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Your Road Map: 5 Strategies to Learn French

by Amelie Hurford
August 21, 2024

Embark on your French learning journey with confidence!

In this video, we’ll share 5 effective strategies to help you master the French language.

From setting realistic goals to incorporating immersive practices, these tips are designed to enhance your learning experience and keep you motivated.

Whether you’re a complete beginner or looking to improve your skills, this road map will guide you every step of the way.

Join us and discover the best ways to learn French efficientl

French Online Courses

10 Essential French Words for Technology

by Amelie Hurford
February 2, 2024

Upgrade your French vocabulary with these 10 essential words for technology! In this video, you’ll learn how to talk about gadgets, the internet, and tech-related tools in French.

Whether you’re a beginner or just looking to expand your vocabulary, these words are key to navigating the modern world in French.

Perfect for anyone interested in technology or improving their language skills!

French Grammar

10 Most important Verbs to know in French

by Amelie Hurford
January 16, 2024

Welcome to our French learning series! In this video, we’ll explore the 10 most important French verbs that every beginner should know.

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to improve your French, mastering these verbs will give you a strong foundation for everyday conversations.

From être (to be) to venir (to come), we’ll walk you through their meanings, how to use them, and provide practical examples so you can apply them confidently in real-life situations.

Join us and make learning French easy and enjoyable!

Don’t forget to subscribe for more lessons and tips to help you speak French fluently.

French Online Courses, Learn French, Learning New Language, Schools Of Future

Learning French with Private Home Tuition

by Amelie Hurford
January 1, 2023

Students who always wanted to learn French or studied before and want to freshen up the skills they can consider private French home tuition. There could be many ways you can find tutors who can help you teaching french either you meet them in someplace like a coffee shop or you can find your tutor another side of the world online.

More often online tutor is affordable as compared to meeting with a tutor in person. French lessons are more effective when they are given online. There are some reasons for online lessons are;

  • They are one to one lessons
  • Cheaper than language schools
  • Easy to approach the tutor
  • You won’t have to waste time going to school
  • There are options available for individualized classes

This article will help you to find what kind of tutor you want and how you will plan your lessons in the most effective learning way. There are some online technologies which are best for their French lessons and those are;

Wyzant 

Wyzant will help you to find a tutor with skills and subjects, on this website you can search for French tutors with the need of meeting them in person. This site has professional and well-educated tutors in local areas. And their charges depend on their experiences. Wyzant will help you find tutors of all kinds like prices as low as you like and as high as you like.

Preply 

Preply will help you find a tutor according to your budget. On this website, you can search for the tutors’ up to 20 languages. And for French there 300 tutors available either they are native speakers or certified instructors. You can select language on the website and can look at the tutors’ profile and read the reviews given and hourly based tutors can also be searched on the website.

Verbling 

It’s all about online language learning, you can have hundreds of French tutors and select which one is right for you. And when you will search there will be price availability and the kind of languages they speak also available.

French faster

It is an online French language learning school where you can have lessons with a private tutor. The tutors are native speakers from different areas of the world and are also trained to teach the French language as a foreign language through English. On the website, you can search for all the tutors and their experiences. Their lessons are for all ages like children, teens, and adults. Lessons were conducted via Skype. French fasters assign you, tutor, on your goal based and availability.

Italki 

It is the most casual platform for finding language tutors, who are experienced and professionals like random French people and also ready to invest their time. In this community you can also find free language exchanges and their options are similar to verbling, italki allows you to find a tutor who meets all your needs.

How to choose your French tutors  

It is beneficial when you learn the French language from a different variety of speakers. You can repeat the lesson if the subject is difficult without getting bore. There are some suggestion given when you are choosing a French tutor and those are;

Native French Speakers

The main advantage of learning French online is that you get a native French speaker. They can help you better to have a French accent as compared to an American tutor who is teaching French.

Good vibes

Good vibes are very important when you are choosing a tutor. Someone who is funny, patient and makes you comfortable is better than a boring teacher with many degrees. The tutor should have a quality that student enjoys to talk with them and that will make you motivated to your lesson and you would want to continue in long term also.

