French Articles

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-18-2022

If you’re ready to move beyond the basics in French and want to improve your skills at reading, writing, or speaking in French, start by reviewing the three types of French articles, the French contractions formed with à and de, and French personal pronouns. Learning the correct object pronoun word order and identifying verbs that use être as their auxiliary verb will boost your confidence when speaking French.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-22-2022

Like any new language, learning French can be a challenge. You have to interpret unfamiliar sounds, decipher idioms, conjugate verbs in multiple tenses, dot your is, cross your ts, and link your œs. Nouns have both number and gender, and adjectives and articles have to agree with them. Here are a few French fundamentals to give your speaking, listening, reading, and writing a boost.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-15-2022

If you’re studying French, you need to get a handle on French verbs. Luckily, there’s a pattern to conjugating regular French verbs into the simple and compound tenses, so once you know how to conjugate one, you know hundreds! Learn how to give commands, directions, or requests by studying the imperative conjugations of French verbs. You can also check out these five frequently mixed-up verbs.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 01-19-2022

Whether you’re planning a trip to France or to a French-speaking country or you just want to learn a little French, knowing a few helpful expressions can make you feel more comfortable with the language. In this handy Cheat Sheet, you'll find basic French expressions, questions for gathering information or asking for help, and phrases to use in a restaurant. You'll also find the dates and numbers in French.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 01-19-2022

French grammar is all about using French words in the correct way so people can understand your meaning. You can learn a lot of French words by browsing an English-French dictionary, but to make sense, you need to know the rules of French grammar. Some of the basics include making nouns plural, adding description by pairing adjectives correctly to nouns, and using pronominal verbs to talk about actions done to you or someone else.

Article / Updated 10-28-2021

As you discuss days, months, and specific dates in French, you’re going to need tell time (l’heure) and probably with both the 12-hour and 24-hour clocks. How to express French time via the 12-hour clock Time is typically expressed based on a 12-hour clock. In French, you say the hour then the minutes, and it’s a little different from the way it’s done in English. To tell a time on the hour in French, use il est + (number) + heure(s). For example: il est deux heures (it is two o’clock). Note: When it is one o’clock, say: il est une heure (it is one o’clock), using the feminine singular une instead of un because the word heure (hour) is feminine. Always say the word heure(s) when telling time. Even if familiar language often skips il est, it never skips heure(s). For example: quelle heure est-il? (what time is it?) Huit heures (eight o’clock). French minutes have a few twists and turns that you may not expect. Check these out: To say 1 to 30 minutes past the hour, simply say the number of minutes after the hour, like this: Il est deux heures dix. (Literally, it is two hours ten, which is to say, it is 2:10.) Il est sept heures vingt-cinq. (It is 7:25.) For 15 minutes past the hour say, et quart (and a quarter). For example: Il est une heure et quart. (It’s a quarter past one.) For 30 minutes past the hour, say et demie (and a half). For example: Il est une heure et demie. (It’s half past one.) For 31 to 59 minutes past the hour, say the next hour moins (minus) the number of minutes, like this: Il est quatre heures moins dix. (Literally, four hours minus 10, or 3:50.) Il est huit heures moins vingt. (Literally, eight hours minus 20, meaning 7:40.) For a quarter until the hour, say moins le quart (minus the quarter). For example: Il est trois heures moins le quart. (It is a quarter until 3; meaning 2:45.) To abbreviate a time in French, don’t use a colon between the hour and minutes like in English. Instead, use the letter h (for heure), like this: 8h10 (8:10). French has specific words for noon and midnight: midi (noon) and minuit (midnight). Those two words are used without saying heures. For example: Il est minuit. Tout le monde au lit! (It’s midnight. Everybody to bed!) With the 12-hour clock, you may need to clarify whether it’s 8 a.m. or 8 p.m. It could make a big difference! French uses phrases to express the difference between morning (le matin), afternoon (l’après-midi), and evening/night (le soir). du matin (in the morning or a.m.) For example: Il part à six heures et demie du matin. (He leaves at 6:30 a.m.) de l’après-midi (in the afternoon or p.m.) For example: En hiver il fait nuit à cinq heures de l’après-midi. (In the winter, it’s dark at 5 p.m.) du soir (in the evening/at night or p.m.) For example: Ils dînent à sept heures du soir. (They eat dinner at 7 p.m.) The line between afternoon and evening is not a very fixed one. It varies with the perception of the speaker, the seasons, even the weather. Here are a few expressions that can come in handy when telling time in French. pile (on the dot). For example: Il mange à midi pile. (He eats at noon on the dot.) à (at). For example: Viens à trois heures. (Come at 3.) C’est à quelle heure? (At what time is it?) vers (around). For example: Je passerai vers 9 heures. (I will stop by around 9.) How to express French time via the 24-hour clock If you travel in France, you really may need this information! Using the 24-hour clock is really quite simple, because all you do is add. No more moins le quart or et demie and the like. All you need is to keep in mind that the 24-hour clock begins at zéro heure (12 a.m.) and ends at 23.59 (11:59 p.m.), and you write a period between the two parts of the time instead of using an h. For example, 13.00 (treize heures) is 1 p.m., 14.00 (quatorze heures) is 2 p.m., 15.00 (quinze heures) is 3 p.m., and so on. And because it’s clear that all times after 12 (noon) are p.m., you have no need for du matin, de l’après-midi, or du soir anymore. Here are some examples: Le film commence à 20.40 (vingt heures quarante). (The movie begins at 8:40 p.m.) Le bureau est ouvert de 8.00 (huit heures) à 17.30 (dix-sept heures trente). (The office is open from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.) Le déjeuner est servi à 12.15 (douze heures quinze) et le diner à 19.45 (dix-neuf-­heures quarante-cinq). (Lunch is served at 12:15, and dinner at 7:45.)

