Speak French with confidence: from your first bonjour to B2
Learn French with explanations in English, German, Turkish or Russian. Instructions, grammar and feedback follow your choice. The French you hear and read stays French, and your progress is the same whichever you pick.
Order a coffee in Lyon, chat with neighbours in Montreal, or follow a conversation at work in Brussels. English speakers start with an advantage, because thousands of French words look familiar: table, question, restaurant, important. Gora builds on what you already know and explains things in plain English as you go, so you understand what you're saying instead of just memorising it.
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Hear it
Bonjour ! Comment allez-vous ?
Hello! How are you?
Bien, merci.
I'm well, thank you.
French spelling has many silent letters, so you meet every word with its sound from the start.
| Starting stage | What to learn | Useful outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Sounds and first sentences | The French sounds, silent letters and everyday greetings | Say hello, introduce yourself and order in a café |
| Nouns with their articles | le, la, un, une from the first noun, plus du and de la | Name things correctly instead of guessing the article |
| Verbs that do the work | être, avoir, aller, regular verbs, the near future and the past with avoir and être | Talk about now, plans and what happened |
| Real conversations | Questions, negatives, tu and vous, and the pronouns y and en | Ask, answer and keep a conversation going |
French in an order that makes sense
Each step earns its place before the next one arrives.
Hear it and say it.
The sounds first, including the nasal vowels in bon and vin and the letters you don't pronounce, so every new word lands with the right sound.
Learn every noun with le or la.
The article is part of the word from day one. Endings like -tion (feminine) and -ment (masculine) make many of them predictable.
Build with a few strong verbs.
Être, avoir and aller carry a huge share of everyday French. With them you can describe, plan and tell what happened.
Choose tu or vous with confidence.
Who you're talking to changes the verb. Gora tells you which to use on every card where it matters.
How to learn French step by step
1. Start with sounds you can trust.
French spelling looks harder than it is. Once you know that ou sounds like "oo", that -ent at the end of a verb is silent, and that many final consonants are dropped, you can read most words aloud. Gora pairs every new word and sentence with audio, so the sound and the spelling arrive together.
2. Learn the article with the noun, every time.
"Car" isn't the word you need; la voiture is. Learning genders afterwards is the most common regret of French learners. Gora shows le or la with every noun, and brings the patterns back as they come up.
3. Build sentences before collecting lists.
Use a small set of everyday verbs to make complete thoughts, then change the person, the object or the time. That's how je suis, tu as and nous allons become automatic, and it gives you sentences you can actually say in the first week.
4. Meet the past and future when you need them.
French has more than one past tense. Gora starts with the near future (je vais partir) and the everyday past (j'ai mangé, je suis parti), then adds the imparfait for background and descriptions once those feel natural.
How long does it take to learn French?
There's no honest universal number. Your starting point, your study time and how much French you hear matter more than any promised deadline. English speakers have a head start, because so much vocabulary is shared. With steady short sessions, a beginner can handle greetings and simple exchanges within weeks, and build a solid A2 foundation over several months. Comfortable conversation takes longer, because listening to fast spoken French and choosing the right past tense take practice.
A better measure than days completed is what you can do without a script: order in a café, ask for directions, understand the answer, and explain what you did at the weekend.
Why French is easier to start than people think
French uses the same alphabet as English with a few accents, and thousands of words are close cousins of English ones: table, question, important, restaurant, possible. Its grammar follows patterns that repeat across the whole language, and the verbs you use most are a small, learnable set.
The real challenges are listening and spelling, because French drops many letters in speech, and the genders, which have to be learned with each noun. A structured course makes those manageable by putting them in a sensible order.
Serious French without the fog
French grammar books are long. Gora teaches the system while you use it, so you never have to finish a textbook before you're allowed to speak.
Every word and sentence comes with audio, and every noun comes with its article, so you learn it right the first time.
Free French guides
Your First French Conversation: A Beginner’s Roadmap
Say bonjour, introduce yourself and ask a short question in your first exchange.
Ordering Coffee in French: A Café Conversation You Can Use
Order a coffee and answer when someone asks if you’re staying or taking it away.
French Definite Articles: Le, La, L’ and Les
Learn how le, la, l’ and les work with French nouns.
French U vs OU: Hear and Say Tu and Tout → · Être and Avoir in French: Be, Have and Everyday Expressions → · Tu or Vous? Choosing the Right French “You” →
French course FAQ
Is French hard for English speakers?
French is one of the easiest languages for English speakers to start, because so many words are shared: table, question, important. The harder parts are the sounds, the silent letters and the genders. Gora introduces each one step at a time and explains it in plain English.
Do I really need to learn le and la?
Yes. It's much easier if you learn each noun with its article from the start. Every noun in Gora comes with its article.
How long does it take to reach B1 or B2?
It depends on how much time you put in. With steady short sessions, most beginners can handle everyday conversations within a few months. The course runs 90 units, from your first bonjour to B2, the level at which you can work and live comfortably in French.
Which French does the course teach?
Standard French as spoken in France, understood everywhere French is spoken. Where Belgium and Switzerland say things differently, such as septante for 70, the course points it out.
Is there a free trial?
7 days free · No card · One account keeps your progress everywhere
Can I use the course offline?
Downloaded app resources may remain available, but lessons, progress updates and account features work most reliably with an internet connection.
Does progress sync across devices?
Yes. Sign in with the same Gora account on web, iPhone, iPad or Android and your saved course progress follows you.