LANGUAGE COMPARISON: FRENCH AND ENGLISH

ESL 502

Mary Costello

Wilkes University

FRENCH AND ENGLISH LANGUAGES

Many linguistic similarities despite very different origins

French is one of the major Romance Languages

English is a Germanic Language

The two languages met because of the Norman invasion of

Britain in the 11th century

Overtime these two languages merged

Many French words were absorbed into the English

language

SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

The French and English alphabets both have 26 letters. However,

the French alphabet has some letters with diacritics: acute, grave.

and circumflex accents, the diaereses and the cedilla.

There are some differences in the phonological systems. Because

of this, French ELLs may have problems with comprehension and

speech production.

Some English words are not spelled like they sound. This lack of

correspondence between spelling and pronunciation may result in

spelling errors.

PRONUNCIATION

One common French ELL error in pronunciation is

the omission of the /h/ at the beginning of a word.

This is because this sound doesn’t exit in their

language .

French ELLs have problems pronouncing the

letters “th”, as seen in the words “mother” or

“think”. This is because the French are not used to

using the tip of the tongue when speaking their

native language.

VERB GRAMMARS

French and English verb grammars have

similarities. Both languages use: auxiliaries,

participle, active and passive voice. One of the

biggest differences is verb tense. Several French

verb tenses do not exist or translate in English.

Learning how to use unfamiliar tenses can be

difficult for the French ELL.

A wrong choice of tense in the English language is

a typical error of the French ELL.

Pronouns are used according to the

gender of the noun with which they are

associated. French nouns are either

masculine or feminine. There are no

neuter nouns in French.

Add –s to form the plural

No possessive case: the preposition

“de”, plus an article if one is needed, is

added to show possession in the French

language.

Nouns are only masculine and

feminine when they are used for

someone or something that is male or

female

All other nouns are neuter

Most nouns add –s or -es to the

singular to form the plural

Possessive case is formed by adding

–’s to a singular noun or –’ to plural

nouns ending in s.

USE OF ARTICLES

French English

ELL BACKGROUND

21 year old male from France

French spoken in the home

began to learn English in primary school

visited the United states several times

spent the past year studying at an American

University

Returned to France to finish his Master’s Degree

I just finish my

program.

My mother change her

schedule

In middle school, we

read books and comment

on them.

I just finished my

program

My mother changed

her schedule.

In middle school, we

read books and

commented on them.

INCORRECT TENSE-PAST

Student Error Correct Form

My suitcase weigh fifty

pounds.

He speak English.

My plane leave now.

My suitcase weighs

fifty pounds.

He speaks English.

My plane leaves now.

INCORRECT SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

Student Error Correct Form

My mother schedule

changed.

My brother house is

near Paris.

I am starting my

master degree.

My mother’s schedule

changed.

My brother’s house is

near

Paris.

I am starting my

master’s degree.

POSSESSIVE CASE

Student Error Correct Form

REFRENCES

Farrell, C. F. (2012). Side by side French & English

grammar. Chicago, IL: McGraw-Hill.

M. (n.d.). Similarities and differences between English and

French. Retrieved from

www.veritaslangaugesolutions.com/similarities-and-

differences-between-english-and-french

The differences between French and English. (n.d.).

Retrieved from http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/french.htm