{"id":117262,"date":"2023-06-19T14:15:56","date_gmt":"2023-06-19T18:15:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/french-sentence-structure\/"},"modified":"2024-12-14T10:00:43","modified_gmt":"2024-12-14T15:00:43","slug":"french-sentence-structure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/french\/french-sentence-structure\/","title":{"rendered":"The Easy Guide to French Sentence Structure"},"content":{"rendered":"

You don’t begin learning French by immediately building long, complex sentences.\u00a0You start with words, phrases and grammar points then slowly start putting that all together.\u00a0Once you grasp French sentence structure, it will be much easier to pick up on the rest of the language.<\/p>\n

To make things easier, I’ve created this guide with everything you need to know about French word order, from the simplest sentences to more complex forms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Basic French Sentence Structure<\/h2>\n

We have to start at the beginning with basic French sentence structure.<\/p>\n

Like English, a French sentence will most often be formed with a subject<\/strong>, a verb<\/strong> and an object<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Unlike other romance languages, French does not drop the subject in most cases.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also keep in mind that you will need to conjugate any verbs<\/a> to match the subject, tense and mood.<\/p>\n

In order to build even the simplest French sentence, you will need two or three elements.<\/p>\n

Subject-verb Sentences<\/h3>\n

If a sentence uses an intransitive verb<\/strong> (a verb that indicates being or motion), such as aller<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>(to go), courir<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>(to run) or \u00eatre<\/em>\u00a0<\/b>(to be) it will be a Subject-Verb (SV)<\/strong> sentence:<\/p>\n

Je suis.<\/em> \u2014<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>I am.<\/p>\n

Je<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>in this sentence is the subject, and\u00a0suis\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>is the intransitive verb.<\/p>\n

Since intransitive verbs do not need to take objects, the subject and verb is all that you need.<\/p>\n

This is one of the simplest French sentences you can build.<\/p>\n

Subject-verb-object Sentences<\/h3>\n

If a sentence uses a transitive verb<\/strong>, it will be a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO)<\/strong> sentence:<\/p>\n

Tu as un chat.<\/em> \u2014<\/em> You have a cat.<\/p>\n

Tu\u00a0<\/i><\/strong>in this sentence is the subject,\u00a0as\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>is the transitive verb and\u00a0un chat<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>is the object.<\/p>\n

Types of Sentences<\/h2>\n

Statements<\/h3>\n

A statement is the most straightforward type of sentence. It will simply give you information and will typically follow the SVO structure although a SV sentence can also be a statement.<\/p>\n

Here are some examples of French statements:<\/p>\n

J’ai mang\u00e9e une pomme.<\/em> \u2014 <\/em>I ate an apple.<\/p>\n

Tu vas venir avec nous \u00e0 la f\u00eate.<\/em> \u2014 <\/em>You’re going to come with us to the party.<\/p>\n

Nous avons beaucoup de vin.<\/em> \u2014 <\/em>We have a lot of wine.<\/p>\n

Commands<\/strong><\/h3>\n

To give a command, you must use an imperative<\/a> sentence, which can only be used with tu<\/em>, <\/em>nous<\/em> or vous<\/em>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Tu\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>and\u00a0vous\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>are used to give basic commands, while\u00a0nous\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>is inclusive and includes the idea of “Let’s.”<\/p>\n

The biggest structural difference between imperative sentences and regular statements is that the subject may be implied.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In other words, you can simply drop the subject and leave just the conjugated verb:<\/p>\n

Va!<\/em> \u2014 Go!<\/p>\n

Allons-y!<\/em> \u2014 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Sois sage!<\/em> \u2014 <\/em>Be good!<\/p>\n

Note that the imperative form is the only sentence structure that allows the subject to be dropped.<\/p>\n

Exclamations<\/h3>\n

Just like in English, you can add emphasis to any statement by adding an exclamation point.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The difference between “let’s go” and “let’s go!” is that the exclamation point adds a whole new sense of excitement or urgency.<\/p>\n

