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Test your French vocabulary with this new matching exercise containing an additional twenty-six words. Match each French word on the left with its English equivalent on the right. Check the answer key at the bottom of the quiz to see how well you did. If you’re struggling with vocabulary or any other facet of the…

Passé composé (compound past) is the most commonly-used past tense verb form in French. Often used in combination with the imperfect, the passé compose can express an action completed in the past, an action repeated in the past, or a series of actions completed in the past. A passé compose verb has three possible English…

Four of the most important French verbs are aller (go to), avoir (to have), être (to be), and faire (to do or make). Each of these can be used either on its own or in a variety of expressions. Avoir and être, for instance, are used in combination with the past participle to form the…

The French past participle, participe passé, has several important roles. It is used in the creation of compound moods and tenses, can be used as an adjective, and is also part of the passive voice. While English past participles usually end in –ed or ­–en, their French counterparts end in –é, –i, or –u.  …

The passé simple is the simple past form of a French verb. Unlike its English equivalent, the passé simple is used only in formal prose. Chances are you won’t ever need to use the passé simple in your own writing. However, you will need to be able to recognize the passé simple when you see…

Today we’re going to look at a few common problems that you can encounter when you begin translating between English and your new language. Translating between any two languages is inherently difficult. Differences in syntax, word meaning, culture, and a host of other factors can tax the language skills of even the most experienced translators…

Test your Spanish vocabulary with this new matching exercise containing an additional twenty-six words. Match each Spanish word on the left with its English equivalent on the right. Check the answer key at the bottom of the quiz to see how well you did. If you’re struggling with vocabulary or any other facet of the…

To conjugate the present tense of regular French verbs, drop the ending of the infinitive and replace it with the ending that corresponds with whom or what is performing the action. Which set of endings you should use depends on whether the infinitive ends in –er, –ir, or –re.   Present Tense Regular –ER Verbs…

French articles are sometimes confusing for non-native speakers. Unlike in other languages, articles in French must agree in both gender and number with the nouns that they modify. In addition, French articles don’t always correspond to articles in other languages, including English. As a general rule, you should assume that a French noun must be…

This week we’re going to offer some more tips for learning a new language. The goal of all of these strategies is to maximize the time that you spend reading, writing, and speaking in the language that you are trying to learn.   Total Immersion Total immersion is the process of spending time in an…