Travel and Culture

Politeness

French politeness
After bonjour, polite phrases like "please" and "thank you" are the most important French vocabulary you'll ever learn. When you visit France, knowing just these few phrases will go a long way, even if the very next thing you say is Parlez-vous anglais ?

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Listening Practice

Coluche

Coluche
Learn about the French comedian Coluche in this cute animated video. Click any phrase in the transcript for grammar notes and English translation.

   

   

Expressions

Ou quoi ?

Tu es fou ou quoi ?
Are you going to read this lesson on the informal French expression ou quoi or what?

   

Food and Drink

Pain quotidien

Une boulangerie artisanale
La baguette, le croissant, le pain au chocolat... si vous n'aimez qu'une chose en France, c'est probablement le pain. Cet aliment est fondamental dans le régime et la culture français, et entrer dans une boulangerie est une expérience à savourer.

   

Learn French

International Phonetic Alphabet

French interntional phonetic alphabetThe International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA, is a set of characters used to standardize pronunciation explanations across languages. It uses a unique symbol for each sound, which makes discussions of different languages much easier.

   

Fun with French

Joyeux Halloween !

French for HalloweenIf you like both French and Halloween, you'll love this page full of Halloween-themed French practice, including audio articles, videos, quizzes, dictées, and writing challenges. Get scary good with Lawless French!

   

   

Linguistics

Gender-Neutral Pronouns

French gender neutral pronouns
Gender-neutral pronouns, aka inclusive pronouns, are used to avoid sorting individuals into the binary world of male vs female. Gender-neutral language is evolving and not considered standard, but it is becoming more common, especially on the internet, so it's important to be able to recognize the most common terms.

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Expressions

Expressions of Frequency

French adverbial phrases of frequency
French has a number of multi-word expressions of frequency, aka adverbial phrases of frequency, which allow you to talk about how often something happens with much greater precision than single-word adverbs of frequency.

   

Literature

Horace

Horace, by George Sand
Read the opening paragraphs of George Sand's Horace, a novel about friendship and student life in Paris written in 1841.