The Gallus Blog

Learn French, the way that actually works

Honest, practical guides on getting started, passing the DELF, reading real French, and choosing what to ignore.

An applicant handing a folder of documents across a préfecture counter, a French flag and a Marianne bust on the wall behind. CEFR, DELF & DALF

French Level for Citizenship: B2 Since 2026

French citizenship now requires CEFR B2, not B1. Here are the 2026 thresholds, the accepted proofs, the new civic exam, and how long B2 really takes.

· 9 min
A reader on a Paris café terrace with a French paperback and a notebook, afternoon light on the table. Learn French by Reading

How to Learn French by Reading: The Full Method

Reading builds French faster than flashcards - if the level is right. The 98% rule, what to read from A1 to C1, and the mistakes that waste months.

· 10 min
A desk by a window with an open French notebook, a calendar and a cup of coffee, morning light. How to Learn French

How Long Does It Take to Learn French?

600 to 750 class hours to professional proficiency, says the FSI. Here is what that means level by level, and what it becomes at 30 minutes a day.

· 9 min
An open French grammar notebook on a wooden table with verb conjugations written out by hand, next to a pen and a cup of tea. French Grammar

French Grammar: A Complete Guide by CEFR Level

French grammar in the order you actually learn it: what A1 to C1 each contain, why B2 is the hardest step, and what you can safely ignore for now.

· 12 min
A young woman walking along a cobbled street in a French village with headphones on and a book under her arm, pastel shutters and plane trees behind her. How to Learn French

How to Learn French: A Complete Roadmap

A stage-by-stage plan for learning French from A1 to B2: what to do at each level, how to split your time, and the study habits that quietly waste it.

· 12 min
A split winter scene of old Quebec City rooftops under snow beside a Paris boulevard in autumn, both in warm evening light. France vs Quebec

Quebec French vs France French: What Differs

Quebec French and France French are one language with two accents, two vocabularies and two official bodies. What differs, and which one to learn.

· 11 min
A hand writing in a notebook at a café table, a half-drunk coffee beside it, a rainy street visible through the window behind. French Grammar

Passé Composé vs Imparfait: The Rule That Works

Duration is not the rule. Here is the test that actually decides between passé composé and imparfait, plus the six verbs that change meaning between them.

· 10 min
A waiting room at a French préfecture with a numbered ticket in hand, rows of chairs and a tall window letting in pale morning light. CEFR, DELF & DALF

French Level for a Visa or Residence Permit

A long-stay visa needs no French at all. The permit that follows now needs A2, and the ten-year card needs B1. What changed in 2026 and how to prove it.

· 10 min
A candidate seated at an exam desk in a bright hall, headphones on and an answer sheet in front, rows of empty desks receding behind. CEFR, DELF & DALF

DELF, DALF, TCF or TEF: Which One Do You Need?

DELF and DALF are diplomas you can fail and that never expire. TCF and TEF are measurements you cannot fail, valid two years. That difference decides it.

· 11 min
A stack of slim paperback books on a wooden table beside a mug and a pair of reading glasses, soft daylight from a window on the left. Learn French by Reading

French Graded Readers by Level: A1 to C1

Which French graded reader series are genuinely labelled by CEFR level, where the catalogue runs out, and what to read free at each stage from A1 to C1.

· 11 min
A person sitting on the steps of a stone building with an open notebook on their knees, looking up thoughtfully, plane trees and shuttered windows behind. How to Learn French

Is French Hard to Learn for English Speakers?

French is in the easiest tier for English speakers, but the difficulty is unevenly spread: easy to read, hard to hear, and heavily front-loaded at A1.

· 11 min
An open notebook and a fountain pen on a café table beside a small espresso cup, warm afternoon light across the wooden surface. French Grammar

The French Subjunctive: When You Really Need It

Stop learning the subjunctive by emotion, doubt and desire - the categories fail. Learn the triggers as fixed blocks, and skip the two literary tenses.

· 11 min
Two stone staircases side by side against a pale building facade, one short and one much longer, with warm evening light falling between them. CEFR, DELF & DALF

B1 vs B2 French: What Actually Separates Them

B2 does not pile more grammar onto B1 - it contains less. What changes is precision: the same ideas, rebuilt with tools you can no longer dodge.

· 11 min
A smartphone with a dark, switched-off screen lying on a wooden desk beside an open French textbook, reading glasses and a cup of coffee, morning light from a window. How to Learn French

What Level Does Duolingo French Get You To?

Duolingo's French course now teaches content through B2. The only peer-reviewed measurement of what learners reach lands, on ACTFL's own crosswalk, at A1.

