Guess The Gender

A beginner's guide

Bonjour! Is there a list of things that a french beginner should learn, is there a specific order to learn topics in french? Also, love your blog, it helps me a lot.

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Hello, thanks love you too! Here's roughly how to proceed:

#1. Genders.

Nouns, adjectives, determiners and past participles in French are either masculine or feminine. There is no neutral.

Known: LE/LA/L’ (+ vowel) + singular, LES + plural (The girl)

Unknown: UN/UNE + singular, DES + plural (A cat)

Uncountable: DU/DE LA + singular, DES + plural (Sugar)

How do I know what gender an item is?

Those that end with a consonant are likely masculine (Un éléphant), those that end with an -e likely feminine (Une girafe), especially if it follows a couple of the same consonant (Une tasse). A noun or adjective can be ‘gender-neutral’, or épicène (Juge, Drôle). There are obviously exceptions (Nation, Incendie).

What’s an uncountable item?

It’s a group of items that are either too small or too large to be counted: fruit, sugar, flour, people, etc (ex: Du sable, Des gens).

Let’s practice: Le facteur et la boulangère sont mariés. La ministre est sortie. Un chien aboie dehors. J’ai mangé du pain.

#2. Numbers.

To turn a singular into a plural, adding an -s is your most popular option. It can also be an -x (Bijou, Feu), nothing if the singular ends in -z, -s, -x (Nez); some words only exist as plurals (Ciseaux). There are a few irregulars (Oeil/yeux, Monsieur/messieurs, Madame/mesdames, Animal/animaux).

Let’s practice: J’ai deux petits frères qui sont nés (past participle) en 1998. J’ai un chat sur les genoux. Il y a des noix dans mes gâteaux. Mes yeux sont noirs.

#3. Verbs.

Verbs belong to one of three groups: -er except Aller (90%), -ir with a few exceptions, and the bin (auxiliaries Être and Avoir, Aller, -re, -oir, -ir exceptions). They can be modal (Should) or reflexive: preceded by an object pronoun (Je m’appelle).

The most useful verbs are:

Être: to be, avoir: to have, faire: to do/make, dire: to say, pouvoir: can, aller: to go, voir: to see, savoir: to know, vouloir: want, venir: to come, falloir: to have to, devoir: must, croire: to believe, trouver: to find, donner: to give, prendre: to take, mettre: to put down/place, laisser: to let, to need: avoir besoin de (...)

#4. Tenses.

The most useful tenses are:

Indicative present (J'aime le fromage - I like cheese)

Imperfect (J'aimais le fromage - I liked cheese)

Perfect (J'ai aimé le fromage - I have liked cheese)

Future (J'aimerai le fromage - I will like cheese)

Present conditional (J'aimerais le fromage - I would like cheese)

Present subjunctive (Je veux que tu prennes le fromage - I want you to take the cheese) triggered by certain verbs + que.

N.B.: There are irregular past participles (Être: été, Avoir: eu, Voir: vu, etc.).

Let’s practice: Je ne sais pas. Il dessinait bien. Nous sommes venus. Ils te verront quand ils reviendront. Vous seriez partis tôt.

#5. Function words.

Personal pronouns: Tu manges du pain

Demonstrative pronouns: Celui de ma soeur est mieux

Possessive determiners: C'est ton chien

Contracted words: Elle est au parc

Coordinating conjunctions: J'y vais mais j'ai peur

Subordinating conjunctions: Je demanderai quand il rentrera

Linkers: On se voit plus tard

Let’s practice: Je crois qu’elle sera à l’heure mais je peux me tromper. Pourquoi est-ce que tu pars? Nous reviendrons plus tard, quand il fera plus beau. Vous ne devez pas être en retard sans raison. C’est là, celle à droite.

#6. Basic knowledge.

Accents

Adverbs

Calendar

Colours

Conversation

En + Y

Family

Food

Negations

Numbers

Prepositions

Questions

Relative pronouns

Terminations

Time

Tu or Vous

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As you're mastering those, start practising.

