When it comes to mistakes in French, I often hear and correct the same over and over. By avoiding those 5 most common mistakes in French, you will instantly increase your French level with little or no effort. Are you ready for it?
Bien vs bon
We generally use "bien" as an adverb and "bon" as an adjective. An adverb works with a verb and an adjective with a noun. "Tu cuisines bien" "bien" refers to my cooking style. "Ton boeuf bourguignon est bon" what's delicious, the dish. Nevertheless, there are some specific cases... You can use "bien" for an opinion or moral judgment "apprendre le français c'est bien" and "bon" for a pleasant moment or sensation "ce croissant est bon" "bon" like delicious. Here's the most common mistake. It happens when I ask people if the movie was good. They say "c'était bon" but instead you should say "c'était bien" because it's about "a total satisfaction" e.g. "alors ton voyage en Provence ?" "c'était trop bien" meaning I loved it so so much from A to Z!
To visit or not to visit
I think I've corrected this mistakes more than a hundred of times. You can't visit the cinema nor a person. You can only visit touristic places. If you want to talk about the cinema you have to say "aller au cinéma" and about people "rendre visite à quelqu'un" or "voir quelqu'un" e.g. "j'ai rendu visité à mes parents" or "j'ai vu mes parents."
COD vs COI pronouns
Be careful not to mix those pronouns. "Le, la, les" are COD pronouns and "lui, leur" COI pronouns! "J'ai bien reçu tes messages" "messages" being COD of the verb so "je les ai bien reçus". "J'ai téléphoné à mes amis" "mes amis" being COI of the verb (you can double check, usually there is a preposition just before) "je leur ai téléphoné." The most difficult is to know if the verb is followed by a COD or a COI. You can check if there is a preposition or not. At the end, practice will help you do it without even thinking!
Careful with time markers (depuis, pendant, pour, il y a)
You will use "depuis" for a moment that starts in the past and continues in the present. it's similar to since/for "Je suis professeur de français depuis 10 ans !" I've been teaching French for 10 years. "Il y a" is like ago in English. We use it to talk about a finished and specific moment in the past "Je suis allé en Espagne il y a deux semaine" I went to Spain two weeks ago. Use "pendant" to talk about a duration in the past or in the future "Je suis parti en vacances pendant deux semaines" "je pars en vacances pendant deux semaines" I went on holidays for 2 weeks / I'm going on holidays for 2 weeks. "Pour" is only for future duration, remember this tricky one!
Negative sentences in French
Be careful with negations. You can't combine them all. "Ne...pas" always works alone. You can't say "Je ne connais pas personne" but instead "je ne connais personne". You can combine "ne ... plus" with other negations. "Je ne sais plus rien", "je ne connais plus personne", "je ne ferai plus jamais ça" etc.
If you hesitate, try, if you make a mistake, continue! I made many mistakes in Spanish and nothing happened! remember those 5 points, it will benefit your level!
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