French grammar
If you are learning French, every dictionary entry comes labelled with a part of speech. This page walks through the categories you will see in SmartWords French content — what each one means, how to spot it in a sentence, common pitfalls, and real example words drawn from our own French vocabulary.
A word that refers to a person, place, thing, or idea.
How to spot it. In French, nouns usually come with a determiner such as le, la, l', un, une, ce, or mon: le livre, une idée. Every noun has grammatical gender, so the article and any adjective often help you recognise it.
Watch out. Do not guess gender from meaning alone: le problème is masculine, but la main is feminine. Learn new nouns with their article, not as a bare word.
The masculine singular definite article.
How to spot it. You see le before a singular masculine noun beginning with a consonant sound: le livre, le garçon, le train. In dictionary-style examples, le is a strong clue that the noun is masculine.
Watch out. Before a vowel sound or silent h, le becomes l': l'homme, l'hôtel. Do not leave it as le in these cases.
The feminine singular definite article.
How to spot it. You see la before a singular feminine noun beginning with a consonant sound: la table, la femme, la voiture. Endings like -tion, -té, and many -ure nouns are often feminine, though not always.
Watch out. Before a vowel sound or silent h, la becomes l': l'école, l'heure. So l' does not tell you by itself whether the noun is masculine or feminine.
The contracted form of a singular definite article used before a word starting with a vowel sound or silent h.
How to spot it. Look for an apostrophe directly attached to the next word: l'ami, l'eau, l'histoire. In French this stands for either le or la before a vowel sound or silent h.
Watch out. Do not assume l' tells you the noun's gender; you must check the dictionary or another form. Also, some h- words are aspirated, so there is no contraction: le héros, la honte.
The plural definite article.
How to spot it. Les appears before plural nouns of either gender: les livres, les femmes, les enfants. In speech, the s is usually silent, but it links as /z/ before a vowel sound: les amis.
Watch out. Les does not show gender, only plurality. To see masculine or feminine agreement, look at adjectives, past participles, or the singular form.
A word that describes an action, state, or experience.
How to spot it. French verbs change form for tense and subject: je parle, nous parlons, ils ont parlé. In a sentence, the verb often comes after the subject and may be preceded by pronouns like je, tu, il, or ne.
Watch out. Do not rely on the infinitive alone: many forms in real text look very different from être, avoir, aller, or faire. When you check a dictionary, identify the infinitive and whether the verb takes avoir or être in compound tenses.
A verb that adds meaning like ability, obligation, intention, or possibility to another verb.
How to spot it. French does not have a separate closed class of modal verbs like English, but verbs such as pouvoir, devoir, and vouloir often fill this role: je peux venir, tu dois partir. They are usually followed by another verb in the infinitive.
Watch out. Do not expect English-style modal rules in French. These are ordinary verbs, so they conjugate normally and can appear in many tenses: il a dû partir, nous voulons essayer.
A verb followed by a small word that together acts as one meaning unit.
How to spot it. French has very few true phrasal verbs of the English type. If a dictionary uses this label for French, it often means a fixed verb expression such as s'en aller or a verb plus preposition like penser à, rather than a separable particle verb.
Watch out. Do not translate English phrasal verbs word for word into French. Learn the whole French expression that matches the meaning, and note whether a preposition like à or de is required.
A verb that conjugates with a reflexive pronoun.
How to spot it. In dictionaries these verbs are listed with se or s': se lever, s'appeler, se souvenir. In sentences, the pronoun changes with the subject: je me lève, nous nous levons, elle s'est souvenue.
Watch out. Do not drop the reflexive pronoun; souvenir is not the same entry as se souvenir. In compound tenses, pronominal verbs usually take être, and agreement can be tricky, so check examples.
A word that describes a noun or pronoun.
How to spot it. French adjectives usually agree with the noun in gender and number: un petit livre, une petite voiture, des livres intéressants. Many come after the noun, but common ones such as petit, grand, beau, bon often come before it.
Watch out. Do not assume French adjectives stay in one form or one position. Learn both the masculine/feminine forms and whether the adjective normally comes before or after the noun.
A word that gives information about a verb, adjective, another adverb, or a whole sentence.
How to spot it. Many French adverbs end in -ment: rapidement, heureusement, vraiment. They often sit near the verb or before an adjective or another adverb: il parle lentement, très difficile.
Watch out. Not every adverb ends in -ment: common ones like bien, mal, très, souvent do not. Also watch position in compound tenses, where short adverbs often go between the auxiliary and past participle: j'ai bien compris.
A word that stands in for a noun so you do not have to repeat it.
How to spot it. French pronouns often appear before the verb: je le vois, elle lui parle, nous y allons. Subject pronouns such as je, tu, il, elle, on, nous, vous, ils, elles are especially frequent because French normally states the subject explicitly.
Watch out. French object pronouns do not sit after the verb the way English pronouns often do. Learn the pronoun order and distinguish forms like le/la/les, lui/leur, y, and en.
A word placed before a noun to specify which one or how many.
How to spot it. Determiners come at the start of the noun phrase: ce livre, mon ami, quelques jours, chaque semaine. In French, a noun very often needs one, whether it is an article, possessive, demonstrative, or quantity word.
Watch out. Do not stack determiners freely: French usually allows one main determiner before the noun. For example, you say mon livre or ce livre, not a direct equivalent of "this my book".
A word used before a noun, pronoun, or phrase to show its relationship to another word.
How to spot it. Common French prepositions include à, de, en, dans, sur, sous, pour, avec, chez. They typically come before a noun phrase or infinitive: à Paris, de Marie, pour comprendre.
Watch out. French prepositions rarely match English one for one: compare penser à, dépendre de, aller en France but aller au Canada. Learn them as part of the whole expression.
A word that links two parts of a sentence.
How to spot it. Common French conjunctions include et, mais, ou, donc, car and clause-linkers such as parce que, quand, si, comme. They usually sit at the join between two words, phrases, or clauses.
Watch out. Do not confuse conjunctions with prepositions: parce que introduces a clause, but à cause de is followed by a noun phrase. Also remember that si can mean "if" and also "so" in answers.
A short word or phrase that expresses a sudden feeling or reaction.
How to spot it. French interjections often stand alone and are marked by punctuation: oh !, ah !, zut !, tiens !. If you remove them, the rest of the sentence usually still works grammatically.
Watch out. Many interjections are informal and strongly tied to tone. Use them mainly in dialogue or casual contexts, and do not translate English ones mechanically.
A short word that marks a noun as specific, general, or partitive.
How to spot it. French articles appear directly before nouns: definite le, la, l', les; indefinite un, une, des; and partitive du, de la, de l'. They are one of the clearest signals that the next word is a noun.
Watch out. French uses articles more often than English, including with general statements: J'aime le chocolat. Also watch contractions such as au (à + le) and du (de + le).
A word that refers to a quantity or a position in order.
How to spot it. Cardinal numbers like deux, vingt, cent usually come before the noun, while ordinal numbers like premier, deuxième behave more like adjectives: deux livres, la première fois. In writing, digits and words both appear frequently.
Watch out. After most numbers, the noun is plural: deux voitures. But forms and spelling can be tricky in French, especially compounds such as quatre-vingts and agreement in ordinals, so check dictionary examples.
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