Do you want to follow online French classes with French vocabulary French cards? Then you have to decide for yourself 2 things:
- do you want to learn how to speak French fast or
- do you take up French language courses to prepare yourself for enrolling in French language schools
Myself I have been studying French in a language school in Paris. I must say: they are very focused on grammar, so I ended up the rest of the evening studying and studying French.
A waste of opportunity, because if you take up French courses in Paris, you better immerse yourself with French in the streets. Exactly what I did after 1 evening studying French on my own and it paid off big time.
Male and female French vocabulary flash cards
If you want to learn how to speak French fast, then make or use any French flash cards that look appealing and amusing for you, because having fun in one of the best ways to study any language.
If you are preparing for French language schools, then use "male and female" French vocabulary flash cards.
As you can see in the flash cards above: the man is drinking coffee and the girls are drinking beer because according to French grammar:
- coffee is male : un café
- beer is female : une bière
Where "un" and "une" translate in English to "a".
- Take all French words that use "un" to translate "a", and you have a bag with "male French nouns".
- Take all French words that use "une" to translate "a", and you have a bag with "female French nouns".
If you use French flash cards similar like the ones above in your French language course, you will visually remember that :
- each French word that has a guy on the flash card is a male word and
- each French word that has a woman on the flash card is a female word.
Why call it male and female French words? Because (see also our Learn French words page):
- Avez-vous des frères et des soeurs? Oui, j’ai un frère et une soeur.
- Have you some brothers and some sisters? Yes, I have a brother and a sister.
Brother is obviously a male and is in the bag with "un" words (un frère) so we call it the ‘male French words’ bag.
Sister is obviously a female and is in the bag with "une" words (une soeur) so we call it the ‘female French words’ bag.
Use only fun French vocabulary flash cards
I don’t use the above kind of flash cards in my French courses because I want my French students to learn French as fast as possible (see my free French flash cards).
My idea is that once you immerse yourself in the French language, you will hear the French words so often that you will naturally assimilate their gender.
My other idea is that it doesn’t make much sense making a French vocabulary flash card portraying a man wearing a bra because according to the French grammar, bra is a male word (un soutien-gorge).
So for me: learning French should be as fun as possible, so I advice you make or buy French vocabulary flash cards that look appealing and fun to you.