Inexperienced vs. experienced

It is difficult to decide whether you should choose an experienced or inexperienced tutor. Sometimes it is better to choose inexperienced tutors why because they will be less likely to pressurize students and they will let you plan your lessons.

Target accent 

Your target should be the French accent, don’t study with those tutors with whom you will just end up learning expressions and which are not understandable. While learning French make sure the tutor is from the region just to avoid frustration and confusion of the accent.

Learning style

Every student has a different learning style, so find a tutor who matches your learning style. Don’t afraid to stop learning from those who speak to you n English to make you understand despite finding a way to make you understand in French. A connection to the tutor is very important so make sure you find a tutor who matches your mind. 

French Grammar

What is an adjective in French?

by Amelie Hurford
April 30, 2022

So if you want to improve your French speaking, and if you want to learn more about the placement of French adjectives in a sentence.

You will discover easy ways to help you understand French adjectives and  French grammar rules.

Wouldn’t be amazing to speak without asking yourself if your sentence make sense?

Would you like to find your words easily and express your opinions accurately?

Before starting our grammar journey about adjectives, remember that learning French is fun and easy. Stop telling yourself how hard French is and start focusing on the positive.

Yes, you read that right. Learning French can be easy. There are many simple tools you can use to simplify your French learning and make swift progress in the language.

Take the “hardest” grammar and vocabulary points and make them yours, by following French Lessons Australia Free Lessons.

To start your language journey today, let’s dive into the first thing to know about Adjectives.

1. How to use French Adjectives?

Adjectives are used to qualify a thing or a person.

Examples:

Grasse est la capitale mondiale des parfums.

(Grasse is the world capital of perfume.)

They agree in gender and number with the noun to which they relate.

In general, they take a -e in the feminine, and a -s in the plural.

Examples:

– Il est grand et fort. He is big and strong. (masculine singular)

– Elle est grande et forte. She is tall and strong. (feminine singular)

– Ils sont grands et forts. They are tall and strong. (Plural masculine)

– Elles sont grandes et fortes. They are big and strong. (Feminine plural).

Some adjectives change form to feminine. Here is a list.

 
Some common adjectives are irregular. Their feminine versions follow another rule.
2. Where do we put them?

Generally, most qualifying adjectives are placed after the noun.

However, some are placed before the name. Here is, in a schematic form, the general rule.

2.What do we have to do when a noun has two French adjectives or more?

1 If the two adjectives normally go before the noun, they go together with an

Ex. A good and nice boy Un bon et gentil garçon.

2 If an adjective goes before the noun and one after, they are both placed after the noun with “and”:

Ex. A good and hearty meal. Un repas bon et copieux.

3 We can put an adjective before and after:

Ex. A beautiful gray hat. Un beau chapeau gris.

4 If the two adjectives normally go after the noun they are placed there with on and

Ex: She is a friendly and sincere woman. C’est une femme amicale et sincère.

Remember We do not put a long adjective before a noun of a single syllable.

That’s all for adjectives.

 

You have all you need to speak French.If you want more you can go to our website and find out more about French grammar and vocabulary.

If you want to practice your French conversation  just enroll in one of our amazing French Lessons.

HOW TO UNLOCK YOUR FRENCH?
French Grammar

How to Unlock your French?

by Amelie Hurford
April 29, 2017

If you are one of many learners struggling with spoken French, you might wonder what you’re doing wrong and as a beginner, you wonder how to understand grammar and how to Unlock your French?

You might feel like the trouble you’re having is all your fault, or assume you’re just not any good at languages.

After years of learning myself I have found success by following 5 simple steps.

This free lesson gives you an understanding and appreciation of French grammar and verb conjugation that will be valuable for you for a lifetime.

Take a look inside this French class and discover these 5 tools to unlock your French.

Our training will increase your potential of speaking French and improve your understanding of French grammar and conjugation.

How to unlock your French and learn how to speak like a native!

Whether you are just a beginner, or someone who has spent a number of years learning French, it is important to keep your language skills well shaped, and to find ways to improve these skills as often as possible.

