French word order time

Times and dates are usually confusing to learners. In this article, we’ll show you the most accurate way to express times and dates right in French.

Express Dates in French

If you are American and have written out dates using numbers, you have probably written something like this: 11/12/18 or 11/12/2018. In America this would refer to November 12, 2018, but in France this would refer to December 11, 2018. This is because in France, as in many European countries, the day is placed before the month, with the year following. Think of the units going from smallest to largest: day-month-year.

Express Times in French

Designating time in France is also approached slightly differently, as the French regularly use the 24-hour clock, often referred to as military time in the United States, since the 24-hour clock is used by branches of the military. In France, you may arrange to meet at 20 h for an 8 PM movie, for instance. To designate the day for this movie date, you could say vendredi, for instance, with a lower-case v. This is also something that differs from how days are designated in other languages, such as English, which uses capital letters for days and months of the year.

A Few Tips for Time and Date Expression

Here are some important things to keep in mind when referring to times and dates in French:

Time expressions in French include “Il est” for pointing out the hour, as with “Il est neuf heures” and “à” for designating a time during which something occurs, e.g., “Le film commence à 19 h 30”, “On est allé à la bibliothèque à 15 h.” You can also use “vers” to express an approximate time: “On y est allé vers 15 h.” The h, designating “heures” (or “heure”, in the case of 1 o’clock) is used as a separator, although you might see a colon at times [ : ].

For telling time, you may use both the 24-hour and 12-hour clocks. It is useful to adjust to the use of the 24-hour clock, known as “l’heure officielle” in France, since this is commonly used by the French, and comes up quite a lot in conversation. It also avoids confusion, since a 10 AM flight and a 10 PM flight are quite different. I remember booking a flight in New York, confusing my AM’s and PM’s, and mistaking one for the other. Luckily, I checked over my flight information before taking off for the airport. This must be why my phone is set to the 24-hour clock.

When the French are using the 12-hour clock, they might add a “matin” or “soir” to emphasize the time of day. “On se voit à sept heures ce soir ?” “Ce bruit m’a réveillée à six heures du matin !” (That’s me, talking about all those awful disruptive sounds, including beeping trucks, car alarms, phones going off, dogs barking for 20 minutes on end, children screaming and crying … I think I’m entering muddy waters.)

Also, you can designate a half hour by saying “dix heures et demie” (remember the agreement with the feminine word for hour that the half-hour takes on; this is distinct from “une demi-heure”, in which the “demi” in the hyphenated compound word is invariable). Think of the Marguerite Duras novel Dix heures et demie du soir en été, published in 1960, in which this hour is described vividly during a family vacation in Spain: “C’est encore une fois les vacances. Encore une fois les routes d’été. Encore une fois des églises à visiter. Encore une fois dix heures et demie du soir en été. Des Goya à voir. Des orages. Des nuits sans sommeil. Et la chaleur.”

In addition to half hours, you can designate quarters of an hour by saying “et quart” and “moins le quart” – remember the use of the definite article when you are talking about something that occurs fifteen minutes before the hour. Thus we have “dix heures et quart”, but “dix heures moins le quart”. These designations are specifically for the 12-hour clock.  For the 24-hour clock, l’heure officielle, stick with adding numbers to the hour, as with vingt heures trente, quatorze heures quarante-cinq, etc. We can also say zéro heures for minuit.

For what is designated as 12 h with the 12-hour clock, we have the words midi and minuit, depending on whether the clock strikes this hour during the day or at night.

Calendar days follow the Gregorian calendar that is used worldwide. Remember that the words that are used for days and months of the year in French are never capitalized unless they appear at the beginning of a sentence.

Learn How to Say Monday to Sunday in French

The French week begins with Monday, following the International Standard. Here are the days of the week, along with their three-letter codes (which are used on things like packaging, to show expiration dates, among other things):

Days are masculine. Thus, if your flute lesson occurs on Thursday, you would say “J’ai ma leçon de flûte le jeudi.” The definite article indicates a regularly occurring event. To indicate a specific day, you may use “ce” or nothing at all to introduce the day, depending on the context, e.g., “On va au concert ce dimanche”, “La réunion aura lieu lundi”. The “ce” in the first phrase emphasizes that the concert is this coming Sunday. In the second phrase, it is implied that the Monday you are referring to is approaching imminently.

Learn How to Say the Months of the Year in French

The months of the year are as follows, along with their corresponding three-letter codes:

Months are also masculine. In many cases, you would not need an article to introduce them, but it is important to know the gender for when you have to modify them, as with “Ces négociations se tiendra à Paris ce décembre prochain”. You can introduce months with “en” or “au mois de”:  “Je pars en vacances au mois de mai”, “Je passerai l’examen en juin”. For events with specific times and dates, such as exams, you could write the following: L’examen aura lieu le vendredi 2 novembre 2018, de 15 h à 17 h.

If you do, in fact, have an exam approaching, good luck with it and perhaps treat yourself to a movie afterward at 20 h.

