La Rédaction · Resource hub · All free, no account

Free French resources, all in one place.

A short, opinionated set of free study plans, printable cheatsheets, a level test, and our paid programs for serious learners. Curated by La Rédaction. No download wall, no email gate, no padded list. Pick one starting point and go.

🐭 Take the Level Quiz Or open your study plan 10 resources · 3 PDFs · ~5 min read
📋 How we built this hub
01.

Free, with no account

Every quiz, plan and PDF on this page is free. No email gate, no sign-up wall. Start instantly.

02.

One plan, one cheatsheet, one habit

You don’t need fifteen apps. You need one structured plan, one printable, and ten focused minutes a day.

03.

Built for English-speaking adults

Every grammar point is explained in English. Every example is a phrase you’d actually use in France.

🐭
🏆 Start here

The Level Quiz

Three minutes, an instant CEFR score, and one specific plan picked for you. The single best first step on this page, and the one we send 90% of new readers to.

Take the quiz →

The 10 resources at a glance

Scan, jump to your level, click straight through.
Resource What it does Level Type Get it
🐭 Level Quiz Find your true CEFR starting point A0 → C1 Free · 3 min Start →
🗓️ A0 → A1 Plan 4-week beginner roadmap A0 → A1 Free Open →
🗓️ A1 → A2 Plan 8-week intermediate roadmap A1 → A2 Free Open →
📄 Present Tense Verbs 15 essential verbs, conjugations + drills A0 → A1 Free PDF Download →
📄 Articles & Gender Le, la, les, un, une, des explained A0 → A1 Free PDF Download →
📄 A1 Foundations Quick-start map for absolute beginners A0 → A1 Free PDF Download →
📚 Learning Center 60+ free guides on grammar, culture, expat life All Free hub Browse →
📈 Progress Pass Weekly native audio, CEFR tracking, full archives A0 → B2 $19/mo See →
📈 DELF Prep Mock exams, written corrections, timed listening A2 → B1 $9/mo See →
🥐 Paris Ready Pack One-shot guide for travelers to Paris A0 → A2 $47 once See →

Most people learning French as adults don’t have a content problem. They have a focus problem. There are millions of YouTube tutorials, hundreds of apps, dozens of Reddit threads, and exactly zero clarity. Every week you start a new method, abandon it on day three, and feel guilty about it on day four. That’s the cycle. The best way to learn French for English speakers isn’t another download. It’s a clean shape for the next ninety days.

This page exists to do one thing: narrow your choices. There’s a quiz to find your real level. There are two structured plans, A0 to A1 in four weeks and A1 to A2 in eight, written for people who have twenty-five minutes a day and no Sunday-morning marathon energy. There are three printable PDFs because the act of printing something and pinning it to your fridge moves the needle more than another browser tab. And there’s the Learning Center for the days you want to read instead of drill.

Beneath the free side, there’s the paid side: a $19/month system for serious learners, a $9/month track for DELF candidates, and a one-shot $47 pack for travelers. We’ve kept the boundary clean on purpose. The free resources here are genuinely enough to take an English-speaking adult from zero to A2. The paid programs exist for people who want a weekly cadence, native audio, and someone tracking their CEFR level for them. Both are real products. Neither is a teaser.

One last thing. A lot of beginners get stuck early because they fight the wrong battles. They memorise vocabulary lists no one uses. They argue with grammar rules instead of absorbing them. Learning how to think in French and stop translating is the real unlock, and it doesn’t happen by reading more rules. It happens by doing fewer things, every day, for longer than you’d like.

Top 3 free starters

If you only do three things on this page, do these.
01. 🐭
Free · 3 minQuiz

The Level Quiz

Best for: finding out where you actually stand.

Twenty questions, instant CEFR score, one plan picked for you. The fastest way to stop guessing whether you’re an A1 or an A2 and start studying the right thing.La Rédaction

Start the quiz →
02. 🗓️
Free · 4 weeksA0 → A1

A0 to A1, in four weeks

Best for: total beginners who want a clear shape.

Twenty-five minutes a day, five days a week. Greetings and numbers in week one, the three core verbs in week two, then asking questions and ordering food. By week four, your first real conversation.La Rédaction

Open the plan →
03. 📄
Free · PDFA0 → A1

A1 Foundations cheatsheet

Best for: one printable to use every day.

Must-know phrases, grammar anchors, pronunciation cues, and a minimal daily routine. The single sheet of paper successful learners pin to their wall and look at every morning.La Rédaction

Download PDF →

🗓️ Study plans · A0 to A2

Each plan gives you specific weekly goals you can actually finish. Twenty-five minutes a day, five days a week. If a week feels heavy, reduce the daily time but keep the streak. Repetition beats intensity, every time.

💡 Pick the right plan first. The Level Quiz takes three minutes and tells you exactly which one to start with. Take the quiz here.
  • Plan · 4 weeks · A0 → A1

    A0 to A1, in four weeks

    For absolute beginners.

    Start from zero with greetings, core verbs (être, avoir, aller), and the simple questions you’ll actually use. By week four, you’ll introduce yourself, order food, and ask for directions without freezing.

    Week 1: greetings, numbers, basic introduction phrases
    Week 2: the three foundational verbs (être, avoir, aller)
    Week 3: asking questions, following directions, ordering food
    Week 4: review, plus your first real conversation practice
    🐭 Take the Quiz first
  • Plan · 8 weeks · A1 → A2

    A1 to A2, in eight weeks

    For confirmed beginners ready to push.

    Build real beginner fluency through practical themes: food, the city, family, hobbies, and past events. By week eight, you’ll hold short conversations, follow simple podcasts, and write basic emails.

