WHY SPEAKING FRENCH IS SO DIFFICULT | My 5 Biggest Challenges Learning to Speak French

[@UnintentionallyFrenchified]

Hi guys! Learning French was really hard and today I talk about the 5 biggest challenges I had learning French and that I still struggle with today! Would love to hear what you struggled with when learning French or any other language! 😍

[@lemsip207]

It is difficult even if you start learning it at school as the sounds used in French don't overlap much with the sounds used in English.

[@paulabowman7737]

I think the easy part of French is just sitting in class for a year, but as for the Spanish I became fluent in later, the hard part at first was UNDERSTANDING what they were telling me, in their own language!. ... I just turned out so "stupid" upon arrival in the country of Peru! And my husband had no trouble at all!

[@TheCMLion]

I was complaining to a friend one day about how a sentence in French will be so long, but I only pronounce a third of it. He replied that "French is a lazy language that likes to look pretty." That truth hit me hard.

[@marchebert6208]

You would do well in Louisiana. We rarely use "vous" or "nous". Cajun society is very informal so we use "tu" and "on" almost exclusively.

[@jm-ky3ii]

In France, you know when you're old when someone you would say "tu" to says "vous" to you... true story! :/

[@Laurent69ftm]

N'exagérons pas. Tu peux avoir 20 ans et te faire vouvoyer dans la rue

[@alekshar9690]

Thats the strangest part in the use of a formal and informal form. The informal form shows respect but... no one dares to respect a kid :o

[@bnm0883]

@@Laurent69ftm C'est beaucoup plus rare. Il a raison, c'est surtout vrai quant on est vieux.

[@Laurent69ftm]

@@bnm0883 Disons que normalement on se fait vouvoyer dans la rue, dans les magasins, etc, dès qu'on est adulte voir avant.

[@matthiasmarion4431]

Je dirais surtout que la politesse se perd. J'ai toujours employé le vouvoiement avec les gens que je ne connaissais pas (excepté à l'école et quand je m'adresse à un enfant bien sûr).

[@Cipher_Paul]

The difference between “tu” and “vous” is *_exactly_* the same with “tú” and “vosotros” in Spanish or with “ты” and “вы” in Russian or “thee” / “thou” and “ye” / “you” in old English. It's really not the first thing to come to my mind when thinking about hard things in the French language. “on” is just either “we” or “one” as in : “one might be tempted to think that” Or “can we go home?” “on” is just a more natural and less formal way of saying “we”. It doesn't really designate someone specifically and so it can also be used to mean “one”. Also, about pronunciation : - what, war, bat, bar (a) - saint, said, naive, plaid (ai) - quay, kayak (ay) - veil, sleight, deitic, deceit (ei) - prey, cheyenne, geyser (ey) - beech, breeches (ee) - beach, break, measure (ea) - priest, tie, sieve (ie) - toad, broad (oa) - foe, shoe, does, phoenix (oe) - jeopardy, people, yeoman, George (eo) - clue, argue (ue) - strewn, sew (ew) - pseudo, voyeur (eu) - fruit, built (ui) - tool, wood, blood, door (oo) - gouge, rouge, soul, slough, ought, tough, cough (ou) - town, know, knowledge (ow) - coil, coiffeur, connoisseur (oi) - boy, voyeur (oy) - caught, aunt, aubergine, gauge, gaucho, because (au) - law, Lawrence (aw) - aesthetic, Israel, haemorrhage, maestro, aerial (ae) - Taoism, gaol, pharaoh (ao) In each series above, the vowels or groups or vowels mentioned are never pronounced the same which pretty much doesn't happen in Latin languages to my knowledge. And, about silent letters : Psychology, know, though, dumb, fasten, calm etc. Without mentioning the British English “r” which is most of the time not pronounced. Also, to me being “bilingual” in another language isn't really a thing so don't worry if your French isn't perfect guys.

[@u120353]

One Piece NaKaMa Production Actually ‘tu/vous’ in French is like ‘tu/vosotros’ and ‘usted/ustedes’ in Spanish

[@Cipher_Paul]

@@u120353 yeah, you're right, it's been 2 years since I've done any Spanish, I've pretty much lost it all even though I didn't have much to lose to begin with 😂

[@u120353]

Alex Pablito “Vous” in French can be “Vosotros”, “Usted” or “Ustedes” in Spanish

[@maxk5065]

@@alexandreprevot5866 you're right, "tu" is like "tu", vosotros is "plural person vous", "usted" is "polite vous" and " ustedes" is "plural polite vous". they've got one more level even

[@salomez-finnegan7952]

How is being bilingual (native-like fluency in two languages) not really a thing...?

[@tinus1429]

I say « vous » to my grandparents. In the olden times children used to say « vous » to even their own parents. I really think this highlights the respect that you share with the member of your family. Awesome part of the culture.

[@samykiani944]

In order to speak French in a high level you have to go there. It's not a language that you can master at home sitting on your sofa. That's why I plan to move to France this year to get my French fluent and then proficient.

[@anires1195]

So that virus.........

[@naomia472]

Me too I want to do an exchange program then eventually move there

[@twoblocksdown5464]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAH It was sooo cringy and funny to read that. "You gotta go to the country to learn the language" How do you still believe that? You won't be hit with some magic knowledge once you arrive in France nor after speaking some french with a native speaker. Language learning is all about thousands of hours of comprehensible input. You can understand the language ----> you can speak it. not the other way around. A guy from Matt vs Japan channel learned Japanese to an extrodinary high level for only 5 years , while being in the US. And we live in such an era that you can just open the internet and listen to some natives speaking french. Technologies, you know

[@kidjashin3770]

@@twoblocksdown5464 agree that guy is highly misled

[@J10044]

Your determination is both charming and heart warming. Just wait until you speak four or five languages (all bad of course) and all of a sudden your French starts mixing with your Spanish, etc

[@UnintentionallyFrenchified]

I can't even imagine! I already confuse english and French sometimes. Add in a 3rd and 4th and 5th and I'll be totally lost!

[@missmeowmix6114]

I am learning French. I am working very hard at it and am teaching myself. It is a difficult language. And yes, I am American.

