The French imperfect (imparfait) is a descriptive past tense that indicates an ongoing state of being or a repeated or incomplete action. The beginning and end of…

Savoir and Connaître Savoir and connaître both mean “to know.” But they mean “to know” in very different ways: savoir relates more to things and connaître relates more to people, although there…

In le passé composé tense, pronominal verbs are always conjugated with the auxiliary verb être, which you have already learned. The reflexive pronoun is placed before the auxiliary verb.…

French pronominal verbs are accompanied by the reflexive pronoun se or s’ preceding the infinitive, thus, the grammatical term “pronominal,” which means “relating to a pronoun.” All conjugated verbs, with…

The French recent past is a verb construction that’s used to express something that just happened. It is called the passé récent. Like the futur proche, or near future,…

The French verb venir literally means “to come” and is also used in many idiomatic expressions. It’s an essential verb for beginners to learn and is used in a…

Do the French have a negative way of speaking? “Non – ce n’est pas possible !”, “Je n’ai aucune idée”, “J’y peux rien” are a…

Le futur simple corresponds to the will-future tense in English. We mostly use this tense to talk about future plans or intentions in French, as well…

French adverbs, like their English counterparts, are used to modify adjectives, other adverbs, and verbs or clauses. They do not display any inflection; that is, their…

Stressed pronouns, also called disjunctive or emphatic pronouns, are used to provide emphasis of a personal pronoun that refers to a person or group of…