French pronounciation

French pronunciation

Pronunciation

ENDINGS

French word endings tend to be particularly difficult for beginners, largely because ending consonants are usually silent, but they do affect preceding vowel sounds.

Ending Homophones Example English Approximation IPA
-er -é, -ée, -ées parler cliché [e]
-et -ets, -è, -ê poulet pou-LAY [ε]
-it -its, -i, -ie, -ies, -is, -iz lit LEE [i]
-at -ats, -as, -a chat SHAH [ɑ]
The consonants C, R, F, and L are usually pronounced (you can use the mnemonic "CaReFuL"), with these main exceptions:

An ending -r is silent in infinitives (e.g. parler - to speak).
An ending -fs is silent (e.g. œufs - eggs).
The L of an ending -il is usually silent (e.g. fusil - gun).
THE MUTE E

When a consonant is followed by a mute -e, then the consonant should be pronounced. This is a way of distinguishing masculine and feminine forms verbally. Any unaccented -e at the end of a word is always mute except in a single-syllable word like le, which sounds somewhat like "luh".

The letter E often becomes mute in the middle of a word, especially if it would add a syllable. For instance, most Francophones pronounce appeler ("to call") as "app-LAY", not "app-pe-LAY".

Tu

Tu is not pronounced like the English "too". The French [u] (or German [ü]) is a sound that isn't found in English. A tip to learn this sound is to shape your mouth like you're about to say the "oo" (in "too"), but say "ee" (in "tee") instead. Practice this until it feels natural.

French Idiomatic plurals

French idiomatic plurals

Idiomatic Plurals

English has a number of idiomatic plural-only nouns that have to be translated carefully. These are not just nouns that are invariable with number (like "deer"), but rather nouns that cannot refer to a singular thing at all.

For instance, "the pants" can only be plural in English, but the corresponding le pantalon is singular in French. A single pair of pants is not les pantalons, which refers to multiple pairs of pants. Similarly, when translating le pantalon back to English, you can say "the pants" or "a pair of pants", but "a pant" is not correct. This also applies to un jean ("a pair of jeans").

Un vêtement refers to a single article of clothing, and it's incorrect to translate it as "clothes", which is plural and refers to a collection of clothing. This would have to be des vêtements.

French accents

FRENCH diacritics

Diacritics

The acute accent (é) only appears on E and produces a pure [e] that isn't found in English. To make this sound, say the word "cliché", but hold your tongue perfectly still on the last vowel to avoid making a diphthong sound.

The grave accent (è) can appear on A/E/U, though it only changes the sound for E (to [ɛ], which is the E in "lemon"). Otherwise, it distinguishes homophones like a (a conjugated form of avoir) and à (a preposition).

The cedilla (ç) softens a normally hard C sound to the soft C in "cent". Otherwise, a C followed by an A, O, or U has a hard sound like the C in "car".

The circumflex (ê) usually means that an S used to follow the vowel in Old French or Latin. (The same is true of the acute accent.) For instance, île was once "isle".

The trema (ë) indicates that two adjacent vowels must be pronounced separately, like in Noël ("Christmas") and maïs ("corn").

French nasal vowels

Nasal vowels in French

The sound "an" in "mange" belongs to the French "nasal vowels", which are sounds made by expelling air through the mouth and nose with no obstruction of the lips, tongue, or throat.

Usually, vowels followed by "M" or "N" are nasal. When the nasal consonant is followed by another vowel, the vowel and consonant are both voiced. For example: "un"

/œ̃/ un/um un/parfum

/ɛ̃/ in/im/yn/ym vin/pain/syndicat/sympa

/ɑ̃/ an/am/en/em dans/chambre/en/emploi

/ɔ̃/ on/om mon/ombre

These aren't always nasalized. If there's a double M or N, or if they are followed by any vowel, then the vowel should have an oral sound instead. For instance, un is nasal, but une is not. Also, vin is nasal, but vinaigre is not.

