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Lawless French » Frequently Asked Questions » Lessons by Level

French grammarB2 Grammar

Upper-Intermediate French Lessons

Grammar Lessons

Advanced Indirect Objects

French indirect objectsSome French verbs do not allow their indirect objects to be replaced by pronouns; instead, the preposition must be maintained after the verb along with the indirect object.
Grammar Lessons

Agreement with Direct Objects

French agreement with direct objectsMost French verbs are conjugated with avoir as their auxiliary verb in compound tenses and moods, and therefore do not require agreement with their subjects. But avoir verbs do need agreement in a very specific construction: the past participle must agree with the direct object when it precedes the verb.
Grammar Lessons

Agreement with Pronominal Verbs

French agreement with pronominal verbsAll pronominal verbs are être verbs in compound tenses and moods like the passé composé, which means that the past participles must agree with their subjects - at least in theory. In fact, it's not quite so straightforward.
Grammar Lessons

Agreement with Verbs of Perception

French verbs of perceptionVerbs of perception are subject to grammatical agreement in the compound tenses, but the rules are somewhat tricky - they only agree with their subjects when they precede the verb.
Grammar Lessons

Avoiding the Subjunctive

Avoiding the French subjunctiveAlthough the subjunctive is commonly used in French, there are numerous ways to avoid it, with varying meaning changes. (This doesn't mean you don't need to know how to use the subjunctive, just that there are times when an alternative is acceptable.)
Grammar Lessons

Capitalization of Titles

French title capitalizationUnlike most areas of French grammar, the capitalization of French titles of books, movies, etc. does not follow a clearly defined set of rules. Instead, French title capitalization is inconsistent, with competing systems used by writers, publishers, and other authoritative sources.
Grammar Lessons

Causative Construction with Objects and Agreement

French causative constructionCertain aspects of French grammar are a bit different with the causative than with other two-verb constructions.
Grammar Lessons

Connectives

French connectivesConnectives are links: they combine words, phrases, or sentences. Connectives do not constitute a single part of speech, but rather a category of terms including all conjunctions and prepositions as well as certain types of adverbs and pronouns used in this way.
Grammar Lessons

Direct vs Indirect Objects

French direct vs indirect object pronounsDirect objects and indirect objects can be tricky to understand and use, but it's essential to know the difference in order to speak and write French correctly. Here are some tips to help you figure out which type of object you're dealing with.
Grammar Lessons

En – preposition, pronoun, and more

En - French pronoun and prepositionIt consists of just two letters, yet the French word en has three distinct areas of meaning/usage and four different pronunciations. Here's everything you need to know about en.
Grammar Lessons

Exclamations

French exclamationsAn exclamation is any word or phrase that expresses a strong emotion or feeling. There are several different types of exclamative constructions and the meaning behind them may be positive or negative.
Grammar Lessons

Exclamative Conjunctions

French exclamative conjunctionsTo add emphasis to responses or explanations, you can use the French exclamative conjunctions mais or que.
Grammar Lessons

Formal Negation

French formal negationFrench has three negative constructions that are reserved for formal (usually written) French like literature and historical accounts.
Grammar Lessons

Indefinite Relative Pronouns

French indefinite relative pronounsIndefinite relative pronouns (ce dont, ce que, ce qui, ce à quoi) are connectors: they link relative clauses to main clauses and, unlike normal relative pronouns, do not not have a specific antecedent.
Grammar Lessons

Lequel – Relative Adjective

French relative adjective lequelRelative adjectives are rare in both French and English, as they are found primarily in legal, administrative, and other very formal language. The French relative pronoun lequel creates a link between a preceding antecedent and a following noun.
Grammar Lessons

Ne explétif

French ne explétifDon't worry, it's not a swear word. In French, explétif is a grammatical term that serves only to draw attention to what precedes it.
Grammar Lessons

Omitting Auxiliary Verbs

French auxiliary verbsBy definition, compound tenses and moods require an auxiliary verb plus past participle. However, when using two or more compound conjugations with the same subject, you don't always need to include the auxiliary verb for each one.
Grammar Lessons

