💡✨ Fix These 6 Common Sentence Mistakes in French

Transcript:

Making mistakes is a normal part of learning French—but some are actually pretty easy to fix once you know what to watch out for. And when you get these right, your sentences will sound more natural, and you'll feel more confident when speaking and writing.

In this guide, I’ll show you 6 common grammar mistakes beginners often make—and how to avoid them.

Ready? Let’s dive in!

In French, nouns almost always need an article before them. These include le (the, masculine), la (the, feminine), les (the, plural), un (a, masculine), une (a, feminine), and des (some, plural). Unlike English, where articles are often optional, French requires them—even when referring to things in general.

Examples:

• ❌ J’aime chocolat. → ✅ J’aime le chocolat. (I like chocolate.)

• ❌ J’adore musique. → ✅ J’adore la musique. (I love music.)

• ❌ Elle mange pain. → ✅ Elle mange du pain. (She is eating bread.)

Adjectives are words that describe nouns (like small, blue, or happy). In French, they must match the noun they describe in both gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural). Examples:

• ❌ Une petit maison. → ✅ Une petite maison. (A small house.)

• ❌ Des voiture bleus. → ✅ Des voitures bleues. (Blue cars.)

• ❌ Des chien noir. → ✅ Des chiens noirs. (Black dogs.)

• Use passé composé when talking about something that happened at a specific point in time. Use imparfait for ongoing or repeated past actions.

Examples:

Passé Composé (Specific Events):

• ❌ Nous allions au marché hier. → ✅ Nous sommes allés au marché hier. (We went to the market yesterday.)

Imparfait (Ongoing or Repeated Actions):

• ❌ Quand j'étais enfant, j’ai régardé la télé un matin. → ✅ Quand j’étais enfant, je regardais souvent la télé le matin. (When I was a child, I often watched TV in the morning.)

Some expressions that use “to be” in English actually use “avoir” (to have) in French. So beware of direct, word for word translation.

Examples:

• ❌ Je suis 20 ans. → ✅ J’ai 20 ans. (I am 20 years old.)

• ❌ Tu es froid. → ✅ Tu as froid. (You are cold.)

• ❌ Elle est sommeil. → ✅ Elle a sommeil. (She is sleepy.)

• ❌ Nous sommes raison. → ✅ Nous avons raison. (We are right.)

In French, "bon" is an adjective that describes the quality of something (like good in English), while "bien" is an adverb that describes how you do something (like well in English).

Examples:

• ❌ Je parle bon français. → ✅ Je parle bien français. (I speak French well.)

• ❌ Il joue bon au football. → ✅ Il joue bien au football. (He plays football well.)

• ❌ Ce film est bien. → ✅ Ce film est bon. (This movie is good.)

• ❌ Elle chante bon. → ✅ Elle chante bien. (She sings well.)

• ❌ Ce gâteau est bien. → ✅ Ce gâteau est bon. (This cake is good.)

A possessive adjective shows who something belongs to—like my, your, or his/her in English. In French, possessive adjectives must agree with the gender and number of the noun they describe. However, when the noun starts with a vowel or a mute “H”, you use the masculine form of the possessive adjective—even if the noun is feminine.

Examples:

• ❌ C’est ma amie. → ✅ C’est mon amie. (She is my friend.)

• ❌ Sa idée est intéressante. → ✅ Son idée est intéressante. (His/Her idea is interesting.)

• ❌ Ta école est grande. → ✅ Ton école est grande. (Your school is big.)