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.
Verbs and stories
1 sectionVerb lookup: the shapes this path skipped
- Open this when a verb shape blocks you; the two readings do not need any of it.
- After can, must and want, the second verb stays in its dictionary shape — so many French sentences end in a word you can look up exactly as printed.
- Most French verbs end in -er, and those all take the same set of endings.
- Four of those six endings sound identical, which is the silent -ent problem in its purest form.
- Aimereh-may is like and love at once, and only the context tells you which.
You do not need this section to finish the lesson. Every verb the two readings use has already been taught. Open it when a verb shape stops you — an ending you do not recognise, or a word you cannot find in a dictionary because the book changed its shape — and then go back to the story.
Want, can, must — and like
| Dictionary shape | I — | he or she — | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| vouloirvoo-lwahr | je veuxzhuh vuh | il veuteel vuh | to want |
| pouvoirpoo-vwahr | je peuxzhuh puh | il peuteel puh | to be able — can |
| devoirduh-vwahr | je doiszhuh dwah | il doiteel dwah | to have to — must |
| aimereh-may | j'aimezhem | il aimeeel em | to like; to love |
After can, must and want, the second doing word stays in its dictionary shape — the same as English, “I must go”, not “I must goes”. So Il veut dormir.eel vuh dor-meer“He wants to sleep.” ends in a word you can look up exactly as printed.
Ordinary verbs a story uses
| Dictionary shape | he or she — | English |
|---|---|---|
| mangermah(n)-zhay | il mangeeel mah(n)zh | to eat |
| boirebwahr | il boiteel bwah | to drink |
| dormirdor-meer | il dorteel dor | to sleep |
| donnerdoh-nay | il donneeel don | to give |
| prendreprah(n)-druh | il prendeel prah(n) | to take |
| trouvertroo-vay | il trouveeel troov | to find |
| aidereh-day | il aideeel ed | to help |
| courirkoo-reer | il courteel koor | to run |
| volervoh-lay | il voleeel vol | to fly |
| tombertoh(n)-bay | il tombeeel toh(n)b | to fall |
| s'appelersah-play | il s'appelleeel sah-pel | to be called — literally, to call oneself |
French does not say “his name is”; it says he calls himself: il s'appelle Tobieel sah-pel toh-bee“his name is Tobi”. In a narrated fable it wears the scene-setting past: il s'appelaiteel sah-peh-leh“his name was”.
The endings most French verbs take
| French | English |
|---|---|
| je donnezhuh don | I give |
| tu donnestew don | you give |
| il donneeel don / elle donneel don | he gives / she gives |
| nous donnonsnoo doh-noh(n) | we give |
| vous donnezvoo doh-nay | you give |
| ils donnenteel don / elles donnentel don | they give |
Four of those six sound exactly the same. That is the silent-ending problem in its purest form, and it is why the little word in front of the verb is dropped only in an order.