The short version

• Encore covers “still,” “again,” and “yet” (with negation) — it’s about repetition or an ongoing state that could change.
• Toujours covers “always” and, separately, “still” — it’s about constancy or unbroken continuity.

When both could technically work for “still,” toujours leans toward permanence, encore leans toward “even now, but maybe not for long.”

When to use encore

• Again: Il a encore oublié ses clés. (He forgot his keys again.)
• Still, with a sense it might end soon: Il pleut encore. (It’s still raining.)
• Not yet, with negation: Je n’ai pas encore fini. (I haven’t finished yet.)
• Even more, intensifying a comparison: C’est encore plus cher. (It’s even more expensive.)
• One more, requesting repetition: Encore un café, s’il vous plaît. (One more coffee, please.)

When to use toujours

• Always: Il arrive toujours en retard. (He’s always late.)
• Still, emphasizing constancy: Elle habite toujours à Paris. (She still lives in Paris — has this whole time.)
• Fixed habitual pattern: Je bois toujours du café le matin. (I always drink coffee in the morning.)
• At the very least, as a fallback: Tu peux toujours essayer. (You can always try.)
• In every case, without exception: C’est toujours pareil. (It’s always the same.)

Quick chart

The overlap zone: two ways to say “still”

The trickiest part of this pair is that both words can translate “still” in English, and native speakers do make a real distinction between them even though it’s subtle. Il travaille encore and Il travaille toujours both mean “he’s still working,” but they carry slightly different implications. Encore suggests the action has been going on and might reasonably be expected to stop — there’s a hint of “even now, surprisingly” or “as of this moment.” Toujours suggests a longer, more settled continuity — the sense that nothing has changed since some earlier point, with less implication that a change is imminent. If your boss asks whether an employee still works at the company after years there, il travaille toujours ici sounds natural. If you’re asking whether someone is still stuck at the office at 9pm, il travaille encore fits better because there’s an expectation the work should be wrapping up. In practice, native speakers use them close to interchangeably in casual speech, so don’t lose sleep over picking the “more correct” one — but leaning toward toujours for long-term states and encore for temporary, ongoing ones will sound more natural. One more test that helps: if adding “surprisingly” to the English sentence still makes sense (“he’s still, surprisingly, working”), encore usually fits better than toujours. The same distinction shows up with weather: il pleut encore reports rain that’s dragged on longer than expected and might stop any minute, while a French speaker describing a genuinely rainy climate in general terms would reach for a habitual construction rather than toujours, since toujours applied to weather tends to sound like an exaggerated complaint (il pleut toujours ici! — “it’s always raining here!” — a statement about the climate, not the current shower).

Mistakes learners make

• Using toujours for “again,” which is always encore’s job — toujours never means “again.”
• Forgetting that “not yet” is pas encore, not pas toujours, which doesn’t mean anything close to “not yet.”
• Using encore for “always” in a fixed habitual sense — that meaning belongs to toujours alone.
• Overthinking the encore/toujours “still” overlap and avoiding both out of uncertainty — either one is usually understood correctly in context.
• Forgetting encore’s “one more” request use, defaulting instead to a longer, more awkward phrase when ordering or asking for repetition.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between encore and toujours?

Encore means “again,” “not yet” (with negation), or “still” with a sense the state might change soon. Toujours means “always” or “still” with a sense of longer, settled continuity.

How do you say “not yet” in French?

Pas encore. Toujours cannot be used for “not yet” — that meaning belongs entirely to encore in its negated form.

Can toujours mean “again”?

No. “Again” is always encore — encore une fois means “one more time.” Toujours never carries the meaning of repetition.

Is encore or toujours used for “always”?

Toujours. Il arrive toujours en retard means “he’s always late.” Encore doesn’t cover the meaning of habitual constancy.

What’s the difference between il travaille encore and il travaille toujours?

Both can mean “he’s still working,” but encore leans toward a temporary state that might end soon, while toujours suggests a longer, more settled continuity.

How do you say “even more” in French?

Encore plus, as in c’est encore plus difficile (it’s even more difficult) — this intensifying use belongs to encore, not toujours.

What’s the difference between il pleut encore and il pleut toujours?

Il pleut encore reports that it’s still raining right now, possibly about to stop. Il pleut toujours ici, applied generally, reads more like a complaint about the climate than a report on the current weather.

Can you use encore to ask for more of something?

Yes. Encore un café, s’il vous plaît (one more coffee, please) uses encore to request repetition or an additional amount, a common everyday use beyond its “still” or “again” meanings.

The encore/toujours overlap is subtle enough that even confident speakers second-guess it. corrector.co’s free French checker flags the clear-cut mistakes, like toujours used for “again.”

Next: Depuis vs Pendant vs Il y a · Après vs Puis vs Ensuite

The short version

• Ir is movement away from both the speaker’s and listener’s current location.
• Venir is movement toward the listener’s location — not necessarily the speaker’s.

This is the part that breaks the English habit: if a friend calls and says “I’m on my way to your house,” you’d answer in English with “I’m coming.” In Spanish, you say voy (a form of ir), because you’re moving toward your friend’s location, which is where the listener already is.

When to use ir

• Moving away from where you and the listener currently are: Voy al supermercado. (I’m going to the supermarket.) Van a la playa este fin de semana. (They’re going to the beach this weekend.)
• Talking about someone else’s movement away from both of you: Ella va a la oficina. (She’s going to the office.)
• Responding to an invitation by confirming you’ll head toward the other person: ¡Ya voy! (I’m coming! — literally “I’m going,” said when heading toward someone who’s calling you.)

When to use venir

• Movement toward the speaker’s current location: ¿Vienes a mi casa? (Are you coming to my house? — asked by the person who’s already there.)
• Movement toward a place where both speaker and listener will be: Vamos a la fiesta — ¿vienes? (We’re going to the party — are you coming?)
• Describing something arriving where you are: El tren viene a las cinco. (The train comes at five.) Mi hermano viene de visita este fin de semana. (My brother is coming to visit this weekend.)

