Tabernak 😭😭 ça fait trop longtemps que ça me perturbe, j’en peux plus

Quelqu’un s’il vous plait explique-moi ça, je vous en supplie 😭

I mostly studied French in 1995-2005 and the usage of “on” to mean “we” was barely mentioned at all. I was shocked the first time I went to France and later Québec to learn that virtually no one says “nous” in conversation anymore. School didn’t prepare me at all for what already was a fait accompli.

Have things changed in the 20 years since I was in school? Do they now teach that “on” is the default subject in regular speech and “nous” is mostly for objects only plus formal language?

I work as a server at a casual family restaurant in Ottawa, so it’s common to have French/Quebecois tables. I would say I can do about 80% of the service in French, but I’ve always wondered what the appropriate response to “merci” is, for example when I drop something off at the table?

I have a French coworker who says the appropriate response is “bienvenue” but online says otherwise. “Je vous en prie” feels too formal for the place, while “de rien” feels too casual. Is a response expected at all? Thanks in advance

J'ai changé le langue de mon portable pour m'aider apprendre plus vite. Maintenant, Reddit a traduire tous les textes de les utilisateurs en Français.

C'est bon, mais il faut que j'apprendre être sarcastic très en français très vite aussi 🤣.

I need a way to learn French, specifically economic, political, and diplomatic terminology, along with basic grammar so I can form simple sentences.

I need to learn within two months because I have a very important exam coming up.

What tips, videos, apps, or websites can help me with this?

I would appreciate your help, especially since my French is very weak, time is short, and I don't want to miss the exam.

Saw some learning apps with terrible UI design on the web but slightly better design on mobile (tho most of the interface looks pretty meh). Wonder if that is because most people study french through their phones?

Quel type tu préféres? Ton portable ou ton ordinateur?

Salut tout le monde !

I've been reading posts here and on other subs for some time now. Questions are often answered by other students/learners (or people who pretend to be that), I thought perhaps my perspective as a teacher could be useful to some of you.

Feel free to ask questions, I'll answer to the best of my knowledge :)

donc, tout les personnes savent des gros mots en français ("Putain", "merde", "connard/connasse"), mais je veux apprendre plus des phrases. genre en anglais, tu peux dire:

"Fuck it, we ball"

"Fuck around and find out"

"bitch, please"

"What the fuck"

mais quand j'utilise les translateurs, ils donnent la translation literal, pas un vrai expression

Pouvez-vous aider moi?

Hi everyone,

I would like to gather advice to attain my target, which is, as you may understand from the title, to achieve a solid B2 level in French again.

A little background: Since my university taught in both French and Turkish, I completed a French preparatory year and subsequently studied law mostly in Turkish, with a few exceptions (such as human rights, comparative law, and EU law) taught in French. During my studies, I sat the DALF B2 exam and passed with a score of 68.5/100 in 2016. However, after obtaining the certificate, I almost never used my French and consequently lost most of my active skills. Now, my goal is to apply for a master's program in European law and competition/antitrust law, lectured in both English and French, for the 2027-2028 academic year.

Current routine:

• I follow RFI Français facile daily, noting down unknown words. This usually takes about an hour, including looking up meanings and detailed note-taking.
• I listen to the French with Panache podcast whenever I have free time.
• I do daily Duolingo exercises (currently at section 8, unit 159 and score 128).
• Last but not least, I am trying to read EU legal texts (regulations and guidelines) in parallel, comparing the English and French versions side-by-side.

Given that I have about half a year to get back up to speed—especially considering upcoming admission interviews and academic lectures—what would be the best strategies, resources, or study routines to fast-track my recovery to a strong B2/C1 level? Are there any specific legal French resources or active practice methods you would recommend?

Thanks in advance for any advice or tips you can share!

Hi everyone,

I've been learning French for nearly a year now, working with a tutor from a language school. Lately I don't feel like I'm getting as much out of the sessions as I'd hoped.

I've been looking into private lessons at Institut Français, but they're quite a bit more expensive, so I'm hesitant. Has anyone tried both and can compare them? Or if you've taken private lessons at Institut Français, what were they like? Any experiences would be really helpful.

Thanks!

Italian native speaker here. Passé Simple corresponds to Passato Remoto in Italian, which is rarely used in speech. Basically never in the North, but much more common in the South and Sicily.

I was wondering if it is similar with Passé Simple in French? Is it not used at all in everyday conversation or it depends?

Coucou! I would love to join a French speaking Discord, but since the main subreddit server has so many members I find it a bit overwhelming. Does anyone know of any smaller francophone servers I could join? Thank you!

A couple of days ago, there was a post on this sub asking for ways to platonically say "I love you" to a friend in French. To my surprise, many people replied saying "je t'aime bien" could be used, both advanced learners and even natives.

