What are the most prominent cultural facets of your country? How do you commemorate or celebrate them, if at all?
In France, the European Heritage Days are a manifestation nationale (“national event”) set aside for exploring French culture and history. From free wine tastings and tours to elaborate music festivals, there’s an experience for everyone!
In this article, you’ll learn all about European Heritage Days and pick up some useful vocabulary. Let’s get started!
1. What are the European Heritage Days?
European Heritage Days, (also called European Heritage “Open” Days), are an annuelle (“annual”) celebration of the unique heritage each European country possesses. The Ministère de la Culture Française (“French Ministry of Cultural Affairs”) launched this celebration in 1984 at the initiative of Minister Jack Lang, and many other European countries soon followed suit. Today, under the Council of Europe and European Commission, every state in the European Cultural Convention celebrates a form of Heritage Day.
Still, perhaps no European country has a more substantial celebration as France. At the time of this writing, there are forty-two UNESCO World Heritage sites in France alone, and over 400,000 protected monuments and sites. Add to that the country’s intensive history, magnificent foods and wines unmatched the world over, and the lovely French language. It should come as no surprise that this holiday has met with such success, drawing in millions of tourists each year.
To keep the excitement alive, the European Heritage Days Assembly announces a special theme for the holiday each year. In 2020, the theme is going to be “Heritage and Education.”
The European Heritage Days begin during the third weekend of September. For your convenience, following is a list of this holiday’s date for the next ten years.
2020: September 19 to September 20
2021: September 18 to September 19
2022: September 17 to September 18
2023: September 16 to September 17
2024: September 21 to September 22
2025: September 20 to September 21
2026: September 19 to September 20
2027: September 18 to September 19
2028: September 16 to September 17
2029: September 15 to September 16
3. Traditions & Celebrations for European Heritage Days
France is crowded for European Heritage Days, especially in areas that are already significant tourist hotspots (a.k.a. Paris).
This is because museums and certain historical sites that are typically closed year-round are open to the public over the weekend to promote cultural education. European Heritage Days in Paris means gratuit (“free”) entry into a number of major sites—an opportunity you can’t miss!
Schools often take advantage of this holiday to educate their students on the cultural marvels of France. Museums host free European Heritage Days tours for school groups on the Friday prior, giving students and teachers the opportunity to explore and learn without the hassle of large crowds.
For European Heritage Days, Paris also provides an array of culture-oriented workshops and guided tours for the general public. Examples include a stroll through a cemetery, a walk-and-talk with a major academic, and the chance to win prizes and exclusive tours!
→ See our list of the Top 10 Weekend Activities to learn how else the French might spend the weekend (because who likes crowds?).
4. Visiting? Here are Some Must-See Places.
There are a couple of places we highly recommend you visit if you’ll be in France for the holiday weekend.
Bercy Village
Bercy Village is known for its old-fashioned charm, combined with its penchant for modern architecture.
In Bercy Village, European Heritage Days are the perfect chance to explore the green fields of Bercy Park, the Ministère de l’économie de l’industrie et de l’emploi (open exclusively for this weekend), and the gorgeous cafes and outdoor shopping stalls.
During the European Heritage Days, Bordeaux is the place to go to watch grape-harvesting ceremonies, attend music festivals, and sip on wine while taking night tours of a castle. (Yes, you read that right.)
Did you get the chance to read our previous articles on 100 Nouns and 100 Adjectives? In that case, I guess you saw this one coming! To complete your French arsenal, I present you with the most common and useful French verbs.
They’ll greatly expand your capacity to build interesting phrases, as well as enhance your reading and listening skills. More importantly, they’ll get you through most of your daily interactions and you’re not likely to be caught off-guard once you’ve mastered them. In this article, we’ll cover everything from French verb conjugation—including -er and -ir verbs—reflexive verbs, and of course, a list of the top 100 verbs for you to add to your vocabulary.
If you know a bit about French verb conjugation, you know it can be intimidating, with many groups, tenses, and exceptions. However, once you start understanding the logic underneath, you’ll soon brush this first impression off.
Of course, coming from the English language, even the Présent tense can seem a bit overwhelming, with distinct endings for each pronoun:
Je pense
Tu penses
Il / Elle pense
Nous pensons
Vous pensez
Ils pensent
This is not an article about tenses, and we’ll stick to the Présent for most of the examples, with occasional notes on the Passé composé (one of the three most common tenses in spoken French, alongside Present and Near Future).
And for all your conjugation needs, I suggest that you bookmark this website (or any similar online resource): https://la-conjugaison.nouvelobs.com/. Also keep in mind that FrenchPod101 will soon have another article dedicated to French verb conjugation rules!
2- The Curse of Irregular Verbs
One important thing to keep in mind is that, like in most languages, the most prominent verbs are also the most irregular ones. People have been using these verbs so much over the centuries that they had plenty of opportunities to evolve, mutate, and twist in mysterious ways, to the point where some of their conjugated forms differ wildly from the infinitive.
You shouldn’t be put off by the first verbs you’ll learn, such as être (“to be”) or aller (“to go”). Just like in English, these verbs are highly irregular. But I still recommend that you learn them first, as they’re also some of the absolute most useful French verbs you’ll encounter.
3- The Bliss of Regular Verbs
In the meantime, many other verbs will show similarities, and from them, you’ll get a grasp of how regular verbs work.
Understanding regular French verbs early on will allow you to navigate through this list with much more ease, so here’s everything there is to know about conjugating French verbs:
Penser (“to think”) ← This is the infinitive form
Pens ← This is the “stem”
1st sg (I)
2nd sg (you)
3rd sg (she)
1st pl (we)
2nd pl (you)
3rd pl (they)
Stem + e
Stem + es
Stem + e
Stem + ons
Stem + ez
Stem + ent
Je pense
Tu penses
Elle pense
Nous pensons
Vous pensez
Ils pensent
4- Should You Care About Verb Groups?
Short answer: No.
