Articles about French
760+ articles on French language topics!
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Three consonant rule
French speakers often drop the weak e sound found at the end of many short words, such as je, ne, te, le, que, and inside longer words such as porte or quatre. In fast, everyday speech, this e frequently disappears….
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where, somewhere, nowhere, elsewhere, anywhere, everywhere, wherever
English has a small family of words built on “where”: where, somewhere, nowhere, elsewhere, anywhere, everywhere, and wherever. French does not build its equivalents the same way, from a single root with different endings. Instead, each meaning is carried by…
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le futur antérieur or Future Perfect
The French future perfect, le futur antérieur, describes an action that will already be finished before another future action or time. It can also express a guess about something that has already happened. It is less common than the future…
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-ous becomes -eux
Many English adjectives ending in -ous have French equivalents ending in -eux. This pattern is especially useful because many of these words come from related Latin roots. Common examples include dangerous and dangereux, curious and curieux, and serious and sérieux….
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negative past infinitive
The negative past infinitive in french is formed with ne pas (or ne … pas) placed before the auxiliary verb (avoir or être) in the infinitive, followed by the past participle. It expresses that an action did not happen before…
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Compound relative pronouns
The pronouns lequel, laquelle, lesquels, and lesquelles are compound relative pronouns. They replace a person or thing introduced by a preposition (other than de) in a relative clause. They also serve as interrogative pronouns meaning “which one” or “which ones.”…
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savoir vs connaître
The French verbs savoir and connaître both relate to knowledge, but they are used in different ways. In general, savoir means “to know a fact,” “to know how,” or “to know information.” Connaître means “to know” a person, place, thing,…
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imperfect vs passé composé
Both the passé composé and the imparfait describe past events. The difference is not when something happened. The difference is how the speaker chooses to present it. Think of the two tenses like this: The same real-life event can sometimes…
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se payer la tête de quelqu’un
The French phrase se payer la tête de quelqu’un is a common informal expression meaning to mock someone, laugh at them, treat them as a fool, or play with them in a way that shows little respect. It often carries…
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jeter vs jetée: are they related?
The French verb jeter means “to throw”, “to cast”, “to toss”, or at times “to put” or “to send”. The noun une jetée has more than one use, but today it most often means a pier, breakwater, or long built…
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du baratin
The French expression du baratin refers to speech that is empty, exaggerated, or intended to persuade without substance. It is often used to describe someone who talks a lot to impress, mislead, or charm, but says little of real value….
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autre chose vs quelque chose d’autre
The phrases autre chose and quelque chose d’autre both mean “something else” or “something different,” but they are not interchangeable. Autre chose is a fixed expression used as a standalone noun meaning “something else” or “another matter.” Quelque chose d’autre…
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gros vs grand
The French adjectives gros and grand both translate to “big” or “large” in English, but they describe size in different ways. Gros refers to physical thickness, width, or volume—how much space something takes up. Grand refers to height, length, or…
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negative infinitive
The negative infinitive is the infinitive form of a verb with a negative meaning. In French, it uses two negative words placed before the infinitive, rather than around a conjugated verb as in standard negation. It functions as a direct…
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-ory becomes -oire
English words ending in -ory often correspond to French words ending in -oire. Both forms derive from Latin adjectives ending in -orius. The pattern reflects shared etymological roots rather than direct borrowing between the modern languages. This correspondence aids vocabulary…