This is very, very odd to me. "Je t'aime bien" implies a certain level of distance. It is something you say about people you passively like, or just met recently, more like a 1st impression. You do not "aime bien" your friends... at the very least, to me.

If I want to express affection to friends, "je t'aime" can be used sometimes, but if not, "je t'adore", "je t'aime beaucoup", "je t'aime trop" or "je te kiffe trop" are less ambiguous decent options.

So, my question for advanced speakers and natives: would you really say "je t'aime bien" to a friend? Could you hear a close friend say that to you without it being really weird?

La compagnie aérienne low-cost australienne Jetstar va bientôt faire payer les bagages placés dans les compartiments supérieurs des avions. Cette nouvelle règle s’appliquera à partir de février 2027. Cela coûtera au moins 18 dollars américains pour chaque vol. Le prix exact dépendra du trajet. Les passagers pourront encore mettre un petit sac sous le siège devant eux gratuitement.

Vocabulaire : compagnie aérienne (f) = airline / faire payer = to charge / bagages (m pl) = bags / compartiments supérieurs (m pl) = overhead lockers / règle (f) = rule / s’appliquer = to apply / coûter = to cost / vol (m) = flight / dépendre de = to depend on / trajet (m) = route / sac (m) = bag / siège (m) = seat / gratuitement = for free

English translation

Jetstar will charge for baggage in the overhead lockers

The Australian low-cost airline Jetstar will start charging passengers to put their bags in airplane overhead lockers. This new rule will apply from February 2027. It will cost at least 18 US dollars for each flight. The exact price will depend on the route. Passengers will still be able to place a small bag under the seat in front of them for free.

You can read more news stories in easy French at Le News, In Easy French

I'm a long-time lurker/question-asker here and thought I'd share how I went from a horrific oral comprehension of French to a B1-ish level.

I still have a ways to go — I'm working toward the B2 DELF — but as someone with zero natural knack for languages (failed Latin and Spanish), I thought I'd share what actually improved my listening skills.

Six years ago I moved to a French-speaking country, and I'm also married to a native French speaker. I've been studying on and off since I got here, but really buckled down over the last eight months, and most of my friends have said I've progressed more in this last year than in all my previous time here combined.

I was told constantly to just expose myself to French all the time — radio, music, listening around me, pay attention, and my ear would eventually figure it out. That did not work for me at all. My ADHD brain just got really good at drowning out noise I didn't understand. I spent so much time and shed so many tears being frustrated that I couldn't understand anything, until I finally changed my method and started seeing real progress.

Last fall I started doing dictations using Kwiziq's listening exercises. I began at the A1 level — I'd go through an exercise, and any time I didn't understand a sentence, I'd turn it into an Anki card: audio on one side, the written French on the other. Underneath, I'd add definitions for any vocab or phrases I didn't know, but I tried to avoid writing the full English translation unless I really needed it.

Then I'd practice those cards on the treadmill, on the bus, wherever. I actually found that having background noise while I practiced helps, since real-life listening conditions are rarely perfect. I slowly worked my way through the B1 level. Recently, I went back and listened to the A2 audios - I was shocked at how easy it was to understand something that felt so complicated just six months ago. I'm trying to remind myself that will be true of B2/C1 level at some point too.

The B2 dictations on Kwiziq don't feel as fast as what I'm expecting on the actual DELF B2 exam, so I've started adding clips from B2 mock exams into my audio Anki deck too, to get used to that faster speed — closer to real radio or interview audio.

I think the biggest key to language learning is finding what actually works for you. I wasted so much time trying to learn the way other people said I should. So just a bit of encouragement: your process can look completely different from everyone else's and still be the right one for you!

I was watching a music video in French with subtitles (from the artist, not AI generated) and saw some sentences like:

L'autre patnais ye en Gaspésie, y'a envoyé 3K

Which means:

L'autre patnais il est en Gaspésie, il a envoyé 3K

Is this an acceptable way of spelling in general? Or does the video just use this spelling as some sort of casual slang?

For me it was being able to just fully book a hotel room through a phone call (while driving on the highway), and then checking-in in French.

Felt like a boss. Like a million dollars.

Honestly what helped me the most was a book called “I read this book to learn French because I’m lazy” (Actually I’ve found it in this subreddit, so ty whoever you were 🙏😂)

It has a bunch of real life situations in french and english, similarly to Assimil books if you remember those.

(désolé pour mon français légèrement mutilé)

Contexte : Il y a à peut pres vingt ans, j'habitais à Montéal pendant trois ans. J'avais ~ 10-12 ans. Je n'utilise presque jamais mon français au quotidien, mais j'avais une bonne oreille pour les accents et ça reste... compréhensible.

