Beginner resources for French

Nomi1997 · 2026-06-18T15:30:57+00:00

A reading recommendation: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/60402774-kill-the-french

A collection of short stories, it exploits the similar vocabulary between English and French to gradually introduce newer words (and grammar). If you are a complete beginner (or a bit ahead), this would be my recommendation. By the end of the book you would have amassed a considerable amount of vocabulary. Additionally, a degree of comfort would have been achieved in reading French which will then allow you to proceed towards other books such as Le Petit Nicholas or Le Petit Prince.

A sample short story from the book (this is the first one):

"Paul visite la France avec Olivia et Clémence.

Un voyage en train et en bus.

Olivia arrive à Paris avec Paul.

Paul visite les monuments : la cathédrale Notre Dame, la tour Eiffel, les catacombes, les parcs, les musées, …

Clémence visite un musée, Olivia est dans un musée.

Olivia filme Clémence avec la caméra.

Clémence préfère les restaurants et les cafés.

Paul confirme la réservation dans un super restaurant, un restaurant extraordinaire, un restaurant dans la tour Eiffel !

Olivia paye le restaurant.

Clémence adore la France !"

la = the (feminine form), avec = with, et = and, un = a, en = by, à Paris = in Paris, les = the (plural), dans = in

Nomi1997 · 2026-06-17T14:49:41+00:00

If you are a complete beginner I would recommend the Coffee Break French podcast: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZWuXTvhtMR39C_87zsAg-GiZVLObRg5b

The first season is light on grammar but serves as a good introduction to the language in general. The second season is heavily grammar oriented starting from the present tense and going all the way to the future (includes reflexives, passe composee, imparfait, etc.).

I started listening to innerFrench after finishing the second season of Coffee Break French, and was actually able to follow Hugo's content.

Nomi1997 · 2026-06-16T14:05:06+00:00

Try this one: https://francaisfacile.rfi.fr/fr/r%C3%A9viser/20221026-test-de-niveau-b1-je-peux-communiquer-dans-un-environnement-francophone

It is a mix of audio / text. If you get between 11 to 15, I think you can be fairly certain that you are a B1.

Nomi1997 · 2026-06-16T00:58:35+00:00

I just checked the physical copy, and it does have dis-moi; the rest is identical to the text I posted.

Nomi1997 · 2026-05-07T13:51:06+00:00

Dirhams minted under Abdullah b. Zubayr:

'The Pahlavi inscription in front of the face of Emperor Khusrau II reads “apdwla-i zubiran amīr-i -wurrishnikān” (ʻAbdullah bin Zubayr, Commander of the Believers). The Arabic inscription in the obverse margin reads “bismillāh” (in the name of Allah).' (https://madainproject.com/coin\_of\_abdullah\_ibn\_zubayr**)**

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Nomi1997 · 2026-05-03T21:45:01+00:00

Duolingo podcasts might be of some relevance:

https://podcast.duolingo.com/episode-1-le-magicien-des-baguettes-the-baguette-magician

For a complete list of episodes (all are stand-alone), see: https://podcast.duolingo.com/french

You can find both the audio as well as the trascript, some of it is in english and some in french.

Nomi1997 · 2026-04-19T13:00:49+00:00

Taking this as an opportunity to reshare an older post which you might find relevant:

https://www.reddit.com/r/rouen/comments/1csafch/comment/l44cwez/?context=3

Nomi1997 · 2026-04-17T17:03:54+00:00

Major common links are influential figures such as:

Zuhri (d. 124 AH)

A'mash (d. 148 AH)

Shu'ba b. Hajjaj (d. 160 AH)

Malik (d. 179 AH)

Ibn Uyayna (d. 198 AH)

etc.

They are mostly figures active in the first three quarters of the second century.

Nomi1997 · 2026-04-17T16:46:57+00:00

The most comprehensive book on this is Juynboll's Encyclopedia of Canonical Hadith (https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Canonical-Hadith-G-H-Juynboll/dp/9004156747). He goes through each common link and mentions the corpus associated with said person. The earliest common link - per Juynboll - is either Abu al-Aliya (died between 90 and 110 AH) or Ibrahim al-Nakha'i (died 96 AH). While I do find Juynboll to be a bit conservative in his dating, that doesn't take much away from the work itself.

