GrammaireLearn about French grammar: parts of speech, negation, verb conjugations, and a whole lot more.
French Workbook for DummiesLearn and practice with my fun French workbook.
A1 grammar | A2 grammar | B1 grammar | B2 grammar | C1 grammar
Proficiency Test: Find Your Level
| Adjectives | Adverbs | |
| Articles | Conjunctions | |
| Nouns | Prepositions | |
| Pronouns | Verbs |
When the subject of a French verb is nous, vous, ils, or elles, it's obvious which verb conjugation you need, because those plural pronouns are included in verb tables. But it's a bit trickier with compound subjects made up of multiple names, nouns, and/or pronouns. In these cases, you need to take a moment to figure out which plural subject pronoun those items add up to, so that you know what to conjugate for. conjugation lessons • pronouns
Compound tenses and moods are verb forms which are conjugated with two parts: a helping / auxiliary verb and a past participle, as in J'ai dansé. The word order can get a little complicated when additional grammatical structures like object pronouns and negation are introduced. negation • pronouns • verbs • word order
In English, we use the modal "would" plus a verb to talk about actions that may or may not take place, usually depending on whether a certain condition is met. The French equivalent to this construction is a conditional mood with a full set of conjugations for every verb. The uses of these two constructions are very similar. A2 - Low-Intermediate French • tenses moods voices
French conditional conjugations are, along with the future, the easiest in the entire language. 
To talk about something that would, could, or should have happened—but didn't—you need the conditional perfect, also known as the past conditional. B1 - Intermediate French • tenses moods voices
The conditional perfect is a compound verb form, which means its conjugation has two components: the auxiliary verb in the conditional plus the past participle of the main verb. 
The second form of the conditional perfect suffers from something of an identity crisis: it looks like the pluperfect subjunctive but has the value of the conditional perfect. The second form of the past conditional is used mostly in si clauses and is a literary tense, so is found only in very formal written French. conjugation lessons • formalities • tenses moods voices
One of the eight parts of speech, conjunctions are used as connectors between grammatically related words or phrases. There are two kinds of conjunctions, depending on whether that relationship is equal or unequal. A2 - Low-Intermediate French • conjunctions
Two or more words often join to create a conjunctive phrase, which just means a series of words that acts like a conjunction. Most French conjunctive phrases end in que and all are subordinating conjunctions. B1 - Intermediate French • conjunctions
Connectives 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. adverbs • B2 - Upper-Intermediate French • conjunctions • prepositions • pronouns
Contractions occur when two words are combined into one, sometimes with a distinctly different spelling. In English, contractions like "won't" are optional and indicate informality. In French, however, contractions are required, regardless of the register you're speaking or writing in. A1 - Beginning French • spelling
A contraction is a combination of two words into a shorter form, and there are two different ways to do this in French. This issue of Lawless French à fond takes an in-depth look at the different types of contractions and other ways to shorten words. Lawless French à fond • spelling
Contractions with de / à plus a definite article are not always required when the article is part of a proper noun, such as a city, title, organization, or surname. 
The preposition contre usually means "against," but it has other meanings in certain contexts. A2 - Low-Intermediate French • prepositions
Coordinating conjunctions are small words that connect two or more grammatically equivalent words or phrases. The connected words might be adjectives, nouns, adverbs, verbs, or even independent clauses; the important thing is that they're equal and each one serves the same function in the sentence. 
In English, we say that the vowels are "a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y." The last couple of words hint at one of the keys to understanding pronunciation: a vowel is not so much a letter as the sound represented by a letter or combination of letters.
Practice is the key to improving your French, and just 15 minutes a day on some kind of French activity can make a huge difference. Check out these ideas and draw up your own schedule.
Of the four language skills, many people find that speaking is the most difficult. Here are tips and resources to help you overcome these obstacles in order to practice French as much as you like.Bonjour !
Lawless French is a free website.
Please disable your ad-blocker
or
donate to support my work.
BONUS
Donate US$5 / month to unlock
le Mot du jour.
