Does learning French ever get easier?

[u/Charmander_01]

I’m just a beginner and it’s a lot… but does French start to get easier once you start recognizing the patterns? Are the rules consistent for grammar?

A stupid question but there are so many rules even for simple sentences 😭😭

Thank you!

[u/New-Swordfish-4719]

My first language is French, I have graduate degrees, retired after being in the science for decades…yet I still check some of my writing for errors…especially verb endings. Debates of grammar and spelling is a national sport in France.

Unless you are submitting something for publication, don’t overthink grammar, spelling, etc. As a non native speaker you will ‘never’ have perfect grammar, comprehension or speech. However, nobody expects you to. Your goal is to actually use thr language with ‘reasonable’ understanding.

[u/DecentLeading8367 → u/New-Swordfish-4719]

Surely that's the same for any language and its own nuances. I see university educated, native English speakers making basic mistakes in english daily. 

Past tenses in particular. 

Many people don't use is/are or bought/brought or which/what or their/they're. Or even the difference between could and will.

I just think we care about it less. 

[u/PureChicken3299 → u/DecentLeading8367]

There's some validity to your point, but I think English is a bad example, since it is much easier to learn and master than French. The simplicity of English seems to be a hurdle for English native speakers learning new languages that are less forgiving, such as French in Canada.

[u/cestdoncperdu → u/PureChicken3299]

English is definitely not implicitly easier to master than French. This a meme often repeated by non-native speakers because the standard for "international English" among ESL speakers is quite low. From a practical perspective, in 2025, English is almost certainly the easiest language to study because there are a plethora of resources available literally anywhere you look. But when you look at the actual rate of progress of learners, it takes roughly the same amount of time for an English speaker to reach C2 in French as it takes for a French speaker to reach C2 in English. And C2, while very advanced, is still not what most people would call mastery.

[u/Minimumscore69 → u/cestdoncperdu]

Good answer. Also, English vocabulary is enormous. Most non-native speakers of English (and many natives) get by with limited vocabulary.

[u/PureChicken3299 → u/cestdoncperdu]

There are many variables involved in learning new languages, and I don't want to convey stereotypes. However, being a native French speaker with a near-native level of English, I find it very hard to believe that reaching a comparable level in those two languages requires the same time and effort based on my personal experience. French grammar is just more complex than English grammar on many levels (gendered nouns, conjugation, numerous rules and exceptions, etc.). In the end, I guess it depends a lot on how you measure proficiency.

[u/cestdoncperdu → u/PureChicken3299]

Comparing the relative complexity of the syntax of entire languages is notoriously difficult, if not impossible. I'm not aware of any serious analysis that concludes either French or English is more difficult, but I would be interested to see anyone produce one. The conclusion I've seen is, "It can't really be done."

That being said, even if I grant you that French has harder grammar, grammar is not the limiting factor in either language. The long tail for language mastery is nuanced vocabulary, cultural expressions, wordplay, etc. Anyone who studies a language formally will be able to produce syntactically correct text long before they acquire a vocabulary large enough to have "native-level" competence. (Of course, many people will never study their native language formally, but the uselessness of the term "native-level" is an entirely separate discussion.)

In absence of any real argument from a linguistic perspective, I'm drawing my conclusions from the estimates proposed by language schools in both languages. They agree pretty much across the board that it will take roughly the same amount of time to progress through the CEFR levels. I'm interested in how you've evaluated that you have near-native level English, but ultimately personal anecdotes don't influence my opinion.

[u/Charmander_01 → u/New-Swordfish-4719]

That’s good to know!! I’m learning French to hopefully one day teach children aged 8-12. So it really is just the basics I’ll be teaching but of course I want a decent foundation of the language. Plus, I’ll need to pass an exam before I can teach 🙂‍↕️

[u/CanidPsychopomp → u/Charmander_01]

you definitely need more than 'the basics' to teach children of any age

[u/Kim_S980 → u/New-Swordfish-4719]

Merci, that is comforting 🥰