Oh well, let me elaborate a little. It’s very common when learning French verbs to start with a lesson on verb groups. There are three groups based on verb endings:
French ER verbs
French IR verbs
French RE verbs
Each of these groups follows a given set of rules that you can use as guidelines to conjugate virtually any French verb. Pretty cool, right? Except it doesn’t work.
The first group is somewhat regular…let’s say for the most part. Then, the other two groups are such a giant mess of irregularities that it doesn’t make sense to try and rely on groups at all. You’ll see that many of the IR and RE verbs from this very list don’t abide by any fixed set of rules. For that reason, I won’t talk about it any further.
5- How to Effectively Learn French Verbs
Understanding French verbs in their entirety may seem like an impossible task, and you’re probably wondering how to memorize French verbs easily and effectively.
To quickly pick up on French verbs and conjugation, I recommend jumping right into it! Don’t clutter your memory with countless rules and conjugation tables. Instead, read the examples from this article’s verbs list and try to figure out for yourself the inner workings of their conjugation. Here are some questions to get you started:
How does the infinitive end?
How does it end now that it’s conjugated with this pronoun?
Is it working like similar verbs I’ve seen before or could it be irregular?
The more you figure out by yourself, the more confident you’ll become with verbs and the quicker you’ll be able to handle them without overthinking it and dwelling on textbook rules. Only then can you consider reviewing what you’ve learned with some more academic material and get a better idea of the big picture.
Now, let’s review our French verbs list for beginners!
These are French verbs used in daily life that you’ll hear over and over again in France. What are you waiting for? Get cracking!
1
être “to be”
Je suis Français. “I am French.”
2
avoir “to have”
Tu as une maison à Paris. “You have a house in Paris.”
Être and avoir are auxiliary verbs, which makes them the two most important French verbs. We use them to form compound conjugations in tenses such as passé composé and past subjunctive.
Here’s an example of passé composé with the verb manger (“to eat”):
Présent: Je mange (“I eat”)
Passé composé: J’ai mangé (“I have eaten”)
Here’s another example with the verb tomber (“to fall”):
Présent: Je tombe (“I fall”)
Passé composé: Je suis tombé (“I have fallen”)
/! When should I use the French auxiliary verbs être or avoir?
We use avoir in most situations, except for these two cases:
1) We use être for all pronominal verbs (those starting with se)
For example: se lever (“to stand up”)
Présent: Je me lève (“I stand up”)
Passé composé: Je me suis levé (“I have stood up”)
2) We also use être for a few other verbs, most of them reflecting a change of direction, state, or movement.
3. How FrenchPod101 Can Help You Learn More French
In this French verbs guide, you’ve learned everything about French verbs, from conjugation to auxiliary, groups, and irregular French verbs. And of course, you now have a wide selection of the most useful French verbs, with examples to get you familiar with them.
Did I forget any important verb that you know? Do you feel ready to put them to work in your daily conversations with French speakers?
Remember that you can also use our premium service, MyTeacher, to get personal one-on-one coaching. Your private teacher can help you practice with verbs and conjugation using assignments, personalized exercises, and recorded audio samples for you. They can also review yours to help improve your pronunciation. Happy learning on FrenchPod101!
Do you feel like your French is awkwardly congested with unnecessary repetitions? Wish there was a way to make these go away, and replace them with…let me think…beautiful pronouns? Oh, hey, what a coincidence!
French pronouns are what keep you from repeating the same things over and over when it’s already been mentioned, or when it’s just plain obvious. For example, you wouldn’t call your friends by their names in every single sentence. It’s better to use personal pronouns, such as tu, il, or elle. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
In this article, we’ll talk about the ten main categories of French pronouns—direct and indirect object pronouns all the way to the relative pronouns.
There’s a lot of French pronouns rules to process and a hefty load of vocabulary, so spend as much time as you need to read the examples or to practice making sentences on your own, and you’ll be a pronouns expert before you know it. =)
Alright, it’s time to make it personal and start with the first thing you think about when you hear “pronouns.”
Personal pronouns are everywhere, in almost every sentence, and you won’t empower your French without a deep and thorough dive into the crux of that matter.
These are the different types of personal pronouns:
Subject
Stressed
Direct object
Indirect object
Reflexive
We’ll look into every one of these types, but before we do, here’s an overview of what they all look like:
Subject
Stressed
Direct object
Indirect object
Reflexive
je
moi
me
me
me
tu
toi
te
te
te
il; elle; on
lui; elle; soi
le; la
lui
se
nous; on
nous
nous
nous
nous
vous
vous
vous
vous
vous
ils; elles
eux; elles
les
leur
se
Now, let’s have a closer look at these French pronouns and how to use them. We’ll also look at how they behave and how they compare to their English counterparts.
1- Personal Subject Pronouns
No matter your level of French, you already know these guys. They’re some of the most basic and common words in the language, featured in the very first sentences you ever learned.
These pronouns simply replace the subject of a sentence.
For example:
Marie a faim.
“Marie is hungry.”
Elle a faim.
“She is hungry.”
Subject
Example
je (“I”)
Je suis Français. “I am French.”
tu (“you”)
Tu as raison. “You are right.”
il (“he”)
elle (“she”)
on (*)
Il frappe à la porte. “He is knocking on the door.”
Elle frappe à la porte. “She is knocking at the door.”
On frappe à la porte. “Someone is knocking at the door.”
(*) On is an odd case. It can be used as an indefinite pronoun or as an alternative to nous.
Depending on the sentence and context, on can translate as “someone,” “one,” or “people.”
On pourrait croire que…
“One could think that…”
A l’époque, on pensait que…
“At the time, people thought that…”
In other cases, ontranslates into a slightly casual nous. Indeed, in most conversations, you’ll use on instead of nous.
On sera un peu en retard ce soir.
“We will be a bit late tonight.”
On va prendre la voiture.
“We will take the car.”
2- Stressed Pronouns
No need to bang your head anywhere, these pronouns are much more stressed than they are stressful. They’re even pretty straightforward, once you get to know them!
Stressed
Example
1st person [s]
moi
C’est moi ! “It’s me!”
