🧱Sentence structure

A basic French statement normally follows subject + verb + complement.

The complement may be an object, a description, a place or another useful detail.

French word order is fairly stable in simple statements.

French normally states the subject before the verb, even when the verb ending identifies the person.

Use il for weather and impersonal expressions such as il pleut, il faut and il est tard.

Commands are the main beginner exception: Écoutez !

Use être to identify or describe the subject, and avoir for possession, age and many fixed expressions.

C’est commonly introduces or identifies a person or thing; il/elle est usually gives a description, nationality or profession without an article.

In the plural, use ce sont when identifying several people or things.

Most French adjectives follow the noun, but some frequent short adjectives come before it.

Adverbs usually follow a simple conjugated verb; place and time details often come later in the sentence.

A useful longer pattern is subject + verb + object + place + time.

Several short words lose their final vowel before a vowel sound or mute h.

The apostrophe replaces the missing vowel: je aime becomes j’aime, le ami becomes l’ami, and ne habite becomes n’habite.

Words beginning with aspirated h block elision, but beginners should learn those cases with the word.