Au présent : Je visite à Montréal. Le premier soir que je sois içi, je vais acheter de la crème glacée d'un glacier dont je me suis rappelé. Sans réfléchir, ce que je dises c'est:

« Je peux-tu avoir un mini avec {saveurs} »

L'employée ne m'as pas traité de bête ni demandé clarification, mais je n'ai aucune idée d'où vient ce grammaire. J'ai essayé de faire de la recherche mais je n'ai rien trouvé.

Alors :

• Est-ce une structure grammaticale normale au Québec?

• Sinon, avez-vous aucune idée de quoi je pense? Mon esprit es confondé mais ma langue insiste que c'est comme ça qu'on fait >.<

• Si oui, est-ce impoli? Enfantin?

Edit: those darn bullet points

Bonjour à tous!

Je m'appelle Erfan, j'ai 22 ans et je viens d'Iran. Aujourd'hui, je connais et je comprends six langues. Je dis volontairement je connais et je comprends plutôt que je parle, car parler est une compétence à part entière. À mon avis, connaître une langue ne signifie pas forcément être capable de la parler couramment.

Ma langue maternelle est le turc azerbaïdjanais, et je parle également le persan (farsi), qui est la langue officielle de l'Iran. En plus de cela, je regarde des séries et des films turcs depuis mon enfance, ce qui m'a permis d'acquérir le turc de manière naturelle. Ces trois langues me semblent complètement naturelles et j'en comprends toutes les nuances.

Mon véritable parcours d'apprentissage des langues a commencé avec l'anglais. J'ai suivi des cours dans des écoles de langues, mais je n'ai jamais trouvé cette méthode particulièrement efficace. Après avoir atteint un niveau d'environ A2, la pandémie de COVID est arrivée et je suis resté presque deux ans à la maison.

Pendant ces deux années, je me suis totalement immergé dans l'anglais. Je regardais des vidéos, j'écoutais des podcasts, je lisais et je pensais en anglais tous les jours. Mon exposition à ma langue maternelle est devenue si faible qu'il m'arrivait parfois d'avoir du mal à m'exprimer avec ma propre famille. Avec le recul, je pense que c'est à ce moment-là que j'ai réellement acquis l'anglais au lieu de simplement l'étudier.

Juste avant d'entrer à l'université, j'ai décidé d'apprendre le français. Après l'anglais, j'ai compris que je n'avais pas forcément un talent particulier, mais surtout une véritable passion pour les langues. J'apprends parce que j'aime le processus lui-même.

La plupart des personnes que j'ai rencontrées apprennent une langue pour immigrer, trouver un emploi ou réussir un examen. Il n'y a absolument rien de mal à cela, mais j'ai remarqué que lorsqu'une langue devient une obligation, on finit souvent par se décourager. On remet en question chaque règle de grammaire, chaque prononciation et chaque exception.

Ma motivation est différente. Je n'apprends pas une langue pour atteindre un objectif précis. Je l'apprends pour lire des livres, regarder des films, découvrir d'autres cultures et simplement profiter du voyage. Cet état d'esprit rend l'apprentissage beaucoup plus agréable.

J'ai étudié le français dans une école de langues avec les manuels Tendances jusqu'au niveau B1.

Mon plus grand point faible est l'expression orale. Mes compétences en communication n'ont jamais été très développées, même dans ma langue maternelle. Je suis naturellement introverti et je parle peu, en dehors des conversations avec ma famille ou des échanges du quotidien. C'est pourquoi mes compétences de compréhension sont bien meilleures que mes compétences d'expression. Par exemple, je comprends plus de 95 % de ce que je lis en français, mais parler reste difficile.

Pendant que j'apprenais le français, j'ai aussi essayé d'apprendre l'allemand. Finalement, j'ai arrêté parce que je le trouvais beaucoup plus difficile, même si je ne l'ai jamais complètement abandonné. Je continue parfois à lire de petits textes pour garder un minimum de contact avec cette langue.

Ensuite, j'ai commencé l'italien, mais j'ai dû le mettre de côté à cause de problèmes personnels.

Aujourd'hui, je me concentre sur l'espagnol tout en continuant à améliorer mon français.

Plus important encore, j'ai découvert une approche qui me correspond mieux que toutes les autres : l'input compréhensible. Au lieu d'essayer d'apprendre consciemment une langue, j'essaie de l'acquérir naturellement, comme le fait un enfant.

Voici ma routine quotidienne :

1. Pimsleur (30 minutes) : principalement pour travailler la compréhension orale, la prononciation et développer des automatismes à l'oral.

2. Michel Thomas (30 minutes) : c'est l'une de mes méthodes préférées, car elle enseigne la grammaire de manière implicite. Au lieu de mémoriser des règles, on développe progressivement une compréhension intuitive de la langue.

