Bonjour! Is there a list of things that a french beginner should learn, is there a specific order to learn topics in french? Also, love your blog, it helps me a lot.
Hello, thanks love you too! Here’s roughly how to proceed:
Nouns, adjectives, determiners and past participles in French are either masculine or feminine. There is no neutral.
Known: LE/LA/L’ (+ vowel) + singular, LES + plural (The girl)
Unknown: UN/UNE + singular, DES + plural (A cat)
Uncountable: DU/DE LA + singular, DES + plural (Sugar)
How do I know what gender an item is?
Those that end with a consonant are likely masculine (Un éléphant), those that end with an -e likely feminine (Une girafe), especially if it follows a couple of the same consonant (Une tasse). A noun or adjective can be ‘gender-neutral’, or épicène (Juge, Drôle). There are obviously exceptions (Nation, Incendie).
What’s an uncountable item?
It’s a group of items that are either too small or too large to be counted: fruit, sugar, flour, people, etc (ex: Du sable, Des gens).
Let’s practice: Le facteur et la boulangère sont mariés. La ministre est sortie. Un chien aboie dehors. J’ai mangé du pain.
To turn a singular into a plural, adding an -s is your most popular option. It can also be an -x (Bijou, Feu), nothing if the singular ends in -z, -s, -x (Nez); some words only exist as plurals (Ciseaux). There are a few irregulars (Oeil/yeux, Monsieur/messieurs, Madame/mesdames, Animal/animaux).
Let’s practice: J’ai deux petits frères qui sont nés (past participle) en 1998. J’ai un chat sur les genoux. Il y a des noix dans mes gâteaux. Mes yeux sont noirs.
Verbs belong to one of three groups: -er except Aller (90%), -ir with a few exceptions, and the bin (auxiliaries Être and Avoir, Aller, -re, -oir, -ir exceptions). They can be modal (Should) or reflexive: preceded by an object pronoun (Je m’appelle).
The most useful verbs are:
Être: to be, avoir: to have, faire: to do/make, dire: to say, pouvoir: can, aller: to go, voir: to see, savoir: to know, vouloir: want, venir: to come, falloir: to have to, devoir: must, croire: to believe, trouver: to find, donner: to give, prendre: to take, mettre: to put down/place, laisser: to let, to need: avoir besoin de (…)
The most useful tenses are:
Indicative present (J'aime le fromage - I like cheese)
Imperfect (J'aimais le fromage - I liked cheese)
Perfect (J'ai aimé le fromage - I have liked cheese)
Future (J'aimerai le fromage - I will like cheese)
Present conditional (J'aimerais le fromage - I would like cheese)
Present subjunctive (Je veux que tu prennes le fromage - I want you to take the cheese) triggered by certain verbs + que.
N.B.: There are irregular past participles (Être: été, Avoir: eu, Voir: vu, etc.).
Let’s practice: Je ne sais pas. Il dessinait bien. Nous sommes venus. Ils te verront quand ils reviendront. Vous seriez partis tôt.
Personal pronouns: Tu manges du pain
Demonstrative pronouns: Celui de ma soeur est mieux
Possessive determiners: C'est ton chien
Contracted words: Elle est au parc
Coordinating conjunctions: J'y vais mais j'ai peur
Subordinating conjunctions: Je demanderai quand il rentrera
Linkers: On se voit plus tard
Let’s practice: Je crois qu’elle sera à l’heure mais je peux me tromper. Pourquoi est-ce que tu pars? Nous reviendrons plus tard, quand il fera plus beau. Vous ne devez pas être en retard sans raison. C’est là, celle à droite.
As you’re mastering those, start practising.
Listen to music, podcasts, books while looking at the transcription - don’t translate, get used to the pronunciation and the word chewing. Record yourself reading.
Then, start reading. I recommend starting with children’s literature, especially books you already know in English. Things like Le petit prince or Perrault’s fairytales should be accessible.
Use Reverso and Deepl as if you were paid to.
Study the pronunciation posts. The devil is in the details.
Learn vocabulary every week. Avoid translating English word by word, it’s often a fool’s bet; make a simpler sentence instead.
Explore my grammar tag once in a while.
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