Read books in French. Tap any word.
Learn French by reading · français
Most French learners can order a coffee long before they can finish a novel. Nufa closes that gap: open a real book in French, read it at your own pace, and tap any word you don't know for a translation that appears over the page and disappears when you read on.
Nous étions à l’Étude, quand le Proviseur entra, suivi d’un nouveau habillé en bourgeois et d’un garçon de classe qui portait un grand pupitre.entra
came in, entered
Passé simple of entrer. French speakers almost never say it aloud, but nearly every novel is narrated in it — recognising it on sight is the first skill a French reader needs.
Why reading works for French
- Written French uses a tense — the passé simple — that you will rarely hear in conversation. Books are the only place to get used to it.
- Gender sticks when you meet nouns inside sentences: la cloche, le pupitre, une enceinte. Lists don't do that.
- Literary French rewards slow reading. A calm reader with a translation one tap away is the right tool for it.
How Nufa reads
- Bring any book. Import your own EPUB or PDF in French — it is parsed on your phone and never uploaded — or download a public-domain classic from the built-in catalogue.
- Tap to translate. Tap a word or select a phrase. The translation appears over the page and goes away when you read on.
- Ask for an explanation. When a sentence won’t yield, tap Explain for the grammar, the idiom or the cultural reference behind it.
- Keep the words that matter. Saved vocabulary keeps the sentence you found it in. Review it when you like — there are no streaks and no daily goals.
A starter shelf in French
Public-domain classics, roughly easiest first.
- Contes choisis — Guy de Maupassant. Short stories. Finish one in a sitting.
- Le Tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours — Jules Verne. Plot-driven and very readable.
- Madame Bovary — Gustave Flaubert. Precise, beautiful, demanding.
Start reading
Nufa is free to download on Android. The whole reader is free, with 10 translations and 10 explanations a day; paid plans raise the daily limits. See pricing.