and slang French phrases (because not only it would make you sound French – and that’s what we are aiming for, aren’t we?- it is also very funny!).

a) Ca roule / ça roule ma poule!

You would use this expression when you want to say that everything is good, when life is treating you right. It would, therefore, be an answer to the question “ça va?”.

However, you could also use it instead of “ça va?”.

It can be both a question meaning “how are things?” and an answer meaning “everything is good”.

Just like in English, you have loads of rhyming expressions such as “see you later alligator, in a while crocodile”, you could add “ma poule” to “ça roule” to get the funny slangy phrase “ça roule ma poule” (meaning literally: it is rolling my hen”).

For example:

Alors ça roule?
Oui, ça va, merci.

(So is everything good? Yes, fine, thanks).

Comment vas-tu?
Ca roule, merci.

How are you?

Good, thanks.

b) Comme d’hab!

Short for comme d’habitude, comme d’hab is a familiar expression meaning “as usual”.

For example:

Que fais-tu dimanche?
Je vais courir, comme d’hab.

What are you doing on Sunday?

I’m going running as usual.

c) Ca te dit? / Ca vous dit?

This is a very popular French expression. I personally use it very often. It means: are you up for it? / do you fancy it?

A similar phrase is ça te branche? / ça vous branche?

For example:

Ca te dit d’aller boire un verre?

Do you fancy going for a drink?

d) Tiens moi au courant / Tenez moi au courant

If you want to find out the outcome of a situation, you could use this very common French expressions.

It means: Keep me up to date / let me know.

An equivalent is tiens moi au jus.

You could also say On se tient au courant / On se tient au jus. In that case, you would say we’ll keep in touch.

For example:

Tiens moi au courant pour tes examens médicaux.

Keep me informed regarding your medical tests.

On se tient au jus pour samedi .

We keep in touch regarding Saturday.

e) Revenons à nos moutons

I quite like this one! Pretty cute, I think. It literally means Let’s go back to our sheeps. It comes from a novel written by the very famous Rabelais in the 15^{th century}, La Farce du maître Pathelin.

Imagine you’re talking with someone and you kind of go off the subject. To go back to it, you’ll simply need to say revenons à nos moutons! It means “let’s get back to the subject at hand”.

For example:

On s’éloigne du sujet. Revenons à nos moutons.

We’re getting off the subject. Let’s go back to it.

f) Tu veux un coup de main ? / Vous voulez un coup de main?

Do you like helping others?

Well, you might want to ask someone if they want a hand. If so, you could say tu veux un coup de main / Vous voulez un coup de main?

For example:

Tu veux un coup de main pour vider la voiture?

Do you want a hand to empty the car?

g) Tu t’en sors? / Vous vous en sortez?

Is your friend struggling to do something? If so, you might want to ask him/her if he/she is managing okay? In that case, you would say, tu t’en sors?

For example:

Tu t’en sors ou tu veux un coup de main?

You managing there or do you want a hand?

h) Ca me prend la tête

Argh! That does my head in!

If something annoys you, in French, you’ll say that this thing is “taking your head” (ça me prend la tête).

For example:

Alors, tes maths? Tu t’en sors?
Non, ça me prend la tête!

So, these Maths? Do you manage?

No, it does my head in!

i) Rendre quelqu’un chèvre

Similar to ça me prend la tête but not as familiar, rendre quelqu’un chèvre means to drive someone crazy.

For example:

Elle va me rendre chèvre si elle continue!

She will drive me crazy if she carries on!

j) En avoir ras le bol

Okay, so you can’t work out how to resolve this Maths problem (I feel your pain…). Are you fed up with it? Well, in French you would “have a bowl full of it”. In other words, you would have it up to here!

Just a little reminder: you have to conjugate the verb avoir with the subject when you use this popular French expressions in a sentence.

For example:

J’en ai ras le bol qu’il pleuve!

I’m fed up with the rain!

k) Faire la grasse matinée / faire la grasse mat

This is THE one expression I would adore to use a lot more often but I can’t because of my beautiful babies (the joys of motherhood, eh…). It means to have a lie in.

