It’s Essay Writing Season For Tons Of Students!

A beginner's guide

Bonjour! Is there a list of things that a french beginner should learn, is there a specific order to learn topics in french? Also, love your blog, it helps me a lot.

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Hello, thanks love you too! Here's roughly how to proceed:

#1. Genders.

Nouns, adjectives, determiners and past participles in French are either masculine or feminine. There is no neutral.

Known: LE/LA/L’ (+ vowel) + singular, LES + plural (The girl)

Unknown: UN/UNE + singular, DES + plural (A cat)

Uncountable: DU/DE LA + singular, DES + plural (Sugar)

How do I know what gender an item is?

Those that end with a consonant are likely masculine (Un éléphant), those that end with an -e likely feminine (Une girafe), especially if it follows a couple of the same consonant (Une tasse). A noun or adjective can be ‘gender-neutral’, or épicène (Juge, Drôle). There are obviously exceptions (Nation, Incendie).

What’s an uncountable item?

It’s a group of items that are either too small or too large to be counted: fruit, sugar, flour, people, etc (ex: Du sable, Des gens).

Let’s practice: Le facteur et la boulangère sont mariés. La ministre est sortie. Un chien aboie dehors. J’ai mangé du pain.

#2. Numbers.

To turn a singular into a plural, adding an -s is your most popular option. It can also be an -x (Bijou, Feu), nothing if the singular ends in -z, -s, -x (Nez); some words only exist as plurals (Ciseaux). There are a few irregulars (Oeil/yeux, Monsieur/messieurs, Madame/mesdames, Animal/animaux).

Let’s practice: J’ai deux petits frères qui sont nés (past participle) en 1998. J’ai un chat sur les genoux. Il y a des noix dans mes gâteaux. Mes yeux sont noirs.

#3. Verbs.

Verbs belong to one of three groups: -er except Aller (90%), -ir with a few exceptions, and the bin (auxiliaries Être and Avoir, Aller, -re, -oir, -ir exceptions). They can be modal (Should) or reflexive: preceded by an object pronoun (Je m’appelle).

The most useful verbs are:

Être: to be, avoir: to have, faire: to do/make, dire: to say, pouvoir: can, aller: to go, voir: to see, savoir: to know, vouloir: want, venir: to come, falloir: to have to, devoir: must, croire: to believe, trouver: to find, donner: to give, prendre: to take, mettre: to put down/place, laisser: to let, to need: avoir besoin de (...)

#4. Tenses.

The most useful tenses are:

Indicative present (J'aime le fromage - I like cheese)

Imperfect (J'aimais le fromage - I liked cheese)

Perfect (J'ai aimé le fromage - I have liked cheese)

Future (J'aimerai le fromage - I will like cheese)

Present conditional (J'aimerais le fromage - I would like cheese)

Present subjunctive (Je veux que tu prennes le fromage - I want you to take the cheese) triggered by certain verbs + que.

N.B.: There are irregular past participles (Être: été, Avoir: eu, Voir: vu, etc.).

Let’s practice: Je ne sais pas. Il dessinait bien. Nous sommes venus. Ils te verront quand ils reviendront. Vous seriez partis tôt.

#5. Function words.

Personal pronouns: Tu manges du pain

Demonstrative pronouns: Celui de ma soeur est mieux

Possessive determiners: C'est ton chien

Contracted words: Elle est au parc

Coordinating conjunctions: J'y vais mais j'ai peur

Subordinating conjunctions: Je demanderai quand il rentrera

Linkers: On se voit plus tard

Let’s practice: Je crois qu’elle sera à l’heure mais je peux me tromper. Pourquoi est-ce que tu pars? Nous reviendrons plus tard, quand il fera plus beau. Vous ne devez pas être en retard sans raison. C’est là, celle à droite.

#6. Basic knowledge.

Accents

Adverbs

Calendar

Colours

Conversation

En + Y

Family

Food

Negations

Numbers

Prepositions

Questions

Relative pronouns

Terminations

Time

Tu or Vous

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As you're mastering those, start practising.

Listen to music, podcasts, books while looking at the transcription - don't translate, get used to the pronunciation and the word chewing. Record yourself reading.

Then, start reading. I recommend starting with children's literature, especially books you already know in English. Things like Le petit prince or Perrault's fairytales should be accessible.

Use Reverso and Deepl as if you were paid to.

