Download Commonly Made French Mistakes

Commonly Made French
Mistakes
À+ a city/town
• When refering to a city/ town, always use
“à”.
• Example: “J’ai visité à Pottstown.”
Beaucoup de
• “Beaucoup de” is an expression of
quantity.
• Expressions of quantity ALWAYS take
“de”.
• Example: “Il y a beaucoup de voiture dans
la parking.”
• *Note: DO NOT attempt to make “de”
agree with anything in the sentence. It is
not meant to.
Peut être
• The phrase “peut etre” (maybe) does not
take a hyphen. Just a space.
Direct Object Agreement
• If a direct object comes before the subject,
the verb must ALWAYS agree with the
direct object. NOT the subject.
Quand + future verb
• If you see quand and a verb that is in the
future, the rest of the sentence will be in
the future tense.
Soudain
• Definition: Suddenly
• Indicates interuption. Soudain is a red flag
for the passé composé.
S’amuser vs. S’aumser bien
• S’amuser means to have fun.
• S’amuser bien means to have a good
time.
To be well/unwell
• If you were to describe your state of being
with “bien” or “mal”, do NOT use être. Use
aller.
• One would say, “Je vais bien/mal,” not, “Je
suis bien/mal.”
Referring to a Month/Day
• When referring to being in a particular
month use “en”, not “dans”.
• Example: en novembre
• When referring to being in or on a
particular day, do NOT use “sur”. Just say
le …(insert date here).
• Example: “J’ai visité à Pottstown le quatre
août.”
À
Feminine
Masculine
Singular
À la/ À l’
Au
Plural
Aux
Aux
De
Feminine
Masculine
Singular
De la/De l’
Du
Des
Des
Plural
Possessive Adjectives
• Possessive adjectives agree with the
gender of THE WORD, not your own
gender.
• Example: mon oncle, ma voiture, mon
auto, ma maison.
Reflexive Verbs
• Reflexive verbs take Être in the passé
composé.
Possessive
• The French language does not take
apostrophes. Use “de” and and its
conjugations.
• Example: Le chat du mon cousin…La
voiture du mon ami…
Articles
• Don’t forget that every noun takes an
article.
• Le, la, les, un, une, des
Visiter vs. Rendre Visiter
• The verb “visiter” means to visit something
or to tour something.
• “Rendre visiter” means to pay someone a
visit.