If you’re lucky enough to know what these are, then, in France, you won’t actually have a lie in, you will “do the fat morning”.

For example:

Enfin, le week-end! Demain matin, je fais la grasse matinée!

Weekend, at last! Tomorrow morning, I’m having a lie in!

Avoir le coup de foudre

One I have experimented and I hope you have too. Falling madly in love at first sight! In France, it’s a bit more violent though as you don’t just fall in love, “you are struck by lightning”!

For example:

Daz et moi, ça a été le coup de foudre!

Daz and I fell in love at first sight.

m) S’envoyer en l’air

Well after falling in love (or “being struck by lightning” as the French like to say), you usually have sex (too much information!).

Having sex in France actually sounds pretty fun as they “throw each other in the air”!

Please note that this expression is very familiar so don’t go round telling the world that you like t’envoyer en l’air…

For example:

Pff, nos voisins sont bruyants quand ils s’envoient en l’air!

Pff, our neighbours are noisy when they are having sex!

n) Changer d’avis comme de chemise

Are you a rather indecisive person? Well, in France, you would “change opinion like you change shirt”. In other words, you would keep changing your mind.

For example:

C’est une girouette: elle change d’avis comme de chemise!

It’s a weathercock, she always changes her mind.

o) Être une girouette

Let’s hope you will never be called a girouette in French cause, if you do, it would mean that you are not a very reliable person and that people can’t really count on you…

For example:

Ne te fie pas à lui, c’est une girouette.

Don’t trust him, he’s a weathercock.

p) J’en mettrais ma main au feu / J’en mettrais ma main à brûler

When you are absolutely sure you’re right, you could bet your life on it! Well, not in French. In the language of love, you could actually “burn your hand” or “put your hand in the fire”!

This little gem comes from the Middle Age!

For example:

J’en suis sûre. J’en mettrais ma main au feu!

I am certain. I could bet my life on it!.

q) Je n’en crois pas mes yeux!

This common French expressions has its exact equivalent in English. It means “I cannot believe my eyes”. You could say that when you are happily surprised or dumbfounded by something you are witnessing.

For example:

Quel spectacle! Je n’en crois pas mes yeux!

What a show! I cannot believe my eyes!.

r) Je n’en crois pas mes oreilles!

Let’s stay carry on talking about our senses! Just as you sometimes cannot believe your eyes, you can also not believe your ears. So if you’ve heard something that surprises or shocks you, then, in French, tu n’en croiras pas tes oreillles (you will not believe your ears).

For example:

T’as entendu ça? Ils se sont séparés! Je n’en crois pas mes oreilles!

Have you heard that? They broke up! I can’t believe my ears!.

s) Laisse tomber…

Be careful with that one. Words for words, it means “drop it”. However, it doesn’t have the quite same irritable tone as it has in English. It significates “forget about it” or “never mind”.

For example:

Je n’arrive pas à défaire ce noeud.
C’est pas grave. Laisse tomber.

I can’t undo that knot.

It doesn’t matter. Forget about it.

t) Avoir du pain sur la planche

It is time to roll up your sleeves and start working! Indeed, you have loads to do! Well, in France, you would “have some bread on the board”.

Don’t the French just love their baguettes? Haha

For example:

Allez, retrousse tes manches! On a du pain sur la planche!

Come on, roll up your sleeves! We have a lot to do!.

u) Avoir la gueule de bois

You enjoyed that last one drink last night, didn’t you? Well, I bet drinking it doesn’t seem quite that much of a good idea on the following morning, does it?

If you feel hung over in France, you will actually have the wooden mug/face!

For example:

Pff, j’ai la gueule de bois ce matin.

Pff, I’m hung over this morning.

v) Avoir le cafard

This an informal way of saying you’re feeling down. However, for some reasons, in France, you dont feel down nor feel blue, you “have the cockroach”. Bit of a strange one, that one.

For example:

Je suis déprimé en ce moment. J’ai le cafard.

I am depressed. I’m feeling down.

w) C’est naze / c’est nul / c’est pourri

These French expressions are the equivalent to the English phrase “that sucks”.

