J’essaie de parler français avec mes voisins.

I am trying to speak French with my neighbors.

Breakdown of J’essaie de parler français avec mes voisins.

• je: I
• avec: with
• le français: the French
• parler: to speak
• mes: my
• le voisin: the neighbor
• de: to
• essayer: to try on

Questions & Answers about J’essaie de parler français avec mes voisins.

Why is je shortened to j’ here?

In French, je becomes j’ before a word that starts with a vowel sound or a silent h. Since essaie begins with e, you say j’essaie, not je essaie.

This is called elision, and it is very common in French:

• j’aime
• j’habite
• j’écoute

What tense is j’essaie?

J’essaie is in the present tense: I try or I am trying.

It comes from the verb essayer = to try.

Here, j’essaie means:

• I try
• I’m trying

French present tense often covers both of those English meanings.

Why is there de after essaie?

Because the verb essayer is normally followed by de + infinitive in standard French.

So:

• essayer de parler = to try to speak
• essayer de comprendre = to try to understand

English uses to after try, but French usually uses de:

• I try to speak
• J’essaie de parler

So the de is not optional here in normal standard French.

Why is parler in the infinitive form?

Because after essaie de, French uses an infinitive verb.

So:

• j’essaie de parler = I try to speak
• j’essaie de lire = I try to read

This works a lot like English, where you also use the base verb after to:

• to speak
• to read

In French, the infinitive is the dictionary form of the verb:

• parler = to speak
• manger = to eat
• finir = to finish

Why is français not capitalized?

In French, language names are usually not capitalized.

So:

• le français = French
• l’anglais = English
• l’espagnol = Spanish

That is different from English, where language names are capitalized.

However, nationality words can behave differently depending on how they are used:

• un Français = a Frenchman → capitalized
• une Française = a Frenchwoman → capitalized
• Il est français. = He is French. → not capitalized

In your sentence, français means the language, so it stays lowercase.

Why do we say parler français without a word for in?

In French, when you say you speak a language, you usually just use parler + language.

So:

• parler français
• parler anglais
• parler italien

French does not normally say the equivalent of speak in French in this basic structure.

So:

• Je parle français = I speak French
• J’essaie de parler français = I’m trying to speak French

Why is it avec mes voisins?

Avec means with, and mes voisins means my neighbors.

So:

• avec = with
• mes = my
• voisins = neighbors

In this sentence, avec mes voisins tells you who the speaker is speaking with.

French often uses avec just like English uses with:

• Je parle avec mon ami. = I speak with my friend.
• Je travaille avec eux. = I work with them.

Why is it mes voisins and not mes voisin?

Because voisins is plural.

• mon voisin = my neighbor (one male neighbor, or one neighbor if gender is unspecified in some contexts)
• ma voisine = my neighbor (one female neighbor)
• mes voisins = my neighbors (more than one; masculine plural or mixed group)
• mes voisines = my neighbors (all female)

The -s on voisins marks the plural.

Also, mes is the plural form of my:

• mon = my (singular masculine)
• ma = my (singular feminine)
• mes = my (plural)

Can voisins mean both male and female neighbors?

Yes. In French, the masculine plural form is used for:

• a group of men
• a mixed group of men and women
• a group when gender is not being specified

So mes voisins can mean:

• my male neighbors
• my neighbors in general
• my neighbors, if the group is mixed

If the group is entirely female, you would say mes voisines.

How is J’essaie de parler français avec mes voisins pronounced?

A careful pronunciation is approximately:

zhay-say duh par-lay frahn-say ah-vek may vwah-zan

A few notes:

• J’ sounds like the s in measure
• essaie sounds roughly like essay
• de is often a light duh
• parler ends with an ay sound
• français ends roughly like say
• mes sounds like may
• voisins has a nasal ending, so the last part is not pronounced like a full English n

In natural speech, French flows together smoothly, so it may sound more connected than the word-by-word spelling suggests.

Can I say J’essaie à parler français instead?

In standard French, no. The usual pattern is essayer de + infinitive.

So you should say:

• J’essaie de parler français.

Not:

• J’essaie à parler français.

You may sometimes encounter variation with essayer, but for learners, essayer de is the safe and standard choice.

Is this sentence formal or informal?

It is neutral and completely natural in both speech and writing.

It is not especially formal and not especially slangy. You could use it:

• in conversation
• in class
• in writing
• with people you know
• with people you do not know

If you wanted a slightly more formal version, you might change the wording around it, but the sentence itself is perfectly standard.

What is the basic sentence structure here?

The structure is:

Subject + conjugated verb + de + infinitive + object + prepositional phrase

In this sentence:

• J’ = subject (I)
• essaie = conjugated verb (am trying / try)
• de parler = infinitive phrase (to speak)
• français = object of parler
• avec mes voisins = prepositional phrase (with my neighbors)

So the sentence is built very logically once you break it down:

• I
• try
• to speak
• French
• with my neighbors