Top 10 Beginning 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.

French Mistake 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."
Clauses defined | Conjunctions


French Mistake 7 - Auxiliary verbs

The French past tense, le passé composé, is conjugated with an auxiliary verb, either avoir 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.
Être verbs | Reflexive verbs | Passé composé | Compound tenses | Quiz: avoir or être?


French Mistake 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.
Introduction to subject pronouns | Lesson: tu vs vous | Quiz: tu or vous?


French Mistake 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.
French capitalization | Calendar vocabulary | Languages in French


French Mistake 10 - "Cettes"

The word "cettes" does not exist. Cette is the singular feminine form of the demonstrative adjective ce (ce livre - "this book," cette maison - "this house") and beginners often make the mistake of using "cettes" as the plural feminine. In fact, ces is the plural for both masculine and feminine: ces livres - "these books," ces maisons - "these houses."
French demonstrative adjectives | Agreement of adjectives


Beginning French Mistakes 1 - 5 | Beginning French Mistakes 6 - 10
Intermediate French Mistakes 1 - 5 | Intermediate French Mistakes 6 - 10
High-Intermediate French Mistakes 1 - 5 | High-Intermediate French Mistakes 6 - 10
Advanced French Mistakes 1 - 5 | Advanced French Mistakes 6 - 10