If you think something is totally stupid then you could use either of these three popular French expressions.

For example:

Ce film est trop nul!

This film is really rubbish.

x) Avoir les yeux plus gros que le ventre

Just like in English, your eyes can sometimes be bigger than your stomach, in French, tu as les yeux plus gros que le ventre.

For example:

J’en ai trop pris. J’ai eu les yeux plus gros que le ventre.

I took too much. My eyes were bigger than my stomach.

y) Avoir un chat dans la gorge

I quite like this one cause it’s the same type of expression as it is in English. Only the animal changes! When you have a cold and a sore throat in England, you have a frog in your throat. Well, in France, you have a cat instead!

For example:

J’ai certainement pris froid, j’ai un chat dans la gorge.

I must have caught a cold, I’ve got a frog in my throat.

z) Avoir la grosse tête

Is someone rather arrogant? Full of himself? Big-headed? In that case, you would use the French expression avoir la grosse tête.

For example:

Lucie a la grosse tête depuis sa promotion.

Lucie is being big-headed since she got her promotion.

So here you have them, a French popular expression for each letter of the alphabet. 26 common French expressions altogether. However, there are many more. If you want to learn more, have a look at my e-book bout popular French expressions. You’ll find many more!

Side Note: Want a light introduction to French Courses Online? Check Out Our French Courses Online for Beginners

53 Difficult French Words you’ll struggle to pronounce

by Amelie Hurford

February 12, 2018

As most English speakers, well more generally as most non-French speakers, you’ll agree that one of the toughest parts of learning French is not its vocabulary nor grammar (even though, yes, that’s pretty difficult too) but it is its pronunciation.

French people sound so sexy when they speak, don’t they?

So, why don’t you? You will do too… eventually. You just need to practice and I’ve got just what you need to understand French pronunciation better and to master their beautiful accent.

Do you mumble more than you express yourself clearly?

As a French learner, you’re likely to struggle with the pronunciation of the letters R and U but also with the combination of some letters that create new sounds all together. Don’t let a few letters and some phonics difficulties defeat you though.

After having read this blog, things should be a lot clearer to you. So here are 53 words you probably struggle to pronounce in French. I have classed them by sound to ease your learning.

A. The International Phonetic Alphabet

Before I give you the much wanted list, let’s learn a bit about the International Phonetic Alphabet.

What is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and why is it important for you to have a glance at it?

The IPA has been invented to write words not according to their spelling but according to the sounds they make. It has been written to help language learners overcome pronunciation difficulties.

Of course, I’m not telling you to learn it by heart (even though I had to for my teaching exam!) but just to have a look at it. It will help you recognize words better and therefore to pronounce them and spell them better.

I have classed the various French sounds depending on if they are made by vowels or consonants.

You can upload the PDF of the chart by clicking on the following link.

Also, here is a link with the actual sounds made by the letters and combinations of letters. I found it on the TV5 website (great website by the way!).

http://apprendre.tv5monde.com/ja/apprendre-francais/lalphabet-phonetique-international-api-2

The International Phonetic Alphabet chart

French sounds and their spelling

IPA oral vowels	French written form	Examples
[i]	i – y – î – ï	Livre, lys, île, haïr…
[e]	é – e – ai	Égalité, chanter, craie…
[ɛ]	è – e – ê – ai – aî – ay – ei – ey	Sève, crêpe, aimer, naître…
[a] [ ɑ ]	a – à – â	Lac, pâte…
[o]	o – au – eau – ô	Rose, autour château, drôle…
[ɔ]	o – au	Note, mauvais…
[u]	ou – oû	Soupe, goût…
[y]	u – û – hu	Têtu, bûche, humide…
[ø]	eu – oeu	Jeu, vœu…
[ œ]	eu – oeu – heu	Seul, œuf, heure…
[ ə ]	e	Leçon…

IPA nasal vowels	French written form	Examples
[ɛ̃]	in – im – ain – aim – ein	Singe, impossible, main, faim, frein…
[ œ̃ ]	un – um	Lundi, parfum…
[ ɑ̃ ]	en – em – an – am – aon	Gentil, remplir, divan, jambe, paon

