The best books to learn French with

There are lots of ways to learn French, but whether you’re a visual learner or just prefer things in print, a good French learning book may be just what you’re looking for. We’ve chosen five of our favorites – now it’s up to you to decide which one(s) would be be your perfect in-print French learning tool!

What is the best book to learn French with?

Our article spotlights the five French learning books (or series of French learning books) that we think are best for French learners.

But as with any way to learn French, finding the best book to learn French with ultimately depends on you. How do you like to learn? What do you need to focus on? Our article will also give you some things to bear in mind before you pick a French learning book.

Here’s a basic breakdown of what we like best about the books in our article:

Best book to progressively learn French	Easy French Step-by-Step
Best books to pick and choose French lessons to review or learn	The French for Dummies books
Best French learning book for no-nonsense learners	Practice Makes Perfect: Complete French All-in-One
Best French learning reference book	501 French Verbs
Best French learning books in French	The Bled Orthographe books for French elementary school level

How we chose the books on our list

There are lots of French learning books out there. Many of these are specialized guides or focus on one area – for instance, building French vocabulary or mastering French grammar. Others take a global approach, claiming to teach everything readers need to know in order to get a good grasp on French. Lots of these books – maybe even all of them – are helpful to at least certain readers. So how did we choose?

With a few exceptions, the books on our list have…

an “everything” approach to French.

Since our list is supposed to spotlight books that will help you learn French, not just one aspect of it, we’re mostly listing books that cover the French language overall, not just a single aspect of it.

explanations in English

Some French learning books have explanations in English (or other languages, depending on where you’re from and what your native language is), while others are only in French. French learning books written only in French are generally  intended for native French speakers who are trying to learn or perfect their native language skills for school or other reasons. These types of French learning books can be incredibly helpful for non-native speakers, too. But there’s a catch.  

Even if you speak fluent French, when it comes to things you absolutely have to get right, like the basic rules of a language, or concepts that are a bit complicated or abstract, like certain grammar rules, it’s best for most of us to read those in our native language, rather than trying to practice the foreign language we’re learning while trying to wrap our minds around things like what the conditional tense is expressing or what an indirect and direct object are.

So most of the books on this list are French learning books that were written for native or proficient English speakers who want to learn French, as opposed to books written for French people studying their own language (in school, etc.). You’ll see that there is one exception, though.

a traditionally structured teaching method

Personally, when I use a language learning book, I want to it to be organized in an orderly, logical way and have lots of clear explanations. I’m assuming that most people who are looking for a good French learning book feel the same, and want a structured learning system of sorts, so these are the books that will mostly be on this list, with a few exceptions.

availability

Lastly, the books on this list were chosen because, as of this writing, they’re still in print and easy to find.

Our favorite French learning books

Now that we’ve covered our criteria, here are what we consider the best French learning books currently on the market (in no particular order).

Best book to progressively learn French

Easy French Step-by-Step 

When I picture the ideal kind of language learning book, Easy French Step-by-Step is it. As its title suggests, lessons in this book are organized to be learned one after the other, and build on one another. You’ll start with the basic rules of French, like gender, and move on from there, learning other rules, grammar, verb tenses, and vocabulary along the way, with the last lesson covering, among other things, the subjunctive text.

That’s the present subjunctive, of course – this book is after all a learning tool for essential French. It doesn’t cover everything, like more obscure tenses, for instance.

Easy French Step-by-Step also aims to help learners with pronunciation. While the tips and rules it includes on this subject are useful, they can’t really be grasped without actual audio examples (a common problem with learning French from books).

So, like any French learning book, this one won’t enable you to speak perfect French (or even intelligibly pronounced French) on its own. But as a way to provide a foundation for understanding essential French grammar and build vocabulary, it’s pretty close to perfect.

If you’re looking for a book that’s organized in a logical, progressive way and incorporates information, examples, exercises, and reading excerpts, Easy French Step-by-Step is it.

