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A1 · Start here

How to start learning Frenchthe A1 path, in order.

8 units that carry you from saying hello to getting by when you do not understand. One neighbourhood, one continuous story, and an explicit outcome at the end of every unit.

Units
8
units
Lessons
32
lessons
Free to read
All
free to read

Free to start · No card required · First steps toward A1

Route / fr-A1

French Foundations

Finding your feet in a new neighbourhood

Free
to read
  1. 01Meet someoneFree
  2. 02OrderFree
  3. 03Get your bearingsFree
  4. 04Do the shoppingFree
  5. 05Describe your dayFree
  6. 06Talk about yourself and othersFree
  7. 07Plan somethingFree
  8. 08Ask for helpFree
fr-A1 · 24 episodes1 → 8
8 unitsone continuous story
32 lessonsabout 20 minutes each
Free to readevery lesson, no card
A1first steps toward the level

The whole path

Eight units, in the order they arrive.

Finding your feet in a new neighbourhood. Each unit has one outcome, three scenes that build it, and a checkpoint where you meet a scene you have not rehearsed. Nothing asks you to use grammar you have not already heard.

  1. Unit 01

    Meet someone

    Full support start

    Greet a neighbour, say your name, and say where you are from

    1. E1Bonjour, je suis votre voisineHello, I'm your neighbourFull support
    2. E2Vous êtes d’où ?Where are you from?Full support
    3. From here: first line translated free · every line with Premium
    4. E3Je te présente ThéoA friend arrivesFree to read
    5. CPUn soir de pluieCheckpoint — Follow an evening meeting in the porch and answer for what was saidFree to read
  2. Unit 02

    Order

    Free to read

    Order at a bakery or a café and pay for it

    • 1La boulangerie du coin
    • 2Un café, sur place
    • 3Il manque un croissant
    • CPLe sac de Nadia
  3. Unit 03

    Get your bearings

    Free to read

    Ask where a place is and understand the answer

    • 1Où est la pharmacie ?
    • 2Devant ou derrière la gare ?
    • 3Retrouver Léa
    • CPDevant la pharmacie
  4. Unit 04

    Do the shopping

    Free to read

    Buy what you need and say how much you want

    • 1Le panier pour ce soir
    • 2Il n’y a plus de lait
    • 3C’est combien ?
    • CPLes courses de Théo
  5. Unit 05

    Describe your day

    Free to read

    Say what you do during the day, and when

    • 1Le matin de Léa
    • 2Tu commences à quelle heure ?
    • 3Un dimanche tranquille
    • CPLe dimanche de Sonia
  6. Unit 06

    Talk about yourself and others

    Free to read

    Talk about the people close to you and what you like

    • 1Une photo de famille
    • 2Un petit appartement
    • 3J’aime cuisiner
    • CPChez Sonia
  7. Unit 07

    Plan something

    Free to read

    Arrange to meet someone at a time that works for you both

    • 1On déjeune ensemble ?
    • 2Pas mardi — mercredi
    • 3Un pique-nique au parc
    • CPMercredi midi
  8. Unit 08

    Ask for help

    Free to read

    Ask for help when you do not understand

    • 1Vous pouvez répéter ?
    • 2Le mauvais bus
    • 3Une journée dans le quartier
    • CPUne journée à la Guillotière

Every lesson is free to read. The first 2 episodes also translate every line, and they cover the whole outcome of Unit 1.

Start with Unit 1

Inside a lesson

Four activities.
About 20 minutes.

Every episode runs the same four moves in the same order, so the only thing you have to decide is whether to start. One unit is three episodes plus a checkpoint.

  1. 01

    Listen & Read

    Hear the scene while you follow the words. Meaning and sound arrive together, which is why nothing here needs translating first.

    5 min
  2. 02

    Shadow & Speak

    Repeat the useful lines out loud while the audio keeps going. You copy the rhythm of a whole phrase instead of assembling it word by word.

