French Grammar

Subject pronouns are the foundation of every French sentence. They tell you who is performing the action, and in French, they are essential for choosing the correct verb conjugation. At the A1 level, mastering these pronouns is your first step toward building real sentences.

Every French noun has a grammatical gender — it is either masculine (masculin) or feminine (féminin). There is no neutral option. This is one of the first things you encounter at the A1 level, and it affects articles, adjectives, pronouns, and past participles throughout the language.

Forming plurals in French is one of the first grammar skills you will learn at the A1 level. The good news is that the most common rule is simple: add -s to the end of the noun. The tricky part is that this final -s is almost always silent in spoken French, so you often cannot hear the difference between singular and plural — you rely on the article and context instead.

Definite articles in French — le, la, l', and les — are the equivalent of "the" in English. However, French uses them far more often than English does. At the A1 level, mastering these four small words is essential because they appear in nearly every sentence you will read, hear, or speak.

Indefinite articles in French — un, une, and des — correspond to "a," "an," and "some" in English. You will use them constantly from your very first A1 lessons, whenever you mention something non-specific or introduce something for the first time.

Partitive articles — du, de la, de l', and des — are used in French to express an unspecified quantity of something, roughly translating to "some" or "any" in English. They are especially common when talking about food, drinks, and abstract concepts, making them essential vocabulary for the A1 level.

The verb être (to be) is arguably the most important verb in French. It is completely irregular, and you will use it in virtually every conversation from your very first A1 lesson. It is used to express identity, origin, profession, time, descriptions, and much more.

The verb avoir (to have) is one of the two most essential verbs in French, alongside être. It is completely irregular and appears in countless everyday expressions. At the A1 level, you will use avoir not only for possession but also in many idiomatic phrases where English uses "to be" — such as expressing age, hunger, thirst, and being right or wrong.

Regular -er verbs are the backbone of French conjugation. They make up roughly 90% of all French verbs, which means that once you master this pattern, you can conjugate the vast majority of verbs you encounter. At the A1 level, this is one of the most productive grammar points you will learn.

Regular -ir verbs form the second major conjugation group in French. While much smaller than the -er group, they include many common everyday verbs like finir (to finish), choisir (to choose), réussir (to succeed), and grandir (to grow). Learning this pattern at the A1 level gives you access to an important set of verbs.

Regular -re verbs are the third and smallest group of regular French verbs. While less numerous than -er verbs, they include many practical everyday words like attendre (to wait), vendre (to sell), répondre (to answer), and descendre (to go down). Mastering this conjugation pattern at the A1 level rounds out your knowledge of all three regular verb groups.

The verb aller (to go) is one of the most frequently used verbs in French and one of the first irregular verbs you will learn at the A1 level. Despite ending in -er, it does not follow the regular -er conjugation pattern at all — every form is unique and must be memorized.

The verb venir (to come) is an essential irregular verb that you will encounter early in your A1 studies. Its conjugation features a stem change — vien- in the singular and third person plural, and ven- in the nous and vous forms — which is a pattern shared by several related verbs.

The verb faire (to do/make) is one of the most versatile and frequently used verbs in French. It is highly irregular, and its forms must be memorized individually. At the A1 level, faire is essential because it appears in a wide range of everyday expressions — from talking about the weather to describing sports, cooking, and household activities.

The verb pouvoir (can / to be able to) is one of the three essential modal verbs in French, alongside vouloir (to want) and devoir (must). At the A1 level, pouvoir is one of the first tools you have for expressing ability, possibility, and asking for permission — fundamental communicative functions in any language.

The verb vouloir (to want) is one of the three essential modal verbs in French. At the A1 level, it gives you the ability to express desires, make requests, and — most importantly — be polite in French. The conditional form je voudrais (I would like) is one of the most useful phrases you will learn, as it softens requests in shops, restaurants, and everyday interactions.

The verb devoir (must / to have to) completes the trio of essential French modal verbs, alongside pouvoir (can) and vouloir (to want). At the A1 level, devoir gives you the ability to express obligation, necessity, and duty — fundamental concepts for talking about rules, responsibilities, and daily tasks.

French has two verbs that both translate to "to know" in English: savoir and connaître. This distinction does not exist in English, which makes it one of the trickiest A1 concepts for English speakers. Understanding when to use each verb is essential for sounding natural in French.