Quick chart

The trick that fixes the “I’m coming” habit

Stop translating “come” directly. Instead, ask: where is the person I’m talking to right now? If you’re moving toward them, use venir. If you’re moving anywhere else — even toward a place they’ll eventually be, but aren’t yet — use ir. On the phone, saying ya voy when someone asks you to hurry over feels backward to English speakers at first, but it’s because you’re describing your own motion away from where you are now, and Spanish tracks that from the mover’s perspective, not the listener’s assumed one.

Venir and time: “el año que viene”

Beyond physical movement, venir shows up constantly in time expressions to mean “coming up” or “next”: el año que viene (next year, literally “the year that’s coming”), la semana que viene (next week), el mes que viene (next month). It works almost like an adjective clause attached to a time period, and it’s just as common as, and often more natural-sounding than, the more literal próximo/a (el próximo año). Both are correct, but que viene tends to sound more conversational.

Venir bien / venir mal: a common idiom

Venir also pairs with bien or mal to describe whether something suits or works for you, closer to “to suit” than any literal coming or going: Me viene bien el sábado. (Saturday works for me.) Ese horario me viene mal. (That schedule doesn’t work for me.) It follows the same backwards logic as gustar — the thing (the schedule, the day) is the subject, and the person affected is the indirect object marked with me/te/le. This is an extremely common everyday phrase for making plans, and it’s easy to miss if you’ve only learned venir as the opposite of ir.

Vamos as a command, not just “we go”

One more wrinkle worth knowing: vamos doesn’t just mean “we go” or “we’re going” — it doubles as the informal command “let’s go,” used constantly to get a group moving. ¡Vamos, se hace tarde! (Come on, it’s getting late!) It also softens into a filler expression of encouragement or mild impatience in casual speech, similar to English “come on”: Vamos, tú puedes. (Come on, you can do it.) Recognizing vamos as doing double duty — plain present tense and command — avoids confusion when it shows up without an obvious subject attached.

Mistakes learners make

• Saying vengo when you mean you’re heading toward a third location, not the listener: that should be voy.
• Translating “I’m coming right now” literally as vengo ahora mismo when answering someone who’s not where you’re headed — if you’re going to them, it’s voy ahora mismo.
• Forgetting that venir also changes meaning slightly with time expressions: viene de Madrid can mean “comes from Madrid” as in origin, not just physical arrival.
• Using próximo and que viene as if only one were correct: both work for “next,” though que viene sounds a bit more casual and conversational.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between ir and venir?

Ir describes movement away from both speaker and listener. Venir describes movement toward the listener’s current location.

Why do Spanish speakers say “voy” instead of “vengo” when someone calls them over?

Because they’re describing their own motion from their own perspective — moving away from where they currently are — not the listener’s perspective. Spanish tracks the mover’s viewpoint.

Do you use venir for something arriving at your location?

Yes: El paquete viene mañana (The package is coming tomorrow), said by someone at the delivery address.

Is “vengo” ever correct when talking to someone on the phone?

Yes, if you’re moving toward wherever the listener currently is. If you’re heading somewhere else, even a shared destination, use voy instead.

What does “el año que viene” mean?

“Next year” — venir is used idiomatically here to mean “coming up,” and the same pattern works for weeks, months, and other time periods.

Is “el próximo año” the same as “el año que viene”?

Yes, both mean “next year” and are grammatically correct; que viene simply tends to sound more conversational and natural in everyday speech.

Check your Spanish before you send it

Ir and venir mistakes are subtle because both sound like reasonable translations of “come” and “go.” corrector.co’s free Spanish checker can help you catch the ones that don’t fit the context.

Next: Traer vs Llevar · Reflexive vs Non-Reflexive Verbs

The short version

• Tu is informal singular — friends, family, children, peers your age, and anyone who’s explicitly invited you to use it.
• Vous is formal singular, or ANY plural regardless of formality — strangers, elders, professional contexts, and groups of people.

When you’re not sure, default to vous. Being overly formal is a minor social hiccup; being overly familiar can genuinely offend.

When to use tu

• With friends: Tu veux venir ce soir? (Do you want to come tonight?)
• With family: Tu as bien dormi? (Did you sleep well?)
• With children, always, regardless of how well you know them: Comment tu t’appelles? (What’s your name?)
• With peers your age in casual settings: students, young colleagues at informal companies.
• With pets, which always get tu, and with God in religious/poetic French, interestingly.

When to use vous

• With strangers: Excusez-moi, vous avez l’heure? (Excuse me, do you have the time?)
• With elders or people clearly above you in age or status: Comment allez-vous? (How are you?)
• In professional or formal settings, even with colleagues you like: Vous pouvez m’envoyer le rapport?
• Speaking to more than one person, no matter how close you are to them: Vous venez tous les deux? (Are you both coming?)
• With service staff you don’t personally know: waiters, shopkeepers, receptionists.

Quick chart

The moment of switching: tutoyer and vouvoyer

French has actual verbs for this social maneuver — tutoyer means to address someone with tu, and vouvoyer means to address them with vous — and the switch from one to the other is a real, sometimes explicitly negotiated social moment. It’s completely normal for a French speaker to ask On peut se tutoyer? (“Can we use tu with each other?”) after a few meetings, essentially requesting to move the relationship to informal footing. Until that invitation happens, staying with vous is the safe, respectful default, and switching to tu without an invitation — especially with someone older or in a position of authority — can come across as presumptuous. This varies somewhat by country: francophone Quebec tends to use tu more liberally and faster than France does, even in some professional settings, so what counts as “too familiar” shifts depending on which French-speaking region you’re in. Workplace culture also matters enormously within France itself — some modern, informal companies (especially tech startups) use tu company-wide regardless of seniority, while traditional firms keep vous strictly in place even between colleagues who’ve worked together for years. When traveling or working across regions and industries, matching the local norm matters more than applying one fixed rule everywhere.

