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StoryLearning
Learn A Language Through Stories
by Olly Richards
As you learn French and begin using longer sentences to express your ideas, you need to know the connectors in French that allow everything to flow together.
Connectors will turn disjointed phrases into joined up sentences, making your French sound more smooth, natural and fluent.
Letâs have a look at an example in English first:
Yesterday, I went for a walk in the park. I arrived at the park. It started raining. I didnât have an umbrella. I was starting to feel hungry. I decided to take the bus home. I had wasted my day off. Itâs always a bad idea to go out without an umbrella in spring. It serves me right.
Compare that with:
Yesterday, I went for a walk in the park. However, when I arrived at the park, it started raining, and unfortunately, I didnât have an umbrella. Furthermore, I was starting to feel hungry, so I decided to take the bus home instead â but I had wasted my day off. In fact, itâs always a bad idea to go out in spring without an umbrella, so I guess it serves me right.
Which one sounds more natural? Of course itâs the second one. Why? Thanks to the connectors!Â
So, to help you out and save you a bit of time, hereâs my list of the most important French conversational connectors to get you started.
By the way, if sounding more fluent in French fast is one of your goals, I recommend French Uncovered, which teaches you through StoryLearningŸ. Click here to find out more and try out the method for free.
These are some of the very first words you will learn in French and are essential when forming even the simplest joined-up sentences.
Most of these words work just like their English counterparts.
Example: Je ne veux pas y aller et câest tout ! â I donât want to go and thatâs that!
Example: Je ne veux pas y aller, mais tu peux me convaincre â I donât want to go, but you can convince me
Example: Je ne veux pas y aller parce que ça mâennuie â I donât want to go because it bores me
Example: Peut-ĂȘtre qu'on peut y aller aprĂšs-demain â Perhaps we can go the day after tomorrow
This word in French has several meanings, including âlikeâ (as in âsimilarâ) and âasâ (âheâs dressed as a monkâ). But here, as a connector, it means âasâ or âsinceâ, a meaning that is close to âbecauseâ.
Example: Comme ça mâennuie, je ne veux pas y aller â Since it bores me, I donât want to go
This is a useful word and is very common â itâs slightly more formal than alors, which weâll come to in a moment.
Example: Je nâai pas dâargent donc je ne veux pas y aller â I donât have any money, therefore I donât want to go
Example: Je pense donc je suis â I think therefore I am
It's also used in the following expression:
Example: Quoi donc ? â What then?
Here are a couple of words that are super-common in French and that have lots of meanings.
Learning how to use them correctly can help make your French sound much more natural. And because they have so many uses, theyâre extremely useful words to know.
In fact, I could probably write a whole post just about number 7. But I'll just give you an overview for now!
This is a word that can seemingly be made to mean almost anything.
But its primary sense is âsoâ or âthereforeâ. Itâs often used instead of donc and sounds less formal â the difference between the two is similar to the difference between âsoâ and âthereforeâ in English.
Note that when it isnât being used to connect two parts of a sentence, alors can be placed at the beginning or end of what you say.
In English, we use âsoâ at the start of the sentence or replace it with âthenâ â which can go at the start or at the end. See the third example below to see how this works.
Je nâai pas dâargent alors je ne veux pas y aller â I donât have any money, so I donât want to go
Je ne le voulais pas alors pourquoi tu lâas achetĂ© ? â I didnât want it so why did you buy it?
Alors pourquoi tu lâas achetĂ©?/Pourquoi tu lâas achetĂ© alors ? â So/then why did you buy it?/Why did you buy it then?
Alors can also be used when in English you might say âsoâ or âwellâ. And just like in English, it has the full range of nuances, depending on how and when you say it.
Here are just a couple of examples:
Alors ? â So? Well? (with a rising, questioning intonation â could mean âwhat do you want?â âhow did it go?â âdid you find it?â etc. depending on the context)
Alors ! â Well then! (with a falling intonation, kind of like âI told you so!â)
Bah alors ! â Well then! There, there! (depending on how you say it, it could mean anything from âwell what did you expect?â or âserves you rightâ to âthere, thereâ said to comfort someone!)
I remember hearing this expression a lot when I was first learning French. Then â and when I finally worked out how to use it myself, I felt that my French had suddenly made a big jump forward.
Itâs such a typically French expression thatâs more than just another vocabulary item. And sometimes its meaning defies translation.
The basic sense is something like âall the sameâ. But you'll hear it used in all kinds of situations with varying nuances. Check out these examples:
Je ne veux pas y aller mais je vais y aller quand mĂȘme â I donât want to go but I will go all the same (the meaning is close to âanywayâ â I will go even though I donât want to)
Il est quand mĂȘme un bon jouer â Heâs a good player all the same (perhaps some doubt has been expressed about the playerâs abilities and the speaker accepts the point but wants to stress that heâs still a good player â âyes, sometimes heâs lazy, but heâs a good player all the sameâ)
Câest cher mais câest bon quand mĂȘme ! â Itâs expensive, but itâs good though! (here, the idea being expressed is that although the food is expensive, itâs very good so itâs worth the money)
Quand mĂȘme can also be used alone as a kind of exclamation to express the idea that something is impressive or considerable.
