The mistakes learners keep making in French, and what actually makes them stop.
The passé simple in French is the past tense of novels and history books. How to recognise it (il fut, elle vint), its four sets of endings, and when to use it.
The French spelling reform of 1990 changed about 2,000 words: no circumflex on i and u, ognon, évènement, hyphens in numbers. The old forms stay correct.
French quotation marks are guillemets « », with a space inside. How to type them on Mac, Windows and phone, dialogue in French, and quotes inside quotes.
Ça vs sa in French: ça means that (cela), sa means his or her before a feminine noun. The swap test, the cedilla, and exactly when sa becomes son.
French puts a space before a question mark, and before ! : ; too. The full spacing table, how to type a non-breaking space, and where Quebec differs.
How to type é, à, ç and the other French accents: hold the key on a Mac or a phone, Alt codes or the US International layout on Windows, and shortcuts in Word.
Invariable colour adjectives in French: des yeux marron, des murs orange, des pulls bleu clair. Which colours never change, the six exceptions, and why.
Il faut que always takes the subjunctive: il faut que je fasse, que j'aille, que nous soyons. When il faut takes an infinitive instead, and il faudrait que.
French dictation exercises for learners: how to pick your level, listen in chunks, check word by word and read your mistakes. A method that works A1 to C2.
Common French spelling mistakes English speakers make: capitals, double consonants, missing accents, a and à, et and est. A quick test to fix each one.
Passé composé with être or avoir? Most verbs take avoir. The verbs that take être, the pronominal verbs, and the six that switch when an object follows.
Si clauses in French: present with future, imparfait with conditional, plus-que-parfait with past conditional, and never the conditional after si meaning if.
French word count with an apostrophe: the DELF counts l'homme as one word, other exams as two. The rules for elisions, hyphens and numbers, with examples.
How to write French numbers in words: hyphens and the 1990 spelling, et in vingt et un, when vingt and cent take an s, mille, and digits.
Capitalization in French for English speakers: days, months, languages and nationality adjectives stay lowercase. When to capitalize, and accents on capitals.
E with accent in French: é, è or ê? How each accent changes the sound of e, the rules of thumb for most words, how to type them, and words learners misspell.
How to use tout in French: before a noun, as a pronoun, before an adjective and in set phrases. When it agrees, how to say tous, and why toute appears.
C'est vs s'est in French: swap in cela, or switch the subject to je. Two quick tests, the qu'est-ce qui s'est passé trap, and where ces and ses fit.
With avoir, a French past participle agrees only with a direct object placed before it. How to spot it: le, la, les, que, quel, and cases that never agree.
With être, the French past participle agrees with the subject. Which verbs take être, how agreement works, and the traps: on, polite vous, verbs that switch.
In French, a is the verb avoir and à is a preposition. The avait test that tells them apart, plus au and aux, à before an infinitive and the capital À.
In French the apostrophe marks elision, not possession. Which words drop their vowel, before which letters, the aspirated h, and the mistakes learners make.
Looking for one specific rule? The French grammar rules are explained one by one, with examples.