Study the pronunciation posts. The devil is in the details.

Learn vocabulary every week. Avoid translating English word by word, it's often a fool's bet; make a simpler sentence instead.

Explore my grammar tag once in a while.

RESOURCE FOR (major) AP TESTS

Yo!! for those of you students (or not) who’re taking AP tests, there’s this channel called Crash Course that has a bunch of AP-related series. each video’s between 10-15 minutes long and a lot of students use them as review or catch-up on stuff that their class skimmed over/stuff they didn’t understand or missed. Here are the ones that I know are for sure AP courses:

AP World History (also, if you want a more in-depth look at a lot of these topics, check out World History 2 as well)

AP US History

AP Ecology

AP Biology

AP Chemistry

AP English Literature (in terms of analysis and close reading, not so much about paragraph and essay styles…sorry, if anyone’s got a good source for that, please reblog and add some sources)

AP Psychology (helped me get a 5 on the ap psych test, no joke!!)

AP United States Government and Politics

AP Micro- and Macro-economics* (I believe, feel free to contest this)

AP Physics* (not sure which specific tests these videos cover) - (MinutePhysics is also a good source for specific topic in physics)

* indicates series that are, as of May 3rd 2016, still running/incomplete

If anyone has any other AP-related testing help (in terms of subject matter, not how to take the test), please reblog and add more. I hope y’all pass your tests!!

how does he produce full movies in three mins?? give him his oscar already

donner (to give)✨, prendre (to take) ✨recevoir (to get)✨ present tense

donner - to give 🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️

je donne                 [I give]

tu donnes               [you give]

il/elle/on donne     [he/she/it/ gives]

nous donnons       [we give]

vous donnez          [you give]

ils/elle donnent     [they give]

prendre - to take 🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️

je prends               [I take]

tu prends               [you take]

il/elle/on prend     [he/she/it takes]

nous prenons        [we take]

vous prenez           [you take]

ils/elles prennent  [they take]

recevoir - to get 🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️

je reçois                   [I get]

tu reçois                   [you get]

il/elle/on reçoit       [he/she/it gets]

nous recevons        [we get]

vous recevez           [you get]

ils/elles reçoivent   [they get]

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un chat / une chatte  a cat (m.) / (f.) un chaton   a kitten un matou   a tomcat un chat domestique   a house cat / a domestic cat un (chat) persan   a persian cat un (chat) siamois   a siamese cat un (chat) tigré   a tabby cat le pélage, le poil   fur les pattes (f.)   paws les griffes rétractiles   retractable claws la queue   tail une litière   a litter box une chatière   a cat flap / a cat door la nourriture pour chat    cat food ronronner   to purr miauler   to meow feuler   to yowl

Aimer Conjugation

j’aime = I love

tu aimes = you love

il aime = he loves

elle aime = she loves

nous aimons = we love

vous aimez = you love (formal; plural)

ils aiment = they love (masculine)

elles aiment = they love (feminine)

.

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Basic conversation

Hellos :

Bonjour (good day), bonsoir (good evening, from 5/6 pm) (formal)

Salut, coucou (childish), hola, hey (informal)

Hello (without pronouncing the h-) (mostly informal)

Yo, wesh (ironical, ‘ghetto’ slang) (very informal)

Allô (on the phone - neutral)

Introduction :

Je suis ravi-e de vous rencontrer (nice to meet you - formal)

Enchanté-e (charmed - formal)

Je m’appelle X (’I’m called X’)

Je suis la fille de Y (I am Y’s daughter)

J’ai vingt-six ans (’I have 26 years’)

Je vis à paris, en france (I live in paris, france)

Je travaille dans la publicité (I work in advertisement)

J’ai les cheveux bruns et les yeux verts (I have brown hair and green eyes)

Je mesure un mètre soixante-dix pour cinquante kilos (I’m 5′7/110 lbs)

J’ai deux frères mais pas de soeur (I have two brothers but no sister)

Questions :

Comment allez-vous/vas-tu ? (how are you?)

Comment vous appelez-vous/t’appelles-tu? (what’s your name?)

Quel âge avez-vous/as-tu ? (how old are you?)

Où vivez-vous/vis-tu? (where do you live?)

Est-ce que tu as un-e copain/copine? (do you have a so? - informal)

Quel-le(s) est/sont ton/ta/tes/votre(s) x préféré-e(s)/favori-te(s)?