Listen to music, podcasts, books while looking at the transcription - don't translate, get used to the pronunciation and the word chewing. Record yourself reading.

Then, start reading. I recommend starting with children's literature, especially books you already know in English. Things like Le petit prince or Perrault's fairytales should be accessible.

Use Reverso and Deepl as if you were paid to.

Study the pronunciation posts. The devil is in the details.

Learn vocabulary every week. Avoid translating English word by word, it's often a fool's bet; make a simpler sentence instead.

Explore my grammar tag once in a while.

A Trip to the Supermarket French Vocabulary

Rayon (nm.) - aisle, department

Tête de gondole (nf.) - aisle-end display

Étagère (nf.) - shelf

Caddie (nm.) - cart

Panier (nm.) - basket

Faire les courses (fixed exp.) - to do the groceries

Frigo vitrine (nm.) -  Refrigerated display case

Épicerie (nf.) - grocery store

Commerce (nm.) - store, trade

Supermarché, hypermarché (nm.) - supermarket

Ticket de caisse (nm.) - receipt

Code-barres (nm.) - bar code

Lecteur optique (nm.) - scanner

Caissier, caissière (nm./f.) - cash register

Rendre la monnaie (fixed exp.) - to give change

Tapis roulant (nm.) - conveyor belt

Caisse (nf.) - cashier

Espèces (nfp.) - cash

Produits alimentaires (nmp.) - food products

Produits d’entretien (fixed exp.) - household/cleaning products

Crémerie (nf.) - dairy section

Électroménager (nm.) - electrical goods

Produits surgelés (fixed exp.) - frozen products

Conserves (nfp.) - canned/tinned food

Plat préparé (nm.) - ready-made dishes

general study tips

this is just a quick list of study habits that work for me, as a straight a’s student

1. even if it’s not in your teacher’s presentation written on a slide, if you hear your teacher mention a fact, WRITE IT DOWN. you might need it later for a test.

2. when you’re rewriting your notes/compiling a study guide, pretend you’re making it for someone else. include everything, even if you think you know it. (unless you’re low on time, in which case, just write what you don’t know)

3. when you’re trying to learn a new concept, pretend you’re teaching it to someone else. this is a form of active learning, and the act of breaking the concept down into steps that you can teach will improve your understanding of the concept. (for the longest time, i actually didn’t even know this was an actual study technique, because i’ve always done it subconsciously!)

4. don’t over color your notes!! if you really need a key for all the colors, then you’re using way too many. try to stick with 2-3 pens/pencils. for me, i write most of my notes in black ink or pencil and i write the important concepts i might need to find quickly later (such as vocabulary) in red or blue pen.

5. have your water bottle next to you (so you remember to stay hydrated; this makes focusing easier as well), as well as any other things you might need during a study session so you don’t have to keep getting up to get stuff (which is pretty distracting for me as i’m easily sidetracked).

6. make it a habit to write lists of everything you need to do by the end of the weekend (or the end of that day, depending on how much work you have). this’ll help you familiarize yourself with your tasks so you have a clear plan of what needs to get done.

7. (not really necessary, just something i like to do!) learn to eat with your non-dominant hand so you can eat and take notes and turn pages w/out ripping them instead of scrolling through social media. keep in mind that sometimes, meal times are for taking your mind off school so unless you’re really pressed for time, it’s not a huge deal if you spend this time w/passive reading, texting friends, etc.

8. when you’re assigned a research project, COME UP WITH A THESIS FIRST so you know what to research. try to get all your research done within the first two days or so, to have more time to plan out how you’re going to structure it. then get your draft done (something is better than nothing) so you can revise at your own pace instead of rushing at the last minute.

