Grammar Checker for French Speakers
L1-aware grammar, paraphrasing, and translation tuned to the specific transfer patterns French speakers face when writing English — from academic abstracts to business correspondence.
What makes English harder for French speakers?
English writing problems for French speakers cluster around a handful of systematic transfer patterns — false friends, «I am agree», «depuis», punctuation spacing, and under-capitalization.
French and English share a vast Latin vocabulary, which is exactly why false friends slip through: «actuellement» means currently, not «actually»; «éventuellement» means possibly, not «eventually»; «librairie» means bookstore, not «library»; «sympathique» means likeable, not «sympathetic». A French writer reaches for the look-alike and says something subtly different from what they mean.
The second cluster is structural calques. «Je suis d'accord» becomes «I am agree» instead of «I agree» (agree is a verb, not be + adjective); «depuis» covers both «since» and «for», so «since five years» appears for «for five years». The third is surface convention: French puts a space before «?», «!», «;», and «:», and does not capitalize languages, nationalities, days, or months — so «english», «monday», and «What is the cause ?» carry straight into English drafts.
Diglot's Grammar Checker is tuned for these French → English patterns specifically — false friends, «I am agree», «depuis» → since/for, French punctuation spacing, and under-capitalization of «English/French/Monday». It names the French-L1 reason behind each correction rather than treating it as an isolated slip.
What Grammar Checker specifically does for French writers
A French-aware grammar checker holds the false-friend set and the «I am agree» calque open while reading the English output. When a French writer produces «Actually I am agree with the eventually proposed method», an English-only checker sees grammatical words and moves on. Diglot reads the French transfer — «Currently I agree with the possibly proposed method» — and explains each: «actuellement», «je suis d'accord», «éventuellement».
The other French patterns the checker is built around are surface conventions English readers notice immediately: the space before «?», «!», «;», and «:» that French typography requires, and the lowercase «english», «monday», «french» that French capitalization rules produce. Diglot removes the pre-punctuation space and capitalizes languages, nationalities, days, and months, flagging both as French-L1 transfer rather than as careless formatting.
Top French-to-English transfer patterns Diglot catches
| Pattern | Example error | Corrected |
|---|---|---|
| False friend (actually / eventually / library) | "Actually we will eventually visit the library." | "Currently we will possibly visit the bookstore." |
| «I am agree» (verb calque) | "I am agree with this method." | "I agree with this method." |
| «depuis» → since/for | "We have studied this since five years." | "We have studied this for five years." |
| Space before punctuation | "What is the main cause ?" | "What is the main cause?" |
| Under-capitalized language / day | "We wrote it in english on monday." | "We wrote it in English on Monday." |
Ready to write better English?
Diglot combines L1-aware grammar checking, paraphrasing, translation, and originality verification in one workspace — built for French speakers writing English.
Try Diglot freeCommon writing tasks for French speakers
Concrete Diglot workflows by writing task — each tuned to French-to-English transfer patterns.
How Diglot compares to alternatives
If you're evaluating writing tools, here's the honest head-to-head — when the alternative wins, when Diglot wins.
Grammar Checker for speakers of other languages
Each L1 has its own transfer-pattern profile — pick yours for the patterns Diglot specifically addresses.
Frequently asked questions
- Why do French speakers write «actually» when they mean «currently»?
- Because «actuellement» in French means currently, while English «actually» means in fact. It is a false friend — and French has a cluster of them: «eventually» (éventuellement = possibly), «library» (librairie = bookstore), «sympathetic» (sympathique = likeable), «assist» (assister = attend). Diglot flags each as French false-friend transfer and supplies the intended English word.
- Why is «I am agree» wrong?
- Because French says «je suis d'accord» (literally «I am in agreement»), so French speakers calque it as «I am agree». But English «agree» is a verb, not an adjective — you say «I agree», not «I am agree». Diglot recognises this specific French calque and corrects it with the reason, which is why it keeps catching it across drafts.
- Why do I forget to capitalize «English», «Monday», and nationalities?
- French does not capitalize languages, nationalities, days, or months — «anglais», «lundi», «français» are all lowercase. English capitalizes all of them, so French writers systematically under-capitalize «english», «monday», «french». Diglot flags these as a French capitalization-transfer pattern rather than as random typos.
- Does the checker flag «actually», «eventually», and «library» as French false friends?
- Yes. The pattern `false-friend` is in the French-aware ruleset because French and English share Latin roots that drifted apart. Diglot flags «actually» (actuellement = currently), «eventually» (éventuellement = possibly), «library» (librairie = bookstore), and «sympathetic» (sympathique = likeable), suggesting the intended English word and naming the French source rather than treating it as a word-choice typo.
- Will it catch «I am agree», the space before «?», and lowercase «english»?
- Yes — all three are high-frequency French-writer patterns. «I am agree» calques «je suis d'accord» (English «I agree»); the space before «?»/«!»/«;»/«:» comes from French typography; and lowercase «english»/«monday»/«french» comes from French capitalization rules. Diglot corrects all three and flags each as French-L1 transfer.
