B2 Grammar
Complete list of B2 Grammar points with meaning, formation, examples and audio. Tap any point for a full explanation.
- Futur antérieur — future perfect Future perfect: an action completed before a future moment
- Conditionnel passé — past conditional Past conditional: regret or an unrealized past action
- Subjonctif passé — past subjunctive Past subjunctive: a completed action after a subjunctive trigger
- Present participle — participe présent Present participle: -ant used as a verb (invariable)
- Past participle agreement of pronominal verbs Agreement of the participle in pronominal verbs
- Causative faire — faire faire quelque chose Causative: to have / make something done
- si + plus-que-parfait → conditionnel passé (past unreal) Unreal past / regret: if + pluperfect, then past conditional
- Reported speech in the past — concordance des temps Backshift of tenses when the reporting verb is in the past
- au cas où + conditional 'in case' — au cas où takes the conditional, not the subjunctive
- Subjunctive after doubt / negated opinion Doubt and negated belief trigger the subjunctive
- Subjunctive vs indicative — espérer / penser que Affirmed hope/opinion keeps the indicative (contrast with doubt → subjunctive)
- Compound relative pronouns — lequel, auquel, duquel Relative pronouns after a preposition (mostly for things)
- Position and meaning of adjectives — un grand homme / un homme grand A few adjectives change meaning by position: before vs after the noun
- Concession — malgré / en dépit de Saying 'despite / in spite of' with a noun
- Expressing concession — bien que, même si, pourtant Expressing concession: bien que, même si, pourtant
- Expressing condition — à condition que, sauf si, à moins que Expressing condition: à condition que, sauf si, à moins que
- Highlighting — c'est … qui / c'est … que Cleft sentences for emphasis: c'est … qui / c'est … que
- de instead of des before a plural adjective des becomes de before a plural adjective
- L'infinitif passé — après avoir/être + participe Past infinitive: avoir/être + past participle, expressing a prior action
- Past participle agreement before an infinitive Participle before an infinitive agrees only if the preceding object does the action
- Le passif pronominal — la forme en « se » de sens passif Pronominal form with a passive meaning: ça se dit, ce plat se mange froid
- se faire / se laisser + infinitif se faire + infinitive = have something done to oneself; se laisser + infinitive = let happen
- Verbs of perception + infinitive — voir/entendre qqn faire Perception verb + noun + infinitive: Je vois les enfants jouer
- Il est + adjectif + de / que — il est important que It is + adjective + to / that (impersonal judgment; que takes the subjunctive or the indicative depending on the adjective)
- Impersonal expressions — il paraît / il semble / il vaut mieux que Impersonal verbs: il paraît que + indicative; il semble / il vaut mieux / il se peut / il arrive que + subjunctive
- Subjunctive after verbs of emotion Verbs and adjectives of emotion (content, heureux, triste, désolé, avoir peur, regretter que) take the subjunctive
- jusqu'à ce que / en attendant que + subjunctive Temporal conjunctions requiring the subjunctive: jusqu'à ce que (until), en attendant que (while waiting for), d'ici (à ce) que
- sans que + subjunctive sans que + subjunctive (different subjects); sans + infinitive (same subject)
- Subjunctive vs infinitive — same subject rule Same-subject rule: share the subject → infinitive; different subjects → que + subjunctive
- The neutral pronoun « le » neutral le, replacing an adjective, a clause or a whole idea
- en and y with the imperative placing en and y after an affirmative imperative (with the euphonic -s)
- n'importe qui / quoi / quel / où / comment 'any / no matter': n'importe qui, quoi, quel, où, quand, comment
- tout ce qui / tout ce que / tout ce dont 'everything that': tout ce qui, tout ce que, tout ce dont
- la plupart / bien des / la majorité de — agreement quantity expressions and their agreement: la plupart des, bien des, la majorité de
- l'un… l'autre / les uns… les autres / chacun reciprocity and distribution: l'un… l'autre, les uns… les autres, chacun
- plus… plus… / moins… moins… Two clauses linked by plus… plus… (or moins… moins…) show proportional variation, with no que.
- d'autant plus / d'autant moins que d'autant plus / moins … que means 'all the more / less … because', reinforcing a reason.
- tel / tel que / un tel tel agrees with its noun; tel que means 'such as / just as', and un tel means 'such a'.
- Adverbs in -amment / -emment Adjectives ending in -ant form adverbs in -amment; those in -ent form adverbs in -emment (both pronounced /amɑ̃/).
- même — adjective, adverb and pronoun même can be an adjective ('same', agreeing), a reinforcer after a pronoun (moi-même), or an adverb meaning 'even'.
- Position of the adverb — meaning and style Short adverbs follow the conjugated verb; an adverb precedes the adjective or adverb it modifies; some sentence-initial adverbs trigger inversion.
- Numerical comparison — deux fois plus, moitié moins Express multiplied or fractional comparison with 'number + fois + plus/moins' or 'moitié moins'.
- Consequence — au point que / de sorte que / si… que so/such … that; to the point that; so that (result)
- Purpose — de manière à / de façon à / dans le but de so as to / in order to; with the aim of; so that
- avoir beau + infinitive — concession however much / no matter how much … (in vain)
- non seulement… mais (aussi) not only … but (also)
- soit… soit / ou… ou / tantôt… tantôt either … or; sometimes … sometimes
- d'une part… d'autre part / en revanche / par ailleurs on the one hand … on the other; on the other hand (contrast); moreover
- étant donné / du fait de / faute de — formal cause given (that); owing to; for lack of; by dint of
- Highlighting — ce qui… c'est / ce que… c'est 'What … is …' — front an idea with ce qui/ce que/ce dont, then resume it with c'est
- Dislocation — moi, je… / le café, j'adore ça Spoken French detaches an element and echoes it with a pronoun: Moi, je…; le café, j'adore ça
- Verb agreement — tricky cases Tricky subject-verb agreement: collectives + de, ni… ni, c'est vs ce sont, le peu de
- Verbs with two constructions — penser à/de, jouer à/de The preposition changes the meaning: penser à = think about, penser de = have an opinion about; jouer à (a game) vs jouer de (an instrument).
- il s'agit de / il est question de Impersonal expressions, only in the il form: il s'agit de = it's about / it's a matter of; il est question de = there's talk of.
- servir à / servir de servir à + infinitive/noun = be used for; servir de + noun = serve as / act as.