J’aime le chocolat — I like chocolate. Liking in French takes the whole category with le, la or les, and its negative arrives ready-made: je n’aime pas. With this one verb you can state opinions about food, animals, colors and days, which makes every list you own conversational.
| French | English | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| J’aime… | I like… | zhehm |
| Je n’aime pas… | I do not like… | zhuh nehm PAH |
| J’aime le chocolat. | I like chocolate. | zhehm luh shoh-koh-LAH |
| J’aime les chats. | I like cats. | zhehm lay SHAH |
| Tu aimes… ? | Do you like…? (friend-form) | tew EHM |
| le chocolat | chocolate | luh shoh-koh-LAH |
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
English drops the article — "I like cats" — but French keeps it: J’aime LES chats. Liking speaks about cats in general, and general statements wear le/la/les.
— Tu aimes les chiens ? — Oui, j’aime les chiens ! Et toi ? — Moi, je n’aime pas les chiens. Run it with any noun set you own; it never gets old with children, and adults call it small talk.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.
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