    7 min
  3. 03

    Build the Sentence

    Rebuild the lines you just heard from their pieces. This is where a phrase stops being something you recognise and becomes something you can produce.

    5 min
  4. 04

    Quiz

    Retrieve what the scene contained, without looking back. Forgetting once and recalling is what makes the next unit easier.

    3 min

The checkpoint that closes each unit is different on purpose: an unseen scene, no scaffold, and no build the sentence step — you cannot rehearse it, you sit it. That is how you find out whether the unit's outcome actually survived.

The honest answer

What is free, and what Premium adds.

Free · every lesson to read · full support in Episodes 1–2

Meet someone — the whole outcome

  • Bonjour, je suis votre voisine — Greet a neighbour and say your name
  • Vous êtes d’où ? — Say where you are from and ask someone else
  • Which is the entire Unit 1 outcome: greet a neighbour, say your name, and say where you are from

First lines you will say

  • Bonjour ! · Hello!
  • Je m’appelle Léa · My name is Léa
  • Enchantée · Nice to meet you (said by a woman)
  • À bientôt · See you soon

Premium · added support, not extra lessons

Stories about your life, fully supported

  • Stories from your own life — generate a story from your own topic or experience
  • Every line translated in every lesson, plus unlimited word help
  • Full audio and line replay on every generated story
  • New stories and episodes without daily waits
  • Unlimited Shadow & Speak

No timer on the free part. Read all 32 lessons at your own pace; Premium adds support around them, never the lessons themselves.

When you finish

Where A1 hands off to A2

The path ends on "Ask for help": ask for help when you do not understand. From there the same listen-read-speak loop continues on longer French stories, with wider vocabulary and less scaffolding.

Unit 01 · first episode

Bonjour, je suis votre voisineHello, I'm your neighbour

Léa arrives in her new courtyard with two boxes and no free hand. A neighbour comes down the stairs.

Language note

Saying your name

je m’appelle + prénom

Read it in the app — free

Answers

Starting French: questions

Direct answers about the French Foundations sequence, the free boundary, and what happens after Unit 8.

Q01

How long does the French A1 path take?

8 units of four lessons each — 32 lessons of about 20 minutes. That is roughly 11 hours of lessons, before whatever you replay. Most learners take one lesson a day rather than racing the whole path.

Q02

Is Foundations free?

Yes — every lesson in the path is free to read, with no countdown and no card needed to start. The first 2 episodes also come with full reading support, every line translated, and they cover the whole outcome of Unit 1. From Unit 1 Episode 3 onward the first line of each lesson is translated for free; Premium adds every line translation, unlimited word help and stories written from your own life.

Q03

Do I need to know any French before I start?

No. Unit 1 opens with Bonjour, je suis votre voisine, where a woman meets a new neighbour on the stairs and has to say something. The first line you read is a greeting.

Q04

Is this a course or a story?

Both. It is a course built from one continuous story: you follow the same neighbourhood across all 8 units, so the language arrives inside situations instead of in lists. Unit 1 is "Meet someone" — greet a neighbour, say your name, and say where you are from. Unit 8 is "Ask for help" — ask for help when you do not understand.

Q05

What do the fully supported first episodes cover?

"Bonjour, je suis votre voisine" asks you to greet a neighbour and say your name; "Vous êtes d’où ?" asks you to say where you are from and ask someone else. Together those 2 episodes cover the full Unit 1 outcome, so the fully supported start finishes something real rather than stopping mid-sentence.

Q06

What comes after the A1 path?

Unit 8 ends with "ask for help when you do not understand". From there you move into level-matched French stories at A2 and up, with the same listen-read-speak loop on longer texts.

Start at the beginning

Unit 1, Episode 1 is where French starts

Open the app and the path picks up mid-scene — Bonjour, je suis votre voisine, léa arrives in her new courtyard with two boxes and no free hand. a neighbour comes down the stairs. Every lesson is free to read.

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