French has 4 nasal vowels:

"en" and "an":

"en": e.g., in "vendre" (to sell). "en" becomes "em" before a "M" and a "P": e.g., in "emporter" (to bring)
"an" becomes "am" before a "B" and a "P": e.g., in "jambe" (leg) and in "camp" (camp)
"oin", "ein", "ain", and "in":

"oin": e.g., in "moins" (less)
"ein": e.g., in "peindre" (to paint)
"ain": e.g., in "pain" (bread)
"in": e.g., in "fin" (fine). "in" becomes "im" before a "M" and a "P": e.g., in "imprimer" (to print)
"on":

"on": e.g., in "garçon" (boy). "on" becomes "om" before a "M" and a "P": e.g., in "pompe" (pump)
"un":

"un": e.g., in "un" (one) or "brun" (brown)

The two common verbs in french

The two most common French verbs.

To Be and To Have

Être and avoir are the most common verbs in French. Like many common verbs, they have irregular conjugations.

Subject Être ("to be") Avoir ("to have")
je/j' (je) suis (j')ai
tu es as
il/elle/on est a
nous sommes avons
vous êtes avez
ils/elles sont ont
There should be a liaison between ils or elles and ont ("il-zon" or "elle-zon"). The "z" sound is essential here to differentiate between "they are" and "they have", so be sure to emphasize it.

These two verbs are very important because they can act as auxiliary verbs in French, but they differ from their English equivalents. In "Basics 2", you learned that "I write" and "I am writing" both translate to j'écris, not je suis écris. This is because être cannot be used as an auxiliary in a simple tense. It can only be used in compound tenses, which you will learn in the "Passé Composé" unit.

Another important distinction is that avoir means "to have" in the sense of "to possess", but not "to consume" or "to experience". Other verbs must be used for these meanings.

C'est or Il Est?

When describing people and things with être in French, you usually can't use a personal subject pronoun like elle. Instead, you must use the impersonal pronoun ce, which can also mean "this" or "that". Note that ce is invariable, so it can never be ces sont.

Impersonal Subject Pronoun Personal Subject Pronoun
Singular c'est il/elle est
Plural ce sont ils/elles sont
These pronouns aren't interchangeable. The basic rule is that you must use ce when être is followed by any determiner—for instance, an article or a possessive adjective. Note that c'est should be used for singulars and ce sont should be used for plurals.

C'est un homme. — He's a man. / This is a man. / That is a man.
Ce sont des chats. — They're cats. / These are cats. / Those are cats.
C'est mon chien. — It's my dog. / This is my dog. / That's my dog.
If an adjective, adverb, or both appear after être, then use the personal pronoun.

Elle est belle. — She is beautiful. (Or "It is beautiful.")
Il est très fort. — He is very strong. (Or "It is very strong.")
As you know, nouns generally need determiners, but one important exception is that professions, nationalities, and religions can act as adjectives after être. This is optional; you can also choose to treat them as nouns.

He is a doctor. — Il est médecin. / C'est un médecin.
However, c'est should be used when using an adjective to make a general comment about (but not describe) a thing or situation. In this case, use the masculine singular form of the adjective.

C'est normal ? — Is this normal?
Non, c'est étrange. — No, this is strange.
Idioms with Avoir

One of the most common idioms in French is the use of the verb avoir in certain places where English would use the verb "to be". This is especially common for states or conditions that a person may experience.

Elle a chaud. — She is hot. (Or "She feels hot.")
Il a froid. — He is cold.
Elle a deux ans. — She is two years old.
J'ai peur ! — I am afraid!
French tends to use the verb faire ("to do") idiomatically for general conditions like weather. Note that il fait is an impersonal expression with no real subject, just like il y a from "Common Phrases".

Il fait chaud. — It is hot (outside).
Il fait froid. — It is cold.
Il fait nuit. — It is nighttime.

To form Plurals in French

How to form plurals in French

Tips and notes

Most plural forms of nouns and adjectives can be formed by appending an -s to the singular, but remember that this -s is usually silent.

Le chat noir — The black cat ⇒ Les chats noirs — The black cats
Articles must agree with the nouns they modify, so plural nouns require either les or des. This is a great way to tell if a noun is plural. If you hear les or des (which sound similar to "lay" and "day"), then the noun is plural. If not, it's probably singular.

