French Intensive Course in Berlin

For anyone starting French from scratch with no prior knowledge.

You dive into the distinctive sound of French and get to know the nasal vowels (on, an, in) as well as the silent final letters that are written but not pronounced. You master your first everyday situations such as greeting people, introducing yourself and ordering in a café. Along the way you develop a feel for grammatical gender with the articles le and la and the verb forms of être and avoir. By the end you can communicate in simple, clearly structured sentences.

For learners who can already form simple sentences and want to build on the basics.

You expand your basic knowledge and learn to talk about past events and future plans. The focus is on the two most important past tenses, the passé composé and the imparfait, as well as the futur proche with aller. You practise the liaison, linking words in the flow of speech, and the correct agreement of adjectives in gender and number. This lets you handle travel, shopping and making plans with confidence in French.

For learners who can get by in everyday life and want to express themselves more precisely.

At this level you gain independence and learn to express opinions, wishes and feelings with nuance. You are introduced to the subjonctif, indispensable in French after expressions such as il faut que or je veux que, as well as the conditionnel for polite requests and hypotheses. The pronouns y and en and the relative pronouns qui, que and dont broaden your range of expression. You can now speak coherently about familiar topics and write simple texts.

For advanced learners who want to discuss complex topics fluently and precisely.

You refine your French and express yourself clearly and coherently on abstract and professional topics. The subjonctif is now used confidently in concessive and purpose clauses (bien que, pour que), and you master compound tenses such as the plus-que-parfait. You learn to shift register deliberately, understand idiomatic expressions and structure your reasoning with subtle connectors. This lets you argue convincingly and follow films, news and newspaper articles with ease.

For highly advanced learners who want to express themselves with stylistic subtlety and ease.

At this level you approach the expressive power of educated native speakers and command subtle stylistic nuances. You recognise the literary passé simple and the subjonctif imparfait in demanding texts and deploy idiomatic expressions and proverbs precisely. You play with irony, understatement and rhetorical devices and adapt your style precisely to context and audience. You follow challenging literature, specialist talks and debates effortlessly and respond spontaneously and flexibly.

For learners who want to perfect their French to native-speaker level.

You command French almost like a native speaker and grasp even the finest differences in meaning, cultural allusions and wordplay. Even rare constructions such as the subjonctif plus-que-parfait and complex literary sequences of tenses no longer pose any difficulty. You express yourself effortlessly, spontaneously and with stylistic elegance, perfectly adapting sound, rhythm and register to every situation. Your pronunciation, vocabulary and feel for the language are at the highest level.