Typical French Mistakes

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. As your French improves and you gain more confidence, you'll make fewer mistakes, but there will always be difficulties and pièges out there, just waiting to trip you up. 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.

Accent homographs - leaving off accents can change a word's meaning

Agreement - even native French speakers agree this is tricky

Common mistakes quiz - see how well you do

Confusing pairs - oft-confused groups of words

Dual-gender nouns - when le or la really matters

Faux amis - appearances can be deceiving

Fickle adjectives - placement before or after the noun makes all the difference

Pronunciation mistakes - watch out for R, U, silent letters, and more

Proofreading and editing tips - look over your work before turning it in

Verbs with prepositions - using the wrong preposition might mean the wrong thing


And now for something fun, interesting, and possibly even cathartic: share your worst French mistakes.