2nd person [s]
toi
J’en ai un. Et toi ? “I’ve got one. And you?”
3rd person [s]
lui; elle; soi
Nous sommes différents, lui et moi. “We are different, he and I.”
Avec ou sans elle “With or without her”
1st person [p]
nous
Ils sont plus fort que nous. “They are stronger than us.”
2nd person [p]
vous
Nous sommes meilleurs que vous. “We are better than you.”
3rd person [p]
eux; elles
Ne fais pas attention à eux. “Don’t mind them.”
Don’t let the stressed pronouns get on your nerves!
3- Direct and Indirect Pronouns
Now it’s getting serious! Before we get to these French pronouns examples, we need to talk about how they work and how to place direct and indirect pronouns in a sentence.
First, you need to find out whether you need a COD (Complément d’Objet Direct, not Call of Duty!) or a COI (Complément d’Objet Indirect).
COD answers the question: “Who?” or “What?“
COI answers the question: “To whom?” or “To what?“
Now, we’ll replace une pommewith a direct pronoun and it changes the order of the words:
Subject + Direct Pronoun + Verb.
Julie la donne.
“Julie gives it.”
Let’s take another example:
Julie parle aux enfants.
“Julie talks to the kids.”
Subject + Verb + ?
Julie parle à qui ?
“Julie talks to whom?”
Aux enfants.
“To the kids.”
Aux enfantsis our COI.
Now, we’ll replace aux enfantswith an indirect pronoun and change the order to:
Subject + Indirect Pronoun + Verb.
Julie leur parle.
“Julie talks to them.”
And finally, let’s see how to use direct pronouns and indirect pronouns in one single sentence. What’s Julie up to?
Julie donne une pomme aux enfants.
“Julie gives an apple to the kids.”
We already know that une pomme is COD and aux enfantsis COI.
The sentence is built as follows:
Subject + Direct Pronoun + Indirect Pronoun + Verb
Julie la leur donne.
“Julie gives it to them.”
Okay, that was heavy! Let’s relax a bit with some more examples to help you get familiar with the structures:
Julie donne une pomme à Cyril. (That’s me!)
Julie me la donne.
“Julie gives it to me.”
Julie donne une pomme au lecteur. (She gives it to the reader, that’s you!)
Julie te la donne.
“Julie gives it to you.”
Julie te les donne.
“Julie gives it to you.”
(But it’s plural; there are several apples.)
Julie me les présente.
“Julie introduces them to me.”
Julie te la présente.
“Julie introduces her to you.”
Julie nous la présente.
“Julie introduces her to us.”
Elle la lui donne. (“She gives it to her.”)
4- Reflexive Pronouns
I’d like to tell you that the worst part is behind us, but reflexive pronouns are still in the way!
Reflexive pronouns are used with reflexive verbs, such as:
Se laver
S’appeler
S’intéresser
While there’s nothing inherently complex about them, English-speakers can find them quite arbitrary. (Why are s’habiller or s’appeler reflexive verbs while manger is not?)
The general idea is that verbs that imply an action on yourself are reflexive, and can usually be translated using an additional “oneself.”
Many verbs involving a motion of some sort are also reflexive.
Il s’éloigne.
“He moves [himself] away.”
Je m’assois.
“I sit [myself].”
Reflexive
Examples
1st person [s]
me
Je me lève. “I stand up.”
2nd person [s]
te
Tu te demandes. “You wonder.”
3rd person [s]
se
Elle se promène. “She strolls.”
1st person [p]
nous
Nous nous endormons. “We fall asleep.”
2nd person [p]
vous
Vous vous rasez. “You shave.”
3rd person [p]
se
Ils s’inscrivent. “They register.”
→ Make sure you visit our vocabulary list about French’s most useful pronouns, with audio recordings to practice your pronunciation. It’s freely available on FrenchPod101.
2. Impersonal Pronouns
1- Impersonal Subject Pronouns
If you like to keep it to yourself and never show your true feelings, you have a lot in common with impersonal pronouns! Let’s see how to stay vague in French, starting with the impersonal subject pronouns:
Ça; ce; c’
“It”
Il
“It”
What? Did you expect another big flashy tab, full of rows and colorful columns?
Now, here’s how to use them:
Ça commence maintenant.
“It starts now.”
Ce n’est la première fois.
“It is not the first time.”
C’est terminé.
“It is over.”
Il est impossible d’entrer.
“It is impossible to enter.”
Il est temps.
“It is time.”
2- French Adverbial Pronouns
Not an overwhelming list either, but I can’t stress enough how important they are!
y
“there”; “about it”
en
“one”; “some”; “of it”; “of them”
y is used to replace à [quelque chose] (“to [something]”; “about [something]”) or en [quelque chose] (“in [something]”)
This [something] is often a place, but not always, as long as it’s inanimate.
Je veux aller à Paris.
“I want to go to Paris.”
Je veux y aller.
“I want to go there.”
Je pense à mon avenir.
“I think about my future.”
J’y pense.
“I think about it.”
Je crois en la science.
“I believe in science.”
J’y crois.
“I believe in it.”
en is used to replace de(s) ____ (“some ____”; “of ____”)
You’ll see it a lot when talking about quantities.
Il y en a des milliers. (“There are thousands of them.”)
3- Relative Pronouns
I’ll keep these relatively simple, as they can easily be compared to English.
Of course, it’s never an exact translation, but it will give you a fairly good idea of how to use them in a variety of contexts.
que “that”
Tu penses qu’il va pleuvoir ? “Do you think that it will rain?”
Je sais que tu es là. “I know that you are here.”
qui “who”
J’ai un fils qui m’aime. “I have a son who loves me.”
où “where”; “when”
C’est la maison où je vis. “This is the house where I live.”
Le jour où je t’ai rencontrée “The day when I met you”
dont “whose”; “that”
L’homme dont c’est le chapeau “The man whose hat it is”
La personne dont tu parles “The person [that] you’re talking about”
lequel(s) laquelle(s) “which”; “that”
Le lit sur lequel nous dormons “The bed on which we sleep”
Les rues dans lesquelles nous travaillons “The streets in which we are working”
/! You can’t use these to talk about people.
