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Clear explanations of grammar, words and common mistakes. With examples and a mini-practice after each article.
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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 ...
Savoir vs connaître in French: two ways to know
French has two main verbs for “to know”. Use savoir for facts, information, and knowing how to do something. Use connaître for being familiar with a person, place, work, or thing. So je sais la ...
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 ...
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 ...
French airport vocabulary: check-in, security and boarding
At a French-speaking airport, start with the words you will actually need: l'aéroport (the airport), le vol (the flight), le billet (the ticket), le passeport (the passport), la valise (the suitcase) ...
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 ...
Telling time in Spanish: how to ask and say the hour
To ask the time, say ¿Qué hora es? (“What time is it?”). The answer almost always starts with the verb ser. Use Es la una for one o’clock only, and Son las + the hour for every other time: Son las ...
Spanish subjunctive triggers: when to switch moods
The subjunctive in Spanish is not random and it is not a tense — it is a mood you switch into when the main clause expresses something non-factual: a wish, an emotion, a doubt, a need, or a situation ...
The Spanish present perfect: he hablado and when to use it
The Spanish present perfect is a two-word tense: the present of haber ( he, has, ha… ) plus a past participle ( hablado, comido, vivido ). So he hablado means “I have spoken”, and hemos comido means ...