The verb prendre (to take) is an essential irregular verb that you will use in countless everyday situations at the A1 level. Whether you are taking the bus, having a coffee, or ordering food at a restaurant, prendre is the go-to verb. Its meaning extends well beyond the English "to take" — it also means "to have" (food/drink) and "to catch" (a bus, a cold).

Reflexive verbs (verbes pronominaux) are verbs that include a reflexive pronoun indicating that the subject performs the action on itself. In French, these verbs are extremely common in everyday life — you use them to talk about your daily routine: getting up (se lever), getting dressed (s'habiller), washing (se laver), and going to bed (se coucher). Mastering them at the A1 level is essential.

Negation in French works differently from English. Instead of a single word like "not," French uses a two-part structure: ne...pas, which wraps around the conjugated verb like a sandwich. At the A1 level, mastering this pattern is essential because you need negation in virtually every conversation — to say what you do not like, do not understand, or do not have.

The expression il y a is the French equivalent of "there is" and "there are." It is one of the most useful A1 expressions because it allows you to describe what exists, what is present in a place, and even to express time elapsed. Unlike English, which distinguishes between singular "there is" and plural "there are," French uses the same form il y a for both.

French adjectives must agree in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) with the noun they describe. This is one of the fundamental grammar rules you learn at the A1 level, and it affects nearly every descriptive sentence you build. Unlike English, where adjectives never change form, French adjectives shift their endings constantly.

While most French adjectives follow the noun, a special group of common adjectives regularly precedes it. These are known as BANGS adjectives — an acronym for Beauty, Age, Number, Goodness, and Size. At the A1 level, learning which adjectives go before the noun is important because placing them incorrectly sounds unnatural to French speakers.

While most French adjectives form their feminine by simply adding -e, a group of very common adjectives have irregular feminine forms that must be memorized individually. At the A1 level, these adjectives — including beau (beautiful), nouveau (new), and vieux (old) — appear so frequently that learning their irregular forms is a priority from the start.

Possessive adjectives are the small but essential words that show ownership or belonging — words like "my," "your," and "their." In French, these are called adjectifs possessifs, and they work quite differently from English because they must agree with the noun they describe, not with the person who owns it.

Demonstrative adjectives are the words you use to point to something specific — "this," "that," "these," and "those" in English. In French, the adjectifs démonstratifs follow a similar logic, but they must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify.

Prepositions of place tell you where something or someone is located. In French, the prépositions de lieu are among the first words you need to describe your surroundings, give directions, or talk about where you live and work.

When talking about countries, continents, and cities in French, the preposition you use depends on the gender, number, and first letter of the geographical name. This is a distinctly French challenge that does not exist in English, where you simply say "in France" or "to Canada" regardless of grammar.

In French, certain prepositions and articles must merge together into a single word. These mandatory contractions involve the prepositions à (to/at) and de (of/from) when they appear before the definite articles le and les. You cannot avoid them — they are not optional stylistic choices but strict grammatical rules.

Asking questions is one of the first things you need to do in any language, and French gives you not one but three different ways to form them. At the A1 level, learning the key question words and the basic question structures will allow you to navigate everyday situations like asking for directions, ordering food, or getting to know someone.

Once you have mastered the basic question words in French, the next step at the A1 level is learning how to ask about quantities and make selections. Two essential tools for this are combien (de) (how much/how many) and quel/quelle/quels/quelles (which/what).

Cardinal numbers are the counting numbers — the ones you use for prices, phone numbers, ages, and quantities. French numbers from 0 to 69 follow patterns that will feel familiar if you know English or other European languages, but things get interesting from 70 onward, where French uses a base-20 counting system inherited from older Celtic and Norman influences.

Ordinal numbers tell you the position of something in a sequence — first, second, third, and so on. In French, the nombres ordinaux follow a simple pattern with one notable exception: the word for "first" is completely irregular, while all other ordinals are formed by adding -ième to the cardinal number.

Telling time and expressing dates are fundamental A1 skills that you will use every day in French. Whether you are scheduling a meeting, catching a train, or simply asking what time it is, you need to know how French handles hours, minutes, days, and months.