4- Demonstrative Pronouns
The demonstrative pronoun celui replaces something that was mentioned earlier.
J’aime le café mais pas celui de Starbucks.
“I like coffee, but not the one from Starbucks.”
Sure, you could also say:
J’aime le café mais pas le café de Starbucks.
“I like coffee, but not the coffee from Starbucks.”
But it sounds clumsy, doesn’t it?
This demonstrative pronoun has masculine, feminine, and plural forms:
Masc. [s]
celui “The” / “This” / “That one”
C’est celui que je préfère. “This is the one I prefer.”
Masc. [p]
ceux “These” / “Those”
Ceux du fond “Those in the back”
Fem. [s]
celle “The” / “This” / “That one”
Je te donne celle que tu veux. “I give you the one you want.”
Fem. [p]
celles “These” / “Those”
Celles de gauche “These on the left”
You can’t end a phrase with these demonstrative pronouns in their base form, or put them right before a verb. They simply don’t like it!
Instead, you have to add a suffix. It can be either ci (here) or là (there).
J’ai deux livres. Je te prêtecelui.
J’ai deux livres, je te prête celui-ci.
“I have two books, I’ll lend you this one.”
J’aime ces deux histoires mais je préfère celle-là.
“I love these two stories, but I prefer that one.”
C’est celui que je préfère. (“This is the one I prefer.”)
5- Interrogative Pronouns
In case your brain is already melting out of your ears, let’s keep this one as simple as possible. Nothing complicated about interrogative pronouns, really!
qui “who”
Qui es-tu ? “Who are you?”
où “where”
Où allons-nous ? “Where are we going?”
quand “when”
Quand partez-vous ? “When do you leave?”
quoi “what”
A quoi penses-tu ? “What are you thinking about?”
lequel
lesquels
laquelle
lesquelles “which one”
Lequel tu préfères ? “Which one do you prefer?”
Lesquels sont les plus gros ? “Which ones are the biggest?”
Laquelle me va le mieux ? “Which one suits me best?”
Lesquelles veux-tu voir ? “Which ones do you want to see?”
quel quels quelle quelles “which”
Quelle heure est-il ? “What time is it?”
/! These aren’t technically pronouns (they’re interrogative adjectives) but it felt wrong not to include them. And they were crying.
6- Indefinite Pronouns
Indefinite pronouns are these vague fellows who don’t want to be too specific about what’s going on or who’s involved. There are many of them, and they prove to be very useful.
Here are a few of the most common ones:
tout “everything”; “anything”; “all”
Tout est possible. “Anything is possible.”
rien “nothing”
Rien n’est impossible. “Nothing is impossible.”
personne “nobody”
Personne n’est parfait. “Nobody’s perfect.”
chacun “everyone”; “every man”
Chacun pour soi “Every man for himself”
tout le monde “everybody”
Tout le monde est là ? “Is everybody here?”
quelqu’un “someone”
Quelqu’un va venir. “Someone will come.”
quelque chose “something”
Quelque chose te tracasse ? “Is there something bothering you?”
certains “some [people]”
Certains sont venus. “Some people came.”
3. How FrenchPod101 Can Help You Learn More French
In this French pronouns guide, you’ve learned everything about French pronouns, from direct to indirect object pronouns, French relative pronouns, and many more!
Did we forget any important pronouns? Do you feel ready to come up with impressive sentences using all of these new tools? Or do you need more French pronouns help?
I’m gonna say it again, but the key is to take it one step at a time. Understanding French pronouns doesn’t happen overnight. Start making sentences with personal subject pronouns, then keep building from there!
Sophie a acheté des pommes pour Nicolas.
Elle a acheté des pommes pour Nicolas.
Elle a acheté des pommes pour lui.
Elle en a acheté pour lui.
Make sure to explore FrenchPod101, as it has plenty of free resources for you to practice your grammar and learn new words. The vocabulary lists are also a great way to review the words and learn their pronunciation. Remember that you can also use our premium service, MyTeacher, to get personal one-on-one coaching. Practice using French pronouns with your private teacher so they can give you personalized feedback and advice, and help you with your pronunciation.
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Imagine having a conversation with a native speaker and hesitating because you lack a solid vocabulary base.
Premium PLUS offers various features to expand learners’ vocabulary, including Free Gifts of the Month. FrenchPod101’s free gifts for April 2020 included an e-book with “400 Everyday Phrases for Beginners,” and the content is updated every month. When I download free resources like this, I find opportunities to use them with co-teachers, friends, or my language tutors.
An effective way to learn vocabulary is with SRS flashcards. SRS is a system designed for learning a new word and reviewing it in varying time intervals.
You can create and study flashcard decks, whether it’s your Word Bank or a certain vocabulary list. For example, if you need to visit a post office, the “Post Office” vocabulary list for your target language would be beneficial to study prior to your visit.
In addition to the SRS flashcards, each lesson has a vocabulary slideshow and quiz to review the lesson’s vocabulary.
There’s also the 2000 Core Word List, which includes the most commonly used words in your target language. Starting from the 100 Core Word List, you’ll gradually build up your knowledge of useful vocabulary. These lists can be studied with SRS flashcards, too.
With the SRS flashcards, you can change the settings to your liking. The settings range from different card types to number of new cards per deck. Personally, I give myself vocabulary tests by changing the settings.
After studying a number of flashcards, I change the card types to listening comprehension and/or production. Then I test myself by writing the translation of the word or the spoken word or phrase.
The change in settings allow me to remember vocabulary and learn how to identify the words. This is especially helpful with Japanese kanji!
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Homework assignments are advantageous to my language studies. There are homework assignments auto-generated weekly. They range from multiple-choice quizzes to writing assignments.
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Your language tutors also provide assignments upon requests. When I wanted to review grammar, my Korean teacher sent related quizzes and assignments. Thus, you are not only limited to the auto-generated assignments.