Article / Updated 09-14-2021

To simplify things, French has classified regular verbs into three types, based on the ending of their infinitives. Think of all the things you can possibly do in one day. That’s also a lot of French verbs to conjugate. The largest group is the verbs with infinitives that end in -er (the -er verbs), like parler (to speak). The second largest group is made up of the verbs with infinitives that end in -ir (the -ir verbs), like finir (to finish). The third group consists of the -re ending verbs (the -re verbs), like vendre (to sell). Each type follows a pattern of conjugation for every tense. Think of the infinitive as the family name of a verb: A family shares a common last name, but each individual has their own characteristics, right? Use the infinitive to recognize the verb type (-er, -ir, or -re) that allows you to find its conjugation pattern and also look up the verb in the dictionary. How to conjugate a regular -er verb More than 80 percent of French verbs are -er verbs. It’s great for you, because after you know this group's pattern of conjugation in the present tense, you can pretty much conjugate 80 percent of French verbs. Doesn’t that sound great? To conjugate a regular -er verb, drop the -er of the infinitive to get the stem. Then add the six present tense endings specific to -er verbs: -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent, and you’re done. Easy! The following table conjugates a regular -er verb: aimer (to like). j’aime nous aimons tu aimes vous aimez il/elle/on aime ils/elles aiment Aller (to go) is a very common verb, and it looks like a regular -er verb. However, it is not. Aller is a very irregular verb. How to conjugate a regular -ir verb The -ir verb group is the second most common verb type. To form the present tense of a regular -ir verb, drop the -ir of the infinitive to get the stem for the present tense conjugation. Then add the present tense endings specific to -ir verbs: -is, -is, -it, -issons, -issez, -issent. The following table conjugates a regular -ir verb: finir (to finish). je finis nous finissons tu finis vous finissez il/elle/on finit ils/elles finissent Not all -ir verbs follow this pattern. So just use a little more caution when dealing with -ir ending verbs. How to conjugate a regular -re verb Verbs that end in -re are the third conjugation type. To form the present tense of an -re verb, drop the -re of the infinitive, like you do for -er and -ir verbs. When you do that, you’re left with the stem for the conjugation of the present tense, and you can add the present tense endings specific to -re verbs: -s, -s, nothing, -ons, -ez, -ent. The following table conjugates a regular -re verb: vendre (to sell). je vends nous vendons tu vends vous vendez il/elle/on vend ils/elles vendent

