French verb focus: aller, ‘to go’
Aller is a common but irregular French verb. We will look at its use in some of the different tenses here.
French vocabulary
Don’t be afraid of this French verb…
Craindre means to fear, be afraid or be scared of. It is irregular, and you need to remember that the plural forms …
Valentine’s Day in France
It’s the day to say “je t’aime”… or maybe to go out have fun with your friends or stay in with a good book by Simone de Beauvoir. Comme Une Française explains Valentine’s Day in France
Talking about sad topics in French
When sad events happen, it is difficult to find the words to express our support or sympathy in French. It is never easy, even in our own language. How should we react? What can we say or do to help?
French verb focus: avoir, ‘to have’
Avoir, meaning ‘to have’, is one of the most common French verbs, and it is irregular in most tenses. Here’s how to use it.
Inside tips: speak French like a native
We asked our FrenchEntrée Forum members for their top tips on learning French. Most of them live in France and communicate in French every day, to varying degrees of expertise – and all of them have a personal story about their experience of learning French.
How to ask for something in French when you don’t know the word
It’s rude to point our finger, so what to do in a situation where we need, or are determined to get, an item in a shop if we are not familiar with the French word for it? Here’s help from Comme une Française.
French vocabulary: Points of the horse
Here’s some basic equestrian vocabulary you can’t live without, whether you’re buying a horse or pony, fitting tack or on a trip to the vet…
French grammar tips: how to use ‘quel‘
Quel is an adjective used in questions to mean ‘which’ or ‘that’. It has to agree with the noun that it precedes. This is how you use it.
French verb focus: boire, ‘to drink’
The French verb boire is an irregular verb that is a little tricky to learn. It usually means to drink, but it can also mean to absorb or soak up.
French grammar tips: qui and que
As question words, que means what and qui means who, so it is easy to distinguish between them.
French verb focus: envoyer, ‘to send’
The French verb envoyer means ‘to send’. Here’s how to use it in the different tenses.
Useful French phrases: at the Post Office
Phrases and vocabulary for the post office in France
French verb focus: voir, ‘to see’
The French verb voir is irregular in the present, perfect and future tenses and therefore needs careful study.
French language tips: the preposition ‘en‘
This article looks at ‘en’ as a preposition – in other words when it is followed by a noun.
French verb focus: battre, ‘to beat’
The verb battre means ‘to hit’ or ‘to beat’ (in sport, at a game, or to beat eggs for example). Here’s how to use it in a sentence.
French language tips: the pronoun ‘en‘
In French, when ‘en’ is used as a pronoun it means ‘some’ or ‘of it’ and can therefore replace a phrase beginning with ‘de’ (or ‘du’, or ‘des’). Here’s how to use it in a sentence.
French verb focus: mettre, ‘to put’
The French verb mettre is a common but irregular verb meaning ‘to put’. Here’s how to use it in a sentence.
French language tips: the pronoun ‘y‘
The pronoun ‘y’ is French for ‘there’, so it can replace any phrase that concerns a place. This is how to use it in a sentence.
French verb focus: dire, ‘to say’
The French verb dire is irregular, but not very difficult to learn. It is obviously a common verb and therefore important to learn.
French verb focus: prendre, ‘to take’
The irregular French verb prendre means ‘to take’, including ‘to travel’ on particular forms of transport. It is also used for having meals.
French grammar tips: indirect object pronouns
How to use indirect object pronouns
French verb focus: connaître, ‘to know’
The French verb connaître means ‘to know’ in the sense of being acquainted with a person or place. It is an irregular verb mostly used in the present tense.
French grammar tips: how to use pronouns
Pronouns are words that we use to replace nouns, for example it, him, her, us, you them. This is how to use them in French.
French verb focus: falloir
The French verb falloir is an unusual verb as it exists in the third person singular only, with ‘il’, meaning it. The general meaning would be ‘it is necessary’, but sometimes we can translate it as ‘we must’. It is an irregular verb.
French language tips: using the preposition ‘à‘
The preposition ‘à’ can mean ‘to’, ‘at’ or ‘in’ a place, town or country. This is how to use it.
French verb focus: passer
Although the French verb passer is regular, it has many different meanings.
French language tips: using ‘de‘
Using the preposition ‘de’: the French word de is a preposition with several meanings: ‘of’, ‘from’, ‘about’, or ‘some’.
French verb focus: devoir, ‘to owe’ or ‘to have to’
Devoir is another irregular verb, and it is unusual because it can mean to owe, or it can mean have to, must, ought to and should.
French language tips: asking a question
French language tips: the three tricks you need to remember to form a question.
French verb focus: savoir, ‘to know’
Savoir is a very useful but irregular verb. It is important to distinguish between savoir and connaître: savoir means to know a fact, or to know how to do …
French verb focus: vouloir, ‘to want’
Vouloir, ‘to want’, is very common verb, and another irregular one. Read on to find out its use in the present, perfect, future and present subjunctive tenses.
French verb focus: pouvoir, ‘to be able to’
The French verb pouvoir means ‘can’, or ‘to be able to’ – another very common verb and yes, you’ve guessed it, it is irregular. Here’s how to use it.
French verb focus: venir, ‘to come’
The French verb venir is common but irregular, so needs to be learned thoroughly.
French glossary: at the hairdresser
How to get a killer haircut in France!
French glossary: phrases for an emergency
French glossary: some must-know phrases in the case of an emergency
French verb focus: être, ‘to be’
Être is a very common and, unfortunately, very irregular French verb, that is worth learning thoroughly. Here are its most common uses.
How to remember French vocabulary
Learning French can be a daunting process, whether at the outset or whether you have been learning for years, and one major challenge is acquiring the vocabulary and increasing your vocabulary. Here are some excellent tips to help you to retain what you have learnt.
Glossary of common French proverbs
When it comes to proverbs, a word-for-word translation from English to French won’t always work. Here’s how to avoid any embarrassing confusion!
French glossary: first day at school
Over the first few weeks of our children’s being thrown into the deep end of French primary schooling, we found some of the following to be important! Our six year old was put into nursery (maternelle), when she had already been to English Reception class, and she spoke not a word for a full eight weeks…
Learning French: How to say ‘sorry’ in French
To say sorry in French, it is possible to say pardon, désolé, je regrette, and more, but you might wish to know how to be more emphatic for more specific occasions, such as when hearing really bad news. Here we give you some useful examples which will help you in dozens of everyday situations.