Remember that verbs change conjugation to agree with their subjects in both grammatical person and number.

Subject Être ("to be") Parler ("to speak")
je suis parle
tu es parles
il/elle/on est parle
nous sommes parlons
vous êtes parlez
ils/elles sont parlent
Punctuation

There are no quotation marks in French. Instead, the French use guillemets (« »). Exclamation marks (!), question marks (?), colons (:), semicolons (;) and guillemets need to have a space on either side.

Incorrect: "Ça va?"
Correct: « Ça va ? »
When writing numbers in French, commas are decimal points, while spaces mark thousands places.

Incorrect: 1,235.8
Correct: 1 235,8

Nouns and French Genders

Noun and Genders in French: Animals

Noun Genders

One of the most difficult aspects of learning French is memorizing noun genders. However, by spending some time now memorizing the following patterns, you may be able to guess most nouns' genders and save yourself a lot of trouble in the future.

Some nouns, like l'élève ("the student"), have the same spelling and meaning in both forms. Other nouns have the same spelling, but have different meanings. Un tour is a tour, while une tour is a tower. There are also nouns that only have one possible gender. Even a baby girl is un bébé, for instance. Many masculine nouns can be changed to a feminine form simply by adding an -e to the end. Your male friend is un ami and your female friend is une amie.

Some genders depend on a noun's classification. For instance, languages, days of the week, months, seasons, metals, colors, and measurements are mostly masculine.

Otherwise, memorizing word endings is the best way to guess genders. We'll learn these ending patterns in four steps:

First, the basic pattern is that nouns ending in -e are feminine. All others, especially nouns ending in consonants, are masculine. This is true for over 70% of all nouns.

Second, there are two consonant endings that are generally feminine: -ion and -son.

Third, there are nouns endings in -e that are usually masculine. These are:

-tre, -ble, -cle (think "treble clef")
-one, -ème, -ège (think "OMG")
-age, -isme
Fourth, there are a few endings that either have a lot of exceptions or are otherwise more complicated.

-é is masculine, but not -té
le résumé (masc) — the resumé
la liberté (fem) — the liberty
-de is masculine, but not -ade, -nde, -ude
le guide — the guide
la parade — the parade
-ste and -me tend to be masculine, but there are dozens of exceptions. Words for people ending in -ste are often gender-neutral, e.g. le/la cycliste.
-eur is masculine for most professions or technical terms, but it's feminine for some emotions and abstract things.
le chauffeur — the driver
la peur — the fear
That's it! Memorize these, and you'll be able to guess noun genders quite well.

Feminine Animals

In French, female animal nouns are generally formed as follows by taking the last consonant, doubling it, and adding a mute -e to the end.

un chat ⇒ une chatte
un chien ⇒ une chienne
Of course, there are many exceptions. For example:

un ours ⇒ une ourse (not une oursse)
un cheval ⇒ une jument (not une chevalle)

L

French Adjectives

French Adjectives

Agreement

Remember that, unlike in English, French adjectives must agree in number and gender with the nouns that they modify. A black dog is un chien noir, but a black dress is une robe noire. Also, remember that some adjectives have the same masculine and feminine form, especially those ending in a silent -e (e.g. riche).

When used with pronouns, adjectives agree with the noun that has been replaced. This is particularly tricky with the formal vous: to a singular man, you would say vous êtes beau, but to plural women, you would say vous êtes belles.

Adjective Placement

In French, most adjectives appear after the nouns they modify. For instance, le chat noir. However, some adjectives precede the noun. You can remember these types of nouns using the mnemonic BANGS.

B is for beauty. Une belle femme — A beautiful woman
A is for age. Une jeune fille — A young girl
N is for number. Deux hommes — Two men
This can also be for rank: Le premier mot — The first word
G is for good or bad. Un bon garçon — A good boy
S is for size. Un gros chat — A fat cat
All determiner adjectives (e.g. possessives, interrogatives, and demonstratives) appear before the noun, e.g. mon livre ("my book") and ce cochon ("that pig"). You will learn these later.