    Weeks 1 – 2: past tense, daily routines
    Weeks 3 – 4: food vocabulary, shopping, comparatives
    Weeks 5 – 6: travel essentials, directions, city life
    Weeks 7 – 8: review, conversation scenarios, mini exam
    🐭 Take the Quiz first

📄 Cheatsheets · printable PDFs

Pick one. Just one. Print it or save it to your phone home screen. Say the examples out loud every day for a full week. Then move to the next one. The act of looking at the same sheet daily beats any new app you’d download in its place.

📖 How to use them. Pin the PDF on your fridge or your office wall. Every time you walk past, read three lines out loud. Five repetitions a day, five days a week, beats one hour on Sunday.
  • PDF · A0 → A1

    Present Tense, essential verbs

    Conjugation tables for the 15 most frequent verbs, plus short drills you can say while making your morning coffee. Covers être, avoir, aller, faire, and the verbs you’ll use most.

    Download PDF ↓
  • PDF · A0 → A1

    Articles, gender & agreement

    Simple rules with clean visuals and quick self-checks. When to use le, la, les, un, une, des, and why French adjectives change their endings.

    Download PDF ↓
  • PDF · A0 → A1

    A1 Foundations, the quick-start map

    Must-know phrases, core grammar anchors, pronunciation cues, and a minimal daily routine. One sheet to pin on the wall and read every morning.

    Download PDF ↓

📈 Premium programs · for serious learners

When you’re ready to stop piecing together random free videos and want a system that runs on a weekly cadence, this is where to go. Cancel anytime. No contract, no guilt.

  • Subscription · A0 → B2

    📈 The French Progress Pass

    Best for: a structured weekly system.

    Weekly native audio, structured lessons, deep grammar explanations without the academic noise, and CEFR tracking. The full system books and PDFs don’t give you. Less than one café a week.

    $19/mo · Get the Pass
  • Subscription · A2 → B1

    📈 DELF Prep Monthly

    Best for: A2 / B1 DELF candidates.

    Mock exams, written corrections, timed listening drills, and the exact format expected by examiners. The piece books alone cannot give you, because the exam is rubric-driven, not vocabulary-driven.

    $9/mo · DELF Prep
  • One-shot · A0 → A2

    🥐 Paris Ready Pack

    Best for: travelers to France this year.

    A one-time pack with the exact phrases, cultural rules, and audio guides a visitor needs to navigate Paris with confidence and respect. No subscription, no upsell, no padding.

    $47 once · Get the Pack

📈 Free resources cover the basics. The Pass adds the system.

Weekly native audio, CEFR tracking, full archives. $19/mo, cancel anytime.

See the Pass →

How to actually use this page

One quiz, one plan, one cheatsheet. Don’t open three tabs. The Level Quiz tells you which plan to follow, the plan tells you which cheatsheet to use, the cheatsheet tells you what to say out loud today. Anything more is procrastination dressed up as preparation.

Daily beats binge. Twenty-five minutes a day, five days a week, will outperform a four-hour Sunday session every time. The neural pathways for language are built on repetition, not effort. Pick a fixed slot in your day, defend it, and stop negotiating with yourself.

Print the PDF. Pin it on the fridge, the bathroom mirror, or beside your laptop. Every glance is a free three-second review. You don’t need to formally study a cheatsheet. You need to walk past it twenty times a day for two weeks.

Don’t switch plans mid-stream. The most common failure pattern we see is starting the A0 to A1 plan, hitting week two, deciding it’s “not enough”, and jumping to a new app. Finish the four weeks. Then decide. A realistic French timeline is measured in months, not weeks.

One short article a day. If you have ten extra minutes, open the Learning Center and read one piece. Don’t take notes. Don’t translate. Just read. French pronunciation and listening habits, false friends to avoid, untranslatable French words: pick one, read once, move on.

Frequently asked questions

What should I do first to learn French?
Take the Level Quiz 🐭 to know your true starting point. Open the plan on this page that matches your score. Download one cheatsheet and use it daily. When you have ten extra minutes, read one article in the Learning Center 📚. Stop there.
What is the French Progress Pass?
A paid monthly subscription with weekly native audio, structured lessons, deep grammar explanations, and CEFR tracking. $19 a month. See what’s inside. Cancel in 2 clicks, no contract, no guilt.
I’m just traveling to Paris. Do I need the Progress Pass?
No. If you’re visiting for a holiday, the Paris Ready Pack is a one-time purchase with the exact phrases and cultural rules a traveler actually needs. The Pass is for people who want to keep learning past the trip.
How many resources do I really need?
Three. The Level Quiz, one structured study plan, and one cheatsheet you actually print. Add a short article from the Learning Center when you have ten extra minutes. Anything more and you’ll start switching instead of finishing.
Can I print the PDF cheatsheets?
Yes. All three are print-friendly. The most successful learners we see print one sheet a week and keep it visible on their desk or fridge.
How long does it take to reach A1 or A2?
A0 to A1 takes about 4 weeks at 25 to 30 minutes a day. A1 to A2 takes about 8 weeks on the same routine. Faster than that and retention drops; slower than that and momentum dies. A realistic timeline matters more than any specific method.
Which exam should I prepare for, TCF or DELF?
It depends on your goal. Citizenship, residency and university admissions each have specific requirements. Read our complete TCF vs DELF guide before buying any prep materials, including our DELF Prep Monthly.
The bottom line

Still on the fence? Take the Level Quiz.

If you only have three minutes for this page, spend them on the quiz. It tells you exactly which plan to start, which cheatsheet to print, and which article to read first. Everything else gets clearer once you know your real level.

🐭 Start the Level Quiz → Updated April 2026 by La Rédaction. Free, no account, no email gate.
Where to next

Not ready to commit? Keep exploring.

Three more places on FrenchToEnglish, each free or honest about its price.

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