And you can follow these steps to advancing your knowledge of French.

1. Vocabulary

Words, words, words!

Language is made up of words, and French is not an exception.

To improve your French vocabulary follow these three steps

  • • Keep words in mind! write down all the new words you have learnt on your smartphone or Ipad or use the old-fashioned method, a small notebook with a pen.
  • • One word-a-day! Follow us on Facebook and learn one word-a-day.
  • • Use the fridge! Paste your word of the day on your fridge and keep it there for a week. It will help memorisation.

2. Grammar

Grammar offers us rules and structure that makes describing the world around us so much easier. It is one of the most terrifying aspects of the French language. It seems that it’s the reason why many learners give up. But it doesn’t have to be that way. French grammar isn’t that complicated.

All you need is to start the right way and follow a few important rules.

I. Nouns

All French nouns have a gender! Masculine and feminine. This applies even for words that are inanimate.

HOW TO UNLOCK YOUR FRENCH?

In French sentences, the article of the word is mentioned all the time. Articles change depending on the gender of the word. To make a correct sentence the articles will need to match word genders.

Un chat (a cat) une chaise (une table) une entreprise (a firm)

II. Verbs

If you’re a new French learner, there are two mandatory verbs you’ll have to use from the first day. They are avoir (to have) and être (to be) which are both irregular verbs.

“Conjugation”, describes the way that a verb changes to reflect who the subject is in any sentence.

Conjugation is what is behind the change from “I do” to “he does” in English, so again the concept’s not actually a French thing. It happens in most European languages.

To unlock your French you just have to practice and learn the most common verbs.

III. Pronouns

A pronoun is the word that represents something unnamed in a sentence.

Pronouns are used to make in a sentence to avoid repeating the subject.

To start your French journey grammar, you must know these subject pronouns.

3. Conjugation

In the life of all language learners, there comes a time when you just can’t hide.

 

You have to look things in the eye, take a deep breath and face it :

The verb tables!

In French there are three different groups which keep repeating the same endings and reliably change in the same way.

To learn online your verbs table you can use the Bescherelle or this link

http://bescherelle.com/conjugueur.php

A handy solution is to download the fabulous online App Bescherelle App for Iphone or Android.

4. Pronunciation

Good pronunciation help ensure that you are easily understood.

Ways to improve your pronunciation include:

  • • Listen to a native French speaker, listening radio, music or movies every day, even for 5 minutes only.
  • • Practice as much as you can with your teacher (a native French Teacher).

5. Stay connected

Finally, how to Unlock your French? & in order to learn a language if you need to practice!

So, Surround yourself with French.

  • • Listen to the French radio using podcast!
  • • Watch French movies using streaming!
  • • Sing French song with lyrics using YouTube!
  • • Listen to or read an easy French audiobook

Stay connected and speak French.

Find a good conversational partner to speak with or if you do not have any French friend Enroll to practice your French and join us at French lessons Australia.

The passé composé with the verb “être”
French Grammar, French Vocabulary

The passé composé with the verb “être”

by Amelie Hurford
December 22, 2016

The ”passé composé” is the present perfect tense. This tense is used a lot in French to describe a situation that happened in the past at a definite time but that still has a meaning for today…

Seems very theoretical, but really, it is not as you will see soon with French Lessons Australia!

 

When to use it?

The passé composé is the usual tense for events and incidents that happened in a close past. Unlike the English present perfect, the passé composé is used very often by French people.

Sometime indicators can be used in addition to strengthen this relation between past and present! For instance: hier (yesterday), l’autre jour (the other day), samedi passé (last Saturday), plusieurs fois (several times), l’année passée (last year), … As you can see, it is not necessary to be very recent to use the passé composé. As soon as the information is still relevant with today, the passé composé is appropriate.

Obviously, the passé composé is not the only past tense used in French. The imperfect tense and the past simple tense are also used as we will see in another post on French Lessons Sydney. However, the passé composé is one of the predominant tense in everyday’s language!

How to use it?