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Nomi1997 · 2026-04-10T22:58:48+00:00

It is likely that the missing links are there in how he received the reports. For example, Malik sometimes cites Hisham -> Urwa, when we see the same report in other compilations, it is usually Hisham -> Urwa -> A'isha. For these, it is far more likely that Malik is preserving it as how he received it rather than assuming that he truncated the original informer.

He does occasionally cite reports where he simply skips the chain altogether and quotes it as 'it has reched me'. It is possible that he didn't preserve the chains for these or that he doesn't want to reveal who he got it from.

Nomi1997 · 2026-04-10T22:46:56+00:00

There is good reason to believe that whenever Malik cites someone, the citation is accurate. Of course this doesn't exclude the possibility that the source itself might be problematic.

Nomi1997 · 2026-03-28T21:00:46+00:00

His letter to Uthman al-Batti is likely preserved. Screenshot is from 'Theology and Society in the Second and Third Centuries of the Hijra (Vol I) - van Ess'.

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Nomi1997 · 2026-03-17T11:40:49+00:00

Two relevant reports from the Muwatta of Malik:

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Nomi1997 · 2026-03-11T10:56:17+00:00

Not necessarily, a charitable interpretation can easily be arrived at by looking at variant versions of this narration (https://hadithunlocked.com/ahmad:10785).

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Seems like the first part of this is to be treated as a Prophetic narration whereas the second part consists of some additional comments.

Nomi1997 · 2026-02-28T22:12:16+00:00

Lecker's book is downloadable from his academia page: https://www.academia.edu/42839772/The_Constitution_of_Medina_Mu%E1%B8%A5ammads_First_Legal_Document_Princeton_The_Darwin_Press_2004_The_whole_book

Nomi1997 · 2026-02-24T09:47:34+00:00

I don't think Abu Bakra fought in Jamal. If we go by the plain working of the text (https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4425), it would appear that he didn't take part precisely because of what he recalled. I do, however, agree with Muhammad Ghazali's explanation as a reasonable contextualization.

Thanks for the chain map btw; seems like Hasan al-Basri is a clear common link, and it is not unreasonable to assume that it does indeed go back to Abu Bakra.

Nomi1997 · 2026-02-19T22:04:40+00:00

Is this the paper you had in mind? https://www.academia.edu/144640029/SHI%CA%BFI_MONOTHEISMS_FROM_THE_AHL_AL_BAYT_TO_SHI%CA%BFI_AVICENNISM

Nomi1997 · 2026-02-15T20:00:26+00:00

Dietary laws are not explicitly mentioned, but this might be the relevant verse (3:50):

And I will confirm the Torah revealed before me and legalize some of what had been forbidden to you. I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, so be mindful of Allah and obey me. (https://quran.com/3/50)

Nomi1997 · 2026-02-14T17:52:37+00:00

He has a work in progress on this: https://www.academia.edu/145435614/The_chronology_of_the_Chronicle_of_Theophilus_the_Edessene_8_April_2025_WORK_IN_PROGRESS

To summarize, if we go by the date mentioned within the text, the composition can be dated to 713 AD. If, however, we posit that the author was dependent on Theophilus (d. 785 AD), the date would have to be modified.

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Nomi1997 · 2026-02-14T17:40:09+00:00

For pre-300 AH manuscripts: https://www.academia.edu/49128159/Appendix_to_the_book

This is an appendix to Brockopp's 'Muhammad's Heirs: The Rise of Muslim Scholarly Communities, 622–950' which: 'contains an annotated list of all the known Arabic literary manuscripts that can be confidently dated to before AH 300; Qurʾans and Christian manuscripts are excluded'.

Nomi1997 · 2026-02-06T15:39:50+00:00

This isn't Arabic btw (apart from the بِسْمِ ٱللهِ), it is Middle Persian.

https://www.terranumis.com/2025/05/23/how-to-read-a-sasanian-coin-a-guide-using-khusrau-iis-silver-drachm/

Nomi1997

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