Figurative Adjectives

A few adjectives can come both before and after the noun depending on their meaning. The most common example is grand, which is a BANGS adjective for everything but people. For people, it comes before a noun when it means "important" and after the noun when it means "tall". For instance, Napoleon was un grand homme ("a great man"), but not un homme grand ("a tall man").

Usually, figurative meanings will precede the noun, while literal meanings will follow the noun.

un pauvre homme — a pitiful man
un homme pauvre — a poor man
un certain nombre — a certain (particular) number
une victoire certaine — a certain (guaranteed) victory
ma propre voiture — my own car
ma voiture propre — my clean car
un cher ami — a dear friend
une montre chère — an expensive watch
Euphony

As you have already learned, elisions, contractions, liaisons, and enchaînements are all designed to prevent consecutive vowel sounds (which is called hiatus). This quest for harmonious sounds is called euphony and is an essential feature of French. It has, however, created some unexpected rules.

For instance, the masculine beau ("beautiful") changes to bel if its noun begins with a vowel sound. A beautiful man is un bel homme. The other two common changes are vieux to vieil ("old") and nouveau to nouvel ("new").

Note that this doesn't occur to feminine adjectives because they usually end in silent vowels.

The French Partitives

Articles: The French partitives

The Partitive Article

The partitive article is used for unspecified amounts of uncountable nouns. In English, it can translate to "some", but it's often just omitted. Remember that du is a contraction of de + le and that partitives can elide.

Gender Partitive Article Example
Masculine du Je mange du poisson. — I am eating fish.
Feminine de la Je mange de la viande. — I am eating meat.
Elided Masc. de l' Je mange de l'ananas. — I am eating pineapple.
Elided Fem. de l' Je bois de l'eau. — I am drinking water.
Nouns almost never appear without articles in French, so articles must be repeated in serial lists.

Il cuisine du poisson et de la viande — He cooks fish and meat.
Count Noun, Mass Noun, or Both?

Count nouns are discrete and can be counted, like une pomme ("an apple"). They can be modified by definite and indefinite articles, but not partitive articles.

Je mange une pomme. — I eat an apple.
Nous mangeons les pommes. — We are eating the apples.
Mass nouns like lait ("milk") are uncountable, and they can be modified by definite and partitive articles, but not indefinite articles.

Je bois du lait. — I am drinking [some] milk.
Je bois le lait. — I am drinking the milk.
However, many nouns can behave as both count nouns and mass nouns. This is true for most edible things. For instance, consider poisson ("fish") or vin ("wine"):

Count noun: Le poisson est rouge. — The fish is red.
Mass noun: Je mange du poisson. — I eat [some] fish.
Count noun: Le vin est blanc. — The wine is white.
Mass noun: Je bois du vin rouge ou blanc. — I drink red or white wine.
Note that some mass nouns can be pluralized in English when they refer to multiple types of the noun, but this usage isn't found in French. For instance, "the fishes" refers to multiple species of fish, while les poissons just refers to multiple fish.

Omitted Articles

When an article is missing in an English sentence, it must be added to the French translation. The definite article can be used to fill this void in three situations:

Almost anywhere one would use "the" in English (i.e. when referring to specific things).
Before the subject of a sentence to state general truths about it.
Before the direct object of a verb of appreciation (like aimer) to express like/dislike.
If any of the above is true, then use the definite article. Otherwise, use the indefinite or partitive, depending on whether or not the noun is countable.

I like wine, but I am drinking milk. — J'aime le vin, mais je bois du lait.
Both articles are missing in the English version of this example. Aimer expresses fondness for wine, so le vin should be used there. However, boire is not a verb of appreciation, so the partitive du should be used on the uncountable lait.

Cats are animals. — Les chats sont des animaux.
This is a general truth about cats, but #2 above can only apply to subjects, so only chats takes a definite article here. Animaux are countable, so use the plural indefinite des.

He likes to eat meat. — Il aime manger de la viande.
This is a tricky example because the meat is the direct object of manger, not aimer. Thus, #3 does not apply and viande cannot take a definite article.

Also, the French definite article can be ambiguous when translating from French to English. It can often refer to both a specific noun and the general sense of a noun.

