Why is French hard to learn for English Speakers?
Let me review some of the challenges you might face as a student… and some tips to overcome them.
C’est parti ! Let’s dive in.
1) Why French is hard for English speakers: Pronunciation Differences
For example:
- Silent letters – Many letters are not pronounced and are often silent. → For example: the “s” in Paris
- La liaison – linking of final consonants to initial vowels → For example: les amis (sounds like “z”)
- Accents (on letters) – several types of accents (“diacritics”) change the pronunciation of letters (and meaning of the word.) → For example: une marche (a walk, silent “e”) – un marché (a market, “é” sounds like “eh”)
- The elision – some small words lose their final vowel, before another vowel. It’s correct French, and turns into an apostrophe. → For example : de, je… Je + aime becomes “J’aime” (I love)
- Different stress on syllables – French words are (almost always) stressed on the final syllable!
But the main issue is, of course, the specifically French sounds. By that, I mean:
- Nasal vowels (/ɑ̃/ as in “maman”; /ɛ̃/ as in “le vin”; /ɔ̃/ as in “non”;).
→ For nasal vowels, the mouth is open, the tongue is low, and the airflow is directed through the nose. - French U (/y/ as in “une”, “lune”…) Lips are rounded and pushed forward, the tongue is high and close to the front of the mouth. It’s not a “ou” sounds ! There’s a difference between : pur (pure) / pour (for), or cuir (leather) / queer (pronounced “couir”) !
- Consonant clusters – French has fewer consonants clusters at the beginning / end of words than English, but they can be challenging anyway. → For example: “montagne”, “fille”.
- The French “R” is pronounced at the back of the throat, the tongue is positioned low and back, and the mouth is slightly open. Think of it as a gargling exercise : “rouge” (red), “rue” (street) “rare” (rare, uncommon) etc.
The problem is: these sounds aren’t only hard to pronounce. They can also be hard to hear. You might need to practice if you want to hear the difference between, for instance, “u” and “ou” !
Practical tips
- Similar words – Practice minimal pairs of words that may differ only by one sound (“peur” and “poire”).
– (en/on) ‘Pendu / pondu”
– (ou/u) “l’amour / la mûre”
– (eu/ou) “la peur / la poule” - Hold your nose – With nasal vowels, practice those by holding your nose while pronouncing the words with nasal sounds (“bon”, “pain”, “un”, “dans”, etc.),
- Everyday practice – Dedicate time every day to practice French sounds, even if it is just
– 5 minutes when you’re on a walk outside. Or simply listening to French music and trying to sing along.
– Or why not read out loud, every morning at breakfast, the title of two French articles online, about current affairs? Or culture? Or sports? - Practice sentences – For all: put them in a sentence once you’re done working on the sounds.
Like “Le loup salue la poule.” (“The wolf says hi to the chicken”) “Les deux fous sont seuls et soûls.” (“The two crazy people are alone and drunk.”)
Or (tongue twister) “Un gros gras grand grain d’orge.” (“A big fat big grain of barley.”)
2) Why French is hard for English speakers: Grammar Complexity
French genders – All French nouns are gendered, either masculine or feminine… And sometimes they can be either, with a different meaning! → For example:
- le livre = the book / la livre = the pound.
- Un tour = a turn / une tour = a tower
“Le” or “Les” Articles (“the”, “a”…) change according to the gender and number of the noun. → For example:
- “the” = le (singular masculine) / la (singular feminine) / les (plural) ;
- “a” = un (“one” masculine) / une (“one” feminine) / des (“some”, “several” plural)
Conjugation and verb groups – French verbs don’t follow the same conjugation! We group them in three labels. Roughly:
- Those that end in -er (like “marcher”, “danser”…) (except “aller” !), the most regular. “Je marche” = I walk, “Je danse” = I dance…
- Some of those that end in -ir (but not all), quite regular. Finir (to end), Nourrir (to feed) → Je finis, je nourris…
- All the other verbs are in the third group, and more or less irregular. Like Aller (to go) → Je vais. Or Pouvoir (can) → Je peux.
And many more, like:
- reflexive verbs → the difference between “lever” and “se lever” (“to rise” / “to rise up”)
- “le” or “du” → the difference between “Je veux le vin.” and “Je veux du vin.” (“I want the wine / I want some wine.”)
- placing pronouns and adverbs → Elle marche souvent. (“She walks often”) and not “Elle souvent marche.” (incorrect and sounds weird.)
You could fill a whole book with these difficulties. Actually, these books do exist. And they can be very useful when learning French!
Practical exercises to improve grammar understanding.
That’s where the hard work starts!
Ressources I recommend:
- “Progressive du français” series from CLE international
- “Practice Makes Perfect: Complete French Grammar” by Annie Heminway (reference book)
- “Le Bescherelle: La grammaire pour tous” (reference book)
Practical exercises:
- Write or build sentences using specific grammar rules and goals (e.g. if you are practicing the passé composé, write about your day making sure that every sentence has at least one verb in the PC.)
- Cloze exercises (where a word is missing from a sentence) can be a good way to practice a specific grammatical point, especially for conjugation.
- Transcribe songs (or podcasts). Try to write what you hear. You can check against the transcript or lyrics.
