French grammar

Every grammar guide of Lingora’s French A1 course, with examples you can listen to.

01Verbs: Present TenseThe present tense describes actions occurring at the moment of speaking, habitual actions, or general truths. Unlike English, which distinguishes between…
02Personal PronounsSubject pronouns indicate who or what is performing the action of the verb. In French, these pronouns change based on the person (first, second, or…
03Possessive AdjectivesPossessive adjectives are words used to indicate ownership or relationship, corresponding to English words like "my," "your," or "their." In French,…
04Reflexive Pronoun 'se'The pronoun se is a reflexive pronoun used exclusively with third-person subjects (il, elle, on, ils, elles). It indicates that the action of the verb…
05Pronouns: Usage of 'on'The pronoun on is a versatile subject pronoun in French. Regardless of its meaning in a specific sentence, it is grammatically treated as a third-person…
06Pronouns: Usage of 'y'The pronoun y is an adverbial pronoun used to replace a phrase that has already been mentioned. It allows you to avoid repetition and shorten sentences.…
07Joined Preposition & PronounsIn French, the prepositions à (to, at, in) and de (of, from, about) must merge with the definite articles le and les to form a single word. These fused…
08Definite ArticlesDefinite articles correspond to the English word "the". They indicate a specific noun. Unlike English, where "the" never changes, these articles must…
09Indefinite ArticlesIndefinite articles correspond to the English words "a" or "an". They are used to introduce a noun that refers to a non-specific item, a quantity of one,…
10Nouns: DeclensionNouns are words that identify people, places, objects, or concepts. In this language, every noun has two primary characteristics: gender (masculine or…
11The Many Meanings of 'de'The preposition de is one of the most frequent words in the language. While it is often translated as of or from in English, it serves many grammatical…
12Verbs: Imperative MoodThe imperative mood is used to issue direct commands, make requests, or offer strong advice. In French, the imperative does not use a subject pronoun.…
13Questions With 'est-ce que'Est-ce que is a fixed formula used to turn a statement into a question. While it literally translates to is it that, it functions grammatically like the…
14Expressing 'this' & 'that'To translate "this" or "that" when they are followed by a specific noun (as in "this car" or "that house"), you must use a demonstrative adjective. In…
15AbbreviationsElision is a phonetic phenomenon where a final vowel is dropped from a word when the following word begins with a vowel or a silent 'h'. The dropped…
16Reflexive Form of PronounsReflexive pronouns indicate that the subject of the sentence is performing an action upon itself. In these constructions, the subject and the object are…
17Expressing Politeness with 'vous'In French, the pronoun vous serves two distinct functions: it is the polite way to address a single person, and it is the standard way to address a group…
18The Many Meanings of 'en'En is a versatile word that functions primarily in two ways: as a preposition (indicating location, time, material, or manner) and as a pronoun…
19Pronouns: Disjunctive PronounsDisjunctive pronouns (also called stress pronouns or emphatic pronouns) are strong forms used when a pronoun stands alone, follows a preposition, or…
20Pronouns: Objective FormsObject pronouns replace nouns to avoid repetition. In French, the choice of pronoun depends on whether the object is direct (connected directly to the…
21Forming Questions by InversionInversion is a method of forming questions by switching the positions of the subject pronoun and the verb. This structure is considered the most formal…
22The Form 'puis'The verb pouvoir, "to be able", has a second first-person form. Beside the everyday je peux there is puis, and it is the form French uses when the…
23Negation with 'ne ... pas'Standard French negation is formed using two words: ne and pas. These two words act like "bookends" around the conjugated verb. ne is placed before the…
24Expressing needs with 'besoin' & 'devoir'French distinguishes between the concept of "lacking something" and the concept of "obligation." While English often uses "need" for both, French uses…
25Expressing Necessity with 'falloir'The verb falloir is unique because it is an impersonal verb. It is conjugated only in the third person singular as il faut. In this context, il does not…
26Verbs: Perfect TenseThe perfect tense, known in French as the Passé Composé, is the most common tense used to express actions that were completed in the past. It corresponds…
27Verbs: Conditional MoodThe Conditional Mood describes actions or states that are not guaranteed to happen, but are dependent on certain conditions, wishes, or possibilities. It…
28Verbs: Imperfect TenseThe imperfect tense, or l'imparfait, is a descriptive past tense. It is used to talk about ongoing actions, habits, or states of being in the past…
29Verbs: Subjunctive MoodThe subjunctive is a grammatical mood used to express the speaker's subjective attitude toward an event. Unlike the indicative mood, which states facts…
30The Interfix 't'When forming questions by inverting the verb and the subject, a phonetic bridge is sometimes required to ensure smooth pronunciation. This bridge is the…
31Verbs: GerundsThe gerund is a verb form used to describe simultaneous actions or the manner in which something is done. It is formed using the preposition en followed…
32Nouns: Gender and NumberEvery noun has a grammatical gender, either masculine or feminine. This gender is a core property of the noun and affects the articles (le, la, un, une)…
33ElisionElision is a mandatory process where the final vowel of a word is dropped and replaced by an apostrophe. This happens to avoid a clash of vowel sounds…