Example: CâĂ©tait combien ? 1.300âŹ. Quand mĂȘme ! â How much was it? âŹ1,300. Wow, not exactly cheap! (the meaning is that the price is quite considerable â try to imagine it being said with a Gallic rise of the eyebrows, a slight tilt of the head, a little exhalation and a facial âshrugâ!)
Most of these words are similar to the English equivalents.
Similar to âyetâ or âstillâ in English.
Example: Il est pourtant venu â Yet he came/he still came/yet he still came
Example: Et pourtant, il est quand mĂȘme venu â And yet he still came
Example: Il est beau. Cepandant je le trouve trĂšs bĂȘte â Heâs handsome. However, I find him very stupid
Example: Dâabord, je vais chercher mon manteau â First, Iâm going to fetch my coat
Example: En gĂ©nĂ©ral, ils sont tous comme ça â In general, theyâre all like that
Also, see actuellement in the âFalse Friendsâ section at the end.
Example: En fait, je prĂ©fĂšre la biĂšre â In fact, I prefer beer
Example: Quant Ă mes amis, ils prĂ©fĂšrent le vin â As for my friends, they prefer wine
Example: Non, je ne lâai pas invitĂ©. Et dâailleurs, je lui ai dit de ne pas venir â No, I didnât invite him. And moreover, I told him not to come
Example: Au contraire, ce nâest pas du tout ce que je voulais dire â On the contrary, thatâs not what I meant at all
Example: MalgrĂ© tout, elle lâaime toujours â Despite everything, she still loves him
Example: Tu lui diras. Sinon il va oublier â Tell him. Otherwise heâll forget
Example: On va partir dĂšs quâil arrive â Weâll leave as soon as he arrives
This expression is always followed by a subjunctive verb in French.
Example: Il ne me croit pas, quoique je dise â He doesnât believe me, whatever I say
Example: Sans doute, câest pour ça â Without doubt, thatâs why
Example: Sâil fait beau, jâirai. Par contre, sâil pleut, je reste ici â If the weather is good, Iâll go. On the other hand, if it rains, Iâll stay here
Example: Il a volĂ© mon portefeille, et en plus, il mâa insultĂ© ! â He stole my wallet, and furthermore, he insulted me!
Example: Et surtout, il ne faut pas le dire Ă personne ! â And above all, you mustnât tell it to anyone!
Example: De toute façon, je vais lui dire â Iâm going to tell him anyway
These are words and phrases for when you need to express your opinion.
Example: Je pense que tu as tort â I think youâre wrong
Example: Ă mon avis, ce nâest pas le cas â In my opinion, thatâs not the case
Example: Pour moi, ce nâest pas la peine â For me, itâs not worth it
Example: Selon mon professeur, ça se dit comme ça â According to my teacher, thatâs how itâs said
To finish, here are a couple of connecting words that many English speakers get wrong â as do many French speakers when they use the English versions.
#31 and #32 are slightly different from English and are easy to confuse. The last is one of the most notorious false friends in the French language.
This doesnât quite mean âin effectâ. Itâs closer to âindeedâ or âactuallyâ.
Example: En effet, câest tout Ă fait vrai ! â Indeed, itâs completely true!
Be careful here â finalement doesnât mean âfinallyâ as in âheâs finally arrivedâ. The true meaning is âin the endâ and is used, for example, when the final outcome is not what you expected.
Example: Ah ! Alors finalement tu as dĂ©cidĂ© de venir ! â Ah! So you decided to come in the end!
If you want to say âfinallyâ, the correct word is enfin â it expresses the idea that something you have been waiting for has finally happened.
Example: Il a enfin rĂ©ussi Ă vendre sa maison ! â Heâs finally managed to sell his house!
It also has another meaning that is similar to âat leastâ in English.
Example: Il a vendu sa maison. Enfin, câest ce que jâai entendu â He sold his house. At least, thatâs what I heard
Actuellement DOES NOT mean âactuallyâ! If you want to express âactuallyâ, the closest French expression is en fait (in fact).
Actuellement means âcurrentlyâ or âat the momentâ, and this is why sometimes French people will say things like âIâm busy actuallyâ â they really mean âIâm busy right nowâ.
Example: Je ne suis pas disponible actuellement â Iâm not available right now/currently
Many of these words are invaluable since they can help you express yourself much more clearly and accurately.
Plus, there are no complicated grammar rules to learn. You can sound more natural and fluent with minimal effort.
En plus, by incorporating them into your active French vocabulary, you can make yourself sound much more like a native speaker.
Et finalement, thatâs the goal that everyone is hoping to achieve!
This list is a great start point. But now it's over to you. As you read French and listen to French, notice these connectors. Observe how native people use them in their conversations. How do they pronounce them? Where and when do they use them.
This is great preparation for using them in your conversations with French speakers.
âAfter I started to use your ideas, I learn better, for longer, with more passion. Thanks for the life-change!â â Dallas Nesbit
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Creator of the StoryLearningÂź Method
Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearningÂź method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.
Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.
When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preachesâhe speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.
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