FrenchPod101.com Blog

Just as an engine helps a car move, mastering basic grammar helps you express yourself and communicate your ideas clearly. The more you know about the engine parts, the more you can improve your engine's capacity. Similarly, the more youknow grammar, the better your French will be! French grammar has the reputation of being boring and complicated, but it's not so terrible. The main difficulties are the word genders and the conjugation system (shared by All romance languages). It is just a matter of remembering some basic rules that will reduce your chances of making the most common French grammar mistakes. The most common one is gender. In French, all nouns have a gender, either masculine or feminine. Here is a basic chart... Show more

You have been studying French for quite some time now...and you are doing such a fabulous job! However, if you are seated at the fancy French restaurant you have always wanted to try, and the waiter hands you a menu - completely in French - it could be quite confusing! The French alphabet is pretty peculiar and a bit different from the English writing system. It includes some unfamiliar markings you may not recognize: 1) Diacritics, or accent marks that help denote the characteric French pronunciation and intonation of words. They include: The acute accent (l'accent aigu)             ‹´› The grave accent (l'accent grave)          ‹`› The cedilla (la cédille)                               ‹¸› The circumflex... Show more

It is widely known that France has a beautiful culture and language, but did youknow the historical reason why French is a 'romance Language' is a result of wars and invasion? French language primarily descends from Latin, the language of the ancient Romans, and thus belongs to the 'romance' Language group. The Romans were a strong empire that once invaded the actual French territory, which was known as La Gaule; where numerous tribes speaking le Gaulois (Gaulish) composed of Celtic dialects inhabited La Gaule. Some traces of Gaulish influence are still present in the French spoken today; for example, these traces include the Gauls' ancient and unique way of counting people by twenty. (in modern French, we still have... Show more

1. 101 Million Downloads Reached!  On April 12th, FrenchPod101.com and Innovative Language Learning reached 101 million lesson downloads! Thanks to all the listeners for supporting us! The winners from our 101 Million Download contest have been picked and posted. Click here to see if you're a winner! 2. Did you get fooled? Pranks, jokes and lies oh my! - did you dodge them all on April Fool's Day? Click here to read more about this wacky holiday... 3. BONUS French Audio Lesson!  We're back with another free audio lesson just for you! We're going green with this month's theme. Click here to download and listen... Welcome to the FrenchPod101.com newsletter. Spring is here and the warm weather has been inspiring us... Show more

A BIG Thank you to all our listeners. 101 Lifetime Premium Subscriptions winners have been selected. Did you win? If you entered to win on our site, Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube, please check the winners lists here. Second Prize - EVERYONE GETS a second prize - Double Your Subscription for ONLY 101 pennies! This is a Very limited offer though. Please click here to see if it is still available for you.

Every month, we are giving away great FrenchPod101.com prizes to 4 lucky listeners. Sign up to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or FrenchPod101.com to be eligible to win. Increase your chances of winning by following us on all four sites! Here are March’s winners: Facebook: Carlos Macias Youtube: alice_lapinette Twitter: gonzelius FrenchPod101: gssq See your name here? Email us at contactus@FrenchPod101.com to claim your prize. Check back next month for April`s winners!

In this month's newsletter: 1. Knocking on 101 MILLION! FrenchPod101.com and our sister sites at Innovative Language Learning are fast approaching a big milestone - 101 MILLION lesson downloads! You could win a Premium LIFETIME Subscription! Best of all, you're already entered to win! Click here to find out more... 2. We're 2 Years Old! This month, FrenchPod101.com celebrated our 2 year anniversary and we have a present for you...Receive 20% OFF a Premium Subscription to FrenchPod101.com. Click here to to get the coupon code... 3. Best Lessons and Blog Entries for March! Find out what’s popular this month! The blog has great content for you to see. Welcome to the FrenchPod101.com newsletter. Spring is coming and we... Show more

Quick recap from last week: What would we do without French vowel sounds?  Well, the obvious answer is that we'd say a lot of consonants!  We'd end up sounding like a lot of other Eastern European languages rather than the mellifluous French language.This lesson takes a look at the nineteen vowel sounds in detail with some examples and practice exercises.  French vowel sounds are divided into three groups; Voyelles orales ("oral vowels"), Voyelles nasales ("nasal vowels"), Semi-voyelles ("half vowels").  Part 2 of this lesson summary will focus on the last two groups of French vowels; Voyelles nasales ("nasal vowels"), Semi-voyelles ("half vowels"). Voyelles nasales ("nasal vowels"):These vowels are specific to French as the passage... Show more

What would we do without French vowel sounds?  Well, the obvious answer is that we'd say a lot of consonants!  We'd end up sounding like a lot of other Eastern European languages rather than the mellifluous French language.  This lesson takes a look at the nineteen vowel sounds in detail with some examples and practice exercises. French vowel sounds are divided into three groups; Voyelles orales ("oral vowels"), Voyelles nasales ("nasal vowels"), Semi-voyelles ("half vowels").  Part 1 of this lesson summary will focus on the first group mentioned, voelles orales, and its subgroups. Voyelles orales ("oral vowels") are vowels we pronounce by air going through the mouth area and where the tongue, uvula, and lips will have a certain... Show more

You have been studying French for quite some time now...and you are doing such a fabulous job! However, if you are seated at the fancy French restaurant you have always wanted to try, the waiter hands you a menu - completely in French - and quite confusing! The French alphabet is pretty peculiar and a bit different from the English writing system. It includes some unfamiliar markings you may not recognize: 1) Diacritics, or accent marks that help denote the characteric French pronunciation and intonation of words. They include: The acute accent (l'accent aigu)         ‹´› The grave accent (l'accent grave)       ‹`› The cedilla (la cédille)                        ‹¸› The circumflex (l'accent circonflexe)     ‹ˆ› The... Show more