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French grammar for dictation

The rules behind the mistakes learners make most often in French dictations, each with examples and the trap to avoid.

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How do I tell a from à, et from est, son from sont?

Swap the word for another that sounds different. If fits, write , otherwise . If fits, write , otherwise . If fits, write , otherwise ; means , not . means , and points to a place or a time.

  • Il a faim : il avait faim.
  • Elle est là et elle attend.
  • Ils sont partis avec son frère.
  • Où vas-tu ? Au parc ou à la plage ?

The trap: These pairs sound exactly alike, so only the grammar tells you which one to write.

When does a French word agree?

Adjectives and past participles take the gender and number of the noun they describe: add for the feminine and for the plural. With , the past participle agrees with the subject. With , it agrees only with a direct object placed before the verb, as in .

  • une petite maison
  • des amis contents
  • Elles sont arrivées.
  • Les fleurs que j'ai achetées.

The trap: The ending is usually silent, so you have to know it rather than hear it.

How do I choose between -é, -er and -ez?

The three endings sound the same. Replace the verb with or : if fits, write the infinitive in ; if fits, write the past participle in . Use only with . After a preposition such as or , and after another verb like , write the infinitive.

  • Je vais manger : je vais vendre.
  • J'ai mangé : j'ai vendu.
  • Vous mangez à midi.

The trap: The imperfect endings , and also sound alike: the subject decides.

Which accents does French use?

French has four accents and the cedilla. The acute accent closes the e (), the grave accent opens it or tells words apart (, , ), the circumflex often marks a letter that disappeared (), and the diaeresis keeps two vowels apart (). The cedilla makes c sound like s ().

  • un été à la mer
  • une forêt très belle
  • un garçon

The trap: Capital letters keep their accents too: , .

When is a French word shortened with an apostrophe?

Short words such as , , , , , , , and drop their vowel before a word starting with a vowel or a silent h: , , . The apostrophe replaces the vowel, so write , never . becomes only before and .

  • J'ai faim.
  • L'hiver arrive.
  • S'il pleut, je reste.

The trap: Before an aspirated h there is no elision: , .

When does French use a capital letter?

Use a capital at the start of a sentence and for proper nouns: people, cities, countries and nationalities used as nouns, such as . Unlike English, French writes days, months, languages and adjectives of nationality in lower case: , , , .

  • Lundi, je pars à Lyon.
  • Les Français aiment le pain.

The trap: In English, Monday and French take a capital; in French, and do not.

Where does French punctuation go?

A comma follows an introductory phrase, as in , and separates items in a list, but not the last two items joined by . French also puts a space before the question mark, the exclamation mark, the colon and the semicolon; Glottago never counts spacing as a mistake.

  • Le samedi matin, je vais au marché.
  • Tu viens ?

The trap: A sentence that asks something ends with a question mark, even without .