[@anires1195]

Yay

[@ALLIENYC]

Oui Oui French can be challenging. I find with French that I can read it ok or to a degree, I can make myself understood, But when they speak back to me, I don't understand, que? Because the way the language is spoken the words are strung together so if you look at a sentence you see 5 words. But when spoken you only hear 2 words or that is how it pronounced. Like you said what you see is not what you get or hear.

[@Svendar]

As a Québécois (French Canadian born and living in the majority french province of Québec), I feel so lucky to have French as a mother language, because the tough part is done, that is, learning French. Learning English is so much easier. Congrats to you for accepting the challenge of learning a new language! The reward is great though : you have now access to the great philosophical/debate culture of France, without the need for subtitles, and that’s priceless. 👌😊

[@grill38]

Bises aux québécois depuis la france, on vous ♥ !

[@Svendar]

grill38 Nous vous aimons aussi, bisous glacés du Québec! 😊

[@francinesicard464]

Writing in correct French is even more difficult. French grammar is certainly the most difficult of all European languages, the most torturous. Now regarding the use of "vous" and "tu". I only address the family members and my friends with "tu"; everyone else with "vous". My grand-parents had died by the time I was born, but I never addressed my great aunts and uncles with "tu". Personally, I can't stand being addressed with "tu" by strangers. Familiarity brings contempt. Reading in French is also a way to improve your grammatical knowledge, even the newspaper but then choose a serious newspaper or books on subjects that interest you. Good luck to you.

[@damieng7500]

Even for a native , using 'tu' or 'vous' is still a struggle in some situations 😉. Then don't worry much and keep practicing guys 👏

[@ericrasolo8633]

I learn english at the moment and it’s really funny that we have exactly the same issue😂

[@alekshar9690]

I would say the accentuated letters are no as awful as having to guess how to pronunciate those damn "i" and "a" letters in english

[@XoeCox]

English is very difficult because so many rules make no sense.

[@lewjames6688]

@@XoeCox I am an English teacher and sometimes I feel the same way. Sometimes I feel as though English has "rules" just because they don't want to seem like an outlier among European languages. When in fact it is an outlier. But yes, you are right, most English is simply idiomatic. But hey, at least we don't have gender!!

[@EmilePadja]

Je confirme! French speaker, I've been having hard time learning english for at least 10 years. so funny the issues are similar

[@cain461]

I think that you should use the "tu" only with people you interract regularly. Even at work you can use "tu" instead of "vous" if it's with people you work with everyday even with your boss it can be the case. If you don't know if you have to use "tu" or "vous", you should use "vous". People will know that you want to bé respectful and will tell you if you can speak the informal way (sorry, i'm not sure if that's very clear, my english IS far from perfect)

[@UnintentionallyFrenchified]

Very clear! Thanks for the help!

[@isamiquel9589]

It depends, you can spoke nearly everyday with someone during years and use "vous"... for exemple at work with some colleagues/chiefs

[@cain461]

@@isamiquel9589 yes, i agree. It will depends of the global ambience. From my experiences, I think that once you're working with people during a certain amount of time they will want to talk more casually. But it's true that sometimes, depending of the office where you work, people will tend to keep a real professional relation with the appropriate way of talking.

[@h_dedu]

@@cain461 The funniest part about it is that even French people struggle about it sometimes, especially because these days, saying "tu" has become more popular. (I'm French too)

[@przekovski]

This is a usefull guide to decide between tu and vous. Keep it with you and you'll know it by heart eventually. i.imgur.com/P0Py8bb.png Joke aside, this diagram is accurate. ^^

[@ColonelHarry]

Most important is vocabulary. I think that language courses (in school) always stress too much on grammar. I know it is important to know exceptions to rules to achieve a good level, but vocabulary is what allows you to communicate. (I said that because I've learnt dutch at school, knew all the rules well but was still unable to speak fluently) :)

[@romainr4275]

Come on that’s what makes learning a language fun! You WILL make mistakes, own them and laugh about it. My family is half french half australian and we have loads of fun with mistakes all the time. Learning a language is like learning to play an instrument, you just need practice.

[@rushdialrashed9627]

Thank yuu for the video. The main challenges in French are : 1- irregular verb conjugations. 2- pronouncing words, a word consists of 10 letters, but u pronounce only 3 of’em! 3- the “le “ and the “la”, meaning the gender of the noun. But it’s accent dues remain the sexiest ever. Merci.

[@alekshar9690]

Irregular verbs is the main challenge for any language. Just take a look at this awful list : www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/unreg_verben1.htm

[@lavinder11]

The subjunctive. Why???? And then differentiating between imparfait and condtionel while speaking quickly.

[@paulabowman7737]

Fascinating report on speaking French, and so helpful and friendly 😁 ...I took one year of a French class from an Irish nun in New Delhi, India at age14 and it's amazing how even that greased the wheels for learning from you today😊

[@bremexperience]

"On" is sometimes used to exclude the speaker and refer to someone else. Like "On dirait qu'il fait beau dehors" => "One could say it is nice outside".

[@clairebreuleux2928]

The expression " Tu me gaves " is an image of the verbe Gaver which as you said means overeat or overfeeding a gose for exemple. So "Tu me gaves" means I've had enough, too much of you and you can't swallow anything else.

[@maksymbizarreadventure7198]

"Gavé " a bordeaux ca veut tout et rien dire. A paris on utilise grave a la place. Cest gavé bien , cest grave bien etc

[@clairebreuleux2928]

@@maksymbizarreadventure7198 comme quoi entre 2 regions, le même mot n'est pas employé de la même façon ! 😉

[@OptLab]

"one must" has 2 different meanings, just like "on doit" I don't understand where the french version is harder.

[@gmicg]

The English language scrapped its "tu" (thou) that survived in many other Indo-European languages. In French, when you are in doubt between the "tu" and the "vous", use the "vous". The exact translation in English of "vous" is "you".