Les chats sont des animaux. — Cats are animals. / The cats are animals.
De + Definite Article

De plus a definite article can also have other meanings. De means "of" or "from", so this can also indicate possession or association with a definite noun.

La copie du livre. — The copy of the book.
Les copies des livres. — The copies of the books.
L'enfant de la femme. — The woman's child.




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The french partitive articles

The Partitive Article

The partitive article is used for unspecified amounts of uncountable nouns. In English, it can translate to “some”, but it’s often just omitted. Remember that du is a contraction of de + le and that partitives can elide.

Gender Partitive Article Example
Masculine du Je mange du poisson. — I am eating fish.
Feminine de la Je mange de la viande. — I am eating meat.
Elided Masc. de l’ Je mange de l’ananas. — I am eating pineapple.
Elided Fem. de l’ Je bois de l’eau. — I am drinking water.
Nouns almost never appear without articles in French, so articles must be repeated in serial lists.

Il cuisine du poisson et de la viande — He cooks fish and meat.
Count Noun, Mass Noun, or Both?

Count nouns are discrete and can be counted, like une pomme (“an apple”). They can be modified by definite and indefinite articles, but not partitive articles.

Je mange une pomme. — I eat an apple.
Nous mangeons les pommes. — We are eating the apples.
Mass nouns like lait (“milk”) are uncountable, and they can be modified by definite and partitive articles, but not indefinite articles.

Je bois du lait. — I am drinking [some] milk.
Je bois le lait. — I am drinking the milk.
However, many nouns can behave as both count nouns and mass nouns. This is true for most edible things. For instance, consider poisson (“fish”) or vin (“wine”):

Count noun: Le poisson est rouge. — The fish is red.
Mass noun: Je mange du poisson. — I eat [some] fish.
Count noun: Le vin est blanc. — The wine is white.
Mass noun: Je bois du vin rouge ou blanc. — I drink red or white wine.
Note that some mass nouns can be pluralized in English when they refer to multiple types of the noun, but this usage isn’t found in French. For instance, “the fishes” refers to multiple species of fish, while les poissons just refers to multiple fish.

Omitted Articles

When an article is missing in an English sentence, it must be added to the French translation. The definite article can be used to fill this void in three situations:

Almost anywhere one would use “the” in English (i.e. when referring to specific things).
Before the subject of a sentence to state general truths about it.
Before the direct object of a verb of appreciation (like aimer) to express like/dislike.
If any of the above is true, then use the definite article. Otherwise, use the indefinite or partitive, depending on whether or not the noun is countable.

I like wine, but I am drinking milk. — J’aime le vin, mais je bois du lait.
Both articles are missing in the English version of this example. Aimer expresses fondness for wine, so le vin should be used there. However, boire is not a verb of appreciation, so the partitive du should be used on the uncountable lait.

Cats are animals. — Les chats sont des animaux.
This is a general truth about cats, but #2 above can only apply to subjects, so only chats takes a definite article here. Animaux are countable, so use the plural indefinite des.

He likes to eat meat. — Il aime manger de la viande.
This is a tricky example because the meat is the direct object of manger, not aimer. Thus, #3 does not apply and viande cannot take a definite article.

Also, the French definite article can be ambiguous when translating from French to English. It can often refer to both a specific noun and the general sense of a noun.

Les chats sont des animaux. — Cats are animals. / The cats are animals.
De + Definite Article

De plus a definite article can also have other meanings. De means “of” or “from”, so this can also indicate possession or association with a definite noun.

La copie du livre. — The copy of the book.
Les copies des livres. — The copies of the books.
L’enfant de la femme. — The woman’s child.



Tell me more | Dism

Some phrases in french

Learn some phrases in French

Bonjour!

Bonjour is a universal greeting that can be spoken to anyone at any time. In France, greeting people is very important, and some will even say bonjour aloud when entering a public room or bus. Bon après-midi is often used as a farewell in the afternoon, while bonsoir is an evening greeting.