Best books to review and improve your French

The French for Dummies books

Okay, so this entry isn’t for one book, exactly – but the idea is that you can probably find the perfect one among these. The French for Dummies books range from the comprehensive All-in-One, to  French Essentials to a book mainly devoted to practice exercises. So, depending on what you need, you should be able to find one that will help you meet your learning goals.

For instance, if you want to know French inside and out or need help with advanced classes, French All-in-One for Dummies is the way to go. But on the other hand, if you just want to review some basic topics in French or learn enough to be able to communicate and understand sufficiently for an upcoming trip, French Essentials for Dummies would be a better choice.

I personally love these options and variety, especially if you’re using a book to teach yourself or review French.

Some reviewers call the French For Dummies books – especially the All-in-One version, overwhelming. It’s easy to see why. These are long, heavy tomes (if you get the print versions, anyway) that are packed with information. That information is well-organized, though, and explanations are very clear. That said, sometimes a lot might seem to come at you. For instance, in French Grammar for Dummies, a chapter about parts of speech in French ends up listing so many examples as to get confusing, rather than simply defining each basic part of speech in a typical French sentence or two, and then relying on expanding information about things like prepositions, in the chapters dedicated to those.

As someone who likes learning that starts from the foundations and builds up, I’m also not a huge fan of the fact that French All-in-One for Dummies starts with a chapter/book about speaking French, rather than going over the fundamentals of the language first.  But then again, maybe the best way to solve all of these is to do as the author of French Grammar for Dummies suggests and skip around to topics that interest or challenge you. This means that you can choose to learn in a structured way or as you need to, making the Dummies books especially helpful for French learners who are looking to review and solidify their knowledge of certain concepts of French.

I also love the Dummies books’ informative but also lighthearted and fun tone. This can help learners better remember lessons and keep in mind that (ideally) learning should be fun and not dull and demanding – even when you’re learning something like verb tenses.

Best French learning book for no-nonsense learners

Practice Makes Perfect: Complete French All-in-One

This book is beloved by many learners and teachers alike, as reviews on sites like Amazon attest. Practice Makes Perfect: Complete French All-in-One is a compilation of several different French learning books in the Practice Makes Perfect series. True to its name, the book includes lots of exercises, covering a lot of topics.

The book starts with the basics of French, like articles and gender, and works its way to more advanced material. This is similar to the other books on our list so far. But although it includes conversation and vocabulary sections, Practice Makes Perfect is more grammar-focused and has a sort of serious vibe, especially compared to the Dummies books. So if you’re a grammar junkie who’s here to learn, not to mess around, this book might be the perfect fit for you.

Because of its well-organized table of contents, you could also use it to supplement another book or resource, and dip in and out to review and do rigorous exercises on various aspects of French.

Practice Makes Perfect: Complete French All-in-One could also a be great way to review your French if you want a more serious approach.

Best French learning reference book

501 French Verbs

Unlike the other French learning books on our list, 501 French Verbs focuses on just one aspect of French, and that is, as you probably guessed, verbs. But excluding this book from a list of best French learning books just seems wrong. It’s an essential reference for any French learner, and has been for decades. I still have my much-thumbed-through copy I bought when I started learning French in the ‘90’s.

501 French Verbs is an alphabetical list of the 501 most common verbs in French, with the conjugation of each one in all tenses. If that sounds a bit intense, don’t worry – many of these are regular verbs that follow the same pattern as many others. But it’s nice to just have an entire, easy-to-find page devoted to that one verb you need to know how to conjugate at the moment. The pages are in conjugation chart form, with English translations as well as example sentences and related words and phrases. There’s also a section that explains the French verb tenses and how to form them, with helpful English translations for each tense.

501 French Verbs’ format and content haven’t changed much, even though the book is currently in its seventh edition, with the eighth set to be released in 2024. The one thing that is notably different since my day is that you’ll also have access to online content with audio resources and exercises (my edition, the fifth, has a few of the latter in its back section).

On the other hand, another thing that hasn’t changed much is that 501 French Verbs is still available at a very reasonable price.

