The Simple Guide to Informal French Grammar
Get the lowdown on how to speak Informal French fast! Click here to read about it and know all about the casual figures of speech in the French Language.
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1. ‘tu’ and ‘vous’2. Contracted ‘tu’3. Drop ‘ne’ in negatives4. Informal interrogative sentences5. Informal use of pronouns6. Unstressed e7. Reduced forms: il(s), elle(s), puis, parce que, quelque8. Reduced final -re in casual speech9. The impersonal ‘il’10. Don’t worry too much about grammatical rulesAre you already speaking French so well but still sound as if you just came out of a French grammar book?
Do you feel so formal and out-of-place when speaking with native French speakers?
Well, let me let you in on one practical tip: try to speak a little bit informally!
When speaking in your own native language, you most likely use informal grammar structures in many sentences (if not always) to better express your thoughts and emotions to your listeners. Certainly, every language has colloquial terms and French is no exception.
To help you sound more natural when speaking French, here are some simple guidelines to keep in mind:
1. ‘tu’ and ‘vous’
Both tu and vous mean “you.” With a friend or family member, you can usually use tu instead of the more formal singular vous. Vous is also the plural “you,” even when speaking informally to several people.
For example:
Informal: Je te présente Marie. — Let me introduce Marie to you.
Formal: Je vous présente Marie. — Let me introduce Marie to you.
Informal: Je t’en prie. You’re welcome.
Formal: Je vous en prie.
2. Contracted ‘tu’
In informal French, tu can be shortened to t’ before a verb beginning with a vowel. This is especially common with tu as and tu es, which become t’as and t’es.
tu aimes —> t’aimes
tu ouvres —> t’ouvres
tu arrives —> t’arrives
tu écoutes —> t’écoutes
Remember though that this is only spoken in casual conversations and written in very informal contexts (like SMS between friends), not in newspapers, research, and the like.
3. Drop ‘ne’ in negatives
Usually, the French pair ne…pas is used to make a sentence negative. However, in a typical informal and familiar setting, the ne is often dropped in spoken French. Of course, proper French grammar would ‘negate’ this idea but if your goal is to sound more French, you can drop the ne. The meaning remains the same.
Tu ne comprends pas. —> Tu comprends pas. (You don’t understand.)
Ne faites pas ça ! —> Faites pas ça! (Don’t do that!)
4. Informal interrogative sentences
Inverting the subject and verb is a common way to ask a question in French, especially in formal speech and writing. In informal conversation, the usual statement order with rising intonation is very common: Où vas-tu ? (“Where are you going?”) becomes Tu vas où ?.
5. Informal use of pronouns
For cela and ça, which can mean “this,” “that,” or “it,” depending on context:
- ça is used in informal speech and it frequently follows an interrogative to add emphasis, such as in “qui ça”?.
- cela is used in formal speech
For nous and on:
- As subject pronouns, nous and on can both mean “we.” In informal French, on often replaces nous and takes a third-person singular verb. Adjectives and participles can still agree with the people meant: Nous sommes contents becomes On est contents. On does not replace the object pronoun nous (“us”).
6. Unstressed e
An unstressed e can disappear in everyday speech when the surrounding sounds allow it. This can happen in short words and in some future and conditional forms. The amount of reduction varies with the speaker, region, and speaking speed.
7. Reduced forms: il(s), elle(s), puis, parce que, quelque
In very casual speech, il and ils may sound like “y” before a consonant: il fait can sound like y fait. Some regional forms also reduce elle and elles. Before a vowel, plural ils and elles normally have a /z/ liaison. You may also hear pis for puis, pasque for parce que, and quèque for quelque. These are informal or regional pronunciations, not standard spellings or rules used by every speaker.
8. Reduced final -re in casual speech
The final e in -re is usually silent, but the r is normally pronounced: mettre is /mɛtʁ/. In very casual speech, a final consonant cluster may be simplified, so you may hear mettre pronounced /mɛt/.
9. The impersonal ‘il’
The impersonal pronoun il does not refer to a particular person or thing, as in il faut and il pleut. In informal speech it can be omitted in common expressions, especially il faut: Il ne faut pas oublier becomes Faut pas oublier. This is not a general rule for every impersonal verb.
10. Don’t worry too much about grammatical rules
The most important thing that you shouldn’t miss when learning how to speak informal French is that…(drum roll, please)…you DON’T need to worry so much about what the grammar book has to say! Why, native speakers (in any language for that matter) all started with baby babble, right? Nobody ever started with a grammar book in the womb, that’s for sure. So, relax! It’s okay to forget some of those rules once in a while…if you want to sound naturally informal.
But remember that grammar is still very important for you to become familiar with, so you’ll know which rules are okay to break later on.
So there you have it, folks! The top ten things to remember when speaking informal French!