Mistakes learners make

• Using tu with a stranger, shopkeeper, or waiter — this reads as disrespectful even if you didn’t intend it that way.
• Sticking with vous long after someone has clearly invited tu, which can feel oddly cold or overly formal.
• Using tu with a single person but forgetting that vous is also required for any group, even a group of close friends.
• Mixing tu and vous verb forms within the same sentence out of uncertainty — pick one and stay consistent.
• Assuming workplace norms are the same everywhere — a tu-friendly startup culture doesn’t transfer to a traditional French company.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between tu and vous?

Tu is informal, used with friends, family, children, and peers. Vous is formal singular, used with strangers and elders, and it’s also the only option for addressing more than one person.

When should you use vous instead of tu?

Use vous by default with anyone you don’t know well, anyone older or in a position of authority, and always when speaking to a group, regardless of how close you are to them.

Can you ask someone if you can use tu with them?

Yes — On peut se tutoyer? is a common, polite way to ask if you can switch from vous to tu, essentially requesting a shift to informal footing.

Is vous always plural?

No. Vous is used both as the formal singular “you” and as the plural “you,” for any group size, whether the group is close friends or strangers.

Do French speakers in Quebec use tu differently than in France?

Yes, generally. Quebec French tends to use tu more freely and in more contexts, including some professional settings, than European French typically does.

What happens if you use tu with the wrong person?

It can come across as overly familiar or disrespectful, especially with strangers, elders, or people in authority. When in doubt, vous is the safer choice.

Do French children use vous with their own parents?

Rarely in most families today — tu is standard between parents and children. Vous with a parent is unusual and tends to signal either a very formal family tradition or a distant relationship.

Can you switch back to vous after starting with tu?

It’s unusual and can feel like a deliberate signal of distance or displeasure — once a relationship moves to tu, reverting to vous is a noticeable social move, not a neutral one.

Getting tu and vous right is as much about social judgment as grammar. corrector.co’s free French checker flags inconsistent tu/vous verb forms within the same piece of writing.

Next: C’est vs Il est · Si vs Oui

The short version

• Pero adds a contrasting idea onto a statement, positive or negative.
• Sino replaces a negative statement with the correct alternative — it only appears after “no.”

If the first part of the sentence is negative and the second part directly contradicts and replaces it, you want sino. Everywhere else, it’s pero.

When to use pero

• After a positive statement: Quiero ir, pero no tengo tiempo. (I want to go, but I don’t have time.) Es caro, pero vale la pena. (It’s expensive, but it’s worth it.)
• After a negative statement that just adds more information, without replacing it: No tengo dinero, pero puedo pedir prestado. (I don’t have money, but I can borrow some.) Here the second half doesn’t contradict the first — it adds to it.

When to use sino

• After a negative statement, when the second half directly replaces the first: No es rojo, sino azul. (It’s not red, but blue.) You’re not adding information — you’re correcting it.
• When both halves can’t be true at once: No fue Juan sino Pedro quien llegó tarde. (It wasn’t Juan but Pedro who arrived late.)
• Before a conjugated verb, use sino que instead of plain sino: No lo compró, sino que lo robó. (He didn’t buy it, but rather stole it.)

Quick chart

The test that always works

Try this: could you rephrase the sentence in English as “not X, but rather Y”? If yes, and the first part is negative, use sino. No quiero té, sino café becomes “I don’t want tea, but rather coffee” — that “rather” is the giveaway. Compare that to No quiero té, pero tomaré agua (I don’t want tea, but I’ll have water) — there’s no direct substitution happening, just an additional, separate idea, so it stays pero.

The “no solo… sino también” construction

Once sino clicks, you’ll start noticing it everywhere in a related fixed phrase: no solo… sino también, meaning “not only… but also.” No solo habla español, sino también francés. (He doesn’t only speak Spanish, but also French.) This follows exactly the same logic as plain sino — the first clause is negative (“no solo”), and the second clause adds the corrected, fuller picture rather than a genuinely separate idea. You’ll also sometimes see it shortened to just sino que también when a full verb follows: No solo llegó tarde, sino que también se olvidó los documentos. (He didn’t just arrive late, but he also forgot the documents.)

Pero as a conversational opener

Outside of joining two clauses, pero shows up constantly at the start of a sentence in spoken Spanish, purely for emphasis or reaction, much like English “but” can open a sentence informally. ¡Pero qué sorpresa! (But what a surprise!) Pero bueno, ¿qué querías que hiciera? (Well then, what did you want me to do?) In these cases pero isn’t technically contrasting two stated ideas — it’s a conversational tic that adds punch or mild exasperation to what follows, and native speakers use it this way constantly without a preceding clause to contrast against.

Sin embargo: the more formal cousin

When you need a stronger, more written-register way to express contrast, sin embargo (however, nevertheless) steps in above pero. It usually starts a new sentence or follows a comma, rather than joining two short clauses the way pero does: El plan era bueno. Sin embargo, no funcionó. (The plan was good. However, it didn’t work.) You’ll see sin embargo constantly in essays, news articles, and formal emails, while pero dominates casual speech — knowing when to reach for the heavier option is part of sounding appropriately formal in writing.

Mistakes learners make

• Using sino after a positive statement: Quiero ir, sino no puedo is wrong — sino never follows something affirmative. That should be pero.
• Forgetting que before a conjugated verb: No estudió, sino trabajó should be no estudió, sino que trabajó.
• Using sino when the second clause just adds information rather than replacing the first: that’s still pero, even after a negative.
• Dropping “también” from the no solo… sino también construction and leaving the sentence sounding incomplete: keep the pair together for the idiom to land naturally.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between pero and sino?

