Spoken vs written French

Everyday spoken French differs a lot from the written French taught in textbooks.

Standard written	Everyday spoken	Meaning
Je ne sais pas.	Je sais pas. / Chais pas.	I don't know.
Il y a	Y a	there is / there are
Nous allons	On va	we're going
Est-ce que tu viens ? / Viens-tu ?	Tu viens ?	Are you coming?
Cela	Ça	that
Tu es	T'es	you are

Why it matters

Learners who have only studied written French often struggle to follow conversations and TV series. You need to learn to understand informal speech, even if you don't have to imitate it.

Registers

French distinguishes informal (familier), standard (courant) and formal (soutenu) registers.

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