[@habsheim0]

My only comment is: « French is a very easy language. In France, even kids can speak French... » 🤓😜🤪🤗

[@raymundofantastico]

I have mastered the vowel sounds in French and it took me almost a year to learn most of them lol. Some French seem to want to learn American English pronunciation, or British English, more than the Jamaican accent (which I and speak in) because they think they'll be able to sail through when getting information or discovering places. Americans seem to understand Caribbean accents quite well and I am amazed. I don't have to imitate theirs to be understood. Sometimes speaking French, it is difficult to get through to some French unless I speak in their dialect. Even many French have trouble understanding other French dialects, complain about them and might even claim theirs is more significant than the others and should be used in the media and journalism. Crazy. I'm sure you'll be able to master the DR sound soon. You can do it. 🙂😁

[@XoeCox]

The accent people have from the Caribbean is very easy to understand, even when it is spoken in broken English or should I say with reginal dialects. But it is very easy for people to understand U.S. English because so much of the music and shows are big. But Regional accents and dialects eespecially when it comes to African American is very hard to understand.

[@samaval9920]

1) Caribbean English accent is easily understood, but difficult to learn.

[@samaval9920]

DR? Dominican Republic Spanish?)

[@butagaze]

"On" designates a representative of a group of people. So it can be the speaker or someone else. So it can replace "we", or a group of other people : "on est d'accord" = we agree, "On m'a dit" = I've been told,

[@jpc7118]

as it is also very unprecise sometimes, we say > ...

[@butagaze]

@@jpc7118 that's in the army lol. The only place I hear it.

[@jpc7118]

@@butagaze Pas que, entendu dans le Limousin reculé lol

[@j-loosenfout67]

@@butagaze Pas que, c'est effectivement une vieille expression mais toujours d'actualité pour faire comprendre à quelqu'un qui essaie de nous convaincre qu'un "ragot", un "commérage", circule à notre propos que cela ne nous affecte pas. Par exemple : "on m'a dit que vous ne faîtes pas bien votre travail". Alors on peut répondre : "On" est un con. Cela peut aussi s'appliquer à une théorie stupide. Par exemple : "On dit que la Terre est plate, on dit aussi que l'Homme n'a jamais posé le pied sur la Lune !". Alors, une nouvelle fois la réponse "peut être" (à ne pas confondre avec "peut-être") : "On" est un con... cette expression est toujours employée, mais plus souvent dans des débats ou dans des discussions d'opinions. C'est un trait d'humour assassin, comme les français en raffolent. :))

[@butagaze]

Tu confirmes mes dire. On dit que la Terre est plate = les représentants d'une communauté dit que la terre est plate. Le on est est un m'a bien fait rire à l'armée. J'adorait utiliser le on à la place des noms (le on représentait la hiérarchie pour moi) et à la phrase "on est un con" je repondrais un truc du genre "c'est le lieutenant xy qui m'a dit ça "

[@robertbriquet]

My wife is American, and after more than 20 years she still has problems with le masculin et le féminin. Her accent is almost perfect, so people can be fooled until she makes THAT mistake that no French native would make. Same on my side with the English language.

[@ameliabrown8093]

French is such a beautiful language. Always evolving as well! I love for instance, the "Verlan" used a lot in central France, Lyon especially, where people reverse the syllables of a word. For example, "la famille" would be said "la mifa". It's used more and more in french rap music and although it can be quite hard to get your head around it, it's so much fun!

[@desalpagesgator4988]

Attention, si vous utilisez le verlan en parlant, vous êtes immédiatement classée dans les prolétaires incultes, vous pouvez utiliser le verlan pour plaisanter mais jamais dans des discussions sérieuses.

[@alekshar9690]

The misunderstanding about accent on letters is that they are not just something on a letter but should be considered as full different letters. This way you will mess less with those as e, é, è and ê are 4 different letters that have 4 different pronunciations (even if today not any native french speaker differentiates è and ê). Except today some accentuated letters are not pronunciated differently from their counterparts anymore (u = ù and i = î) Examples of words only understood by speakers from some part of France : _A door handle is globally known as "une poignée de porte" but also as "une clenche" in the northern part of France (and gives the verb "clencher" for the act of turning the handle). _A pencil can be "un crayon a papier" (pencil for paper) "une crayon de papier (pencil of paper) "un crayon de bois" (pencil of wood) or "un crayon gris" (grey pencil)

[@Laurent69ftm]

Mon père dit "crayon noir". Quant aux è/ê, ù/u et i/î, ils ont réellement la même prononciation (contrairement à a/â dans certaines régions).

[@noefillon1749]

Attention un crayon à papier avec l'accent sur le à !! C'est pas bien grave

[@gawain78]

Here are some things that might help: * You can think of the 3rd person pronoun "on" as sometimes being like "one" in English. For example when you say "One could do that..." or "One might think so" etc. Often it is just like fist person plural (we) though. It seems that these days "nous" is never used in spoken French. It should be obvous from the context that it's "we" as in "On y va?" (Shall we go?), "On est perdu." (We're lost.) * Although there are many silent letters, the pronunciation rules are very simple. You just have to memorize a few combinations, e.g. "eau" is always pronounced the same way, so are "au", "ou" and "eu". In English the situation is _much_ more complicated.

[@UnintentionallyFrenchified]

Thanks for the great tips!

[@matthiasmarion4431]

I'll be more precise on one thing. In a sentence like starting with «one» like «one does not [fillwithwhateveryouplease]» for example, the french way to translate should be «d'aucun». «d'aucun» isn't used so often nowaday (it is more frequent in books), but it can't replace «on» because they don't share the same use and definition. Even us, native french speakers tend to mistaken and choose the wrong word. It's an «abus de langage» (sorry forgot the english expression on that one). Btw, I'm fully agree with the rest of your comment ;).

[@TheperfectfrenchwithDylane]

What my students had a lot of trouble with on top of the letters we don't pronounce, is the letters we skip when we speak naturally. Like "Normalement", we would pronounce it "Normalment". Very confusing

[@illonakarl-fuyu4180]

In both south accent, the missing e is pronouced.

[@TheperfectfrenchwithDylane]

@@illonakarl-fuyu4180 Agree but there is not only a few accents, considering than 28 countries in total have French as their 1st or second language, there is a lot of different pronunciation. However, the one that we teach usually skip the "E" very often

[@kandy1643]

I’ve been learning since November 2021 (6 months?) and it’s still pretty hard for me but I’m getting there

[@fredericj9514]

It's not spelled the name if there's an accent, it's considered as a completely different letter. Remember the Latin alphabet is NOT suited for our language, so we had to add several things, including diacritic symbols, but it's really different letters. Using é, e, è, ê or ë may carry as much meaning as switching between vowels. Thanks for your interesting insights as a learner, though!

