New words are always an important part of learning any new language. Beginners typically learn nouns, adjectives and simple verbs among the first things. This makes them feel very good to begin with, but eventually problems start to happen.

One of the reasons for this is that words do not necessarily mean the same thing in English as they mean in French, even though they are spelled identically and sound similar. Most Intermediates understand that if they take a French word and say it with an English accent, they are understood. However this is not always the case and can result in some unexpected confusion (remember, "confusion is not sexy.")

In this section, we will examine gallicisms, false cognates, and idioms that can be particularly difficult, even for Advanced students. There are also certain shades of meaning that must be understood. Some words also have certain differences of spelling between the two languages. When in doubt, consult a good dictionary. Don't assume that just because you know a similar word in French, it automatically means the same thing or is spelled the same way in another language.

All languages have idioms. Idioms are expressions that may or may not be literal. If you understand every word in a sentence, but everyone laughs and you do not, it is very likely that an idiom was used. Idioms include expressions, proverbs and phrasal verbs.

There are thousands of idioms in English. One very large subset of idioms are called "Phrasal verbs." Phrasals are multi-word verbs. In French, each verb is only one word.

This is not the case in English. Phrasal verbs are composed of two parts: a verb (which can be regular or irregular) and a particle (usually a preposition or adverb). The most common particles are off, on, in, out, up and down. There are many others. There may even be more than one particle in an expression. Listen carefully for idioms. Make sure that you understand them, because many are similar in form, but have completely different meanings.

In general, English is a more concise language than French is. There are many reasons for this: the use of contractions, noun-modifiers, non-count nouns and fewer articles. However, sometimes French is shorter, such as in the use of the veuillez ("would you be so kind as to") and chez, which is used in many word idioms.