Frequency and time adverbs are the words that tell you how often something happens and when it takes place. In French, these adverbes de fréquence et de temps are among the first vocabulary items you learn at the A1 level because they add essential nuance to even the simplest sentences.

Place adverbs tell you where something happens or where something is located. In French, adverbes de lieu like ici (here), là (there), près (near), and loin (far) are essential A1 vocabulary that you will use constantly when describing locations, giving directions, or simply pointing things out.

Expressions of quantity are the words and phrases that tell you how much or how many of something there is. In French, expressions de quantité like beaucoup de (a lot of), peu de (a little of), and trop de (too much of) follow an important rule that catches many beginners off guard: they are always followed by de (or d' before a vowel), with no article.

Stressed pronouns, also called pronoms toniques or disjunctive pronouns, are a set of pronouns used for emphasis, after prepositions, in comparisons, and in certain fixed expressions. While subject pronouns (je, tu, il...) are tied to verbs, stressed pronouns (moi, toi, lui...) stand on their own and carry more weight in the sentence.

Direct object pronouns replace a noun that receives the action of the verb directly, without a preposition. In English, you do this naturally: instead of "I see the cat" repeated, you say "I see it." French works the same way with pronoms COD (complément d'objet direct), but the pronoun goes in a different position — before the verb rather than after it.

Indirect object pronouns replace a noun that receives the action of the verb indirectly — typically the person "to whom" or "for whom" something is done. In French, these pronoms COI (complément d'objet indirect) are used with verbs that take the preposition à before a person, such as parler à (to speak to), téléphoner à (to call), and donner à (to give to).

Conjunctions are the connecting words that join ideas, clauses, and sentences together. In French, the conjonctions de coordination are a small but powerful set of words that you will use in virtually every conversation and written text from the very beginning of your learning journey.

The passé composé is the most commonly used past tense in spoken French. It describes completed actions in the past — things that happened at a specific time, events that are over and done with. If you want to talk about what you did yesterday, where you went last weekend, or what you ate for lunch, the passé composé is the tense you need.

While regular French verbs form their past participles with predictable endings (-é, -i, -u), many of the most common and useful verbs have irregular past participles that must be memorized individually. These are the verbs you will use daily — doing, being, having, taking, seeing, saying — and their past participles do not follow the standard patterns.

While most French verbs form the passé composé with avoir, a specific group of verbs uses être as the auxiliary instead. These verbs typically describe movement or a change of state — going, coming, arriving, leaving, being born, dying. Learning which verbs take être is one of the most important A2 milestones in French grammar.

Reflexive verbs (verbes pronominaux) are verbs used with a reflexive pronoun — se laver (to wash oneself), se lever (to get up), se coucher (to go to bed). When you put these verbs into the passé composé, they always use être as the auxiliary, never avoir. This is a firm rule with no exceptions.

The pronoun y is one of those small French words that appears everywhere once you start looking for it. It primarily replaces à + a place or à + a thing (but not a person), and it most often translates to "there" or "to/about it" in English. You have already encountered it in the essential expression il y a (there is/there are).

The pronoun en is the counterpart to y and one of the most versatile small words in French. It replaces de + a noun, which covers a surprisingly wide range of situations: partitive articles (du, de la, des), quantities, expressions with de, and the preposition de meaning "from." In English, en most often translates to "some," "any," "of it/them," or "from there."

At the A1 level, you learned the basic negation pattern ne...pas (not). Now at A2, it is time to expand your repertoire with a full set of negative expressions that let you say "never," "nothing," "nobody," "no longer," "only," and "neither...nor." These advanced negation patterns all follow the same structural logic as ne...pas but replace pas with a different negative word.

The imparfait (imperfect tense) is the second essential past tense in French, alongside the passé composé. While the passé composé describes completed actions, the imparfait paints the background — ongoing states, habitual actions, descriptions, and situations that were in progress when something else happened. Think of it as the tense for "used to," "was doing," and "it was."

The near future, known as the futur proche in French, is one of the most practical tenses you will learn at the A2 level. It allows you to talk about actions that are about to happen or that you plan to do. If you can conjugate the verb aller (to go), you already have everything you need.

The recent past, called the passé récent in French, is a handy construction that lets you express actions that just happened. It is formed with the verb venir (to come) followed by de and an infinitive. When you say je viens de manger, you are saying "I just ate."

