Learning French can be exciting even as you begin with basic conversational phrases and find yourself progressing quickly. As you pick up more vocabulary, you’ll aspire to more sophisticated ways of expressing your ideas. Creating your own sentences unlocks a whole new level of language proficiency. To reach that next step in your language learning, you’ll want to understand the basics of how a sentence is put together.
Learning some language concepts, such as French parts of speech, can help you build your sentences and speak French with confidence. No language learning journey looks the same, but Rosetta Stone has features for every learner, so you can create a personalized experience that is both fun and engaging.
Table of Contents
What are French parts of speech?
Parts of speech are categories of words that have specific functions in a sentence. Knowing which category to use and how they connect together can help you build a sentence that expresses your idea clearly—and also sounds correct. Certain parts of speech work together, follow an order, and influence the meaning of the sentence.
Being familiar with the parts of speech in French can help when you’re studying common grammatical structures. This guide will help clarify the important French parts of speech so you can feel confident knowing how to construct sentences in French.
How many parts of speech are there in the French language?
English has eight parts of speech, according to Britannica. Some grammarians group them differently, but we will cover these eight basic categories of parts of speech in the French language as well.
| French | English | Function |
| le nom / le substantif | noun | indicates the person, place, thing, or idea |
| le pronom | pronoun | replaces a noun |
| l’article | article | precedes a noun and gives you information about gender, number, and more |
| le verbe | verb | indicates action or state of being |
| l’adjectif | adjective | describes a noun |
| l’adverbe | adverb | modifies or describes a verb or an adjective |
| la conjonction | conjunction | links words or clauses |
| la préposition | preposition | tells the relationship between nouns or pronouns |
How can I identify the French part of speech for a word?
In many French vocabulary lists and dictionaries, you’ll see the French word followed by some extra letters or abbreviations. It might look like one of these examples:
- magie nf
- magie, n. f.
The “nf” or “n.f.” refers to “noun, feminine.” This is useful to distinguish the noun magie (magic) from the adjective magique (magical). It’s a quick way to know the French part of speech the word belongs to when you need quick help.
There are also commonly used abbreviations for other parts of speech and characteristics.
- magique adj. (adjective)
- manger v. (verb)
- mon adj poss (possessive adjective)
- même adv (adverb)
Le nom/le substantif (noun)
If hearing the word “noun” brought to mind the common definition “person, place, thing, or idea,” then you’re on the right track already! Here are a few more features of nouns in French:
Nouns are usually accompanied by a déterminant (determiner). These can be typical articles (a, an, the) or other words like (each, some, this, my).
- la chaussette = the sock (definite article)
- une chaussette = a sock (indefinite article)
- cette chaussette = this sock (demonstrative)
- mes chaussettes = my socks (possessive)
Singular or plural nouns are used to demonstrate the number of persons, places, things, or ideas.
- La chemise = the shirt
- Les chemises = the shirts
Nouns have grammatical gender of either masculine or feminine. The gender can change the meaning of the noun, which is why it’s important to learn their gender and not just the meaning.
- Le chèvre = the goat cheese
- La chèvre = the goat
Serving two purposes, nouns can function as subjects or objects in a sentence.
- La chèvre a mangé la chaussette. = The goat ate the sock. (The goat is the subject.)
- J’ai mangé le chèvre. = I ate the goat cheese. (The goat cheese is the object.)
Le pronom (pronoun)
This popular Romance language has several different types of French pronouns, which are used to replace a noun in order to avoid repetition. Your reader or listener can get annoyed pretty quickly if you repeat a name or noun excessively while you tell a story. Compare these examples in English:
- Without pronouns: I looked for my cousin, but I didn’t see my cousin because my cousin went to the store with my cousin’s friend.
- With pronouns: I looked for my cousin, but I didn’t see him because he went to the store with his friend.
Le pronom sujet (subject pronoun)
Subject pronouns are often one of the French parts of speech learners will memorize. You can use subject pronouns to replace a noun when it is the subject of the sentence. Remember, not all nouns are grammatically the subject, so you’ll have to ask “who or what is doing the verb, or the action?” to determine the subject.
Nous mangeons beaucoup de pizza. = We eat a lot of pizza.
Who eats a lot of pizza? “We” do. So “we” is the subject pronoun.
| French Subject Pronoun | English Subject Pronoun |
| je | I |
| tu | you (singular, informal) |
| ilelleon | he / she/ one / we (informal) |
| nous | we |
| vous | you (formal, plural) |
| ilselles | they |
Le pronom réfléchi (reflexive pronoun)
Reflexive verbs are used when the subject of the verb receives the action of the verb. To accomplish this in English we sometimes use words like “myself.” Sometimes the reflexive pronoun doesn’t translate to English at all, as French has lots of verbs that are used reflexively.