Pero adds a contrast to any statement. Sino only follows a negative statement, and it replaces that statement with the correct alternative.

Do you always use sino after “no”?

No — only when the second part directly contradicts and replaces the first. If it just adds more information, pero is still correct.

What is “sino que” and when do you use it?

Sino que is used instead of plain sino when the second part of the sentence has its own conjugated verb: No cantó, sino que bailó.

Can you use sino after a positive sentence?

No. Sino only ever appears after a negative statement. Anything else takes pero.

What does “no solo… sino también” mean?

“Not only… but also.” It’s a fixed construction built on the same negative-plus-correction logic as plain sino, and it’s extremely common in both speech and writing.

Is “pero también” the same as “sino también”?

No. Pero también just adds an extra positive point (“but also”), while sino también specifically corrects or expands on a negative statement (“not only… but also”).

Check your Spanish before you send it

Pero and sino mix-ups slip through even careful writing. corrector.co’s free Spanish checker flags them automatically.

Next: Qué vs Cuál · Bueno vs Bien

The short version

• The short form (an, jour, matin) is used for counting — with numbers, dates, and simple facts.
• The long form (année, journée, matinée) is used to emphasize duration or how the time was spent.

If you’re just naming a unit of time or counting how many, use the short form. If you’re describing the whole span of it, or what happened during it, use the long form.

An vs année

• Counting: J’ai vingt-cinq ans. (I’m twenty-five years old.)
• Simple date reference: L’an prochain (next year, as a simple marker).
• Duration/quality: Cette année a été difficile. (This year was difficult — describing the whole span.)
• Emphasis on how it went: J’ai passé une bonne année. (I had a good year.)
• A fixed reference point: Le nouvel an (New Year’s, the simple date marker) vs bonne année (the greeting, emphasizing the year as an experience).

Jour vs journée, matin vs matinée

• Counting days: Il reste trois jours. (Three days are left.)
• Whole-day experience: J’ai passé une journée horrible. (I had a terrible day.)
• Simple time marker: Le matin, je bois du café. (In the morning, I drink coffee.)
• Duration of a morning: Toute la matinée, il a plu. (It rained the whole morning.)
• Repeated schedule: Tous les jours, je me lève à sept heures. (Every day, I get up at seven.)

Quick chart

Soir vs soirée follows the same pattern

The same short/long split applies to soir and soirée, and it’s worth learning as the fourth member of the set rather than treating it separately. Le soir is the simple, factual evening — used for schedules and habits, as in je travaille le soir (I work in the evening). La soirée is the evening as an experience, a party, or a stretch of time you lived through — bonne soirée (have a good evening) uses the long form because you’re wishing someone a good experience of it, not just naming the time slot. The same logic explains why French party invitations always say soirée and never soir: a soirée can literally mean “a party.” Once you notice that the long forms tend to show up with adjectives describing quality — bonne, mauvaise, longue, difficile — and the short forms tend to show up with numbers and simple time markers, the whole four-pair system stops feeling arbitrary and starts feeling like one rule applied four times. A useful test: if you could swap in the phrase “the whole [time period]” or “what a [time period] it was” in English, French wants the long form; if you’re just naming or counting the unit, French wants the short one.

Mistakes learners make

• Saying j’ai vingt-cinq années instead of j’ai vingt-cinq ans — counting age always uses the short form, never the long one.
• Using jour when describing how a whole day went: j’ai eu un bon jour should be j’ai eu une bonne journée.
• Defaulting to the short form out of habit even when an adjective describing quality is attached — the adjective is usually the signal to switch to the long form.
• Mixing up gender: année, journée, matinée, and soirée are all feminine, while an, jour, matin, and soir are all masculine.
• Using soir instead of soirée on a party invitation, which sounds like you’re announcing a simple time slot rather than an event.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between an and année in French?

An is used for counting years, especially with numbers and ages. Année is used when emphasizing the year as a lived span of time, often with a descriptive adjective.

Do you say bonne année or bon an?

Bonne année, because you’re wishing someone a good year as an experience, not just naming a counted unit — this is why the long form appears in the New Year’s greeting.

Why is it j’ai vingt ans and not j’ai vingt années?

Because stating your age is a counting function, and counting always takes the short form an, regardless of how large the number is.

What’s the difference between jour and journée?

Jour is the simple, countable day. Journée describes the day as a whole lived experience, often paired with a quality adjective like bonne, longue, or difficile.

Does the an/année pattern apply to other time words?

Yes — the same short/long split applies to jour/journée, matin/matinée, and soir/soirée, all following the same counting-versus-duration logic.

Why do party invitations say soirée instead of soir?

Because soirée can mean the evening as an experience or event — a party — while soir is just the plain time-of-day marker, so soirée is the natural word for an invitation.

Is matinée only used for mornings?

No — matinée also has a separate, common meaning in theater and cinema, referring to an afternoon showing or performance, distinct from its literal “morning” sense.

These four pairs are a classic case of a French mistake that sounds fine but isn’t quite right. corrector.co’s free French checker catches an/année-style mix-ups automatically.

Next: Depuis vs Pendant vs Il y a · Pour vs Pendant

The short version

• Qué asks for a definition or general information, or comes directly before a noun.
• Cuál asks someone to choose among options, even when there’s no visible list — asking for a name, a phone number, or a favorite counts as choosing from a set of possibilities.

When to use qué

• Asking for a definition: ¿Qué es esto? (What is this?) ¿Qué significa esa palabra? (What does that word mean?)
• Directly before a noun: ¿Qué libro leíste? (What book did you read?) ¿Qué hora es? (What time is it?) — qué is required here even where cuál would work in a similar English sentence.
• Asking someone to explain or clarify: ¿Qué quieres decir? (What do you mean?) ¿Qué pasó anoche? (What happened last night?)

