Learn to read French
A short, active path into reading French: decode real words before revealing their sound, learn the silent endings and the joins between words, follow where the pieces of a sentence sit, and read a small story before opening your first book.
The past that books are written in
- French books narrate in a past almost nobody speaks — the passé simple. You only have to recognise it.
- Its shape: a person word or a name, then a short word ending in a, i, u or a nasal vowel.
- il diteel dee is both “he says” and “he said” — only the story tells you which.
- The imparfait sets the scene rather than moving it; with a he-or-she subject it always ends in the sound “eh”, written -ait.
- How things already were → imparfait; what then happened → passé simple.
French has a past tense that almost nobody speaks. It is why a beginner opens a French book and finds every verb unfamiliar — and you only ever have to recognise it.
Now → then
| Present | Past of books | English |
|---|---|---|
| il voit | il viteel vee | he sees → he saw |
| il va | il allaeel ah-lah | he goes → he went |
| il vient | il vinteel va(n) | he comes → he came |
| il tombe | il tombaeel toh(n)-bah | he falls → he fell |
| il répond | il réponditeel ray-poh(n)-dee | he answers → he answered |
| il dit | il diteel dee | he says → he said |
Every form in the middle column is short and ends in a, i, u or a nasal vowel — the shape to watch for. The last row is not a misprint: dire does not move, and it is the commonest verb in any dialogue.
The scene-setting past
| Present | Scene-setting past | English |
|---|---|---|
| il est | il étaiteel ay-teh | he is → he was |
| il a | il avaiteel ah-veh | he has → he had |
Background — weather, feelings, what somebody had — sits in this past; events take the short one. était sets the scene, vit moves it.
Once upon a time there was a little mouse. One day, a cat came.
Il était une fois une petite souris. Un jour, un chat vint.
eel ay-teh-tewn fwah ewn puh-teet soo-ree. u(n) zhoor, u(n) shah va(n)
“It was one time” — the phrase that opens a French story. Scene first, then event.
The spoken past: a helper verb plus a participle
| French | English |
|---|---|
| j'ai mangézhay mah(n)-zhay | I ate |
| il a vueel ah vew | he saw |
| je suis allézhuh swee-zah-lay / allée | I went — the extra e when “I” is a woman |
| il est tombéeel eh toh(n)-bay | he fell |
Most verbs take avoir; a short list of coming-going-falling verbs takes être and agrees like an adjective. This is the past people speak, so in books it lives inside the quotation marks, and almost nowhere else.
Scene or event?
- Le chat tomba dans l'eau.
Short, and ending in a. Which of the two pasts is that?
Show answer +Hide answer −
“luh shah toh(n)-bah dah(n) loh.” — The cat fell in the water. An event, so the short past. - La souris était triste.
The ending is “eh”. Scene, or event?
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“lah soo-ree ay-teh treest.” — The mouse was sad. A scene, so the scene-setting past. - Il était une fois un renard.
Four words that are really one phrase.
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“eel ay-teh-tewn fwah u(n) ruh-nar.” — Once upon a time there was a fox.