Your First Week of French: A 7-Day Beginner Plan
A1In this article, you'll learn
Starting French today? Here’s exactly what to do for the next seven days — about 20 minutes a day, everything free, everything on this site. By Sunday you’ll greet, introduce yourself, count, and survive a first mini-conversation.
🎬 This lesson in one minute
The quick version — the full lesson is below. More shorts →
The plan
| Day | Mission (~20 min) | Your tools |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greetings: bonjour, salut, ça va — say each aloud 10× | greetings chart |
| 2 | Introduce yourself: je m’appelle…, j’habite à… | intro lesson |
| 3 | Numbers 0–20 + your age with avoir | numbers chart |
| 4 | Être & avoir, present tense — the two pillars | verb posters |
| 5 | Watch one story video, repeat 5 phrases aloud | A1 video lessons |
| 6 | Play: one round of each game on a topic you liked | games arcade |
| 7 | Put it together: the 60-second self-introduction, recorded on your phone | first conversation |
Three rules for week one
- Out loud beats in-head. French lives in your mouth; whisper if you must, but produce sound every day.
- Small and daily beats big and rare. Twenty minutes daily outruns a two-hour Sunday binge — that’s how memory works.
- Wrong is fine. Week-one French is supposed to be clumsy. Fluent people are just beginners who kept going.
After day 7
Take stock: if you enjoyed it, the road is mapped — the A1–C2 roadmap shows what comes next, and the A1 library has hundreds of free lessons. Want a shortcut and a real conversation partner? Your first lesson with Xavier is free — a perfect end-of-week-one reward.
FAQ
Do I need to study grammar in my first week?
Barely. Être and avoir on day 4 is all the grammar week one needs. Phrases first, patterns second, terminology last — that order keeps you moving.
Is 20 minutes a day really enough to start?
For week one, yes — consistency builds the habit, and the habit builds the language. You can always do more, but never skip to zero.
What if I already know a little French?
Skim days 1–3 as revision, then jump your level on the roadmap. A quick self-test: can you do day 7’s 60-second introduction without notes?
Quick practice
Play the Quiztap to start · quick practice from this material
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