When to use cuál

• Asking someone to pick from options, stated or implied: ¿Cuál prefieres? (Which one do you prefer?) ¿Cuál de los dos te gusta más? (Which of the two do you like more?)
• Asking for specific information like a name, date, address, or number — Spanish treats these as “selecting” the correct answer from many possibilities: ¿Cuál es tu dirección? (What’s your address?) ¿Cuál es la fecha de hoy? (What’s today’s date?)
• Followed directly by “es/son”: ¿Cuál es el problema? (What’s the problem?) ¿Cuáles son tus planes? (What are your plans?)

Quick chart

The rule behind the confusing cases

Here’s the pattern that clears up most of the confusion: qué is required immediately before a noun, no matter what. ¿Qué película viste? is correct — not ¿Cuál película viste?, even though “which movie” sounds like a cuál question in English. But when the question word is followed by a verb like “es” or “son” instead of a noun, cuál usually takes over, especially when there’s a specific answer being fished for: ¿Cuál es tu película favorita? (What’s your favorite movie?) The noun-vs-verb test settles almost every tricky case.

Cuáles: the plural you’ll need constantly

Cuál pluralizes to cuáles whenever the answer could involve more than one item — this trips learners up because qué never changes form, so they sometimes forget cuál does. ¿Cuáles son tus colores favoritos? (What are your favorite colors?) asks for possibly several answers, so it needs the plural. Compare that to a single expected answer: ¿Cuál es tu color favorito? Get in the habit of checking whether the expected answer is one thing or several — that decides cuál versus cuáles, the same way any Spanish noun or adjective would need to agree in number.

Qué in exclamations — a completely different job

Qué has a second life entirely separate from asking questions: starting an exclamation. ¡Qué bonito! (How pretty!) ¡Qué calor hace hoy! (It’s so hot today!) ¡Qué de gente hay aquí! (What a lot of people are here!) Cuál never does this job — exclamations expressing “how [adjective]” or “what a lot of” always route through qué, not cuál, even when the underlying feeling is closer to picking out something remarkable from among many. It’s worth keeping these two functions of qué separate in your head: question word, and exclamation starter.

¿Qué tal? and other fixed greetings

Qué also anchors a handful of everyday greetings and small-talk phrases that are worth learning as fixed units rather than analyzing grammatically. ¿Qué tal? (How’s it going?) ¿Qué onda? (What’s up? — very common in Mexico) ¿Qué hay? (What’s new?) None of these ask for a definition or a selection in the way the core qué/cuál rule describes — they’re conversational formulas, and native speakers reach for them automatically without thinking about the underlying grammar, the same way an English speaker doesn’t parse “what’s up” literally.

Mistakes learners make

• Saying ¿Qué es tu nombre? instead of ¿Cuál es tu nombre? — asking for a name is a selection question in Spanish, not a definition question.
• Using cuál directly before a noun: ¿Cuál color prefieres? should be ¿Qué color prefieres? This usage does appear informally in some Latin American countries, but it’s considered nonstandard.
• Overcorrecting and avoiding qué near “es” altogether — ¿Qué es esto? is correct because it’s a genuine definition question, not a selection.
• Forgetting to pluralize cuál to cuáles when asking about multiple items: ¿Cuál son tus planes? should be ¿Cuáles son tus planes?

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between qué and cuál?

Qué asks for a definition or comes directly before a noun. Cuál asks someone to pick from options and typically comes before “es” or “son.”

Why is it “cuál es tu nombre” and not “qué es tu nombre”?

Because asking for a name is treated as selecting the right answer from many possible names, which is cuál’s job, not a request for a definition.

Do you use qué or cuál before a noun?

Qué, always: ¿Qué país visitaste? (What country did you visit?)

Is “cuál” ever used before a noun?

It happens in some regions, especially parts of Latin America, but it’s considered nonstandard in most formal Spanish. Qué before a noun is the safer, universally correct choice.

When do you use “cuáles” instead of “cuál”?

When the expected answer could involve more than one item: ¿Cuáles son tus hobbies? (What are your hobbies?) asks for potentially several answers, so it takes the plural form.

Do qué and cuál ever mean the same thing?

In some contexts they overlap loosely in English translation, but grammatically they’re not interchangeable — the noun-before-it and choice-among-options tests almost always point to a single correct answer.

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Next: Por Qué vs Porque vs Porqué · Tú vs Usted

The short version

• Tú is informal: friends, family, peers, children, anyone you’d be on a first-name basis with.
• Usted is formal: strangers, elders, authority figures, professional settings — anyone you’d address more respectfully.

The verb conjugation changes with the pronoun, so this isn’t just word choice — it reshapes the sentence: ¿Tú quieres? vs. ¿Usted quiere? (Do you want?)

When to use tú

• Friends and family: ¿Tú vienes a la fiesta? Te quiero mucho, mamá.
• Children, even ones you don’t know: adults almost always use tú with kids. ¿Cómo te llamas? asked to a child.
• Peers your own age in casual settings: classmates, coworkers at the same level in many workplaces. ¿Tienes un minuto? to a colleague.
• Online and in casual writing, increasingly the default even with strangers in many contexts, especially on social media.

When to use usted

• Someone significantly older than you, especially in a first meeting: ¿Cómo está usted?
• A stranger in a formal context: a receptionist, a police officer, a store clerk you don’t know: ¿Me puede ayudar, por favor?
• Business and professional correspondence, especially in more traditional industries: Le escribo para confirmar la reunión.
• Anyone in a position of authority relative to you: a teacher, in some countries a boss: ¿Podría usted revisar mi trabajo?

