Learn French

Written French keeps structures that everyday speech often lightens. ‘Nous ne savons pas’ is fully grammatical. In informal conversation you will often hear ‘on sait pas’: ‘on’ for ‘we’, and the ‘ne’ of negation dropped. That is ordinary spoken register, including among educated speakers — not a slang dialect that formal French refuses to admit exists.

Pronunciation is a separate skill from spelling. The vowel in ‘tu’ is not English ‘too’. Nasal vowels (bon, vin, un) are distinct for native ears. In many phrases a usually silent final consonant is pronounced before a vowel (‘les amis’ sounds like ‘lez-ami’). Which liaisons are required is learned largely by listening, not by memorising a complete rule list.

Politeness is grammatical. Tu versus vous, and a softer request (‘je voudrais’ rather than a blunt ‘je veux’), are social moves. Getting them ‘wrong’ is usually awkwardness, not a moral failure — but it is part of following French as it is used with people.