Here are a few French fundamentals to give your speaking, listening, reading, and writing a boost.
Choosing French verb tenses
To use the correct form of a French verb, you have to use the right tense. The indicative mood, which deals with objectivity — things really happening — includes many time aspects called tenses. A tense defines the time frame in which the action of the verb takes place: past, present, or future.
The following French verb tenses chart explains when to use each tense. It shows how compound tenses build off simpler ones and conjugate verbs for each tense: chanter (to sing) and se laver (to wash oneself).
| Time Frame | French Tense | How to Build from Other Tenses | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| What happens, is happening, or does happen | Present indicative/présent de l’indicatif |
je chante je me lave |
|
| What just happened | Near past/passé récent | Present venir + de + infinitive | je viens de chanter je viens de me laver |
| What is going to happen | Near future/futur proche | Present aller + infinitive | je vais chanter je vais me laver |
| What [has] happened precisely and completely | Passé composé | Present avoir/être + past participle |
j’ai chanté je me suis lavé(e) |
| What was happening or used to happen or just was a certain way |
Imperfect/Imparfait | je chantais je me lavais |
|
| What had happened | Pluperfect/plus-que-parfait | Imparfait avoir/être + past participle |
j’avais chanté je m’étais lavé(e) |
| What will happen | Simple future/futur simple | je chanterai je me laverai |
|
| What will have happened | Future perfect/futur antérieur | Simple future avoir/être + past participle |
j’aurai chanté je me serai lavé(e) |
Spelling and letter combinations: Understanding spoken French
Interpreting French speech can be hard for English speakers — and not only because the sounds are unfamiliar. French has a lot of letter combinations that produce the same sounds. When you hear nah-syohN, realizing that the word is likely spelled nation rather than nassion allows you to quickly understand the meaning of the word.
Remember these patterns as you try to figure out which words you’re hearing, and try another spelling if what you’re hearing doesn’t make sense:
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é, ée, és, ées: When you add a mute e, an s, or an es after é, the sound doesn’t change. In the following examples, the past participle of the verb arriver is always pronounced the same: Il est arrivé (eel ey tah-ree-vey) (He arrived); Elle est arrivée (ehl ey tah-ree-vey) (She arrived); Ils sont arrivés (eel soN tah-ree-vey) (They arrived); Elles sont arrivées (ehl soN tah-ree-vey) (They [feminine] arrived).
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é, er, ez: These same-sounding letters are often found in verb forms: Il a parlé (eel ah pahr-ley) (He spoke/has spoken); Il va parler (ehl ah pahr-ley) (He’s going to speak); Vous parlez (vooh pahr-ley) (you [formal singular or any plural] speak/are speaking).
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ô, ot, eau: In the following words, the vowel sound is the same: tôt (toh) (early), lot (loh) (prize, batch), eau (oh) (water).
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Beware that the vowel o followed by a double consonant plus mute e becomes a softer sound (as in the following feminine adjectives) than when it stands alone or is followed by a mute consonant: sotte (suhht) (silly), grosse (gruhhs) (big, fat), bonne (buhhn) (good).
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en, em, an, am: These letters are pronounced the same when found in isolation (like en) or before a consonant. Before a b or a p, expect to find an m instead of an n: en France (ahN frahNs) (in France); remplir (rahN-pleer) (to fill); ambassade (ahN-bah-sahd) (embassy).
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on, om: These letter combinations are pronounced the same before a consonant. Note that before a b or p, m appears instead of n: on tombe (ohN tohNb) (one falls); ronfler (rohN-fley) (to snore).
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tion, (s)sion: These combinations found in feminine nouns are pronounced the same in French: ration (rah-syohN) (ration), tension (tahN-syohN) (tension), sécession (sey-sey-syohN) (secession).
Articles and adjectives: Short words before French nouns
In French, you almost always use an article or short adjective before a noun or noun phrase. These words translate as the, a/an, some, this, that, these, those, which, what, my, your, his, her, and so on.
The following tables show these common little words in all their forms — masculine and feminine, singular and plural, before a consonant and before a vowel or mute h, and sometimes in various grammatical persons. Definite articles refer to something specific, indefinite articles refer to something unspecific, and partitive articles refer to a part of something. Demonstrative adjectives differentiate and compare things, interrogative adjectives ask for information, and possessive adjectives identify the owner of something.
| Gender and Number | Definite Articles (the) | Indefinite Articles (a/an, some) | Partitive Articles (some) | Demonstrative Adj. (this/that, these/those) | Interrogative Adj. (which/what) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masc. singular | le, l’ (before vowel or mute h) | un | du, de l’ (before vowel or mute h) | ce, cet (before vowel or mute h) | quel |
| Fem. singular | la, l’ (before vowel or mute h) | une | de la, de l’ (before vowel or mute h) | cette | quelle |
| Plural | les | des | des | ces | quels (masc.), quelles (fem.) |
| Meaning | Singular Masc. Object | Singular Fem. Object | Plural Object |
|---|---|---|---|
| my | mon | ma, mon (before vowel or mute h) | mes |
| your (singular familiar) | ton | ta, ton (before vowel or mute h) | tes |
| his/her | son | sa, son (before vowel or mute h) | ses |
| our | notre | notre | nos |
| your (plural or singular formal) | votre | votre | vos |
| their | leur | leur | leurs |
Common idiomatic avoir expressions
Many common French expressions use the verb avoir (to have), whereas their English translation is the verb to be. Here are some avoir expressions you should know:
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avoir l’air (to appear)
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avoir . . . ans (to be . . . years old)
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avoir besoin de (to need)
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avoir de la chance (to be lucky)
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avoir la chance de (to be lucky to)
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avoir chaud (to be hot)
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avoir envie (to feel like)
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avoir faim (to be hungry)
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avoir froid (to be cold)
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avoir l’habitude de (to be accustomed to)
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avoir l’intention de (to intend to)
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avoir mal (to hurt/be in pain)
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avoir peur (to be afraid)
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avoir raison (to be right)
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avoir soif (to be thirsty)
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avoir sommeil (to be sleepy)
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avoir tort (to be wrong)
Common idiomatic faire expressions
Many common French expressions use the verb faire (to make/do), whereas their English translation is another verb, often to be or to go. Here are some faire expressions you should know:
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faire des achats (to go shopping)
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faire du basket/foot (to play basketball/soccer)
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faire beau/mauvais (to be nice/bad [weather])
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faire la bise (to give a kiss on each cheek as a greeting)
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faire chaud/froid (to be hot/cold [weather])
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faire la cuisine (to do the cooking)
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faire . . . jour/nuit (to be daytime/nighttime)
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faire mal à (to hurt [someone])
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faire le ménage (to do the housekeeping)
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faire peur à (to scare/frighten [someone])
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faire une promenade (to go for a walk)
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faire du vélo/de la moto (to ride a bike/motorcycle)
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faire un voyage (to go on a trip)