Hello! I wanted to write about 3 common mistakes I notice are being made by people who are learning french. It's 3 very simple mistakes, but it makes a big difference once you correct them.
1st one:
The use of " l' ". In english we have the word "it", but in french, the exact translation of "it" can vary. I often see people saying "Je l'aime" to say "I like it/I like that". That is 100% incorrect. "Je l'aime", can only be said when talking about a person. (I like him/I like her). But it can't be used to say that you like something. You would have to say ""Ça me plait"", or ""J'aime ça"". (There are a few exceptions though, where "Je l'aime"" can be used to talk about neutral things, but it's quite rare).
The second one is not really a mistake but I wanted to point it out, because it is something that doesn't make you sound like a native speaker. It's the use of "vous". Lots of people learning french (especially at school), seem to be taught "vous", but they are not used to "tu". It is very important that you remember that "vous" is very formal, and therefor you shouldn't use it with your friends. (Or if you are a teenager and you are talking with another teenager. Using "vous" would sound really strange in that case.) Whenever someone starts a conversation with me with ""Comment allez vous?"", I immediately know that they are not a native speaker. Using ""Comment ça va?"" or ""Comment vas-tu?"", is way more common. (Unless you are talking to your boss, or an old person). But using "vous" with friends or people your age does not sound natural. So be careful! :)
3rd mistake: When someone wants to say his french is bad. Many begginers tend to say ""Mon français est mal"". That is incorrect. The right way to say it would be ""Mon français est MAUVAIS"", or ""Mon français n'est pas bon.""
I hope you found this useful :) If you already knew about all of this then your level of french is probably already very good! :)
1. I never knew that you couldn't say 'Je l'aime' for an object. So, if you're eating a cake, and someone says 'Tu aimes ce gâteau?', is it really '100% incorrect' to reply 'Oui, je l'aime' ?
2. As for the question of whether to tutoyer or vouvoyer someone, surely it's always better to err on the side of politeness? Social network sites are generally informal places, and this one is pretty friendly. On the Italian and Spanish pages of italki, for example, it goes without saying everyone is automatically 'tu'. And yet I couldn't help noticing that this isn't necessarily the case for the French speakers. A lot of French people will vouvoyer other italki members if they don't know them. Browse through the French pages here on italki, and you'll see a lot of 'vous' conversations - more so than for any other language here.
#1 is incorrect. Tu aimes mon gâteau au chocolat ? Oui, je l'aime beaucoup, il est très bon (I'm talking about a concrete cake, the one I've just made: it's impossible to use "ça" in that case.)
To choose between "ça" or "le/la/les/l'" you have to ask yourself if you speak of something concrete or something general.
#2 is right only among teenagers/young adults. Otherwise it depends a lot of the people and the social context.
#3 is correct.
merci beaucoup. surtout pour la premiere, le genre de choses qu'on enseigne pas a l'ecole, c'est pour ca je dis toujours que sans une immersion dans un context francais (voyage, partenaire) il est impossible d'apprendre a parler cette langue.
Gracias, buenas observaciones.
Thank you Lucas. No.2 is a surprise to me, and that is because I noticed that when French germanophone, they do the same mistake and often use "Sie" rather than "Du" in situations when it is a bit alienating. So I formed the theory that vous must be more widespread than Sie, but your account reads like the usage is quite exactly the same.
