If you're learning French, you know how exciting it is to connect with a new culture through language! Of course, there are challenges, too, and it can feel frustrating to make mistakes in a new language. Those mistakes are a natural—and even necessary!—part of the learning journey, so take comfort in knowing other French learners are working through them, too.
We analyzed Duolingo data to determine the most common mistakes that early French learners make. Here are the top 5 errors you can expect in French!
5 of the most common errors French learners make:
- French verbs: conjugation
- French nouns: gender agreement
- French nouns: plural agreement
- French adjectives: agreement
- French grammar: word order
1. French verbs: conjugation
Verb conjugation is one of the most challenging parts of French, especially for new learners. It will seem like French verbs change a lot more than their English counterparts! In French, you need to change the ending of the verb so that it matches the subject who is doing the action. Even though some French verb endings sound the same, they are often spelled differently. Here is the basic pattern for the most common regular verb categories:
| Subject | -er | -ir | -re |
|---|---|---|---|
| je | -e | -is | -s |
| tu | -es | -is | -s |
| il elle |
-e | -it | (no ending) |
| nous | -ons | issons | -ons |
| vous | -ez | -issez | -ez |
| ils elles |
-ent | -issent | -ent |
You'll use a different ending depending on the subject of the verb:
- Je parle anglais, mais mes parents parlent français. (I speak English, but my parents speak French.)
- Tu choisis toujours un éclair, mais tes amies choisissent des macarons. (You always choose an eclair, but your friends choose macarons.)
- Paul attend ici, et vous attendez là-bas. (Paul is waiting here, and you all are waiting over there.)
There's another category of verbs that is challenging for new French learners, because it has a spelling change so that the pronunciation is consistent across the forms. Verbs that end in -ger (pronounced like "zhay") add an "e" to the nous form to keep that "zh" sound, and verbs that end in -cer (pronounced like "say") have a "ç" in the nous form, to keep the "s" sound. For example, the verb manger (to eat) has this change: Nous mangeons avec les chats (We eat with the cats).
2. French nouns: gender agreement
In French, all nouns have grammatical gender—they are either masculine or feminine, even if they aren't a person! There are several key patterns learners should memorize to know whether a noun is masculine or feminine.
Words associated with the noun have to match its gender, so French has multiple versions of many words, including different forms of "a" and "the" for masculine and feminine nouns:
| With a masculine noun | With a feminine noun | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | "a" | un | une |
| "the" | le | la | |
| Plural | "some" | des | |
| "the" | les | ||
For example:
- un château (a castle), since château is a masculine noun
- une chemise (a shirt), since chemise is a feminine noun
- le château (the castle)
- la chemise (the shirt)
If the noun starts with a vowel or a silent consonant (as in hôtel, "hotel"), you'll use l' for "the": l'hôtel (the hotel). Both masculine and feminine nouns will use l' if they start with a vowel!
3. French nouns: plural agreement
Words associated with a noun will have to match the number of the noun, too—whether it's singular or plural. This number agreement is one of the most common mistakes learners make. Here are a few places to look for plural agreement:
- Les filles parlent français. (The girls speak French.)
- Mes amis sont professeurs. (My friends are teachers.)
- Ils ont des desserts italiens. (They have some Italian desserts.)
4. French adjectives: gender and plural agreement
And if that's not enough agreement to keep track of… French adjectives have different forms and endings for masculine and feminine, singular and plural! The most common pattern is that feminine singular adjectives end in -e, masculine plural adjectives end in -s, and feminine plural adjectives end in -es:
| With a masculine noun | With a feminine noun | |
|---|---|---|
| Singular | le chat noir | la chemise noire |
| Plural | les chats noirs | les chemises noires |
Some adjectives follow a slightly different set of agreement rules:
- Masculine adjective already ends in an -e (like triste)
- Feminine adjective has an additional letter or accent mark (like bon)
- Masculine adjective ends in -eau or -ou and uses -x for the masculine plural and -elle or -olle in the feminine forms (like nouveau)
- Masculine adjective ends in -x and doesn't change in the plural, and the feminine forms have -euse (like heureux)
| Meaning | Masculine (singular / plural) | Feminine (singular / plural) | Other adjectives like this |
|---|---|---|---|
| happy | content / contents | contente / contentes | (most adjectives!) grand / grande sûr / sûre joli / jolie fatigué / fatiguée |
| sad | triste / tristes | triste / tristes | adorable / adorables jeune / jeunes difficile / difficiles célèbre / célèbres |
| good | bon / bons | bonne / bonnes | gros / grosse gentil / gentille blanc / blanche cher / chère |
| new | nouveau / nouveaux | nouvelle / nouvelles | beau(x) / belle(s) fou(x) / folle(s) |
| happy | heureux / heureux | heureuse / heureuses | sériuex / sériuese ennuyeux / ennuyeuse doux / douce |
In French, you'll need to remember to use plural adjectives to describe a noun, even when the noun and its adjective aren't next to each other—that can be the most difficult part to remember!
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| Ce chat est noir et blanc. | Ces chats sont noirs et blancs. |
| Ma sœur est drôle. | Mes sœurs sont drôles. |
| Le garçon est triste, mais la fille est contente. | Les garçons sont tristes, mais les filles sont contentes. |
5. French grammar: word order
Word order is another important difference between French and English, especially when it comes to nouns. In French, most adjectives come after the noun they describe, so instead of saying the black cat, in French you say the cat black (le chat noir). You can think of the order like a formula: determiner (like "the" or "a") + noun + adjective, where "determiner" means the words for "the" (le, la, l', les) and for possession (like mon, "my," and notres, "our").
There are some common adjectives that must go before the noun, for example, adjectives about size or goodness (or badness!), including bon (good), petit (small), and grand (big). So, to say "the big red house," you say la grosse maison rouge.
Learn from your (French) mistakes!
Don't let your French mistakes slow you down—they're necessary for learning, and you'll move past them with practice!