Yes, you can learn French for free, and English gives you a head start: after the Norman conquest of 1066, French poured thousands of words into English, so information, restaurant and possible need no translation. The hard part is the ear, not the dictionary. This guide covers what is easy and hard for English speakers, the free French lessons worth your time from TV5Monde, RFI and the agency behind the official DELF exams, a 12-week plan at 20 to 30 minutes a day and an honest timeline.
Is French hard for English speakers?
Not to read, harder to hear. The US Foreign Service Institute puts French in its easiest category and estimates 30 weeks of full-time classes, about 690 class hours, for an English speaker to reach professional working proficiency in speaking and listening. That's the same as Spanish, and a little more than the 24 weeks it gives Italian and Portuguese. Our list of the easiest languages to learn compares them in more detail.
| What comes easily |
What takes work |
| Thousands of words shared with English |
Silent letters and words that run together |
| Word order close to English |
Nasal vowels and the French u |
| Reading, long before listening |
le or la on every noun |
| Most verbs follow one regular pattern |
Numbers from 70 to 99 |
What is easy about French?
Vocabulary, by a distance. English words ending in -tion are often identical in French (nation, question, information), and -ty often becomes -té: liberté (liberty), université, qualité. Word order is close to English too: Je mange une pomme is "I eat an apple", word for word.
Most French verbs end in -er and follow one pattern. Learn parler (to speak) and you can conjugate aimer (to love, to like), habiter (to live) and travailler (to work) without a table. That's why many beginners can read a simple French news story long before they can follow French radio.
What makes French hard?
Silent letters. Final consonants are usually silent, and so is the -ent of the plural verb ending, which means il parle (he speaks) and ils parlent (they speak) sound exactly the same. Then liaison links words together: les amis (the friends) sounds like "lay-zah-mee".
Vowels English doesn't have. Tu (you) and tout (all) differ only in the vowel. The nasal vowels in vin (wine), vent (wind) and vont (they go) are three separate sounds, and hearing the difference takes weeks of listening.
Gender. Le livre (the book), la table (the table), and few reliable rules: le problème is masculine despite its final -e. Learn every noun with its article.
Numbers. From 70, French counts in twenties: soixante-dix (70) is sixty-ten, quatre-vingts (80) is four twenties, and quatre-vingt-dix-neuf (99) is four twenties nineteen. Belgium and Switzerland simplify 70 and 90 to septante and nonante.
False friends. Actuellement means currently, not actually. A librairie is a bookshop, sensible means sensitive, and blesser means to injure, not to bless.
How do you start French in Qlango?
Download Qlango on Android or iOS, or open it on the web, choose English as the language you learn through and add French. The app is free to download and your first lessons are free; the first A1 lesson takes about five minutes. The French course runs from A1 all the way to C2, and the languages page lists every course and level.
Answers move from picking one of four to building sentences to writing French yourself, which forces you to decide between le and la instead of guessing. Spaced repetition brings each word back right before you would forget it, flashcards keep vocabulary moving, and games such as Word Duel, Wordle and MinuteRush work for five spare minutes. You can chat with other learners, with message translation and AI help to write your reply, and streaks, a weekly plan and statistics show the habit growing. Premium adds an AI teacher and offline learning.
Where can you learn French for free? The best free French lessons
The French-speaking world publishes a lot of free learning material through its public institutions. These are the ones worth building into your week if you want to learn French for free beyond the app.
- TV5Monde, Apprendre le français. The international French-language TV channel runs a site with free exercises built on real news reports, music videos and film clips, from A1 to B2. Do one A1 exercise a day from week 4.
- RFI, Journal en français facile. Radio France Internationale broadcasts a news bulletin in simple French every weekday and posts it with a full transcript on Le français facile avec RFI. Listen once, read the transcript, then listen again.
- DELF sample papers. France Éducation International, the public agency behind the official DELF exams, publishes free sample papers with audio, starting at A1. Try one in week 12 to check your listening and reading.
- TV5MONDEplus. A free streaming service for French-language films and series with subtitles. The catalogue varies by country.
- BBC Bitesize GCSE French. The BBC's free revision pages cover the topics and grammar of the French exam British students take at 16.
- Your library and a language exchange. Libraries lend French course books with audio and French films; a French speaker who wants to practice English will happily swap half an hour.
What does a free 12-week French plan look like?
Plan 20 to 30 minutes a day, six days a week: about 15 minutes of Qlango lessons and reviews, then 10 minutes of listening or reading from the list above. Listening deserves more time in French than in most languages, so from week 8 make the RFI bulletin part of your routine.
| Week |
Focus |
Say it like this |
| 1 |
Silent endings, u and ou, the French r, greetings, numbers to 20 |
Bonjour, je m'appelle Priya. J'habite à Leeds. |
| 2 |
être and avoir, le and la, tu and vous |
Comment tu t'appelles? Comment vous appelez-vous? |
| 3 |
Present tense of -er verbs, questions with est-ce que |
Est-ce que tu habites ici? |
| 4 |
Café and shop phrases, numbers to 100; first TV5Monde exercises |
Je voudrais un café, s'il vous plaît. C'est combien? |
| 5 |
aller, faire, prendre, venir, the near future |
Ce soir, je vais regarder un film. |
| 6 |
Negation as it's written and as it's said |
Je ne sais pas in writing, je sais pas in speech |
| 7 |
Adjectives: agreement and position |
une petite maison blanche |
| 8 |
du and de la for food and drink; first RFI bulletin |
Je prends du pain et de l'eau. |
| 9 |
Past tense with avoir |
Hier, j'ai vu un bon film. |
| 10 |
Past tense with être |
Elle est arrivée à Paris samedi. |
| 11 |
Reflexive verbs, y and en |
Je me lève à sept heures. J'y vais. |
| 12 |
Review, a DELF A1 sample paper, messages to other learners |
Le week-end prochain, je vais voir mes amis. |
By week 12 you can introduce yourself, order, talk about your plans and your weekend, and you'll start catching whole sentences on French radio instead of single words.
How long does it take to learn French?
Cambridge English estimates about 180 to 200 guided learning hours to reach A2, 350 to 400 for B1 and 500 to 600 for B2. Those figures are for learners of English, but they work as a yardstick for French. At 30 minutes a day you study about 180 hours a year, enough for A2, simple everyday conversations, after about a year and B1 after about two. If the letters mean nothing yet, here are the CEFR levels explained.
Expect your reading to run ahead of your listening for a long time. The FSI's 30 weeks assume 23 hours of class a week plus self-study, for native English speakers, so don't compare your evenings with a diplomat's full-time course.
FAQ
Can I learn French for free?
Yes. TV5Monde, RFI and the DELF sample papers cost nothing, and Qlango is free to download, so you can start with structured lessons and free listening on the same day.
Is French or Spanish easier?
The FSI gives both 30 weeks. French is easier to read thanks to its shared vocabulary, Spanish easier to pronounce and spell. If you're still choosing, see our guide on how to learn Spanish for free.
Should I learn French from France or from Canada?
Start with standard French, which is understood everywhere, including Quebec; local words and the accent come quickly once you listen to Canadian sources. If you're learning for Express Entry, our guide to learning French for Canada PR covers the targets and the tests.
How long does it take to learn French?
About a year to A2 and two years to B1 at 30 minutes a day, and roughly half that at an hour a day.
Start with the sounds this week, add French in Qlango with English as the language you learn through, and listen to one RFI bulletin before the month is out, even if you only catch the date.
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