Our favorite French learning books in French

The Bled Orthographe books (for French elementary school level)

As I explained in the first section of this article, I made a deliberate choice not to include French learning books that are intended primarily for native French speakers. This is because it’s easier for a vast majority of us to learn often complex or abstract concepts like grammar rules with explanations in our native language. But I’m going to include one exception here: the Bled Orthographe series of workbooks for French elementary school children.

Before I go on, note that there are Bled Orthographe books for older students or even adults, but the elementary school level ones are what I’m specifically talking about here. You’ll know these because they’ll indicate the French school grade/class level: CP, CE1, CE2, CM1, or CM2.

I’m putting these particular books on the list because I personally think they’re excellent for French learners, no matter their native language. Because they’re intended for French children (who are expected to be serious about learning, even so), they provide clear, concise explanations of various French spelling and grammar rules but don’t get too technical.

To give him a little help with French spelling and grammar, we bought my son, who’s currently in CE2 (the French equivalent of 3^rd grade/year 3), the Bled Orthographe for his grade level. This book doesn’t simply teach the spelling of French words (which would still be incredibly helpful); it also explains and helps teach and review how to spell verb endings and, thus, how to conjugate verbs in different tenses.

Each level of Bled Orthographe books for French elementary school students features one-page lessons on spelling words or verb endings. The lessons start with a very helpful review/information box at the top that sums up the rule(s) involved and gives examples. The rest of the page is made up of exercises, which you can correct with the included answer key.

For intermediate and advanced French learners who want to review and perfect their French spelling and grammar – and probably also learn some things along the way — I cannot recommend these books enough. Don’t worry about their being intended for French kids; these books are not childish at all. And you don’t have to worry about how your level of French corresponds to French school levels; you can start at the lowest level and work your way up, or look at the table of contents to see what’s covered in each level’s book and start with the one that fits what you need to learn.  

How to choose the right book to learn French

Which French learning book is right for you? Choose the wrong one, and you might feel unmotivated at best and confused at worst. But choose the right one and you’ll be able to practice and improve your French immensely.

So, with that in mind, here are some things to consider before you buy a French learning book:

Know what works for you.

Before buying a French learning book, take a moment to leaf through it (or look at an online preview) to get a feel for it and see if it works with how you like to learn.

Do you like your learning to be serious or a bit fun? Do you want lots of exercises or more theory? How important are visual aspects like a book’s layout and font to you?

Do you like the method(s) a specific book uses to teach French (lessons, explanations, short stories, dialogues, etc.)? If you don’t, you’re less likely to want to continue working with it.

Opt for explanations in English.

As I mentioned earlier, even if you have an advanced level of French, it’s usually better to use a French book with explanations in English. This is because abstract concepts like grammar rules can be a bit tricky to understand even in our native language, let alone in one you haven’t mastered yet.

That said, there may be some exceptions to this rule. I included the Bled Orthographe books on our list, for instance, because they’re written for kids and have short, simple explanations of basic spelling and grammar rules, with examples. Most French learning books written for higher academic levels risk veering into complicated language and using grammar terms non-native speakers may not be familiar with.

Define your goals. 

What are you looking for in a French learning book? Do you want one that will teach you the essentials of the French language, or do you need to focus on/improve a particular aspect of your French, like vocabulary or grammar?

Most of the books on our list teach French from its fundamentals to more advanced aspects of grammar, vocabulary, and conversation. But if you’re looking to improve a specific aspect of your French, there are lots of French learning books that focus on one area. For instance, the French for Dummies books include books on the French language as a whole, but also one on French grammar. And many books not on our list exist to help build French vocabulary.

Check if the book includes exercises.

Most French learning books will include exercises (and answer keys), but it’s always a good idea to check and be sure. Also, see just how many exercises are included. As a general rule, the more, the better.

Watch out for books featuring teaching methods, not lessons. 