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Introduction Virginie: Bonjour à tous! Eric: Eric here. Making The Most of Your Time in France. Virginie: Hi, this is Virginie and I am here with Eric. How are you, Eric? Eric: Very good, how are you? Virginie: I am good. Thank you. So what are we going to see today? Eric: In this lesson, we are going to be looking at how to say when things happen… Virginie: Yes. Eric: And where they happen? Virginie: Yes. So Joe is with the manager, Madame Fonta and her assistant is giving him his schedule for the day. Eric: Here is the long list of activities for the day. Let’s have a listen. Dialogue Directrice : Voici ma secrétaire, Mme Vannet. Elle a le planning d’aujourd’hui. Assistante de direction : Bonjour. Je suis Valérie. Enchantée. Joe : Enchanté. Assistante de direction : Voilà le planning d’aujourd’hui — Vendredi 6 juin. Vous avez un meeting avec Mme Laforge de Paris Communication aux Champs-Elysées à 10h. À midi, vous déjeunez au Fouquet’s avec Mme Gontran de Elle. Après ça vous avez une réunion avec M. Georges au siège de Canal Plus. Ensuite, vous allez visiter l’usine Confection Etoile. Enfin, vous avez le dîner de l’entreprise à l’Avenue à 20H30. Joe : Ouh là là, c’est ce que j’appelle une journée chargée. Directrice : Et elle commence dès maintenant. Eric: One more time, a little more slowly. Virginie: Encore une fois, plus lentement. Directrice : Voici ma secrétaire, Mme Vannet. Elle a le planning d’aujourd’hui. Assistante de direction : Bonjour. Je suis Valérie. Enchantée. Joe : Enchanté. Assistante de direction : Voilà le planning d’aujourd’hui — Vendredi 6 juin. Vous avez un meeting avec Mme Laforge de Paris Communication aux Champs-Elysées à 10h. À midi, vous déjeunez au Fouquet’s avec Mme Gontran de Elle. Après ça vous avez une réunion avec M. Georges au siège de Canal Plus. Ensuite, vous allez visiter l’usine Confection Etoile. Enfin, vous avez le dîner de l’entreprise à l’Avenue à 20H30. Joe : Ouh là là, c’est ce que j’appelle une journée chargée. Directrice : Et elle commence dès maintenant. Eric: One more time, with the translation. Virginie: Encore une fois, avec la traduction. Directrice : Voici ma secrétaire, Mme Vannet. Elle a le planning d’aujourd’hui. Eric: This is my secretary, Mrs. Vannet. She has today’s schedule. Assistante de direction : Bonjour. Je suis Valérie. Enchantée. Eric: Hello. I am Valerie. Nice to meet you. Joe : Enchanté. Eric: Nice to meet you. Assistante de direction : Voilà le planning d’aujourd’hui — Vendredi 6 juin. Vous avez un meeting avec Mme Laforge de Paris Communication aux Champs-Elysées à 10h. À midi, vous déjeunez au Fouquet’s avec Mme Gontran de Elle. Après ça vous avez une réunion avec M. Georges au siège de Canal Plus. Ensuite, vous allez visiter l’usine Confection Etoile. Enfin, vous avez le dîner de l’entreprise à l’Avenue à 20H30. Eric: Here’s today’s schedule — Friday, June the sixth. You have a meeting with Mrs. Laforge of Paris Communication at the Champs-Elysées at ten o’clock. At noon, you have lunch at Fouquet’s with Mrs. Gontran of Elle. After that, you will meet Mr. Georges at Canal Plus headquarters. Then, you will visit the Star Confection factory. Finally, you have the company dinner at L’Avenue at eight-thirty in the evening. Joe : Ouh là là, c’est ce que j’appelle une journée chargée. Eric: Wow, that is what I call a busy day. Directrice : Et elle commence dès maintenant. Eric: And it starts right now. Post Conversation Banter Virginie: So it looks like they are going to many places. They are going to Canal Plus. Eric: That is a big company in France, right? Virginie: Yes it is and it’s a TV channel. It’s a private TV channel. It’s not public. Eric: Okay. So it’s sort of like cable or HBO, something like that? Virginie: Uhoo yeah and they have several channels. They have Canal pour movies, Canal pour famille, Canal pour sports. Eric: Wow! Virginie: Yeah. Eric: They make their own movies as well like they will finance films too. Virginie: Yeah. They have – they have studios and they have – they are also a production company. They have good movies. Eric: I’ve heard also in general making movies in France is often paid for by the state. If you are a young movie director, you may get some money from the government to make a film. Virginie: Yes, absolutely. The government gives you money if you write grants, if you ask for it. Yeah, it’s a good system. Eric: I guess that’s why there are so many French movies that come out these days. Virginie: Yes, exactly. Eric: Okay. Well. let’s take a look at the vocabulary. Vocabulary and Phrases Virginie: un/e secrétaire [natural native speed] Eric: a secretary Virginie: un/e secrétaire [slowly — broken down by syllable] Virginie: un/e secrétaire [natural native speed]: Next: Virginie: aujourd’hui [natural native speed] Eric: today Virginie: aujourd’hui [slowly — broken down by syllable] Virginie: aujourd’hui [natural native speed]: Next: Virginie: un planning [natural native speed] Eric: a schedule Virginie: un planning [slowly — broken down by syllable] Virginie: un planning [natural native speed]: Next: Virginie: une réunion [natural native speed] Eric: a meeting Virginie: une réunion [slowly — broken down by syllable] Virginie: une réunion [natural native speed]: Next: Virginie: dix heures [natural native speed] Eric: ten o’clock Virginie: dix heures [slowly — broken down by syllable] Virginie: dix heures [natural native speed]: Next: Virginie: à [natural native speed] Eric: at or to Virginie: à [slowly — broken down by syllable] Virginie: à [natural native speed]: Next: Virginie: midi [natural native speed] Eric: noon Virginie: midi [slowly — broken down by syllable] Virginie: midi [natural native speed]: Next: Virginie: manger [natural native speed] Eric: to eat Virginie: manger [slowly — broken down by syllable] Virginie: manger [natural native speed]: Next: Virginie: un déjeuner [natural native speed] Eric: a lunch Virginie: un déjeuner [slowly — broken down by syllable] Virginie: un déjeuner [natural native speed]: Next: Virginie: avec [natural native speed] Eric: with Virginie: avec [slowly — broken down by syllable] Virginie: avec [natural native speed]: Next: Virginie: visiter [natural native speed] Eric: to visit Virginie: visiter [slowly — broken down by syllable] Virginie: visiter [natural native speed]: Next: Virginie: ensuite [natural native speed] Eric: then Virginie: ensuite [slowly — broken down by syllable] Virginie: ensuite [natural native speed]: Next: Virginie: une usine [natural native speed] Eric: a factory Virginie: une usine [slowly — broken down by syllable] Virginie: une usine [natural native speed]: Next: Virginie: vingt heures trente 20h30 [natural native speed] Eric: 8:30 pm Virginie: vingt heures trente 20h30 [slowly — broken down by syllable] Virginie: vingt heures trente 20h30 [natural native speed]: Next: Virginie: une entreprise [natural native speed] Eric: a company, an enterprise Virginie: une entreprise [slowly — broken down by syllable] Virginie: une entreprise [natural native speed]: Next: Virginie: maintenant [natural native speed] Eric: now Virginie: maintenant [slowly — broken down by syllable] Virginie: maintenant [natural native speed] Vocabulary and Phrase Usage Eric: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. Virginie: The first word/phrase we’ll look at is…. Eric: I think the word «planning» is funny. Sounds English Virginie: Yeah that’s one of the multiple English sounding words in the French language Eric: And planning means schedule, right? Virginie: Yes and really that makes sense. to plan, to schedule.Un planning. don’t forget the rough French accent. Eric: What else do we have here? virginie: Oh there’s another English word here. un meeting Eric: And that’s a meeting? Virginie: Bah oui. Eric: OK. But you have the word une reunion too to say a meeting? Virginie: Yes, but we got the English from the business English influence. so we say both. Eric: And a meeting can also be a conference, right? Virginie: Yes, for example, a political meeting with your supporters. Eric: Sarkozy has a lot of meetings. Virginie: Oui, Sarkozy a beaucoup de meetings. Eric: This lesson doesn’t have any phrases. So let’s take a look at some other words. Virginie: What about the word «maintenant»? That’s a common word to use. Eric: Yes and maintenant is «now.” Virginie: c’est maintenant ou jamais!!! Eric: It’s now or never? What are you talking about, Virginie? Virginie: I don’t know I was just thinking out loud. (singing) It’s now or never… Eric: OK. What about after? Virginie: Apres. Eric: There you go, after in French is apres. Virginie: So remember, maintenant is «now;” and apres is “after or afterward.” Eric: And jamais is “never” Virginie: So if you want to say “It’s not or never,” you’ll say c’est maintenant ou jamais. Eric: So I noticed the secretary in the dialogue actually says all these little adverbs. Virginie: she also says «ensuite», Eric: And that’s then. Virginie: She says «ensuite vous allez visiter etc» Eric: Yes, ensuite can be placed either at the beginning or at the end of the sentence. Virginie: You can say, ensuite, on mange. Then, we eat. Or, on mange, ensuite. We eat, then. Eric: OK time out. Grammar.