Every weekend, I review by re-reading those written sentences. It helps me remember sentence structures, grammar points, and vocabulary to apply in real-world contexts.
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My language teachers cater to my goals with personalized and achievable learning programs. The tangible support of my online language teachers makes it evident that we share common goals.
Once I share a short-term or long-term goal with my teacher, we establish a plan or pathway that will ultimately result in success. I coordinate with my teachers regularly to ensure the personalized learning programs are prosperous. For example, during my JLPT studies, my Japanese language tutor assigned me practice tests.
Your language tutor is available for outside help as well. When I bought drama CDs in Japan, I had difficulty transliterating the dialogue. My Japanese teacher forwarded me the script to read along as I listened.
Additionally, I often practice Korean and Japanese with music. I memorize one line of the lyrics daily. Every time, I learn a new grammar point and new vocabulary. I add the vocabulary to my SRS flashcards, locate the grammar in the Grammar Bank, and study the associated lessons online.
I send my teachers the name of the songs, making them aware of my new goal. One time, my song for Korean was “If You Do” by GOT7. My Korean teacher revealed that she was a huge fan of GOT7 like me! For Japanese, it was “CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA,” also known as the Dragonball Z theme song. My Japanese teacher excitedly told me that she sang the song a lot as a kid!
A remarkable thing happened to me in South Korea. I was stressed about opening a bank account with limited Korean. I sought help from my Korean teacher. She forwarded me a script of a bank conversation.
After two days, I visited the local bank. It all started with my opening sentence:
은행 계좌를 만들고 싶어요
eunhaeng gyejwaleul mandeulgo sip-eoyo.
I want to open a bank account.
Everything went smoothly, and I exited the bank with a new account!
The MyTeacher Messenger allows me to share visuals with my teachers for regular interaction, including videos to critique my pronunciation mechanisms. I improve my listening and speaking skills by exchanging audio with my teachers. In addition to my written homework assignments, I exchange messages with my language teachers in my target language. This connection with my teachers enables me to experience the culture as well as the language.
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Do you ever get this feeling when speaking French? You have all the words you need to make the perfect sentence, but they just don’t fit together. This is what happens when you’re not comfortable with the word order and need to learn about the specifics of the correct French sentence structures.
It may seem confusing at first, but bear with me for a moment and I trust that you’ll find it to be quite simple. Except for a few tricky exceptions, the structures are always the same and are often very similar to English. With all the tips and tricks from this article and a bit of practice, it will come naturally in no time!
In this guide, we’ll explain everything you need to know about the French sentence structure, from basic sentences for beginners to impressive complex statements for sophisticated talkers.
Like many other languages throughout the world, French is what we call an SVO language. This means that the default word order is: Subject – Verb – Object.
{Je mange une pomme.} (“I eat an apple.”)
Rule #2: Don’t Skip the Subject
And unlike similarly rooted languages, such as Spanish or Italian, we don’t usually drop the subject of the sentence, even when it’s a pronoun.
I speak French.
(Yo) hablo Frances. (Spanish)
(Io) parlo Francese. (Italian)
Je parle Français.
Rule #3: Rules are Meant to be Broken
These are mainly the French word order rules of simple declarative sentences, but as soon as we enter imperative, interrogative, or negative sentences territory, it gets a bit wilder. I mean…it’s French we’re talking about.
And one more thing: Master Yoda is allowed to use OSV sentences and still sound cool, but it’s forbidden to the rest of us.
Le Français je parle.(“French I speak.”)
2. Simple Sentences with Subject, Verb, and Object
In the following sections, we’ll work with the most common type of sentences: declaratives.
A declarative sentence is used to make a statement. It declares or states something, and ends with a period. We can’t use declarative sentences to ask questions or give orders.
Let’s get back to our basic declarative sentence: Je parle Français. (“I speak French.”)
In this sentence, I’m stating that I speak French.
Like we mentioned before, there are mainly two things you need to know about declarative sentences and their basic word order in French:
The word order is Subject + Verb + Object.
We don’t drop the subject, even when it’s a pronoun.
To these basic rules, I would also add:
Verbs are conjugated. Their ending depends on the subject.
Nous mangeons des pommes. (“We eat apples.”) → Mangeons des pommes. (“Let’s eat apples.”)
Elle mange des pommes. (“She eats apples.”)
3. How to Build Complex Sentences
Now that we have the basics covered, it’s time to add more ingredients into the mix and spice it up with adverbs, adjectives, and pronouns to gradually make our sentence more exciting!
1 – Adding Adjectives:
Adjectives describe nouns to make them more interesting. Let’s see where to place them in a sentence.
According to French word order, adjectives usually go AFTER the noun they describe.
Une pomme verte(“A green apple”)
However, some of the most common adjectives go BEFORE the noun.
Une grosse pomme (“A big apple”)
Put in a sentence, it looks like this:
Il mange une pomme verte. (“He’s eating a green apple.”)
→ Learn more about adjectives with our full guide and massive list of the Top 100 French Adjectives.
2 – Adding Adverbs:
Adverbs work together with and describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs to modify their meaning or make a sentence more precise.
When the adverb modifies a verb, it usually comes AFTER this verb. The word order is: S + V + Adv.
Je parle lentement. (“I speak slowly.”)
Then, if we have an object, it would be: S + V + O + Adv.
Je parle Français couramment. (“I speak French fluently.”)
When the adverb modifies an adverb or adjective, it usually comes AFTER the verb and BEFORE the adverb or adjective. The word order is: S + V + Adv + Adv.
Je parle très lentement. (“I speak very slowly.”)
When we get to this level of complexity, things start becoming a bit more flexible.
For instance, both sentences are correct:
Je parle Français couramment. (“I speak French fluently.”)
Je parle couramment Français. (“I speak French fluently.”)
However, it comes with exceptions, such as the very common bien (“well”) which is placed BEFORE the object.
Je parle bien Français. (“I speak French well.”)
Je parle vraiment bienFrançais. (“I speak French very well.”)
Je parle Français bien.
