Signs You Are Making Progress In French

When you are learning French it can seem like you are getting nowhere. This can be highly demotivating and is often why people give up.

However, if you are working hard, consistently, you will be making progress. Sometimes it just so slow you don’t even notice it.

If you take a step back and look for some of the signs I will discuss below, you will probably find you are making plenty of progress in your French studies.

You Are Starting To Understanding Things In French

This is of course pretty subjective and it is very easy to tell yourself you don’t understand anything, but you probably do.

When you are listening or reading you can probably get a grasp of what is happening, especially if the material is at your level. Even if this level is quite low, it’s better than nothing. You can probably pick out some words that before you would not have known. This is still progress.

If you are able to look back at some of the material you covered in the beginning, you will find its really easy now. It is easy to forget that you once found that level of French difficult.

You Can Pick Words Out

A huge sign that you are making progress in French is being able to actually pick words out. When you first listen to spoken French it’s just noise. When you can start to hear the separate words, this is a good sign of progress.

Even hearing little differences between il/ elle or un/une are huge. I remember in my early days thinking it was impossible and something I would never be able to hear.

Give it time, keep listening and one day you will hear the difference as clear as day. It just takes time to make progress. 

You Can Think In French

Once you start getting into the intermediate stage you might start finding you are thinking in French and not even realising it.

You will find French words coming to the tip of your tongue first instead of your native language. You might also find you stop using English filler words/noises like “umm” and start using more French sounding ones like “euhh”.

Of course this is not fully thinking in French in the way that you wish you could, but it still a good start. Your brain is getting comfortable with French and it’s a very good sign that progress is being made. 

Pronouncing Things Correctly In French

You will reach a point in French where you start saying the words properly. This can be either while speaking or reading inside you head. As a beginner you will probably be saying the words with a slight English twang or just in general pronouncing letters that you are not supposed to in French.

After a while you will start to notice that you stop doing this and then start ignoring the silent letters as well. If you have started doing this, it is a sign that your immersion is paying off and you are actually making progress in French. You brain is starting to know how things should actually sound.

You Start Using Full French Sentences

As you make progress in French you are going to notice that your sentences get longer and more complex.

In the beginning you may be only saying words, or phrases. You will then start to notice you can form very simple sentences. These may only be subject-verb-object type sentences, but they are a sign you are improving.

As you get better you will have no trouble adding adjectives or more than one verb in a sentence.

It can be hard to notice this is happening, but just try and pay attention to what type of things you are able to now say in French and you will notice you have made progress.

You Get Comfortable With French Tenses

French tenses can be a nightmare for a learner. It is so easy to get confused and very quickly have no idea if someone is talking about the past of future.

I was honestly so muddled for the longest time, but slowly I started to be able to work it out, little by little.

If you are noticing that tenses are causing you less pain than they used to, then you are certainly making progress in French. The best part is that when you master these, they just get easier and easier until they are literally automatic.  

(You can read more about – The Main French Tenses You Need To Master)

Understanding The Subjunctive

One of the most complicated tenses for a beginner in French is the subjunctive. Just trying to grasp the concept of it is hard enough, let alone actually recognising it.

Once you start actually noticing it when you are listening or reading you are certainly at a good level of French. Once you feel confident in actually tackling it, then you can safely say that you have come a long way from being a beginner and you have made some great progress.

You Can Noticing Regional Accents

Honestly, I’m not here yet, but I’m close and when I can do this I will know that progress has been made.

To a beginner and even most intermediates, French just sounds French, but there are actually a lot of regional variations.

Parisians sound different to someone from the south west of France and then the Swiss and Belgians sound different again.  If you can listen to some one and work out roughly where they are from, this shows you are at very good level of French.

(You can read more about – Should You Try and Develop A French Accent)

Conclusion

As you can see, there is plenty of ways to spot that you are making progress in French and they are not all just making progress as a beginner, you can still make progress when you are quite advanced in French.

Being able to spot these can help keep you motivated, but you still just need to trust the process and keep pushing yourself to study every day. So long as you keep that consistency, you will get to where you want to be in French. 

(If you are wanting to learn French you can check out my unofficial French Course and get a grasp of the basic structure of the language)