Core Grammar of French

The core rules of French

French grammar has a small number of core rules, and once you have them most sentences fall into place. Every noun has a gender, so it takes le or la for the and un or une for a: le livre is a book and is masculine, la table is a table and is feminine. Adjectives change to agree with their noun and usually come after it, so a green book is un livre vert, which is not the English order. Verbs change their ending for each subject pronoun, and to make a sentence negative you wrap the verb in ne and pas. Two short sentences show the shape: je suis content means I am happy, and il y a un livre sur la table means there is a book on the table. This module drills these core structures rather than long word lists.

Grammar words in French

Learn what each of these does in a sentence before you use them.

Match the French word

Which word for the?

The word table is feminine in French. Which word for the goes in front of it?

• la, because table is feminine
• le, because that is used for every noun
• les, because that is the only singular form
• un, because that means the

English order, French order

Read across the two columns. With most adjectives the difficulty is not the word but where it sits.

Build the sentence

Build the French for I am happy. Remember that je suis means I am, and that the adjective content is masculine here because it describes a male speaker.

Which two are right?

Select the TWO phrases that put the adjective where French puts it and make it agree.

• un livre vert
• une voiture rouge
• un vert livre
• une rouge voiture

Match the pronoun

Making a verb negative

To make a French sentence negative, do not just add one word the way English adds not. French wraps the verb in two words: ne in front of it and pas behind it. Je joue means I play, and je ne joue pas means I do not play, with the verb sitting inside the sandwich. Keep both halves: dropping the ne is common in speech but loses marks in writing. Check every negative you write by finding the verb and making sure ne is in front of it and pas is behind it.

Make it negative

How do you turn je joue, meaning I play, into I do not play in French?

• je ne joue pas, wrapping the verb in ne and pas
• je pas joue, putting pas before the verb
• je joue non, adding non at the end
• je no joue, using the English no

Complete the French grammar

Every French noun has a gender, so a masculine noun takes _____ for the and a feminine noun takes _____. A describing word must _____ with its noun and usually comes after it, so a green book is un livre _____. To make a verb negative you wrap it in ne and _____.

Order the negative sentence

Put these four words in the order that makes correct French for I do not play.

• je
• ne
• joue
• pas

A short answer, marked

Question: write two or three sentences in French about yourself. Model answer: Je suis content. Je joue au football le samedi. Je ne joue pas au tennis. Look at what earns the marks. The first sentence uses je suis to say how you feel. The second puts the verb before the extra detail and uses au for a sport. The third is a correct negative, with the verb wrapped in ne and pas. Three short accurate sentences beat one long one with the grammar wrong, because grammar is what is being assessed here.

Spot the grammar error

Three of these sentences use correct French grammar. Select the ONE that does not.

• Je suis content.
• Un vert livre est sur la table.
• Je ne joue pas au tennis.
• Une voiture rouge est rapide.

Get the grammar right

You are writing a few sentences in French. Work through the choices.

• You want to say a book, and livre is masculine. Which word for a do you use?
• You want to say a green book. Where does the adjective vert go?
• You want to say that you do not play. How do you make it negative?
• You have time for one more sentence to show your range. What helps most?