As English speakers, we often find it an impossible task learning international languages. Embarking on language learning journeys, we tell ourselves; it’s so complicated, I wish it was as straightforward as English. Newsflash! English is complicated to other language speakers.

In learning a language, you have to understand the compositions of languages including the one you already know and speak in order to make comparisons and distinctions that will aid learning. Because we are naturalized into speaking English, we may not understand its parts and formation, same parts and formations that are present in every language albeit a bit different.

Here are the major distinctions in French and English.

Gender

It is most probably the first thing you will be welcomed with when starting to learn French. Gender is the assignment of words as masculine(m) or feminine(f). The concept of gender does not exist in English; no word in English has a gender, they are just words! People say French would have been so much easier if there was no gender. So much easier.

Every physical and abstract thing has a gender in French. All physical things like house(f), pen(m), door(f), rice(m), Nigeria(m), church(f) and bottle(f). Abstract things like love(m), hope(m), death(f), and life(f). Semi-abstract things like air(m), power(m), education(f), time(m), even words(m) and gender(m).

Not only the words themselves will have a gender but sometimes what accompanies them. Ex. A new house is une nouvelle maison, but a new book is un nouveau livre.

Pronunciation

You shouldn’t jump into learning a new language unless you have gone through a pronunciation guide. Learn how things are said before you even know what they mean. Understanding how a word is pronounced in a language will help tremendously in your listening and speaking capabilities. It’s the best foundation that you can get. Most languages have a specific standard for pronunciations and spellings. The most complicated pronunciation structure is arguably English and there just might be reason why. English is a borrowed language. Origin of English words are drawn from various languages. It’s why the letter A for example can be pronounced as Ay as in bake, Ah, as in cat and Aa as in rat. In French you have the A as ah always, the I as ee always. It is standard that when you see some certain letters you have to pronounce it a certain way in French. But be careful about nasal sounds and vowel combinations, a totally different topic.

Nevertheless, as simple as the French pronunciation structure can be, it has its perks. It renders comprehension more difficult when everything starts to sound the same. The first major rule of French is “do not pronounce the last consonant of every word with only a handful of exceptions”. Cha(t)-sha, tro(p)-tro, tem(ps)-ton, tan(t)-ton, gro(s)-gro.

This along with how words blend together in French (see liaison and elision), places French as a contextual language; comprehension is gotten more from context than word for word.

Numbers

Singularity and plurality of words in French is quite different from its counterpart. To form a plural word in French, you add an s at its end. In French you add an s that will never be pronounced. Ex. Livre-Livres are said exactly the same way. So how to know that I am speaking of multiple books(livres)? Let me introduce the concept of markers. Markers exist in French to show gender as well as number in a word. Les is a specific marker in French to show a word is plural. Le livre (masculine, singular) becomes les livres (masculine, plural). You will have to pay attention to these little word usually attached to words to get nuances.

Word Order

Words do not exist in itself. It is expression of words that exists. What we feel when we haven’t eaten for a while is called hunger in English, faim in French and hambre in Spanish. The act of putting people through school is Education in both English and French. When we move our bodies to the rhythm of music, we call it dance in English. Because words do not really exist the word order in languages can differ.

In English to say the expression of loving someone you say, I love you but in French you say Je t’aime (I you love). To say the red car in French you say the car red. Different word orders exist in different languages and you can get used to them by thinking in expressions and not in words.

Great thing that English and French have a lot of cognates; words with the same origin that look alike and with similar meaning but can sometimes be pronounced differently. Like Education, Capitalism(e), attentive, grand, and rare. English has in it about 30% borrowed words from French but be careful of false friends; words that look and sound alike but mean different things. Ex. Attend(wait).

Fantastic. What a beauty to read.

Great insight OP