Article / Updated 01-13-2020

Knowing some common French greetings and good-byes will be indispensable when traveling in French-speaking countries. Saying hello and good-bye in French will quickly become second nature because you'll use them day in and day out with everyone you come across. In most French-speaking countries it's considered good manners to greet everyone. So, whether you're speaking to a clerk, a waiter, or just bumping into someone on the street, take the time to say a polite bonjour before you proceed. This also means that when step on the bus or train you should say a quick bonjour to anyone within hearing distance. The most common conversational ways to greet someone in French are: Salut. (Hello; Hi. [Informal]) Bonjour. (Hello; Good morning.) Bonsoir. (Good evening.) You might think that you can use good afternoon (bon après-midi) as a greeting the way you can in the United States, but in most French-speaking countries, bon après-midi should only be used to as a form of goodbye. Greeting with a cheek kiss Cheek kissing is another common type of greeting in most French-speaking countries. However, the rules for cheek kisses can be complicated matter. The rules change depending on the country you're in and even the region of the country. For example, in Belgium, it's customary to greet everyone in your generation or younger with one kiss, but anyone that's a generation or more older than you should be given three kiss (right cheek-left-then right again). In Paris, most people stick to a four-kiss rule, but in most of the rest of France, two kisses is the norm. If you think that's confusing, you're right. The good news is that when you meet someone for the first time, you can usually just shake hands. Then just watch how other people interact. Because it's such a common practice, you should quickly be able to determine what the standard is where you're staying. How are you? How's it going? Asking how someone is doing is a common greeting in the U.S. How many times a day do we hear or say these brief greetings at the beginning of our conversations? So many times, in fact, that half the time, we don't even pay attention. These pleasantries are common in French-speaking countries as well. The most common ways to ask how someone is doing are: Comment ça va? (How’s it going?) Comment vas-tu? (How are you? [Informal]) Comment allez-vous? (How are you? [Formal]) Ça va? (How’s it going? [Informal]) As you'd expect, when someone asks you how you're doing, there are many possible responses. Ça va bien. It’s going well.) Tout va bien. (Everything is going well.) Je vais bien, merci. (I’m fine, thank you.) Je vais très bien. (I’m very well.) Je ne vais pas très bien. (I’m not doing very well.) Je vais comme-ci, comme-ça. (I’m so-so.) Once you've said that you're fine, or good, or so-so, it is customary to ask how the other person is doing. You can do this easily by saying Et toi? (And you? [informal]) or Et vous? (And you? [formal]). Saying good-bye As many ways as there are to greet someone, you'll find plenty of ways say goodbye, as well. Au revoir. (Good-bye.) Salut. (Good-bye. [Informal]) À bientôt. (See you soon.) À tout de suite. (See you in a minute.) À plus tard. (See you later.) À la prochaine. (Until next time.) À demain. (See you tomorrow.) À la semaine prochaine. (See you next week.) À lundi. (See you on Monday.) Bonne journée! (Have a good day!) Bonne chance! (Good luck!) Bonne nuit. (Good night. Used only when someone is going to sleep or retiring for the evening.) Aside from a few exceptions, final consonants aren’t pronounced in French. Pronounce a final consonant only if it’s followed by a vowel.

