French Grammar Practice: Exercises and Practice Tips

Key takeaways

• Gender agreement with articles is the most common source of written errors for French learners.
• Adjective placement in French depends on the adjective, and the wrong position changes the meaning.
• Pronouns (direct and indirect object) replace nouns in a fixed position before the verb.
• Negation in French wraps the verb with two parts: ne (n’) before and pas, jamais, or rien after.
• A short daily practice routine beats long weekly grammar sessions for building lasting habits.

You studied the rules. You filled in the workbooks. And you still pause mid-sentence, unsure whether it is le or la, whether the adjective comes before or after the noun, or whether you just used the right tense. That pause is normal.

French grammar has patterns, but it takes repeated exposure to specific structures before those patterns become automatic.

French grammar has a reputation for being complex, and parts of it are. Working with a French tutor helps you catch the errors you repeat without noticing. italki connects you with French teachers who can pinpoint your exact weak points and build exercises around them.

This guide covers six grammar areas: gender and article agreement, adjective placement and agreement, verb conjugation in three tenses, direct and indirect object pronouns, negation, and how to build a practice routine that sticks.

Gender and article agreement

Every French noun has a gender: masculine or feminine. Articles must match that gender. The definite articles are le (masculine singular), la (feminine singular), and les (plural). The indefinite articles are un (masculine singular), une (feminine singular), and des (plural).

Common nouns and their genders to remember:

• Le livre (the book): masculine
• La maison (the house): feminine
• L’enfant (the child): can be masculine or feminine depending on context
• Les amis (the friends): masculine plural

Exercise 1: Fill in the correct article (le, la, les, un, une, des)

Fill each blank with the correct definite or indefinite article.

1. ___ chat est sur le canapé. (The cat is on the sofa.)
2. J’ai vu ___ film hier soir. (I saw a film last night.)
3. ___ fenêtres sont ouvertes. (The windows are open.)
4. Elle a acheté ___ robe rouge. (She bought a red dress.)
5. Il boit ___ café chaque matin. (He drinks coffee every morning.)
6. Nous avons ___ amis en France. (We have friends in France.)
7. ___ professeur parle lentement. (The teacher speaks slowly.)
8. Tu lis ___ livre intéressant. (You are reading an interesting book.)

See the answers section below for all correct responses.

A private French tutor can give you a pattern for guessing noun gender from word endings, which narrows down the errors significantly.

Adjective placement and agreement

French adjectives agree with the noun in gender and number. A masculine singular noun takes a masculine singular adjective. A feminine plural noun takes a feminine plural adjective. This is one of the most common writing errors for learners at every level.

Most adjectives come AFTER the noun in French. But a small group of common adjectives come BEFORE the noun. These include: petit (small), grand (large/tall), jeune (young), vieux (old), beau (beautiful), nouveau (new), bon (good), mauvais (bad), and a few others. The memory trick is BANGS: Beauty, Age, Number, Goodness, Size.

Agreement changes:

• Grand (masculine singular) becomes grande (feminine singular), grands (masculine plural), grandes (feminine plural).
• Beau (masculine singular) becomes belle (feminine singular) and bel before a vowel sound.

Exercise 2: Fill in the correct adjective form

1. Un homme ___ (intelligent) / Une femme ___ (intelligent)
2. Un ___ (bon) repas / Une ___ (bon) idée
3. Des voitures ___ (rapide) / Des enfants ___ (rapide)
4. Un ___ (vieux) bâtiment / Une ___ (vieux) tradition
5. Un appartement ___ (beau) / Une ___ (beau) ville

See the answers section below.

For a full breakdown of common French vocabulary and how adjectives attach to it, the guide to most common French words is a solid companion resource.

Verb conjugation: present, passé composé, and imparfait

Verb conjugation is the heart of French grammar practice. You need to be fluent across at least three tenses for everyday use: the present tense for ongoing and habitual actions, the passé composé (past tense) for completed events, and the imparfait (imperfect) for background description and habitual past actions.

The passé composé uses avoir (to have) or être (to be) as an auxiliary verb, plus the past participle. For verbs conjugated with être, the past participle agrees with the subject. For a full explanation of when to use être vs. avoir in the passé composé, the guide to passé composé in French covers both in detail.

The imparfait is used for descriptions, habits in the past, and ongoing past states. For a side-by-side comparison of when each past tense fits, the guide to passé composé vs. imparfait is worth reading alongside this article.

Exercise 3 (translation task): Translate these sentences into French

Use the tense in brackets.

1. I speak French every day. (présent)
2. She finished her homework. (passé composé)
3. We were walking in the park. (imparfait)
4. They have a meeting at noon. (présent)
5. He used to eat lunch at home. (imparfait)

See the answers section below.

Working through tenses with a French language tutor gives you immediate correction when you mix up tenses in speaking, which is harder to catch on your own.

Direct and indirect object pronouns

Pronouns replace nouns so you do not repeat them. In French, direct object pronouns replace nouns that receive the action of the verb directly, with no preposition. Indirect object pronouns replace nouns that receive the action indirectly, typically with the preposition à (to).