→ Everything you need to know about adverbs you’ll find in our Complete Guide on French Adverbs, with a list of the most common adverbs you should know.
Not too confused with the colors, are you?
3 – Adding Pronouns
Brace yourself, this is where French language word order gets tough. Understanding the word order of pronouns in French isn’t always a walk in the park, and we’ll really just scratch the surface here.
Subject pronouns don’t move:
Nicolas mange une pomme. (“Nicolas eats an apple.”)
Il mange une pomme. (“He eats an apple.”)
Same thing for stressed pronouns:
Il mange une pommeavec ses amis. (“He eats an apple with his friends.”)
Il mange une pommeavec eux. (“He eats an apple with them.”)
However, direct and indirect pronouns are not as well-behaved.
Nicolas donne une pomme. (“He gives an apple.”)
Nicolas la donne. (“He gives it.”)
Il donne une pommeà ses amis. (“He gives an apple to his friends.”)
Il leurdonne une pomme. (“He gives them an apple.”)
Il la leur donne. (“He gives it to them.”)
→ For more information about pronouns, you can go through our Extensive Guide on French Pronouns, with lots of examples and grammar points.
And what happens when we put everything together?
Je leur parle Françaistrès lentement. (“I speak French with them very slowly.”)
Il leur donne gentiment une pomme verte. (“He gently gives them a green apple.”)
4 – Adding Prepositions
Prepositions are words that usually precede a noun or pronoun and express a relationship to another element of the sentence. Prepositional phrases often answer questions such as:
Where? Il mange une pomme dans la cuisine. (“He eats an apple in the kitchen.”)
When? Il mange une pomme après le dîner. (“He eats an apple after dinner.”)
How?
Il mange une pomme avec eux. (“He eats an apple with them.”)
Il mange une pomme sans se presser. (“He eats an apple without rushing.”)
Il mange une pomme avec soin. (“He eats an apple with care.”)
Prepositions can be placed BEFORE or AFTER the verb. In some cases, you can freely choose, and in other situations, only one option will make sense.
Après le dîner, je mange une pomme. (“After dinner, I eat an apple.”)
Je mange une pomme après le dîner. (“I eat an apple after dinner.”)
Il mange une pomme sans se presser. (“He eats an apple without rushing.”)
Sans se presser, il mange une pomme. (“Without rushing, he eats an apple.”)
In these two examples, both versions are correct.
But sometimes, you need to know the verb for the preposition to be relevant:
Je rentre à la maison. (“I go back home.”)
You would not say “Home, I go back,” and it would sound equally awkward in French.
Je donne une pomme à mon ami. (“I give an apple to my friend.”)
Similarly, it wouldn’t make sense to mention the recipient before the action is stated.
To combine prepositions, you can simply apply the same logic when choosing where to place them:
Après le dîner, je rentre à la maison sans me presser. (“After dinner, I go back home without rushing.”)
Sans me presser, je mange une pomme avec eux dans la cuisine. (“Without rushing, I eat an apple with them in the kitchen.”)
These are not the words I ordered!
4. Asking Questions
The word order in French questions isn’t always SVO.
Questions can take several different forms in French, depending on whether you’re talking or writing, as well as how formal you want to be.
Let’s go back to our apple-eating example: Tu manges une pomme.
Here’s how to say: “Do you eat an apple?”
1. Tu manges une pomme ? (SVO)
2. Est-ce que tu manges une pomme ? (Est-ce que + SVO)
3. Manges–tu une pomme ? (VSO)
Now I guess the last one is confusing: Why do we suddenly invert the subject and verb?
This form is used only in writing or in very formal speech. Among friends, with random strangers, or in most business settings, you would stick to one of the first two options. I’d say both are equally common.
Now, what if we add some interrogative pronouns and adverbs?
Let’s see how to use words like: Quand (“When”), Qui (“Who”), Comment (“How”), Où (“Where?”).
“Where do you eat?”
1. Tu manges où ?
2. Où est-ce que tu manges ?
3. Où manges–tu ?
“When do you eat?”
1. Tu manges quand ?
2. Quand est-ce que tu manges ?
3. Quand manges–tu ?
5. Negative Sentences
Luckily, this is the last case, because I’m seriously running out of colors!
In this section, we’ll have a look at the word order in negative sentences.
Negative structures are placed around the verb and before the preposition or object.
Je ne mange pas de pommes. (“I don’t eat an apple.”)
Je ne mange pas dans la cuisine. (“I don’t eat in the kitchen.”)
Je ne mange pas vite. (“I don’t eat fast.”)
The same thing goes for other negative structures:
Je ne mange plus dans la cuisine. (“I don’t eat in the kitchen anymore.”)
Je ne mange jamais dans la cuisine. (“I never eat in the kitchen.”)
That’s how I learned negative sentences!
6. Practical Cases
Now, it’s time to practice everything we’ve been learning today! We’ll take it slow and do it step-by-step. At any time, feel free to go back through the article if you’re having doubts.
Try to come up with the French translations for these sentences. You can use a conjugation table if you’re not sure how to deal with parler (“to speak”).
1. “We speak.” – _________________
2. “We speak French.” – _________________
3. “We speak French slowly.” – _________________
4. “We speak French slowly with her.” – _________________
5. “We speak with her in the kitchen.” – _________________
6. “After dinner, we speak with her in the kitchen.” – _________________
7. “We never speak with her in the kitchen.” – _________________
8. “Do you speak with her in the kitchen?” – _________________
“Where do I put these verbs again?”
“Where do I put these verbs again?”
[SPOILER] And here are the translations:
“We speak.” – Nous parlons
“We speak French.” – Nous parlons Français.
“We speak French slowly.” – Nous parlons Français lentement.
“We speak French slowly with her.” – Nous parlons Français lentement avec elle.
“We speak with her in the kitchen.” – Nous parlons Français avec elle dans la cuisine.
“After dinner, we speak with her in the kitchen.” – Après dîner, nous parlons avec dans la cuisine.
“We never speak with her in the kitchen.” – Nous ne parlons jamais avec elle dans la cuisine.
