French Grammar
Grammar rules explained with examples and tables. Pick a topic below and move on to practice.
French inversion questions: when to say parlez-vous?
Inversion is the formal question pattern where French flips the verb and the subject pronoun with a hyphen: vous parlez becomes parlez-vous? It is common in writing, formal speech, signs, interviews ...
French partitive articles: du, de la, de l', des
French uses du, de la, de l’ and des when you mean “some”, “any”, or an unspecified amount of something. Use du before masculine singular nouns, de la before feminine singular nouns, de l' before a ...
French object pronoun order: me, le, lui, y, en
French object pronouns usually go before the conjugated verb, and when more than one appears, the order is fixed: me/te/se/nous/vous → le/la/les → lui/leur → y → en. So “I give it to him” is je le lui ...
French nasal vowels: an, on, in and un sounds
French nasal vowels happen when a vowel is followed by n or m in the same syllable and that n/m is not followed by another vowel. The air partly goes through the nose, and you do not pronounce a full ...
Falloir vs devoir in French: il faut or je dois?
Use falloir through the impersonal form il faut when the need is general: il faut réserver (“you have to book / it is necessary to book”). Use devoir when you want to name the person who is obliged ...
Tutoyer and vouvoyer: what these French verbs mean
Tutoyer means “to address someone with tu ”. Vouvoyer means “to address someone with vous ”. These verbs are about the relationship between speakers: close and informal with tu, polite or distant with ...
Tout, tous, toute, toutes in French: forms and pronunciation
Tout means “all”, “every”, or “whole”, but its form changes with the noun: tout le for masculine singular, toute la for feminine singular, tous les for masculine plural, and toutes les for feminine ...
Quel, quelle, quels, quelles: how to say which in French
French uses quel, quelle, quels, quelles for “which” or “what” before a noun. The form agrees with the noun’s gender and number: quel for masculine singular, quelle for feminine singular, quels for ...
Ne... rien in French: how to say nothing or not anything
Ne… rien means “nothing” or “not anything”. It replaces pas in the negative frame: ne before the verb and rien after it. Je comprends becomes Je ne comprends rien (“I don’t understand anything”). In ...
Ne... plus in French: how to say no longer or not anymore
Ne… plus means “no longer” or “not anymore”. It uses the same frame as ne... pas: put ne before the verb and plus after it. Je fume (“I smoke”) becomes Je ne fume plus (“I don’t smoke anymore”) ...
French prepositions for countries and cities: en, au, aux, a
For destinations, use à with cities, en with most feminine countries, au with masculine countries, and aux with plural countries. The basic pattern is: à Paris, en France, au Canada, aux États-Unis ...
On vs nous in French: the everyday way to say we
In everyday French, on is the normal spoken way to say “we”. It takes the same verb form as il and elle: on parle, on est, on va. Nous also means “we”, but it sounds more formal, written, or emphatic ...
En vs dans in French: two meanings of in for time
For time, en tells you how long something takes to complete. Dans tells you how long from now before something happens. Je finis en deux heures means “I finish it in two hours” as a duration. Je pars ...
Devant vs avant in French: in front of or before
Use devant for physical position: “in front of”. Use avant for time or order: “before”. Il attend devant la porte means he is waiting in front of the door. Il arrive avant midi means he arrives before ...
Chaque vs chacun in French: each before a noun or each one
Use chaque before a singular noun: chaque jour (“each day”). Use chacun when the noun is not repeated and you mean “each one” or “everyone”: chacun choisit (“each person chooses”). The feminine form ...
Pouvoir, vouloir, devoir: can, want and must in French
Pouvoir means “can / to be able to”, vouloir means “to want”, and devoir means “must / to have to”. They are the three core modal verbs, they are all irregular, and they share one simple pattern: you ...
Mon, ma, mes: how to say 'my' in French
Mon, ma and mes all mean “my”. French has three words for one English word because the possessive agrees with the thing owned, not with you. Use mon before a masculine singular noun, ma before a ...
French silent letters: what you write but don't say
French spells far more letters than it pronounces. The big patterns are easy to state: most final consonants are silent, a final -e is silent, the verb ending -ent is silent, and the letter h is never ...
French prepositions of place: dans, sur, sous, devant and more
Prepositions of place tell you where something is. The most common ones are dans (in), sur (on), sous (under), devant (in front of), derrière (behind), entre (between), à côté de (next to), près de ...
Passé composé with être: which French verbs use être?
Most French verbs form the passé composé with avoir: j’ai mangé, tu as vu. Use être with two important groups: common movement or change-of-state verbs such as aller, venir, arriver, partir, entrer ...
French past participle agreement: when to add -e, -s or -es
In compound tenses like the passé composé, the past participle agrees in two main places: with the subject when the helper is être ( elle est partie, ils sont partis ), and with a direct object that ...
French adverb placement: where to put bien, souvent, déjà and more
In French, many everyday adverbs go right after the conjugated verb: je parle bien, il vient souvent, tu comprends déjà. In a compound tense like the passé composé, short common adverbs usually sit ...
De vs des in French: after negation, quantities and plural nouns
Use des when you mean some plural things: j’ai des amis (“I have friends”). Use de after most negatives and after quantity words: je n’ai pas d’amis, beaucoup de livres. One complication: des can also ...
Au, aux, à la and à l' in French: how à contracts with articles
French never says à le or à les. When à meets the definite articles le and les, they contract: à + le becomes au, and à + les becomes aux. With la and l', there is no contraction: à la and à l’ stay ...