Comparisons, known as le comparatif in French, let you say that something is more, less, or equally something compared to something else. This is an essential A2 topic that opens up a wide range of expression -- from describing people and places to stating preferences and making decisions.

Relative pronouns qui and que are essential connecting words that let you combine two sentences into one. They are the French equivalents of "who," "which," and "that" in English. Learning to use them is an important A2 milestone that will make your French sound much more natural and fluid.

The imperative mood, called l'imperatif in French, is how you give commands, make requests, offer invitations, and give instructions. It is one of the most direct and practical grammar points at the A2 level, and you will use it in everyday situations -- from telling someone to sit down to suggesting "let's go!"

Double object pronouns occur when you use two pronouns together in a sentence -- for example, "I give it to you" becomes je te le donne. This is an A2 topic that can feel tricky at first because French has a strict order for stacking pronouns, but once you learn the pattern, it becomes quite logical.

The simple future, or futur simple, is the formal future tense in French. Unlike the near future (futur proche) that you learned at A2, the futur simple is a single conjugated verb form -- no auxiliary needed. It is used for predictions, promises, formal plans, and actions set further in the future.

The present conditional, or conditionnel present, is one of the most versatile moods in French. It allows you to express polite requests, hypothetical situations, wishes, and reported speech. At the B1 level, mastering the conditional transforms your French from functional to sophisticated.

One of the biggest challenges at the B1 level is learning when to use the imparfait (imperfect) versus the passe compose (compound past). Both describe past events, but they view them from different angles. The imparfait paints the background -- ongoing states, habits, and descriptions -- while the passe compose reports specific, completed events.

The present subjunctive, or subjonctif present, is a mood that expresses subjectivity -- wishes, doubts, emotions, necessity, and opinions. It appears after que in subordinate clauses triggered by specific verbs and expressions. For many learners, the subjunctive is the grammar point that marks the transition from intermediate to advanced French.

Knowing how to conjugate the subjunctive is only half the battle -- you also need to know when to use it. Subjunctive triggers are the verbs, expressions, and conjunctions that require the subjunctive mood in the clause that follows them. At the B1 level, mastering these triggers is what separates learners who understand the subjunctive in theory from those who use it correctly in practice.

The pluperfect, or plus-que-parfait, is the "past before the past" tense in French. It describes actions that were already completed before another past event took place. When you say j'avais deja mange quand il est arrive (I had already eaten when he arrived), you are using the pluperfect to show that the eating happened first.

The superlative, or le superlatif, allows you to express the highest or lowest degree of a quality -- "the biggest," "the smartest," "the least expensive." Building on the comparative forms you learned at A2, the superlative at the B1 level adds the definite article to create these extreme comparisons.

After mastering qui and que at A2, the B1 level introduces two more essential relative pronouns: ou and dont. These expand your ability to connect ideas by covering relationships of place, time, and prepositional phrases involving de.

The passive voice, or voix passive, shifts the focus of a sentence from the doer of the action to the receiver. Instead of saying "Everyone reads the book" (active), you say "The book is read by everyone" (passive). In French, the passive is formed with etre + past participle, much like English uses "to be + past participle."

Indirect speech, or discours indirect, is how you report what someone said without quoting them directly. Instead of Il a dit: "Je viens" (He said: "I'm coming"), you say Il a dit qu'il venait (He said he was coming). This is a B1 topic that requires you to manage tense shifts, pronoun changes, and different reporting structures.

The causative construction, known as faire causatif, uses the verb faire followed by an infinitive to express having something done or making someone do something. When you say je fais reparer ma voiture, you mean "I'm having my car repaired" -- you are not doing the repairing yourself, but causing it to happen.

The French gerund, or gerondif, is formed by combining en with the present participle (the -ant form of a verb). It expresses actions that happen simultaneously with another action, or describes the manner, means, or condition under which something happens. When you say en mangeant (while eating) or en lisant (by reading), you are using the gerund.

Impersonal expressions are constructions that use il as a grammatical subject without referring to any specific person or thing. You already know some from earlier levels -- il y a (there is/are) and il faut (one must). At the B1 level, you expand this to a wide range of expressions used to state necessities, opinions, possibilities, and general truths.

