French grammar points – The Pronouns En and Y
Pronouns En and Y. We hear them and we see them everywhere. How do we use them? 1)En Let’s first start by defining en. As a pronoun (be sure not to confuse it with the preposition en ) it is used for many reasons and in many contexts. Here are the most important ones. En is a pronoun that replaces de or an indefinite determiner such as du, de l’, de la, des + a noun; en...Read MoreLearn French grammar – Savoir vs Connaître
Savoir and connaître are used in different contexts and can describe different aspects of knowing. As a French teacher, I hear my students making the same common mistake when expressing I know… Of course, it is quite confusing, as the French language has two verbs that can be translated into English by to know! Therefore, you have to choose between savoir or connaître; and you have...Read More
French grammar points – Direct, Indirect and Tonic Pronouns Which One Should I use?
Study the following explanations about the difference between the three types of French pronouns and then practice them through the following role play exercises. Replacing nouns with pronouns makes our use of the language much more fluid and economical. In both English and French, the choice of which pronoun to use is determined by its role in the sentence, i.e. subject, direct...Read MoreFrench grammar points – Those confusing past tenses in French
The Passé composé versus the imparfait! When studying French, everyone needs to spend some time going over the tricky relationship between these two main past tenses. Instead of trying the figure out how they translate exactly into English grammar terminology (it doesn’t work in many cases), it is better to understand how and when they are used in French. First, we should understand...Read More
French grammar points – Que, quoi, quel, qu’est-ce que?…
You might be a beginner or have been learning French for a while and you’re still unsure about the correct French interrogative expression for ‘what’ or ‘which’. Que, quoi, quel(s), quelle(s) or qu’est-ce que (qui) ? Which one should you use? Let’s try to clarify… When ‘what’ precedes a noun, you need to use the interrogative adjective quel or quelle (f) in front of the noun. Quel(le)...Read More