IPA consonants	French written form	Examples
[p]	p – pp	Poisson, appeler…
[b]	b – bb	Bébé, abbaye…
[t]	t – tt – th	Tortue, attacher, mathématiques…
[d]	d – dd	Dormir, addition…
[k]	c – cc – qu – k – ch	Café, accoucher, qui, kilo, choeur…
[g]	g – gu	Garage, déguisement…
[m]	m – mm	Armoire, commande…
[n]	n – nn	Noir, personne…
[f]	f – ff – ph	Force, siffler, pharmacie…
[v]	v	Vitesse…
[s]	s – ss – c – ç – t – x	Silence, saucisse, leçon, opération, six..
[z]	s – z	Cerise, zéro…
[ʃ]	ch	Chat…
[ʒ]	j – g – ge	Jaguar, girafe, genou…
[ ɲ ]	gn	Saigner…
[l]	l – ll	Lune, allumer…
[r]	r – rr – rh	Réparer, verre, rhume…
[ ks ]	x – cc – xc	Taxi, accident, excité…
[ gz ]	x	Exercice…

IPA semi-vowels / semi-consonants	French written form	Examples
[j]	i – ill – ll – il – y	Pied, paille, fille, œil, yeux…
[w]	ou	Oui, ouest…
[ɥ]	ui	Lui, huile…

Now that the International Phonetic Alphabet makes more sense to you, let’s tackle these difficult sounds (well, not difficult for long! 😉 ).

As you can see, I have listed the 53 French words you might struggle to pronounce by sound. I have also written their IPA spelling so you can refer to the chart above to see other words which have the same sound and you can go on the TV5 website (cf. link above) to listen to the actual sound and practice. Recipe for success!

B. 53 French words difficult to pronounce

Let’s start with the sound « oin ». Why do you think you find it complicated to pronounce? Yes, you’ve got it in one: that’s because it is a nasal sound that doesn’t exist in English.

French words	English words	Pronunciation tips
Loin	Far
Foin	Hay
Coin	Corner
Adjoint	Deputy	Don’t pronounce the final T.

Practice time!

Try and pronounce this sentence correctly:

L’adjoint ramasse du foin et le met loin dans un coin.

The deputy is picking up some hay and is putting it far in a corner.

B. EU [œ] and [ø]

This one might be a bit of a tricky one cause this combination of letters can make two sounds: a close one and an open.

I wrote some examples for you. Have a look and try to find a pattern.

→ Close sound [ø]:

French words	English words	Pronunciation tips
Peu	A little bit
Mieux	Better	Don’t pronounce the final X.
Feu	Fire
Vieux	Old	Don’t pronounce the final X.

Let’s check the open “EU” sound now (it’s a longing sound).

→ open sound [œ] :

French words	English words	Pronunciation tips
Jeune	Young
Beurre	Butter
Peur	Fear
Neuf	New/nine

What do you notice? Indeed! When the sound insists on a vowel, it’s a close sound and when the last sound insists on a consonant, it’s an open sound. Well done you!

As you probably already know, French love exceptions! So, here are two: the verbs pleuvoir (to rain) and pleurer (to cry).

These two verbs are exceptions as they have two syllables which have distinct sounds :

Pleu (first sound) / voir (second sound) → “pleu” is a closed sound.
Pleu (first sound) / rer (second sound) → “pleu” is a closed sound.

When they are conjugated, their sounds become open as the two syllables don’t make two distinct sounds anymore. The second syllable is pronounced in line with the first one.

Il pleut (it’s raining)
Il pleure (he’s crying)

And because two exceptions might not be quite enough, there’s a third one!

“EU” as in “Elle a eu” (she has had). It is pronounced [y].

Practice time!

Try and pronounce this sentence correctly:

Les jeunes et les vieux se sentent mieux et ont moins peur quand ils mangent du beurre au coin du feu.

Young and old people feel better and are less scared when they eat some butter by the fireside.