Conditional sentences, or phrases conditionnelles, are "if-then" constructions that let you express possibilities, hypothetical situations, and their consequences. They are built around the word si (if) and follow strict tense-pairing rules that are essential to master at the B1 level.

The past subjunctive, or subjonctif passe, is the compound form of the subjunctive mood. It allows you to express wishes, doubts, emotions, and judgments about actions that have already been completed. While the present subjunctive deals with current or future subjunctive situations, the past subjunctive looks backward at actions already done.

The past conditional, or conditionnel passe, expresses what would have happened under different circumstances. It is the tense of regret, missed opportunities, and contrary-to-fact past situations. When you say j'aurais voulu venir (I would have liked to come) or tu aurais du me le dire (you should have told me), you are using the past conditional.

Past conditional sentences, or the "third conditional," express situations that are contrary to what actually happened in the past. They answer the question "What would have happened if...?" using the structure si + plus-que-parfait / conditionnel passe. This is the B2-level completion of the conditional system you began studying at B1.

Compound relative pronouns are the forms used when a relative clause requires a preposition. While qui, que, ou, and dont handle most situations, some prepositions (sur, avec, pour, dans, sans, etc.) require the compound forms: lequel, laquelle, lesquels, and lesquelles. At the B2 level, mastering these pronouns lets you build complex, precise sentences.

The present participle, or participe present, is the -ant form of a verb used without en. While the gerund (en + -ant) expresses simultaneity and manner, the present participle on its own serves different purposes: it can function as an adjective (agreeing in gender and number) or as a verbal form (invariable) that provides additional information about a noun or situation.

The past infinitive (infinitif passé) is a compound form that expresses a completed action before another action takes place. It is built by combining the infinitive of the auxiliary verb (avoir or être) with a past participle. You will encounter it frequently in written and spoken French alike, especially after the preposition après.

French has a rich set of constructions for drawing attention to a specific part of a sentence. Collectively known as mise en relief (literally "putting into relief"), these structures let you highlight the subject, object, or any other element you want the listener to focus on. In English, you might simply stress a word with your voice, but French relies more heavily on grammatical restructuring.

The future perfect (futur antérieur) is used to describe an action that will be completed before another future action or before a specific point in time. It is the "past of the future" — it looks back from a future vantage point at something already done. In English, this corresponds to "will have + past participle."

Subordinating conjunctions connect a main clause to a dependent clause, expressing relationships like cause, purpose, concession, time, and contrast. At the B2 level, you move beyond basic connectors like parce que and quand to master more nuanced conjunctions that add precision and sophistication to your French.

The restrictive negation ne...que is one of the most useful and frequently misunderstood structures in French. Despite containing the negative particle ne, it is not truly a negation — it means "only" or "nothing but." When you say Je n'ai que dix euros, you are not denying having money; you are saying you have only ten euros.

Adverbs of manner describe how an action is performed — slowly, carefully, obviously, well. In French, most adverbs of manner are formed by adding -ment to the feminine form of an adjective, much like English adds "-ly." However, French has several important exceptions and spelling rules that you need to know.

The passé simple is the literary past tense of French, used to narrate completed actions in formal writing, literature, historical texts, and journalism. While it serves the same function as the passé composé in terms of meaning — expressing finished past actions — it belongs to an entirely different register. You will almost never hear it in conversation, but you will encounter it constantly in novels, fairy tales, newspaper editorials, and academic histories.

The past anterior (passé antérieur) is a literary compound tense that expresses an action completed immediately before another past action. It is formed by combining the passé simple of the auxiliary verb (avoir or être) with a past participle. Think of it as the "pluperfect of the literary register" — it serves a similar function to the plus-que-parfait but is used exclusively in formal written French.

The imperfect subjunctive (subjonctif imparfait) is a literary tense used in formal writing to express doubt, desire, emotion, or necessity in the past. It appears in subordinate clauses when the main verb is in a past tense and the context requires the subjunctive mood. In modern everyday French, the present subjunctive has almost entirely replaced it, but in literature and highly formal prose, the imperfect subjunctive remains a marker of elegant style.

The sequence of tenses (concordance des temps) refers to the rules governing which tense appears in a subordinate clause based on the tense of the main clause. When you report speech, express hypotheticals, or describe time relationships between events, French requires specific tense combinations that do not always mirror English patterns.