The passé composé is, as its name suggests, a compound tense. Which means that it can be compounded with either the auxiliary  ‘être’ or ‘avoir’, followed by the past participle of the verb. The passé composé of a limited group of verbs is formed with the auxiliary ‘être’, and usually express a change of position.

The passé composé with the verb “être”

The conjugation of the auxiliary ‘être’ looks like this:

Je suis

Tu es

Il/Elle est

Nous sommes

Vous êtes

Ils/Elles sont         

Once you have put your auxiliary with your past participle, there is a rule you need to know: the past participle always agrees with the subject in gender and number.

That seems a bit complicated but basically it means that if the subject of your sentence is feminine you add an ‘e’ at the end of the past participle. If your subject is plural (more than one subject), you add an ‘s’.

Example: You are a group of girls and explain to your friend that you went to the beach yesterday. You will say “Nous sommes allées a la mer hier”. If you were a group of men, you would say “Nous sommes allés a la mer hier”.

If you want to learn more about French tenses, or just to know more about French in general and what we do at French Lessons Australia, don’t hesitate to contact us at info@french-lessons-australia.com

THE PASSÉ COMPOSÉ WITH THE VERB “AVOIR”
French Grammar

The passé composé with the verb “avoir”

by Amelie Hurford
December 21, 2016

 

The ”passé composé” is the present perfect tense. This tense is used a lot in French to describe a situation that happened in the past at a definite time but that still has a meaning for today… Seems very theoretical, but really, it is not as you will see soon with French Lessons Australia!

 

When to use it?

The passé composé is the usual tense for events and incidents that happened in a close past. Unlike the English present perfect, the passé composé is used very often by French people.

Some time indicators can be used in addition to strengthen this relation between past and present! For instance: hier (yesterday), l’autre jour (the other day), samedi passé (last Saturday), plusieurs fois (several times), l’année passée (last year),

As you can see, it is not necessary to be very recent to use the passé composé. As soon as the information is still relevant with today, the passé composé is appropriate.

Obviously, the passé composé is not the only past tense used in French. The imperfect tense and the past simple tense are also used as we will see in another post on French Lessons Brisbane. However, the passé composé is one of the predominant tense in everyday’s language!

 

How to use it?

The passé composé is, as its name suggests, a compound tense. Which means that it can be compounded with either the auxiliary ‘être’ or ‘avoir’, followed by the past participle of the verb.

The passé composé of most of the French verbs is used with the ‘avoir’.

Let’s take the action of eating. To say that you ate some bread this morning, you will say in French ”j’ai mangé du pain ce matin”. In fact, in English, you could have said either ”I ate some bread”, or ”I have eaten”, or even ”I did eat”. In French, you will only use the passé composé and say ”J’ai mangé”.

The only things you need to know to form the passé composé is the conjugation of the verb ‘avoir’ to the present tense.

J’ai

Tu as

Il/Elle a

Nous avons

Vous avez

Ils/Elles ont

 

To that, you will need to add the past participle of the verb you want to conjugate. If the verb is regular, its past participle will mostly be regular. Which means you can guess it without having to know it by heart.

For instance, regular verbs ending by ER will have see their ER displaced by a ‘e’. Therefore, acheter (to buy) will be acheté (bought), manger (to eat) will be mangé (eaten), commencer (to start) will be commencé (started).

Regular verbs ending by IR will have their IR displaced by a ‘i’. Therefore, finir (to finish) will be fini (finished), choisir (to choose) will be choisi (chosen).

And finally, regular verbs ending by RE will have their RE displaced by a ‘u’. Therefore, perdre (to lose) will be perdu (lost), attendre (to wait) will be attendu (waited).

Easy, right?

Well, now, as in English, there are a few irregular verbs which will see their past participle changing differently.

For example, etre (to be) will be été (been), pouvoir (to can) will be pu (could), voir (to see) will be vu (seen), apprendre (to learn) will be appris (learnt), rire (to laugh) will be ri (laughed), etc…

 

If you want to learn more about French tenses, or just to know more about French in general and what we do at French Lessons Australia, don’t hesitate to contact us at  info@french-lessons-australia.com

Discover charming Sarlat like a local
French Online Courses

Time to discover Sarlat in France

by Amelie Hurford
December 13, 2016

Traveling is the most enriching experience that unravels a world of wonders and beauty!