Lesson focus

Virginie: So our focus in this lesson is for you to outline a schedule. Eric: Right, how to say what you will do, at what time, and with who. Virginie: In our dialogue, The secretary, Madame Vannet, she uses several ways to give Joe his planning. Eric: Let’s start with the first way. Vous avez un meeting avec Mme Laforge de Paris Communication aux Champs-Elysées à 10h. Virginie: Right, that’s a long sentence. What does it mean? Eric: It means «You have a meeting with Mrs. Laforge of Paris Communication at the Champs-Elysées at ten o’clock.» Virginie: Let’s take a look at the first chunk. Eric: In the first part she tells him what they are going to do. Virginie: Yes, she says Vous avez un meeting, «you have a meeting” Eric: Right, she’s kinda outlining the activity. Virginie: And then, she says with whom they’re going to have a meeting. Eric: And there she’s gonna use the little word avec, “with.” Virginie: So she said Vous avez un meeting avec Mme Laforge. Eric: Add another preposition is coming in, de, “of” Paris Communication. The company of Paris Communication. Virginie: Right and the last chunk is where they’re gonna have the meeting. Eric: Aux Champs-Elysées, the street or location Virginie: On the Champs-Elysées. Eric: And then finally, the time Virginie: à 10h. Eric: at ten o’clock. What’s the next part of the schedule, then? Virginie: Then she says, «À midi, vous déjeunez au Fouquet’s avec Mme Gontran de Elle» Eric: and that’s «At noon, you have lunch at Fouquet’s with Mrs. Gontran of Elle» Virginie: So she starts this time, with the time. She says, «À midi.” Eric: So the time, that’s «at noon,” that can you go at the beginning or the end of the sentence, really doesn’t matter. Virginie: Yes, it doesn’t matter, and did you notice, Eric, how to say at what time things happen? She just says the preposition à, and then she says the time; à 10h, at 10, and then à midi, at noon. Okay, let’s go ahead and look at the rest of the sentence. Eric: Vous déjeunez au Fouquet’s, she says, you’re eating lunch at, the name of the restaurant, which is Fouquet’s, in this case. And she’s putting the preposition au for Fouquet’s. Virginie: Yes, so she says, vous déjeunez au Fouquet’s, you’re having lunch at Fouquet’s. Notice that déjeuner is a verb, and that means !to have lunch”, déjeuner. Eric: And you’ll see our friend, avec, again; avec Mme Gontran, with Ms. Gontran. Of Elle, de elle. Virginie: de elle, so again, of is de here, just like in the last sentence. So in French, when you outline a schedule you can structure your sentence pretty much anywhere you want. Eric: Exact we just wanted to show you, highlight the prepositions you’ll be using, such as avec “with,” the person you’ll be meeting, or meeting with. À, which can be, at which location you’ll be meeting, or at which location you’ll be talking to someone. And finally, the time, which also gonna take à, à midi, or à 10h, at 10 o’clock. Virginie: Yes, exactly! Okay, I think that’s it for our grammar point today.

Outro

Eric: Ok, thanks for listening! Virginie: Thank you! Merci ! Eric: Au revoir! Virginie: Au revoir!

Whether you’re traveling to France or learning the French language, being able to tell time is important. From asking what time it is to the key vocabulary you need for speaking in French about hours, minutes, and days, this lesson will guide you through everything you need to know.

French Vocabulary for Telling Time

To begin with, there are a few key French vocabulary words related to time that you should know. These are the basics and will help you throughout the rest of this lesson.

The Rules for Telling Time in French

Telling time in French is just a matter of knowing the French numbers and a few formulas and rules. It’s different than we use in English, so here are the basics:

• The French word for «time,» as in, «What time is it?» is l’heure, not le temps. The latter means «time» as in «I spent a lot of time there.»
• In English, we often leave out «o’clock» and it’s perfectly fine to say «It’s seven.» or «I’m leaving at three-thirty.» This is not so in French. You always have to say heure, except when saying midi (noon) and minuit (midnight).
• In French, the hour and minute are separated by h (for heure, as in 2h00) where in English we use a colon (: as in 2:00).
• French doesn’t have words for «a.m.» and «p.m.» You can use du matin for a.m., de l’après-midi from noon until about 6 p.m., and du soir from 6 p.m. until midnight. However, time is usually expressed on a 24-hour clock. That means that 3 p.m. is normally expressed as quinze heures (15 hours) or 15h00, but you can also say trois heures de l’après-midi (three hours after noon).

What Time Is It? (Quelle heure est-il?)

When you ask what time it is, you will receive an answer similar to this. Keep in mind that there are a few different ways to express different times within the hour, so it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with all of these. You can even practice this throughout your day and speak the time in French whenever you look at a clock.

Asking the Time in French

Conversations regarding what time it is will use questions and answers similar to these. If you’re traveling in a French-speaking country, you’ll find these very useful as you try to maintain your itinerary.

Periods of Time in French

Now that we have the basics of telling time covered, expand your French vocabulary by studying the words for periods of time. From seconds to millennium, this shortlist of words covers the entire expanse of time.  

Points in Time in French

Each day has various points in time that you might need to describe in French. For instance, you might want to talk about a beautiful sunset or let someone know what you’re doing at night. Commit these words to memory and you’ll have no problem doing just that.

Temporal Prepositions

As you begin to formulate sentences with your new French time vocabulary, you will find it useful to know these temporal prepositions. These short words are used to further define when something is taking place.

Relative Time in French

Time is relative to other points in time. For instance, there is always a yesterday which is followed by today and tomorrow, so you’ll find this vocabulary a great addition to your ability to explain relationships in time. 

Temporal Adverbs

As you become even more fluent in French, consider adding a few temporal adverbs to your vocabulary. Once again, they can be used to further define when something is taking place.

Frequency in French

There will also be times when you need to speak about the frequency of an event. Whether it only happens once or reoccurs on a weekly or monthly basis, this short vocabulary list will help you achieve that.

Adverbs of Frequency

Adverbs that relate to frequency are just as important and you’ll find yourself using this quite often as your French studies progress.

Time Itself: Le Temps

Le temps refers broadly either to the weather or a duration of time, indeterminate or specific. Because it is such a basic concept that surrounds us every day, many French idiomatic expressions have evolved using temps. Here are a few common ones that you might need to know.

Speaking French is more than just learning vocabulary words from flash cards. Words are just atoms, the building blocks of a language. They have to be put into context and strung together to form a sentence that is imparted with meaning.

Your French classes will teach you a lot about how to conjugate a verb, have your nouns and adjectives agree and what words and phrases will help you find the bathroom. What they might not teach you (but should) is sentence structure.

How are sentences put together in French? Does one use the dative, nominative, accusative and interrogative cases the same way as in English?

Setting aside that pesky grammatical gender agreement required to speak French properly, where and how do adjectives and adverbial phrases fit in a properly constructed sentence?

As an overview of these topics, Superprof presents this chart, one that you might consider printing and clipping and carrying with you to your French lessons or your French tutoring sessions.

Type of Sentence	Form	Sample	Translation
Simple Declarative	S+V+O	La professeur aime ses éleves.	The teacher loves her students.
Negation	S+’ne’+V+’pas’+O	Je ne veux pas aller au cinéma.	I don’t want to go to the cinema.
Interrogative sentences	1. Preface sentence with ‘est-ce-que’ 2. Reverse: V+S+O (formal)	Est-ce-que tu as fait tes devoirs? Pourrez-vous me dire ou est la bibliothèque?	Have you done your homework? Could you tell me where the library is?
Imperative sentence	V+O	Ouvre(z) la porte!	Open the door!
Simple declarative with adjective	S+V+Adj (adj must ‘agree’ with subject!)	La fille est belle. Le chien est beau.	The girl is pretty. The dog is pretty.
Adverbial pronoun	S+’y’+V	On y va!	Let’s go!
Relative clauses	‘que’ for objects ‘qui’ for people	Le livre que tu m’as donné… L’homme qui chante…	The book you gave me… The man who is singing…

Now, let’s examine each of these constructions in-depth…

But before you dive in, we’ve added a French playlist to enhance your reading experience while learning about French sentence structure. The playlist features a variety of French music, ranging from classic chansons to modern pop hits. Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced French learner, immersing yourself in the language through music can be a great way to improve your listening skills and vocabulary. So sit back, relax, and let the music transport you to the streets of Paris as you dive into the fascinating world of the French language.

French Sentence Structure: Understanding the Basics

French is a beautiful language, but it can be challenging to master its sentence structure, especially if you are a beginner. However, understanding the rules for forming proper sentences is essential for effective communication in French. In this article, we’ll explore the basics of French sentence structure and provide some useful tips to help you improve your French language skills.

Basic French Sentences and Word Order

In French, as in English, a sentence consists of a subject, verb, and object. The basic word order in French sentences is subject-verb-object (SVO). For example, «Je mange une pomme» means «I am eating an apple.» The subject «je» (I) comes first, followed by the verb «mange» (am eating), and then the object «une pomme» (an apple).

French Sentence Starters and Construction

To construct sentences in French, it’s essential to have a good grasp of sentence starters and construction. Some common sentence starters in French include «Je suis» (I am), «Il y a» (There is), «C’est» (It is), and «Il faut» (It’s necessary).

