How to say ‘I’m taking a French class’

1 – Mistake translating French class in French

In French you cannot say “French class”. Your class is not French itself: it’s a class about the French language. “French class” is an idiom in English.

So translating word by word and saying: “une classe française” is a mistake.

2 – How to translate ‘I’m taking a French class’ in French

When you say ‘I’m taking a French class’, what you are really saying is that you are taking a class about the French language.

‘I take a French class = I take a class of French language’ = je  suis une classe DE FRANÇAIS.

On a side note, people have been pointing out that it should be “je suis un cours de français”, the class being the people, the course the content.

It may be a mistake, but it’s very common in French to say “une classe de français” for both people and content.

So here are a few possible translations to talk about your French class:

1. “Je suis un cours de français” (of the verb “suivre”: ‘to follow’)
   I’m taking a French class
2. “Je fais partie d’une classe de français”,
   I’m enrolled in a French class
3. “J’adore ma classe/mon cours de français”,
   I love my French class
4. “Je déteste ma prof de français”
   I hate my French teacher

In any case, to say “French” for a class, it’s “de français“, never “français/française”, which is my point :-)

More about how to translate French and France in French.

3 – How to translate ‘I study French’ in French

To say ‘I study French’, here is what you can say:

1. “J’étudie le français”
   I study French
   The name of the language is “le français”, and it’s masculine.
2. J’étudie la langue française
   I study the French language
   “La langue” being feminine, the adjective “française” is also in the feminine.