In this new podcast, dedicated to French culture, we talk about Christmas traditions in France.

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It is December, this is the opportunity to learn French Christmas vocabulary.

And to learn while having fun, we offer you our Christmas vocabulary picture sheet!

Download the free picture sheet of French Christmas vocabulary

To download the Christmas picture sheet, register for our free online resource library.

You can print it, colour it and cut it to create flash cards: simply add the translation in your language on the back of each card and use the cards to revise!

Have a good learning experience and “Joyeux Noël”!

In this new podcast, dedicated to French culture, we talk about eating habits in France.

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This lesson is part of Chapter 1: Expressing ideas and feelings
Level: Easy

Greetings are made (in Lesson #1: Greetings), now you have to be able to converse. For that, let’s learn to conjugate French verbs in the present tense. In French, you must learn the subject pronouns before you can begin forming sentences, as verb forms change depending on the subject. So let’s start with the personal pronouns.

Subject pronouns in French

Now, listen to the pronunciation of the French subject pronouns and repeat aloud several times, trying to imitate what you hear:

Je or J’ ?

The first personal singular pronoun je contracts to j’ when used in front of a vowel or a silent h. For example:

• Je vais bien. I’m fine.
• J’aime courir. I like to run.
• J’habite en France. I live in France.

Now, listen to the pronunciation of these examples and repeat aloud several times, trying to imitate what you hear:

Tu or Vous?

Tu and vous both express you, but have difference uses.

• Tu is the familiar you and should be used when speaking to one person who is a friend, a peer, or a child.
• Vous is the formal you and should be used when speaking to someone you don’t know well or someone to whom you want to show respect.
• Vous is also the plural you and should be used when talking to multiple people, no matter who they are.

Il and Elle

Il and elle represent he and she respectively when talking about people, but can both be used as it when referring to other nouns. All French nouns have gender (to be discussed in a coming lesson), so il is used when replacing masculine nouns, and elle is used when replacing feminine nouns. For example:

• Il mange trois fois par jour. He eats three times a day.
• Elle chante sous la douche. She sings in the shower.
• Je ne peux pas utiliser ma voiture parce qu’elle est en panne. I can’t drive my car because it broke down.
• Je ne peux pas utiliser mon vélo parce qu’il est cassé. I can’t ride my bike because it is broken.

Note that voiture is feminine, so we use elle.
Note that vélo is masculine, so we use il.

Now, listen to the pronunciation of these examples and repeat aloud several times, trying to imitate what you hear:

On

On literally means one. It is used as colloquially for we or for people in general. And it can also be used to form the passive voice. For example:

• On pourrait dire ça. One could say that.
• On va à la plage. We are going to the beach.
• On m’a volé mon porte-monnaie. Someone has stolen my purse. / My purse has been stolen.
  

Now, listen to the pronunciation of these examples and repeat them louder several times and repeat aloud several times, trying to imitate what you hear:

Did you enjoy this second lesson? Have you any questions? I look forward to reading your comments!

See you soon for Lesson #3 on French verb conjugation!

With our serie “French in 10 minutes a day”, you learn the basics of French by increasing difficulty. You will find vocabulary, grammar or even typical French expressions for all situations.
As soon as you have 10 minutes of free time in your day, start a new lesson!

This lesson is part of Chapter 1: Expressing ideas and feelings
Level: Easy

To start your learning of French language, let’s learn to say hello, goodbye and ask how things are.

Hello in French

Now listen to the pronunciation of these words and repeat aloud several times, trying to imitate what you hear:

Asking after in French

Now listen to the pronunciation of these words or expressions and repeat aloud several times, trying to imitate what you hear:

Goodbye in French

Now listen to the pronunciation of these words or expressions and repeat aloud several times, trying to imitate what you hear:

Did you enjoy this first lesson? Have you any questions? I look forward to reading your comments!

See you soon for Lesson #2 about personal pronouns!

Accents are essential to correctly using the French language: the pronunciation and meaning of a word can change with or without an accent.

The French language uses five different kinds of accents (diacritics):

• l’accent aigu: the acute accent, literally the “high” accent
  
• l’accent grave: the grave accent, literally the “low” accent
  
• l’accent circonflexe: the circumflex
  
• le tréma: the umlaut/dieresis
  
• la cédille: the cedilla
  

With which letters are these accents used? How do they change the sound of letters?
This is what we will see in this article, which ends with some exercises to test your knowledge and practice!

L’accent aigu (acute accent) : ´

The accent aigu is only used on the letter e, as in:

The accent aigu changes the pronunciation of the letter e by giving it a closed sound: [e]

To spell é, we say “e accent aigu”.  For example, to spell the word “été”, we say:

You can review how to pronounce each letter of the French alphabet in the article “Pronunciation of the French alphabet“.

L’accent grave (grave accent) : `

The accent grave is mainly used on the letter e, as in:

The accent grave changes the pronunciation of the letter e by giving it an open sound: [ɛ]

We can also find the accent grave, more rarely, on the letter a and the letter u, but it does not change their pronunciation.

