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.
Words
1 sectionWord lookup: numbers, people, animals, colours, weather
- Open this when a story hands you a word you cannot place; the two readings do not need any of it.
- Nouns are listed with le or la in front, so the masculine-or-feminine label comes free.
- The gender of an animal word has nothing to do with the animal.
- From seventy, French counts out loud in arithmetic: quatre-vingtskat-ruh-va(n)“80” is four-twenties.
- femmefam“woman” is one of a tiny handful of words where e is said “ah”.
You do not need this section to finish the lesson. The two readings were built without it. Open it when a story hands you a word you cannot place — a number, an animal, a colour, somebody’s relative — take the row you came for, and go back. Nothing here is homework.
One to ten
| Number | French — said standing alone |
|---|---|
| 1 | unu(n) |
| 2 | deuxduh |
| 3 | troistrwah |
| 4 | quatrekat-ruh |
| 5 | cinqsa(n)k |
| 6 | sixsees |
| 7 | septset |
| 8 | huitweet |
| 9 | neufnuhf |
| 10 | dixdees |
A final number-consonant changes with what follows: deux amisduh-za-mee“two friends” wakes the silent x, deux chiensduh shya(n)“two dogs” keeps it silent. The sixties are ordinary; from seventy French does arithmetic out loud: soixante-dixswah-sah(n)t-dees“70” is sixty-ten and quatre-vingtskat-ruh-va(n)“80” is four-twenties. Forget that until a book hands you one.
People
| French | English |
|---|---|
| la mèrelah mehr | the mother |
| le pèreluh pehr | the father |
| le frèreluh frehr | the brother |
| la sœurlah suhr | the sister |
| un garçonu(n) gar-soh(n) | a boy |
| une filleewn feey | a girl; a daughter |
| un enfantu(n)-nah(n)-fah(n) | a child |
| un hommeu(n)-nom | a man |
| une femmeewn fam | a woman; a wife |
| un amiu(n)-na-mee | a friend |
With people the label follows the person: un amiu(n)-na-mee is a male friend, une amieew-na-mee a female one — and the extra e changes nothing you can hear. French will not write ma amie, because two vowels may not bump, so it borrows the masculine word and writes mon amiemoh(n)-na-mee. The word is still feminine.
Animals
| French | English |
|---|---|
| le chienluh shya(n) | the dog |
| le chatluh shah | the cat |
| l'oiseaulwah-zoh | the bird |
| le poissonluh pwah-soh(n) | the fish |
| le chevalluh shuh-vahl | the horse |
| la sourislah soo-ree | the mouse |
| le renardluh ruh-nar | the fox |
| l'oursloors | the bear |
| le lapinluh lah-pa(n) | the rabbit |
| le loupluh loo | the wolf |
| le hibouluh ee-boo | the owl |
Only one of these is feminine: la souris, and a mouse is la souris whether it is male or female. Two oddities: le hibouluh ee-boo never shrinks to l'hibou, and le chevalluh shuh-vahl turns into les chevauxlay shuh-voh in the plural. It is the same word underneath.
Colours
| With a masculine word | With a feminine word | English |
|---|---|---|
| rougeroozh | rougeroozh | red |
| bleubluh | bleuebluh | blue |
| vertvehr | vertevehrt | green |
| jaunezhohn | jaunezhohn | yellow |
| noirnwahr | noirenwahr | black |
| blancblah(n) | blancheblah(n)sh | white |
| brunbru(n) | brunebrewn | brown |
| grisgree | grisegreez | grey |
Half of these sound identical in both shapes; the others differ by the consonant the silent e wakes up. In brunebrewn the vowel also leaves the nose and becomes the French u.
Sky, weather and places
| French | English |
|---|---|
| le soleilluh soh-lay-y | the sun |
| la lunelah lewn | the moon |
| le cielluh syel | the sky |
| le jourluh zhoor | the day |
| la nuitlah nwee | the night |
| la pluielah plwee | the rain |
| le ventluh vah(n) | the wind |
| la neigelah nezh | the snow |
| l'eauloh | the water |
| la portelah port | the door |
| le cheminluh shuh-ma(n) | the road |
Days and months
| French | English |
|---|---|
| lundilu(n)-dee, mardimar-dee, mercredimehr-kruh-dee | Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday |
| jeudizhuh-dee, vendredivah(n)-druh-dee | Thursday, Friday |
| samedisam-dee, dimanchedee-mah(n)sh | Saturday, Sunday |
| janvierzhah(n)-vyay, févrierfay-vree-yay, marsmars | January, February, March |
| avrilah-vreel, maimeh, juinzhwa(n) | April, May, June |
| juilletzhwee-yeh, aoûtoot, septembresep-tah(n)-bruh | July, August, September |
| octobreok-toh-bruh, novembrenoh-vah(n)-bruh, décembreday-sah(n)-bruh | October, November, December |
No capital letters on days or months. Every day ends in -didee except Sunday, and the week starts on Monday.
Times of day, and the hour
| French | English |
|---|---|
| le matinluh mah-ta(n) | the morning |
| midimee-dee | noon |
| l'après-midilah-preh-mee-dee | the afternoon |
| le soirluh swahr | the evening |
| minuitmee-nwee | midnight |
| Quelle heure est-il ?kel uhr eh-teel | What time is it? |
| Il est trois heures.eel eh trwah-zuhr | It is three o’clock. |
| Il est une heure et demie.eel eh ew-nuhr ay duh-mee | It is half past one. |
The hour is always spelled out with heures — “three hours” — and the number glues onto it: deux heuresduh-zuhr, six heuressee-zuhr.
More describing words, and where they sit
| Masculine | Feminine | English | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|---|
| vieuxvyuh | vieillevyay-y | old | in front |
| jeunezhuhn | jeunezhuhn | young | in front |
| mauvaismoh-veh | mauvaisemoh-vez | bad | in front |
| beauboh | bellebel | beautiful | in front |
| heureuxuh-ruh | heureuseuh-ruhz | happy | behind |
| tristetreest | tristetreest | sad | behind |
Two of these change shape in front of a vowel, because vieux homme is unsayable and French will not stand for it: le vieil hommeluh vyay-yom“the old man” and un bel oiseauu(n) bel wah-zoh“a beautiful bird”.