On vs l’on

On vs l'on - French pronunciationWhat's the difference between on and l'on? In a nutshell, on is sometimes preceded by l' for reasons of euphony.
Grammar Lessons

Passé composé vs Imperfect: Meaning Changes

Passé composé vs imperfectKnowing whether to use passé composé or imparfait sometimes depends on the meaning of the verb itself: some French verbs have different meanings in the two tenses.
Grammar Lessons

Past Infinitive

French past infinitiveWhen one thing happens before another, you can use the French past infinitive to talk about the earlier action. In English, the past infinitive is very stilted, so it's usually loosely translated into more idiomatic phrasing.
Grammar Lessons

Past Subjunctive

French past subjunctiveThe past subjunctive is the past tense of the subjunctive mood. The exact same verbs, expressions, and conjunctions that call for the subjunctive in the present require the past subjunctive in reference to subjectivity about something that happened in the past.
Grammar Lessons

Prepositions with Nouns

French prepositions with nounsGenerally speaking, articles are much more common in French than in English, but there are exceptions, such as when certain prepositions are followed by nouns.
Grammar Lessons

Progress with Lawless French

Progress with Lawless FrenchProgress with Lawless French is an adaptive, test-driven French learning system that will help you learn more efficiently with personalized kwizzes, writing challenges, and dictées.
Grammar Lessons

PwLF Super Study Lists

Progress with Lawless FrenchTake your Progress with Lawless French account to the next level with these super study lists that bring together all the lessons on a particular grammar topic.
Grammar Lessons

Reported Speech

French reported speechA large part of communicating has to do with reporting what other people have said. This grammatical grapevine comes in two varieties: direct speech and indirect speech.
Grammar Lessons

Se faire – Reflexive Causative

French reflexive causative constructionThe reflexive causative uses a reflexive pronoun to indicate that the subject is acted upon, whether this action is by his choice or not. It's equivalent to "get/have something done to/for oneself."
Grammar Lessons

Si Clauses: Third Conditional

French si clausesThe third conditional is an if-then proposition that expresses an impossible situation: if something had happened (the condition), then something else would have happened (the result). The condition is expressed with the past perfect, and the impossible result is indicated with the conditional perfect.
Grammar Lessons

Simple and Compound Tenses and Moods: Avoir Verbs

Simple and compound French verb conjugationsLearn how each simple conjugation of avoir serves as the auxiliary verb for a corresponding compound verb form.
Grammar Lessons

Simple and Compound Tenses and Moods: Être Verbs

Simple and compound French verb conjugationsLearn how each simple conjugation of être serves as the auxiliary verb for a corresponding compound tense or mood.
Grammar Lessons

Simple and Compound Tenses and Moods: Pronominal Verbs

Simple and compound French verb conjugationsLearn how each simple conjugation of être serves as the auxiliary for a corresponding pronominal verb tense or mood.
Grammar Lessons

Special Uses of the Subjunctive

French subjunctive - special usesThe French subjunctive is most often found in subordinate clauses, but it can also be used in main or independent clauses. In general, this latter usage tends to be formal.
Grammar Lessons

Subjunctive with Negative and Indefinite Pronouns

French subjunctiveThe subjunctive is required after any type of construction that indicates negativity or doubt, including negative pronouns and indefinite pronouns.
Grammar Lessons

Un vs l’un

Un vs l'un - French grammarDo you know the difference between un and l'un? If you answered, "Huh? Why would you ever put l' in front of un?" then this is the lesson for you.
Grammar Lessons

Verb Conjugation Translation

French verb conjugation translationFrench and English have a number of important differences in verb tenses and moods, which can make translating all the different conjugations from one language to the other a bit tricky. Here's what to keep in mind when translating French verb conjugations into English.

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aller
avoir
croire
devoir
dire
être
faire
falloir
manquer
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voir
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Coups de cœur

  • Aller (to go) - Verb Tables
  • Être (to be) - Verb Tables
  • Subjunctive
  • French for Beginners
  • Pick-Up Lines
  • Avoir (to have) - Verb Tables
  • Faire (to do, to make) - Verb Tables
  • Telling Time
  • Partitive Article - du, de la, de l', des
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