Article / Updated 01-13-2020

Many verbs have an -ir ending, but not all of them play nice! Some verbs don’t follow the regular conjugating patterns. They are irregular, and many of them actually don’t follow much of a pattern at all! How to conjugate short French -ir verbs About 30 -ir verbs don’t follow the regular -ir conjugation pattern of finir. These are short verbs because they lack the -iss part of the plural endings that regular -ir verbs have. To conjugate such -ir verbs, the easiest way is to separate the singular forms (je, tu, il/elle/on) from the plural (nous, vous, ils/elles). Here’s how to conjugate the present tense of short -ir verbs for the je, tu, and il/elle/on forms: Drop the -ir ending as well as the final consonant before it. For example, for the verb partir (to leave), you take off -tir, so you’re left with par-. Now add the ending that fits your subject: -s, -s, or -t. In the example, you wind up with this: je pars, tu pars, il/elle/on part. Here’s how to conjugate the present tense of short -ir verbs for the nous, vous, and ils/elles forms: Drop only the -ir of the infinitive to get the stem. For example, for the verb partir, you take off -ir, so you’re left with part-. Now add the ending -ons, -ez, or -ent. You wind up with this: nous partons, vous partez, ils/elles partent. The following tables give you an example of the short -ir conjugation, next to a regular -ir verb conjugation so you can clearly see the missing -iss in the plural . The short -ir verb is partir, and the long one grandir. je pars nous partons tu pars vous partez il/elle/on part ils/elles partent je grandis nous grandissons tu grandis vous grandissez il/elle/on grandit ils/elles grandissent Other examples of short -ir verbs include dormir (to sleep), se sentir (to feel), sortir (to go out), and servir (to serve). French -ir verbs that behave like -er verbs Some -ir verbs behave like -er verbs. To conjugate them, you drop the -ir ending, like you would with a regular verb like finir. Then you add, well, the regular -er verb endings: -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, and -ent! Here’s the complete conjugation of one such verb, ouvrir (to open). j’ouvre nous ouvrons tu ouvres vous ouvrez il/elle/on ouvre ils/elles ouvrent Other verbs of this type include découvrir (to discover), offrir (to offer), and souffrir (to suffer). The French verbs venir and tenir Finally, you meet a special group of verbs: venir (to come), tenir (to hold), and all their siblings (called compound verbs because they are formed with a prefix + venir or tenir). Such verbs include: se souvenir (to remember), devenir (to become), revenir (to come back), appartenir (to belong), and soutenir (to support). To conjugate these irregular -ir verbs, drop the -enir of the infinitive and replace it with -iens, -iens, -ient, -enons, -enez, or -iennent. The following tables give you the complete present tense conjugation of venir and tenir. je viens nous venons tu viens vous venez il/elle/on vient ils/elles viennent je tiens nous tenons tu tiens vous tenez Il/elle/on tient ils/elles tiennent The je, tu, il/elle/on, and ils/elles forms have the same stem (-ien + ending), whereas the nous and vous forms have the same stem as the infinitive (-en).

Article / Updated 01-13-2020

To use the correct form of a French verb, you have to use the right tense. The indicative mood, which deals with objectivity — things really happening — includes many time aspects called tenses. A tense defines the time frame in which the action of the verb takes place: past, present, or future. The following French verb tenses chart explains when to use each tense. It shows how compound tenses build off simpler ones and conjugate verbs for each tense: chanter (to sing) and se laver (to wash oneself). Time Frame French Tense How to Build from Other Tenses Examples What happens, is happening, or does happen Present indicative/présent de l’indicatif je chante je me lave What just happened Near past/passé récent Present venir + de + infinitive je viens de chanter je viens de me laver What is going to happen Near future/futur proche Present aller + infinitive je vais chanter je vais me laver What [has] happened precisely and completely Passé composé Present avoir/être + past participle j’ai chanté je me suis lavé(e) What was happening or used to happen or just was a certain way Imperfect/Imparfait je chantais je me lavais What had happened Pluperfect/plus-que-parfait Imparfait avoir/être + past participle j’avais chanté je m’étais lavé(e) What will happen Simple future/futur simple je chanterai je me laverai What will have happened Future perfect/futur antérieur Simple future avoir/être + past participle j’aurai chanté je me serai lavé(e)