Typical mistakes while learning the french language - Part 2

High-Intermediate Mistakes in the french language

High-intermediate means your french language is pretty good - you excel in everyday situations, and can even hold your own in long discussions, but there are still some issues that you can't seem to get the hang of, or that you simply don't remember five minutes after looking them up. I've found that reading several explanations of the same issue can help cement understanding of these sticky issues, so here are ten of the most common high-intermediate French mistakes with links to my lessons - maybe this time it will finally make sense.

Mistake in french 1 - Se and Soi

Se and soi are two of the most commonly misused French pronouns. Se is a reflexive pronoun while soi is a stressed pronoun, but they are very often mixed up with le andlui, respectively. These lessons will help you understand the difference in order to avoid any confusion.

Mistake in french 2 - Encore vs Toujours

Because encore and toujours can both mean "yet" and "still" (though they both have several other meanings as well), they are very often confused with one another. Check out this lesson to learn how and when to use each of them.

Mistake 3 in french - What

Trying to figure out how to say "what" in the French language can be tricky - should it be que orquoi, or what about quel? All of these terms have specific uses in French, so the only way to know which one to use when is to understand exactly what each one means.

Mistake in french 4 - Ce que, ce qui, ce dont, ce à quoi

Indefinite relative pronouns link relative clauses to a main clause when there is no specific antecedent... huh? In other words, when you have a sentence like "this is what I want" or "that's what he told me," the "what" that links the two clauses has an unknown (indefinite) meaning. French indefinite relative pronouns often - though not always - translate as "what," so take a look at this lesson for detailed explanations and examples.

Mistake in french 5 - Si Clauses

Si clauses, also known as conditionals or conditional sentences, have an "if" clause and a "then" (result) clause, such as "If I have time, (then) I will help you." There are three types of si clauses, and each requires a certain sequence of verb tenses in French, which can cause confusion. The rules, however, are quite simple once you take the time to learn them.

Mistake in french 6 - Final Letters

French pronunciation is tricky when it comes to final letters. Many words end in silent consonants, but some of those normally silent consonants are pronounced when followed by a word that begins with a vowel or mute H. This is often difficult for French learners, but with study and practice you really can master it, and these lessons are the place to start.

Mistake in french 7 - Subjunctive

A high-intermediate French speaker is certainly aware of the subjunctive and knows to use it after things like il faut que and je veux que, but there are probably still some expressions or verbs that you're not sure about. Do you use the subjunctive afterespérer, and what about il est possible/probable? Take a look at these pages for help with all of your subjunctive questions.

Mistake in french 8 - Negation

Obviously a high-intermediate speaker knows how to use ne... pas and many other negative forms, but there might be a few issues you still find tricky, like ne pas in front of an infinitive, ne without pas, and pas without ne. Whatever your question about negation, you'll find answers in these lessons.

Mistake in french 9 - Two or More Verbs

There are several different types of French verb constructions with two or more verbs: compound moods/tenses (e.g., j'ai mangé), dual verbs (je veux manger), modals (je dois manger), passive voice (il est mangé), and the causative construction (je fais manger). Many of these do not translate literally from English and thus can be difficult for French students. Your best bet is to review the lesson on each structure to make sure you understand, and then practice whenever you can to remember it.

Mistake in french 10 - Word Order

Last but not least, word order can be a problem, especially when dealing with negation, various pronouns, and more than one verb all in the same sentence. This is another area where practice makes perfect - review the lessons and then put them to work.

Advanced Mistakes Made in French

If you speak French at an advanced level, congratulations! You may not be fluent yet, but you're definitely on your way. Nonetheless, there are probably a few concepts you can use a bit of help with. Oftentimes these are small details that don't affect your listener's comprehension, but mistakes are mistakes and if you want to be fluent you need to avoid them. Here are the ten most common French mistakes and difficulties for advanced speakers, with links to lessons.

Mistake in french 1 - Rhythm

Pronunciation-wise, one of the last things most French students master is the rhythm of French. In many languages, words and sentences have stressed syllables, but French does not. It can be very difficult to get the hang of giving each syllable the same stress when one's own language is so different, especially when trying to stress the importance of a particular word. Understanding French rhythm is the first step to being able to mimic it.

Mistake in french 2 - À vs De

The prepositions à and de cause endless problems for French students because they are used in similar constructions to mean different things. Take the time to read these lessons and you'll be well on your way to using à and de correctly.

Mistake in french 3 - De, du, de la, or des?

Another pitfall for advanced French speakers has to do with the preposition de and the indefinite and partitive articles. I regularly receive questions about whether a given phrase should be followed by de or by du, de la, or des. To answer that question, all I can say is read this lesson.

Mistake in french 4 - Verbs with Prepositions

In English, many verbs require a certain preposition in order for the meaning of the verb to be complete, such as "to look at" and "to listen to." The same is true in French, but the prepositions required for French verbs are often not the same as the ones required by their English counterparts. In addition, some verbs that require a preposition in English don't take one in French, and vice versa. It all boils down to memorizing verbs with their prepositions.

Mistake in french 5 - C'est vs Il est

The expressions c'est and il est are often confused. Like à and de, above, c'est and il est have strict rules on usage - they may mean something similar, but their usage is quite distinct. Read through my three-page lesson and it should become a lot clearer.

Mistake in french 6 - Le facultatif

As an advanced French speaker, you should be very familiar with le as a definite article and direct object pronoun. What you may not know is that there are two optional uses of le. The neuter object pronoun le is an optional, formal construction found most commonly in written French, and l' is sometimes used in front of on to increase euphony in French.

Mistake in french 7 - Indefinite French

I find that one of the hardest things to translate into another language is indefiniteness, such as anyone, something, everywhere, all the time. This index includes links to lessons on every kind of indefiniteness, from indefinite adjectives to the indefinite subject pronoun on.

Mistake in french 8 - Impersonal French

Grammatically speaking, impersonal refers to words or structures which are invariable; that is, they do not specify a grammatical person. This is, like indefiniteness, a fairly difficult concept for many students of French.

Mistake in french 9 - Reflexive vs Object Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are used with pronominal verbs, while object pronouns are used with transitive verbs, and they have very different purposes. Yet they cause problems for many students due to the issue of agreement with pronouns that precede a compound verb. Before you worry about agreement, though, you need to be sure you understand the difference between reflexive and direct object pronouns - how to use them, separately and together.

Mistake in french 10 - Agreement

I can almost guarantee that you have trouble with some aspect of agreement, because even native speakers have trouble with it sometimes! There are numerous types of agreement, but the most difficult tend to be agreement with direct objects that precede compound verbs and with pronominal verbs.