Free French learning resources
52 free resources, checked and categorised.
Every link is usable without paying. Some ask for a free account or keep extras behind a paid tier, and those are labelled.
French listening is harder than French reading, and that gap is the whole difficulty. The spelling keeps letters that the spoken language dropped centuries ago, liaison glues words together, and a sentence you would read effortlessly can be unrecognisable at speed. Plan for it: pair every text you read with the same text spoken aloud.
Start with a structured course and a dictionary that gives you audio for each entry. Grammar is best learned in small doses alongside input rather than as a separate project. French verb tables are long, and drilling them in isolation produces people who can conjugate but cannot speak.
Once you can follow simple sentences, French rewards volume. There is more free French media than almost any other language: news, radio, podcasts and public-domain literature. Pick material you would consume in your own language anyway, because the deciding factor at this stage is hours, and you will only log hours on things you actually enjoy.
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"For students who want to write better in French and for teachers who want to help them."
Interactive French vocabulary activities organized by textbook, with dozens of sets for books like Allez-Viens, Bien Dit, and Bon Voyage
Public-domain French course textbook with student text, tape-based drills for 24 units, and supplementary exercises for practice
Six free FSI French courses with hours of audio and self-study materials, including Basic, Fast, Belgium, phonology, francophone world, and Sub-Saharan French
Daily French vocabulary mini-lessons with meanings, example sentences, and native-speaker audio, plus an archive of past words to browse
News podcast episodes with transcripts and exercises for French learners, covering current international events at all levels
Helpful explanations of grammar, even very high level grammar concepts. You can browse topics by DELF level (A1, A2 ... C1).
French verb conjugation reference with over 9,000 verbs, plus grammar rules, spelling help, exercises, and a verb search tool
Directory of over 17,200 free French-learning and teaching links, including courses, audio exercises, reading practice, printable grammar sheets, and vocabulary activities
French podcast lessons with PDF guides, sample lessons, and lesson exercises, covering beginner through advanced real-life topics.
French with Alicia - a channel about the French language, grammar, vocabulary etc.
French podcast and blog with 2,000+ short episodes of authentic Paris and daily-life stories, for listening to natural speech at B1–C1 level
YouTube videos from a native French speaker using daily life, conversations, and authentic content to build listening comprehension and natural vocabulary through regular exposure
French-language blog and video pages explaining VPN basics, with guidance for using a French IP to watch French TV and access blocked sites abroad
French news wire with live headlines, text, photo, video, archives, and fact-checking services for reading current events and exploring AFP coverage
French-learning podcasts and exercises based on international news, with transcripts and level-based practice from beginner to advanced
Here you can listen to the French radio from different regions.
Free French mp3 audiobooks of classic and contemporary texts, with a catalogue by genre and duration for listening or downloading.
Archive of 192 French-language comics and strips from the Golden and Silver Age, browsed by genre and date, with online viewing or downloads
Bilingual English-French dictionary with example translations from a billion online matches, where learners look up words and phrases and compare usages
Searchable collection of free French ebooks and scanned literary texts, organized by author and title for reading online or downloading
French conjugation practice exercises in QCM format, with 1,500 questions and time-based sets for different tenses and tricky verb forms
French idiom dictionary with meanings, origins, history, etymology, examples, and translations, plus a list of expressions and daily email subscriptions
French video lessons on YouTube, with clips for testing your level and learning from the channel’s published lessons
French news site with live coverage, articles, interviews, reports, and TV replays on politics, economy, culture, sports, and world affairs
French TV replay and live-streaming platform with videos, articles, and podcasts from France Télévisions, including series, documentaries, news, sport, and kids content
Polish-language French-learning blog with articles, exercises, grammar notes, vocabulary posts, song and film reviews, and reading-focused posts about France
A channel about the French language and culture, many useful grammar and vocabulary lessons. The guy speaks slowly and clearly which may make it easier for beginners.
French movies and series with accurate subtitles.
French news site with live political, world, economic, and cultural coverage, plus articles, podcasts, videos, infographics, and magazines to read or listen to.
French news homepage with continuously updated articles and section links, letting learners read current reporting across politics, economy, culture, science, sports, and more
Collection of authentic French conversation videos for intermediate and advanced learners, with three themed dialogues, vocabulary PDFs, and related reading and functions lists
Free French-language audiobook archive with over 9,000 MP3 recordings to listen to or download, browsable by genre, author, narrator, and search.
French audio news lessons with transcripts, translations, grammar explanations, and quizzes for beginner through advanced learners
French news magazine site with daily national, international, people, and royal stories, where you read articles and browse photo-led coverage across many sections
French-language Project Gutenberg catalog page with searchable free eBooks and texts to read online or download, including many public-domain French works
Live French radio streams, catch-up replays, and original podcasts from France Inter, franceinfo, France Culture, France Musique, FIP, Mouv’, and local ICI stations
A site for grammar learning, a fair amount of exercises. There may be some typos in the sentences, though.
French-language TV and streaming platform with live channels, program guides, news, shows, films, documentaries, and TV5MONDE EDU resources for learning French
French reading site with short user-submitted everyday-life anecdotes, where learners browse and read posts by topic or randomly for casual practice
French podcast for intermediate learners - all kinds of topics.
French reading collection from Bibliothèque électronique du Québec with many public-domain stories and novels arranged by author and anthology, for choosing and reading texts online
Collection de links to French placement tests, CEFR level explanations, and exam-prep pages for checking your level and preparing for DELF, DALF, TCF, and TEF
Learn it there, practise it here
Free resources are great for input: reading, listening, explanations. They are weaker at the two things that actually move you forward: speaking French out loud, and remembering what you met once. That is what OwnSlides is for.
Say it out loud
Talk to an AI tutor that answers back, or get matched with other learners and native speakers for a text chat.
Practise what you read
Turn a grammar point or article into exercises, so it moves from recognised to usable.
Keep the words
Save new words to My Words and let spaced repetition bring them back before you forget them.
This directory began from a community-built list of free language resources, a year of collecting and checking by Joanna (u/chlebka) and dozens of contributors who suggested links, shared freely. See the original list. We have since expanded, re-checked and re-categorised it, and we keep the per-resource credits where the original list recorded them.