Practice speaking French with AI

What a French speaking practice session looks like

You choose a game and a difficulty, then start talking, either into your microphone or by typing. The game is a small 3D world that runs in your browser, and the people in it only help you if you can explain what you want in French.

In the bomb game you have to find a bomb and save the town before the timer runs out. The commander briefs you, an informant has something to tell you, somebody sells wire-cutters, and a professor knows the disarm code. He has no intention of handing it over to a stranger who walks in and asks for it.

How the characters adjust to your French

Getting the professor to change his mind is up to you. You can reason with him, lean on him, or explain what happens to the town if he keeps quiet, and whatever you try has to come out in French. The AI judges what you meant rather than your exact wording, so a clumsy sentence that makes the point still works.

On beginner the characters use simple French, speak slowly and take the lead. Freeze and they'll offer a hint. Get something wrong and they repeat what you meant, correctly, then carry on. Ask the seller for "le chose pour couper les fils" and you'll probably get back something like "Ah, une pince coupante ? Tenez, j'en ai une." You hear the word you were missing, in a real sentence, and nobody stops the game to grade you.

The characters also gesture, change expression and hold things up. When the guard means no he shakes his head, and objects tend to appear in someone's hand as they name them. Intermediate uses more natural French and gives hints only when you ask. On advanced there are no hints or corrections, and everyone talks at full native speed. Each setting can be changed separately, even in the middle of a game.

Tu or vous in the dungeon

The dungeon game is a good place to get tu and vous wrong without consequences you'll remember at a dinner party. You're locked up with an old prisoner, a nervous merchant, a dramatic ghost and a bored guard, and you can escape by bribing the guard, by flattering the ghost or by cracking a three-number combination.

Each of those asks for a different tone. A guard who can't be bothered with you may well say tu, and you have to decide whether to answer in kind while you slip him a coin. With a ghost who likes an audience, you're more likely to get somewhere with vous and a conditional, something like "Auriez-vous la bonté de m'aider ?", than with a flat "aide-moi".

Liaison, dropped sounds and speed

Spoken French is a long way from the written version. "Vous avez" is pronounced with a z in the middle, "il y a" often shrinks to "y a", and in casual speech "je ne sais pas" can turn into something closer to "chais pas". Learners who read well often find they can't follow a conversation at normal speed, and this is usually why.

Beginner mode keeps things slow and clear. On advanced, the characters speak at the speed and register of a native speaker, so you get used to hearing words run together. You can replay any line and control the pace, which makes it easy to go back to the bit that slipped past.

When your French runs out

On beginner and intermediate you can reply in English. The character understands you and answers in French, which keeps the scene going and shows you how they'd have said it. If you want more help, you can turn on an interpreter panel, response suggestions or hints.

You can save any line to your notes, and every playthrough is added to them when you finish. If something like the subjunctive keeps tripping you up, the site's free French grammar walkthrough explains it in more depth.

New accounts get enough free credits for one full game. After that there's a monthly plan or a credit pack that never expires, and play costs about one credit per minute.