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 and a level test. Curated by La Rédaction. No padded list, no fluff, just the sheets worth keeping. Pick one starting point and go.

🐭 Take the Level Quiz Or open your study plan Study plans · 9 resources · 1 PDF · ~7 min read
📋 How we built this hub
01.

Free, with no account

Every quiz and plan on this page is free with no sign-up. The cheat sheets come as one free PDF in exchange for your email.

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

About five minutes and 20 questions to estimate your starting level. Use the result to choose a study plan, then adjust it to what you find easy or difficult. This is a practice quiz, not a CEFR certification.

Take the quiz →

Resources at a glance

Scan, jump to your level, click straight through.
Free · all nine sheets

Get every cheat sheet in one PDF

Tu vs vous, the past tenses, pronunciation, numbers and dates, survival phrases, email templates and more. Nine resources bundled into a single 27-page PDF. Enter your email and it downloads right away.

Instant access. New lessons by email, unsubscribe anytime.

Resource What it does Level Type Get it
🐭 Level Quiz Estimate your starting level A0 → C2 Free · 5 min Start →
🎲 21 French Mistakes Drilling the 21 mistakes English speakers repeat All Paperback $19 Both editions →
🗓️ 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 Get it free →
📄 Articles & Gender Le, la, les, un, une, des explained A0 → A1 Free PDF Get it free →
📄 A1 Foundations Quick-start map for absolute beginners A0 → A1 Free PDF Get it free →
🔢 Numbers, Dates & Time The 70/80/90 math, dates and the 24-hour clock A0 → A2 Free PDF Get it free →
🧳 100 Survival Phrases Ten situations, ten phrases each, all out loud A0 → A1 Free PDF Get it free →
🤝 Tu vs Vous The decision map plus the switching phrases A1 → B1 Free PDF Get it free →
🎬 Passé composé vs imparfait The photo-or-film method, triggers and drills A2 → B1 Free PDF Get it free →
🗣️ Pronunciation Sounds Nasals, the French u and r, liaison, rhythm A1 → B1 Free PDF Get it free →
✉️ French Email Templates Eight ready-to-adapt emails, préfecture to friends B1 Free PDF Get it free →
📚 Learning Center 101 free guides on grammar, culture, expat life All Free hub Browse →

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 estimate your starting level. There are two structured plans, a four-week beginner plan and an eight-week elementary plan, written for people who have twenty-five minutes a day and no Sunday-morning marathon energy. There are nine printable resources in one PDF pack 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 is exactly one paid thing: the Summer French Gamebook, as a PDF or as a printed book. That is the whole catalogue. The free resources here are genuinely enough to take an English-speaking adult from zero to A2, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise.

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 · 5 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

A four-week beginner plan

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. Practise a short conversation in week four.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

Get it free →

🗓️ 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 about five minutes and helps you choose a starting plan. Take the quiz here.
  • Plan · 4 weeks · A0 → A1

    A four-week beginner plan

    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.

    Get it free →
  • 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.

    Get it free →
  • 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.

    Get it free →
  • PDF · A0 → A2

    Numbers, dates & time

    Zéro to quatre-vingt-dix-neuf without tears: the 70/80/90 logic explained, dates, prices, phone numbers read in pairs, and the 24-hour clock France actually runs on.

    Get it free →
  • PDF · A0 → A1

    100 survival phrases

    Ten situations, ten phrases each: café, directions, shopping, trains, pharmacy, small talk. Learn one section a day out loud and survive France politely in ten days.

    Get it free →
  • PDF · A1 → B1

    Tu or vous? The decision map

    The 10-second verdict for fifteen real situations, the phrases to switch registers gracefully, and the traps that out you as a foreigner. When in doubt: vous.

    Get it free →
  • PDF · A2 → B1

    Passé composé vs imparfait

    The photo-or-film method: trigger words that decide 90% of cases, twelve example pairs to read out loud, the être club, and a self-test with answers.

    Get it free →
  • PDF · A1 → B1

    Pronunciation: the missing sounds

    The French u, the nasals, the soft r, silent letters (the CaReFuL rule), the five liaison rules, and the flat rhythm that instantly makes you sound more French.

    Get it free →
  • PDF · B1

    French email templates

    Eight ready-to-adapt emails: asking for information, chasing the préfecture, booking, cancelling, landlord problems, job applications. Plus the sign-off ladder.

    Get it free →

🎲 Games · all levels

Learning by playing works: reps without the textbook feel. One entry on this shelf for now — and full disclosure, we wrote it.

  • ☀️ Our book · Game · all levels

    🎲 Stop Making These 21 French Mistakes

    Best for: drilling out old mistakes by playing.

    Our own gamebook by Camille Aubert. 2,000 questions across 40 rounds, on the 21 mistakes anglophones repeat. Paperback, or instant PDF.

    View on Amazon → or the instant PDF

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. Try a short, regular session that fits your week. Revisit yesterday’s examples, practise one new point and say a few sentences aloud. Adjust the duration so the routine is sustainable.

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 estimate your 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.
I am just traveling to Paris. Where do I start?
With the free material. The Paris phrase guide and the printable survival phrases PDF on this page cover what a visitor actually needs.
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 nine 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?
The plans cover four and eight weeks of practice. Progress depends on your starting point, time and opportunities to use French; finishing a plan does not guarantee a CEFR level. 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.
The bottom line

Still on the fence? Take the Level Quiz.

Have five minutes? Try the quiz for a starting-level estimate. Then choose one plan and one reference sheet that match what you want to practise. Return to the result after some study to decide what needs more work.

🐭 Start the Level Quiz → Updated September 2026 by La Rédaction. Free, no account needed.
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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