- Je me lave les mains. = I wash my hands.
- Elle se regarde dans le miroir. = She looks at herself in the mirror.
- Nous nous amusons. = We have fun.
| French Reflexive Pronoun | English Pronoun |
| me | myself |
| te | yourself |
| se | himself / herself / oneself |
| nous | ourselves |
| vous | yourself / yourselves |
| se | themselves |
Le pronom objet direct (direct object pronoun)
Direct object pronouns replace the noun as the object of the sentence, receiving the action of the verb. Compare how different this is to the subject pronoun.
La pizza est ma nourriture favorite. Je la mange tous les jours. = Pizza is my favorite food. I eat it every day.
| French Direct Object Pronoun | English Pronoun |
| me | me |
| te | you |
| lela | himher |
| nous | us |
| vous | you (formal, plural) |
| les | them |
Le pronom objet indirect (indirect object pronoun)
Indirect object pronouns are used in place of nouns when they are the indirect object in the sentence. The indirect object answers the question “to whom/what” or “for whom/what” is the action happening.
- Elle me parle. = She talks to me.
- Nous leur écrivons. = We write to them.
| French Indirect Object Pronoun | English Pronoun |
| me | to / for me |
| te | to / for you |
| lui | to / for him / her |
| nous | to / for us |
| vous | to / for you (formal, plural) |
| leur | to / for them |
Le pronom relatif (relative pronoun)
Relative pronouns are connectors in French. They link related thoughts, and are used like relative pronouns in English, to introduce a dependent clause. Their English translations will depend on the context and function in the sentence.
- J’ai lu le livre que tu m’as recommandé.
- La femme qui m’a donné le livre est ta mère.
- Je cherche le marché où j’ai acheté les pommes.
Other relative pronouns include:
- que = that, which, whom
- qui = who
- où = where, when
- lequel (and variations) = which, that
- dont = from / of which
L’article (article)
Articles belong to the category of déterminants (determiners), which comprise a few useful parts of speech in French. Indefinite, definite, and partitive articles give you important information about the noun, such as its grammatical gender and number. It also indicates whether it’s a specific noun or object or a generalization.
L’article défini (the definite article) is the French equivalent of the English word “the.” Use this to specifically refer to an item.
- Donne-moi le stylo.= Give me the pen.
L’article indéfini (the indefinite article) is the same as the English word “a” or “some.” Use this to refer to a non-specific object or subject.
- Donne-moi un stylo. = Give me a pen.
L’article partitif (the partitive article) is a way to say “some” for uncountable words.
- Donne-moi du pain et du fromage. = Give me some bread and some cheese.
Let’s take a look at the differences between these types of articles.
- Je voudrais la pizza. = I want the pizza. (You want the whole pizza, and there’s a specific pizza you’re referring to.)
- Je voudrais une pizza. = I want a pizza. (You want a whole pizza, but you haven’t specified which pizza it is.)
- Je voudrais de la pizza. = I want some pizza. (You want part of a pizza.)
While you might order un fromage (a whole round of cheese) or du fromage (some quantity of cheese), and be happy with either, these articles aren’t always interchangeable. Some differences in use matter!
- Je vois des chiens ! = I see some dogs! (can indicate excitement)
- Je vois du chien ! = I see some dog! (can indicate trepidation)
Le verbe (verb)
Verbs are the action of the sentence and one of the most crucial French parts of speech. Verbs come in many different forms and give you important information in the sentence such as the mood and tense.
The mood could be indicative, subjunctive, conditional, or imperative:
- Indicative: Je fais les devoirs. = I do the homework.
- Subjunctive: Il faut que je fasse les devoirs. = It’s necessary that I do the homework.
- Conditional: Je ferais les devoirs si j’avais plus de temps. = I would do the homework if I had more time.
- Imperative: Fais les devoirs ! = Do the homework!
The tense can tell you when the action occurs in the main timeframes of past, present, and future.
- Past: J’ai fait les devoirs. = I did the homework.
- Present: Je ne fais pas les devoirs le samedi. = I don’t do homework on Saturdays.
- Future: Je ferai les devoirs un jour. = I will do the homework one day.
Subject-verb agreement is an important concept to know when learning to form French sentences. The verb needs to agree or match with the subject, meaning a plural subject needs a plural verb (dogs eat vs dog eats). Conjugating the verb form can follow regular patterns or can break the rules unpredictably. These “rule-breakers” are called irregular verbs, and this includes many of the most common verbs in French. Here are several ways to conjugate the verb “do.”
- Je fais les devoirs. = I do the homework.
- Il faut que les élèves fassent les devoirs. = It is necessary that the students do the homework.
- On a fait les devoirs. = We did the homework.
- Mirabel fera les devoirs cette année ! = Mirabel will do the homework this year!
