Category: French Grammar

The four core French verbs (être, avoir, aller, and faire) are the most important verbs to learn and will dramatically increase your French proficiency.

Using il est versus c’est is a subtle nuance of French that native speakers use effortlessly but can require conscious effort on non-native French learners’ parts. There are some consistent rules to using these French grammar structures, and we cover some notable exceptions, as well as when using either structure implies different meanings.

Pronouns ‘y’ and ‘en’ are commonly taught later than direct and indirect object pronouns in French, and they have multiple meanings. They replace something and have different placements in sentences compared to English.

Talking about time and dates in French can be challenging for English speakers due to the different verb tenses and idiomatic expressions. Learning the vocabulary words and sentence structures for expressing time in French is necessary for more advanced speakers, and may require some practice and time to learn.

French present participles are verb forms showing present circumstances or events that are in the midst of happening, as well as modifying nouns as another type of adjective. They are simple to form, with relatively few exceptions and nuances to remember, but they will expand your grammatical repertoire significantly.

Comparative and superlatives in French are generally simpler than in English, though there are a few irregular forms to use and an unusual structure in certain cases. However, if you remember the limited irregular forms and to use the appropriate gender and singular/plural endings, you will have mastered most of this grammar structure.

Pronouns replace nouns in sentences, and they are an easy way to avoid redundancy and construct more advanced sentences in French. They take different forms depending on what function in the sentence they are taking and which pronoun they are replacing. There are often distinct masculine/feminine and singular/plural forms.

Prepositions aren’t the most exciting topic in French, but they’re essential for understanding how words relate to each other. Quite a few prepositions and verb and preposition combinations work differently in French than in English, so it’s important to gain an understanding of when and why those differences arise, and how to decide which is the correct preposition to use when you are speaking or writing in French.

Learning how to ask questions in French is a vital grammar and vocabulary skill to acquire, and there are lots of ways to form questions. In this lesson we provide a thorough review of the major parts of speech and vocabulary to learn to ask many kinds of questions, as well as covering the variety of ways one can correctly form questions in French.

Articles and determiner adjectives, modify nouns and give further information on the noun being modified. They vary by gender and number of the noun being modified.

Devoir, pouvoir, and vouloir are three common French -oir verbs frequently used and important to understand. Here’s how they work.

Possessives in French come in several different forms, all of which are easy to learn! Here are the most common ways to talk about ownership.