French uses impersonal constructions extensively — sentences where the subject il does not refer to any specific person or thing but serves as a grammatical placeholder. While you learned basic impersonal expressions like il faut and il y a at earlier levels, the C1 level introduces formal and administrative impersonal constructions that are essential for understanding official documents, legal texts, and academic writing.

Subject-verb inversion in French goes far beyond simple question formation. At the C1 level, you encounter stylistic inversion — the reversal of subject and verb for emphasis, formality, or literary effect. This type of inversion is triggered by certain adverbs, used in relative clauses, and employed as a hallmark of formal and literary French.

Nominalization is the process of converting a verb or adjective into a noun. Instead of saying L'économie se développe (The economy is developing), you can write le développement de l'économie (the development of the economy). This transformation is a hallmark of formal, academic, and journalistic French, where it creates a more abstract, objective, and dense writing style.

The formal register (registre soutenu) in French is a distinct level of language used in official documents, literary prose, academic writing, formal speeches, and high-level professional correspondence. It is characterized by specific vocabulary choices, grammatical constructions, and stylistic conventions that set it apart from everyday spoken French (registre courant) and informal French (registre familier).

French pronominal verbs — verbs conjugated with a reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nous, vous, se) — go far beyond simple reflexive actions like "washing oneself." At the C1 level, you discover that many pronominal verbs carry meanings that are completely different from their non-pronominal counterparts, and some pronominal verbs include additional pronouns like en and y that create entirely new idiomatic expressions.

Liaison and enchaînement are two fundamental phonetic linking processes that shape how French sounds in connected speech. While you have been encountering these phenomena since your first French lesson, understanding the rules at the C1 level means knowing exactly when liaison is required, when it is forbidden, and when it is optional — with the optional cases being a powerful marker of register and style.

The pluperfect subjunctive (subjonctif plus-que-parfait) is the most literary and formal of all French tenses. It is a compound form built from the imperfect subjunctive of avoir or être plus a past participle. You will encounter it almost exclusively in classical literature, very formal prose, and occasionally in elevated journalistic writing. It is never used in spoken French.

The double compound conditional (conditionnel surcomposé) is one of the rarest tenses in French. It is formed by adding an extra layer of compounding: the conditional of avoir + eu/été + past participle. This creates a "super-compound" form that emphasizes the absolute completion of a hypothetical past action.

The expletive ne (ne explétif) is one of the most puzzling features of formal French for learners. It is a ne that appears in subordinate clauses without any negative meaning — it does not negate the verb, and the sentence means the same thing with or without it. When you read J'ai peur qu'il ne vienne, the speaker is afraid he will come, not that he won't. The ne is purely a stylistic marker of formal register.

Archaic forms (archaïsmes) are words, expressions, and grammatical constructions from older stages of French that survive in literature, legal language, set phrases, and occasionally in regional dialects. At the C2 level, recognizing these forms is essential for reading French literature from any period and for understanding the historical layers embedded in modern French.

The colloquial register (registre familier) is the informal French used among friends, family, and in casual everyday situations. It differs significantly from the standard and formal registers in pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure. At the C2 level, understanding colloquial French is essential for full comprehension of native speech, films, music, social media, and real-life conversation.

French is spoken across five continents, and the language varies significantly from one region to another. At the C2 level, understanding regional variation is essential for genuine fluency — not just the ability to speak standard Metropolitan French, but the ability to comprehend and appreciate the rich diversity of the francophone world.

Rhetorical devices (procédés rhétoriques) are stylistic techniques used to persuade, emphasize, or create aesthetic effects in language. French has a rich tradition of rhetoric dating back to classical education, and many of these devices are actively used in everyday speech, journalism, literature, and formal argumentation.

Discourse connectors (connecteurs de discours) are the words and phrases that structure argumentation, signal logical relationships, and guide the reader or listener through complex reasoning. At the C2 level, you are expected to use a wide range of sophisticated connectors that go far beyond basic linking words like mais, donc, and parce que.

Administrative language (langue administrative) is the specialized register used in official documents, government communications, legal texts, contracts, regulations, and bureaucratic correspondence throughout the francophone world. It is the language of the state, the court system, and institutional life — and it has its own distinctive vocabulary, grammar, and conventions that can make it challenging even for advanced learners.