· 11 min
A wooden table by a window holding a small closed booklet, a pen, a folded paper map and a mug of coffee, looking out onto a snowy street of colourful townhouses. France vs Quebec

TEFAQ vs TCF Québec: Which Test for Immigration?

Quebec accepts eight French tests, not two. What actually differs is modularity, scoring and a two-year rule that cancels the DELF's biggest advantage.

· 11 min
An open notebook lying on a dark blue wooden desk, its left page filled with two columns of handwritten notes, a pencil resting on the blank right page beside a cup of tea and a lit lamp. French Grammar

French Noun Gender: Is There Actually a Rule?

We measured 24,689 French nouns. The famous -e rule is worth almost nothing, and the endings that are 100% reliable are the ones nobody teaches.

· 11 min
A sunlit windowsill holding a stack of navy and cream books beside an open book with a pair of reading glasses resting on its pages, a garden visible through the window. How to Learn French

How Many French Words Do You Need to Know?

We measured it: 1,000 words cover 88% of spoken French, but reaching the 98% you need to read comfortably takes 11,338. Here is the whole curve.

· 11 min
An open book resting on a round café table on a French street terrace, next to a closed navy notebook, a pen and a cup of coffee, with other customers and coral shutters blurred behind. French Grammar

Qui, Que, Dont, Où: French Relative Pronouns

We measured it: dont is the 91st most common word in French books and only the 402nd in speech. That gap explains why almost nobody acquires it.

· 10 min
A stack of five cloth-bound navy books on a wooden table beside an open illustrated volume and a pair of reading glasses, a lit lamp on the left and a window showing a sunset behind. Learn French by Reading

Best French Books for Beginners: We Measured Them

We ran eleven classics from the standard beginner lists through a frequency corpus. Not one of them is readable at 98% with a 5,000-word vocabulary.

· 11 min
A round marble café table beside a tall window, holding an open handwritten notebook, a navy fountain pen, an espresso cup and a folded newspaper, with navy panelling on the wall and coral shutters on the street outside. French Grammar

Y and En in French: The Rules and the Real Data

Y replaces à, en replaces de - the rules take five minutes. We measured why they still take years, and it is not the rules that are the problem.

· 11 min
An open book with yellowed pages lying in the pool of light from a brass desk lamp on a dark wooden desk, a closed navy clothbound volume and a striped mug of coffee beside it, bookshelves behind. French Grammar

Passé Simple in French: 60 Forms Cover 92%

You read the passé simple, you never speak it. We counted 21,314 of them to work out exactly which forms you have to recognise - and it is far fewer.

· 11 min
An open notebook on a wooden desk showing two columns of handwriting, a navy fountain pen resting on the left page, a cup of coffee and a stack of navy books with coral spine bands beside it. French Grammar

Avoir vs Être in the Passé Composé: The Data

The list of être verbs is the first thing you memorise and it covers only 60% of the cases. We counted 9,625 compound tenses to find what it misses.

· 11 min
A folded newspaper lying on a pale wooden café table beside a closed cream notebook with a navy pen and a small white cup of coffee, warm morning light coming through a window on the right. Learn French by Reading

How to Read French News: The Real Difficulty

We measured 73 articles from four French news outlets against a frequency list. The press is lexically harder than the classics, and free of passé simple.

· 11 min
An open French book on a wooden desk in afternoon light, a few lines on the left page underlined in pencil, a notebook and pencil beside it. Learn French by Reading

Comprehensible Input in French: The 15-Page Test

The 98% rule is a book average, not a page reality. Measured over 928,000 words: what unknown-word spacing feels like, and why one page misleads.

· 9 min
A French university lecture hall seen from the back rows, students taking notes at long wooden desks under tall arched windows, a lecturer at the blackboard in the distance. CEFR, DELF & DALF

French Level for University in France: B2 or C1

We read 48 admission requirements published by 28 French universities. B2 gets you into a licence, C1 into most masters, and B2 is not one bar.

· 10 min
A candidate's desk during a written French exam, an answer booklet and a pen beside a printed question sheet, a clock on the wall out of focus behind. CEFR, DELF & DALF

DELF B2: Format, Scoring and the 5/25 Trapdoor

The DELF B2 is four papers of 25 points and a 50/100 pass. Near the pass line, the 5/25 eliminatory mark rejects more profiles than the total does.

· 10 min
A home study desk with a French grammar book open, a notebook of handwritten notes, headphones and a mug, warm lamplight in the evening. Learn French

How to Learn French by Yourself: A Working Plan

You can reach B2 in French alone. But 68.6% of French written forms sound identical to another form of the same word, so one thing never self-corrects.

· 10 min