Common French Mistakes and Difficulties

See if you get caught by dozens of common French mistakes.

When you start learning French, there's a lot to remember. 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. This article discusses ten of the most common French mistakes made by beginners, so that you...

After learning French for a while, you've probably found 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, you still have plenty of time to fix these mistakes...

High-intermediate means your French 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. Here are ten of the most common high-intermediate French mistakes with links to lessons.

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...

Many students find that pronunciation is the hardest part of learning French. The new sounds, the silent letters, the liaisons... they all combine to make speaking French very tricky. Here are the top French pronunciation difficulties and mistakes, with links to detailed lessons and sound files.

Whether you're checking over homework, proofreading an essay, or verifying a translation, there are certain key problem areas to watch out for. This is not a definitive list by any means, but it indicates areas of confusion and common mistakes caused by differences between French and English and includes links to more detailed explanations and...

If you feel nervous when speaking French, it's probably due to a lack of confidence in your skills: you don't feel you have the grammar, vocabulary, and/or pronunciation needed in order to express yourself. The obvious solution is to improve your French, and this site is filled with resources to help you do just that. Beyond lessons and learning, however, there are other ways to increase your confidence and feel more comfortable speaking French.

It might be trite, but it's definitely true: we all make mistakes. When you start learning French, you're bound to make lots of errors, and it's only with practice and perservence that you'll get better. The good news is that you're not alone - take a look at these pages to learn how to avoid as many typical French mistakes as possible.

We've all made plenty of French mistakes over the course of our language learning, but some are far worse than others. You know what I'm talking about: the ones where we inadvertently embarrassed or even insulted someone, just by using the wrong word. Don't be shy - share your worst French mistake, and we can all learn to avoid these treacherous French pitfalls.

There are four different meanings of "accent" which are relevant to anyone studying French: the accent marks on letters, non-native accents, regional accents, and the accentuation of French words. This page on French accents includes links to resources pertaining to all of these meanings.

Think accents don't matter when writing or typing in French? Think again! There are dozens of French word pairs which are spelled (though not always pronounced) the same other than accents. To avoid confusion, you should always distinguish between these "accent homographs" by using the correct accents.

Since French adjectives usually have to agree with the nouns they modify in gender and number, most of them have up to four forms. But there are several French adjectives that have an additional variation: a special form that is used when the adjective precedes a word that begins with a vowel or mute H.

Agreement is arguably one of the most difficult aspects of the French language. This summary of the different types of agreement includes links to detailed lessons on each grammatical point.

Is it "à chacun son goût" or "chacun à son goût"?

The adverbial pronouns y and en are so tiny that one might think their role in a sentence is not very important, but in fact quite the opposite is true. They are both extremely important in French.

False cognates are words that look similar (or even identical) in French and English, but that have different meanings.

There are a number of French adjectives which have different meanings depending on where they are placed. Generally speaking, when the adjective precedes the noun, it has a figurative or subjective meaning, whereas the adjective which follows the noun has a literal or objective meaning.

The English word free can be an adjective, adverb, verb, or noun and has a number of different meanings, which can make it difficult to translate free into French. Take a look at this lesson on how to say free in French.

French gender is a constant headache for many students of French. There are some patterns in suffixes and word endings - certain endings tend to indicate masculine nouns, while other endings favor feminine nouns. These gender patterns are not fool-proof, but they can help you to figure out the gender of many French nouns.

There are two different kinds of H's in French, and neither one is pronounced. However, one requires contractions and liaisons, while the other forbids them. Which is which?

The letter R is arguably the most difficult sound in the French language, but it doesn't have to be.

The letter U is another extremely difficult sound for many students - take a look at this step-by-step explanation.

Lequel is arguably the most difficult French pronoun. In addition to the fact that it belongs to two different categories of pronouns, lequel has to agree with its antecedent and contract with certain prepositions. Learn everything you need to know about this troublesome pronoun with this lesson.

Modal verbs, also called modal auxiliaries or simply modals, are unconjugated English verbs which express the mood of a verb, such as ability, possibility, condition, and necessity. French does not have modal verbs, which can make it difficult to translate them from English.

There are a number of French nouns which have different meanings depending on whether they are masculine or feminine.

English speakers sometimes find it difficult to translate "new" into French, due to confusion over the French words "nouveau" and "neuf." In fact, the French adjectives have distinctly different meanings; the problem is actually caused by the fact that the English "new" has more than one meaning. Fortunately, this is an easy problem to remedy.

Is it "oh là là" or "ooh là là"?

The passé composé and imparfait are used in conjunction to talk about the past in French. Read this detailed lesson to understand the difference between them.

Be sure to say "pour et contre" and not "pour et ...."

Just as in English, a relative pronoun links a dependent/relative clause to a main clause. There are no standard translations for these words; depending on context, the English equivalents are who, whom, that, which, whose, where, or when. In French, relative pronouns are required, whereas in English, they are sometimes optional.

Se is one of the most often misused French pronouns. It can only be used in two kinds of constructions, so check out this lesson to get "unconfused." :-)

One of the difficulties in French pronunciation is all of the silent letters. This lesson gives you some tips for memorizing which letters are silent... and why.

Soi is another oft-confused French pronoun. It is used only for unspecified persons. Need more info? See the lesson!

There is a common myth among English speakers that Spanish is much easier to learn than French. While it's true that some aspects of French pronunciation and spelling are more difficult than Spanish, there are also things in Spanish that are more difficult than French. This article is a detailed comparison of the two languages so that you can decide for yourself if one of them is more difficult.

Students of French tend to agree that the subjunctive is the most difficult verb form. The subjunctive mood is used to express actions which are subjective: will/wanting, emotion, doubt, possibility, necessity, judgment, etc., and is is nearly always found in dependent clauses introduced by que. Take a look at this lesson for conjugations and uses of the tricky French subjunctive.

The word "then" has two distinct meanings: one related to consequence and the other to time. These meanings translate differently into in French, and the various synonyms further complicate matters.

To make is a very general, very useful verb in English. Its French translations vary wildly, so take a look at this lesson to learn how to translate various meanings of "make" into French.

When you understand subject pronouns, tenses, moods, and how to conjugate French verbs, you're in great shape. There are however some grammatical subjects which make conjugation a bit more difficult.

Many French verbs require a certain preposition in order for the meaning of the verb to be complete. Learn about verbs and their prepositions here.

French learners often have trouble deciding how to translate "what" into French. Should it be que or quoi, or maybe that pesky quel? Understanding the difference between these terms is critical to knowing how to use them correctly.

Do you know how to spell "voilà"?

The order of words in a French sentence can be very confusing, due to dual-verb constructions, object and adverbial pronouns, inversion, imperatives, adverbs, and negative structures. Learn how to string them all together.

Just for fun - a list of French grammar rules whose descriptions break the very rule they are describing (en français).