Direct object pronouns: me (me), te (you), le (him/it), la (her/it), nous (us), vous (you plural/formal), les (them).

Indirect object pronouns: me (to me), te (to you), lui (to him/to her), nous (to us), vous (to you plural/formal), leur (to them).

Position: these pronouns go directly before the conjugated verb. In the passé composé, they go before the auxiliary verb (avoir or être).

• Je vois Marie. (I see Marie.) becomes Je la vois. (I see her.)
• Il parle à Paul. (He speaks to Paul.) becomes Il lui parle. (He speaks to him.)

Exercise 4: Replace the underlined noun with the correct pronoun

1. Je mange la pomme. (I eat the apple.)
2. Elle écrit à ses parents. (She writes to her parents.)
3. Nous regardons le film. (We watch the film.)
4. Tu as vu Marie et Sophie. (You saw Marie and Sophie.)
5. Il donne le livre à Pierre. Rewrite using pronouns for both objects.

See the answers section below.

Negation

French negation uses two parts that wrap around the conjugated verb: ne (or n’ before a vowel) before the verb and a negative word after it. The most common combinations are:

• Ne… pas: not (general negation)
• Ne… jamais: never
• Ne… rien: nothing
• Ne… plus: no longer / not anymore
• Ne… personne: nobody

Examples:

• Je parle. (I speak.) becomes Je ne parle pas. (I do not speak.)
• Il mange. (He eats.) becomes Il ne mange jamais. (He never eats.)
• Elle a vu quelqu’un. (She saw someone.) becomes Elle n’a vu personne. (She saw nobody.)

In spoken French, the ne is frequently dropped: Je sais pas instead of Je ne sais pas. You will hear this constantly in informal speech. In writing and formal contexts, keep both parts.

Exercise answers

Exercise 1 answers:

1. Le (cat is masculine: le chat)
2. Un (indefinite masculine: un film)
3. Les (plural: les fenêtres)
4. Une (indefinite feminine: une robe)
5. Du (partitive: du café. Note this is a partitive article, not from the list given; accept le as an error-catch exercise.)
6. Des (indefinite plural: des amis)
7. Le (masculine singular: le professeur)
8. Un (indefinite masculine: un livre)

Exercise 2 answers:

1. Intelligent / intelligente
2. Bon / bonne
3. Rapides / rapides (same form for both genders in plural)
4. Vieux / vieille
5. Beau / belle

Exercise 3 answers:

1. Je parle français chaque jour.
2. Elle a fini ses devoirs.
3. Nous nous promenions dans le parc.
4. Ils ont une réunion à midi.
5. Il déjeunait chez lui.

Exercise 4 answers:

1. Je la mange.
2. Elle leur écrit.
3. Nous le regardons.
4. Tu les as vues. (past participle agrees with the direct object les, which refers to two feminine people)
5. Il le lui donne. (le replaces le livre; lui replaces à Pierre)

Building a grammar practice routine

Short daily practice is more effective than long sessions once a week. Fifteen minutes every day beats two hours on Sunday. The key is choosing one grammar point per session rather than trying to review everything at once.

A practical weekly structure:

• Monday: Gender and articles (flashcards or fill-in sentences)
• Tuesday: Adjective agreement (write 5 sentences using new adjectives you learned)
• Wednesday: Verb conjugation (conjugate 10 verbs across two tenses)
• Thursday: Pronouns (find a sentence you wrote and rewrite it using pronouns)
• Friday: Negation (take 5 affirmative sentences and negate them in two different ways)
• Weekend: Write a short paragraph of 5-10 sentences using all the week’s points

The practice routine only works if you get feedback on your output. Writing exercises you check yourself will catch some errors, but spoken and written feedback from a teacher catches the patterns you have learned to overlook. An online French teacher can review your weekly paragraph and identify which grammar point needs more time.

Putting grammar practice to work

Grammar rules make sense on paper. The real test is whether you can use them mid-sentence, in real speech, without stopping to think. That transition from rule to reflex takes consistent, corrected practice.

On italki, you can find a teacher who structures sessions around your specific grammar gaps, whether that is article agreement, tense selection, or pronoun placement. With 30,000+ expert tutors trusted by over 10 million learners worldwide, you can find a specialist who fits your schedule and level. Book a trial lesson and turn your grammar knowledge into habits you can actually use.

FAQ

Can I improve my French grammar without a textbook?

Yes. Targeted sentence-level exercises, like the ones in this article, are often more effective than reading grammar chapters. The key is getting feedback on your output, whether from a teacher or a native speaker, so errors do not become habits.

How long does it take to feel confident with French grammar?

Most learners at B1 feel comfortable with the core grammar rules but still make agreement and tense errors under pressure. Reaching a point where those errors are rare typically takes 6-12 months of regular practice, with consistent feedback on written and spoken output.

What is the best order to learn French grammar topics?

Start with gender and articles, basic verb conjugation in the present tense, and negation, since these appear in every sentence you produce. Then add past tenses, pronouns, and adjective placement. Save the subjunctive and complex sentence structures for B2 and above.