grammar Archives - French Your Way

FYW 089 : How to Proofread Your French Essay

October 19, 2016 by Jessica Leave a Comment

To help you with thorough proofreading of your French essays, I have created a proofreading checklist so you can correct most of your mistakes yourself. If you prepare for a French exam (DELF, DALF) or for any written French assignment, I strongly recommend you get into the habit of using the following proofreading checklist so that you are familiar with it when you need it most: on exam day! You can download my free proofreading checklist from my website: https://frenchyourway.com.au/proofreading-checklist-french-essay-writing Vocabulary and Spelling of the French Words mentioned in this … Read More →

My 5 core beliefs about language learning

June 25, 2016 by Jessica Leave a Comment

When I used to teach in various traditional French schools and centres, I noticed some problems and inconsistencies which made me increasingly frustrated (that’s actually how I became independent and created French Your way and my two podcasts!). I observed, listened and tried to address these issues so I could make the whole experience of learning French more relevant and meaningful: What wasn’t being done in bigger schools that should be? What did students complain about? So, here are my 5 core beliefs about language learning (not just French!) 1. Confidence is key I met Robbie … Read More →

Emmener, amener, emporter, apporter ?

May 19, 2016 by Jessica 4 Comments

Emmener, amener, emporter, apporter ? Emmener, amener, emporter, apporter are four French verbs which trigger nightmares for some of my students…but also for some French people! In this article, I hope to clarify things enough for you to feel confident about using them properly :-) So, keep reading then test yourself with my free practice exercises! “Porter” vs “-mener” “Porter” means “to carry” (and, when referring to clothes, “to wear”). Example: un porte-clé (= a keyring, literally “a key-carrier/holder”) It’s used with things, because things can’t walk or move themselves and need to … Read More →

Why you can’t say “very delicious” in French – and other examples

April 23, 2016 by Jessica 1 Comment

What’s wrong with saying “Yum, this is very delicious!” or “Wow, this is very beautiful!” ? Nothing…in English. However, a literal translation of these expressions -along with a few others- doesn’t work in French. Here’s why. "Very delicious": the basic explanation Some words such as “délicieux”, “magnifique” already include the idea of a superlative/of “something very high degree”, therefore using “très” with these words is really redundant and sounds very awkward. The more detailed explanation Here’s what the online dictionary of the CNRTL says about “très” (it’s a bit grammatical, but … Read More →

« C’est » vs « il est » / « elle est »

February 22, 2016 by Jessica Leave a Comment

When to use « C’est » vs « il est » (or « elle est ») ? Angela is still in high school but she’s a promising student of French (Angela wrote me several long emails in a very good French!). She told me she was confused about when to use "c'est" vs "il est / elle est". Indeed, this is a typical struggle among French students - thanks a lot Angela for your question and here are my explanations for you all to enjoy! « C’est » vs « il est » / « elle est » I’ve decided to list the main differences between “c’est” vs “il est / elle est” in a table so that the contrast between the structures … Read More →

Meilleur and mieux in French

January 6, 2016 by Jessica 1 Comment

What's the difference between meilleur and mieux ? In a previous article, I explained the difference between bon and bien in French. You’ll need to understand it in order to make the difference between meilleur and mieux as well. Indeed, meilleur and mieux are no other than irregular comparative forms of bon and bien. Note: comparatives are used to compare things (makes sense!), in terms of: less (= comparative of inferiority) examples: late → later ; expensive → less expensive; quickly → less quickly equal/same/as… (= comparative of equality) examples: late → as late ; expensive → as … Read More →

How to know when to use bon / bien in French?

November 25, 2015 by Jessica 2 Comments

Stuart, a listener of my French Your Way Podcast, emailed me with a question: “I did have one idea for a future podcast or blog post. The difference between bien and bon(ne). I'm never quite sure. In English we would say 'very good' for a good piece of work, but in French you would say 'très bien' (I think), which would directly translate to 'very well'. Bien seems to pop up quite a lot in other places too. For example “J'aime bien”... As you can see I'm a bit confused.” (It’s really nice when the articles and podcast ideas come from you, so don’t hesitate to contact me if you have a … Read More →

All About the “Tréma”

October 2, 2015 by Jessica Leave a Comment

This article is the second of a three-part series from a question submitted by Oska. Also read : Part 1 : la cédille (French cedilla) Part 3 : le “œ” (French ligature) What is a tréma ? Have a look at the tréma ID card! (I’ll explain the “acts as a crown” function in the next section, keep reading.) Technically, the tréma -or diaeresis- is a diacritic sign made or two dots. Actually, it used to be written like two acute accents (‘’), but is now written as two dots (¨). If you know German, the tréma looks like the German umlaut. 2) Its name really is “tréma” only, not … Read More →

Masculine or Feminine? Telling the Gender of French Nouns

September 23, 2015 by Jessica Leave a Comment

New learners of French are often unsettled or scared when they find out –very early- that every noun had a gender: masculine or feminine. I hear you say: How to know whether a word is masculine or feminine? How the hell am I supposed to tell the gender of French nouns, to guess that the word” telephone” is masculine whereas the word “television” is feminine?? Well, the bad news is that you’ll need to learn/memorise it. And therefore you’ll need to set good learning habits from the start by memorising the gender of French nouns as part as your vocabulary! The good news (because there’s … Read More →

Toujours and Encore in French

August 20, 2015 by Jessica 6 Comments

Friendly reader Isabel emailed me with an interesting question about the use of toujours and encore: Can they be used interchangeably, for example when I say: « Je suis toujours à la recherche d'un appartement » ou « Je suis encore à la recherche d'un appartement » Is it the same thing? When will they mean something different? I actually found the question quite tricky and had to do a bit of research myself! Indeed, the use of one word can result in a neutral statement whereas choosing the other word may imply a judgement. Sometimes, both words can be completely … Read More →