Je ne peux pas attendre!<\/em> \u2014 <\/em>I can’t wait!<\/p>\n

Comme c’est mignon!<\/em> \u2014 <\/em>How cute!<\/p>\n

Quel soulagement!<\/em> \u2014 <\/em>What a relief!<\/p>\n

Negative Sentences<\/h3>\n

In order to make any French sentence negative, you must surround a verb with two words.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In front of the verb, you will always have ne<\/em> , although this is often omitted in spoken French.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following the verb you will have the word which indicates the type of negation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some of these structures include:<\/p>\n

Ne… pas<\/em> \u2014 Not<\/p>\n

Ne… rien<\/em> \u2014 Nothing<\/p>\n

Ne… jamais<\/em> \u2014 Never<\/p>\n

Ne… personne<\/em> \u2014 Nobody<\/p>\n

Ne… plus<\/em> \u2014 Not anymore<\/p>\n

Ne… aucun<\/em> \u2014 None<\/p>\n

Examples of these are:<\/p>\n

Je ne suis pas contente.<\/em> \u2014 I am not happy.<\/p>\n

Tu ne sais rien de \u00e7a?<\/em> \u2014 You don’t know anything about that?<\/p>\n

Elle ne boit jamais d’alcool.<\/em> \u2014 She never drinks alcohol.<\/p>\n

Il n’aime personne.<\/em> \u2014 He doesn’t like anybody.<\/p>\n

Nous n’allons plus \u00e0 l’\u00e9glise.<\/em> \u2014 We don’t go to church anymore.<\/p>\n

Elles n’aiment aucun homme.<\/em> \u2014 They don’t like any men.<\/p>\n

Structuring Questions in French<\/h2>\n

There are three basic question forms in French<\/a>, each with its own rules.<\/p>\n

Inversion Questions<\/strong><\/h3>\n

One of the easiest sorts of questions to ask in French is called an inversion question. It is so named because of the way in which the question is formed: by inverting the subject and the verb of the sentence:<\/p>\n

As-tu <\/strong>un chat?<\/em> \u2014 <\/em>Do you have a cat?<\/p>\n

The question form of the sentence puts the verb before the subject, with a hyphen to show that the two have been inverted. These questions can only be answered by yes or no.<\/p>\n

Question Tags in French<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The basic question tag in French is “Est-ce que<\/em>.” \u00a0It marks the beginning of a yes\/no question, much in the same way that inversion does.<\/p>\n

The difference here is that the sentence that follows will retain the basic French sentence structure.<\/p>\n

Est-ce que <\/strong>tu veux venir?<\/em> \u2014 Do you want to come?<\/p>\n

Qu’est-ce que<\/em><\/strong> is a variation on this question tag. By putting que<\/strong> <\/em>or “what” at the beginning, you can ask a question requiring a more elaborate answer.<\/p>\n

Qu’est-ce que <\/em><\/strong>tu veux manger?<\/em> \u2014 What do you want to eat?<\/p>\n

Question Words in French<\/strong><\/h3>\n

If you want to ask an even wider variety of questions, you can use French question words alongside the est-ce que<\/strong><\/em> \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>structure.<\/p>\n

French question words include:<\/p>\n

Questions<\/h3>\n

A question is an interrogative statement that is used to request some kind of information.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A question may elicit a yes\/no response or be open-ended.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Allez-vous venir?<\/em> \u2014 Are you coming?<\/p>\n

Qu-est ce que c’est?<\/em> \u2014 What is it?<\/p>\n

Quand partons-nous?<\/em> \u2014 When are we leaving?<\/p>\n

You may have noticed in the examples above that there is a slight difference in the use of punctuation in sentences in English and French.<\/p>\n

French punctuation is used differently<\/a> in sentences. When written, a space is required both before and after certain punctuation marks, such as two-part punctuation marks (e.g., colons, question marks, exclamation points, etc.):<\/p>\n

Comment allez-vous?<\/em> (How are you?)<\/p>\n

Bien, merci!<\/em> (Good, thank you!)<\/p>\n

Remember that all nouns require an article<\/a> in French, so even though this sentence has three parts, it actually has four words.<\/p>\n