10 Common Mistakes To Avoid When Learning French

Salut tout le monde!! Puzzled, what am I talking about? Well, let me tell you that the above phrase has been written in French, which means “Hi everyone”. Do you also want to learn about the common mistakes to avoid when learning French and write phrases like these? Well, you are at the right page. None of us wants to get caught in an embarrassing situation while making language errors. In my article, I will discuss 10 common mistakes to avoid when learning French. No need to panic now if you too make a Language blunder. Read this entire article and avoid social awkwardness. Just perfect your French and get the confidence to speak like a native speaker.

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French is a bit tricky language, how? I will explain. Here are 10 Common Mistakes To Avoid When Learning French:

1. False Friends/Faux Amis:

 While learning French you will become familiar with terms like   false cognates/false friends, however as a beginner, you might not be sure about them. False cognates are words that look similar but have different meanings. This is one of the common mistakes to avoid when learning French.

English	French
Ancient (old)	Ancien (former)
Button (small disc sewn onto a cloth)	Bouton (pimples)
Grape (a fruit)	Grappe (a bunch of anything)
Envy (jealousy)	Envie (wish/desire)

2. Gender Specifications: 

In the English language, the gendered words are only for the people, while learning French you will know that this language uses the gender specifications for nouns and articles too. Here, /un/ is used for the masculine gender whereas /une/ is used for the feminine gender. Also, possessive adjectives like “my”, “your”, “his/her” when written in the masculine form are mon/son/ton (my/his/your), while in feminine form they are ma/sa/ta (my/her/your).

English	French
a pen	un stylo
my table	ma table
a cow	une vache
his bag	son sac

3. Placing Adjectives At the Wrong Places:

We know that in English Langauge, adjectives are placed before nouns, however, while learning French you will realize that the case is opposite in this. Although there are certain French adjectives that come before nouns, in most of the cases the nouns are placed before adjectives. 

English	French
An exact posture	Une posture exacte
That rectangle table	Cette table rectangulaire
A red carpet	Un tapis rouge
This straight line	Cette ligne droite

4. Misplacing Pronouns:

French is a tricky Language as I said. While learning French you will understand how this language doesn’t place the pronoun at the place of the noun. This is one of the most common mistakes to avoid when learning French.

English	French
Ted is eating this mango. Ted is eating it.	Ted mange cette mangue. Ted le mange.
Jenny gives a book to Daisy. Jenny gives it to Daisy.	Jenny donne un livre à Daisy. Jenny le donne à Daisy.

In the above examples, the pronouns do not take the place of nouns as we notice in the English language.

 

5. Pronunciation:

• CaReFuL rule: We know that French letters mostly have consonants at the end, however, some are silent, and others are not. There is a trick (of course with the exception). If a French letter ends with consonants C, R, F, or L, then the final letter is not silent, else the final letter is silent.

Eg- Avril (April), Le chef (“the boss”).

 

• Plus vs Plus: In French plus means “more” or “not anymore”.

When it’s “more”, then S is pronounced. And when it’s “not anymore”, then S is silent.

Eg- Lisa a besoin de plus de fruits (“Lisa needs more fruits”) (S is pronounced).

Harry ne veut plus manger (“Harry doesn’t want to eat anymore”) (S is silent).

6. Pour vs Pendant vs Depuis:

• Pour (for): It is used for the entire duration referring to the future event only. It can be a replacement for pendant.

Eg- Anna part en Italie pour 3 ans (“Anna is going to Italy for 3 years”).

 

• Pendant (for, during): On the other hand, pendant is used for the duration of an action. It is referred to the past, present or future.

Eg- Jennifer a appris lèspagnol pendant son voyage (“Jennifer learnt Spanish during her journey”).

 

• Depuis (since, for): When an act that started in the past is still continuing in the present. It is referred for the present tense.

Eg- il pleut depuis 5h du matin (“It has been raining since 5am”).

This is one of the common mistakes to avoid when learning French. Learn more about the difference. 

7. C’est vs Il/elle est:

• C’est: It is used when there is he/she/it is in the sentence followed by any article or determinant like un/une/la/ma/le etc. With C’est, only the masculine form goes.

Eg- C’est le fils de Ted (“He is Ted’s son”).

     C’est ma femme merveilleuse (“She is my wonder woman”).

 

• Il/elle est: We use il/elle est while talking about some specific things. When the statement refers to a particular thing. It is used according to the gender of the thing.

Eg- Òuest votre livre? Elle est sur le lit. (“Where is your book? It is on the bed”).

 

8. Rencontrer vs Retrouver:

This is one of the most common mistakes to avoid when learning French. Let’s see how these words differ.

• Rencontrer: It refers to an encounter by chance without any plans or meeting for the first time. 

Eg- Eliza a rencontré sa meilleure amie sur la route (“Eliza ran into her best friend on the road”).

• Retrouver: On the other hand, retrouver is used when someone meets after making a plan. Also, after finding a lost property, it can be used.

Eg- Jolly a retrouver son mari au restaurant (“Jolly met up with her husband at the restaurant”).

 

9. Y vs En:

These are the pronouns used which you will get to know when learning French. ‘Y’ and ‘en’ replace a group of words while writing a sentence.

• Y: The pronoun ‘y’ is used to replace indirect objects, and it often means ‘there’.

Eg- Wilson ira-t-il faire du shopping? Oui il y va mardi. (“Will Wilson go for shopping? Yes, he will go there on Tuesday”).

 

• En: Whereas, ‘en’ pronoun replaces ‘of’, and usually translates to ‘any’ or ‘some’.

Eg- Sophie veut 3 assiettes. Elle en veut 3. (“Sophie wants 3 plates. She wants 3 of them”).

 

10. Jour vs Journée: 

Another one of the most common mistakes to avoid when learning French is getting confused while using jour and journée. 

• Jour: It is used while talking about a particular/specific moment or while counting the days.

Eg- Alexandra rejoindra dans 2 jours. (“Alexandra will join in 2 days”).

 

• Journée: On the other hand, journée is used while talking about duration of time.

Eg- Tina a dormi toute la journée. (“Tina has slept all day”).

Here we are done with the most common mistakes to avoid when learning French

Future Prospects of Learning French Language:

• Teaching: Pursue your career in teaching and go ahead as a foreign language teacher and teach online/offline at your convenience.
• Translator: Organizations demand translators to communicate with clients.
• Tourism: There is a huge career scope in travel and tourism.
• Air Hostess: you can become an air hostess and work for international airlines.
• There is great scope to work with international organizations too.

 

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Conclusion: 

French is the most career-oriented language among the various foreign languages. Till now you must be clear about the common mistakes to avoid when learning French, but if you want to ace the French Language, don’t hesitate to join the French Language courses. We all know that there is no end to learning, so resist yourself from gaining knowledge about the new language.

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• Learn about French language courses in Mumbai.
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• Famous French language courses in Pune.
• French language courses in Hyderabad.

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