3) Why French is hard for English speakers: Vocabulary and False Friends
False friends are words that look similar in French and English, but have different meanings. They’re a classic difficulty for students.
For example:
- Une librairie = a bookshop ; a library = une bibliothèque
- Actuellement = currently ; actually = en fait, vraiment, réellement
- Sensible = sensitive ; sensible = raisonnable
Unfortunately, you have to learn them like the rest of French vocabulary: in batch, or one by one as they appear in your practice or structure.
Some strategies for building a robust French vocabulary:
- Journal and flash cards → Keep a list of words that you are learning/discovering. This can be a vocabulary journal. You can create flash cards too, using an app like Anki or a paper index cards.
- Active listening → Actively listen to your favorite French media (YouTube channels from France.tv, news broadcasts from TV5 Monde, Lupin or the French Agency on Netflix, etc.). You can use subtitles to understand the context and then, try watching again without subtitles. Write down new words or phrases in your journal or flashcards.
- Labels → Label your environment (sticky notes on objects around your home in French). You will create constant visual reminders to help associate the French words with the object. This is a very fun idea a student shared. I love it.
4) Why French is hard for English speakers: Sentence Structure and Idioms
Differences in sentence structure between French and English.
- Subject-verb-object order → Generally, French follows the same subject-verb-object order, but can also use subject-object-verb in certain cases, especially with pronominal verbs and some subordinate clauses (“je le connais”,” je lui parle”, etc.)
- Negation → In correct (formal or written) French, negations use the small word “ne”. Je ne veux pas. = I don’t want, Elle ne sort jamais. = She never goes out. (The “ne” often disappears in everyday spoken French.)
- Questions → The order of words in a question can be confusing. In correct (formal and written) French, we do an inversion of subject and verb : Veux-tu sortir ? = Do you want to go out? (very formal) Good news: in everyday spoken French, there’s no inversion, we just tack on a “?” at the end: Tu veux sortir ? = Do you want to go out?
Learning French also means understanding how the language is used, with its idioms and politeness. Like:
- Tu or Vous → In many languages, we use different pronouns when we want to be polite. In French, “Tu” (singular “you”) is used for friends and family, while “Vous” (plural “you”) is used for strangers and people we respect particularly. It’s a rough approximation, and the difference tends to blur, but basically: you should use “vous” at the boulangerie or with the waitstaff in restaurants.
- French “introversion” → French people tend to see silence as respect, where other cultures (like Americans) would see silence as giving a cold shoulder.
- French love of debate → On the other hand, once they’re in a conversation, it’s often said that French people love to disagree, and won’t be afraid of telling you that you’re wrong. Don’t take it personally, you’re allowed to fight back in good fun!
Ressource I recommend:
“Cultural Misunderstandings” by Raymonde Carroll. It blew my mind.
5) Why French is hard for English speakers: Practical Tips for Overcoming these Challenges
Practice daily
- Dedicate a specific time each day for language practice, even if it’s just 5-10 or 15 minutes with your morning coffee. This what students from my 30-day French challenge do: a 15-min French activity every day. The most important is to use your French: talk to your dog, your cat or yourself in French. So the words don’t get stuck in your brain until you forget them.
Have a clear goal
- I always start my live lessons with students with the same question. What do you want to achieve with your French? Not what level you want to reach. Nor what exam you want to pass. Or what tense you are struggling with. This will help you concentrate on the vocabulary and sentences you need for this personal goal.
Beware of the textbook trap!
- If you’re not passing an exam, concentrate on learning spoken French, which is almost a different language from written French from your textbook. Always confront what you learn with what you hear on French TV programs or real conversation. Don’t get stuck in your textbook example, they’re a foundation, not an end goal. You’re here to speak French in real life, not in theory.
Today, we’ve had a short overview of some of the difficulties of learning French:
- The weird French sounds and pronunciation rules
- The complex grammar
- The traps of vocabulary
- And all the cultural nuances of French conversation, big or small
This might sound like a lot… because it is. But there’s a secret. The secret is… even French people struggle with all these rules! In real, everyday French, we don’t even follow all of them!
And this means: don’t worry. We know that it’s hard to learn all the grammar and pronunciation and everything, so we’ll give you a lot of leeway when speaking French yourself. Start by learning what you need, for your own conversations, at your own pace. Or you can focus on one difficulty at a time.
Your turn now
For example, tell me : what do you want to focus on, this week? Write it down in the comment – in French, if you dare!
Share your own challenge with the community !
Are you going to practice listening to the difference between “u” and “ou” ? Or make a deep dive in the grammar of French pronouns? Or simply learn all the vocabulary about French food?
Or you can start with another lesson:
- Learn French with TV: Shows to better understand French
- Understanding Spoken French (Even when it’s fast)
- French Difficulties: The Hardest Things to Learn in French
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Allez, à très vite !
→ If you enjoyed this lesson (and/or learned something new) – why not share this lesson with a francophile friend? You can talk about it afterwards! You’ll learn much more if you have social support from your friends 🙂
Comme d’hab, beaucoup d’astuces très utiles. Merci Geraldine.
Et j’apprécie le “30 day challenges.” Hier, un tas de ressources que j’ai hâte de découvrir.
Vicki
Thanks for your clear explanations.