C. EAU / AU [o]

Combined together these vowels make the sound [o].

French words	English words	Pronunciation tips
Château	Castle	The accent on the A does not change its pronunciation.
Rateau	Rake
Gâteau	Cake	The accent on the A does not change its pronunciation.
Agneau	Lamb	Be careful with the sound of « GN ». Have a look at the IPA chart if need be.
Chapeau	Hat	Be careful with the sound of «CH ». Have a look at the IPA chart if need be.

French words	English words	Pronunciation tips
Mauvais	Bad	Don’t pronounce the S.
Chaud	Hot	Be careful with the sound of «CH ». Have a look at the IPA chart if need be. Don’t pronounce the final D.
Automobiliste	Car driver
Restaurant	Restaurant	Don’t pronounce the final T.

Practice time!

Try and pronounce this short text correctly:

L’automobiliste a chaud. Il enlève son chapeau et joue avec un rateau. Il va dans un mauvais restaurant et mange de l’agneau et un gâteau.

The car diver is warm. He takes his hat off and plays with a rake. He goes to a bad restaurant and eats some lamb and a cake.

D. EN / AN / EM / EN [ã]

Why do some words take EN and AN and others EM and AM? What is the difference between words written with M and words written with N?

Well, it’s a just a spelling rule (to learn by heart…). It’s an easy one though.

You have to put an M in front of a B, a P or a M.

embarquer (to board)
crampon (stud)
emmener (to take)

Of course, there are some exceptions (it wouldn’t be very French not to have any, would it?):

bonbon (sweet)
bonbonnière (sweet box)
bonbonne (demijohn)
embonpoint (stoutness)

French words	English words	Pronunciation tips
Enfant	Child	Don’t pronounce the final T.
Banc	Bench	Don’t pronounce the final C.
Pendant	During	Don’t pronounce the final T.
Chambre	Bedroom	Be careful with the sound of «R ». Have a look at the IPA chart if need be.
Longtemps	A long time	Pronounce neither the G, the P nor the S.

Practice time!

Try and pronounce this sentence correctly:

L’enfant s’assoit pendant longtemps sur un banc dans sa chambre.

The child sits for a long time on a bench in his bedroom.

E. ON [õ]

Another nasal sound that doesn’t exist in English. Easy peasy, lemon squeesy!

French words	English words	Pronunciation tips
Poisson	Fish	Be careful with the sound of «OI ». Have a look at the IPA chart if need be.
Bon	Good
Monde	World
Son	Sound/his/her

Practice time!

Try and pronounce this sentence correctly:

Dans le monde des poissons, il y a du bon son.

In the fish world, there is some good sound.

F. OE [œ]

This is the famous French “e dans l’o”. This letter doesn’t exist in English. It comes from the Greek diphthong of which became oe in Latin and then œ in French.

French words	English words	Pronunciation tips
Œuf	Egg
Cœur	Heart
Bœuf	Beef

Practice time!

Try and pronounce this French proverb correctly:

Qui vole un oeuf, vole un boeuf.

He that will steal an egg will steal an ox (once a thief, always thief).\

G. TH [t]

“TH” is actually easier to learn for people studying French than for people studying English. Indeed, French people really do struggle with the pronunciation of the English “TH”.

See, everyone is in the same boat when it comes to pronunciation!

It’s actually pretty easy to pronounce in French once you know its sound. It’s [t].

French words	English words	Pronunciation tips
Mathématiques	Mathematics	Don’t get confused with the English word.
Thon	Tuna	Be careful with the sound of «ON ». Have a look at the IPA chart if need be.
Athlète	Athlete	Don’t get confused with the English word.
Théorème	Theorem	Don’t get confused with the English word.

Practice time!

Try and pronounce this sentence correctly:

L’athlète révise son théorème mathématique en mangeant du thon.

The athlete revises his mathematical theorem while eating some tuna.

H. AIN / IN / EIN [ɛ̃]

Surely, you’re not worried about another nasal sound? You’re so used to them now, you can handle them all!