9. prioritize your homework!! as someone who spends hours fencing and even misses school for fencing tournaments, is part of symphonic band, and on the robotics team (build season is suuuuuper busy), i can’t express how important this is!! if you have math first period, get that done first, whereas if you have math last period, you can do it at lunch and spend your time working on something that’s due in the morning. don’t do this all the time, but if you need to, know which teachers are more strict with due dates so if you really do need an extension, you’ll be asking the least strict teacher and will have much better chances of getting said extension.

10. if you study at home like me, change into new clothes (comfy clothes, but not pajamas) before cracking open your textbooks. it’ll help make you feel more refreshed and ready to start your homework, but not confined to uncomfortable uniforms from school. tie up your hair, if it’s long. try to study at a table/desk rather than in bed (for sleeping not studying) or on the floor (bad for your posture).

11. check out this post for productive things you can do when you aren’t studying, but still want to be productive!

hope these helped some of you!!

xoxo, sal

my favourite soundscapes for sleeping & studying

i finally managed to get my favourite asmr/ambience/soundscape videos into a neat list. i use these while i study, and they also help me get to sleep. since i cannot do anything without some sort of background noise on, they are a lifesaver for me; they’re also great for daydreaming purposes. if you have any that you like, please share! 

Victorian London

Baker Street 221B

Hogwarts Express

Library

Victorian Office

Cottage Kitchen

Library Room with Fireplace

Potion Shop

Hobbit Hole

Autumn Village

Shell Cottage

Seaside Art Room

Italian Cafe

French Cafe

Autumn Coffee Shop with Jazz

Enchanted Forest (with music)

Forest (without music)

Spaceship Library

Pirate Ship

How are you learning ASL? My local colleges don't offer any classes :(

That's a great question lmao! I'm currently on a break from active review and new vocabulary. But I have resources I can offer you.

Here’s emmastudies’ resource post

Here’s someone you can follow on instagram: Nyle DiMarco

Rochelle Barlow has a lot of resources. I caution this one, just because I’m genuinely wary of people who sell their method as being above all methods. She has some good points--language learning should be fun--but it also does take work and practice. You can just make those things a little less painful.

My old ass post about ASL still have a lot of resources I use, and the top one I recommend is ASL University. That’s where I got the majority of my basic vocab.

I am fortunate that we have Deaf Studies at this university, but it doesn’t have to be the only way. I would try to find a study buddy to hold you accountable--I’ve found, especially in the pandemic, it’s sooo hard and sooo isolating to endeavor with this kind of stuff alone.

Please let me know if you need more resources/help! 

Podcasts

Knowledge :

Au coeur de l’histoire (history)

les chasseurs de nazis (nazi hunters)

france musique 

on ne parle pas la bouche pleine (food + literature)

les chemins de la philosophie

le collège de france (advanced)

il était une fois (fairy tales)

la main verte (gardening)

la méthode scientifique

regardez voir (photography)

sur les épaules de darwin

very good trip (rock n roll)

chroniques du ciel (aviation)

la tête au carré (popularization)

les p’tits bateaux (pros answering children’s qs)

les grands musiciens (interview with a pro musician)

littérature moderne et contemporaine

Society :

Arte radio (politics, health, history, tech…)

slate (similarish to ted talks)

hashtag (debating very current problems)

quoi de meuf (women talking about pop culture)

affaires sensibles (trials)

les gentilshommes (relationships men/women)

bouddhisme et méditation

kiffe ta race (about racial problematics)

le flow (well being)

sois gentille dis merci fais un bisou (portraits of women)

les couilles sur la table (men talking to women)

miroir miroir (destroy social norms)

du grain à moudre (debating sensible questions)

coucou le q (casual sex ed)

change ma vie (about personal growth)

la poudre (powerful women’s interviews)

nice to hear you (talks with creators, ceos, artists and nice humans)

mortel (to reconcile you with death and mortality)

la menstruelle (periods)

Movies + tech :

La cartouche (gaming)

la chronique ciné

studio 404 (tech)

geek inc (nerd chatter)

nouveau monde (innovations)