Quick chart

Why this varies so much by country

This is the part that catches learners off guard: the tú/usted line isn’t drawn in the same place everywhere. In Spain, tú is used far more broadly — even many workplaces default to it, and usted can feel distant or old-fashioned between peers. In much of Latin America, usted is used more readily, sometimes even between close friends or within families, depending on the country and generation. Some countries, mostly in Central America and parts of South America, also use vos instead of tú for informal “you,” with its own verb forms (vos hablás instead of tú hablas, vos tenés instead of tú tienes). If you’re learning for a specific country, it’s worth asking a native speaker from that region rather than assuming a universal rule.

How voseo changes the verb forms

If you’re heading to Argentina, Uruguay, or parts of Central America, tú mostly disappears from everyday speech in favor of vos, and the present-tense verb endings shift with it — usually stressing the last syllable instead of following the standard tú pattern. It’s not a different vocabulary, just a different conjugation for the same informal “you.”

Usted stays exactly the same whether or not a region uses voseo — it’s tú (or vos) that shifts, never the formal form.

The “ustedeo” affection twist in some countries

Just when the formal-vs-informal line seems settled, a handful of countries flip it. In parts of Colombia, especially the Andean region, usted is commonly used within families — between spouses, parents and children, even close friends — as a sign of warmth rather than distance. This is called ustedeo, and it runs opposite to the usual pattern where usted signals formality. A Colombian couple calling each other usted isn’t being cold; it’s often the exact opposite, depending on the region and family tradition. If you hear usted used somewhere that seems oddly intimate for the word’s reputation, this regional habit is very likely why.

Vosotros: the form that only exists in Spain

There’s a fifth pronoun most Latin American learners never need but Spain-focused learners must know: vosotros, the informal plural “you all,” used only in Spain. Latin America uses ustedes for both formal and informal “you all,” collapsing a distinction Spain keeps separate. ¿Vosotros venís? (Are you all coming? — informal, Spain) versus ¿Ustedes vienen? (the same question, used everywhere else, and also the formal version in Spain). If your course teaches vosotros conjugations and you’re not planning to use or hear Peninsular Spanish, know that ustedes alone will serve you fine across the rest of the Spanish-speaking world.

Mistakes learners make

• Sticking with usted so long it feels like you’re refusing to warm up to someone — native speakers will often invite you to switch with a phrase like puedes tutearme (you can use tú with me).
• Mixing tú and usted verb forms in the same sentence: ¿Tú tiene tiempo? should be either ¿Tú tienes tiempo? or ¿Usted tiene tiempo?, not a blend of both.
• Assuming the rule is identical everywhere: what’s normal in Mexico City may sound off in Madrid or Buenos Aires.
• Using tú verb forms in a voseo region and wondering why it sounds slightly off: it’s understood everywhere, but locally, vos conjugations will sound far more natural.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between tú and usted?

Tú is informal, used with people you’re close to or on equal footing with. Usted is formal, used with strangers, elders, or in professional settings, and it takes a different verb conjugation.

When should I switch from usted to tú?

Usually when the other person invites it, often with a phrase like puedes tutearme, or once a relationship becomes clearly casual and ongoing.

Does tú vs usted change the verb?

Yes. Usted takes the same verb form as él/ella (third person singular): usted habla, not usted hablas.

Is usted used differently in Spain vs Latin America?

Yes, significantly. Spain leans more informal overall and uses tú more broadly; many Latin American countries use usted more readily, and some substitute vos for tú entirely.

What is voseo and where is it used?

Voseo is the use of “vos” instead of “tú” for informal “you,” with its own verb conjugations. It’s the everyday standard in Argentina and Uruguay and common in parts of Central America.

Do you use “su” or “tu” for “your” with usted?

Su, always, when addressing someone as usted: su casa (your house), not tu casa, which pairs with tú.

Check your Spanish before you send it

Mixed tú/usted forms are an easy thing to miss mid-sentence when you’re focused on the message. corrector.co’s free Spanish checker catches inconsistent formality automatically.

Next: Spanish False Friends · Lo/La vs Le

The short version

• Bon(ne) is an adjective. It describes a noun and agrees in gender and number with it.
• Bien is an adverb. It describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, and it never changes form.

If you’re describing a thing or a person, reach for bon. If you’re describing how an action is done, reach for bien.

When to use bon

• Describing a noun: C’est un bon restaurant. (It’s a good restaurant.)
• Feminine agreement: C’est une bonne idée. (It’s a good idea.)
• Plural agreement: Ce sont de bons livres. (These are good books.)
• Fixed expressions: Bon appétit, bonne chance, bonne nuit — all noun-based greetings.
• Describing food quality directly: Ce gâteau est bon. (This cake is good.)

When to use bien

• Describing how a verb is done: Elle chante bien. (She sings well.)
• Modifying an adjective: Il est bien fatigué. (He’s quite tired.)
• Modifying another adverb: Il conduit bien vite. (He drives pretty fast.)
• Standing alone as “okay” or “fine”: Ça va bien. (I’m doing well.)
• Confirming or agreeing: Bien sûr. (Of course.)

Quick chart

The exception that breaks the rule: sentir bon

Just when the adjective/adverb split feels bulletproof, French throws in sentir bon — “to smell good” — which uses the adjective bon even though it’s technically modifying the verb sentir. The explanation is that bon here isn’t really describing the action of smelling; it’s describing the quality being perceived, almost like saying “it smells [as something] good.” A handful of sensory verbs behave this way: ça sent bon (it smells good), ça a bon goût (it tastes good) — but the moment you’re talking about how well someone performs an action, you’re back to bien: elle sent bien les problèmes would mean she has a good sense for problems, using bien because now it’s about perceptiveness as an action, not a static quality. This is one of the few places where native intuition genuinely outruns the textbook rule, so treat sentir bon as a memorized phrase rather than trying to derive it from the adjective/adverb logic. Worth knowing too: meilleur and mieux follow the exact same adjective/adverb split as bon and bien — meilleur agrees with a noun (c’est un meilleur film), while mieux, like bien, never changes form (il joue mieux maintenant). One more wrinkle worth flagging: bien can also function as an intensifier before an adjective, meaning “quite” or “really” rather than “well” — c’est bien joli doesn’t mean “it’s well pretty,” it means “it’s quite pretty,” a use that has nothing to do with describing an action at all. Native speakers switch fluidly between bien-as-adverb-of-manner and bien-as-intensifier depending on what follows it, and both uses stay invariable, which is part of why bien feels so flexible compared to the strictly noun-bound bon.

