French Grammar
Grammar rules explained with examples and tables. Pick a topic below and move on to practice.
Son, sa, ses: his, her and its in French
Son, sa and ses can all mean “his”, “her” or “its”. The form does not tell you the owner’s gender. It agrees with the thing owned: son before a masculine singular noun, sa before a feminine singular ...
French y and en pronouns: how to replace à and de phrases
The French pronoun y usually replaces a phrase with à plus a place or thing: je vais à Paris → j’y vais (“I’m going there”). En usually replaces de plus a noun, a quantity, or a source: je parle de ce ...
French subject pronouns: je, tu, il, elle, nous, vous
French subject pronouns are je (I), tu (you informal), il (he/it), elle (she/it), on (we/one/people), nous (we), vous (you formal or plural), ils (they masculine or mixed), and elles (they feminine) ...
French stressed pronouns: moi, toi, lui, elle and more
French stressed pronouns, also called tonic pronouns, are moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles. Use them after prepositions, for emphasis, in short answers, and after c’est. They are different ...
Chez in French: meaning, uses and common mistakes
Chez means “at the home/place of” a person, family, professional or business: chez moi (“at my place”), chez Marie (“at Marie’s“), chez le médecin (“at the doctor’s“). It is followed by a person ...
Ce, cet, cette, ces: this and these in French
French uses ce, cet, cette, ces before a noun to mean “this”, “that”, “these” or “those”. The form depends on the noun: ce before a masculine singular noun, cet before a masculine singular noun ...
À vs de in French: how to choose after verbs and nouns
There is no single English shortcut for à vs de. Very often, à points toward a place, person, use or target, while de points from a source, topic, content or possession. But after many verbs and ...
Venir de in French: how to say just did something
Venir de + infinitive means to have just done something. The verb venir is conjugated for the subject, then de introduces the infinitive: je viens de finir = “I have just finished”, elle vient ...
Ne... jamais in French: how to say never
Ne... jamais means “never”. It uses the same frame as ne... pas: put ne before the conjugated verb and jamais after it. Je mange ici becomes je ne mange jamais ici (“I never eat here”). In the passé ...
Manquer in French: why tu me manques means I miss you
Manquer looks like “to miss”, but the sentence structure is reversed. In French, the person or thing missed is the subject, and the person who feels the absence is an indirect object. So tu me manques ...
Il y a in French: there is, there are and ago
Il y a has two common meanings. Before a noun, it means “there is” or “there are”: il y a un café ici (“there is a café here”). With a time expression after a past event, it means “ago”: je suis ...
Futur proche in French: aller + infinitive for the near future
The futur proche says what someone is going to do. Build it with the present tense of aller + an infinitive: je vais partir (“I’m going to leave”), elle va appeler (“she is going to call”). Only aller ...
French present tense conjugation: regular verbs and key patterns
The French present tense is used for what someone does, is doing, or does regularly: je parle can mean “I speak”, “I am speaking” or “I do speak”. Regular verbs fall into three main groups: -er, -ir ...
French noun gender endings: masculine and feminine patterns
French noun gender is not fully predictable, but endings give useful hints. Many -tion, -sion, -té, -ette, -ie and -ure nouns are feminine. Many -age, -ment, -eau, -isme and -oir nouns are masculine ...
Vieux, vieil, vieille in French: the forms of old
Vieux, vieil, vieille, vieux and vieilles are forms of the French adjective for “old”. Use vieux before a masculine singular noun that starts with a consonant, vieil before a masculine singular noun ...
Trop vs beaucoup in French: too much or a lot
Use beaucoup when you mean “a lot” or “very much” without saying it is a problem. Use trop when you mean “too much”, “too many” or “too” in a negative or excessive sense. Il travaille beaucoup means ...
Passé composé vs imparfait: choosing the French past tense
Use the passé composé for completed past events: what happened, started, ended or moved the story forward. Use the imparfait for background, habits, descriptions and ongoing situations in the past ...
Nouveau, nouvel, nouvelle in French: choosing the right form
Nouveau, nouvel, nouvelle, nouveaux and nouvelles are forms of the French adjective for “new”. Use nouveau before a masculine singular noun, nouvelle before a feminine singular noun, nouveaux before ...
French avoir expressions: besoin, envie, peur and more
French uses avoir (“to have”) in many everyday expressions where English does not say “have”. The three most useful patterns are avoir besoin de (“to need”), avoir envie de (“to feel like / want”) and ...
Beau, bel, belle in French: which form means beautiful
Beau, bel, belle, beaux and belles are forms of the same French adjective. They mean “beautiful”, “handsome”, “nice” or sometimes “lovely”. Use beau before a masculine singular noun, belle before a ...
Adjectives before nouns in French: which ones move first
Most French adjectives come after the noun: une voiture rouge (“a red car”), un livre intéressant (“an interesting book”). A small group of very common adjectives usually comes before the noun: un ...
Meilleur vs mieux in French: better adjective or better adverb
Use meilleur when “better” describes a noun: un meilleur film (“a better film”). Use mieux when “better” describes a verb, action, or whole situation: je comprends mieux (“I understand better”). The ...
Me, te, se in French: object and reflexive pronouns
Me, te and se are short pronouns that go before the verb. Me means “me” or “to me”, te means “you” or “to you”, and se is reflexive: “himself”, “herself”, “itself”, “themselves” or “each other” ...
Lequel, laquelle, lesquels, lesquelles: which one in French
Use lequel, laquelle, lesquels, lesquelles when you mean “which one(s)” and the noun is not repeated. The form agrees with the noun you have in mind: lequel for masculine singular, laquelle for ...