Mistakes and Difficulties

Hard and Soft Vowels

French hard and soft vowelsFrench vowels are divided into two categories: hard and soft. Hard vowels (A, O, U) cause the consonant that precedes them to be pronounced with a hard sound, while soft vowels (E, I) are preceded by a soft sound.

Grammar Lessons

Possessive Adjectives

French possessive adjectivesFrench possessive adjectives (mon, ma, mes, ton, ta ...) are used in front of nouns to indicate to whom or to what those nouns belong. They are considerably more complicated than English possessive adjectives because French has several different forms depending on the gender and number of the possessed noun.

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Grammar Lessons

Stem-Changing Verbs -e_er -é_er -yer

French stem changing verbsStem-changing verbs, also known as "shoe verbs" or "boot verbs," take the same conjugation endings as regular -er verbs, but have two different verb stems depending on the grammatical person the verb is conjugated for.

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Vocabulary Lists

Titles

French titles
While not as diverse as they used to be, a few titles are commonly used in French and are as important as any other polite vocabulary. Here are the French titles you need, along with their abbreviations.

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Expressions

Si tu veux

Si tu veux
If you want, you can learn how to use the French filler si tu veux in this lesson.

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Grammar Lessons

Gender Matters

French pronounWhile most French nouns are either masculine or feminine, some have different meanings depending on their gender. These "gender homonyms" are pronounced the same, so it's particularly important to pay attention to the article or other determiner that signals the gender and therefore meaning.

   

Expressions

Impersonal Expressions

French impersonal expressions
Impersonal expressions consist of an impersonal subject ("it" in English; il or ce in French) and the verb être followed by an adjective: c'est difficile, il est important, etc.

   

Expressions

Au pif

Au pif - French idiom
Don't use guesswork - read this lesson to learn how to use the French idiom au pif.

   

Grammar Lessons

Formal Negation

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

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