Mistakes learners make

• Saying Elle chante bon instead of Elle chante bien — singing is an action, so it needs the adverb.
• Saying C’est bien restaurant instead of C’est un bon restaurant — a noun needs the adjective and an article.
• Forgetting gender agreement on bon: writing une bon idée instead of une bonne idée.
• Overcorrecting sentir bon into sentir bien when talking about literal smell — that one really does take bon.
• Mixing up meilleur and mieux the same way as bon and bien: using meilleur to modify a verb instead of mieux.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between bon and bien in French?

Bon is an adjective that describes nouns and agrees in gender and number. Bien is an adverb that describes verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs and never changes form.

Do you say ça va bon or ça va bien?

Ça va bien. Bien is required here because it’s describing how things are going — an adverbial use, not a description of a noun.

Why is it sentir bon and not sentir bien?

Sentir bon is a fixed exception where bon describes the quality being perceived (a good smell) rather than the manner of the action, unlike most verb-modifying situations which take bien.

Is bien an adjective or an adverb?

Bien is almost always an adverb. It doesn’t agree in gender or number and describes verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs rather than nouns.

How do you say “good idea” in French?

Bonne idée, using the feminine form of bon because idée is a feminine noun.

What’s the difference between bon and meilleur?

Bon means “good”; meilleur means “better,” the comparative form of bon. Le meilleur means “the best.” Bien has its own comparative, mieux, meaning “better” as an adverb.

Can bien mean “quite” instead of “well”?

Yes. Used before an adjective, bien often works as an intensifier meaning “quite” or “really” — c’est bien difficile means “it’s quite difficult,” not a description of how something is done.

Why does bon go before some nouns and after others?

Common, short adjectives like bon usually go before the noun in French (un bon film), while most other adjectives follow it — bon is simply one of a handful of frequent adjectives that break the usual after-the-noun pattern.

Bon/bien mistakes are subtle enough that spellcheckers miss them constantly. corrector.co’s free French checker catches the adjective/adverb mix-ups along with agreement errors.

Next: C’est vs Il est · Encore vs Toujours

The short version

• Passé composé = a completed action, a specific event, something that happened once and is done.
• Imparfait = an ongoing state, a habit, a description, the background of a story — no clear endpoint.

Ask yourself: does this action have a clear beginning and end I could point to? If yes, passé composé. Is it more like scenery or a repeated pattern? Imparfait.

When to use passé composé

• A single completed event: J’ai mangé une pomme. (I ate an apple.)
• A sequence of actions that move a story forward: Il est entré, il a fermé la porte, il s’est assis. (He came in, closed the door, sat down.)
• An action with a clear start or end point: J’ai commencé à travailler à huit heures. (I started working at eight.)
• A sudden interruption: Le téléphone a sonné. (The phone rang.)
• An action repeated a specific, countable number of times: J’ai visité Paris trois fois. (I’ve visited Paris three times.)

When to use imparfait

• A habitual past action: Je mangeais une pomme chaque jour. (I used to eat an apple every day.)
• Background description: Il faisait froid ce soir-là. (It was cold that evening.)
• An ongoing state with no clear end: Elle habitait à Paris. (She lived in Paris.)
• Something in progress when something else happened: Je lisais quand le téléphone a sonné. (I was reading when the phone rang.)
• Politely softening a request or suggestion: Je voulais vous demander quelque chose. (I wanted to ask you something.)

Quick chart

The verbs that change meaning between the two tenses

A handful of French verbs genuinely mean something different depending on which past tense you pick, and these are worth memorizing on their own. Savoir in the imparfait (je savais) means “I knew,” an ongoing state of knowledge; in the passé composé (j’ai su) it means “I found out,” the moment the knowledge started. Same pattern with connaître: je connaissais is “I knew/was familiar with,” while j’ai connu is “I met” — the instant familiarity began. Vouloir flips too: je voulais is “I wanted” as an ongoing desire, but j’ai voulu usually means “I tried” or “I decided to” at a specific moment, and in the negative, je n’ai pas voulu means “I refused.” Pouvoir follows suit: je pouvais is “I was able to” in general, while j’ai pu means “I managed to” on one specific occasion. And devoir shifts too: je devais means “I was supposed to” (with the implication it may not have happened), while j’ai dû usually means “I had to” and did it, or expresses a strong deduction (“I must have”). None of this is optional trivia — get one of these wrong and you can accidentally say “I met her” when you meant “I knew her for years,” or claim you actually did something you were only ever supposed to do.

Mistakes learners make

• Defaulting to passé composé for everything because it feels more like “the past tense” — habits and descriptions need imparfait even when English doesn’t mark the difference.
• Using passé composé for weather or time-of-day description: il faisait beau (it was nice out), not il a fait beau, when you’re setting a scene.
• Mixing up j’ai connu and je connaissais — the first means you met someone, the second means you already knew them.
• Forgetting that an interrupted action needs both tenses in the same sentence: the ongoing part in imparfait, the interruption in passé composé.
• Using passé composé for devoir when the softer “supposed to” meaning of imparfait was intended, accidentally claiming something happened that only should have.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between passé composé and imparfait?