[@MariaMaria-qu2uz]

The pronunciation is also difficult in English but It is a matter of time and practice. My English pronunciation has improved over the time and with French the same thing. You are really good at communicating. I learn from you on every video. I always pick some vocabulary from you . Merci!

[@UnintentionallyFrenchified]

Glad you like the videos! I agree it get easier with time but 10 years later and i still have a very thick accent! 😬

[@PyromancerRift]

In the end, gavé means the same. It's like "fed up". When you eat too much you are "fed up". Same when somebody anoys you.

[@kemiakinyede]

I started learning French in Nigeria and I considered myself an intermediate speaker (I had actually passed the A2 exams) until I moved to Paris. LOL! It was a rude shock, I could barely understand what anyone was saying because they spoke so fast and my pronunciations are totally off! I'm still hopeful that my fluency would at least be in the 'working proficiency' zone before this year ends.

[@alexismonfilliette8150]

Dont worry, we dont even know how to use our own language either 😅 thanks for your videos, I moved to Quebec and even though it is the same language, they dont have the same culture and you help me see my country from the outside so I have a better understanding of wht they see from us 😁

[@UnintentionallyFrenchified]

Hhahah we visited Quebec with my husband two years ago and we were both so surprised at the differences in the way people spoke!

[@alexismonfilliette8150]

@@UnintentionallyFrenchified Their accent is indeed stronge and they sometimes dont use the same words of the french language but it is still pretty close. on the other hand their culture is so different than the french one and way closer to the american one ☺

[@Redgethechemist]

Concerning French pronunciation related to spelling, it's actually more logical than English. English is apparently one of the most inconsistent language regarding spelling. Syllables aren't pronounced the same at all like in the words tough, though, through, thought. In French, it's more consistent, one association usually has one pronunciation. Regarding regional accents, I don't think they are that different in metropolitan area, except maybe for the region Grand Nord where the Chtimi dialect impacted the general pronunciation, or in Alsace. Mostly, we all can understand each others. It's a bit harder with some Québec French, Cajun and creole pidgin. Rules for tu or vous, everybody's confused, but tu is gaining more and more space in the workspace, even with your supervisors.

[@stf5876]

@Regethechemist Hello, Je suis du Sud-Ouest, habitant dans l'Est. Mes collègues ne comprennent pas certains mots que je dis tout naturellement, et je n'en comprends pas certains des leurs ou de leurs expressions. Ils ont d'ailleurs une syntaxe qui leur est propre. De plus, mon simple accent toulousain fait qu'ils ne comprennent pas certains mots somme toute basiques. Ils ne connaissent pas le mot "chocolatine" qu'ils nomment "pain au chocolat".

[@joy7367]

one thing though, silent letters are at least consistent and make sense. unlike writing English which is just a huge mess

[@alekshar9690]

Most of the time, the silent letters do not make any sense, even if you can guess them from the feminine form of the word, they give no information about the word itself compared to the pronunciated word. Add some useless exceptions with that and it is even worse : Hibous or Hiboux ? :)

[@joy7367]

@@alekshar9690 well, they're usually here for etymological reasons... and once you've noticed a common suffix you know how to pronounce it (because the silent letters are almost always in the end). A lot of times, you can assume that final consonants are silent. On the other hand, English is way less consistent. when you see a word written, it's often very hard to be sure how you are supposed to read it.

[@toughcookie128]

You should come to Québec, we use "tu" all the Time. "Vous" is mainly used when speaking with old people. Besides we're right next to the US.

[@bridgetleonard6702]

I noticed that when I was there and I loved it.

[@loustic59vda]

Well I hope we won't arrive at this level, here in France. I am for "tu" and for "vous". We must keep and respect some distance when we don't know someone, or with a certain hierarchy.

[@toughcookie128]

@@loustic59vda c'est ce qui fait notre charme, on est moins porté sur la hiérarchie au Québec. 🙂

[@loustic59vda]

@@toughcookie128 Eh bien moi je pense que le "vous" ça n'est pas suranné et que ça a un certain charme. Ça n'est pas non plus une question de hiérarchie. Par exemple, je refuse que le compagnon de ma fille me dises tu. Il a compris instinctivement qu'il pouvait m'appeler par mon prénom et me dire vous.

[@toughcookie128]

@@loustic59vda je comprends, autre pays autres mœurs.

[@RamzaBeoulve78]

Well there is actually five words for you: tu and vous but then there is toi, te & t' (apostrophe) for words starting with a vowel. For example: Je veux voyager avec toi. (I want to travel with you.) Ils te cherchent. (they are looking for you.) Je peux t'aider si tu veux (I can help you if you want.) Tricky I know.

[@j9dz2sf]

As a French, I agree that pronunciation is complicated and it is sometimes difficult to know how a written word must be said, and how a word must be written, but it is worse in English. See the poem "The Chaos" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chaos Better languages for that are Spanish, German, Italian.

[@andromisilibrober]

"on" means "one" for example in sentences like "one must do that..." : "on doit faire ça", "quelqu'un doit faire ça" ! Yes in english you do have a translation for "on". But in other cases it means "we" : "maman et moi, on est parti(es) à la boulangerie"

[@desalpagesgator4988]

"On" est un pronom neutre, c'est un restant du très vieux français lorsque celui-ci avait les trois genres, masculin, féminin et neutre, il existe deux ou trois autres mots qui descendent de ce vieux français. On ne dit pas "maman et moi, on est parti(es) à la boulangerie" mais "Maman et moi sommes allés à la boulangerie", ton exemple est de l'horrible français.

[@Puglover130]

You’re really hard on the tu. You don’t give it the super hard sound like two. You have to purse your lips together almost like you’re whistling to make the û sound. But as an anglophone I’m with you- absolutely can NOT roll my r’s . Many francophones can’t seem to make the “th” sound so I guess were even. I used to work for AC and had such a hard time pronouncing our Frequent flyer program name, in French, Aéroplan. Until another English colleague told me to read ayeroplan and suddenly I could say it. I wish there was a similar “hack” to trill my r’s

[@martinasandoval5326]

I learned to speak at a Lycée Français in my home country and it was much easier since I was a child but then when after I graduated HS , I didn't have the opportunity to practice so from being fluent and became "advanced". Even with my French Husband we barely speak french because he has been living here for so long. He helps me with some words and pronunciations, and then like you said each region has their own accents. I was wondering if you could recommend any good French podcasts that would help me and other francophones to develop their listening skills.