L’adjectif (adjective)
Adjectives modify or describe nouns and pronouns, and just like verbs, an adjective needs to agree or match the noun it describes in both grammatical gender (masculine and feminine) and number (singular and plural). French adjectives follow rules about placement and agreement.
French adjective agreement
Due to French gender rules, many adjectives have four different forms, although there can be even more when considering spelling variations.
- Masculine singular: Le pain est délicieux mais cher. = The bread is delicious but expensive.
- Feminine singular: La baguette est délicieuse mais chère. = The baguette is delicious but expensive.
- Masculine plural: Les champignons sont délicieux mais chers. = The mushrooms are delicious but expensive.
- Feminine plural: Les fraises sont délicieuses mais chères. = The strawberries are delicious but expensive.
L’adjectif possessif (possessive adjective)
In French, possessive adjectives are another déterminant (determiner) that also functions like an adjective, matching the grammatical gender and number of the singular noun that follows. This works differently than the English possession of “his” vs “her.” There is also a plural possessive adjective, as well as spellings that change before vowel sounds.
- C’est son stylo. = It’s her pen. / It’s his pen.
- C’est sa voiture. = It’s her car. / It’s his car.
- Ce sont ses parents. = They are her parents. / They are his parents.
- C’est son idée. = It is her idea. / It is his idea.
L’adjectif démonstratif (demonstrative adjective)
Demonstrative adjectives belong in the déterminant category as well. They answer the question “to which are you referring?” These are equivalent to English words like “this,” “that,” or “those.” They also agree with the noun that follows in both grammatical gender and number and can replace an article.
- Je voudrais ce livre. = I would like this book.
- Cette maison est si belle ! = This house is so beautiful!
- Je n’aime pas ces couleurs.= I don’t like these colors.
- Cet enfant a perdu ses chaussures. = This child has lost his shoes.
La conjonction (conjunction)
French conjunctions are an essential part of speech in French that serves to link more than one word or clause. They can be coordinating, meaning they link the same part of speech; subordinating, meaning they make one clause dependent on the other; or the conjunction can even be a phrase.
Some common French conjunctions are:
- mais = but
- où = or
- et = and
- donc = so, therefore
- ni = neither, nor
- car = because
- que = that
- quand = when
- ou bien = or else
- soit… soit… = either… or…
L’adverbe (adverb)
Adverbs modify or describe a verb or an adjective. You are probably most familiar with adverbs that end in “-ly” in English, like “rapidly” or “certainly.” Many French adverbs can be formed by using the suffix “-ment,” as in rapidement or certainement.
There are adverbs of place, position, manner, degree, time, frequency, and more. Some of the most common are:
- très = verb
- seulement = only
- en fait = in fact
- peut-être = maybe
- assez = rather
- souvent = often
- vraiment = really, truly
- déjà = already
- presque = almost
- encore = again
- toujours = always
- vite = quickly
- bien = well
- partout = all around
- jamais = never
Le préposition (preposition)
Last but not least in our list of French parts of speech are prepositions. These useful words precede a noun or pronoun in order to show things like direction or location.
It’s not especially useful to try to memorize rules for using prepositions as their use is highly idiomatic. While some French prepositions can be learned as a direct translation, it is often better to learn them as a part of a phrase.
Some common prepositions are:
- à = at
- avec = with
- chez = at the home of
- dans = in
- pour = for
- avec = with
- parmi = since
- avant = before
- depuis = since
- jusqu’à = until
- pendant = during
However, the translation often gets more complicated when you put these useful words into a sentence! Each of these uses of à has a different meaning in context.
- À demain ! = See you tomorrow! / Until tomorrow!
- C’est à moi. = It’s mine.
- C’est une cuillère à soupe. = It’s a soup spoon.
- Elle travaille à la bibliothèque. = She works at the library.
- Elles vont aller à Noël. = They are going to go on Christmas Day.
- J’aime bien le thé à poire. = I rather like pear tea.
- Je vais à la poste. = I’m going to the post office.
- L’école est à 5 minutes d’ici. = The school is 5 minutes away from here.
- La femme à la jupe jaune parle espagnol. = The woman in the yellow skirt speaks Spanish.
- Mon frère habite à Paris. = My brother lives in Paris.
- Nous travaillons à deux km de l’école. = We work two kilometers from the school.
- On est ouvert de février à juin. = We are open from February through June.
Learn French parts of speech in context with Rosetta Stone
The more French you learn in context, the more French parts of speech begin to make sense. Knowing the difference between an adjective and an adverb, for example, can help you sound more natural. Rosetta Stone’s Dynamic Immersion method is the most intuitive way to learn a new language, helping you first comprehend then use parts of speech in French seamlessly to form sentences of your own, just as you did when learning to speak as a child.
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