When constructing sentences, it’s important to pay attention to gender and number agreement. For example, if you want to say «I like the cat,» you would say «J’aime le chat» (not «J’aime la chat»). Similarly, if you want to say «I like the cats,» you would say «J’aime les chats» (not «J’aime le chats»).

French Time Phrases and Directional Words

Time phrases and directional words are also essential components of French sentence structure. Some common time phrases in French include «aujourd’hui» (today), «demain» (tomorrow), and «hier» (yesterday). Directional words such as «à droite» (to the right) and «à gauche» (to the left) are also important for giving directions.

Other Important French Sentence Structure Elements

French also has several conjunctions that are important for linking ideas and constructing more complex sentences. Some common French conjunctions include «et» (and), «mais» (but), and «ou» (or).

Si clauses are another important element of French sentence structure. These clauses are used to express hypothetical situations and typically begin with «si» (if). For example, «Si j’avais de l’argent, j’achèterais une voiture» means «If I had money, I would buy a car.»

With french sentence structure, remember to pay attention to gender and number agreement, use common sentence starters, and include directional words and time phrases to enhance your French language skills. In addition, understanding the grammar rules of French sentence structure is essential for effective communication in the language.

The Simple Declarative Sentence

The most common type of sentence in English and in French is the declarative sentence; a simple expression stating a fact:

As in English, the declarative form in French is the core around which more complicated sentences can be built.

Basic French sentences with nouns

When you learn a language, you start with basic sentences with the most common word order.

In French, this is SVO — Subject + Verb + Object. As for most Romance languages — and, indeed, English — the subject (who is doing the action?) generally comes at the beginning of the sentence.

There follows the verb, and then the direct object (what is he/she doing?). The sentences above are all examples of the SVO construct.

We now expand on that basic sentence structure by adding an indirect object (for/to/with whom is he doing it?):

Subject + Verb + Direct Object + Indirect Object

In each of these examples, the subject is doing something with the direct object for, to or with the indirect object.

Until now, we’ve only shown simple sentences using action verbs: somebody or something doing something. What about sentences that use a compound verb?

In English, these ‘helper’ verbs are to be, to have and to do. In French, only the first two, être and avoir, are used in compound structures with being être used less frequently.

Nevertheless, the structure remains the same: the verb that indicates what is happening stays in second place:

The only time a direct object might come after an indirect object is if there is additional information attached to it, such as a relative clause:

Naturally, you could structure the sentence in such a way that the direct object comes before the indirect:

However, that makes the sentence meaning ambiguous: He promised the candies to his sister, but who exactly did he give them to?

French being an exceedingly precise language, it is always best to follow the proper sentence structure in order to convey your intended meaning.

It might take a bit of practice, but your language skills will be all the richer for it!

Word order with pronouns

As in many other languages, French words are put into a different order if some or all of them are pronouns.

Let’s take the sentence:

Subject pronouns stay at the beginning of the sentence:

Sometimes, in French, it is much more convenient to describe an object in a sentence by using a pronoun.

Consider the sentence above: She shows her drawing to her mum. How can that sentence be made less cumbersome?

Elle lui montre son dessin.	‘lui’ takes the place of ‘maman’ even though, generally, ‘lui’ represents a male.
Elle le montre à sa maman.	‘le’ takes the place of the picture. In this sentence, the gender matches; dessin is masculine.
Elle le lui montre.	here, you have a combination of the two representations above, with ‘le’ meaning ‘dessin’ and ‘lui’ in for ‘maman’.

Let us now suppose you are that dear mum, telling a jealous mother about how your daughter creates artwork for you. You would say:

Because of its first-person singular designation, “me” ranks higher than “le” — a mere article. Therefore, you would place ‘me’ before ‘le’ in such sentences.

Object pronouns come BEFORE the verb but AFTER the subject. In what order they come depends on the pronoun:

Subject + ‘me’, ‘te’, ‘se’, ‘nous’, ‘vous’ + ‘le’, ‘la’, ‘les’ + ‘lui’, ‘leur’ + (adverbial pronoun “y”) + ‘en’ + Verb.

Examples:

Elle nous les montre. She shows them to us. Note that ‘montre’ agrees with ‘elle’ — third person singular.

You might also phrase it as a question:

Elle vous les montre? Does she show them to you? Either way, the order listed above remains.

‘En’ is an indefinite plural pronoun that, in this sentence’s case, represents the drawings. ‘en’ is always placed just before the verb:

Elle montre des dessins à sa maman. -> Elle lui en montre. She shows some drawings to her mum. > She shows her them.

Learn more about French grammar rules.

Negative Sentences

The French negative words are: ne…pas and ne…point (the latter is archaic or regional).

“Ne” comes immediately after the subject.
“Pas” comes immediately after the verb.

Negation is pretty straightforward in French, however you should be aware of using ‘any’ properly.

The equivalent of the English “no” or “not…any” is “ne…aucun”:

Marie ne montre aucun dessin à sa mère. Marie doesn’t show any drawing to her mother.

Or: Marie shows no drawings to her mother.

Adding Adjectives, Adverbial Phrases

Adverbs and adverbial phrases

The adverbial phrase or complément circonstanciel can come at the beginning, the end or the middle of the sentence. They are emphasised if they are put at the beginning or the end; it is more colloquial to only put single-word adverbs in the middle.

Such phrases may denote a time:

Or a place:

However, if you are using a complément circonstanciel construction to denote a place where an activity has happened, you cannot put that location in the middle of the sentence:

You’ll note that, as we do not know who the ‘lui’ in question is, it might represent a male or a female — hence both pronouns.  

Adverbial pronouns

The adverbial pronoun “y” (directional) comes after most other pronouns but before the plural pronoun “en”. It is generally used to denote a progressive action, or one that is about to take place. However, ‘y’ can only be used if the listener knows what the speaker is talking about:

If the listener knows where Marie is headed, the speaker could say: Marie y va — Marie is going.

Another example:

Contrast that with the much simpler: Nous y allons. We’re going — the usage is contingent on it being known where we are going!

Caution! You should never say:

Marie y va à l’école or Nous y allons au bois — it suggests the listener both knows and doesn’t know the destination.

Find French lessons that may interest you here.

Adjectives and their placement in the sentence.

Unlike in English, Adjectives are generally placed right after the noun:

Whereas an English speaker would say: ‘the red balloon’, in French, the proper order is: ‘le ballon rouge’. Here are some more examples:

• The hungry lion = le lion affamé.
• The sleepy child = l’enfant somnolent(e).
• The playful cat = le chat (la chatte) ludique.
• A good book = un bon livre.

Do you know of the BAGS group? It denotes constructions wherein the adjective comes before the noun:

Adjectives used with verbs expressing a state come after the verb:

Note that adjectives should always agree with the noun they are qualifying in gender and number.

Dependent and relative clauses

Most dependent or relative clauses come right after the main clause, at the end of the sentence.

Relative clauses

Relative clauses are introduced by the relative pronoun “que” if the noun is an object and «qui» if the noun is human.

These clauses are usually placed at the end of the sentence and come right after the noun they are qualifying — meaning that these nouns are sometimes moved from their usual place in the sentence.

An exception is if the qualifying noun is the subject, then the relative clause is moved forward. If it is very long it can be put between commas.

Conjunctive clauses

Conjunctive phrases are clauses that are the object of a verb. The verb in question generally deals with thoughts and emotions and the expression of them. They are either infinitive clauses or are introduced with the conjunction “que”.

Check for French lessons for beginners here on Superprof.

The French Interrogative Sentence

French has several ways to build an interrogative. Here are some tips to improve your French dialogue:

Est-ce-que

Putting “est-ce-que” at the beginning of a sentence is the easiest way to formulate a question in French. You can use the usual word order following it.

