Hello r/French!

To prevent common reposts, we set up two pages. This FAQ, and a Resources page. Look into them before posting!

(Huge thanks to u/weeklyrob for initially setting this up.)

Help us make this page better! You can comment with any suggestions. This can be a living, changing page. Bonne continuation !

How do I get started (or progress in) learning French?

Everyone is different. Flashcards, using spaced-repetition, is pretty clearly a good idea for learning vocabulary. Aside from that, it depends on your budget, your motivation, your willingness to try different approaches, and more.

Here are some personal stories from r/French members:

• From A1 to C1 listening in a year
• Resources for passing the C1 exam
• To C1 from 0
• 0 to A2 in six months

When will I be fluent / How long does it take to learn French?

1. The word “fluent” doesn't have a widely accepted meaning. It has been used to mean anything from “being able to have a conversation” to “speaking almost like a native”. So don't get caught up in that.
2. How long it takes depends on lots of factors, including which language you currently speak. English speakers will probably find French easier to learn than Mandarin speakers will.
3. Language learning doesn't have to be hard, but it does take lots of time. Expect it to take years before you really feel 100% comfortable.

Don't trust the estimations you can find online. If you're willing to make mistakes and be confused, then you can start to have conversations a lot faster.

Note: although there's disagreement about the best methods of acquiring a language, pretty much everyone agrees that 30 minutes a day is far better than several hours packed into one day a week.

Where can I chat with French speakers (and other learners)? Can I find a language partner here?

Try our Discord server! We have literally thousands of members, chatting in text and voicechat, with channels for beginners and more advanced people. We also have channels with nothing but helpful tips for learners, and even one for asking NSFW questions (which aren't allowed in our subreddit) and another to find a language exchange partner.

You could also try some third-party sites and apps, such as HelloTalk.

What does [WORD] mean? How do I say [WORD] in French?

Probably better to check a dictionary than to ask about single words in this sub, unless it's a specific usage question. WordReference is the favourite dictionary of many learners. Look into our Resources pages for some good dictionaries.

Note that we don't allow translation requests if you haven't tried to translate it yourself in the post.

How do I pronounce [WORD]?

We have resources for pronunciation too!

Translators vs Dictionaries

Don't use translators such as Google Translate or DeepL for single words. Look into our Resources pages for some good dictionaries.

Automatic translators work a lot better with context and translating from French into your target language. That's because they'll make mistakes, which you can better spot in your language than you can in French.

What about French outside of France?

This sub is an inclusive community about the French language, in all its variations around the world. Post here and you'll be likely to receive relevant answers for the dialect you're interested in.

Here's a video explaining some of the differences between French in Canada and French in France, particularly Parisian French. (Note that even within France, there are regional differences.)

How do I know whether a noun is masculine or feminine?

There is no 100% perfect method. Except when a person (or often an animal) is actually male or female, grammatical gender is unrelated to sexual gender. Grammatical gender is just a category of words, and might as well be called “category X and category Y” rather than “masculine” and “feminine”.

When you learn a noun, you should learn its gender at the same time. Don't learn "pomme = apple". Learn "La / une pomme = the / an apple".

There are some shortcuts, but they all contain exceptions. Here's a shortcut that will give you the right answer 80% of the time.

The pronouns "en" and "y"

Here's some help for en, and for y.

When do I use passé composé vs. imparfait?

Here's one good resource about this.

When do you use "avoir" vs "être" for composé tenses?

This is one of those things that has been made harder than it is. There are several words that take être instead of avoir in composé tenses (like passé composé). The rest don't.

All pronominal verbs (like se coucher). You don't have to memorise these words, because you'll see that they fit the pattern.

The verbs in this picture when they don't take a direct object. That is, je suis sorti (no direct object) but j'ai sorti la viande du four (direct object). Some people point out that they're mostly changes in motion or state.

When do I say, "il est" vs "c'est"? ("c'est une femme, elle est belle")

Here's a page on it. The thing that surprises some people is that c'est can refer to people. It's not just for inanimate objects.

What prepositions go with what verbs?

Unfortunately, there is no rule. The thing to remember is that the preposition is determined by the preceding verb or phrase. In other words, in the French sentence “I want to eat” ("je veux manger"), the lack of a preposition isn't determined by "manger," but by "veux".

A good dictionary usually has examples of verbs in use.

Here's a page about it. And here's a downloadable Google sheet that you can import into a flashcard app like Brainscape or Anki. This list doesn't have all verbs, but it has a lot.

Are there non-binary French pronouns?

There are some experimental terms that have gotten some traction at highly progressive places (like some universities) and among the LGBQT+ community. The most common one is iel (pronounced as ee-ell or yell).

Le Robert's online dictionary includes it as a word, calling it rare. They also say that they've seen a growth in its use recently : Pourquoi Le Robert a-t-il intégré le mot « iel » dans son dictionnaire en ligne ?

However, most French people don't know that term, and wouldn't really know what you're talking about if you used it. So if you hear it or read it, you can recognise it. But using it in the street will probably just confuse people.

How do you use adjectives like belle/beau with people who aren't binary? There's no easy answer, and the vast majority of people don't really know or follow any other method. Some default to masculine, but it's not ideal. Still, here's a page in French with some thoughts.

What's all this A1, B2, C2 stuff?

It's the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. It's a way that people learning different European languages can agree on levels. Here's a simplified grid of levels and one of levels just for spoken language.

How can I know when a noun or pronoun is plural or singular if they sound the same?

The first answer, as with most things, is context. You're talking about three dogs and you say "ils mangent" because it's three dogs, not one.

The next answer is articles. English “the” doesn't tell you plurality, but you can hear it in the noun itself. The cats. French articles tell you the plurality, so you don't need to hear it in the word. Les chats.

And finally, there's liaison, which helps at least some of the time. Ils aiment sounds different from il aime. And there's never liaison with a singular noun. "Un chat attachant" won't have liaison. So if you hear liaison, then it's not a singular noun.

How does "Il me manque" mean “I miss him”?

Manquer is a tricky one for people coming from English. It means slightly different things, depending on which preposition you use (or if you don't use one at all).

For a good run-down of manquer, see this article from Lawless French.

I saw a "de" when I expected a "des". Why?

You probably saw either a negative construction, an expression of quantity, or an adjective preceding a noun.

• "de" with negative constructions
• "de" with expressions of quantity
• "de" before adjectives that precede a noun

When do you use bon vs bien

People have told you that bon is an adjective and bien is an adverb. Well… not so fast! If you speak with French speakers, you'll hear bien used as an adjective (with être) every single day. Here's some help.

Why are French subtitles so different from dubbed French?

It's usually two separate teams, and they have a different mission from each other. The people who do the subtitles have to get the gist across quickly, but hold the words up long enough for people to read them. The people who do dubs don't have those issues.