Greetings: bonjour, bonsoir (plus bon matin in Québec only)
Farewells: bonne journée, bon après-midi, bonne soirée, bonne nuit
Idioms

Many words or phrases cannot be translated literally between English and French because their usages are idiomatic. For instance, consider « Ça va ? », which means “How are you?” The literal translation of the French is “That goes?”, but this is nonsensical in English. It is very important to identify idioms in both languages and learn how to translate them properly.

Liaisons

In a liaison, an otherwise silent ending consonant is pushed to the next word, where it’s pronounced as part of the first syllable. Like elisions, this prevents consecutive vowel sounds. Liaisons are possible whenever a silent ending consonant is followed by a word beginning in a vowel sound, but some liaisons are mandatory and others are forbidden.

Here are some mandatory liaisons, along with approximate pronunciations:

Articles and adjectives with nouns. For example, un homme (“uh-nohm”), mon orange (“mohn-norahnge”), or deux hommes (“duh-zohm”).
Pronouns and verbs. For example, nous allons (“noo-zalohn”) or est-il (“ay-teel”).
Single-syllable adverbs and prepositions. For instance, très utile (“tray-zuteel”) or chez elle (“shay-zell”).
Liaisons are forbidden:

Before and after et (“and”).
After singular nouns (including proper nouns and names).
After inversions (which you’ll learn in “Questions”).
Before an aspirated H (e.g. héros – “hero”).
After a nasal sound, except that un, on, and en do liaise.
Note that some consonants take on a different sound in liaisons to reduce ambiguity.

Original Consonant Resulting Liaison Sound Example
-s, -x, -z Z des hommes (“day-zohm”)
-d T un grand arbre (“uhn-grahn-tarbre”)
-f V neuf ans (“nuh-vahn”)
There are no ironclad liaison rules, especially across regions. Casual speech tends to have fewer than formal speech. Also, when speaking slowly, liaisons are often omitted. This is why liaisons disappear in the slow versions of listening exercises. Be careful of this.

Enchaînement

In enchaînements, ending consonant sounds are pushed onto the next word if it begins in a vowel. This is essentially the same as a liaison, except that the consonant sound wasn’t silent beforehand. For instance:

elle est is pronounced like “eh-lay”.
mange une pomme is pronounced like “mahn-jun-pom”.
The Impersonal Expression Il Y A

Impersonal expressions are phrases where there isn’t a real subject. For instance, in the phrase “It is snowing” (Il neige), “it” doesn’t refer to anything. It’s a dummy subject that exists just to maintain the sentence structure.

One of the most common impersonal expressions is il y a, which is an idiom for “there is” or “there are”.

Il y a une fille ici. — There is a girl here.
Il y a un serpent dans ma botte ! — There’s a snake in my boot!

More French Fundamentals

Plurals

Many French words have plural forms. Plural nouns and adjectives often end in -s, though the S is usually silent.

homme (“man”) ⇒ hommes (“men”)
femme (“woman”) ⇒ femmes (“women”)
chat noir (“black cat”) ⇒ chats noirs (“black cats”)
There are also plural forms for pronouns and verb conjugations. Consider parler (“to speak”):

Person French Example
I je Je parle. — I speak.
You (singular) tu Tu parles. — You speak.
You (formal) vous Vous parlez. — You speak.
He il Il parle. — He speaks.
She elle Elle parle. — She speaks.
We nous Nous parlons. — We speak.
You (plural) vous Vous parlez. — You speak.
They (any group including a male) ils Ils parlent. — They speak.
They (all women) elles Elles parlent. — They speak.
Tu or Vous?

French has two words for the subject pronoun “you”: tu and vous. For a singular “you”, tu should only be used for friends, peers, relatives, children, or anyone else who’s very familiar to you. In all other cases and also for plurals, the more polite vous should be used to show respect. When in doubt, use vous.

Agreement

Pronouns, adjectives, and articles must agree with their nouns in both gender and number. Consider the examples below and note how the article and adjective change to agree with each noun.

Masculine singular: Le chat noir — The black cat
Masculine plural: Les chats noirs — The black cats
Feminine singular: La robe noire — The black dress
Feminine plural: Les robes noires — The black dresses
Not all adjectives change forms. For instance, riche is the same for both masculine and feminine singular nouns.