It is considered inelegant to preface your questions in this manner. During your French lessons, your teacher might insist you use reversal instead.

Reversing subject and predicate

The more elegant phrasing is to reverse the subject and predicate, putting the verb at the beginning of the sentence and hyphenating the subject-verb group:

If the subject of the sentence is not the person you are addressing, it stays at the beginning of the sentence, and an additional subject “il” is added:

Question words

For questions that cannot be answered by yes or no, French uses question words. They come at the beginning of the sentence, and are followed by the inverted subject-verb group (also more idiomatically, they can also come at the end of a basic sentence).

Check for French conversation classes London here on Superprof.

Here is a list of French words for asking questions:

• Qui: who. Qui es-tu? Who are you?
• Que: what. Que fais-tu? What are you doing?
• Quoi: in rare cases, replaces “que”: Quoi faire?
• Où: where. Où vas-tu? Where are you going?
• Comment: how. Comment vas-tu? How are you?
• Pourquoi: why. Pourquoi manges-tu ces frites? Why are you eating those chips?
• Combien: how much. Combien coûte cette baguette? How much does this baguette cost?
• Quel/quelle/quels/quelles: which. Should agree with the noun it is qualifying: Quels cinémas jouent-ils le nouveau Star Wars? (Which cinema is showing the new Star Wars?) “Quel” can be combined with adverbial prepositions: Dans quel château Edmond Dantès était-il emprisonné? (In what castle was Edmond Dantès imprisoned?) Après quelle date peut-on manger des huîtres? (After what date can you eat oysters?)

Indirect questions

Indirect questions are questions that are related rather than asked. They are introduced by the usual question words:

Ils se demandent quels cinémas montrent le nouveau Star Wars. They are asking themselves which cinemas are showing the new Star Wars film. 
Elle demande comment il va. She asks how he’s doing.

My Superprof tutor taught me the correct word order during our French lessons online!

The French Conditional Sentence

The language of Voltaire uses the pair of French words “si… alors” to express a condition over two clauses, though in some French phrases, “alors” is left off. It is considered more colloquial.

Si tu veux apprendre la langue, alors il faut bien apprendre ton vocabulaire français.
If you want to learn the language, so you will have to learn your French vocabulary.

“Si tu ne m’aimes pas je t’aime, et si je t’aime prends gare à toi!”
If you don’t love me, I love you; and if I love you: take care! (from the opera “Carmen”, by Bizet)

Check for French lessons for kids here on Superprof.

Don’t forget to do the grammar exercises in your French grammar textbooks and from your online French course to help you learn all about French sentence structure, learn French expressions and how to conjugate French verbs.

Find French classes Edinburgh on Superprof.

If you travel to a French speaking country, chances are that you’re going to have to understand or tell the time in French. Admittedly, there are many ways of telling the time in French, so it can be a bit confusing…

But fear not! My free lesson will teach you the time in French in… no time at all!

And thanks to my audio recordings, you will know the difference between “deux heures” and “douze heures” and won’t miss your train!

This free French lesson – like many on French Today’s blog – features audio recordings. Click on the link next to the headphones to hear the French pronunciation.

Let’s dive right in and see how to tell the time in French.

How To Say Hour in French?

The French word you’ll hear the most for time in the context of telling the time is the word “heure”. It’s a feminine word, and because “heure” starts with a silent h, its pronunciation will vary a lot in liaison, so it’s essential you learn how to tell the time in French with audio recordings.

French Time Pronunciation

This free French lesson – like many on French Today’s blog – features audio recordings. Click on the link next to the headphones to hear the French pronunciation.

I encourage you to repeat out-loud after me so you memorize the right way to tell the time in French.

1. It’s one o’clock – Il est une heure (note there is no S at heure since there is only one)
2. It’s two o’clock – Il est deux heures
3. It’s three o’clock – Il est trois heures
4. It’s four o’clock – Il est quatre heures
5. It’s five o’clock – Il est cinq heures
6. It’s six o’clock – Il est six heures
7. It’s seven o’clock – Il est sept heures
8. It’s eight o’clock – Il est huit heures
9. It’s nine o’clock – Il est neuf heures
10. It’s ten o’clock – Il est dix heures
11. It’s eleven o’clock – Il est onze heures
12. It’s twelve o’clock – Il est douze heures

Repeating the Word Hour in French.

In French, when you tell the time, you always have to repeat the word “heure(s)”. This is the biggest mistake I hear English speakers make when telling the time in French: they forget to include the word “heure”.

In English, you can say : ‘it’s one’.
In French you have to say: “Il est une heure“, saying the word “heure”.
In English you can say: ‘it’s quarter past one’.
In French you have to say: “il est une heure et quart“, saying the word “heure”.

The word heure(s) is pronounced in the same breath as the number, as if it were a weird ending to it.

The key to understanding the time in French

So as you can hear with the audio recordings, the word “heure” becomes neur, zeur, treur, keur, teur with the liaisons and glidings.

Mastering the right pronunciation of the word hour in French is the key to understanding the time in French.

Knowing your French numbers from 0 to 59

Now, to tell the time efficiently and understand it, you need to first learn how to say the numbers in French.

In this lesson, I’m going to concentrate on the expressions and pronunciation differences but I won’t go over how to say the numbers 0 to 59. Please follow this link to learn how to count in French.

How do you Write the Time in French?

Note: in writing, the word “heure” is abbreviated as “h”, not the English “:”.

We don’t write nor say the word “minute” when we say the time, but if you need to abbreviate the word minute, it would be “mn” in French.

• 1:45 in French would be written 1 h 45
• 45 minutes in French would be abbreviated as 45 mn

More Ways To Tell the Time in French

As I said in the intro, there are many ways of telling the time in French.

The 24 Hour French Clock

In French, all the official schedules (TV, radio, trains, planes etc…) use what you call in English “military time”.

Based on a 24 hour clock, you say exactly the number of hour, then the number of minutes.

Note that we don’t say “hundred” for a round hour like you do in English: in French, we just say the hour number. But don’t forget to say the word heure(s)!

• Il est treize heures quarante-cinq = it’s 13:45.
• Il est vingt heures = it’s 20:00.

Check out my French number audiobook. Over four hours of clear explanations, and random number drills recorded at several speeds. Click on the link for more info, a full list of content and audio samples.

This 4+ hours audiobook goes in-depth on how to construct the numbers and how to properly pronounce them with all the modern glidings and elisions that can sometimes completely change the number from it’s written form!

I also cover many French expressions that use numbers as well as how to properly tell the time and understand prices.

All throughout the audiobook, you will find extensive audio drills recorded at 3 different speeds and featuring numbers out of order so you really get a true workout!

Back to studying the time in French.

Minutes Past & to the Hour

This way of telling the time in French is pretty much the same as in English. You just say the number of minutes to or past the hour.

• 1 h 45
  It’s fifteen to two – il est deux heures moins quinze
  It’s forty-five past one / it’s one forty-five – il est une heure quarante-cinq

Common French Time Expressions

Just like in English, we also use common French time expressions in France, like saying ‘noon’ instead of 12PM.

Let’s learn them!

noon	midi
midnight	minuit
and a quarter	et quart
quarter to	moins le quart
and a half	et demie
in the morning	du matin
in the afternoon	de l’après-midi
in the evening	du soir

How To Say Quarter Past in French?

To translate the time notion of ‘quarter past’ in French, we say “et quart”.

• It’s quarter past one: il est une heure et quart.

Note the difference between quart (pronounced car) et quatre (4).

How To Say Quarter To in French?

To translate the time notion of ‘quarter to’ in French, we say “moins le quart” (quarter of – pronounced car)

• It’s quarter to four: il est quatre heures moins le quart.

You also want to glide your “le” as much as possible – it almost disappears in modern spoken French pronunciation.

