INTRODUCTION
PRESENTATION
French really is a beautiful language but sometimes it seems difficult to English native speakers because of its complicated grammar.
Of course, French and English have similarities. They use the same roman alphabet (with only a few different signs), the way of thinking and constructing sentences have much in common. The order of words is quite the same. We have the same use of pronouns and the tenses have lots in common. Lots of words have the same origin. You’ll see a lot of words which are the same or almost the same…
But it’s also true that French language presents some important differences with English language.
- First of all, a specific pronunciation
- Then some important grammatical differences which may seem difficult at first sight.
a. Every noun has a gender. Determinants and adjectives agree in gender with them.
b. Verbs have a different conjugation for each grammatical person and some of them are irregular.
c. Constructions of the sentences are sometimes different.
But there's nothing to be afraid of. We’ll tackle these differences and work on them in each lesson in order to allow you to understand the French way of speaking better.
Step by step, not too fast, as promised !
French really is a beautiful language but sometimes it seems difficult to English native speakers because of its complicated grammar.
Of course, French and English have similarities. They use the same roman alphabet (with only a few different signs), the way of thinking and constructing sentences have much in common. The order of words is quite the same. We have the same use of pronouns and the tenses have lots in common. Lots of words have the same origin. You’ll see a lot of words which are the same or almost the same…
But it’s also true that French language presents some important differences with English language.
- First of all, a specific pronunciation
- Then some important grammatical differences which may seem difficult at first sight.
a. Every noun has a gender. Determinants and adjectives agree in gender with them.
b. Verbs have a different conjugation for each grammatical person and some of them are irregular.
c. Constructions of the sentences are sometimes different.
But there's nothing to be afraid of. We’ll tackle these differences and work on them in each lesson in order to allow you to understand the French way of speaking better.
PRONUNCIATION
The French alphabet has the same 26 letters as the English alphabet, we pronounce them differently though.
Let’s discover the pronunciation :
Some letters remain unpronounced in French. The letter which is at the end of a word is often a silent letter : we write it but we don’t pronounce it. You will soon get used to that after hearing some lessons.
We have specific sounds such as:
Some signs in French are here to indicate a different pronunciation :
- the accents on the e :
- the cedilla under the c : ç. When you have ca, co or cu, you pronounce them « ka », « ko », « ku » but if there is a cedilla, these sounds become « sa », « so », « su ».
Recordings of the dialogue will help you to get used to this way of pronouncing words and, we will give you some indications about that, especially in the first lessons.
The French alphabet has the same 26 letters as the English alphabet, we pronounce them differently though.
Let’s discover the pronunciation :
Some letters remain unpronounced in French. The letter which is at the end of a word is often a silent letter : we write it but we don’t pronounce it. You will soon get used to that after hearing some lessons.
We have specific sounds such as:
AN
ON
IN
UN
OU
Some signs in French are here to indicate a different pronunciation :
- the accents on the e :
é É
è È
- the cedilla under the c : ç. When you have ca, co or cu, you pronounce them « ka », « ko », « ku » but if there is a cedilla, these sounds become « sa », « so », « su ».
Recordings of the dialogue will help you to get used to this way of pronouncing words and, we will give you some indications about that, especially in the first lessons.
IN EACH LESSON
Lessons obey to the same organization.
In each of them, you will find :
- First, a dialogue in French and its audio recording. It will be really short dialogues to begin.
- Then, its English translation and a list of the new vocabulary.
- Then, grammatical explanations when necessary but you can skip it if not interested
- And one exercise or more to practice new words and new grammatical knowledge.
- Sometimes notes or informations about French civilization or art.
Every ten lessons, no dialogue, no new notion but a sum up to help you evaluating what you’ve learnt new and exercices in order to use new vocabulary, new grammar notions.
Lessons obey to the same organization.
In each of them, you will find :
- First, a dialogue in French and its audio recording. It will be really short dialogues to begin.
- Then, its English translation and a list of the new vocabulary.
- Then, grammatical explanations when necessary but you can skip it if not interested
- And one exercise or more to practice new words and new grammatical knowledge.
- Sometimes notes or informations about French civilization or art.
Every ten lessons, no dialogue, no new notion but a sum up to help you evaluating what you’ve learnt new and exercices in order to use new vocabulary, new grammar notions.
LET’S START NOW…
… with four really easy lessons in Beginner1. They will help you to familiarize with the French accent and the French way of speaking.
On lesson5, you’ll meet Marie and Jean who will lead you through their every day life adventures…
Have a nice time discovering French with us !
… with four really easy lessons in Beginner1. They will help you to familiarize with the French accent and the French way of speaking.
On lesson5, you’ll meet Marie and Jean who will lead you through their every day life adventures…
Have a nice time discovering French with us !