Que faites-vous/fais-tu dans la vie? (what do you do for a living?)

Combien mesurez-vous/mesures-tu? (how tall are you?)

Comment va votre/ta famille? (how’s the family?)

Thanks :

Merci (thank you - neutral)

Merci beaucoup (thank you very much - neutral)

C’est très gentil (that’s very nice - neutral)

C’est très généreux de votre/ta part (it’s very generous of you - formal)

Un grand merci pour votre/ton aide (many thanks for your help - neutral)

Vous n’auriez/tu n’aurais pas dû (you shouldn’t have - neutral)

Mille mercis (a thousand thanks - very formal)

Cimer (verlan - very informal)

You’re welcome :

De rien (informal)

Ce n’est rien (formal)

Pas de problème/soucis (informal)

Avec plaisir (formal)

Je t’ / vous en prie (neutral)

Il n’y a pas de quoi (neutral)

Sorrys :

Je suis désolé-e (after a mistake, i’m sorry - neutral)

Pardon (sorry, after a mistake or in a crowd - neutral)

Excusez-moi (in a crowd, neutral)

Veuillez m’excuser (to excuse yourself, very formal)

Je suis (vraiment) navré-e (after a big mistake, very formal)

Je regrette (i wish that didn’t happen/i didn’t - neutral)

Goodbyes :

Au revoir (goodbye - neutral) 

À bientôt (see you soon - neutral)

À tout de suite (see you in a bit - neutral)

À demain/mardi (see you tomorrow/on Tuesday - neutral)

À la semaine prochaine (see you next week - neutral)

À tout à l’heure (see you later today - neutral)

Bonne journée/soirée/nuit (good day, evening, night - neutral)

Ravi-e de vous avoir connu-e(s)/rencontré-e(s) (glad we met - formal)

10 books for beginners in French

Les nationalités

1. American▪︎américain/américaine

2. Argentinian▪︎argentin/argentine

3. Algerian▪︎algérien/algérienne

4. Australian▪︎australien/australienne

5. Austrian▪︎autrichien/autrichienne

6. Belarusian▪︎biélorussien/biélorussienne

7. Belgian▪︎belge/belge

8. Brazilian▪︎brésilien/brésilienne

9. Bulgarian▪︎bulgare/bulgare

10. Canadian▪︎canadien/canadienne

11. Chinese▪︎chinois/chinoise

12. Colombian▪︎colombien/colombienne

13. Canadian▪︎canadien/canadienne

14. Cuban▪︎cubain/cubaine

15. Czech▪︎tchèque/tchèque

16. Dane▪︎danois/danoise

17. Dutch▪︎néerlandais/néerlandaise

18. Egyptian▪︎égyptien/égyptienne

19. English▪︎anglais/anglaise

20. Estonian▪︎estonien/estonienne

21. Finn▪︎finlandais/finlandaise

22. French▪︎français/française

23. German▪︎allemand/allemande

24. Greek▪︎grec/grecque

25. Hungarian▪︎hongrois/hongroise

26. Icelandic▪︎islandais/islandaise

27. Indian▪︎indien/indienne

28. Irish▪︎irlandais/irlandaise

29. Italian▪︎italien/italienne

30. Japanese▪︎japonais/japonaise

31. Korean▪︎coréen/coréenne

32. Latvian▪︎letton/letonne

33. Lithuanian▪︎lituanien/lituanienne

34. Macedonian▪︎macédonien/macédonienne

35. Mexican▪︎mexicain/mexicainne

36. New Zealander▪︎néo-zélandais/néo-zélandaise

37. Norwegian▪︎norvégien/norvégienne

38. Pole▪︎polonais/polonaise

39. Portuguese▪︎portugais/portugaise

40. Romanian▪︎roumain/roumaine

41. Russian▪︎russe/russe

42. Scottish▪︎écossais/écossaise

43. Slovak▪︎slovaque/slovaque

44. Slovene▪︎slovène/slovène

45. Spanish▪︎espagnol/espagnole

46. Swede▪︎suédois/suédoise

47. Swiss▪︎suisse/suisse

48. Turk▪︎turc/turque

49. Ukrainian▪︎ukrainien/ukrainienne

50. Welsh▪︎gallois/galloise

i will do another fifty soon to include the ones i left out. please correct me if i made any mistakes!