How To Say Half Past in French?

to translate the time notion of ‘half past’ in French, we say “et demie “(and an half, half past the hour)

• It’s half past one: il est une heure et demie.

Note: we glide over the first “e” of demie = dmee in spoken French.

How to Say Noon and Midnight in French?

The French language has equivalents of noon and midnight :

• it’s noon – il est midi
• it’s midnight – il est minuit

Note that these 2 French time expressions do not require the word heure since their position in the day is self-implied.

I strongly recommend that you use these, since “douze heures” sounds a lot like “deux heures” when you make the liaison…

“deux heures” versus “douze heures”

Otherwise, in official time midi is “douze heures” and minuit is “zéro heure” (no S at heure).

How to say AM and PM in French?

You could also be using the twelve hour clock and then add the expressions du matin in the morning, de l’après-midi in the afternoon, du soir in the evening…

Now let see some useful French time sentences.

13 French Time Sentences

Please press play on the audio player to hear my audio recordings. I left enough time for you to repeat out-loud and I encourage you to do it!

1. Quelle heure est-il ? = what time is it?
2. Il est quelle heure ? = what time is it? (street French)
3. Auriez-vous l’heure, s’il vous plaît ? = would you tell me the time, please?
4. Tu peux me donner l’heure ? = can you give me the time (street French)
5. C’est à quelle heure ? = at what time is it?
6. Il est neuf heures pile, neuf heures précises = it’s nine sharp.
7. Il est presque minuit = it’s almost midnight
8. Il est moins dix = it’s 10 minutes to whatever hour it is now…
9. Mon cours commence à la demie = my lesson starts at – whatever hour it is now – thirty.
10. C’est ouvert de quelle heure à quelle heure ? = it’s open from what time to what time?
11. Le concert est à quelle heure? = at what time is the concert
12. Il arrive dans trois quarts d’heure = he’ll be there in 45 minutes.
13. Ce magasin est ouvert 24 heures sur 24 = this shop is open all day and all night long (a concept almost unheard of in France  

3 Ways to Translate Time in French

Watch out! There are three ways to translate the word ‘time’ in French.

1 – Time as in telling time is “l’heure” in French.
What time is it?
Quelle heure est-il ?

2 – Time as in a period of time is “le temps” in French
I would like to spend some time in France.
J’aimerais passé du temps en France

3 – Time as in instance is “la fois” in French.
How many times have you been to Paris?
Tu es allé à Paris combien de fois ?

How Should I Tell the Time in French?

So, which method should you use to tell the time in French? 12 hour clock, 24 hours official time, minutes past or to the hour, expressions of time?

It’s really up to you. My tip: pick one method and stick to it when you speak so you don’t hesitate…

However you will eventually need to understand all of the various ways of telling the time in order to understand the French when they speak. Bookmark this free lesson and come back to it often!

Итак, вы познакомились со спряжением глаголов всех трех групп в настоящем времени, а значит, теперь вы можете составлять предложения! Как же это делать?

Порядок слов в предложении

Для начала определимся с порядком слов во французском предложении. В отличие от русского языка, во французском порядок слов фиксированный — это значит, что у каждой части предложения есть свое место, и изменится оно может только под влиянием правил:

Подлежащее + Сказуемое + Остальные части предложения

Не забудьте, что подлежащее отвечает на вопросы «кто?», «что?» и обычно выражено существительным или местоимением, а сказуемое — на вопросы «что делает?» и выражается глаголом. Последовательность подлежащего и сказуемого в предложении также называется прямым порядком слов.

Существительные-подлежащие в единственном числе можно заменять местоимениями «il» или «elle». Однако, помните, род многих существительных французского языка не соответствует аналогичным словам русского языка, поэтому будьте внимательны, когда производите замену.

Если вы хотите рассказать о своих привычках, предпочтениях или повседневных делах, вам потребуется простое настоящее время: во французском языке оно называется Présent. С его образованием вы уже знакомы — см. уроки 6, 7, 10, 11. Но мало знать, как образуется то или иное время, необходимо помнить, когда его нужно употреблять.

Правила употребления Présent

используется:

1. для обозначения повторяющегося действия или привычки. Например: Je vais au travail à pied. — Я хожу на работу пешком;
2. для констатации какого-либо факта. Например: J’habite à Rome.— Я живу в Риме;
3. для обозначения действия, которое происходит в настоящий момент: Il ecrit une lettre. — Он пишет письмо;
4. для обозначения будущего действия вместе с наречиями времени, например: Elle part demain. — Она уезжает завтра;
5. для выражения действия в прошлом. Как говорилось ранее, в данном случае использование Présent приобретает особую выразительность и может использоваться, как стилистический прием.

Также для выражения того, что происходит в данный момент, можно использовать словосочетание etre en train de + инфинитив. Не забудьте использовать нужную форму глагола «etre». Например: Nous avons en train de regarder le film. – Мы смотрим фильм.

Чтобы опровергнуть какой-то факт, вам потребуется уже знакомый оборот «ne…pas», например: Je ne parle pas italien. — Я не говорю по-итальянски.

Чтобы задать вопрос, можно использовать несколько способов. Вы с ними уже знакомы:

1. С помощью интонации: Tu habites à Rome? — Ты живешь в Риме?
2. При помощи инверсии, изменения порядка слов: Habites-tu à Rome?
3. С помощью оборота «est-ce-que», который ставится перед предложением. Порядок слов в данном случае менять не нужно: Est-ce-que tu habites à Rome?

Если вопрос необходимо задать к подлежащему, которое выражено существительным, используется сложная инверсия. Попробуем разобраться что это значит., на нескольких примерах:

Jean et Robert habitent à Rome. — Jean et Robert habitent-ils à Rome?
Pierre parle français. — Pierre parle-t-il français?

Как видите, подлежащее ставится на первое место, после чего используется глагол и местоимение, заменяющее подлежащее. Если глагол оканчивается на гласный -a или -е (это бывает в 3-ем лице единственного числа), между глаголом и местоимением появляется буква «t».

Если вопрос нужно задать к предложению, начинающемуся с c’est (это), вам поможет изменение порядка слов, при этом c’est меняется на не сокращенную форму est-ce [эс]. Также вопрос можно задать при помощи интонации. Например: C’est un médecin. — Est-ce un médecin? C’est un médecin? — Это врач?

Вот те важные моменты, которые необходимо помнить о настоящем времени. Пора закрепить теорию на практике!

Задания к уроку

Упражнение 1. Допишите окончания глаголов 1-ой и 2-ой группы, ориентируясь на местоимения. Выполнить это предложение правильно вам поможет урок 10.

1) Nous habit… . 2) Tu chois… . 3) Elles parl… . 4) Ils applaud… . 5) Vous aim… . 6) Il travaill… . 7) Nous mang… . 8)Vous grand… . 9) Il jet… . 10) Nous commenc… .

Упражнение 2. Составьте отрицательные предложения и вопросы при помощи инверсии.

1) Ils habitent à Moscou. 2) Je travaille au bureau. 3) Elle parle français. 4) Robert part demain. 5) C’est une étudiante.

Working as a French coach, I’ve noticed that French word order is one of the trickiest things for English speaking students. Building French sentences, especially as you speak, can be very challenging.

Luckily, there are a few tricks that can help you solve this issue. So that’s what we’ll see today: 7 rules of thumb that you can apply right now to make better French sentences with less effort.

Watch the video, or read on below.

How to build a sentence in French easily — French word order tips & tricks French word order can be tricky. In this video, I’ll show you how to build a sente…

1. French word order is 80% similar to English word order

French word order isn’t totally random. It’s actually 80% similar to English word order.

Linguists like to categorize languages according to the order of the three main components of a sentence: subject, verb and object (SVO). 

