How to learn French verb conjugations Learning French verbs can be a daunting task, especially when you’re a beginner.  French is quite different to English, in that there are many different verb forms that are used depending on who the subject of the sentence you’re saying is. These different forms are called ‘conjugations’.   For example, in English, the form of the verb ‘to go’ is the same when you say ‘I go’, ‘you go’, ‘we go’ and ‘they go’. In French, on the other hand, the verb form (conjugation) will be different in each of these four examples.  It may seem like there’s a lot of work y ..read more

When you’re starting to learn French, you may be slightly confused by all the accented letters that exist in French.  Before you move on to learning some basic French greetings or learning about French tenses, make sure you familiarise yourself with the French alphabet. This will allow you to practise saying everything you’re learning out loud, which is something I definitely recommend you do, even if you’re a complete beginner.  So, here’s my ultimate guide to the French alphabet and specifically the French accent marks. Let’s get started!  The 5 French accent marks in the French alphabet T ..read more

What’s the difference between ‘tu’ and ‘vous’ in French?  When you’re only just starting to learn French, it can be quite confusing that two different pronouns exist to mean ‘you’ – ‘tu’ and ‘vous’.  But what is the difference between ‘tu’ and ‘vous’ and how can you use them correctly? Don’t worry – you’re about to find out.  ‘Tu’ is the singular version of ‘vous’  In English, when you use ‘you’, it can mean both one person and multiple people.  To use ‘tu’ and ‘vous’ correctly in Frech, you need to know that there are separate words to say ‘you’ (one person) and ‘you’ (more than one person ..read more

How to say ‘hello’ in French?  Saying ‘hello’ and greeting people in French is probably one of the first things you’d want to learn how to do when you’re just beginning to learn French.  But there are many different ways to say ‘hello’ in French so it can be quite confusing! For example, some French greetings are more formal than others. There are, in fact, French greetings fit for every occasion.  Don’t worry – we’re going to go through all of them together. Let’s look at what’s available to us when we need to say ‘hello’ in French.  1. Bonjour ‘Bonjour’ is probably the most famous French g ..read more

Christmas present ideas for language learners Christmas is coming up so I thought I’d share some present ideas with you guys! I know it’s only November… But I also know that some of you are super-organised (I’m trying to be, ok?) and are already thinking about what to get for people.  Getting a Christmas present for a language learner is not an easy task. That’s because you never know exactly what level that person is at. Also, if they’re serious about their language learning, they probably already have the popular or obvious resources, textbooks and dictionaries.  That’s why my list of ideas ..read more

Is Spanish difficult or easy to learn? How hard is Spanish to learn? Is it a question you’re asking yourself? Let me tell you this: there are no ‘difficult’ or ‘easy’ languages to learn. Everything is relative. Whether or not you perceive a language to be ‘difficult’ or ‘easy’ will depend on a number of factors, including: your native language (the language you’re learning may, for example, share a lot of vocabulary with your native language, which will make it more straightforward to learn) whether you’ve learned any other foreign languages before (for example, if you already know some Frenc ..read more

Language learning advice I’ve never shared before  I’m sure you’ve seen lots of people on YouTube share ‘things they’ve never shared before’ already. This theme was trending a while back and I thought it would be fun to do something similar but focused specifically on language learning advice.  I’ve shared a lot of language learning advice on my blog and on my YouTube channel already.  You can check out my favourite pieces here: How to understand native speakers How to sound more fluent in a foreign language How I became fluent in English (relevant to all languages) How to create a language le ..read more

Learning French is not just about being able to communicate in the most basic way. It’s also about being able to communicate accurately. For example, when you’re having an amazing meal at a restaurant, you don’t just want to say that it’s good. You want to say it’s delicious. Or amazing. Or the best thing you’ve eaten for a while. You want your communication to reflect accurately how you’re feeling or what you’re thinking. And to do that, you need to expand your vocabulary. In this post, I’m going to give you a list of French adjectives that will help you boost your fluency and avoid the s ..read more

How to understand native speakers Understanding native speakers is something many language learners struggle with. Whenever I learn a new language, I get a bit of a shock. I learn a lot of vocabulary and a lot of grammar. And then, when I’m ready to go out there and speak, I realise how little I actually understand. How is that possible, I think. I’ve been working so hard, I know so many words, I can even read newspapers in the language. But I can’t actually understand what people are saying to me! I’m sure you’ve been faced with a similar situation in the past. And don’t worry – you’re n ..read more

5 fun language learning activities for children I have very fond memories of teaching English as a foreign language to kids. Although I no longer do it as a job, the topic of teaching children is still close to my heart as I’m now a mum myself. I recently blogged about the 6 reasons why you should teach your child a foreign language. And in this post, I want to share with you my top 5 activities that you can use to teach your little one their first words in a foreign language. 1. Use picture books to introduce vocabulary Picture books and vocabulary books are great from a very early age. C ..read more