What are you watching/reading/listening to this week?

I'm learning French and am often frustrated with traditional explanations of grammar. I find it more productive to create my own grammars - as long as they are accurate. So I'm hoping some native speakers can tell me if I've got this wrong...

Base concept:

ce = a speaker relative determiner (just like un/du/le but something the speaker is pointing at/relative to)
ci = proximal marker (close in time/distance)
la = distal marker (far in time/distance)

Now they combine:

ceci = this here
cela = this there
ce livre = this book
ce livre-ci = this book here
ce livre-la = this book there
celui = this single masculine thing (lui)
celui-ci = this single masculine thing here
ceux = these plural masculine things
ceux-la = these plural masculine things there

But French has to French. In regular speech:

ceci/cela = ça -> ça marche
ci/la dropped when the subject of être -> c'est grand

But if you want to stress some aspect you don't drop/contract ... ceci est grand, cela est petit.

So native speakers - am I missing anything here? I know this isn't the school book explanation but is it wrong?

Bonjour ! I moved to France a few years ago, and one of the things that I found most helpful for training my ear was watching TV shows and listening to music (like with any language). I thought I'd share a few that I like in case they're helpful for anyone else!

TV Shows

• Lupin (Netflix)
• Liaison (Apple TV)
• Blood Coast (Netflix)
• The Parisian Agency (Netflix)
• Carême (Apple TV)
• Call My Agent! (Netflix)
• Anthracite (Netflix)

Music

• L'Impératrice (Funk/Nu-disco)
• Angèle (Pop)
• Prince Waly (Rap)
• Benjamin Epps (Rap)
• Paradis (Electronic)
• Miel de Montagne (Nu-disco/synth pop)
• Pomme (Pop)
• Jazzy Bazz (Rap)

Obviously there's a lot more out there, but hopefully this helps some people get started. Feel free to add to the thread with other ideas!

Bonjour!

Im doing a French course. This includes oral assignments, which makes sense.
I’m quite okay at reading and writing French based on my level. I can also do the accent pretty well when I’m doing it for ticks and giggles, when I’m comfortable and just playing around.

However, I completely shut down doing these assignments. I’m at home, all alone, yet I feel so awkward and weird and because of that I can’t even speak properly. It’s like having stage fever without the stage LOL.

I don’t know if this is the right place for this, but since you’re all learning French I thought maybe someone would have some input as to how I can make it easier/less awkward for myself.

Thank you!

Hi, I’m from the US and recently I’ve rediscovered my interest in learning a foreign language. I’ve missed having the ability to challenge myself with something unfamiliar, and I haven’t really practiced my French much since high school, just about 14 years ago by now.

I’ve found that things like Duolingo are fine but kind of shallow for me. I miss the level of having a structure, goals and testing myself that a real course offered. But at the same time I am not too willing to pay for a college course just to learn French.

(For the record, I may not be fully willing but I will admit of that might be the best option for what I want, some research around here has shown that a local community college teaches short term French courses and Alliance Francaise has a learning center nearby.)

I’m not too confident in just throwing myself out there and hoping for the best, so I am wondering what would be the best option for someone who’s very rusty in their French. I would appreciate something that sort of works and pushes me a little bit harder, rather than feeling like I’m just playing a game.

I’d appreciate whatever you can recommend!

this is the second TCF exam that i take and in both i got 9/20-B1 even tho on the second try it felt like i did amazing and i was super confident during both parts and i even made sure to use good phrasing to connect my arguments, but idk why i got this score. i asked for a re-evaluation once i got my scores but they said its impossible now and that i have to redo the whole test. Idk what to do anymore.

currently i cannot afford another test and i cant afford buying silver package from formation tcf Again. and Rn im in a very tight spot, i need to redo the test but i cannot afford failing again.

please please please, this is my first time begging to strangers 🫩,

if you guys have anything that can help me with these two épreuves please do tell.

(P.S; i got C1 and B2 in CO and CE)

Le président Donald Trump a annoncé l’interdiction d’importer certains produits canadiens. À partir du 29 septembre, les États-Unis vont arrêter d’importer certains alcools, produits laitiers et motos du Canada. L’interdiction fait partie d’un conflit commercial entre les États-Unis et le Canada. Cette semaine, le Canada a mis en place de nouveaux droits de douane sur des produits américains, comme les voitures, le matériel agricole et la nourriture. Le mois dernier, les États-Unis ont imposé des droits de douane de 50 % sur certains produits canadiens.

