{"id":10088,"date":"2017-04-11T15:39:36","date_gmt":"2017-04-11T13:39:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.frenchcourses-paris.com\/?p=10088"},"modified":"2017-04-11T15:42:54","modified_gmt":"2017-04-11T13:42:54","slug":"french-difference-between-written-and-spoken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.frenchcourses-paris.com\/fr\/french-courses-paris\/french-difference-between-written-and-spoken\/","title":{"rendered":"French: Difference between written and spoken"},"content":{"rendered":"

Differences between written and spoken French<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Spoken French and written French are so different\u00a0that one could consider that they are two distinct dialects.<\/h2>\n

I will highlight the main differences between written French and oral French in this blog article. After reading it, you will be ready to better understand spoken French and you will avoid sounding like a book when you speak the language.<\/h3>\n

Here are the 5 main differences between written French and spoken French that you need to have in mind:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    Drop the \u201cne\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    To form a negative statement in French, you need to add \u201cne\u201d before the verb and \u201cpas\u201d after it. The \u201cne \u2026 pas\u201d structure is equivalent to \u201cnot\u201d in English.<\/p>\n

    As \u201cne\u201d is not strictly necessary (you can see that it is a negative statement because it contains \u201cpas\u201d), French people usually skip it when they speak.<\/p>\n

    1) I don\u2019t speak French very well<\/em><\/p>\n

    Written French: Je ne parle pas bien fran\u00e7ais<\/p>\n

    Oral French: Je parle pas bien fran\u00e7ais<\/p>\n

    2) One doesn\u2019t do that\/ it isn\u2019t polite to do that<\/em><\/p>\n

    Written French: \u00e7a ne se fait pas<\/p>\n

    Oral French: \u00e7a se fait pas<\/p>\n

    3) Sorry, I don\u2019t understand, could you repeat please?<\/em><\/p>\n

    Written French: Excusez-moi, je ne comprends pas, pouvez-vous r\u00e9p\u00e9ter s\u2019il vous plait ?<\/p>\n

    Oral French: Excusez-moi, je comprends pas, vous pouvez r\u00e9p\u00e9ter s\u2019il vous plait ?<\/p>\n

    Note <\/strong>that in most cases, people will say \u201cvous pouvez r\u00e9p\u00e9ter s\u2019il vous plait ?\u201d instead of \u201cpouvez-vous r\u00e9p\u00e9ter s\u2019il vous plait ?\u201d. Putting the verb before the pronoun to ask a question (inversion) is only done in formal situations.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \n

      Forget the \u201ce\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The French like to communicate quickly, so they often drop the \u201ce\u201d in words when they speak. This phenomenon is called the \u00ab\u00a0e instable\u00a0<\/a>\u00bb<\/em>: the letter is not always silent. In some words and constructions its pronunciation is optional, while in others it is required.<\/p>\n

      1) I speak French well<\/em><\/p>\n

      Written French: Je parle bien fran\u00e7ais<\/p>\n

      Oral French: J\u2019parle bien fran\u00e7ais<\/p>\n

      2) You should go, it\u2019s late<\/em><\/p>\n

      Written French: Tu devrais y aller, il est tard<\/p>\n

      Oral French: Tu d\u2019vrais y aller, il est\u00a0tard<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. \n

        Je + s becomes \u201cch\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        1) I am in front of the cinema<\/em><\/p>\n

        Written French: Je suis devant le cin\u00e9ma<\/p>\n

        Spoken French: Chuis devant le cin\u00e9ma<\/p>\n

        2) Do you know where the Rodier street is? No, I don\u2019t know, sorry<\/em><\/p>\n

        Written French: Vous savez o\u00f9 est la rue Rodier ? Non, je ne sais pas, d\u00e9sol\u00e9<\/p>\n

        Spoken French: Vous savez o\u00f9 est la rue Rodier ? Non, ch\u00e9\u00a0pas, d\u00e9sol\u00e9<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. \n

          Tu\u00a0followed by a vowel becomes \u201ct’\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Since spoken French is all about going faster, \u201ctu\u2019 becomes \u201ct\u201d\u201d when followed by a vowel.<\/p>\n

          What did you do yesterday?<\/em><\/p>\n

          Tu as fait quoi hier ?
          \nT\u2019as fait quoi hier ?<\/p>\n

            \n
          1. \n

            Il y a vs. Y’a<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            \u201cIl y a\u201d is super useful. It means \u201cthere is\u201d or \u201cthere are\u201d. Yes, sometimes French can be simpler\u00a0than English :).<\/p>\n

            1) There are lots of people in the street today.<\/em><\/p>\n

            Written French: Il y a beaucoup de monde dans la rue aujourd\u2019hui<\/p>\n

            Spoken French: Y’a beaucoup de monde dans la rue aujourd\u2019hui<\/p>\n

            2) There is no room\/ are not seats in this train.<\/em><\/p>\n

            Written French: Il n\u2019y a pas de place dans ce train<\/p>\n

            Spoken French: Y’a pas de place dans ce train<\/p>\n

            Note that the \u201cn\u2019y\u201d (first part of the negation) disappears.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            Differences between written and spoken French Spoken French and written French are so different\u00a0that one could consider that they are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10089,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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between written and spoken French Spoken French and written French are so different\u00a0that one could consider that they are 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