Articles & Guides
Grammar breakdowns, vocabulary guides, and cultural insights to accelerate your French.
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Grammar
Understand the mechanics of French — verb focus, sentence structure, affixes, and more.
Aller + Infinitive: The Easy French Future
Form the French near future in seconds: conjugate aller in the present and add an infinitive. Learn futur proche rules, negation, pronouns, and when to use it.
Avoir or Être? Picking the Right Past-Tense Helper
Use avoir for the passé composé unless the verb is reflexive or one of ~16 DR MRS VANDERTRAMP motion verbs, which take être and force agreement.
En, Au, Aux: French Prepositions for Countries
Use en for feminine countries, au for masculine, aux for plural, and à for cities. Full French preposition rule for countries, with a lookup table and traps.
French Adjective Placement: Before or After the Noun?
French adjectives usually follow the noun, but a small common set goes before it — and a few change meaning depending on which side they sit. Here's the rule.
French Liaison Rules: When to Link Words (and Not To)
French liaison links a silent final consonant to the next vowel. Learn the obligatory, forbidden, and optional rules, plus the s→z and d→t sound shifts.
French Noun Gender: Rules to Guess Right 80%
Guess French noun gender right 80% of the time using word endings: -age, -ment, -eau are masculine; -tion, -té, -ette are feminine. A high-yield system.
French Object Pronouns: le, la, lui, leur Order
Le lui or lui le? Use the à-name test to pick le/la vs lui/leur, then one slot chart to order two French object pronouns — plus the command exception.
How to Say "I Miss You" in French (Without Errors)
"I miss you" in French is Tu me manques, not Je te manque. Learn the subject-flip behind manquer so you never text the opposite of what you mean.
Le, La, Un, Du: French Articles Made Simple
Le, la, un, du, des made simple: pick the French article family by meaning, the form by gender, and dodge the two mistakes English speakers always make.
Passé Composé vs Imparfait: When to Use Each
Passé composé tells the story; imparfait paints the scene. Use this 2-second flowchart, trigger words, and paired examples to pick the right French tense.
Vocabulary
Build your word bank with numbers, greetings, time expressions, and everyday phrases.
Faire in French: To Make, To Do, and More
Faire in French means more than make and do: master faire vs rendre, weather and sports idioms, the causative, and the mistakes English speakers make.
French False Friends: 25 Faux Amis to Avoid
French false friends look like English words but mean something else: actuellement is not actually, sensible means sensitive. Here are 25 faux amis to avoid.
French Greetings: Bonjour, Salut, Coucou Explained
Bonjour, salut, or coucou? Pick the right French greeting every time with a simple two-axis guide to formality and time of day, plus how to say goodbye.
French Numbers 1 to 100: Count With Confidence
French numbers 1 to 100 in one complete chart, with pronunciation, the et-un rule, hyphens, and the four-twenties system explained so you can count anywhere.
Je t'aime vs Je t'adore: I Love You in French
Je t'aime is the real romantic I love you; je t'adore means warm fondness, not romance. Here's the person-vs-thing rule and the bien trap that flips it.
Sorry in French: Désolé vs Pardon vs Excusez-moi
Use désolé for genuine regret, pardon to bump or squeeze past, and excusez-moi to get attention. A situation-by-situation guide to saying sorry in French.
Telling Time in French: Hours, Quarters, 24-Hour
Telling time in French means Il est cinq heures, et quart, et demie, and the 24-hour clock like quatorze heures trente. Read any French schedule.
Culture
Context that textbooks skip — the history, traditions, and nuances behind the language.
French Café Culture: How to Order Like a Local
In a French café, un café means espresso, one drink rents the table for an hour, and you must ask for the bill. Order coffee like a local with these phrases.
Ordering Food in French: Restaurant Phrases That Work
Order food in French with confidence: greet first, say je voudrais not je veux, ask for a carafe d'eau, answer quelle cuisson, and request the bill yourself.
The Bonjour Rule: French Etiquette for Visitors
Always say bonjour before you ask, order, or pay in France — the unspoken rule that opens every door. A respectful visitor's guide to French etiquette.
Tu vs Vous: When to Use Each in French
Tu vs vous in French: use tu for one friend, family, or child, and vous for strangers, elders, your boss, and any group. A clear etiquette guide.
Learning Tips
Strategies and techniques to learn French faster and retain more.
French Filler Words: Euh, Bah, Du Coup, Quoi
French filler words like euh, bah, du coup, and quoi make you sound fluent, not lazy. Learn what each one does, where it goes, and how to use them naturally.
French Numbers 70, 80, 90 Made Simple
French numbers 70, 80, 90 are soixante-dix, quatre-vingts, and quatre-vingt-dix. Learn three build formulas to make any number 70-99 on the fly.
French Silent Letters: The CaReFuL Rule
Final consonants in French are silent by default — except C, R, F, L. The CaReFuL rule, the silent -e, the plural-s trap, and liaison, explained simply.
How to Pronounce the French R (Step by Step)
The French R is a back-of-the-throat sound, not a rolled R. Learn the exact tongue position and a step-by-step drill to build it from sounds you already make.