All possible combinations (SOV, SVO, VSO, VOS, OSV, OVS) exist among human languages, but each language has a fixed order. Only 33% of languages follow the “SVO” order, including English and French. So we got pretty lucky there.

I speak English. ↔ Je parle anglais.

In this  simple sentence, you can see that the words are in the exact same order in French and in English. We can be grateful for this, as most other languages wouldn’t have this particularly.

This means that, in regards to French word order, an English native’s intuition will be correct most of the time.

As often though, the devil is in the details.

There are a lot of details that I can’t possibly include in a simple blogpost like this. In fact, I created a 69-minutes workshop (available in the French Fluency Accelerator), where I explain all the details one by one in an easy to understand, progressive manner. So, if you get value from this article, I encourage you to join the program, as you’ll get even more value from it.

When creating that workshop, I fell down a rabbit hole when I realized that, no matter how good you are at searching the internet, it was impossible to get clear and exhaustive information about French Word Order. Even the wikipedia article about French grammar had it wrong. I eventually edited it to reflect the actual word order of French sentences, with all of its 16 (!) positions.

Here is a slide from the workshop showing all 16 positions:

If you don’t understand everything on this slide, don’t worry, you don’t need to. All French speakers speak intuitively and do not know this order formally. As a learner, you can rely on the following rules of thumb:

2. Make simpler sentences.

As we saw, all important elements are in the same order in English and in French. It’s only the details that trip you up.

The best solution is often to make simpler, shorter sentences, and use more sentences to express your thoughts. This way, you will make the most of the basic sentences structure, and avoid most of those challenging details.

I have shared more about this strategy and why it works in this in this article + video.

3. Use less clauses.

The 16 positions above aren’t even the order of words in a sentence. They’re actually the order of words in each clause. 

A sentence can have several clauses. In fact, there’s no limit to how many clauses you can string together into one sentence. 

But the more clauses you include, the more challenging it is to make the sentence grammatically correct. And the harder it is for the listener to understand what you mean, even in English.

Of course, when you speak a foreign language, it only gets worse.

French grammar is often slightly different from English grammar. If you and/or the listener isn’t very proficient in French,  you have the recipe for disaster. 

Don’t do this to yourself.

You don’t have to say:

“Après avoir lu cet article, qui est très utile, mon Français, qui avait été mauvais, s’est considérablement amélioré”

  “After I read this article, which is very helpful, my French, which had been bad, improved dramatically.” 

You can say:

“Mon français était mauvais. J’ai lu un article. L’article était très utile. Mon français s’est amélioré”

 “My French was bad. I read an article. The article was very helpful. My French improved.”

Can you see how this is so much easier?

4) Use adjectives sparingly

This is one of the main differences between French word order and English word order.

In English, 99% of adjectives go before the noun. In French, most adjectives go after the noun, but some common ones will go before the noun, and it’s not easy to know which are which.

Ultimately the solution is to learn a list of adjectives that are placed before the noun. They are often short adjectives that refer to Beauty, Age, Goodness and Size (this is easy to remember with the BAGS acronym). However, this is not an infallible rule. French adjectives are an inexhaustible can of worms  — I also made a workshop about adjectives in the French Fluency Accelerator to help my students navigate these troubles water. So, feel free to join us.

Here’s the good news though: you don’t need adjectives. 

All nouns will fare very well without any adjectives, and removing the adjectives is an easy way to make a sentence simpler.

If the information from an adjective is critical, you can use this simple hack to include it:

Instead of saying “Le chat noir est gentil” (the black cat is nice), You could say “Le chat est noir. Il est gentil” (The cat is black. He is nice). This trick allows you to fall back onto the 80% of French word order which is similar to English.

5) Avoid the adverb trap.

French adverb placements can be a little bit different from English.

Specifically, in English you can put an adverb between the subject and the verb (‘I really like pizza’) but not between the verb and the object. You can’t say ‘I like really pizza’ , but French people often make this mistake in English, because in French, the opposite is true. You can say “J’aime vraiment la pizza’ but not “Je vraiment aime la pizza”

I often advise my students to put adverbs at the very end or at the very beginning of the sentence to avoid such pitfalls. (I like pizza, really / J’aime la pizza, vraiment. Or: Really, I like pizza./ Vraiment, j’aime la pizza)  If you focus on shorter sentences, this rule of thumb will work most of the time. 

An even more drastic solution is to avoid adverbs altogether. Adverbs are never necessary. So if you’re in a high-pressure situation and you’re not sure about your adverbs, just skip them.

6) Negative sentences can be tricky.

In French, negative sentences will often include a “negation sandwich”, formed by placing “ne” and “pas” around the conjugated verb. (In casual French, “ne” will often be skipped.)

So, you will only be able to use the negation correctly if you can identify the conjugated verb. If that sounds simple enough, just wait until we factor in compound tenses, auxiliary verbs, passive voice, and complex sentences. It can quickly get out of hand. 

Besides, placing “pas” incorrectly can even result in a correct sentence… with a different meaning than what you intended!

(The French Fluency Accelerator also includes not one but  several workshops about verbs, tenses, voices and forms to help you make sense of all this.)

Here too, the solution is to make shorter sentences. The shorter the sentence, the more likely you are to be correct.  Shorter sentences are also more likely to be understood, even if they contain mistakes.

7) Some things are much simpler in French

The conjugated verb (that goes in the middle of ne…pas — see above) can be an auxiliary verb. The good news here is that French uses rather few auxiliary verbs.

Only “avoir” (have) and “être” (be) can be used as auxiliary verbs. Some teachers choose to also include “aller” (go / be going to) in this category, because “aller” sometimes looks like an auxiliary verb, even though it isn’t actually one.

On the contrary, English relies on a plethora of auxiliary verbs (do, be, have, will, should, would, could, etc.) which are used to create many different tenses and aspects.

Aspects are one of the most challenging things for my students, precisely because there are no aspects in French. 

In English, there is a significant difference between “I speak English (in general)” and “I am speaking English (right now)”.

In French, this distinction doesn’t exist. Both sentences translate as “Je parle anglais”.

If you aren’t yet used to thinking in French, it’s likely that this will challenge you as well. 

In French, we use the simple present in many cases where we wouldn’t use it in English. French is actually simpler than English in this regard, but you’ll need to “unlearn” the English grammar so appreciate how simple French is and feel confident making such sentences.

Improve one step at a time.

The strategies outlined in this article should be enough to get you started. If you remember to use the tricks I shared and to make shorter sentences, communicating in French will be so much easier. 

Once you are ready to take the next step on your French journey, I’ll be happy to welcome you in the French Fluency Accelerator. This program is designed to help English speakers learn French easily by providing them with a clear plan and great guidance along the way. Click here to learn more and join us.

Your next steps

If you like this way of learning French, you will love to learn with me as a student or client. Please check out:

• My 1-1 coaching program, The French Transformation, if you need to improve your French fast.

• My group program, The French Fluency Accelerator, if you’d like to join a community of students from all over the world. We have weekly practice calls together and the best online video library to learn French.

Pro tip: you don’t need to choose!

All my 1-1 clients are invited to join the French Accelerator free of charge.

Feel free to book a call with me now to discuss options.

Here are some FAQs about Time in French

Порядок слов во французском предложении  – это фундаментальная тема для понимания. Ведь от Вашего умения правильно выстраивать слова в предложении зависит грамотность и возможность быть понятым в чужой стране.

Тем, кто только начинает изучать французский язык, может показаться, что это очень трудно, а сам французский язык слишком сложный. На самом деле, это совсем не так, поэтому не стоит расстраиваться на первых порах. Во всем мире сложилось мнение, что именно русский язык самый сложный, а, так как вы являетесь его носителем, то овладеть французским языком вам будет под силу.