“Do you speak with her in the kitchen?” – Est-ce que tu parles avec elle dans la cuisine ?
7. Le Mot De La Fin
In this guide, you’ve learned a lot about French word order and the correct French sentence structures, from the basics to the most advanced parts such as French pronoun order.
Did we forget any important structure you would like to learn about? Do you feel ready to assemble ambitious sentences, using everything you’ve learned today?
As we’ve seen with the exercises, a good way to practice French word order is to start easy and slowly build up to complex sentences, one piece at a time.
Make sure to explore FrenchPod101.com, as we have plenty of free resources for you to practice your grammar and learn new words. Our vocabulary lists are also a great way to review the words and learn their pronunciation. Remember that you can also use our Premium PLUS service, MyTeacher, to get personal one-on-one coaching. Practice talking about word order in French with your private teacher so they can give you personalized feedback and advice, and help you with the pronunciation.
Do you sometimes get the impression that time is flying away, riding a winged clock out of your reach, or is it just me? Flying or not, time is the single most precious thing we have, and being able to discuss it will prove useful within your first few days in France.
Whether you want to talk about your day, plan something, talk about schedules, or just answer someone on the street asking you for the time, learning about telling time in French is essential. You’ll have to know the basic vocabulary for “hour” or “minutes” in French, some numbers, and a variety of valuable time-related phrases and keywords.
In this article, you’ll learn everything about telling the time in French, from the units to the AM / PM system, common questions & answers, and much more!
Before you learn how to tell the time in French, you’ll need to understand when someone is asking you for it. And in the process, you’ll learn how to ask for the time yourself. As you can expect, there isn’t only one way of asking about time in French, but the most popular, by far, is:
Quelle heure est-il ? [Formal]
“What time is it?”
If you have some experience with polite sentences, you may have noticed the inverted subject (est-il instead of il est). Indeed, this is the formal sentence that most French lessons teach you, but there are several other ways you can ask (or be asked) for the time:
Quelle heure il est ? [Casual]
Il est quelle heure ? [Casual]
Both of these phrases mean “What time is it?”
Let’s have a look at other popular alternatives:
Est-ce que vous avez l’heure ? [Formal]
Est-ce que tu as l’heure ? [Casual]
T’as l’heure ? [Very casual]
These translate to “Do you have the time?”
And of course, if you’re asking some stranger in the street or anyone you’re not yet familiar with, don’t forget to add some honey by starting with a polite Excusez-moi (“Excuse me”), and maybe a nice s’il vous plaît (“please”) at the end!
Before we get to the juicy part, let’s talk vocabulary for a moment. Obviously, to give the time in French, you’ll have to be in the clear about numbers. At the minimum, you need to be able to count up to fifty-nine, but don’t worry if you can’t do that yet—we also have some magic words to save you the trouble!
However, I would say that counting up to 12 is an absolute minimum, so just in case, let’s review this quickly:
1. un
2. deux
3. trois
4. quatre
5. cinq
6. six
7. sept
8. huit
9. neuf
10. dix
11. onze
12. douze
→ Learn how to count from 0 to infinity with our complete guide on French Numbers. It’s available for free on FrenchPod101!
Now, here are our time units:
une heure (“hour”)
une minute (“minute”)
une seconde (“second”)
So, what happens when you combine these words with numbers?
Trois heures (“three hours”)
Dix minutes (“ten minutes”)
Trente secondes (“thirty seconds”)
And here’s a glimpse of how to tell time in French with minutes, though we’ll go more into this later.
Cinq heures vingt (“five hours twenty minutes”)
In most cases, when the number of minutes closely follows the hour, like above, you can omit the word minutes (“minutes”).
→ You’ll find these words, as well as the numbers, in our free vocabulary list on Talking about Time with audio recordings to practice your pronunciation!
Un cadran solaire (“A sundial”)
3. AM or PM?
Frequently asked question: Should I use the twelve- or twenty-four-hour system in French?
Answer: As you wish! (But there is a twist.)
The twelve-hour system used to be popular in northern Europe, but nowadays, it’s slowly losing the battle against the objectively superior twenty-four-hour system. Let’s see how it looks.
Il est 5 heures du matin. (“It is 5 AM” or literally “It is five hours in the morning.”)
Il est 5 heures de l’après-midi. (“It is 5 PM” or “It is five hours in the afternoon.”)
Il est 8 heures du soir. (“It is 8 PM” or “It is eight hours in the evening.”)
Dealing with twelve hours makes it easily confusing when you’re talking to someone from the same time zone, but it gets ridiculous with globalization and our tendency to communicate and schedule events with people from all around the world.
Now, if you also consider that AM (which stands for “Ante Meridiem,” as opposed to “Post Meridiem”) could possibly be the abbreviation for après-midi (French for “afternoon”), you’ll understand why it’s losing in popularity.
Now that being said, there are still MANY people using the twelve-hour system. It’s not even old-fashioned yet and you should be ready to understand it, even if you choose not to use it yourself.
And as tempting as it was to add a lecture on the Latin origin of meridiem, I’m all about self-control and will keep my sophisticated pedantism in check. Hey, did you know “pedant” comes from the Italian “pedante,” derived from the Latin “paedogogus?” Oh no, I did it again!
Most hated object in the house: The alarm clock!
4. How to Give the Time
Alright, I’ve kept you waiting long enough. Here’s how to tell the time in French:
Il est _____. (“It is _____”).
Did it feel anticlimactic? I feel like it’s not quite the big reveal.
Okay, but that’s not all of it! Here’s how you can make it more interesting:
Il est 8 heures. (“It is 8.”)
Il est bientôt 8 heures. (“It is 8 soon.”)
Il sera bientôt 8 heures. (“It will be 8 soon.”)
Il est presque 8 heures. (“It is almost 8.”)
Il est 8 heures passées. (“It is past 8.”)
Il est encore 8 heures. (“It is still 8.”)
Il n’est pas encore 8 heures. (“It is not 8 yet.”)
Vers 8 heures. (“Around 8.”)
