French articles
Clear explanations of grammar, words and common mistakes. With examples and a mini-practice after each article.
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 ...
S'il vous plaît vs s'il te plaît: 'please' in French
Both s'il vous plaît and s'il te plaît mean “please”. The difference is exactly the tu vs vous choice you already make for “you”: use s'il vous plaît when you address someone formally or speak to more ...
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 weather words: how to talk about the weather
To talk about the weather in French, you need a handful of nouns and adjectives — le temps (weather), le soleil (sun), la pluie (rain), la neige (snow), le vent (wind), chaud (hot), froid (cold) — and ...
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 ...
French clothing vocabulary: clothes, shoes and sizes
Clothes in French are les vêtements, and the everyday pieces are la chemise (shirt), le pantalon (trousers), la robe (dress), la veste (jacket) and les chaussures (shoes). The verb you build it all ...
Au revoir vs adieu: how to say goodbye in French
Au revoir is the normal, all-purpose “goodbye” in French — you can use it in almost any situation, from a shop to an office. It literally means “until we see each other again”, so it carries the idea ...
Quitter vs partir in French: two ways to say 'leave'
Use partir when someone leaves / departs / goes away and there is no direct object: je pars à huit heures, elle est partie. Use quitter when someone leaves a specific place, person, job, company ...
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 restaurant phrases: ordering food politely
The safest French restaurant phrase is je voudrais... (“I would like…”). It is polite, simple and useful for ordering almost anything: je voudrais un café, je voudrais la carte. Add s'il vous plaît ...
French food vocabulary: meals, drinks and basic café words
Start French food vocabulary with the words you can use every day: la nourriture (food), l'eau (water), le pain (bread), le café (coffee), le thé (tea), manger (to eat) and boire (to drink). For ...
French family vocabulary: parents, siblings and relatives
The most useful French family words are la famille (family), la mère (mother), le père (father), le frère (brother), la sœur (sister), le fils (son) and la fille (daughter). Learn each word with its ...
Entendre vs écouter in French: hear or listen?
Entendre means to hear: the sound reaches you, whether you planned it or not. Écouter means to listen: you pay attention on purpose. If you hear a noise, say j’entends un bruit. If you listen to ...
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 ...
Un vs une in French: which 'a/an' to use
Un is “a/an” before a masculine noun, and une is “a/an” before a feminine noun. French has no single “a” like English: the indefinite article has to match the gender of the noun, exactly the way le ...
Salut vs bonjour: formal and informal hello in French
Bonjour is the polite, all-purpose “hello” — you can say it to anyone, in any situation, and never sound wrong. Salut is the casual “hi” you use only with people you are close to: friends, family ...
Ne... pas in French: how to make a sentence negative
To make a French sentence negative, you wrap the verb in two words: ne before the verb and pas after it. Je parle (“I speak”) becomes Je ne parle pas (“I do not speak”). Think of ne … pas as a ...