Notice that verbs in French don’t always have a direct English counterpart: sometimes the equivalent “verb” is a multi word phrase, such as “J’ai besoin de + something” meaning “I need + something.”

Also, sometimes English verbs [...]]]> Below are some of the most common verbs in the French language.

This French verb vocabulary list is also available as a flaschard list and can be downloaded in PDF form here.

Softly, she laughed. / She softly laughed. / She laughed softly.

None of the above versions is out and [...]]]> In English, there’s a bit of freedom in where to position your adverbs, and while there may be a preferred location for certain sentence constructions, there usually isn’t a truly INCORRECT place to place the adverb.

Softly, she laughed. / She softly laughed. / She laughed softly.

None of the above versions is out and out wrong, though one may sound “more correct” to your ears.

However, with French adverbs, there is a specific place they usually go, depending on the type of adverb and what it’s modifying (remember, adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs). When in doubt, your best guess is to put them right after the verb, but here are the specific placement rules:

#1: Adverbs of Frequency

Adverbs that describe how often something happens (such as toujours, rarement, immédiatement, etc. go after the verb, even if it’s a compound verb structure, such as passé composé).

#2: Short adverbs

Short adverbs, like mal, bien and souvent, go right AFTER the verb in simple verb tenses, just like you’d expect. However, with compound (two-part) verb tenses, they go BETWEEN the conjugated verb and the past participle.

#3:”Time” Adverbs

Adverbs of specific days, such as aujourd’hui and demain, got at the BEGINNING or END of the sentence. This one shouldn’t be too difficult to remember, because it’s generally how we would say it in English, as well.

#4: Long Adverbs

Like the “time” adverbs, long adverbs generally go at the beginning or end of a sentence. This structure is sometimes different from how many people would structure the sentence in English, but the idea is to not “confuse” the main part of the sentence with a long, multi-syllable adverb, and instead stick it at the beginning or end of a sentence, separated by a comma.

#5: Adverbs that Modify Adjectives or Other Adverbs

This last French adverb rule is really easy, because it’s exactly the same way in English – you put the adverb IN FRONT OF the other adverb or adjective it’s modifying. In other words, place the “main” adverb (the one that refers directly to the verb) in its place, then just place any other adverbs right in front o fit.

A Final Note: Forming Adverbs

The ending -ment in French is almost a direct equivalent to the -ly ending in English, and many adjectives that can be turned into adverbs by adding -ly in English can be created by adding -ment to the end in French. For example:

rapide (adjective) → rapidement (adverb)

timide (adjective) → timidement (adverb)

lent (adjective) → lentement (adverb)

And that’s it (for now) for adverb grammar rules in French! Make sure you know the French adjective grammar rules as well.

In this sentence, “the [...]]]> Wow, that title sounds really scary, doesn’t it? It’s really not that bad though – the only difficulty comes from the fact that in French, direct and indirect object pronouns don’t go the same place in the sentence that they do in English.

For example, say you’ve got the sentence:

“Cassie brings her mother the keys.”

In French, this would be literally translated, word for word, in the same order:

“Cassie apporte sa mère les clés.”

Okay so far?

The difference between the order in English and in French comes when you use a pronoun instead of a noun, such as “her” instead of “mother” or “them” instead of “keys”.

In English, we would keep the same order:

“Cassie brings her them.”

But not so in French. If the indirect and/or direct object is a pronoun, it’s goes in front of the verb, not behind it.

“Cassie les lui apporte.”

So in English, this would literally read:

“Cassie them her brings.”

Which, yes, might seem pretty weird right now, but you’ll get used to it pretty quickly.

The Pronouns

So now you’re wondering where these pronouns are coming from. Here are the two sets of object pronouns you’ll need to know.

Notice that vous and nous are the same from their subject pronoun forms, no different from the words you’ve already learned. Also, it’s me and te for both direct and indirect object pronouns, so you don’t have to stop and think about those, either, when you’re forming a sentence with object pronouns.

So the only pronouns that you really need to know and study is that it’s le/la/les if it’s a direct object, lui/leur for indirect objects.

The Order of Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns

Last thing: the pronouns go in a specific order in the sentence, just like they would in English. For example, you would say:

“Bring me it.”

