What comes to mind when you think of the French language? Will it be France, Paris, French bread or the distinct throaty ‘r’ sound?

Although Britain is separated from France by the Channel which connects the Celtic Sea and North Sea, as an independent nation, Britain has forged remarkably strong ties with its neighbour across this Channel. Without even trying, you’ll find that you already know a smattering of French words, and even entire phrases.

French	English
C’est la vie	Such is life
Au fait	To be informed
Je ne sais quoi	A difficult-to-express attribute

 

Here’s a quick guide on how to kickstart your basic French lessons the easy way by  Justin Schamotta.

Key Phrases

It’s worth learning a few key phrases even if you don’t yet understand French grammar and sentence structure. These allow you to get a feel for the language and enter into basic communication.

French	English
Bonjour	Hello
Au revoir	Goodbye
S’il vous plaît	Please
Merci	Thank you
De rien	You’re welcome
Oui	Yes
Non	No
Comment allez-vous?	How are you?
Je m’appelle…	My name is…
Salut	Hi / Bye

 

Perfecting Pronunciation

Examples of French pronunciation include:

French letter	English sound	Examples
A	Father	Quatre
AU	Taupe	Mauvais
D	Dad	Mardi
Ç	Façade	Caleçon
AI	Pain	Le fait
CH	Champagne	Chaud
E	Dead	Le
É	Fiancé	Génial
B	Buy	Bonbons

French words ending in either ‘-sion’ or ‘-tion’ are spelt almost exactly the same as their English counterparts and mostly have the same meaning. This makes them some of the easiest to master. Try remembering these: participation, action, infusion, passion, intuition, élection, decision.

 

Putting Language into Practice

For anyone attending the French courses London language schools provide, it is a quick trip across the Channel to practise newfound skills.Paris is just over 200 miles away and can be reached in less than three hours.

Once there, you’ll be able to practise things like ordering food:

French	English
Avez-vous une table?	Do you have a table?
Je voudrais…	I’d like…
De la viande	Meat
Du poisson	Fish
Des légumes	Vegetables
Des fruits	Fruit
Du pain	Bread
Des pommes de terre	Potatoes
De la soupe	Soup
Du fromage	Cheese

Or getting around:

French	English
Excusez-moi	Excuse me
C’est où?	Where is it?
Ici	Here
Tout droit	Straight ahead
Par là	That way
C’est loin?	Is it far?
À droite	To the right / On the right
À gauche	To the left / On the left
En face	Opposite
Un billet	A ticket

 

Grappling with Grammar

French is known as a ’Romance’ language in that it is of Latin origin. Romance languages share similarities in vocabulary and grammatical structure. Those of you already undertaking Spanish courses in London at StGeorges.co.uk or another language school will therefore be able to understand French grammar more easily. Similarly, those studying Portuguese will also already have an appreciation of the need to learn genders, verb conjugation and the pronunciation of nasal sounds.

Some French vowels have accents. There are also a few irregular commonly used verbs. These include:

French	English
Être	To be
Avoir	To have
Aller	To go
Venir	To come

 

Male and Female

When you learn a noun, you should always learn its gender as well. French nouns are either madams or monsieurs. Native French speakers associate feminine qualities with feminine nouns and masculine qualities with masculine nouns.