Learn French Now: 13 Free Ways to Start Learning Today

So you’re thinking of learning French but don’t know where to start? Maybe you’re tired of shopping for different ways to learn, or maybe you took some classes in the past but want to start anew? It’s tough to overcome those initial fears and self-doubts.

Start right now, below this paragraph, with 13 brief lessons and exercises that will get you listening, speaking, reading, and writing. They’re manageable, but don’t get discouraged if you forget some things as you go along or if you make mistakes. Approach this like a baby approaches its first language: by practicing, practicing, practicing because you need to communicate.

How to Learn French On Your Own

At The French Objective, we believe you can learn French in 1 year on your own with the right content and type of practice. I spent years trying to learn in a classroom, then I went on a month-long immersive trip to Paris. That trip showed me what I needed to do to become fluent. I brought that knowledge home and in about 7 months I was speaking fluently. The secret sauce? Well..

You need to practice listening, speaking, reading, and writing in even increments, and you must repeat new material over the course of multiple days. This article will get you started doing just that.

Write a 2 line story that interests you

Start French right now by writing a 2 line story with 6 subjects, 5 verbs, 5 nouns, 2 prepositions, and 4 articles (if you need a refresher, you can download this free English grammar cheat sheet). Make sure that story in on a topic that interests you. This is the kind of active approach that’s essential in learning French for beginners. I’ve always been interested in prison breaks (especially wild west ones). Here’s my example:

6 Subjects

je	I
tu	you
il/elle	he/she
nous	we
vous	you (plural and formal)
ils/elles	they (masculine and feminine)

5 Verbs

5 Nouns

Noun	Masculine	Feminine
Wall	le mur	n/a
Field	le champs	n/a
Guard	le guard	n/a
Warden	le directeur	la directrice
Prison	le prison	n/a

2 Prepositions

Preposition	Translation	with masculine article	with feminine article
to	à	à + le = au	à la
of/from	de	de + le = du	de la

4 Articles

Article	Masculine form	Feminine Form
The	le	la
A	un	une

My 2 line story

Je suis le directeur. Tu es au prison. Nous avons un mur. Tu sautes! Tu as le champs! Je cours.
I am the warden. You are in the prison. We have a wall. You jump! You have the field! I run.

Nous courrons. Nous nous battons. Tu n’es plus.
We run. We fight. You are no longer.

Your turn

This little exercise will get you to start thinking dynamically about the words you use. It depends entirely on topics that interest you, and you will naturally develop a rhythm for learning organically that stems from your own center of interests. Write yours here:

Download a text-to-voice extension and read your story aloud

Don’t stop after simply writing your story. It’s critical that you read your story aloud to get a feeling for the words. You might also consider downloading a read aloud extension if you’re using Google Chrome (there are alternatives available on other browsers).

To use it you simply highlight the text you want to hear, then click the extension button. With this tool you can hear how that text should be said! While the robot voice is slightly unnatural, it’s far better to start now with a slightly strange voice than to forgo practicing listening altogether.

Learn these 4 articles

The four articles I gave in my story example are quintessential words to know in French. Like their English counterparts “the” and “a,” you will use them all of the time. Knowing these right away will give you a head start on a lot of other lessons. I’ve written them below.

Grab a piece of paper and write them down. Then listen to me say them in the audio section below. Say them yourself. Listen to me again. Continue until you feel that we’re producing the same sounds. Remember, you need to practice this over the course of several days.

That doesn’t mean you listen to them three days in a row. It means you listen to and say them spontaneously over the course of several weeks. Save this page to your favorites if you have to — just make sure you repeat.

Learn these daily expressions

Learn these 5 nouns

Here are 5 of the most common nouns in the French language. You will hear them all the time. Commit them to memory by listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Write a list of expressions you want to say and translate them with these resources

In addition to the expressions you saw above, focus on expression that you regularly use. When I was learning French, I found it most helpful to identify expressions I used naturally and find their equivalent in French.

This doesn’t always work, but it’s much better to make French work for you than to adapt yourself to French at every turn. Learning should be an expansion of your mind into a new language. Over time, you will adapt naturally.

For example, an expression I used often is “that was close.” In French, the equivalent in “ce n’était pas loin,” or “it wasn’t far.” Another example is simply saying “it was great.” Strangely, the French say “ce n’était vraiment pas mal,” or “it was really not bad.”

By addressing expressions I use naturally in English, I cut the work that my brain has to do in half to use the French expression. If I told you to learn the French expression “con de chez con,” which means “stupid from stupid’s place,” you would probably never use it because it’s simply not natural for English speakers.

When you want to translate into French, my suggestion is using Linguee.com for expressions longer than two words and using WordReference.com for expressions of two words or less.

That said, take time now to write out 8 expressions in English below. Before you lock them in, translate them with linguee and wordreference in another tab and read them a few times each. Write out the translation next to each expression. Lock it in! Then you’ll want to listen to them using a text-to-speech extension in Google Crome or equivalent.

Say them aloud 5 times each until you remember exactly what they are

Speaking aloud what you have written will work wonders for you in the early stages of learning. You simply must get used to hearing the sound of your own voice in French if you ever hope to speak it.

Some people say that you need a speaking partner in the beginning to help correct your mistakes. I disagree. In fact, it can be so nerve wracking in the beginning to speak that you should start on your own.

When you listen to these expressions, record yourself saying them, then repeat it aloud again 5 times until you feel comfortable and know exactly what they are.

Learn these 6 subjects

You may have already understood how important these six subjects are from the story exercise above. These are the six pronouns that represent all the possible subjects we can use to form a sentence (without proper nouns like Sally, Joe, Mike, etc.).

For the most part, these are the same as English subjects. There are, however, three important differences: the use of “on,” the formal you, “vous,” and gendered plural pronouns. Here’s a one sentence description on each.

“On” means “one” and we use it to avoid specifying a subject; moreover, it can be used to replace “nous” to say “we” in informal situations.

“Vous” is the way French people address multiple people and the way the address someone with great respect such as an elderly person or boss.

“Ils” and “elles” are simply gendered ways to reference multiple people in the 3rd person, or “they” in English, and they defer to the masculine form in the presence of men and women.

je	I
tu	you
il/elle/on	he/she/it
nous	we
vous	you (plural and formal)
ils/elles	they (masculine and feminine)

Watch this video of actual speakers and just take it in

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Now go back and repeat everything they say

I know — it sounds crazy. You should go back and repeat each French expression aloud. You should also be writing them down as you go along. Come back to this article to repeat this next week as well.

Learn these 5 verbs

Basic French language includes these 5 essential verbs. You should read them below, listen to me say them, write them down on a piece of paper or in a word document, and say them aloud 5 times each or until you feel comfortable.

Now watch this video and take it in

Learn these 2 prepositions

Read the table below, then write down your own version. Listen to me pronounce each one below and then say them aloud!

Preposition	Translation	with masculine article	with feminine article
to	à	à + le = au	à la
of/from	de	de + le = du	de la

Learn Real French Now

And you’re done! If you went through this article, you successfully learned some French right away. You’re on a good path, too. The struggle that many speakers face is trying to learn French in someone else’s way — on someone else’s terms.

It’s easy to get stuck learning vocabulary and grammar on paper, and always defaulting to the grammar others want you to learn. The message I want you to take away from this article is that you should continue learning topics that interest you. Everything else will come with time.

Learn real French now with other articles by heading to the homepage.