French writing is a key part of the language, whether you are planning to take a DELF exam or are looking to improve your French for immigration purposes. It can also be a lot of fun. Fortunately, there are plenty of resources to help you learn French writing.
Here are some of the most useful:
Grammar
Grammar is a huge part of learning a language, but it’s often portrayed as boring. That’s a problem! It’s true that some grammatical rules can be difficult to learn, but it’s also true that they don’t have to be. The first thing to remember is that you don’t need a formal course to learn grammar in French. There are plenty of resources online that can help you with your grammar skills, including interactive courses, dictionaries and grammar guides.
If you’re serious about learning French, it’s important to take your grammar studies seriously. This will ensure that you have a solid foundation in the language and increase your confidence when speaking. You can hire a private French tutor from online apps and websites. They will clear your mistakes and guide you better. You can also make your study sessions more enjoyable by choosing the right grammar lessons and using them wisely.
Here are some of our favourite ways to learn French grammar:
Podcasts
There are a number of different podcasts that focus on the French language, with episodes covering various aspects of grammar and culture. These can be a great way to learn and practise the language while listening to real conversations between native speakers.
Tex’s French Grammar
This website is designed to teach French grammar through cartoons, making it a great resource for beginning learners of the language. Each lesson explains the concept in a clear and concise manner with an example dialogue featuring Tex, Tammy and their friends. Tex’s French Grammar also includes fill-in-the-blank exercises, which can be downloaded for later use.
Learn with Vincent
Another helpful grammar resource is Learn French with Vincent, a YouTube channel that features a variety of videos on French grammar topics. The videos are free to watch and come with helpful pronunciation tips.
Side-by-Side French and English Grammar
The first thing to do when learning a new language is compare it with your own. Many of the grammatical terms in French are similar to those in English, but they have their own unique nuances. For instance, the word “the” in English is le/la/les, while the same term in French is un/une/des. This difference is essential to understand when learning French, since it helps you distinguish between the two languages and get you started on your French grammar journey.
Vocabulary
Learning vocabulary is an important part of learning French writing. It allows you to communicate effectively in the language, and can be a great way to improve your grammar skills as well. There are several ways to learn French words, including reading, listening, and speaking. Choosing the right tools for you will make it easier to achieve your goals and reach your desired level of fluency.
The first step is to find a good vocabulary book. This will help you get started with building your foundations in French and increase your confidence. There are also plenty of online resources that can help you with your learning, such as websites and apps that offer gap fill exercises and flashcards for learning new words. You can also try to speak with French people as much as possible. This will help you learn the words more quickly and make them a habit.
If you’re struggling with your French pronunciation, a good option is to record yourself with an audio app on your phone or computer. This will let you hear yourself reciting the words and phrases over and over again. Then you can review them later when you’re ready to remember them again. It’s called “spaced repetition” and is a lot better than cramming all your new vocabulary into your head.
This will help you learn the word more efficiently and save you time in the long run. Then, whenever you come across that word again, you can go back and repeat it in a conversation to get your brain to remember it. One of the most popular tools is Memrise. It’s free to use and offers a huge range of different activities that you can complete, from gap fill exercises to video lessons.
Sentences
Sentences are a crucial part of learning to write in French. They give you a sense of structure and order to your writing, and make it easier for others to understand what you mean. In the French language, sentences are generally made in an SVO (subject-verb-object) construction. This is almost identical to the word order in English, with the subject coming at the beginning of the sentence, followed by the verb, and then the direct object. It is important to remember that French verbs are conjugated for their subject, tense and mood. This means that there are dozens of possible endings and forms for each of the possible combinations of subject and verb, all depending on what you want to say.
A good way to learn how to form basic sentences in French is to practise with words and expressions you already know from your home language. Then, you can build up to more complex structures by practising and rehearsing your new vocabulary. You can also use flashcards to practise with words and phrases you don’t know yet. For instance, if you have a vocabulary list that you’d like to memorise, choose a word or phrase each day and see how quickly you can memorise it.
Some people even create their own “word of the day” or a mnemonic to help them memorise new words in French. This can be especially useful if you’re studying for an exam, or if you’re working to improve your overall comprehension of the language. Once you’ve learned a few of these association-making strategies, take them on the road with you when you’re learning the language. You’ll find that these techniques will help you to quickly memorise new French words.
You can also practise your grammar skills by writing down your thoughts in a diary or journal. This will not only help you keep track of your progress, but it will also provide a chance to think about what you’ve learned and how to apply it to real-life situations.
Conjugation
When learning French writing, you will come across a number of grammatical terms that can be intimidating at first. One of the most daunting is verb conjugation. Conjugation refers to the inflection of a verb in order to show the person and number performing an action or to highlight the grammatical function of a word. It involves altering a verb’s spelling or adding an affix to it, and it can also be used to accompany the main verb with an auxiliary verb.
Generally speaking, there are two types of conjugations in French. First, there are regular verbs that change their infinitive endings according to the tense they’re in. Second, there are irregular verbs that have a different infinitive ending from the rest.
While there are a few differences between the two kinds of conjugations, it’s important to know both of them as they can be confusing for beginners. It’s also helpful to learn the basic moods and tenses that each of them comes in so that you can understand how they work. A great way to learn French conjugations is by using a website or smartphone app that has verb drills. These websites allow you to select the tense or mood you want to practise with and then give you exercises for each of them.
These websites and apps are free to use and can be a great resource for learners. They will help you memorise the conjugations and master them so that you can use them correctly in your French writing. It’s best to start with the present tense and then move on to other tenses as you feel more comfortable. This will ensure that you won’t get confused and end up with the wrong verb tenses when you begin to study for a test or an exam.
