Typical mistakes while learning the french language - Part 1

Typical mistakes made in french while learning

Beginner French Mistakes
When you start learning French, there's a lot to remember - new vocabulary, all kinds of verb conjugations, strange spelling... just about everything is different. It's normal to make mistakes, but it's in your best interest to try to fix them as soon as possible. The longer you make the same mistake, the harder it will be for you to get it right later on. With this in mind, this article discusses ten of the most common French mistakes made by beginners, so that you can fix these problems right from the beginning.

Mistake in french 1 - Gender

In French, all nouns have a gender, either masculine or feminine. This can be a difficult concept for English speakers, but it's non-negotiable. You need to learn vocabulary with either a definite or indefinite article, so that you learn the gender of each word with the word itself. Getting the gender of a word wrong can lead to confusion at best and a completely different meaning at worst, since some words have different meanings depending on their gender.

Mistake in french 2 - Accents

Accents in the french language indicate the correct pronunciation of a word, and are required, not optional. Therefore, you need to make an effort to learn what they mean, which words they are found in, and how to type them. Study my accents lesson so that you know what each accent indicates. (Note in particular that ç never precedes e or i). Then look at my typing French accents page to choose between the various methods to type them on your computer.

Mistake in french 3 - To Be

Although the literal French equivalent of "to be" is être, there are numerous French expressions that use the verb avoir (to have) instead, such as avoir faim - "to be hungry," and some that use faire (to do, make), like faire beau - "to be nice weather." Take the time to memorize and practice these expressions so that you get them right, right from the beginning.

Mistake in french 4 - Contractions

In French, contractions are required. Whenever a short word like je, me, te, le, la, or ne is followed by a word that begins with a vowel or H muet, the short word drops the final vowel, adds an apostrophe, and attaches itself to the following word. This is not optional, as it is in English - French contractions are required. Thus, you should never say "je aime" or "le ami" - it is always j'aime and l'ami. Contractions neveroccur in front of a consonant in French (except H muet).

Mistake in french 5 - H

The H in the french language comes in two varieties: aspiré and muet. Although they sound the same (that is, they are both silent), there is an important difference: one acts like a consonant and the other acts like a vowel. The H aspiré (aspirated H) acts like a consonant, meaning that it does not allow contractions or liaisons. The H muet(mute H), on the the other hand, is just the opposite: it requires contractions and liaisons. Making vocabulary lists with a definite article will help you remember which H is which, such as le homard (H aspiré) vs l'homme (H muet).

Mistake in french 6 - Que

Que, or "that," is required in French sentences with a subordinate clause. That is, in any sentence that has one subject introducing another, que must join the two clauses. This que is known as a conjunction.The trouble is that in English this conjunction is sometimes optional. For example, Je sais que tu es intelligent can be translated as "I know that you're intelligent," or simply "I know you're intelligent." Another example: Il pense que j'aime les chiens - "He thinks (that) I like dogs."

Mistake in french 7 - Auxiliary verbs

The French past tense, le passé composé, is conjugated with an auxiliary verb, eitheravoir or être. This shouldn't be too difficult, as the verbs which take être include reflexive verbs and a short list of non-reflexive ones. Take the time to memorize the list of être verbs, and then your auxiliary verb problems will be solved.

Mistake in french 8 - Tu and vous

French has two words for "you," and the difference between them is pretty distinct.Vous is plural - if there is more than one of anything, always use vous. Aside from that, the difference has to do with closeness and friendliness versus distance and respect. Read my tu vs vous lesson for a detailed description and numerous examples.

Mistake in french 9 - Capitalization

Capitalization is much less common in French than in English. The first person singular subject pronoun (je), days of the week, months of the year, and languages are not capitalized in French. See the lesson for a few other common categories of French terms which are capitalized in English but not in French.