2h de perdues (shitty movies)

silence on joue (gaming)

radio rôliste (role playing, mmorpg)

nociné (pop culture/movies)

season one (to discover new shows)

RESOURCE FOR (major) AP TESTS

Yo!! for those of you students (or not) who’re taking AP tests, there’s this channel called Crash Course that has a bunch of AP-related series. each video’s between 10-15 minutes long and a lot of students use them as review or catch-up on stuff that their class skimmed over/stuff they didn’t understand or missed. Here are the ones that I know are for sure AP courses:

AP World History (also, if you want a more in-depth look at a lot of these topics, check out World History 2 as well)

AP US History

AP Ecology

AP Biology

AP Chemistry

AP English Literature (in terms of analysis and close reading, not so much about paragraph and essay styles…sorry, if anyone’s got a good source for that, please reblog and add some sources)

AP Psychology (helped me get a 5 on the ap psych test, no joke!!)

AP United States Government and Politics

AP Micro- and Macro-economics* (I believe, feel free to contest this)

AP Physics* (not sure which specific tests these videos cover) - (MinutePhysics is also a good source for specific topic in physics)

* indicates series that are, as of May 3rd 2016, still running/incomplete

If anyone has any other AP-related testing help (in terms of subject matter, not how to take the test), please reblog and add more. I hope y’all pass your tests!!

French Prepositions

and how else they can be used

I don’t know about y’all, but prepositions are the WORST. They hardly ever directly translate between languages and when they do, there are so many exceptions it doesn’t even matter. So, I’ve done some research and I’ll try to make the list as comprehensive as possible :) 

OKAY ! So here is the most basic “to and from” list. 

But as you know, French is not that easy. You will also see de and à frequently interspersed between verbs and even used as adverbs and adjectives. Below I have listed a few verbs that take these prepositions. 

Verbs that require the preposition à

Aider (quelqu'un) à (to help someone to)

S’amuser à (to amuse oneself)

Avoir à (to have to)

Apprendre à (to learn how to)

Avoir de la peine à (to have difficulty)

Commencer à

Continuer à

The preposition à can also be used to indicate place, time, manner or possession

À droite (on the right)

À loisir (at leisure)

À la compagne (in the mountains)

À la française ([in] the french way)

Cette voiture est à toi? (This car is yours?)

Verbs that require the preposition de

S’arreter de

Cesser de

Choisir de

Décider de

Se dépêcher de (to be in a hurry

Essayer de

Finir de

Oublier de

Refuser de

Verbs that can be followed by both

Conseiller à (quelqu’un) de (faire quelque chose)

Défendre à… de

Demander à…de

Dire à… de

Offrir à … de

Permettre à… de

Promettre à… de

Proposer à… de

Suggérer à…de

Hope this helps !!

Resources masterpost

Being exposed to French:

Websites, social media

IG accounts with lots of stories

Online courses about French

Online courses in French

French subreddits

Fanfictions

Buzzfeed

Improving your:

Pronunciation

Speaking

Stutter

Things to listen:

Music

Podcasts

Radio stations

TED talks

Things to read:

Graphic novels/comics

News

Ebooks + quizzes (by me)

Short stories

Vikidia - kids Wikipedia

Things to watch:

Cartoons

Kids shows

The Simpsons the movie

True crime

TV programs - sci-fi shows, travelling, etc.

Youtubers

Extra:

Antidote 10 + BonPatron - Grammarly equivalents

Conjugation by le Nouvel Obs

Deepl - very good at translating sentences/expressions

Forbo - natives pronouncing things

Lexicity - about Ancien/Moyen Français

Lingolden - Chrome extension that teaches vocabulary

Linguo.tv (french videos + subtitles)

Reverso - very good alternative to Google translation

Writer Beware makes posts on which publishing houses to avoid at all costs, which words to look for and which words to watch out for in contracts, and several other things that will keep you in control and knowledgeable about the publishing process.  I’d suggest reading through the website if you want to avoid getting ripped off, cheated, or scammed.