Common mistakes English speakers make when speaking French

Is it quelques or des? Je suis faim or J’ai faim? Since the two languages are in many ways so similar, it’s easy to forget that French and English have different rules when it comes to saying different things. In fact it’s possible to know every word in the French language but still trip up if you aren’t aware of these key differences.

Most English speakers make these mistakes when speaking French, so by learning to avoid them you’ll stand out from the crowd and be on your way to becoming a top French speaker.

One thing that makes French one of the easier languages to learn for English speakers is the fact that there are plenty of words that are the same in both English and French. But there are also many French words which, although they look identical to English words, mean something else completely. La chair, for instance, does not mean ‘chair’ but rather ‘flesh’, and similarly un store is not a shop but rather the French word for an awning. Take a note of these when you come across them, and don’t always assume that you know what a word means simply because you know what it means in English.

Even those words which do have the same meaning in English and French often have different pronunciations. If you’re making a reservation at a restaurant, for example, make sure you pronounce it ‘res-er-vas-yon’. Similarly, the mineral which for many English speakers is pronounced ‘tur-kwoyce’ is pronounced ‘tur-kwaz’ in French, even though ‘turquoise’ is spelt the same whichever side of the English Channel you find yourself on. And it’s not just the words themselves, but even some letters are pronounced differently, such as ‘r’ and certain vowels.

In French, you are neither hot nor cold. Instead, you have hot or cold. If you find yourself shivering on the streets of Paris in midwinter, you should say J’ai froid, not Je suis froid. Likewise, you should use faire when talking about the weather generally. So instead of Il est chaud, you should say Il fait chaud.

It’s the same for hunger, thirst and other conditions. You wouldn’t say Tu es soif but rather Tu as soif ('You have thirst') to mean ‘You are thirsty’. Likewise, in French we don’t say ‘I am sixty years old’; instead we say, literally, ‘I have sixty years’, or J’ai soixante ans. These kinds of statements are some of the most common ones you’ll make, so it’s really important to bear this distinction in mind.

You can read more about the auxiliary verbs here.

French has two separate words for ‘to know’. Savoir means to have knowledge of something, to know a fact, for instance ‘I know that dogs are mammals’ (Je sais que les chiens sont des mammifères), while connaître means ‘to know of’, and is used to refer to people, places or things with which the subject is familiar. You could therefore say ‘I know your friend, Tom’ (Je connais ton ami, Tom), or ‘I know that neighbourhood’ (Je connais ce quartier), but never Je sais ton ami, Tom or Je sais ce quartier.

The present participle - in other words, '-ing' words - is a common phenomenon in English. We use it to suggest that a verb is ongoing, as well as to form adjectives. But French doesn’t really have an equivalent to '-ing' words, and English speakers will often try to translate the English as literally as possible, which ends up sounding like gobbledygook in French.

If you want to say ‘I am eating my lunch’, don’t say Je suis manger mon déjeuner but say Je suis en train de déjeuner. The words en train de here imply continuous action.

This is another mistake English speakers tend to make when referring to someone’s profession. In English we would say ‘He is a teacher’ or ‘She is a postwoman’, but in French we would say Il est professeur and Elle est factrice. Notice anything? That’s right - we drop the article in French.
For even more tips on how to avoid making mistakes as an English speaker, check out this video.