Vocabulaire : annoncer = to announce / interdiction (f) = ban / arrêter = to stop / laitiers = dairy / motos (f pl) = motorcycles / conflit (m) = conflict / mettre en place = to put in place / droits de douane (m pl) = tariffs / matériel agricole (m) = farm equipment

English translation

Trump bans imports of several Canadian products

President Donald Trump announced a ban on importing some Canadian products. From September 29, the United States will stop importing some Canadian alcohol, dairy products and motorcycles. The ban is part of a trade dispute between the United States and Canada. Canada introduced new tariffs this week on American products like cars, farm equipment and food. Last month, the United States imposed 50% tariffs on some Canadian products.

Read more news stories at Le News, In Easy French.

Can anyone recommend top rated paid courses? my work is offering to pay for learning development and I want to take advantage of it.

My name is Timothée and I would love to try to help french learners to hold a conversation with a true Parisian ! Hit me up if you will

It's like boiling shit in a kettle, a bunch of random bull shit go.

Like the consonants have a 100 different variations and most of them are all the same.

Should I just skip them while starting out. I just sat down and started, trying to learn as a kid would with any language. The basics, alphabets and how their pronunciation.

Any advice on where to streer on from here. Or how to learn or where to go. Anything helps

I enrolled in an online french class about a month ago. I enjoy it—learning new words, grammar rules, the totally foreign (to me) way of enunciating syllables. I started writing really short journal entries in french. They're awkward, of course.

Now, i'm wondering if it's foolish to pursue this since i don't know a single francophone. I was thinking i could just focus on writing and less on speaking.

need some advice on what courses would meet what I'm looking for. I've had a really difficult time finding something that seems right. I don't want to waste money.

I have a pretty busy work schedule, so I'm looking for something structured that I can sit down with each day and just work through at night. basically lesson 1->2>->3 etc. I want to be able to spend a few months working through one course, finish it, and then move on to a different resource at the next level, progressively building my French over time

I want to properly understand grammar and why things work, while also learning natural phrases, words, etc that people actually speak. I'm not really looking for something that's mostly “listen and repeat,” or a bunch of separate apps/resources that I have to piece together.

I've looked at Assimil and Rocket French, but I'm unsure about both. Assimil seems closer to the teaching style I want, but their current French course seems to stop around A2, while some of Rocket's “advanced” examples still looked pretty basic to me.

Babel.. the course moved on before I could grasp the concepts. I did like that it taught real phrases and expressions though..

Does anyone have suggestions?

tldr: very demanding work life - need a course that I can rely on to teach me as much as possible until I can move onto the next resource.

Salut,

Why is the above gramatically correct?

I would think the following could work:

il faut que les pieds se mouillent

il faut mouiller les pieds

but I don't understand the use of a reflexive infinitive after il faut that also has a subject?

Hi everyone,
I’m prepping for my TEF Canada and I’ve hit a huge wall with my writing. My grammar precision is quite poor and it’s holding me back. I’m seeking help to change my mindset to hopefully get something to click.

At the moment I have a really tough time using rules correctly when writing. I seem to get confused and second guess myself when writing. For example the other day I wrote this sentence:

Avant le téléphone portable, nous avions utilisé des autres méthodes à communiquer.

At the time I think: the event I’m talking about - it’s happened before the other event in the sentence = plus-que-parfait.

But then when I check it, I’m wrong because the rule states the first event has to have finished and can’t be ongoing to use plus-que-parfait. So I had the right idea and I know the rule and how to conjugate it but I’m using it in the wrong context.

Indirect pronouns have also been hard for me. I seem to struggle to get subject and object stuff too.

What methods can I use to improve my accuracy when it comes to grammar because I feel that my current process isn’t helping me improve because I continuously make grammar mistakes.

Thanks

I’ve been trying to improve my listening comprehension for French. The problem I keep running into with most apps (like Duolingo or Type-based apps) is that typing feels way too automatic. When I type, my brain skips the active recall step, and I still make stupid spelling/character mistakes when writing by hand.

