How this course works
French is spoken by around 300 million people across five continents, and it is official in 29 countries — more than any language except English.
The English speaker’s advantage
Roughly a third of English vocabulary came from French, so you already recognise thousands of words: table, nation, important, possible, restaurant, hôtel, voyage, question, government, justice.
The difficulty is not vocabulary. It is pronunciation — French spelling and French sound diverged centuries ago, and half the letters on the page are silent.
What you will be able to do
Greet people at the right level of formality, introduce yourself, ask questions, use the present and past tenses, count, tell the time, order food, shop, travel, and ask for help.
How the course is arranged
| MODULE | WHAT IT COVERS |
|---|---|
| Sounds and spelling | Silent letters, nasal vowels, liaison, accents |
| First grammar | Gender, articles, être and avoir, present tense |
| First conversations | Greetings, introductions, questions, politeness |
| Everyday French | Numbers, family, food, travel |
| Past tense and practice | Talking about yesterday, reading, next steps |
How to study
Listen before you read. French is the one major language where reading first actively damages your pronunciation, because the spelling suggests sounds that are not there.
Learn every noun with its article — le livre, la table. Gender learned later is gender learned twice.
Say everything aloud. Nasal vowels and the French r only come through the mouth.
Thirty to forty minutes per lesson.
A NOTE ON WHICH FRENCH This course teaches standard French, understood everywhere from Paris to Dakar to Montreal. Regional differences are noted where they matter.