This lesson is deliberately big. It's your reference for the whole foundation of French sentences — you'll come back to it many times.
Goal of Lesson 1: by the end you can build correct simple sentences — say who you are, what you have, what you do, and what you don't do — without translating word-for-word from English.
Every French sentence needs a subject. These are the little words that say who does the action. Learn all seven — but pay special attention to the four that trap English speakers: tu/vous, on, il/elle for objects.
| je (j') | I | → j' before a vowel or h |
| tu | you | one person, informal |
| il / elle | he / she / it | also "it" for objects |
| on | we / people | very common in speech |
| nous | we | more formal |
| vous | you | formal, OR plural |
| ils / elles | they | ils = m. or mixed; elles = all f. |
Before a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) or a silent h, je loses its e and joins the next word.
Both mean "you". tu = one person you're close to. vous = a stranger, someone older, someone above you (a boss, a teacher, an official) — or more than one person.
For our context: when in doubt, use vous — it's the polite, safe choice with anyone you don't know. In the TEF speaking and writing exams, vous is almost always the right register.
on means "we" in everyday French — far more common in speech than nous. It also means "people in general" (like English "you/they/one"). Key trick: even though it means "we", it takes the same verb form as il/elle (3rd person singular).
French has no neutral "it". Every object is masculine or feminine, so you replace it with il (m.) or elle (f.).
ils = a group of males, or a mixed group. elles = a group that is entirely female. One man among a hundred women → still ils.
Pick the subject: "___ speak French at home (we, casual)." · "Book → ___ is interesting." · "To your new boss: "___ parlez anglais?" → On · Il · Vous
The most important verb in French. You'll use it in almost every conversation. Memorize the six forms until you can say them without thinking.
| je | suis | swee |
| tu | es | eh |
| il / elle / on | est | eh |
| nous | sommes | somm |
| vous | êtes | ett |
| ils / elles | sont | sohn |
tu es and il est sound almost the same ("eh"). Don't worry — the subject word tells listeners which one you mean.
After être, the nationality is an adjective: no article, lowercase, and it agrees (add -e for feminine).
No article after être with a job.
Complete: "Nous ___ prêts." · "Elle ___ médecin." · "Je ___ étudiant." → sommes · est · suis
The second engine. Straightforward for possession — but French uses avoir for many things English expresses with "to be". That mismatch is the single biggest beginner trap, so this section is important.
| j' | ai | eh |
| tu | as | ah |
| il / elle / on | a | ah |
| nous | avons | ah-vohn |
| vous | avez | ah-vay |
| ils / elles | ont | ohn |
French says you "have" years. This is different from English and it's tested constantly.
French uses avoir + noun where English uses "to be + adjective". Learn these as fixed blocks:
Say in French: "I am 30." · "We are hungry." · "You (tu) are right." → J'ai 30 ans · Nous avons faim · Tu as raison
About 90% of French verbs end in -er and follow one single pattern. Master it here and you can instantly use hundreds of verbs.
Take the verb (parler), drop -er (→ parl), add the ending for your subject:
| je | parle | silent ending |
| tu | parles | silent ending |
| il / elle / on | parle | silent ending |
| nous | parlons | "ohn" — pronounced |
| vous | parlez | "ay" — pronounced |
| ils / elles | parlent | SILENT |
Huge pronunciation point: je parle, tu parles, il parle, ils parlent all sound identical ("parl"). Only nous (parlons) and vous (parlez) sound different. But in writing you must spell each ending correctly — that's where marks are won and lost.
A small group changes slightly so they stay easy to pronounce. Just be aware of them:
Conjugate travailler: je ___ · nous ___ · ils ___. → travaille · travaillons · travaillent
Good news: basic French word order is the same as English. The one thing to relearn is where adjectives go.
This is the opposite of English and takes practice.
Common little adjectives of beauty, age, goodness, size come before: grand, petit, bon, mauvais, beau, joli, jeune, vieux, nouveau, gros, long.
A handful of adjectives change meaning depending on position — un homme grand (a tall man) vs un grand homme (a great man). You don't need this yet; just know most adjectives sit after the noun, and the little "beauty/age/goodness/size" ones sit before.
Order it: (blanche / maison / une) · (jardin / grand / un). → une maison blanche · un grand jardin
To make any sentence negative, you wrap the verb in two words: ne … pas.
The words un, une, du, de la, des all turn into de (or d') after a negative verb.
In casual speech, French people often drop the "ne" (Je sais pas). That's fine to hear — but in the exam and in writing, always keep the "ne".
Make negative: "J'aime le sport." · "J'ai une voiture." → Je n'aime pas le sport · Je n'ai pas de voiture
Every error here is one that English/Hindi speakers make again and again. Fix these and your writing jumps a level. Come back to this page often.
The questions students ask every single time. Read them — one probably answers something you were wondering.
Do the quiz for instant feedback, then write. Finally, run the self-review checklist.
Score: 0 / 18Homework: in the Drill Bank, do the categories Présent — accord sujet-verbe, Articles, and Expressions avec avoir/faire/être. Then rewrite your paragraph fixing every mistake you find.
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