Word Order and Sentence Building

French generally follows the same Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) order as English.

This makes building basic sentences relatively straightforward for English speakers.

The Subject is who is doing the action.

The Verb is the action itself.

The Object is what receives the action.

However, French differs from English when placing common adverbs.

In English, you might say "I often go."

In French, short, common adverbs (like souvent, toujours, bien) usually come after the conjugated verb: Je vais souvent au parc (I go often to the park).

Note: Longer adverbs or time markers like hier (yesterday) often go at the beginning or end of the sentence.

Canadian French Tip: Spoken French frequently uses "dislocation" for emphasis, and this is extremely common in Quebec.

This means stating the subject twice for clarity or stress.

Instead of just saying Paul est ici (Paul is here), a Quebecer might say Paul, il est ici (Paul, he is here).

Example Sentences:

Je parle français. (I speak French.)

Marie mange une pomme. (Marie eats an apple.)

Nous aimons le Québec. (We love Quebec.)

Le chat dort. (The cat is sleeping.)

Tu regardes la télévision. (You watch television.)

Ils habitent à Montréal. (They live in Montreal.)

Mon frère arrive demain. (My brother arrives tomorrow.)

Elle prend le bus. (She takes the bus.)

Vous étudiez beaucoup. (You study a lot.)

Les enfants jouent dehors. (The children are playing outside.)

Je vais souvent au cinéma. (I often go to the movies.)

Pierre, il est gentil. (Pierre, he is kind - Dislocation example.)

Making Positive Statements

To make a simple statement, you just need a subject and a conjugated verb.

French verbs change their ending depending on who is doing the action (I, you, he, we, etc.).

Unlike English, you cannot usually drop the subject pronoun (you must say Je suis for "I am", not just Suis).

Example Sentences:

J'aime le café. (I like coffee.)

C'est bon. (It is good.)

Elle travaille fort. (She works hard - Note: Fort is often used instead of dur in Canada for "hard work".)

Nous allons au magasin. (We are going to the store.)

Il fait froid. (It is cold - literally "It makes cold".)

Je suis fatigué. (I am tired.)

Tu as raison. (You are right.)

Ils sont ici. (They are here.)

Forming Negatives and Questions

Standard Negation: The written standard wraps the verb in ne ... pas.

Structure: Subject + ne + Verb + pas.

Example: Je ne veux pas. (I do not want.)

Canadian French Tip (Negation): In spoken Canadian French (and informal French generally), the ne is almost always dropped.

You simply use pas after the verb.

Je veux pas instead of Je ne veux pas.

Forming Questions: There are three main ways to ask questions:

1- Intonation: Raise your voice at the end. (Tu viens ?)

2- Est-ce que: Add Est-ce que at the start. (Est-ce que tu viens ?)

3- Inversion: Swap verb and subject. (Viens-tu ?)

Canadian French Tip (The "-tu" Particle): This is a unique and very common feature of informal Quebec French.

You can add the particle -tu after the verb in simple statements to turn them into Yes/No questions.

Do not confuse this with the pronoun tu (you).

Here, it is just a question marker.

Negative Examples:

Je ne sais pas. (I do not know - Standard)

Je sais pas. (I don't know - Spoken/Informal)

Il est pas là. (He is not here - Spoken)

Nous avons pas le temps. (We don't have time - Spoken)

Elle vient pas aujourd'hui. (She isn't coming today - Spoken)

Ce n'est pas grave. (It's not a big deal - Standard)

Question Examples:

Tu aimes ça ? (Do you like that? - Intonation)

Est-ce que vous parlez anglais ? (Do you speak English? - Est-ce que)

Parlez-vous français ? (Do you speak French? - Inversion/Formal)

C'est-tu loin ? (Is it far? - Canadian -tu)

Il veut-tu venir ? (Does he want to come? - Canadian -tu)

On commence-tu maintenant ? (Are we starting now? - Canadian -tu)

Tu comprends-tu ? (Do you understand? - Canadian -tu)

Elle est-tu prête ? (Is she ready? - Canadian -tu)

Ça marche-tu ? (Does that work? / Is it okay? - Canadian -tu)

Nouns: Gender and Number

In French, every noun has a gender: Masculine or Feminine.

French has no neuter noun gender.

Even objects like tables, cars, and ideas have a gender.

• Masculine: often implies le or un.

• Feminine: often implies la or une.

Common Endings (Guidelines, not rules):

• -age, -ment, -eau: Usually Masculine (le fromage, le gouvernement, le bateau).

• -tion, -té, -ure: Usually Feminine (la nation, la liberté, la nature).

Canadian French Tip (Gender of Anglicisms): Words borrowed from English sometimes have different genders in Quebec vs. France.

La job (informal Quebec) vs Le job (informal France).

Une gang (informal Quebec - group of friends) vs Un gang (standard French).

Plurals: To make a noun plural, you usually add an s.

Important: The s is silent!

Chien (dog) and Chiens (dogs) sound exactly the same.

You know it is plural by the article (le vs les).

Example Nouns:

Le livre (The book - Masculine)

La maison (The house - Feminine)

Un ami / Une amie (A male friend / A female friend)

Les voitures (The cars - Plural, silent 's')

Des pommes (Some apples - Plural)

L'hiver (The winter - Masculine, vowel start)

Un bureau (A desk/office - Masculine)

La chaise (The chair - Feminine)

Le problème (The problem - Masculine, despite ending in -e)

Une idée (An idea - Feminine)

Articles and Determiners

Articles tell you the gender and number of the noun.

You almost never use a noun without an article in French.

Definite Articles (The):

• Le (Masculine singular) - Le gars (The guy)

• La (Feminine singular) - La fille (The girl)

• L' (Before a vowel or h muet) - L'eau (The water)

• Les (Plural, both genders) - Les enfants (The children)

Indefinite Articles (A / An / Some):

• Un (Masculine singular) - Un char (A car - familiar Quebec French)

• Une (Feminine singular) - Une table (A table)

• Des (Plural - means "some") - Des amis (Some friends)

Example Sentences with Articles:

Je cherche un stylo. (I am looking for a pen.)

Le soleil brille. (The sun is shining.)

Elle a des chats. (She has some cats.)

J'aime la musique. (I like music.)

Voici une photo. (Here is a photo.)

L'école est fermée. (The school is closed.)

Tu as les clés ? (Do you have the keys?)

C'est un bon film. (It is a good movie.)

Practice Section

Fill in the Blanks

Fill in each blank with the correct word, letter, or form based on what you learned.

1- To say "a house" (feminine), you write: __________ maison.

2- To make the word chat (cat) plural in writing, you add the letter __________ at the end.

True/False

Read each statement carefully and decide if it is True or False.

1- In French, the object usually comes before the verb (Object-Verb-Subject).

2- In spoken Canadian French, it is very common to drop the ne in negative sentences (e.g., Je sais pas).

Translation

Translate each English phrase or sentence into French.

1- I speak English.

__________________________________________

2- She works hard.

__________________________________________

3- Is it good? (Try using the Canadian -tu particle)

__________________________________________