Articles about French
740+ articles on French language topics!
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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…
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Why saint days take “la” in French
In French, names of feast days use the feminine article la, even when the saint is male. This is because the hidden noun is feminine: la fête. The full sense is la fête de saint X. Over time, the short…
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free
Four French words translate as “free” in English: libre, gratuit, sans frais, and offert. The difference lies in whether the freedom concerns cost, rights, or availability. Libre – freedom, not price Libre means “free” in the sense of liberty, permission,…
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vé ! & té !
Vé and té are short exclamations used in parts of southern France. They belong to everyday speech, not standard written French. You hear them most in areas shaped by Occitan, a regional language that has long influenced local French. Meaning…
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je voudrais, j’aimerais, je veux bien
The three French phrases je voudrais, j’aimerais and je veux bien all express a wish or a willingness to do something. But they differ in politeness, strength of intent, and context. These differences come from the verb tenses and the…
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x pronunciation
The French letter x does not have one fixed sound. It can be pronounced ks, gz, z, sometimes s, and in many words it is not pronounced as a separate letter at all in any simple way. The sound depends…
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why qu can sound like k or kw
In modern French, the letters qu most often sound like a simple k. Yet some words keep an older or borrowed kw sound. This is why question and aquarelle behave in different ways, even though both contain qu. Question is…
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er pronunciation
The group er in French changes pronunciation depending on where it appears in a word and what type of word it is. The spelling stays constant, but the spoken form differs between verbs, nouns, and adjectives. Er at the end…
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par
The French word par is one of the most common and wide-ranging French prepositions. It often marks a path, means, cause, rate, distribution, or agent. English has no single word that matches it. Depending on the setting, par may mean…
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as well as
English “as well as” has several meanings. In French, the right translation depends on the sense of the sentence. Sometimes it simply joins two things. Sometimes it means “in addition to.” Sometimes it compares skill, quality, or degree. The main…
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past infinitive
The French past infinitive (infinitif passé) is a verb form used to show that one action happened before another action. It is the infinitive equivalent of a completed action. In English, it is often translated with forms such as: For…
