Category Archives for Beginner Grammar

French Past Tense: Everything You Need to Know

French Past Tense could be a mind-numbing learning task. But when approached with an open mind and willingness to learn, you should be able to grasp it quite easily. It helps a lot though if you have brushed up on your English grammar. Knowing the tenses in your own language is the key to easily grasping […]

French Verb Être: Conjugation and Usage (+ FREE MP3)

The French verb être is one of the most important verbs you could learn in French. Être means “to be” and this highly irregular French verb can be found everywhere–in simple daily conversations, idiomatic expressions, written language, and elsewhere–making it a must-learn for anyone who is starting to learn French. Here in this article, you’ll learn everything […]

Learning the French Imperative (Imperatif)

Imagine a world where there are no commands or orders being issued. Well yeah, that’s right, you can’t. Whether you’re the one giving the orders or being given the orders, these things are all inexplicably intertwined with human nature and everyday living. To issue commands or give instructions, we use the imperative form of the verb. […]

French Verb Conjugation Quiz: How Many Can You Answer Correctly?

Tips on using the correct tense in French? (Q&A)

Bonjour ! If you are subscribed to the Talk in French newsletter, you probably know that I answer a lot of questions sent to me by subscribers. The questions range from language, travel, culture, and basically anything related to France that the readers can think of. Here, I’m sharing with you some of the questions sent […]

When to Use Tu vs. Vous in French: The Ultimate Guide

In a perfect world, using tu and vous when speaking French is a simple walk in the park. But no, we’re not as lucky as that. The sad reality is, the rules can be complicated and French learners who find themselves interacting socially with French people often struggle on which “you” to use. But wait—tu is for […]

Basic French Greetings (Complete Lesson with MP3!)

One of the very first things you need to know when learning French is the basic French greetings. How do you say hello and introduce yourself in French? In this article which originally appeared as the first lesson in the new book My French Routine Volume 1, we will learn all about the basic French greetings. This lesson will […]

Introduce Yourself in French With These 10 Examples (+MP3)

 [symple_highlight color=”green”]Reading time:  6 minutes[/symple_highlight] [symple_highlight color=”green”]Difficulty:  Beginner[/symple_highlight] If you want to introduce yourself, take a look at the 10 examples below. I asked some French learners on google plus and facebook to introduce themselves and I just corrected it. You will find the original version, the corrected version and I recorded it on audio so you […]

French Adverbs – The Simple Guide

Looking for a simple guide on French adverbs? Here in this article, we’ll break down French adverbs into the simplest terms and make learning all about it a breeze for you. Like other languages, the main words you’ll learn in French are nouns, verbs, and adjectives. However, you will definitely need more than that to express […]

Common Mistakes Made by English Speakers in French

French and English have some vocabulary in common and share grammatical similarities, but they are undoubtedly different languages. So it is quite normal for French speakers to make mistakes in English and vice versa. Do you chuckle whenever you hear a French native pronounce English words without an “h”, or when they add an “s” after […]

The Basics of French Prepositions

   [symple_highlight color=”green”]Reading time: 4 minutes[/symple_highlight] [symple_highlight color=”green”]Difficulty: Intermediate[/symple_highlight] We use prepositions so much in our daily speech but we often take these things for granted. Most of the time, it results in misuse of English prepositions or interchanging our ins and ons and ats. Therefore, a clear grasp (or a working knowledge at the very least) of […]

How to Ask Questions in French

 [symple_highlight color=”green”]Reading time:  6 minutes[/symple_highlight] [symple_highlight color=”green”]Difficulty: Beginner[/symple_highlight] Questions are an essential part of any conversation, and being able to properly formulate a question in French is an extremely important part of your learning. In this article, we will look into the different ways that you can ask your questions using the French language. There are five […]