Free online resources for learning French

This is my small, curated collection of free, online resources for helping you along the path to proficiency in French.

I left out many websites, for various reasons e.g. not enough information of substance available for free; bad user experience such as intrusive popups, nagging calls to action or aggressive advertising; or content that I deemed insufficient in some way. My criteria can actually be distilled into a single test: Would I recommend the website to a friend learning French?

(en) or (fr) indicates whether the website’s default language is English or French.

General resources

These websites will help you get to grips with the fundamentals. The first two are comprehensive in coverage and come with a heavy dose of grammar. Like it or not, grammar is an essential part of mastering French. You don’t have to learn every rule by rote from the outset, but you shouldn’t be skipping the grammar parts either. I hope these sites make the task less arduous.

🟪 Lawless French (en) by fellow language lover and freelance translator Laura K. Lawless has everything that learners could ask for. Particularly useful is the listening section, which contains several short videos with full transcript and translation for each.

Two features of this website struck me as original:

● The Subjunctivisor

Beginners are often taught‘The subjunctive mood is used after “que”’. As you progress, you learn that things are not that simple (they never are!). The subjunctive advisor will tell you which mood to use in constructions such as ‘Depuis que […]’ or ‘Il dépend de […] que […]’. You eventually develop a feel for what’s right but even when you do, you will still trip up every once in a while. There’s no shame in doing so. If it’s any consolation, native speakers sometimes have doubts about this stuff too.

● The Deconjugator

Basically, a reverse conjugator. If for example you’re stumped by the word sache in ‘Il est important qu’il sache communiquer’, enter the word in the deconjugator and you’ll learn that the base form is savoir.

The site is completely free so if you make use of it, please consider supporting the website’s creator.

⬜️ ielanguages (en) by Dr Jennifer Wagner is another fantastic resource for French learners. It soon becomes apparent to anyone exploring the website that its creator is very keen on exposing learners to the sounds of French: there are audio recordings to help you every step of the way, from mastering individual sounds to ‘deciphering’ extended real-world dialogue. Naturally full transcripts are provided. In keeping with the website’s real-world ethos, it also has an extensive section on informal and slang French. All this material is made available at no cost so if you find it useful please consider showing your support by buying one of Dr Wagner’s books on her Gumroad page.

🟧 Le Conjugueur [FR]

This site by the French daily newspaper Le Figaro provides not only a conjugator but a thesaurus (under the heading Recherche un synonyme ), a grammar guide (Règles) and other useful information such as how to use punctuation correctly.

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When I was learning French, DVDs with video clips were cutting-edge and YouTube was still many years away. I would have loved to have access to video channels such as these:

🟪 Comme une française (en)

Since 2013, Géraldine, a French teacher, has been posting a new video every Tuesday about particular aspects of French language and culture.

⬜️ Français avec Pierre (fr)

Pierre and Noemi run a language school but have also generously made available a ton of material on their YouTube channel. The videos cover every aspect of French language and culture and are helpfully categorised by proficiency level (beginner / intermediate).

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A note about the passé simple verb tense

I’ve noticed that book chapters or articles on verb tenses sometimes fail to mention that the passé simple, variously called ‘past historic’, ‘simple past’ or ‘preterite’, has today almost completely disappeared from speech. Maybe this simple fact is considered too mind-boggling to foist on to learners when the tense is still very much alive in the speech of their own mother tongues (I said, dije in Spanish, είπα in Greek, etc). If it was up to me, I’d bring this tense back into everyday use, but it isn’t so I can’t.

Dictionaries

For bilingual dictionaries (EN-FR and FR-EN), I recommend the online dictionaries:

🟪 by Collins: French to English and English to French.

Collins has partnered with the French dictionary maker Le Robert (see below) for several years.

⬜️ by Cambridge University

🟧 on Word Reference: French to English and English to French.

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As your French progresses, you will also need to consult a good monolingual dictionary. Here are my recommendations:

🟪 Académie Française‍ ‍

⬜️ Le Robert‍ ‍

🟧 Larousse

It would have been remiss of me to not mention the dictionary published by Académie Française (AF), the veritable guardians of the French language. The first dictionary by the AF was published in 1694. The current edition is the ninth and it’s still a work in progress: three batches have been released so far, in 1992, 2000 and 2011.

A nice feature of the website is the fuzzy search capability: if you enter a term with the ‘Mots proches’ function enabled, the search will look for terms with a similar spelling or similar pronunciation. So, for example, it will suggest ‘hôpital’ if you enter ‘aupital’.

The section La langue française also contains a lot of information useful for speakers of all levels, especially the subsections Questions de langue and Dire, Ne pas dire in which the académiciens provide succinct guidance on the issues that native French speakers grapple with every day.

Le Robert and Larousse are the two publishers that dominate the dictionary market in France. Le Robert publishes nothing but dictionaries whereas Larousse is as much known for its encyclopedia-like publications as its dictionaries. In purely commercial terms, Larousse dictionaries far outsell Le Robert dictionaries but my feeling is that wordsmiths and hardcore word lovers tend to prefer Le Robert. I personally own a hard copy of Le Petit Robert. Admittedly it’s not my go-to dictionary but it has ‘outperformed’ my other dictionaries on several occasions, particularly when the authors of texts I’m translating have a penchant for flowery prose with ‘old-timey’ words!

