thundavolt

[errant cairn]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

Pro tip: you can rename the thread title with `.tr <thread name>`

Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.

[mint apex]

Tons of practice and exercise, really. There's no 'cheat sheet' to being fluent other than using the language so much to the point where you can think in it and be productive without translating

[silk sorrel]

i think primarily in english since it's my first language (my native was my second), i don't really have any situations i can use them in

and i'm always a bit anxious about using it in front of my peers or teacher

[mint apex]

That's fine, you don't have to really use it in front of your peers or your teacher. You can practise by just doing your daily routine in French or talking to yourself in French, that's what I do.

For example, instead of going, 'I'm going to sit on the toilet, do my business, take a shower, and then do my work', you can try mentally going, « Je vais m'asseoir sur les toilettes, faire ce que je ferai, prendre une douche, et puis faire mes devoirs »

Instead of going, 'How many carrots do I have? I wonder if that's enough for curry. Actually, do I want curry today? I'll have to do the dishes afterwards and I'm kinda lazy today…'
you can go, « Combien de carottes est-ce que j'ai ? Je me demande, est-ce qu'il suffira pour cuisiner du curry. En fait, est-ce que je veux du curry aujourd'hui ? Il me faut laver la vaisselle après et je suis un peu paresseux aujourd'hui… »

My point is that there's a lot that you can start doing mentally in French that doesn't necessitate practise in front of people which can be anxious. If you have some difficulties in guessing words or conjugating verbs, try and mark that down mentally or have some sort of notepad to go, 'I forgot the translation for "doing the dishes", I forgot the imperfect conjugation for « émincer », etc' just so you can identify your weak points and work on those

[silk sorrel]

and how do i get better at identifying and using tenses? all of it seems so convoluting

[mint apex]

I would say that it still goes back to practice but that doesn't mean you should get all the tenses in one go; try limiting yourself to a few tenses, say present indicative, the perfect, and simple future, and go from there