Continuous Tenses

English has two present tenses: simple (“I write”) and continuous (“I am writing”), but French has no specialized continuous verb tenses. This means that “I write”, “I am writing”, and “I do write” can translate to j’écris (not je suis écris) and vice versa.

However, the idiomatic phrase « être en train de » is often used to indicate that someone is in the process of doing something.

Je suis en train de manger. — I am [in the process of] eating.
When translating, remember that English stative verbs have no continuous forms. For instance, « j’aime un garçon » cannot be translated as “I am loving a boy”.

Ah, L’Amour

Love is tricky in France. For people and pets, aimer means “to love”, but if you add an adverb, like in aimer bien, it means “to like”. For everything else, aimer only means “to like”. Adorer can always mean “to love”, though it tends to be more coy than aimer.

The french fundamental

Genders

French has two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. All nouns have a gender that you must memorize. Sometimes, the gender can be obvious: une femme ("a woman" is feminine. Other times, it's not obvious: une pomme ("an apple" is also feminine.

Personal Subject Pronouns

In every complete sentence, the subject is the person or thing that performs an action or is being described. This is often a noun, but a personal subject pronoun (e.g. "I", "you", or "he" can replace that noun. Like in English, pronouns have different forms based on what they replace.

English French Example

I je Je mange. — I eat.

You (singular) tu/vous Tu manges. — You eat.

He/It il Il mange. — He eats.

She/It elle Elle mange. — She eats.

Subject-Verb Agreement

Notice above that the verb manger (as well as its English equivalent, "to eat" changes form to agree grammatically with the subject. These forms are called conjugations of that verb. Whenever you want to learn a verb's conjugation, hover your mouse over that word and press the "C" button.

Here are some conjugations for verbs you'll encounter in this unit:

Subject Manger (To Eat) Être (To Be) Avoir (To Have)

je je mange — I eat je suis — I am j'ai — I have

tu tu manges — you eat tu es — you are tu as — you have

il/elle/on il mange — he eats il est — he is il a — he has

Articles

Articles (e.g. "the" or "a" provide context for a noun. In English, articles may be omitted, but French nouns almost always have an article. French has three types of articles:

Definite articles ("the" are used with specific nouns that are known to the speakers.

Indefinite articles ("a"/"an"/"one" are used for countable nouns that are unspecified or unknown to the speakers.

Partitive articles ("some"/"any" indicate a quantity of something uncountable.

Articles have multiple forms, as provided in this table:

Article Masculine Feminine Plural Example

Definite le/l' la/l' les le chat — the cat

Indefinite un une des une femme — a woman

Partitive du/de l' de la/de l' de l'eau — (some) water

It is critical to understand that articles must agree with their nouns in both gender and number. For instance, le femme is incorrect. It must be la femme because la is feminine and singular, just like femme.

Elisions

Le and la become just l' if they're followed by a vowel sound. This is an example of elision, which is the removal of a vowel sound in order to prevent consecutive vowel sounds and make pronunciation easier. Elisions are mandatory—for instance, je aime is incorrect. It must be j'aime.

These other one-syllable words can also elide: je, me, te, se, de, ne, and que. Tu can also be elided in casual speech, but not in writing (including on Duolingo).

Contractions

In a contraction, two words combine to form one shortened word. For instance, the partitive article du is a contraction of the preposition de with le.

du pain — (some) bread

However, since du can create vowel conflicts, when it would appear in front of a vowel sound, it takes the elided de l' form instead. This is also the case for de la.

de l'ananas [masc.] — (some) pineapple

de l'eau [fem.] — (some) water

Words Beginning with H

The letter H is always mute (silent) in French, but when H starts a word, it can act as a consonant (aspirate) or vowel (non-aspirate). For example, the H in homme acts as a vowel. This means that "the man" must be written as l'homme.

Conversely, an aspirate H doesn't participate in elisions or liaisons. It's usually found at the beginning of loanwords from German or other languages. For instance, "the hero" is le héros. Pay attention to this when learning new vocabulary.