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French Beginner — The Complete A1 Course for English Speakers

A rigorous A1 French course designed for native English speakers. 8 modules tackle the unique challenges English speakers face: French pronunciation, grammatical gender, verb conjugation, partitive articles, and the passé composé vs imparfait distinction. Rich visual explanations, real cultural context, and voice conversation scenarios throughout.

8 modules 28 lessons ~7h AI voice coach

Course Outline

1

Module 1: The Sound Machine

4 lessons

French phonetics for English speakers — the sounds, accents, liaison, and pronunciation rules that unlock everything else. Front-loaded because you can't progress without being able to make the sounds.

Why French Sounds So Different (And How to Fix That)
Nasal Vowels & Liaison — Sounds That Don't Exist in English
Accents & Spelling — The Marks That Change Everything
Bonjour ! Greetings, Politeness & First Conversations
2

Module 2: Who Are You?

3 lessons

Introducing yourself with être and avoir, numbers 0-100 and dates, countries and nationalities — your first encounter with gender agreement in a controlled context.

Introducing Yourself — Être, Avoir & First Sentences
Numbers 0–100, Dates & Telling the Time
Countries, Nationalities & Languages — Your First Gender Agreement
3

Module 3: The Gender Problem

4 lessons

The #1 stumbling block for English speakers gets a full module. Grammatical gender, articles (le/la/l'/les, un/une/des), adjective agreement, possessives and demonstratives — the system that underlies all of French.

Grammatical Gender — The System Behind Everything in French
Articles — le, la, l', les, un, une, des
Adjective Agreement — When Words Change Shape
My, Your, This, That — Possessives & Demonstratives
4

Module 4: Verbs — The Engine

4 lessons

Être and avoir in depth, regular -ER verbs (90% of all French verbs), essential irregular verbs (aller, faire, prendre, pouvoir, vouloir), negation (ne...pas) and all three question methods.

Être & Avoir — Mastering the Two Essential Verbs
Regular -ER Verbs — The 90% Rule
Essential Irregular Verbs — Aller, Faire, Prendre, Pouvoir, Vouloir
Negation & Questions — The Grammar of Asking and Refusing
5

Module 5: Daily Life

3 lessons

Reflexive verbs for daily routines, time/days/months, home and family vocabulary, food and meals — including the partitive article (du/de la/de l'/des) which has no English equivalent.

Time, Days, Months & Reflexive Verbs — Your Daily Routine
Home, Family & Describing People
Food, Meals & Partitive Articles — Du, De la, De l', Des
6

Module 6: Getting Around

3 lessons

Directions and city places, transport vocabulary and the imperative mood, the near future (aller + infinitive) for making plans — all grounded in realistic Parisian scenarios.

Directions & City Places — Navigating France
Transport & Travel — Getting Across France
Making Plans — The Near Future & Talking About What's Next
7

Module 7: Looking Back

4 lessons

The hardest module: passé composé with avoir, passé composé with être (DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP), the imparfait, and crucially — when to use which. The passé composé vs imparfait distinction is unique to French.

Passé Composé with Avoir — The Main Past Tense
Passé Composé with Être — DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP
L'Imparfait — Setting the Scene in the Past
Passé Composé vs Imparfait — The Critical Distinction
8

Module 8: A1 Mastery

3 lessons

Practical French for shopping and clothing, health vocabulary with avoir mal à, a complete A1 capstone review, and a roadmap to A2. Consolidates all 28 lessons into confident, real-world use.

Shopping, Prices & Clothing — Real-World French
Health, Body & At the Doctor — Useful Survival French
A1 Capstone — Review, Conversation Marathon & What's Next