Medium: lots of shared vocabulary; pronunciation & verbs can bite
False friendsConjugations
Quick Overview
French is a global Romance language with gendered nouns (masculine/feminine), rich verb morphology, and a love of contractions.
Expect silent final consonants (petit), nasal vowels (un, an, on, in), and fluid links between words (liaison).
Articles and prepositions fuse elegantly: à + le → au, de + le → du.
Sound & Spelling Tips
Nasal vowels:un [œ̃], an/en [ɑ̃], on [ɔ̃], in/ain [ɛ̃]—air flows through the nose.
Liaison: final consonants link before a vowel: les amis → [lez‿ami]. Not always mandatory; style depends on register.
Elision: vowels drop: le/la → l’ before vowel or mute h: l’homme, l’histoire.
Silent letters: word-final e, s, t, d often silent: grand [ɡʁɑ̃]. Plural -s is usually silent (heard via liaison).
Accents change meaning/pronunciation:ou vs où, des vs dès, été [ete].
Grammar Snapshot
Gender: memorize nouns with their article (le livre, la table).
Verbs (present):parler: je parle, tu parles, il parle, nous parlons, vous parlez, ils parlent.
Past:passé composé with avoir/être: j’ai parlé, je suis allé(e). Agreement with être.
Negation:ne … pas (spoken often … pas): je (ne) sais pas.
Register:tu (informal) vs vous (formal/plural).
Dialects & Variation
Standard French coexists with vibrant varieties: Quebec French (distinct vowels, informal tag -tu in questions),
Belgian and Swiss French (lexical quirks like septante, nonante), and many African standards shaped by local languages.
History (Very Short)
Latin → Old French → Middle French → Modern French.
Standardization from the 17th c. (Académie française); spelling reforms are gradual and conservative.
Sample & Breakdown
Aujourd’hui je vais au marché. aujourd’hui je vais à+le → au marché today I go to the market; à + le contracts to au.
Les amis arrivent. → [lez‿ami aʁiv] (liaison). C’est l’été. (le → l’ before vowel).
Common Phrases
Bonjour (Hello)Salut (Hi)Ça va ? (How’s it going?)Merci (Thanks)S’il vous plaît (Please)À bientôt (See you)
Enchanté(e) ! (Nice to meet you) • Excusez-moi (Excuse me) • Je ne comprends pas (I don’t understand)
Adjective position: many go after nouns, but some common ones go before (un petit café).
Numbers of the 70s/90s: base-20 flavor: 70 = soixante-dix, 90 = quatre-vingt-dix (regional variants exist).
Article & Contraction Wizard (Simple Rules)
Type a noun, choose gender/number and the determiner type. The wizard handles elision (l’), common contractions (au, du, aux, des), and suggests a basic plural.
Note: This is a lightweight model; it treats h as mute by default and uses a small list of common aspirated-h words (no elision).
Plural suggestions are basic (-al → -aux, eau/eu → +x, -s/-x/-z unchanged).
Learning Tips
Always learn nouns with their article (le/la) and a sample adjective (le café noir).
Shadow native audio to internalize liaison rhythm.
Chunk verbs by patterns: regular -er, common irregulars (être, avoir, aller, faire).
Numbers (1–10)
un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix
Mini “Mind-the-Gap”
Je vais à l’université. (elision) • Je parle aux enfants. (à + les → aux) • Je reviens du cinéma. (de + le → du)