French words	English words	Pronunciation tips
Pain	Bread
Vin	Wine
Plein	Plenty / a lot

Practice time!

Try and pronounce this sentence correctly:

Il mange plein de pain avec son vin.

He’s eating a lot of bread with his wine.

I. OI [wa]

Here”s a little trick for you: to practice this sound, think about the word “what” in English. Now, pronounce it without saying the final “t”. Well, here you have it! The French OI is the equivalent of “wha” in English. Easy or easy? Very easy!

French words	English words	Pronunciation tips
Oiseau	Bird
Oisiveté	Idleness
Oie	Goose

Practice time!

Try and pronounce this sentence correctly:

L’oie est un oiseau qui aime l’oisivété.

Goose is a bird which likes idleness.

J. R [R]

So, now, that is a tough one for English speakers. It can be so hard to pronounce… well that is if you don’t know my little trick!! Here it comes!

Grab a pencil, put it in your mouth sideways (otherwise you may chock on it…) as far as you can against your lips and bite it.

Now, pronounce the letter R in French or even better a word with this letter (rouge for example).

So, what do you think? It’s good, isn’t it?!

French words	English words	Pronunciation tips
Rouge	Red
Orange	Orange
Rateau	Rake	Be careful with the sound of «EAU». Have a look at the IPA chart if need be.

Practice time!

Try and pronounce this sentence correctly:

Le rateau est rouge et orange.

The rake is red and orange.

K. Letters not to pronounce at the end of French words

Last but not least: which letters should not be pronounced at the end of words?

Unlike in English, letters are not pronounced at the end of French words.

To help you remember which letters not to pronounce, here’s another trick you will now have up your sleeve!

Learn this sentence by heart: Hey Girls Do Save This Please X

Okay, repeat, repeat and repeat it more. Perfect.

Now, that you know it well, only think of the first letter of each word (H, G, D, S, T, P, X). Well, my dear, these are the letters you should not pronounced at the end of French words! Pretty cool, isn’t it?

French words	English words	Pronunciation tips
Waouh	Wow	Be careful with the sound of «OU». Have a look at the IPA chart if need be.
Édimbourg	Edinburgh	Be careful with the sounds of «IM» and « OU ». Have a look at the IPA chart if need be.
Froid	cold	Be careful with the sound of «OI». Have a look at the IPA chart if need be.
Paris	Paris	Don’t get confused with the English pronunciation.
Achat	Purchase	Be careful with the sound of «CH». Have a look at the IPA chart if need be.
Sirop	Cordial
Mieux	Better	Be careful with the sound of «EU». Have a look at the IPA chart if need be.

French pronunciation should have no secrets for you anymore. Please, remember though, everyone likes a bit of a foreign accent !

French Words

How to learn French pronunciation in 5 easy steps

by Amelie Hurford

February 8, 2018

Have you started to learn French Pronunciation? Are you loving studying this Romance language?

Yes, like most French students you probably are but what you are also likely to have in common with them is the difficulty to pronounce some French words correctly.

Don’t worry though, in this blog I will walk you through the main difficulties and give you some tips to overcome them. You’ll soon sound like a real native speaker.

Yes, you will, and remember as French natives say “Impossible n’est pas français”(impossible is not French. In other words, nothing is impossible)!

Why is so it difficult for English speakers to pronounce French words correctly?

First of all, let’s try and think of the reasons why you’re struggling to pronounce French words properly. Understanding the cause will help you practice better and therefore improve.

A. Spelling

The difference between the way a word is spelt and the way it is pronounced is undeniably one of the main reasons why some French words are so difficult to say. French spelling doesn’t always follow a phonetic spelling pattern.

And that’s without mentioning all its silent letters (both vowels and consonants), its nasal sounds (that don’t even exist in English…) and all its various accents which make its spelling tricky to pronounce. So, how do you work it out?

Well, good job you’ve found this guide to help you out!

B. Linguistic evolution

Every language evolves: new words appear to adjust to our everyday lives (by this, I mean new words are used to name new objects, for example), the spelling of some words remains the same as it always has been but their pronunciation differs.

