French is by no means the hardest language in the world. However, in addition to languages such as Spanish and no doubt Italian, French also presents certain difficulties. All three languages belong to the Romance family, but French is the most difficult language to learn.
French is one of the most popular languages to learn. It will greatly aid in travel and career development. To master it at the proper level and easily understand the translation of phrases and texts requires constant practice. This is true when learning any language. Let’s take a look at common mistakes beginners make when learning French.
Artificial friends
There are thousands of words in French that are very similar to English. Some of them have the same meaning in both languages, others are “fake” relatives.
For example, Chair (English) and Chair (French). The English translation of “chair” is a chair, and the French translation of “chair” can also mean the body.
Relative Pronouns
In French, relative pronouns are qui, que, lequel, don’t, and où. Depending on the context, they can mean “who,” “who,” “she,” “which,” “which,” “where,” or “when.” The difficulty is that we subconsciously try to figure out for ourselves what question the pronoun answers, and French relative pronouns cannot answer Russian questions in any way. For example, the difference between qui and que is that que replaces the direct object and qui replaces the subject.
Expecting too much and looking for a “super method”.
If you’ve seen ads for “Learn a language in a day”, “After lectures, you will discover all the secrets of French”, or “How to learn a language in a month without study and homework,” wave your hand? We really hope you don’t attend these webinars.
According to research by American scientists, it takes about 600 hours in the classroom to master French at a fairly high level. This is equivalent to about a year of classes, 2 hours a day, 6 days a week.
Individual word study and grammar concentration
Any word acquires meaning only in context. So it started “playing” and carrying the information and it was remembered better. Therefore, it is better not to learn individual words, but to learn structures and phrases. Grammar is a service that should help you construct a phrase correctly, not by pausing for 10 minutes to remember how a Subjonctif is formed.
It’s far better to construct simpler, but faster, easier phrases than to delve into the nuances of Imparfait and painstakingly try to remember them in a speech.
Temporary prepositions
Prepositions in French can express a wide variety of relationships. For example, the preposition à, which is considered the most common. As for temporal relationships, students have difficulty using prepositions such as à, en, dans, depuis, pendant, and pour. To avoid problems, you need to keep examples that use temporary prepositions in front of your eyes.
The Past
Some students find it difficult to quickly determine which past tense to choose – past tense or imperfect.
To determine which form of the past tense to use, you must first ask a question. If the question is: “What did you do?” – then this is a completed action. If the question is: “What did you do?” – then about unfinished.
If you have specified that you are describing a completed action, then you should definitely use the past tense. If not, then you need to do additional research to determine the desired form of the past tense.
Reconciliation
The concordance of adjectives may seem strange and meaningless. But in French, you can’t live without it. Adjectives agree with nouns in gender and number. An equally difficult topic is the use of the verb être to coordinate the tense. But these topics need to be mastered so as not to be stumbled upon later.
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