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How to Form French Sentences: A Guide to French Sentence

Construction
4 Comments
BY ALIX BARNAUD Last Updated: September 1, 2022

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Sentence construction in spoken French

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Types of French Sentences
In French, there are four main types of sentences:
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statements (positive or negative), questions, exclamations
Your Email... and command. Here is our guide on how to build each

Choose your level one of these French sentences.

1. Statements
BEGINNER

INTERMEDIATE
          A. Positive statements
ADVANCED

Statements, or declarative sentences, are the easiest way

Sign up now! to approach French sentence construction. French, like
English, follows the Subject-Verb-Complement structure
sentence:

Je mange une pomme  I eat an apple

Je is the subject and describes the person acting

Mange is the verb and describes the action

Une pomme is the complement. It answers to

questions like What? Why? Where? or How? There can

be several complements in a sentence. They are

usually placed back to back at the end of the

sentence but can also be separated as long as they

are isolated by commas.

Je mange une pomme à la

I eat an apple at home
maison

A la maison, je mange une

At home, I eat an apple
pomme

In French, adjectives are usually placed after the

noun they describe. However, some exceptions

follow the same rule that in English and are placed

before the noun: petit(e), grand(e), bon(ne),

méchant(e), mauvais(e), gentil(le), jeune,

vieux/vieille, nouveau/nouvelle, joli(e),

beau/belle.

Je mange une pomme rouge I eat a red apple

Je mange une belle pomme I eat a beautiful apple

          B. Negative statements

English only uses one negative word: not. French uses two:
ne…pas. Ne is placed after the subject. Before vowels (a, e,
i, o, u) or a mute h, ne becomes n’. Pas is placed after the
verb.

Je ne mange pas de pommes I don’t eat apples

It also works with other negative statements: ne…que

(only), ne…jamais (never), ne… quelque (a few).

Je ne mange jamais de
I never eat apples
pommes

          C. Adding conjunctions

Once you have mastered the basic sentence structure, you

can build longer, more complex ones by coupling shorter
sentences together. They are linked with conjunctions :
Mais (But), Où (Where), Et (And), Donc (So), Or (But), Ni
(Nor), Car (Because), Puis (Then)…

See also: A Quick and Easy Guide to French

Conjunctions

Je mange une pomme car I eat an apple because

j’ai faim I’m hungry

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2. Questions

There are three basic ways to formulate a question in

French.

          A. Inversion

One of the most common ways to ask a question in

French is to invert the subject and the verb in a sentence.
Those questions can usually only be answered with yes or
no.

Manges-tu une pomme? Are you eating an apple?

          B. Est-ce que… ?

Instead of inverting subject and verb, the French also use

the question tag Est-ce que at the beginning of the
sentence and retains the sentence structure that follows.
Est-ce que… demands a « yes or no » answer. It is
considered more colloquial than an inversion question.

Est-ce que tu manges une

Are you eating an apple?
pomme ?

          C. Question words

When asking an open question, French uses question

words much like in English: qui (who), que (what),
pourquoi (why), comment (how), quand (when), où
(where), combien (how many, how much), quel
(which)… They are sometimes followed by Est-ce que…

Pourquoi manges-tu une Why are you eating an

pomme ? apple?

Qu’est-ce que tu manges

What are you eating ?
?

See also: How to Ask Questions in French

3. Exclamations

Exclamations are used to express a strong emotion, such

as surprise, indignation, etc. In many cases, they are
similar in construction to declarative sentences and are
marked by the intonation of the speaker or by an
exclamation point when in writing.

Cette pomme est

This apple is delicious !
délicieuse!

Exclamative words, such as quel/le, que or comme are

used at the beginning of the sentence to emphasize a
statement.

Quelle pomme délicieuse! What a delicious apple !

4. Commands

Imperative sentences are used to express an advice, an

order or a prohibition. It is the only type of sentence in
French when the subject is dropped from the structure. It
is usually implied by the conjugation of the verb in the
imperative form. 

Since it is a direct demand, it is either tu (the singular and

informal form of “you”), vous (plural or formal) or nous (us).
The sentence ends either with an exclamation point to
mark emphasis or with a period.

Mangez cette pomme! Eat this apple !

Mangeons des pommes. Let’s eat apples.

Sentence construction in spoken

French
In French like in English, the spoken language tends to be
more colloquial than what you would write in an essay.
People tend to drop or shorten part of the sentence or on
the contrary drag it  on, which can make things a little
trickier for a language learner. They do not always follow
grammar rules to the letter.

For example, a question may only be marked by the

intonation of the speaker rather than a change in the
words’ order.

Tu as mangé une pomme

Did you eat an apple?
?

 The subject may be repeated for emphasis.

Cette pomme, elle était

That apple was delicious.
délicieuse.

Cette pomme, tu l’as mangée

Did you eat that apple?
?

When it comes to negative sentences, some speakers tend

to drop the “ne”.

J’ai pas mangé de

I didn’t eat apples
pommes.

See also: The Simple Guide to Informal French Grammar

Learning how to build a sentence in French `uently can

seem tricky at arst. Just like everything else, it comes more
naturally with a lot of practice so take any opportunity you
have to read, speak or watch movies in French.

Which part of the French sentence construction is the

most diccult for you? Do you have any good tricks to get it
right? Share it with us in the comments!

Learn how to build good sentences in French by

brushing up in your grammar! Check out the French
Grammar Bundle below.

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With The
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About the author 

Alix Barnaud

Alix grew up in the Southwest of France and studied in Paris. She

now lives in the United States where she is an active member of
the francophone community and never misses an occasion to
share her culture.

4 comments Top rated comments first

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Wendy Patton
January 17, 2022

Excellent explanation – thank you very much Wendy

Vote: 0 Share Reply to Wendy Patton

Frederic Bibard
January 17, 2022

Thank you, merci Wendy

Vote: 0 Share Reply to Frederic Bibard

Achint Aggarwal
January 5, 2022

Very nice explanation. It is so easy to understand and the method

talkinfrench uses is superb. Outstanding website

Vote: 0 Share Reply to Achint Aggarwal

Frederic Bibard
January 5, 2022

Merci Achint

Vote: 0 Share Reply to Frederic Bibard

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