Passé composé marks a completed, specific past action. Imparfait describes an ongoing state, habit, or background scene with no clear endpoint.

Do you use passé composé or imparfait for habits?

Imparfait. “I used to eat there” is je mangeais là-bas, not j’ai mangé là-bas, which would mean a single occasion instead.

Why does connaître change meaning between the two tenses?

Because imparfait marks an ongoing state (knowing someone) while passé composé marks the start of that state (meeting them) — j’ai connu literally means the knowing began at that moment.

How do you know which tense to use when telling a story?

Use imparfait to set the scene and describe what was happening, then switch to passé composé for the specific events that move the story forward.

What’s the difference between je voulais and j’ai voulu?

Je voulais means you wanted something as an ongoing desire. J’ai voulu usually means you tried or decided to act at a specific moment — and in the negative, it means you refused.

What does j’ai dû mean compared to je devais?

Je devais means you were supposed to do something, without confirming whether you did. J’ai dû usually confirms you actually had to (and did) do it, or expresses a strong deduction like “I must have.”

Why is imparfait sometimes used to soften a request?

Because the imparfait’s ongoing, less-definite feel makes a request sound gentler and less direct — je voulais vous demander quelque chose (I wanted to ask you something) reads as more polite than the blunter je veux.

Tense mistakes are hard to catch yourself because both forms are grammatically “correct French” — just for different situations. corrector.co’s free French checker flags the ones that don’t fit the context.

Next: Depuis vs Pendant vs Il y a · Depuis que vs Pendant que

The short version

• Preterite is for actions that are finished — they have a clear start and end, even if you don’t state them.
• Imperfect is for the background — ongoing actions, habits, descriptions, and states with no defined endpoint in the story.

A useful trick: if you can naturally say “used to” or “was/were -ing” in English, you probably want the imperfect. If the action happened once and is over, you want the preterite.

When to use the preterite

• A single completed action: Comí pizza anoche. (I ate pizza last night.) Fuimos al cine el sábado. (We went to the movies on Saturday.)
• An action with a clear time boundary: Vivimos en Chile por dos años. (We lived in Chile for two years — then stopped.) Trabajó allí desde 2015 hasta 2018. (He worked there from 2015 until 2018.)
• A sequence of events: Llegué, abrí la puerta y entré. (I arrived, opened the door, and went in.)
• The start or end of an action: Empezó a llover. (It started to rain.) Terminamos de comer a las nueve. (We finished eating at nine.)

When to use the imperfect

• A habitual action: Comía pizza todos los viernes. (I used to eat pizza every Friday.) Jugábamos en el parque cada tarde. (We used to play in the park every afternoon.)
• An action in progress, interrupted by another: Dormía cuando sonó el teléfono. (I was sleeping when the phone rang.)
• Background description: Era de noche y hacía frío. (It was nighttime and it was cold.) La casa tenía un jardín enorme. (The house had a huge garden.)
• Age, time, and ongoing states in the past: Tenía diez años. (I was ten years old.) Eran las tres de la tarde. (It was three in the afternoon.)

Quick chart

Using both in the same sentence

This is where the tenses actually make the most sense: they interact. The imperfect sets the scene; the preterite is the event that interrupts it. Veía la tele cuando llegó mi hermano. (I was watching TV when my brother arrived.) The watching is the ongoing background — imperfect. The arriving is the single interrupting event — preterite.

Verbs that change meaning

A handful of verbs mean something noticeably different depending on which past tense you use, because the tense shifts whether you’re describing a state or the start of one.

Regional habits: when Spain reaches for a different tense entirely

Here’s a wrinkle most courses gloss over: in much of Spain, the present perfect (he comido, ha llegado) frequently does the job the preterite handles elsewhere for very recent past actions. A Spaniard is likely to say Hoy he comido pizza (I’ve eaten pizza today) for something that happened just hours ago, where a Mexican or Argentine speaker would more naturally say Hoy comí pizza, using the plain preterite. Neither is wrong — it’s a regional preference tied to how recent and “connected to now” the action feels. If you’re learning Spanish for a specific country, pay attention to which pattern locals actually use in casual conversation, because textbooks often teach the more universal preterite/imperfect split without flagging this variation.

Mistakes learners make

• Defaulting to preterite for everything because it feels more like “the past tense”: habits and descriptions need the imperfect, even if English doesn’t mark that difference clearly.
• Using preterite for age: it’s almost always tenía veinte años, not tuve veinte años, because age is a state, not an event.
• Forgetting that weather and time descriptions default to imperfect: Eran las tres (it was three o’clock), not fueron las tres.
• Confusing supe and sabía: if you’re describing the moment you learned something, use supe; if you already knew it beforehand, use sabía.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between preterite and imperfect?

The preterite describes a completed action with a clear endpoint. The imperfect describes an ongoing, habitual, or background action with no defined endpoint in the story.

Do you use preterite or imperfect for “used to”?

Imperfect. “I used to eat” is comía, not comí.

Why does conocer change meaning in the preterite?

Because the preterite marks the start of a state. Conocía means you already knew someone; conocí marks the moment you started knowing them — in English, “met.”

How do you know which tense to use when telling a story?

Use the imperfect to set the scene and describe what was happening, then switch to the preterite for the specific events that move the story forward.

What’s the difference between “quise” and “quería”?

Quería means you wanted something as an ongoing state. Quise usually means you tried to do something at a specific moment — and no quise, in the negative, means you refused.

Is it “conocí” or “conocía” for meeting someone once?

Conocí, since meeting is a single, completed event that started a new state of knowing someone — the preterite marks that starting point.

Check your Spanish before you send it

Tense mistakes are some of the hardest to catch on your own because both forms are “correct Spanish” — just for different situations. corrector.co’s free Spanish checker flags the ones that don’t fit.

Next: Saber vs Conocer · Reflexive vs Non-Reflexive Verbs