Not:

“Bring it me”

Luckily, I’ve got a nifty chart below that shows you the order of pronouns:

This might look frightening, but it really isn’t. Just remember that y and en are the last two (in that order), the ones referring to “me” or “you”, both plural and singular, go first, and after that, direct third-person (le/la/les) goes before indirect third person (lui/leur), which kind of makes sense.

Memorize the order for now, but know that as you progress in your French and start listening and reading the language, you’ll get used to the order pretty quickly, and it will sound wrong to you if the pronouns are out of order.

If the terms “subject” and “direct object” are a little hazy for you, you may want to brush up on your French pronouns grammar, because pronouns matter a lot in French. They [...]]]> Below are some of the most fundamental words in the French language to give you a basic foundation in French vocabulary.

French Pronouns

If the terms “subject” and “direct object” are a little hazy for you, you may want to brush up on your French pronouns grammar, because pronouns matter a lot in French. They go in different places in the sentence than they would in English, and the form of pronoun also changes depending on its role within the sentence.

Subject of the sentence (Example: He danced all night.)

Direct object of the sentence (Example: Mary brought him.)

Notice that elle, vous and nous have not changed from their subject versions.

French Conjunctions, Prepositions and Exclamations

Common French Verbs

Most common verbs in French (as in most languages) have irregular structures. This applies to most of the verbs listed below.

Check out our French grammar guide or go directly to present tense conjugations to learn how to conjugate these verbs in sentences.

Common French Nouns

Common French Adjectives

Below are some common French adjectives. Remember that the adjective almost always changes (usually by adding an e on the end if there isn’t already one) if the adjective is describing a female or a feminine noun. If the feminine form is formed differently, it is listed in parenthesis after the masculine form.

Notice how the last consonant [...]]]> While the verbs that end in -er are the most common pattern of French verbs, there are two other major verb patterns: -ir and -re verbs. (Note that the highlighted cells are all pronounced identically.)

-IR Verbs

Notice how the last consonant before the -ir ending gets doubled on the “right” side of the conjugation chart. This doubling also means you pronounce the consonant in the ils/ells conjugation (but not the -ent at the very end, that never gets pronounced.)

Examples of other -ir verbs include: finir, partir, venir, courir.

-RE Verbs

Again, notice the doubling of the last consonant before the -re ending on the right-hand side of the chart, which means you will pronounce the last consonant of the ils/elles conjugation (but never the -ent ending).

Examples of other -re verbs include: prendre, connaître, mourir, offrir.

Common Irregular Verbs

Être (to be) and Avoir (to have) were the two irregular verb conjugations we covered in the last lesson, but there are several more irregular verbs that are important to learn.

Other French Verb Patterns

These verbs are part of smaller groups of verbs with similar endings that are conjugated in the same way, so it’s easiest to memorize them as a group to keep from feeling overwhelmed at the dozens of different verb patterns that exist.

Dormir/Servir/Sortir

For these verbs, you add back the final consonant in the plural forms before tacking on the normal -ons, -ez, -ent endings.

Pouvoir/Vouloir

These verbs get an unusual eu form for the “boot”, with an -x ending for je and tu, and ils/elles takes the je form, minus the x, plus the final consonant + -ent. As mentioned in the side box, the change for the plural form happens because nous “peuxons” wouldn’t be a strong enough sound, with that soft eu and “z” sound that the x makes, to support the right-hand side verb endings.

As for where the “eu” for the boot forms comes from in the first place, I have no idea. You just have to memorize it.

First, you need to know that, just like in English, what changes a verb’s ending depends on the pronoun that goes in front of it. For example:

I talk, but she talks

You speak, but he speaks

French is the same way – the verb will have a different ending depending on the pronoun that goes in front of it (though there are more variations to memorize).

For regular verbs (those that follow a set pattern) – there is a simple pattern you can learn quickly to know the endings.

Note that the highlighted cells (what some French courses teach as “the boot” because of the shape it makes on the chart) are all pronounced the same way, with endings that are silent, despite the difference in the spellings. Only the nous and vous forms are pronounced differently, with endings that you can hear.

Though many more verbs in French follow a logical pattern than in English, some common verbs have evolved over time to have irregular verb conjugations that you just have to memorize. The two most important to know are être (to be) and avoir (to have).

To learn more about French present tense verb conjugation, click here to move on to Present Tense: Lesson 2.

Political French Vocabulary Words

People and Firms in Finance