Mistake in french 10 - "Cette"

Cette is the singular feminine form of the demonstrative adjective ce (ce garçon - "this boy," cette fille - "this girl") and beginners often make the mistake of using "cettes" as the plural feminine, but in fact this word does not exist. Ces is the plural for both masculine and feminine: ces garçons - "these boys," ces filles - "these girls."

Intermediate Mistakes made in french

After learning French for a while, whether in a class or on your own, you've probably found that there are some things you just can't figure out how to say, or that people are always correcting you on. These may be issues that you haven't been taught yet, or concepts that you've studied but just don't get. As an intermediate French speaker, there is still plenty of time to fix these mistakes before they fossilize in your mind. Here are ten of the most common intermediate-level French mistakes with links to lessons.

Mistake in french 1 - Y and En

Y and en are known as adverbial pronouns - they replace the preposition à or de plus a noun, respectively. They consistently cause problems for intermediate French speakers, though I'm not sure whether this is because they are not adequately taught in French classes, or simply because they are difficult to master. Regardless of the reason for the difficulties, the fact is that both y and en are extremely important in French, so be sure to study this lesson.

Mistake in french 2 - Manquer

The French verb manquer (to miss) is a tough one because the word order is the opposite of what you probably expect. For example, "I miss you" translates not as je te manque but rather tu me manques (literally, "you are missing to me.") Once you understand the proper French word order, you'll never miss this one again.

Mistake in french 3 - Le Passé

French past tenses are definitely tricky. The passé composé vs imparfait issue is a constant struggle until students truly understand each of these tenses and the differences between them. There's also the matter of the passé simple, which needs to be understood but not used. Get past this confusion with these lessons.

Mistake in french 4 - Agreement

Agreement of adjectives and être verbs may seem pointless and aggravating, but it's part of the French language and needs to be learned. There are several kinds of agreement; the ones intermediate students really need to watch out for are agreement of adjectives with the nouns they modify, and agreement of the past participle of être verbs with their subjects in the passé composé and other compound tenses.

Mistake in french 5 - Faux amis

There are thousands of French words that look a lot like English words, and while many of them are true cognates (i.e., mean the same thing in both languages), a lot of them are false cognates. If you look at the word Journal and think "Aha! That's the French translation of journla," you're going to make a mistake, because it actually means "currently."journal hundreds of other faux amis exist, so take the time to learn the most common ones and thus avoid common pitfalls.

Mistake in french 6 - Relative pronouns

The French relative pronouns are qui, que, lequel, dont, and où, and depending on context can mean who, whom, that, which, whose, where, or when. They are difficult for various reasons, including not having standard English equivalents and being required in French but often optional in English. The pronoun dont in particular causes major problems for French students, so be sure to learn about French relative pronouns.

Mistake in french 7 - Temporal prepositions

Temporal prepositions introduce an amount of time, and the French ones are often confused. There is a correct time to use each of the prepositions à, en, dans, depuis,pendant, and pour, so take the time to learn the difference.

Mistake in french 8 - Depuis and Il y a

Depuis and il y a are both used to describe time in the past, but depuis means "since" or "for" while il y a means "ago." If you had studied this lesson one year ago (il y a un an), you would have already known how to use these expressions correctly for a year (depuis un an). It's not too late - allez-y !

Mistake in french 9 - "Ce homme"

French adjectives usually have to agree with the nouns they modify in gender and number, but there are several that have a special form used when they precede a word that begins with a vowel or mute H. For example, to say "this man," you might be tempted to say ce homme because ce is the masculine demonstrative article. But because the french language likes to maintain euphony, ce changes to cet in front of a vowel or mute H: cet homme.

Mistake in french 10 - Pronominal verbs and reflexive pronouns

Pronominal verbs (including reflexive verbs) cause lots of problems, especially when they are used in the infinitive. You probably know that "I'm getting up" is je me lève, but what about "I have to get up" or "I'm going to get up"? Should you say je dois/vais me lever or je dois/vais se lever? Look at this lesson for the answer to that question as well as all kinds of other good info about pronominal verbs.