This week on the French Language forum

This week has seen various interesting questions about French grammar and vocabulary at a number of different levels on the French Language forum:

A notable discussion for more advanced users concerns the use of inversion in French. This the structure found essentially in formal French where the order of the subject and verb is reversed. In French, it is usually used to form a question. The discussion centers around the fact that there are actually two different forms of inversion used in French: "simple" and "complex". In addition, the "simple" form of inversion can be used for what is called "stylistic" inversion: an optional case of inversion which serves no function as such, but is felt by the author in question to by more stylistically pleasing.

So-called modal verbs can frequently be an issue for learners because of the subtlety they can entail. See this question on the use of devrait-il.

An ongoing discussion concerns various tips and suggestions for learning French vocabulary more quickly. What is coming out of the discussion is that there is no single magic bullet but rather a combination of strategies is required. Some specific suggestions of techniques/web sites is proposed in the discussion.

Remember that anybody can join in the discussions on the French Language Forum. Regular highlights and updates are also posted on the French Language Forum's Facebook page, which you are encouraged to join.