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Tips for getting started with French

  1. Set up speech first. Install an Enhanced or Premium French voice in Apple's settings, then choose it in LinguaMorpha under Settings → French → Voice. Standard voices sound robotic, and the better voices make a real difference. See Setting up French speech.

  2. Start with A1 nouns. Tap the flag and choose A1 under Scheme and level. Set Questions per session to 20 in Settings → Study. Then open Nouns and run a few Meaning sessions until the basic vocabulary feels solid. Follow up with Pick the correct article, so that le or la is learned along with each noun.

  3. Add verbs gradually. Once the A1 nouns feel comfortable, open Self Study → Verbs. In Select groups, choose only 1st group (-er). In Select tenses, choose only Présent. Run Produce the conjugation until the regular present tense is automatic, before you touch anything irregular.

  4. Use the conjugation tables actively. Before you drill, open Reference on the verbs hub, tap a verb you are about to practise and look at its Conjugation tab. Red marks the parts of a form that depart from the regular pattern. Once you understand the pattern, the drill sticks faster.

  5. Broaden in steps. Move your level up to A2. Add verb groups one at a time, for example 2nd group (-ir / -iss-), then Auxiliary être. Add one tense at a time: Imparfait and Passé Composé are the most useful after Présent. Never widen your selection so far that sessions feel overwhelming.

  6. Watch the numbers from 70 to 99. When you reach Numerals, spend extra time on soixante-dix (70), quatre-vingts (80) and quatre-vingt-dix (90). They count in twenties, unlike anything in English.

  7. Try the false friends. Under Practice Sets, in the Topics folder, the False friends set drills nouns that look like English words but mean something else: librairie is a bookshop, monnaie is change, lecture is reading. It is a short set, and it runs as Noun meaning cards.

  8. Check your progress. Tap the chart icon at the top of the Home screen (on the Mac, choose My Progress in the sidebar) and look under Weakest words: the words you have practised often enough to rank and still get wrong most. Tap a verb there to drill just that verb, or tap Practise all to drill every verb on the list.