Some French learning books are literally about French learning. They might, for instance, contain an author’s tips or method for attaining French fluency, but not include any learning material or exercises. So before you buy a French learning book, be sure to read the description and if possible, leaf through it to make sure it’s a learning tool, not just theories. If you’re ordering online, read customer reviews to see what people have to say about the contents.

Know who published and wrote the book. 

Self-publishing can be a great thing (says this self-published author!). But when it comes to nonfiction and teaching materials, there are a lot of risks for readers. Anyone can publish a book claiming to teach French. They don’t have to be an expert, a teacher, or even fluent in French, themselves.

You’ll find lots of self-published French learning books online, and if you read reviews, you’ll find that, unfortunately, most of them have mistakes and other issues. So while reading self-published fiction is awesome, when it comes to factual information and learning resources, it’s best to stick to reliable sources.

Checking if a book is published by a well-known company is a good place to start. That said, some self-published French learning books might be okay if their author is someone who is fluent in French and has experience teaching or writing about it. So, if a self-published French learning book looks good to you, read reviews and look up its author’s name online. If nothing comes up or if the author doesn’t seem qualified to teach French, it’s probably best to avoid that book.

Where can I find French learning books?

There are several places you can look for French learning books – and some of these places might even give you access to them for free.

You can find French learning books…

• online. You can get information about and buy French learning books via online booksellers and sometimes publishers’ and book series’ official websites. Even if you don’t plan to buy a French learning book online, it’s a good idea to read online reviews of them from fellow learners.

• at your local bookstore. If your bookstore doesn’t have the particular French learning book you want in stock, the staff can usually can order it for you.

• at a used bookstore. Whether you visit them online or in person, used bookstores can be a good way to find currently published French learning books, as well as older versions and out-of-print or hard-to-find gems like Merriam-Webster’s Easy Learning Complete French.

• your local library. Many public libraries have language learning resources of all sorts. 

• your university/school library or other school resources. If you can’t find the French learning book you want at your local library, university and school libraries often offer an even larger selection of language learning books and other resources, so definitely check there.

 Can you learn French from books alone?

There are lots of great French learning books out there, but while many of them can give you an excellent foundation for things like grammar rules and vocabulary, they can’t make you fluent in French.

For one thing, as you’ll probably notice when you start using a French learning book, even if they include some sort of pronunciation guide, they don’t let you actually hear the language as it’s spoken. This is especially important with a language like French, which is notorious for not looking like how it’s pronounced. Not only are there deceptive things like silent letters and verb endings; sound combinations can be utterly surprising to non-native speakers. And then, as with any language, you have to deal with the talking speed of native speakers, regional accents, etc.

Even if a French learning book has some audio aspect to it, like a CD or a link to a site with recorded dialogues, these are likely to be more academic. And because French learning books aren’t regularly published or updated, the informal and slang expressions they feature may be outdated.

The ideal way to think of a French learning book is that it’s a great part of your French learning arsenal, especially for fellow visual learners and grammar junkies. But it won’t be able to teach you French on its own, at least not if you plan to speak and listen to French.

Try to combine a French learning book with listening and speaking practice. For instance, you could use a book on this list to help you get a solid knowledge of French grammar and vocabulary, and to continue to practice and review. At the same time, you can hone your listening skills with an app like French Together, which focuses on contemporary spoken French and uses audio from real native speakers.

As your listening skills improve, you can get additional practice by watching French TV shows, French movies, and/or listening to French podcasts. And once you’ve got a good foundation for all this, you can practice speaking AND listening by finding a French conversation partner (often for free!). All of these additional ways to learn will also help you with one of the crucial parts of really becoming fluent in a language: learning about the culture(s) tied to it, as well.

With this in mind, to round out your French education, as your vocabulary and grammar skills improve, start reading French short stories, French newspapers, French magazines, and French novels. You can find more ways to practice French in our list of French learning resources. Bonus: Many of them are free!

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If you were looking for the perfect French learning book, I hope this list helped you find one. Now you can start a new page in the story that is your French learning journey! Bonne continuation! (Continued luck with learning French!)