Sometimes when you’re learning a new skill you just need a few quick wins to keep your spirits up and encourage you to tenir le coup*.

There are all sorts of little errors that I hear over and over again when I’m teaching. Little errors that are really very simple to fix.

So common are they that I go through periods where I don’t even hear them anymore. Other times, I do hear one of these petites erreurs* while teaching, but it’s not the right time to correct the student sitting across the table from me and so I let it slide.

So, for the last week, and with this article in mind, I’ve been keeping my oreilles* wide open to see if I could pick up on the worst offenders. Not all students make all of these errors but it is interesting how often they do crop up and it’s across all levels.

Let’s be faithful to the title of the article and launch into our five-minute fix. Your French will be likely be markedly better by the time you get to the bottom of the page.

This crops up time and time again, particularly with students who taught themselves before coming to us. I totally understand why they make the mistake of pronouncing the ’s’: it distinguishes it from the singular form and it’s reassuring to hear the difference in pronunciation. However, it’s always wrong, unless your next word starts with a vowel or an ‘h’ and you’re (rightly) making the liaison, or elision. Remember, in this case, the ’s’ is pronounced more like a ‘z’ sound, likely to differentiate it from ils sont* and elles sont*.

While in English we say ‘a thousand’, in French, we don’t, no matter what follows it. Thus:

1000 : mille
1487: mille-quatre-cent-quatre-vingt-sept

Never: un mille.

I know, I know, it’s so tempting to pronounce this word for ‘woman’ or ‘wife’ as it reads, but please don’t. That is, for pronunciation purposes:

femme does not sound like ‘them’

femme sounds like ‘thumb’

Really!

I’m the first to admit that this word is a capricious little mite, as, depending on its meaning, it may or may not end in an é (acute accent or accent aigu). But, can we make a pact that when we see it does end with this little flourish, that that we make the effort to pronounce it? Merci*.

You’re off the hook here:

côte = coast / shore
côte = hill / slope
côte = rib

But all eyes (ears) are on you here:

côté = side
à côté = next to

If you’re anything like me, you’ve grown up hearing sauvignon blanc pronounced as ‘sovinyon blonk’. Let’s spare our French friends’ ears, shall we? The ‘c’ in blanc is always silent.

Et voilà* ! Just five minutes and you’re on your way to being a much more expert speaker of French.

How to Learn French - A five-minute fix