[@gilmorice9662]

Hi Kate! It seems to me you've received more examples than explanations. If I may : 1. Any situation in which in English you would envision yourself adding "Sir" when addressing someone (even if you don't actually say the word) would be a "vous" situation in French. Upto and including marginal cases such as the use of "vous" between parents and children. 2. "on" was originally a noun (which is why you sometimes see "l'on") to designate the undefined person. It is used in 3 English cases - as "we" : it is an objectively inappropriate and lazy use of the word "on", and "nous" should be used instead, but hey... that's the way it goes. - as the pronoun "one" to indicate anyone taken singly : "one should be careful when crossing the street". - when you do not know who is doing the action or don't care. In English, when you do not know who cut the tree, you drop the active form and go passive "the tree has been cut". French dislikes using passive form, so uses the undefined "on" pronoun to stay in the active form "on a coupé l'arbre" instead of "l'arbre a été coupé". 3. Contrary to what some try to push, French was designed as a written language. You speak what you read, not the other way around. One quickly gets stuck or makes a habit of mistakes when relying primarily on oral practice. 4. "e", "é" and "è" have to be considered as different letters and not the same letter with accents. And, after all, the three sounds are also in the English language...

[@Laurent69ftm]

L'usage du "on" pour dire "nous" est tout à fait correct, c'est simplement plus familier. Quelque chose peut être familier et correct. Alors que si on dit "je m'ai fait mal", c'est une vraie erreur.

[@noefillon1749]

@@Laurent69ftm maintenant on considère que c'est correct parce que tout le monde le fait mais originellement ce n'était pas le cas.

[@IchaAyu]

Indeed the use of tu and vous is quite complicated. Some French friends of mine said even for them it's sometimes confusing

[@alekshar9690]

I don't know why you say it is complicated :'D frenchmorning.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/vouvoiement1.jpg?x24648

[@Etiennerabati]

Ce qui est étrange sur les accents c'est que nous avons perdu une forme plus simple qui était pourtant utilisée autrefois. Ainsi, et je ne sais pas pourquoi, autrefois en vieux français forêt s'ecrivait forest. Château, castel. Hôpital, hospital.... les versions du vieux français que les anglophones nous ont emprunté en fait! Alors je ne sais pas pourquoi nous avont remplacé les sons "st" par "^"......

[@veritevraie4433]

Hello, I am French, I don't know why this video was in my suggestions. I love your pronounciation of the "tu" ; ) (tou...) My girlfriend from Ukraine makes the same remarks about all silent letters... In fact, it's a bit like if we had an alphabet of more than 26 letters, since some groups of letters make one sound. For instance : o, eau, au, aux, ot, etc... All this only for the sound "o". You have to know that at school, when they start learning how to write in their mother tongue, kids start with it.

[@maxk5065]

i one made different nationality non french speaker read "le petit chaperon rouge" in french to me and 2 other french, it was the best laugh i've had in a loooong time, the spanish version is the absolute best! italian is undersandable but it feels like they're singing you don't realize how much you don't read as a french speaker even the "ou, en, an,..." sound that so not intuitive

[@agabekarthur777AAA]

I loved the chart made by an english speaker to explain when use "tu" and "vous" frenchmorning.com/times-explique-vouvoiement-ses-lecteurs/ That chart is fun and accurate except there is not only the "ex soixante-huitards " or people who have done woodstock who use always "tu". Some people at far left and some anarchist does it as well. For the pronunciation the english is as bad as the french. In fact in a lot of words you can't know how to pronounce it unless someone tells you. In french it's very true for the names of place (town, neighborhood...) if someone is not a native of the area he will makes mistakes unless someone tells him/her.

[@UnintentionallyFrenchified]

Thanks for the chart! I'll check it out!

[@sl5311]

I notice the different accents on TikTok. You can hear them with immigrants-oftentimes they are more articulate than native speakers and easier to understand. I know my English is slangy and slurred and would be hard for a new speaker to make out so I understand.

[@SebSenseGreen]

Well as they say, in french, there's more exceptions than rules. That's why lots of people find it difficult.

[@edouardesk4535]

"on ou nous" ? It's better to use "nous" instead of "on" in a general way, unless you're not in the band ("nous" you're with) "on" you're not necessarily in the band (ex : on m'a dit...)

[@UnintentionallyFrenchified]

Ok, that makes sense!

[@laurethiabaud-vespierre5550]

@@UnintentionallyFrenchified "on" peut exprimer quelque chose de vague : c'est la forme correcte. Quand c'est utilisé comme nous, c'est incorrecte, mais nous (ou on) le disons souvent. Jamais à l'écrit 🙂

[@marcmarc8524]

Edouard ESK. Come on! ‘On’ is used by everybody, even on TV and radio. So if you’re learning French, you can use On when speaking. It’s totally acceptable. It’s true that ‘Nous’ is better when writing. But come on, On is slowly replacing Nous.

[@edouardesk4535]

Marc Marc : Come on ! Tv and radio... ahahah !

[@Laurent69ftm]

@@laurethiabaud-vespierre5550 "On" est tout à fait correct dans le sens de "nous". C'est simplement plus familier.

[@noaccount9985]

Hi. It's certainly b/c you just don't know your sounds in French ( u / ou - an / on ) and keep your English accent . In these conditions, I couldn't speak this way myself. You should start to pronounce short words the right way then see step by step.

[@jean-michelamar7743]

I agree French is truly a very difficult language to learn. The grammar is awful, almost every rule has its exceptions, and often exceptions have exceptions. Nevertheless, you shouldn't worry too much about not perfectly speaking French. Always keep in mind that almost all Frenchies dot not correctly speak French, not to say write it correctly (except, perhaps, the members of the "Académie Française"). Just try to communicate properly, i.e. be understood. Forget about the accent. Unless you've been used to speak French during your childhood or teenagehood, a slight difference will always be heard. Furthermore, who cares? Even in France, a foreign accent is often seen as sexy. And as it is said in the video, there are so many different accents throughout the country and in French-speaking overseas areas. A good way to learn French is to read books for children. You'll get the expressions. Then you can improve with books for teens, and afterward with novels. French literature is wide and huge. Reading is also a fundamental way for young Frenchies to learn their own mother tongue.