There are only four words with à:

There is only one word in French with ù :

To spell it, we say “e accent grave”, “a accent grave” and “u accent grave”. For example, to spell the word “frère”, we say:

L’accent circonflexe (circumflex) : ^

The accent circonflexe is used on the letters a, e, i, o, u.

It is used to change the sound of these letters or to distinguish words that have a different meaning.

The accent circonflexe changes the pronunciation of the letters e and o:

It does not change the sound of the letters a, i, u:

Le tréma (umlaut/dieresis) : ¨

The tréma indicates that two vowels must be pronounced separately: each vowel has its own sound. It is used on the second vowel of the series.

The tréma is used on the letters e, i or u:

For example, the tréma distinguishes the word “mais” (but) from the word “maïs” (maize ).

To spell, we say “e tréma”, “i tréma” and “u tréma”. For example, to spell out the word “Noël”, we say:

La cédille (cedilla) : ç

The cédille is only used on the letter c, as in:

The cédille is placed under the letter c in front of the letter a, o or u when we want the c to be pronounced [s] and not [k].

To spell ç, we say “c cédille”.  For example, to spell the word “reçu”, we say:

Listen to the explanation in French:

Now, it’s time to practice!

Exercise 1

Test your knowledge by answering the following questions:

1. On which letters can we find an acute accent / accent aigu?
Choose the right answer(s).

• A
• E
• I
• O
• U

2. On which letters can we find a grave accent / accent grave ?
Choose the right answer(s).

• A
• E
• I
• O
• U

3. On which letters can we find a circumflex / accent circonflexe ?
Choose the right answer(s).

• A
• E
• I
• O
• U

4. On which letters can we find a umlaut / tréma ?
Choose the right answer(s).

• A
• E
• I
• O
• U

5. Which of the following words is the c pronounced [s] and not [k] ?

• cela
• ça
• leçon
• café
• façon
• comment
• aperçu
• crayon
• apercevoir

Answers:

1. On the e only
   
2. Mainly on the e, but also sometimes on the a and u
   
3. On the letters a, e, i, o and u
4. On the letters e, i and u
5. Listen to the pronunciation to check:
   

.

Exercise 2

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Exercise 3

Spell the following words. Then listen to the audio to check.

You can review how to pronounce each letter of the French alphabet in the article “Pronunciation of the French alphabet“.

• cinéma

• hôtel

• Citroën

• théâtre

• français

• croisière

.

Did you succeed in the exercises? Did you met with difficulties? I look forward to reading your comments!

If you want to learn more about French pronounciation, go to our online course by clicking here.

In this podcast, we are talking about New Caledonia, a French overseas territory.

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9 tips to learn French quickly

Wondering how to learn French fast? Follow our 9 tips!

• INVEST FULLY

To learn a foreign language quickly, there is no miracle solution: only personal investment will enable you to do so.

To achieve your goal of learning French fast and well, you must remain motivated and organized throughout your learning.

• LAY THE FOUNDATIONS
  

Take the time to prepare and organize your learning.

Set your goals. Build your roadmap for 30 days, 3 months, or even 1 year.

This may seem unnecessary, especially at the beginning, but in reality, this time invested from the beginning is necessary for your success.

• FIND TIME

Your agenda is overloaded, but you have to find time to devote to your learning.

Save time by optimizing your learning: focus on French that will really useful to you and do not overload yourself by learning vocabulary or grammar that you will not use immediatly.

• STUDY EVERY DAY

It is more efficient to work a few minutes every day, rather than several hours once a week.

This encourages repetition, which is essential for learning a language. If you spend too long between two learning sessions, you are more likely to forget what you learned in your last lesson, which wastes a lot of time.

• WORK YOUR PRONUNCIATION FROM THE BEGINNING

By learning French pronunciation from the beginning, you will immediately take the right reflexes: you will save time on your oral comprehension and expression in French.

• TARGET COMMON VOCABULARY

Learning the most common vocabulary is probably the most important thing to do when you want to learn a new language quickly.

This will help you to express yourself and understand French very quickly: even if you do not understand the whole sentences, by recognizing a few words you will be able to know what a text or dialogue is about.

Learning French for free at home, by yourself

You want to learn French for free?

You want to learn alone at home, by yourself?

You want to create an environment to immerse yourself in the French language, without traveling in a French-speaking country?

You want to learn the French pronunciation, so you won’t be destabilized in future conversations with native speakers?

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In our 17 PAGES guide, discover 5 TIPS that will help you:

√ EXPOSE yourself to the French language

√ PROGRESS quickly, orally and in writing

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and take advantage of 30 MEDIA RESOURCES

√ to APPLY these tips quickly

√ WITHOUT WASTING TIME looking for resources that really meet your needs

I read the free learning guide

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DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE LEARNING GUIDE NOW (PDF FORMAT)

With this 17 PAGES guide, discover 5 TIPS and 30 RESOURCES to learn French alone from home, by yourself!

To download it and start learning French right away, click on the link or image below:

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This beginner podcast is dedicated to vocabulary for giving directions in French.

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Listen to the podcast:

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