Since April 2020, the Le Robert online dictionary is freely accessible; though not as extensive as its bigger brother Le Petit Robert, it is more than adequate for learners.

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I think I’m somewhat ‘old-school’ in preferring dictionaries that I can touch and manipulate with my hands. There is one aspect however in which electronic dictionaries hold a clear advantage over their physical counterparts: pronunciation! Clicking on a button to hear a native speaker pronounce a word is a lot more user-friendly than reading its IPA transcription. (Note: I’m not criticizing the IPA; it’s definitely worth taking the time to learn it but it’s also true that it will take a while before you’re comfortable with it.)

Interactive learning

TV5 Monde, the global French-language television network, has a sizeable section on its website, Apprendre le français avec TV5 Monde (fr) devoted to helping people improve their French and learn about French culture.

This treasure trove consists of short videos each of which is accompanied by a few exercises to test your listening comprehension. There are currently over 3500 exercises. To get started, choose your current level (CEFR levels A1–B2) and your interests. Full transcriptions are also included.

To whet your appetite (possibly literally), here’s a series of exercises based on mangos. Miam miam!

For audiovisual learners

These are a few video channels that will help ‘train’ your ear while you’re learning about the French language and French culture.

Tip: YouTube videos have a ‘playback speed’ setting so you can slow down any video to 0.75x or even 0.5x normal speed.

🟪 Inner French (fr) is the brainchild of Hugo Cotton, who developed a passion for teaching French while living in Poland. The free podcasts and videos (also on YouTube) are specifically targeted at learners with an intermediate level. In each episode, Hugo talks about a given subject using everyday French but at a slower-than-natural pace. Transcripts are available.

⬜️ Français Authentique (fr)

The focus of this website is to help learners develop confidence in speaking French. Free videos (on Youtube too) and podcasts are available, all with transcripts (which are downloadable too).

🟧 My life in the United States (en+fr)

The title says it all. The videos are about the experience of a young French guy in the US. Many are about the differences between the US and France (a fascinating subject in itself). Translations not transciptions are provided, and Yoann talks at a normal pace so this channel is more suited to those with an advanced level.

🟪 Code MU (fr)

Code MU is a channel by a young French guy passionate about words and language. The videos are educational and fun. Case in point: you could just look up the meaning of the expression Faire avancer le schmilblick and be done. Or you could watch this video to satisfy your curiosity about where that funny-sounding word came from.

A word of warning: the videos have no translations or transcriptions. RafKod speaks fast so this is for advanced speakers!

⬜️ Linguisticae

Another one for language lovers and for those with a high proficiency. I could spend hours on this channel!

🟧 Dans ton corps (fr)

Imagine having a close friend who’s a healthcare professional whom you could ask anything you wanted about medical stuff. That’s how I would describe this channel created by former nurse Julien Ménielle. A new video is released every week.

This channel is also for advanced learners, as most videos have no translations or transcriptions.

🟪 What The Fuck France (en)

All work and no play makes Jacques un garçon très ennuyeux, n'est-ce pas ?

As the title indicates, this channel is in English and it’s not primarily for educational purposes. If this is your type of humour, the series is a great way to unwind after a day of intensive French study. In each short episode, Paul Taylor, an English guy living in France, dissects a particular aspect of French society.

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Take your time to find video channels, series or programmes that are not only in French but interest you. Language learning takes time and requires discipline. If a subject interests you, it will take longer for your brain to zone out. And you’ll be learning without realising it — at the very least, you’ll be attuning your ears to the sounds of French.

Listening and reading

There is an endless variety of reading and listening material available on and off the internet. I just want to bring a couple of sources to your attention:

🟪 RFI (Radio France Internationale), a public radio station broadcasting news and current affairs to a worldwide audience, releases a 10-minute news bulletin (fr) in simple French at 8pm every weekday.

⬜️ Gallica (fr) is the digital library of the national library of France (Bibliothèque nationale de France). As you can imagine for the national repository, it is gargantuan! You can access, and sometimes download, publications that have fallen into the public domain. This is the French classics page from where you can access the classics of French literature.

Random stuff for word lovers

Meilleurs Prénoms (fr) is a website intended for future parents but fun for anyone who wants to find out the origin and meaning of first names. Their annual guide -now in its 18th year- is a perennial bestseller!

Everyone knows that someone from Paris is called a Parisien, but what about someone from Côtes-d'Armor? Or from Évry? The answers are Costarmoricains/Costarmoricaines and Évryens /Évryennes. These and possibly every other gentilé you could ever need are at Habitants.Fr (fr)

Ab Nihilo (fr) is a collection of over 600 Latin quotations with a translation and usage examples. The site hasn’t been updated for a while but then again neither has Latin!

Finally, when you have a spare week…

Le Point du FLE (fr) is a gigantic, curated collection of resources for teachers and learners. You will find links to everything you could wish for to learn about French and about every aspect of French life: courses, conjugations, declensions, dictionaries, exercises, audio, video,etc . Bon apprentissage !