[@Cybele-gq4ik]

Everything you said might be good but, as a French person i feel offended by your "Frenchie" . It is a slang word at the same level of Yankee, Gringo, Babi, Bronzé, etc. It boarders racism. You didn't need to use this term just to belittle who don't have a degree in literature.

[@jean-michelamar7743]

@@Cybele-gq4ik Stop seeing racism everywhere. It sucks.

[@Cybele-gq4ik]

@@jean-michelamar7743 Whether you like it or not you are insulting and your way to call people is clearly racist in every human language you could chose, and the worst is that you're including yourself ! That's all

[@jean-michelamar7743]

@@Cybele-gq4ik 🤣😂😂😅🤪

[@Emmanuelle-rq7fo]

On en a marre des exceptions. Lol c’est vrai qu’on ne le réalise plus mais on en a partout. Here you go for using “on” everywhere. I truly believe English is easier to learn as a foreign language than French might be to others. And the most delightful word or sound we have that people do struggle with is “re”

[@JESUSCHRISTMYSAVIOR]

I'm having so much trouble listening to a local French person talking to me because they speak so fast that I don't understand. The teachers get frustrated. Duolingo I'm killing it and Acing it. But to put sentences together it takes awhile for me and its broken. Ugh! I don't know what else to do

[@RaeJ8]

@unintentionally frenchified You mentioned Saturday classes for pronunciation. How did you learn French? Was it in classes? Did you teach yourself? I'm like you, an American married to a Frenchman, living in France, with a baby (well, almost 2yo). All my French has been learned through talking with my in-laws. Which means I find things like grammar, tenses, reading, and writing SO difficult. I've bought a "French for Dummies" book but honestly haven't opened it since the start of the pandemic. I don't know why, I just can't find motivation :( It doesn't help that we speak English at home. But the hubby is bilingual and it's just way easier haha 🤷

[@veraciteabsolue1221]

People should avoid 'on' especially in writing. 1) it is poor - almost slung, to the least familiar - and can be advantagely be replaced by 'nous' when you are involved, 'la plupart des gens' when you're not involved, 'il faut' if a general rule, just like you do in English (respectively we, most people, one, etc.) 3) people usually ignore that 'on' is singular except for the verb (French people say correctly 'on est' - which is singular - but say 'on est des champions' instead of 'on est un champion' but which is not really making a sense since you usually refer to a tram). Conclusion 'on' is a deadlock, impossible to correctly use except when you you use it as 'one' (ex : on doit éviter de dire on).

[@francoislafrance5261]

To play around with ON, one could start with: Les qu'en-dira-t-on.

[@gijoe5508]

Everything is relatively difficult and related to expectations. The problem with language, we have the habit to own something and don't care about habits. What should you do if nobody wants to speak with you for political reasons? You can speak many languages, that doesn’t mean they appreciate you much more but that makes you a good signal operator.

[@pohmogon6203]

Note that using "on" for "we" is a mistake that everybody makes in casual conversation. It's poor french but totally accepted. Now, when writing a letter, a mail or anything, using "on" for "we" is only expected from very young pupils writing a postcard and no adult would ever do that when writing. This rule, for once, knows no exception (well, unless you're an author and you precisely want your dialogs to sound like real french workers' slang. There would be the exception!). Generally speaking, using "on" at all is poor street french rather than an option one has. It is used (wether as "one" or "we") in a very unformal conversation and should simply be avoided if not when chilling out with friends.

[@luciole7452]

Molière used to write "on" but in the sense "someone", like in "on vient" (somebody is coming).

[@romaintuffou9502]

Don't worry, it is true the other way arround as well, I've been leaving in the UK (Cardiff) for 4 years, I think I can consider myself bilingual, but I keep making mistakes and one thing that helped me a lot to improve is the fact that my friends (who are welsh or english) always, without fail, take the piss whenever I say something wrong (sounds rude, it's not). But then as you said, if I go to North Wales or Scotland I struggle a lot with the accents and I feel like a beginner who can't keep a conversation going without asking the person to repeat, very frustrating...

[@UnintentionallyFrenchified]

I'm always asking my husband to correct me more. The worst is when people thinks its "cute" so they don't tell you! I lived in Scotland for a year and the accent was brutal for me!

[@romaintuffou9502]

@@UnintentionallyFrenchified The famous "it's cute", that's terrible, I had it thrown at me a couple of time. Brutal is probably the most accurate description of the scottish accent, if you've never been to North Wales, it is at least as hard to understand, English is not even their mother tongue their, they learn it in school, otherwise they speak welsh.

[@u120353]

The “gavé” from Bordeaux makes no sens, even in French 😆

[@SarAyundrylDuncan]

Surtout que le mot change selon les régions x)

[@marjo1305]

Gino POLIDO ou le "tarpin" dans le sud

[@stephanevilboux1706]

Bonjour. Ne vous en faites pas. La conjugaison est difficile pour les Français aussi. Je consulte encore mon livre de grammaire (en fait je vérifie sur internet) pour ne pas faire d'erreur.

[@nono547]

Honnestly even for native french speaker regional accent and slur Can be hard^^.

[@frederic4844]

Well, being french, I would have easily assumed that genders and conjugation were the hardest things, especially when most main verbs are completely irregular ... aller : j’allais, je vais, j’irai ... seriously, this one was designed only to confuse foreigners...

[@UnintentionallyFrenchified]

hahaha those aren't easy as well!

[@swpfranky]

May i give you a trick to feel that french is easy ? Do like me, and study Chinese... 😀 So, now speaking French and English, it's so easy for me.

[@GCArgentino]

From everything I've seen so far, it's not harder than English at all, my first language is Portuguese (I'm from Brazil), we conjugate all of the pronoums as well, but in English, there's a devil thing which is called ''Phrasal verb'' that beats almost every language. (my humble opinion :D)

[@fauziyaj853]

thanks for the vid! france and the uk are similar in terms of accents then. some accents pronounce words completely different to ‘standard’ pronunciation for sure. i have difficulty with the r sound too!

