English Speakers Beware: Common Mistakes When Learning French
Each language has its own rules, and this article recognizes common mistakes of English speaking people when they speak in French.
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1. The verb ‘manquer’2. Contraction with ‘h’ muet.”3. Change in spelling (ma + vowel = mon…)4. Adjective orderQuick recapFrench 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 an adjective to mark the plural?
Ok, you’re so correct in your language, but do remember the French proverb “rira bien qui rira le dernier” (he who laughs last laughs longest). If you really want to be “the one who laughs last”, be careful to not make mistakes when it’s your turn to speak French.
Perhaps reading this article is a good start.
1. The verb ‘manquer’
This is a confusing but also interesting verb. Some of you are starting to say “What’s confusing about this verb, isn’t that a simple 1st group verb?”. Ok, you’re right, but I’m not talking about the conjugation. Knowing that the usual translation of “manquer” is “miss”, let’s translate this sentence:
- I miss you.
If you are doing a word-by-word translation, you will have:
“I” = “Je”, “miss” = “manquer”, “you” = “tu” -> “Je te manque“. Sounds correct, no? Unfortunately, the answer is “NO”, the order is wrong.
The right sentence should be Tu me manques.
Contrary to English, in French, the one who is missed is the subject, and the one who misses (the other one) is the object. Actually the construction is “A manque à B” / “A is missing to B”.
But in short, all you need to remember is that when you are missing someone else, he/she is probably more important than you, so he/she should be the subject, and not you .
2. Contraction with ‘h’ muet.”
You probably know about the contraction of some words in French before a vowel. For example:
- je ai -> j’ai
- le aspect -> l’aspect
You also know that the “h” in French is not pronounced. For example “hiver” (winter) is pronounced “iver”
But, whether the “h” acts as a vowel or a consonant, or in other words, whether you have to use a contraction before a word starting with an “h” is not a simple problem for foreigners learning French. Actually both cases could be true:
- In French, the “h” at the beginning of some words acts as a vowel, meaning you need to use contraction with those words.
Example:
l’hiver winter
l’hébergement lodging
l’herbe grass
l’heure hour
Sometimes the “h”, usually in words that are borrowed from other languages, acts as a consonant, so you cannot use contraction with those words. These are called “h aspiré” (aspirate h). Some examples are given below:
le haddock haddock
la haine hatred
le hamburger hamburger
le hall hall
Note: an h aspiré blocks elision and liaison; it does not mean you should pronounce an English-style “h” sound. The French word hamburger begins without that sound.
Quick tip
When you learn a noun in French, learn its gender together. When you learn a word that starts with an “h”, also learn whether this “h” is muet or aspiré
3. Change in spelling (ma + vowel = mon…)
This is a small grammar point, but a very common mistake.
Let’s take a look at this sentence:
“J’attends ma amie ici”
“amie” has an “e”, so the speaker is talking about a woman. The word “ma” is used for a feminine noun, so all seems to be correct here. However, it doesn’t sound very good to a French ear, so we use “mon” instead.
-> J’attends mon amie ici.
Quick tip
Think of the way “a” and “an” change in English. In French, ma, ta and sa generally become mon, ton and son before a feminine word beginning with a vowel or an h muet: mon amie, ton ancienne maison. The word remains feminine. This is not a ban on all adjacent vowel sounds: combinations such as tu as and la petite amie are correct. Elision applies only to particular words and constructions.
4. Adjective order
In English, most adjectives are placed before the noun (with very few exceptions), but in French it is not this simple and it can cause confusion for English speaking learners. Let’s take a look at this problem:
Rule 1: In general, the adjective in French is placed after the noun it modifies.
Les chaussures noires the black shoes
Exception 1: Some adjectives are placed before the noun it modifies:
- bongood
- mauvaisbad
- petitsmall
- grandtall
- jolipretty
- jeuneyoung
- vieux,vieille(f)old
- nouveau, nouvelle (f)new
Exception 2: Some adjectives can be placed both before and after the noun, and have different meanings when placed in different positions:
- Son ancien mari her former husband
- Une statue ancienne an antique statue
Quick tip:
In general, French adjectives are placed after the noun. But there are exceptions, so when you read a French text and find an adjective that precedes the noun it modifies, try to memorize it and understand its meaning. Reading French texts with as much attention as possible is the best way to improve your French and therefore avoid this type of mistake
Quick recap
- In French, if you miss someone, he/she is even more important than yourself, so he/she should be the subject.
- The “h” in French is never pronounced, but be careful to distinguish between an “h muet” and an “h aspiré”
- Remember the specific patterns: ma/ta/sa generally become mon/ton/son before a feminine word beginning with a vowel or h muet, while words such as je and the articles le/la elide where required. Do not apply this to every pair of vowel sounds.
- Most of the French adjectives follow the noun they modify. When you see an exception, just learn it!