This is, for example, the case with silent letters at the end of a word. Indeed, they used to be pronounced but since 1200 this slowly stopped. We can think of the silent e at the end of a word for example.

It used to be pronounced but, now, it only is if has an accent.

Now, let’s analyse in more depth why some sounds are difficult to be pronounced by English speakers. No doubt though that after having read this French pronounciation guide and after having practiced a little bit, you will manage perfectly fine.

How do you pronounce French letters?

Before even thinking of pronouncing words, you have to master how to pronounce French letters. Did you know that even though the French alphabet has 26 letters, there are at least 38 different phonetic sounds in French?

That’s because when you combine two or more letters, you produce a new sound.

A. So first thing first, I have written the alphabet and how to pronounce each letter.

Get practicing!

Letters of the French alphabet and their respective sounds

LETTERS	SOUNDS
A	a
B	be
C	se
D	de
E	uh
F	ef
G	jay
H	ash
I	e
J	gee
K	ka
L	el
M	em
N	en
O	o
P	pay
Q	ku
R	air
S	s
T	te
U	[y]
V	vay
W	duble vay
X	eeks
Y	egrek
Z	zed

B. Interesting facts about the French alphabet

Did you know that there are six vowels in French? A, e, i, o, u and y. Like most English speakers, you probably do struggle with the vowel U as its sound has no equivalent in English.

Moreover, you can create new sounds by combining vowels. Here are some examples:

au, eau like in aurore (dawn), marteau (hammer)

ou like in ouragan (hurricane)

ai like in aimer (to like, to love)

oi as in oiseau (bird)

eu and oeu as in bleu (blue) and oeil (eye)

Nasal sounds

Let’s carry on with one big difficulty for English speakers to pronunce: the nasal sounds. Like I mentioned previously, if English doesn’t have any nasal vowels, French has plenty.

But, stop threatening, it is not as hard as it seems!

But what exactly is a nasal sound? Well, basically, when you pronounce vowels individually, air flows through your mouth.

However, when you combine vowels with m or n (which are nasal consonants), and therefore transform a normal sound into a nasal one, air doesn’t only flow through your mouth but also through your nose.

This is the reason why these sounds are called nasal.

Here is a little exercise for you to feel the difference. Put your hand close to your mouth and pronounce the sound a as in attraper. Now, do the same thing with the sound am as in camp.

Do you feel as much air on your hand the second time? No. That’s because in the second case, air goes both through your mouth and nose.

A common mistake made by English speakers is to pronounce the vowel and the consonant (m or n) separately rather than as a one and unique sound.

This is simply because there isn’t any word with nasal vowels in English but plenty with nasal consonants. So remember: a nasal vowel is not an oral vowel + a nasal consonant. It is a different and unique sound.

How would you read this sentence? Un bon vin blanc. A bit tricky, isn’t it?

Here are the different nasal sounds and the way to pronounce them to help you out.

NASAL SOUNDS	EXAMPLES
Am, an, em, en	Camp, chant, embout, enfant
Ien	Chien
Im, in, aim, ain, ein	Impossible, intestin, main, bain, rein
Om, on	Concombre, bonbon
Um, un	Sébum, un

Silent letters

Which letters are usually silent in French? Unlike in English where most letters are pronounced, in French most final consonants are usually silent and so is the “s” marking the plural form of a word as well as the “h” at the beginning of a word.

Ok, so what’s the point in having letters written in words if you are not going to pronounce them? I see what you mean but they actually have their importance. They are used to mark the feminine or the plural and to ease reading words in a sentence (make a liaison). There also are etymological reasons. Some silent letters are there to create other words belonging to the same family such as plomb and plomberie.

A.Silent final consonants

See below a grid with the different silent consonants in French and an example each time. Just to make it crystal clear, in this table you will find letters that you don’t actually pronounce at all or that change the pronounciation of the letter before it. For example, the letter z in “nez” in not pronounced “zed” but it changes the sound of the letter e which is not pronounced “uh” there but “é”. Understood? Perfect, let’s start then.