[@UnintentionallyFrenchified]

Glad it's not just me with that r sound. And its true that we can regional accents in all countries but when its your mother tongue, you don't feel so discouraged when you don't understand lol.

[@fauziyaj853]

Unintentionally Frenchified haha sorry i reread my reply, i was tired and early in the morning typing that sorry! yep!! exactly. also, the tu ou vous seems so difficult- regardless though, we will both get there one day!!! you’re 10 years strong, you can do anything! love your vids

[@dptt44]

En France, les régions ont un vocabulaire un peu différent, certains mots sont parfois propres à une seule ville c'est compliqué même pour les français de se comprendre ^^

[@UnintentionallyFrenchified]

Glad it's not just complicated for foreigners! 😃

[@Laurent69ftm]

N'exagérons pas. J'ai vécu dans beaucoup de régions différentes et c'est presque la même chose, je ne connais que quelques différences par ci par là et qui ne m'ont jamais empêché de comprendre.

[@dptt44]

@@Laurent69ftm je suis de Nantes, on utilise des mots comme tankarville et ramasse bourrier, et encore c'est des mots communs à la régions, si tu vas un peu dans les campagnes tu vas te retrouver avec des mots encore plus inconnus même par ceux de la ville proche ^^

[@quinquiry]

Hi, "tu " is not pronounced like "too" it's a completely different sound that doesn't exist in English , I'm an old frenchman, and i like how you speak English, i percieve it as an "educated standard north American" English easier to understand than British English.

[@dodgermartin4895]

Come to Belgium. They have lots of differences than in France.

[@anonanon5791]

You may not be bilingual yet, but you got the babe part on lockdown.

[@kyudoh]

Brillant ! Thank you for sharing this.

[@UnintentionallyFrenchified]

Glad you liked it!!

[@legios07]

« Tu » is like the old and now unused « Thou » in English.

[@dwsoccer6859]

It's not unused in England - it's still commonly heard in parts of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire and in the Black Country. Edit: Also in Cumbria - I somehow missed that out.

[@legios07]

@@dwsoccer6859 I didn't know that. Thanks for the information.

[@abigailaurorataleon9615]

And then there's the subjunctive . . . 😁😅

[@Cybele-gq4ik]

Yeah, right! I wonder how, why she forgot to mention it. As a french person i always think : How English speakers can live without it ! I know they use it in " God savE the queen" and not saveS, because it means i hope that God save(s) her. The subjunctive means a wish, a doubt, an hypothesis ; we have the conjugation in latin languages French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan but also in German. Our subjunctive has several tenses giving very weird aspects but they quickly reach the poetry or sophisticated speeches because of their complicated, awkward forms and it's a rare but great delight. P.S. If you are interested i can send you a big poem of Alphonse Allais (1854 - 1905) who plays with subjunctive tenses ; it's refined and funny master-piece.

[@joonjijdjffgh]

As a native English Speaker, haven’t you found hard to memorize the words according o the genders? There are so many irregular forms. I can’t imagine how hard that would be to a person that doesn´t have grammatical gender in their native language.

[@jacquesmoulin980]

Gavé means the same throughout France.

[@osez111]

Les accents, rassurez vous, à 42 ans, je ne m'y fais toujours pas. SI il n'y avait pas de correcteurs orthographiques sur les ordinateurs, j'me planterais encore plus souvent Et pour les autres accents, c'est pareil même si on est francophone

[@chloeedmund4350]

I learned about BAGS recently which cleared up some confusion.

[@conneyortega8480]

I have a question: so are u doing ur accent purposefully when u speak french ?

[@romainroussel6172]

th'at's right, our conjugaison is full of exceptions, and it's even hard for us to learn it at school. And to write it is hell. But don't forget we are in pain to learn and practice english too. Be brave

[@desalpagesgator4988]

Il n'y a pas d'exception en conjugaison, juste des verbes irréguliers, mais le plus difficile est la concordance des temps, il faut entendre nos très chers parasites des chaînes d'infos en continu incapables de parler correctement, et c'est de pire en pire.

[@Xlatoc]

Well to be honest, even for us native French speaker, the southern accent can feel like a foreign language....First time I got a teacher with a strong southern accent it took me 2 hours to get she was actually speaking french....

[@UnintentionallyFrenchified]

hahah i feel you after my time in scotland! I was lost!

I’ve got the same problem with the accent once when I was hitchhiking from Paris to Belgium. I was with my boyfriend who is french and I jumped into a truck to ask if he could give us a lift and I couldn’t understand a word! I do speak French fluently tho ... but I had no idea at all what he was saying so I told my boyfriend to talk with him and we discovered that the guy was a pervert and he just wanted to take me but not my boyfriend. Anyways, that’s not the story hahah the thing is that looks like the guy was from the north and that’s why he had this super strong accent. 😱

[@ericholicky3797]

I do feel that what you see in english isn't what you get either... did you try to pronounce the word "thoroughly" lately ? It's almost impossible to a french speaker ^^

[@thomasalbrecht5914]

The “tu” and “vous” thing and the conjugation are quite familiar for most Europeans, it’s English that is far too easy.

[@alekshar9690]

Guess how english became the most spoken language in the world for international trade ?

[@thomasalbrecht5914]

Alekshar well, mostly at gunpoint: Britain alone has militarily invaded more territories than any other nation of the modern (after 1500) age, it destroyed and supplanted India‘s conspicuous role in the trade of textiles, controlled the slave trade, the trade in many commodities and sea transport. They also limited the influence of rival European nations by fostering rivalries and wars whenever a Continental rival like Spain or France became too powerful for their taste. And since the US speak English, not much in this respect has changed. Grammar, phonetics etc. have little to do with it: if Britain had never got any more powerful than at the time of Henry VIII, we would be speaking French when trading within Europe, and probably Spanish when trading with the Americas.

[@Ankha38]

Je sais que c'est difficile pour les anglophones, et tu le sais peut-être déjà, mais ta prononciation de "on" est plus proche du "en". Si ça peut t'aider, le son se place plus en avant de la bouche, en haut du palais ; contrairement au "en" qui est presque dans la gorge.

