French Grammar
French grammar is the set of structural rules governing the French language. It is notable for grammatical gender, a complex verb system, strict pronoun placement, and prepositions that cannot be reliably predicted from English equivalents. The primary reference in this knowledge base is heminway-2018-complete-french-all-in-one, which covers the full range of French grammar systematically.
Core Components
Articles
French uses three types of articles, all inflected for gender and number:
- Definite articles: le (masc. sing.), la (fem. sing.), l’ (before vowel/mute h), les (plural).
- Indefinite articles: un, une, des.
- Partitive articles: du, de la, de l’ — used for uncountable nouns and substances.
Articles contract with prepositions à and de: à + le = au, de + le = du.
See also: french-articles
Noun Gender
All French nouns are either masculine or feminine. Gender is not semantically predictable and must be learnt with each noun. Endings provide partial guidance — see french-noun-gender for rules and exceptions.
Verb System
French verbs are conjugated for person, number, tense, and mood. Regular verbs follow three conjugation patterns (-er, -ir, -re); irregular verbs (être, avoir, aller, faire, prendre, etc.) must be memorised. See french-verb-tenses for the full tense/mood inventory.
Key tenses and moods:
| Tense/Mood | Usage |
|---|---|
| Présent | Current actions, habitual facts |
| Passé composé | Completed past actions (spoken/written) |
| Imparfait | Past ongoing states, habitual past actions |
| Plus-que-parfait | Actions prior to another past action |
| Futur simple | Future events |
| Conditionnel | Hypothetical, polite requests |
| Subjonctif | Wishes, doubt, emotion after conjunctions |
| Passé simple | Literary/formal narration |
Pronouns
French has a rich pronoun system with strict word-order rules. See french-pronouns for the full treatment. Key categories:
- Subject pronouns: je, tu, il/elle, nous, vous, ils/elles
- Direct/indirect object pronouns: me, te, le/la, lui, nous, vous, les, leur
- Adverbial pronouns: y (place/indirect object), en (quantity/de-complement)
- Disjunctive (stressed) pronouns: moi, toi, lui, etc.
- Relative pronouns: qui, que, dont, où
When two object pronouns appear before the same verb, order is strictly: me/te/nous/vous → le/la/les → lui/leur → y → en.
Adjectives
French adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. Most follow the noun; a fixed set (BAGS: Beauty/Age/Goodness/Size) typically precede it. Comparative: plus… que, superlative: le/la plus….
See also: french-adjectives
Adverbs
Most French adverbs are formed by adding -ment to the feminine form of the adjective. Placement varies: frequency adverbs follow conjugated verbs; manner adverbs typically follow past participles in compound tenses.
See also: french-adverbs
Prepositions
Prepositions are one of the hardest aspects of French for English speakers — see french-prepositions. They cannot be mechanically mapped from English; many verbs and adjectives govern specific prepositions that must be memorised.
Negation
Standard negation surrounds the conjugated verb: ne… pas. Variants include ne… jamais, ne… rien, ne… personne, ne… plus, ne… que (restriction). In spoken French, ne is often dropped.
See also: french-negation
Pronominal Verbs
Pronominal verbs (reflexive/reciprocal) are conjugated with a reflexive pronoun (se lever, s’appeler, etc.) and form the passé composé with être as the auxiliary. They are a distinctive and common feature of French grammar.
See also: french-pronominal-verbs
Additional Grammar Topics
- french-conjunctions — Coordinating and subordinating conjunctions
- french-indirect-speech — Reported speech and tense shifts
- french-numbers — Cardinal and ordinal numbers
- french-passive-voice — Passive constructions with être + past participle
- french-questions — Inversion, est-ce que, and question words
Sources
- heminway-2018-complete-french-all-in-one — Primary grammar reference; 37 chapters covering all above topics
- unknown-edito-a1-methode-de-francais — A1-level grammar in communicative context (⚠️ file empty)