French Grammar Index

Greetings & introductions

How to say hello, goodbye, your name and nationality

Subject pronouns (je, tu, il…)

Je, tu, il, elle, nous, vous, ils, elles — when to use each

Être — to be

The most important French verb: je suis, tu es, il est…

Avoir — to have

Essential verb: j'ai, tu as, il a, nous avons…

Definite articles (le, la, les)

The equivalent of "the" — changes with gender and number

Indefinite articles (un, une, des)

The equivalent of "a/an" and "some" in French

French gender — nouns

Every noun is masculine or feminine — how to tell which

Numbers 0–100

Count in French, including the tricky 70, 80, 90

Colours & basic adjectives

Adjective agreement rules — position and gender

Negation with ne…pas

Making sentences negative: je ne parle pas français

Passé composé — introduction

Past tense for completed actions: j'ai mangé, elle est allée

Adjective agreement

Adjectives change form to match the noun they describe

Prepositions de and à

The two most common prepositions — de and à with their contractions

Questions in French

Three ways to ask questions: intonation, est-ce que, inversion

Tu vs Vous

When to use the informal tu and the formal vous

Aller + infinitive (near future)

Express near future: je vais manger, nous allons partir

French numbers 100–1,000,000

Hundreds, thousands and millions in French

Possessive adjectives

Mon, ma, mes, ton, ta, tes, son, sa, ses, notre, votre, leur

Direct object pronouns

Le, la, les, me, te, nous, vous — replacing nouns

Comparative & superlative

Plus grand que, moins cher que, le plus beau

Imparfait vs passé composé

The essential distinction between French past tenses

The subjunctive — introduction

When and how to use the French subjunctive mood

Relative pronouns (qui, que, où)

Linking clauses: la femme qui parle, le livre que je lis

Y and en pronouns

Replacing à + noun and de + noun with y and en

Conditional tense

Would/could/should: je voudrais, il pourrait, nous irions

Futur simple

Simple future tense: je parlerai, nous ferons

Indirect speech

Reporting what someone said: il a dit que, elle a demandé si

Causative faire

Faire faire — having something done

Discourse markers

D'abord, ensuite, cependant, pourtant, donc — linking ideas

Gerund (gérondif)

En + present participle: en mangeant, en faisant

Subjunctive — advanced uses

Subjunctive in relative clauses, superlatives and set phrases

Passive voice

La lettre est écrite par Marie — forming and using the passive

Hypothetical structures

Si clauses: si j'avais…, je serais… — three conditionals

Advanced connectors

Bien que, quoique, à condition que — complex linking

Nominalisation

Turning verbs into nouns — academic and formal French

Style and register

Formal vs informal — when to use which and how to shift

Double object pronouns

Il me le donne, elle les lui explique — order and use

Pluperfect (plus-que-parfait)

The past perfect: j'avais mangé, elle était partie