[@UnintentionallyFrenchified]

Merci pour les tips!!

[@Rachel-rs7jn]

I think it's a lip thing. They just have to be more forward, more pursed. That kind of automatically moves the sound forward.

[@CaffeAddict]

How long have you been living there and you still pronounce "tu" as "too"?

[@rodlecid]

Keep in mind when learning French, there are always exceptions for every rules.

[@andromisilibrober]

t'as trop regardé daniil le russe toi ? ;)

[@benalbo5251]

For the first one I mean "tu and vous" I can say that we have exactly the same thing in persian in Iran so it's not complicated for persian speakers. About the accent and the vocabulary i wanna say that again we have the same thing in Arabic, I am Arab and we have a lot of Arab countries and each country has its accent and has alot of words that are different, but we understand most of them So you can watch their tv shows and movies to learn their accent and vocabulary that's what we do as Arabs The other challenges are really difficult😉 On and the French pronunciation are really difficult... Once I spoke French with my cousin in Arabic accent🤣🤣🤣 and that was sooooo ridiculous😅😅😅😅

[@UnintentionallyFrenchified]

It's always a little bit easier i think when you have the same thing in your native language. Even if the words are different, the idea behind stays the same!

[@LSa-rk7zb]

Un élève est celui qu'on élève dans les deux sens du terme

[@mecha-sheep7674]

Tu = Thou. Vous = You. Of course, the problem is that English speakers just nearly don't use "Thou" anymore.

[@fyodorkaramazov2136]

English speakers struggle so much with the "u" and the "r", "the simple word "rue" is like a nightmare for you. Work on rue / roue / pur / pour / lu / loue / dessus / dessous / buse / bus

[@UnintentionallyFrenchified]

Completely agree that the r and u are really difficult together!

[@anasthase100]

@@UnintentionallyFrenchified - Nothing is difficult. All is about knowledge. There is a reason for the pronunciation of the "R" in French which is due to the environmental context : the cold. When you pronounce the "R", the back of your throat is tight and only lets a little bit of air through. Muscles in the back of the throat are solicited to reduce the air flow. In a cold Europe, it is an advantage to let in and out little air when communicating, because of cold and low resources avaible. This is why in German and French, and perhaps other typically European languages, there are many guttural or other types of pronunciations, which involve the muscles of the back of the throat, or of the lips, to let pass only a few air. Air movements are exchanges of calories, and calories are sometimes less accessible. This concern for economy is also valid for the pronunciation of the "U" in French. This time, it is the lips that act as a thrifty expired air. We find the same "U" sound very frequently in Eastern European languages, probably for the same reasons of economy. These languages ​​are descendants of tongues born in the ice, where the least effort is extremely expensive, and where letting cold air penetrate his bronchi is very expensive. . . So we did everything we could to use the least. So much for the context and understanding of the causes of certain pronunciations. It's saving calories, so saving energy. French is ecological, like all languages. It's about logic. When you are warm, it is best to leave large transfers and air movements when talking, to cool the body which accumulates calories and rises in temperature. English is a language from the Middle East, where temperatures were warmer than in Europe. And concerning the "On" compared to the "We", the nuance is due to the definite or indefinite character of the subject. The "On" is indefinite, the subject is vague, we know that it is done, that it is said, but who has done, or who said precisely remains unknown, so we use the "On". This allows you to describe facts, without describing the subject responsible for these facts. It is a question of precision and nuance. I do not know who this woman is, but if you are English speakers, her interventions seem very relevant and will be useful to you. It is very precise,, and will allow you to improve your understanding and your learning of the language and its associated culture. She goes deep. Good luck to all, and thank you to her. ------------------------------------ My god she is so beautiful and kind ! I love this person, I want the same, I want a lot , full, all around me. I'm jealous. :-) Good continuation. As a thank you: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g6PUdGdvd7anr9U

[@fyodorkaramazov2136]

@@anasthase100 "English is a language from the Middle East" celle la aussi c'est une connerie de Delavier ?

[@maxk5065]

use "vous " unless people tell you "arrête de me vouvoyer" or "tu peut me tutoyer" is the easy rule untold letters are horrible even for french don't worry my personal horror: "j'en veut plus" could mean "i don't want more" or "i want more" depending if you pronounce the final "s" or not

[@Kayaco10]

"j'en veux plus" avec un "s" muet est incorrect , on dis "je n'en veux plus". Il n'y a pas d'ambiguïté dans cette phrase.

[@maxk5065]

@@Kayaco10 tu l'utilise souvent? le "ne" disparait doucement et le "n' " aussi

[@euphieissaurat4703]

En effet, "ne" et "n' " sont progressivement en train de disparaître à l'écrit et ont quasiment complètement disparu à l'oral sauf dans des contextes bien particuliers. De fait, dans l'usage "J'en veux plus" avec un "s" muet EST correct. C'est un truc qui est très bien étudié et qui a lieu dans de nombreuses langues, ça s'appelle les cycles de Jerspersen: Etape 1: Marqueur de négation uniquement avant le verbe "Je ne mange." (c'est archaïque en Français) Etape 2: Deux marqueurs de négation, avant et après le verbe "Je ne mange pas." où le marqueur d'après le verbe est typiquement anciennement un nom représentant une petite quantité (mie, pas, point). Par exemple "pas" dans une négation a complètement perdu son rapport à la marche, il n'est plus que grammatical. Etape 3: Disparition du marqueur pré-verbal. Et le Français et en transition entre les étapes 2 et 3, où le marqueur pré-verbal ne reste que dans des contextes formels où des expressions figées.

[@maxk5065]

@@euphieissaurat4703 un linguiste qui se range de mon coté, c'est bon signe :p merci pour le petit cours sur Jerspersen, c'est intéressant que ça soit vrai dans d'autres cultures aussi. il y a une raison particulière?

[@arrakis7132]

In my view english is the wierd one...many languages have formal and informal forms..even in asiatic languages like hindi or chinese(i think)

[@quentinjehanne6950]

C'était gavé intéressant !

[@khushboovlogchannel]

absolutely!!

[@Chedachz]

I was hoping that you would have covered why spoken French sounds so muffled and like one giant word. I get all the other nuisances...