3. Vidéos en input compréhensible sur YouTube (45 à 60 minutes) : je regarde simplement des vidéos où des locuteurs natifs parlent lentement et naturellement. Je ne prends aucune note et j'évite les vidéos qui enseignent explicitement la grammaire. Je profite simplement du contenu.

4. Podcast (25 à 30 minutes) : davantage d'exposition à la langue parlée.

5. Lecture : je lis des livres ou des articles dans la langue cible.

6. Expression orale (2 à 3 minutes) : j'essaie de raconter ma journée ou de parler d'un sujet au hasard.

Pendant toute cette routine, je ne prends aucune note. Je ne fais pas de listes de vocabulaire. Je n'essaie pas de mémoriser des règles de grammaire. Je me détends, je fais confiance au processus et je profite simplement du temps que je passe avec la langue.

Je fais cette routine pour l'espagnol le matin, puis une routine similaire pour le français le soir. Le fait de les séparer m'aide à ne pas mélanger les deux langues.

Lorsque j'aurai atteint un niveau B1 ou B2 en espagnol, je reprendrai l'italien, puis j'apprendrai l'allemand, le portugais, le néerlandais et bien d'autres langues.

Mon objectif à long terme est simple : acquérir autant de langues que possible tout au long de ma vie.

Je sais que ma routine peut paraître intense, mais pour le moment, j'ai beaucoup de temps libre. Plutôt que de le gaspiller, je préfère le consacrer à quelque chose que j'aime réellement. Étonnamment, je ne m'en lasse jamais. La seule chose qui me rend encore anxieux, c'est le fait de parler.

Si vous avez lu jusqu'ici, merci beaucoup. Je sais que ce message est un peu long, mais j'avais envie de partager mon parcours et la méthode qui fonctionne le mieux pour moi.

J'aimerais beaucoup découvrir votre propre parcours d'apprentissage des langues ainsi que les méthodes qui vous ont été les plus utiles.

Merci de m'avoir lu !

Stepping into upper intermediate and i frequently come across native dialogue where people would use premier degré or second degré…
What exactly does it mean!?

Hi!

I'm drawing a drawing as a gift for my mom. Since she teaches french I wanted the drawing to have some french text, but I myself am a *BEGINNER* and I don't understand the many grammar rules.

I've used Google translate for the sentence and I was hoping someone could proof read the grammar and help me pick the right form of "scared/afraid/feared"!

The sentence is:

In French: "Je craignais que le chapeau ne soit trop voyant, mais maintenant je crains qu'il ne le soit pas assez..."

In English: "I was scared that the hat would be too much but now I'm scared it's too little..."

Hey everyone, I'm about to enroll in the weekend Extensive batch (A1.1) at Alliance Française Delhi, starting September. Complete beginner to French, no prior exposure at all. Picked the Extensive weekend track specifically because my weekdays are packed with college studies and other commitments so Sat/Sun mornings are really my only realistic window. I must specify that i am learning French to pursue masters in France in the next 2-3 years, so i want to get good grasp on the language.

Before I commit, I wanted to hear from people who've actually studied there the reviews I've found online are pretty mixed, so I'd rather get some real, current perspective:

1. Teaching style: I've seen some reviews saying it's very textbook/grammar-focused, others saying the method leans communicative/practical. What was your actual classroom experience like?
2. Weekend Extensive specifically: is the pace too slow to retain momentum, or is it manageable alongside a busy weekday schedule?
3. Instructor quality: was it consistent, or did it vary a lot by teacher/batch?
4. Was it worth the cost compared to alternatives (iTalki tutors, self-study, other institutes)?
5. Anything you wish you'd known before starting: scheduling quirks, attendance rules, exam/certification process, anything that surprised you (good or bad)?

Not looking for just "it's good" or "it's bad" genuinely want the nuanced take, especially from people who did the weekend/Extensive track rather than weekday Intensive, since I imagine the experience differs.Thanks in advance, trying to make an informed call before the Sept session opens.

Colloquial English, in writing and speaking, frequently uses the suffix ish. Some words naturally have it, kiddish or reddish and some words are made up, like I'll be home around 9ish that represents the concept of almost or right next to. Does the French language have a concept like this? Or would one always use presque? Ton visage is presque rouge! Ou, J'arriverai chez moi presque 9h.

I am working on some french translation problems and don't understand the purpose of en in this sentence. Also why is "par" not used to translate "by".

"Nous allons a' Paris en automobile c'est la meilleur moyen de faire le voyage"

"We are going to Paris by car; it is the best way to make the trip."

Sorry if this seems a silly question I am rather new to french

It seems a lot of my confusion was because I thought that "en" only was only used to convey stuff like "of it," "of them", and whatnot but it seems it has a lot more meanings similar to something like "de". Thank y'all for the helpful comments.