French français
For English speakers. 4 lessons · 3 references · about 48 min of reading, plus as much practice as you like.
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Lessons
4 in orderRead them in order; each one has a drill you can come back to.
Lesson 1French 1: Sounds & SpellingFrench spelling is a reliable code once you know which letters to drop. Learn the vowels, three nasal sounds, the silent endings, and the two rules that make words run together.Lesson 2French 2: The Present TenseFour of the six forms of a French verb sound the same, which is why the pronoun never drops. Learn the three regular families, tu and vous, and drill the forms with a trainer that brings back what you miss.Lesson 3French 3: Être, Avoir, Aller, Faire, plus Gender & ArticlesThe four most common verbs are irregular, and the rest fall into a few families. Then the other thing every noun carries: its gender, and the small words le, un, du and de.Lesson 4French 4: Your First 150 WordsA deck of 150 common words that schedules its own reviews: two cards per word, the gender on every noun, a sentence on each, and a saved schedule that carries across the French pieces.
Reference
3 toolsKeep these open while you learn: words by level, every verb, and how to say things.
Words by LevelFrench: Words by Level664 French words from A1 to B1, by topic, each with an example and a play button. Search them, filter them, and turn any list into flashcards that come back on a schedule.Verb TablesFrench: Verb Tables173 French verbs in every tense you need up to B1, irregular forms in red, a play button on each form, and a typing drill for any verb that will not stick.How to Say ItFrench: How to Say It138 French phrases for the first situations you meet, with notes on formality; 33 sentence patterns by level; and a one-page survival sheet to print.
Where to go next
Outside the library: the resources from French 4: Your First 150 Words.
- 🌐 Lessons with video. TV5MONDE: Apprendre le français, free exercises built on real television clips, sorted by level from A1.
- 🌐 Listening from scratch. Language Transfer has a free audio course for French, built around working the language out yourself.
- 🌐 Easy news. Radio France Internationale publishes a short daily news bulletin read slowly in simpler French, Journal en français facile, with transcripts.
- 🌐 A dictionary. Larousse French–English, free online, with the gender of every noun.
- 📘 A frequency dictionary. Deryle Lonsdale and Yvon Le Bras, A Frequency Dictionary of French: Core Vocabulary for Learners (Routledge, 2009), the 5,000 most frequent words with example sentences.
- 📘 Graded readers. Short books for A1 and A2 learners, from publishers such as CLE International and Hachette, once you finish the deck.
- 🗣 A person. A paid tutor or a language-exchange partner, one session a week, as soon as you can say twenty sentences. No app replaces talking to someone.