Структура французского предложения

Обратите внимание на то, что во французском языке прямой порядок слов в предложении, и его схема такова:

Подлежащее + сказуемое + прямое дополнение + косвенное дополнение + обстоятельство

Le sujet + le prédicat + le complément d’objet direct + le complément d’objet indirect + le complément circumstantiel

Иногда какие-то члены могут в предложении отсутствовать, но порядок слов остается тем же: если нет какого-либо члена предложения, далее идет тот, который должен быть по схеме. Что касается определения, то оно может стоять где угодно, дополняя тот или иной член предложения.

• J’écris des lettres à mes amis chaque semaine. – Я пишу письма моим друзьям каждую неделю.
• Elle voit le chat dans la maison le soir. – Она видит кошку в доме вечером.
• Nous lisons les livres d’histoire le matin. – Мы читаем книги по истории по утрам.
• J’achète des joujous pour mes enfants. – Я покупаю игрушки для своих детей.
• Je regarde la télé avec ma femme. – Я смотрю телевизор с моей женой.
• Je ne comprends pas cette proposition. – Я не понимаю это предложение.
• Ils se rencontrent chaque jour. – Они встречаются каждый день.

Подлежащее во французском предложении всегда должно стоять перед сказуемым, и никак по-другому.

Иногда подлежащее и сказуемое могут быть разбиты другой частью речи. Например:

• Nous vivons ensemble. – Мы живем вместе.
• Je veux être avec toi. – Я хочу быть с тобой.
• Michel et Marie sont venus chez nous. – Мишель и Мари пришли к нам.
• Je vais au magasin. – Я иду в магазин.
• Vous chantez bien. – Вы поете хорошо.

В русском языке допускается вольный порядок слов с переменой интонации. Во французском предложении это недопустимо.

Существительное, которое является прямым дополнением, должно стоять сразу после сказуемого.

К примеру:

• Je vois un garçon. – Я вижу мальчика.
• Nous préparons le dî – Мы готовим ужин.
• J’aime ma mère. – Я люблю мою маму.
• Michel lave la vaisselle. – Мишель моет посуду.
• Elle dessine une image. – Она рисует картинку.

Существительное, которое выражено косвенным дополнением, также должно стоять в предложении после сказуемого:

• Michel parle à sa femme. – Мишель говорит со своей женой.
• J’ai préparé cela pour toi. – Я приготовила это для тебя.
• Elle s’adresse au chef. – Она обращается к шефу.
• Nous écrivons à nos cousins. – Мы пишем своим двоюродным братьям.
• Je parle à mon mari. – Я говорю со своим мужем.

Если в предложении присутствуют и прямое и косвенное дополнения, то после сказуемого следует прямое, а за ним косвенное дополнение.

• André lit un livre d’histoire. – Андре читает книгу по истории.
• J’écris un message à mon ami. – Я пишу сообщение моему другу.
• Il aime les tartines avec du beurre. – Он любит бутерброды с маслом.
• Les fruits dans la vase sont sur la table. – Фрукты в вазе на столе.
• J’ai envoyé le livre à Michel. – Я послал книгу Мишелю.

Если в предложении имеется обстоятельство, то оно находится либо в начале предложения, либо в его конце, если оно в предложении одно. Если более одного, то обстоятельства распределяются по смыслу, в начале либо в конце. К примеру:

• Aujourd’hui je veux parler de la géographie. – Сегодня я хочу поговорить о географии.
• Je visite ma grand-mère souvent. – Я навещаю свою бабушку часто.
• Heureusement, nous avons réussi. – К счастью, мы успели.
• Il a décidé cela définitivement. – Он решил это окончательно.
• Tout à coup elle s’est tue. – Вдруг она замолчала.

Во французском предложении часто употребляется безличный оборот Il est для указания времени:

• Il est trois heures. – Три часа.
• Il est tô – Рано.
• Il est tard. – Поздно.
• Il est trois heures après midi. – Три часа пополудни.
• Il est cinq heures et demie. – Полшестого.

Другой безличный оборот Il y a употребляется для указания наличия чего-либо. Этот оборот выражен в предложении обстоятельством, и расположен либо в начале, либо в конце. К примеру:

• Il y a une serviette sur la table. – Скатерть (есть) на столе.
• Sur la table il y a une serviette. – На столе есть скатерть.

Члены французского предложения

Во французском языке те же члены предложения, что и в русском языке:

Le sujet – подлежащее. В предложении может быть выражено существительным, местоимением и другими частями речи.

Le prédicat – сказуемое. Как и в русском, чаще всего это глагол.

Le complément d’objet direct – прямое дополнение. Как и в русском языке, это дополнение без предлога.

Le complément d’objet indirect – косвенное дополнение. Дополнение с предлогом.

Le complément circumstantiel – обстоятельство. Бывает выражено различными частями речи и отвечает на вопросы: где? куда? откуда? как? когда?

Le complément attributif – определение. В предложении может быть выражено прилагательным, причастием, числительным и т.д.

Как вы можете убедиться, ничего сложного, много сходств с русским языком.

Типы предложений во французском языке

Во французском языке есть утвердительное, вопросительное и отрицательное предложение.

С утвердительным предложением все ясно:

• La salle à manger est pleine de hô – Столовая полна гостей.
• Nous aimons passer le temps avec nos amis. – Мы любим проводить время с нашими друзьями.
• J’écris un article. – Я пишу статью.
• Vous cherchez la réponse correcte. – Вы ищете правильный ответ.
• Le garçon est très intélligent. – Мальчик очень умный.

Отрицательное предложение формируется путем добавления отрицательных частиц ne и pas с двух сторон глагола:

• Michel ne travaille pas à l’usine. – Мишель не работает на заводе.
• Leur réponse n’est pas correcte. – Их ответ неправильный.
• Nous ne savons pas quoi faire avec cela. – Мы не знаем, что с этим делать.
• Il n’est pas poli avec nous. – Он не вежлив с нами.
• Le livre n’est pas intéressant. – Книга не интересная.

Если глагол-сказуемое начинается с гласной буквы, то у первой частицы «ne» опускается е и она пишется с глаголом через апостроф:

• Je n’observe rien. – Я не замечаю ничего.
• Elle n’entend pas nos voix. – Она не слышит наши голоса.
• Nous n’avons pas d’argent. – У нас нет денег.
• Marie n’arrive pas demain. – Мари не приезжает завтра.
• L’enfant n’irrite pas les hôtes. – Ребенок не раздражает гостей.

В разговорной французской речи очень часто можно встретить случаи опускания частицы «ne» и остается только «pas»:

• Ils travaillent pas. – Они не работают.
• Elle arrive pas demain. – Она не приезжает завтра.
• Nous chantons pas bien. – Мы не поем хорошо.
• Je sais pas. – Я не знаю.
• Je choisis pas cela. – Я не выбираю это.

Для усиления смысла предложения вместо отрицательной частицы «pas» иногда используются слова jamais – никогда, personne – никто, никого, rien – ничего:

• Je ne vois personne. – Я никого не вижу.
• Michel ne plaisante jamais. – Мишель никогда не шутит.
• Je ne sais rien à propos de cette affaire. – Я ничего не знаю по поводу этого дела.

Вопросительные предложения образуются путем инверсии или с помощью оборота Est-ce que:

• Dois-je faire cela? – Должен ли я это сделать?
• Est-ce que je dois faire cela ? – Я должен это сделать?

Вопросы на французском языке можно образовать с помощью следующих вопросительных слов:

• Que ? – Что?
• Quoi ? – Что?
• Quand ? – Когда?
• Où ? – Где? Куда?
• Pourquoi ? – Почему? Зачем?
• Combien ? – Сколько?
• Comment ? – Как?
• Quel ? / Quelle ? / Quels ? / Quelles ? – Какой? Какая? Какие?

Французский язык не только красив, но и интересен. Порядок слов во французском предложении всегда строго определен. Составляйте как можно больше предложений по-французски, и вы очень быстро освоите эту тему.