Learning French

Learning the French language is the beginning of a beautiful friendship between the spoken phrases and written words of one of the most beautiful languages ever. All those little words in italics become immediately accessible. But for English speakers not brought up speaking a romance language (like Spanish) the pronunciation, grammar, and verb forms can be tricky.

Whether learning French in high school or college, online or in a tutorial, many rules of learning any romance language apply. The student new to French is introduced into the conversation verb forms, the present tense verb forms, the root verbs that form the basic understanding of all French language, and the irregular verbs. There are formal and informal patterns of speech that convey more than strict translations when used in speech.

As is common in most language learning, the gestalts of the main verb and grammar rules is followed by the exceptions. The rules of French verbs are reinforced by acquiring an innate comprehension of which form to sue when. Unlike English, French is not made to be broken and uttered in parts or exclamations without supporting sounds and endings.

English speakers are used to using phrases conveying the same meaning of the French verb stems with “helping words” such as :”had,” “have” or “did have .” French expands on these verb tenses and denotes them in verbal speech using additional patterns tacks onto the verb root word , or stem.

French can be subtle and many sounds of the verb stems imitate each other. So grouping of other words, use of adjectives and rules governing nouns and verbal styles of enunciation will instruct a French student how to understand what is being said. A simple vowel sound or trick of the tongue can signal a different meaning and tense entirely. Thus the ear must be trained to recognized these subtle signals to understand French.

Pronouns are used in conjunction with these word verb forms to convey spoken meaning.
In French the irregular verbs and their endings can be learned in comparison to the regular ones. Verbs ending in -ER, such as aller to go, or chanter to sing, ahev similar endings in any tense. -IR verbs are verbs that have an infinitive ending in -IR, such as dormir, to sleep.

A truly irregular verb is often the closest in any language, “to be.” The verb “etre” is the most common and for obvious reasons the best rewarded for mastering. Anyone who can memorize and employ use of the verb “etre” in all its tenses has come a long way in elemental understanding or written and spoken French.

French has determinative pronouns that match the plural or singular of a noun, also these nouns have genders which must be memorized. French also has more sophisticated and harder to pronounce grammatical “linking words” and the usage can be difficult to employ verbally without advance study. But it really does pay off.

With the expansion of cultures via television and the Internet, many borrowings between English and French have taken place. Slang and root word usages can be very amusing to observe. “La moto” for motorcycle, “le mechanicien” for mechanic. A computer is a “micro-ordinateur.” Some words are pronunciatory impossibilities, such a the word for banana, “L’anana.”

But learning French can lead to a greater appreciation of literature written in its own native tongue. Speaking the soft “j” sound, learning which “t” are silent, and changing the way words are read and pronounced can make a more articulate speaker out of anyone, since more attention will always be paid to what is voiced.

Books and plays can lead to a dramatic improvement in French pronunciation and understanding. Once root verbs and a body of nouns have been learnt, playing a film with French language with or without the English subtitles can aid in understanding the flow of spoken French and training one’s ear to “hear” and comprehend what is being said.

French is a rewarding language to master verbally as it makes almost everyone who learns it a much more precise and nuanced speaker. By schooling the vowel sounds to a strict standard, a decidedly more authoritative and cultural manner is lent to the speaker of the French tongue, Thus the learning of the French language benefits both hearers and individuals alike.