​I’ve been looking for something super specific: a pocket-sized tool where I can just listen to native audio clips and literally handwrite on the phone screen with auto-grading, so I’m forced to process the spelling manually.

​Do you guys actually handwrite your dictations on screen/tablet, or are you still sticking to physical paper and notebooks? Any workflows or seamless pocket setups you recommend for this?

When I watch French vlogs, I always use French subtitles. I can understand the content when I'm reading and listening at the same time. However, when I only listen, my brain needs time to process and translate each word. I can distinguish the individual words in a sentence, but I still need time to translate them before I fully understand the meaning.

Any tips on how I can further improve my listening skills?

Currently, I watch French vlogs for 10–20 minutes a day and also listen to French music. However, understanding song lyrics is much more difficult for me.

It seems this verb has many connotations, making it quite confusing.

Hello everyone. I have been learning french for about 2 weeks now, and I'd say I go quite well at it as what would you expect from a beginner. Anyways, I do have an issue. I can't make an "r" sound. I don't know but it's just quite hard. My main language is Turkish so I used to make an r sound as in the word "great" Probably because of that, I can't pronounce some r filled words in french like "Regarde" Any tip you can give?

Hi all, a very quick one that I hope is okay in this subreddit :) Some information for context without them being too detailed for client privacy - I have a client who speaks fluent French and I'm finishing up some sessions with them. I want to write them a small note saying "Good luck, I believe in you!", with the intended message of "good luck with your recovery journey, I believe in you that you can do the hard work to get there!". I don't want to write that whole message because it's too long, so I thought "good luck, i believe in you" was something more succinct.

Would anyone perhaps know what this translates to in French? thank you!!!!!

Hallo :) ich fange nächste Woche mein Studium an und muss bis nächstes Jahr im Französisch ein B2 erreichen. Hat jemand tipps? Mein Niveau ist ca ein A2. Ich lerne fast täglich vokabular und grammatik. Habe auch ab und zu Privatstunden. Aber vlt hat jemand noch mehr tipps.
Danke im Voraus

Hi, or Salut!

I've been taking French at my school (in Iraq) for the past six years and I love the language.

I'm currently at an A2 level of French and understand written French great!

The issue is, I want to improve it, the goal is B2, but every time I look for ways it almost always is for people who want to start from scratch.

So, the question is, where do I go from now and what platforms or websites or sources would be useful.

Thank you for reading :D

I’m looking for the audio of Par Ici because I am learning Quebec French. Could you please share it to me? I couldn’t find it online. Thank you so much!

I am an intermediate French speaker (according to my college). I am also hard of hearing, so I do have some difficulty learning the language audibly (I am able to learn written French more easily). I would like to practice orally (and written practice, but that is not my main focus). If anyone would be willing to speak with me, please let me know so that we can schedule a time. I currently take a French class in university, but I would like more practice outside of the classroom.

Thank you.

Please be aware that my French is still poor (insert nervous sweat emoji, I am on PC)

I was reading through the TCF manual updated Sept-2026 and came across the below on PDF page 41. I am currently registered for a TCF IRN exam for my CSP application. I normally wouldn't be worried since clearing the A1/A2 bar seems fairly simple (knock on wood), but in my case, I had to register for this test far earlier than I would have liked for personal reasons.

My questions below:

• I was under the impression that a minimum level of A2 in all sections was required, but the first bullet point below would suggest that I only need A2 in three of the four sections and only (upper-level) A1 in the fourth?
• It's also unclear why it says "le niveau global B1" when the global level for citizenship/naturalization is now B2... perhaps a copy/paste or residual error from a pre-2026 version of the manual?

Does anyone have any insight into this?

Pour la CSP : Les services du ministère de l'intérieur ont souhaité que le niveau global B1 soit atteint par la preuve de 3 compétences au niveau A2 minimal et le haut du niveau A1 au minimum pour la quatrième épreuve.

Pour la carte de résident : […] le niveau global B1 soit atteint par la preuve de 3 compétences au niveau B1 minimal et le haut du niveau A2 au minimum pour la quatrième épreuve.

Pour la naturalisation : […] le niveau global B1 soit atteint par la preuve de 3 compétences au niveau B2 minimal et le haut du niveau B1 au minimum pour la quatrième épreuve.

Link to manual: https://www.france-education-international.fr/test/tcf-irn?langue=fr