Aux environs de 8h. (“Around 8.”)
Il est 8 heures pile. (“It is 8 sharp.”)
Il est 8 heures pétantes. (“It is 8 sharp.”)
Hold on, these two are interesting!
Pile or tout pile is rather straightforward. When it’s not used for the time, you can find it as an equivalent of “sharp,” “exactly,” or “right,” as in:
A midi pile. (“At noon sharp.”) On a pile 10 mètres carrés. (“We have exactly ten meters square.”) Il a visé pile au centre. (“He aimed right at the center.”)
Il est 8 heures pétantes literally means “It is eight blasting hours,” or “It is eight farting hours.”
In 1786 in Paris, there used to be a small canon next to the Palais-Royal. It was only forty centimeters long and was equipped with a magnifying glass to concentrate the sun’s rays. Every sunny day at noon sharp, it would set the gunpowder on fire and BOOM!
And if you’re dealing with the twelve-hour system, don’t forget about the trinity of matin, après-midi,and soir:
Il est 4 heures du matin. (“It is four in the morning.”)
Il est 4 heures de l’après-midi. (“It is four in the afternoon.”)
Il est 9 heures du soir. (“It is nine in the evening.”)
Il est 8 heures pile. (“It is 8 sharp.”)
5. Hour Divisions
I promised you a magic workaround if you don’t know all the numbers from 13 to 59. Here we are!
Il est 8 heures et demi. (“It is half past 8.”) Literally: “It is 8 hours and half.”
Il est 2 heures et quart. (“It is quarter past 2.”) Literally: “It is 2 hours and quarter.”
Il est 3 heures moins le quart. (“It is quarter to 3.”) Literally: “It is 3 hours minus quarter.”
Il est 9 heures moins 10. (“It is 10 to 9.”) Literally: “It is 9 hours minus 10.”
/! This only works in the twelve-hour system:
Il est 8 heures et demi.
Il est 20 heures et demi.
Il est 20 heures 30.
6. From Dusk till Dawn
Now that we know how to ask for the time and tell the time in French, let’s get more vocabulary on the various moments of the day. Describing time in French becomes much simpler when you know how to say the general time. Unless you’re living in Saint-Petersburg and partying throughout the endless white nights, or hiding from vampires during the thirty days of night in Utqiaġvik, Alaska, your typical day should start with a sunrise and end with a sunset.
Morning
Le lever du soleil (“Sunrise”)
L’aube (“Dawn”)
Le matin (“Morning”)
Le début de matinée (“Early morning”)
La matinée (“Morning”)
La fin de matinée (“Late morning”)
Afternoon
Le midi (“Noon”)
Le début d’après-midi (“Early afternoon”)
L’après-midi (“Afternoon”)
La fin d’après-midi (“Late afternoon”)
La fin de journée (“Late afternoon”)
Evening & Night
Le début de soirée (“Early evening”)
La soirée (“Evening”)
La fin de soirée (“Late evening”)
Le crépuscule (“Dusk”)
Le coucher du soleil (“Sunset”)
La nuit (“Night”)
Minuit (“Midnight”)
Un coucher de soleil (“A sunset”)
7. Expressions and Proverbs about Time in French
Did you notice that the French don’t ask “What time is it?” but “What hour is it?”
Many time-related French expressions are surprisingly similar to their English equivalent, but it’s interesting to see the differences:
La nuit des temps [Literally: “The night of times”]
(“The dawn of times”)
Ces derniers temps [“Those latest times”]
(“Lately”)
En temps normal [“In normal time”]
(“Under normal circumstances”)
En temps utile [“In useful time”]
En temps voulu [“In desired time”]
(“In due time”)
Chercher midi à quatorze heures. [“To look for noon at 2 PM”]
(“To look for unnecessary complications”)
And of course, we do have the infamous proverb: Le temps, c’est de l’argent. (“Time is money.”)
Even though we’re as deep into capitalism as any of our European neighbors, the average French doesn’t live by this proverb and people tend to think of time as a commodity and not just something they convert into cash.
And even without pondering about the things money can’t buy, there’s an Epicurean component to the French Art de vivre(“Art of Living”) that keeps people from being swallowed by their working life and helps them prioritize what they work for.
Passed time never comes back.
8. How FrenchPod101 Can Help You Learn More French
In this guide, you’ve learned everything about telling the time in French, from the common questions and answers to time units, vocabulary, and expressions. Did I forget any important time-related word or expression that you know? Do you feel ready to ask random French strangers for the time, or to answer when you’re asked for it?
Understanding time in French may take time. A good exercise to practice telling the time is simply to try and think in French when you look at your watch. Try to form the sentence in your head using what you’ve learned today, and you’ll soon become more comfortable. Just take it easy and go at your own pace. =)
Remember that you can also use our premium service, MyTeacher, to get personal one-on-one coaching and practice with your private teacher. Using assignments, personalized exercises, and recorded audio samples —and by reviewing yours—they can help you improve your pronunciation much faster. Happy learning on FrenchPod101!
Have you ever been lost in a big capital city, without batteries in your phone or credit on your SIM card? And when was the last time you’ve bought one of these unfoldable paper maps? Luckily, there’s one thing you can always rely on when you’re completely lost in France: helpful locals!
But it comes at a price. Outside of Paris, it can be difficult to find English-speaking help and you’ll have to be ready to break the language barrier. Asking directions in French is easy. Understanding the answer is a different story (but “left” and “right” in French aren’t hard). Don’t worry, we’ll get you there. =)
First, you’ll need to know the basic vocabulary, such as right, left, North, or South in French. But you’ll also need to know the usual movement verbs and the most common structures. In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know to find your way around France, from the landmarks to the transportation, taxi phrases, and polite greetings. Time to hit the road!
Table of Contents
Whether you prefer the modern conveniences of a GPS or ever-reliable paper maps, and whenever you’re navigating through unknown regions or talking about the French territory with your local friends, you’ll need to know the basic cardinal directions and how to use them in sentences.
So, before we dive into anything more complex, let’s start with that!
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
