Ordering with "je veux" ("Je veux un café.").
Use je voudrais or je vais prendre: Je voudrais un café, s'il vous plaît.
Je veux sounds blunt or childish in shops and cafés.
Putting a conjugated verb after pouvoir: "Je peux paye ?"
Pouvoir + infinitive: Je peux payer ?
After a modal verb, the second verb always stays in the infinitive.
Forgetting s'il vous plaît in requests.
Attach it to every request: Un café, s'il vous plaît.
French service interactions expect explicit politeness markers.
Translating 70, 80, 90 word for word from English.
Memorize the blocks: soixante-dix, quatre-vingts, quatre-vingt-dix.
France keeps the historic base-20 forms; "septante" works in Belgium/Switzerland only.
Writing "vingt-un" or "trente-un".
Use et for 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71: vingt et un, soixante et onze.
The et appears only in those "…and one" combinations.
Pronouncing the final consonants of cinq, six, huit, dix before a consonant.
Before a consonant they often drop: six livres "si livres", dix personnes "di personnes".
Number pronunciation changes with what follows; listening practice fixes this fast.