Letters	French words and their translations
B	Radoub (dry dock)
C	Banc (bench)
D	Pied (foot)
F	Nerf (nerve)
G	Hareng (herring)
Gt	Doigt (finger)
H	Aneth (dill)
M	Parfum (perfum)
N	En (in)
P	Beaucoup (a lot)
Mpt	Compter (to count)
R	Foyer (home)
S	Toujours (always)
W	Bungalow (bungalow)
Z	Nez (nose)

B; H at the beginning of a word

The letter h is important when it comes to liaisons. Indeed, in most cases, h stops the liaison from happening. Therefore you won’t do the liaison between the “s” and “a” in the following sentence:

“J’adore les / haricots verts”.

Don’t worry though, it’s not that much of a big deal if you make a mistake with h and its liaisons. We’ll still understand you!

Liaisons

Il est beaucoup trop émotif.

To make their conversation smoother, French people do what we call a liaison. In other words, they pronounce two words that follow each other as one like in the following example:

What do you notice? Yes, you’ve got it! “Il” and “trop” finish with a consonant whereas “est” and “émotif” both start with a vowel.

Here the liaison is on “il est” and “trop émotif”

So, here is the rule: if a word finishing with a consonant is followed by one starting with a vowel, then you have to do the liaison.

Letter combinations

I have attached the International Phonetic Alphabet on the following link. It is taken from the University of Toulouse, France

http://w3.uohprod.univ-tlse2.fr/UOH-PHONETIQUE-FLE/DOCS/DOC01.pdf

Let’s start our explanations with vowels and then move onto consonants.

A. Vowels

a. The letter Œ:

This letter, well combination of letters, doesn’t exist in English. It comes from the Greek diphthong of which became oe in Latin and then œ in French.

This same letter can be pronounced in three different ways.

International Phonetic Alphabet	Its use	French words
[ø]		Nœud (knot), Bœufs (beefs)
[œ]	When the letter œ is followed by u and then r or f	Cœur (heart), œuf (egg)
[e]	Not used anymore	Œsophage (oesophagus). It used to be pronouced ésophage.

b.Combinations of letters with A

The first vowel of the alphabet can be combined with different letters as you can see below.

International Phonetic Alphabet	Combination of letters	French words
[e]	Ai	Paire (pair)
[o]	Au, eau	Automne (autumn, fall), château (castle)

c. Combinations of letters with E

E can be combined with other letters but there again, in one case, the same combination can have different sounds. Let’s have a look.

International Phonetic Alphabet	French words
[ø]	Heureux (glad)
[œ]	Filleul (godson)

E can also be combined with the letter R. You’ll see this combination at the end of some infinitive verbs such as jouer (to play) or rigoler (to laugh).

d. Combinations of letters with O

When combined, the O makes sounds that will appear rather difficult to you as an English speaker as they don’t exist in English. You are therefore not used to hear them nor to put your tongue in the right place.

International Phonetic Alphabet	Combination of letters	French words
[oi]	Oi	Oiseau (bird)
[u]	Ou	Oublier (to forget)

B. Consonants

As you will see in the following examples, consonants can also produce a different sound depending on which letters they are followed by.

a. Combinations of letter with G

This can be a tricky one as it can make hard or soft sound.

International Phonetic Alphabet	Combination of letters	French words
[g]	Ga, go, gu (hard sound)	Garage (garage), goéland (seagull), guide (guide)
[ə]	Gi, ge (soft sound)	Girafe (giraffe), gêner (to embarass)
[ɲ]	Gn	Poignon (moolah, dosh → slang)

b. Combination with the letter L

When the L is doubled up, its sound becomes [j] as in bille (marble).

c. Combination with the letter T

Last but not least: the letter T. When it is followed by the vowel I, it makes a soft sound. It is then pronounced [s] as in opération (operation).

Conclusion

Now that you are aware of the different challenges French pronunciation can throw at you, it should be easier to master it. All it takes is a bit of practice. Enjoy your learning adventure!

Side Note: Want a light introduction to French Courses Online? Check Out Our French Courses Online for Beginners

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[ɲ]

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