Every corner of the world is full of magnificent natural beauty, rich culture and local tales and flavors that make them unique and significant.

France is a country that has so much to offer to every traveller! History, nature, food, wine, crafts and arts and innumerable exotic discoveries are waiting to be explored!

Sarlat, or Sarlat-la-Caneda

It’s  a small but significant commune in south western France. It’s a medieval town that has been left unchanged and offers the ‘old world charm’ that many travellers desire. Walking through this commune is a mystical walk down 14th century France in all its preserved and flourishing ways.

The old town displays restored stone buildings and the quaint streets offer a peek into what was!

This preserved medieval town has become a ‘must visit’ place for the wonderful opportunities and sights it has in store. Let’s take a look at some of the ‘must do’ and ‘must see’ in Sarlat.

  • There are several small villages within Sarlat; each unique and beautiful. The market at Cenac Village, the view across the Dordogne from Domme Village, the castle and riverside peace at La RoqueGageac, the church and market at Perigeaux, the ancient castle and serenity of Bourdeilles, the village built by monks- Brantome, and the quaint St. Jeam de Cole. A visit to each and every village will leave you spellbound!
  • Place des Oies, a former Goose market, is now home to the best Foie Gras, a French speciality. Bronze geese at the square add to the charm!
  • Cathedral Saint Sacerdos is a marvel! It was built in the 12th century and has been reworked upon since then. The varying architectural styles give it a spectacular look.
  • Jardin public du Plantier, formerly the flower garden of the Bishop, today it is a public garden that offers peace and relaxation amongst beautiful nature.

These are just a handful of the numerous jewels you can discover in Sarlat!

A major problem most travellers face is a language barrier. French Lessons Australia helps you get over that hurdle with specially designed online French lessons that can make you an expert at French in no time! Learn French and discover the local essence of Sarlat.

Our online French lessons will help you make your visit to Sarlat more meaningful and memorable! Don’t hesitate and contact us at info@french-lessons-australia.com

French Grammar, French Vocabulary

4 easy fundamental prepositions to indicate great locations

by Amelie Hurford
December 7, 2016

Prepositions are used in both French and English, but according to the context of the sentence, they don’t always have the same meaning or translation.

French Lessons Australia is here to help you out with a specific kind of propositions: the ones that indicate location or direction to or from a place.

 

A preposition shows the relationship of a noun or a pronoun to another word in a sentence.

Today, we will see the most useful ones in French!

 

à

 

Note that this preposition is always used before the name of a city or a person. When it is a country, the rule change as you will see later in this post.

You perhaps also have noticed that the à becomes ”au” in some cases. When the following noun is masculine (and is not the name of a place like Paris), à becomes au. Eg. I do the shopping at the supermarket =>Je fais les courses ausupermarche.  To indicate a time or a direction, à is also used. Examples:

  • Our meeting is at 3pm -> Notre reunion est à 3h de l’apres-midi.
  • It is the first on the right ->C’est la premiere à 

 

de

 

Here, de becomes d’ when a word starting with a vowel follows the preposition. Eg. My boyfriend comes from Australia -> Mon petit amivientd’Australie.

The form ”du” is also possible. It is in fact the contraction of ”de le” (from the) that cannot be said in French. When the place of origin is not a geographical name (eg le bureau, le jardin, le magasin) but is masculine, you will use du. If this is not geographical name but it is feminine, you will say de la. Eg. I come from the bakery -> Je pars de laboulangerie.

De can also be translated by about when it is used with verb ”parler” (to talk). Eg. What are you talking about? ->De quoi parles-tu?

 

 

dans/en

 

When you talk about a country, you can either use the preposition en or au, depending if the country is feminine or masculine. Eg. (1) I am in France -> Je suisen France (feminine name). (2) She is in Canada -> Elle estau Canada. (masculine name)

 

chez

 

That’s it for today, I hope this post was helpful and we hope to hear from you soon at info@frenchlessons-Autralia.com.au

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