French Grammar — Complete Guide

Grammar is the system of rules that controls how words are combined to form sentences. In French, grammar is particularly important because the language has features that English does not — grammatical gender, adjective agreement, verb conjugations for every subject, and multiple past tenses with different meanings. This page gives you an overview of the entire French grammar system, teaches you the fundamental concepts, and links to 11 detailed lesson categories for deeper study.

The Building Blocks of French Grammar

Every French sentence is built from the same core parts of speech, but they behave differently from English. Here is a quick overview:

1. Nouns and Gender

Every French noun has a grammatical gender — it is either masculine (masculin) or feminine (féminin). This has nothing to do with biological gender; a table (la table) is feminine while a desk (le bureau) is masculine. Gender affects which articles, adjectives, and pronouns you use with the noun. There are some patterns — words ending in -tion and -sion are usually feminine, words ending in -ment and -age are usually masculine — but many exceptions exist, so you should always learn the article with the noun.

2. Articles — Le, La, Les, Un, Une, Des

French has three types of articles:

Before a vowel or silent h, le and la become l': l'école (the school), l'homme (the man). The partitive articles (du, de la) are used for uncountable quantities: Je veux du pain (I want some bread). Explore these in detail in our Articles lessons.

3. Adjective Agreement

In English, adjectives never change: "a big house," "big houses," "a big car." In French, adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe:

Most adjectives in French also come after the noun, not before it: une voiture rouge (a red car), not *une rouge voiture. However, a small group of common adjectives (grand, petit, bon, mauvais, beau, joli, jeune, vieux, nouveau) go before the noun. Study adjective rules in our Adjectives lessons.

4. Verb Conjugation

French verbs change form based on the subject (who is doing the action) and the tense (when it happens). English verbs barely change — "I eat, you eat, we eat" — but French conjugates every person differently:

French verbs are grouped into three families based on their infinitive ending: -er verbs (the largest group, like parler, manger, jouer), -ir verbs (like finir, choisir), and -re verbs (like vendre, attendre). Each group follows its own conjugation pattern. Master all tenses in our Tenses lessons.

5. Negation

To make a French sentence negative, you wrap the verb in ne ... pas: Je ne parle pas français (I do not speak French). Other negative structures include ne ... jamais (never), ne ... rien (nothing), and ne ... plus (no longer). In spoken French, the ne is often dropped, but it must be included in written French and examinations. Learn more in our Negation lessons.

6. Pronouns

French has several types of pronouns. Subject pronouns (je, tu, il, elle, on, nous, vous, ils, elles) replace the person doing the action. Direct object pronouns (me, te, le, la, nous, vous, les) replace the thing receiving the action: Je le vois (I see him/it). Indirect object pronouns (me, te, lui, nous, vous, leur) replace the person receiving something: Je lui donne le livre (I give him/her the book). Pronoun placement in French is before the verb, not after it as in English.

French Tenses at a Glance

French has more tenses than English. Here are the most important ones you will study:

The difference between passé composé and imparfait is one of the most challenging concepts for English speakers because English uses just one past tense ("I ate") where French uses two. Understanding when to use each is critical for exams and real conversation.

Common Grammar Mistakes to Avoid

• Forgetting gender agreement: *Elle est grand → Elle est grande (adjective must be feminine)
• Using the wrong article: *Je mange le pain (when you mean "some bread") → Je mange du pain
• Putting adjectives in the wrong place: *une rouge voiture → une voiture rouge
• Forgetting to conjugate: *Nous manger → Nous mangeons
• Confusing tu and vous: tu is informal (friends, family), vous is formal or plural

Explore Grammar Lessons by Topic

Select a topic below to access detailed lessons with rules, tables, and example sentences:

• 📰 Articles (Les articles) — Learn definite, indefinite, contracted and partitive articles. 4 lessons.
• 🎯 Adjectives (Les adjectifs) — Possessive, demonstrative, interrogative and qualificative adjectives. 4 lessons.
• 👤 Subject Pronouns (Les pronoms sujets) — Personal pronouns used as subjects in sentences. 0 lessons.
• ⚡ Adverbs (Les adverbes) — Words that modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. 0 lessons.
• 🫵 Personal Pronouns (Les pronoms personnels) — Direct and indirect object pronouns. 0 lessons.
• 🔗 Simple Relative Pronouns (Les pronoms relatifs simples) — Qui, que, dont, où — linking clauses together. 0 lessons.
• ⏳ Tenses (Les temps) — Master all French verb tenses from present to subjunctive. 11 lessons.
• 📝 Nouns (Les noms) — Learn how French nouns form their plural, including regular and irregular plural forms. 1 lessons.
• ⚖️ Degrees of Comparison (Les degrés de comparaison) — Comparative and superlative forms — comparing adjectives with plus, aussi, moins and irregular forms. 2 lessons.
• 🚫 Negation (La négation) — Learn how to form negative sentences using ne...pas and advanced negation structures. 2 lessons.
• 📍 Prepositions (Les prépositions) — Essential French prepositions for expressing location, time, manner and relationships. 0 lessons.

After studying a grammar topic, test your understanding with our interactive practice quizzes covering articles, adjectives, prepositions, tenses, and more.