Main word in french

Bonjour!

Have you been looking to EFFICIENTLY improve your conversational skills and effectively tackle a lot of new vocabulary? Check out our post on the 1000 Most Common French Words below. This is a French frequency vocabulary list, which means the 1st word is used twice as much as the one below it and so on. This is a great hack to learn the French language in a straightforward and painless manner.

OTHER PAINLESS FRENCH LEARNING HACKS:

1. Get your tongue moving with these French tongue twisters
2. 70% of French students dont know these words, do you? Free quiz (no email or info necessary)
3. Get original French language films with this Netflix hack that will help you learn a language.
4. Upgrade with this quick list of common French idioms

Our list of the 1000 most common words in French below:

When learning a new language the amount of vocabulary can be daunting. Have you heard people say things like: “We only use around 700 words when we talk?” This is true to some degree. The number of words to learn to speak a language really depends on your purpose. Remember that 300 to 600 words may be enough to travel, but at least 1000 words are necessary for a conversation. The most important thing is not knowing how many words you need to speak a language, but which words to know. Complete fluency is in the 10,000 word range. According to the economist: “Most adult native test-takers range from 20,000–35,000 words. Average native test-takers of age 8 already know 10,000 words. Average native test-takers of age 4 already know 5,000 words. Adult native test-takers learn almost 1 new word a day until middle age”

10,000 words. Wow. That does seem daunting when you are first starting out. But like anything new, you just have to start small and keep adding to it.

That’s why we wrote this blog article: Find the 1000 words used most often in spoken French below.

Why these 1000 words?

Let’s imagine that you just got a job as a bartender. Would you try to learn every cocktail known to man, or would you focus on the cocktails that are most popular in your area? We developed this list of words based on the idea of the 80/20 principle (the cornerstone of results-based living). This strategy developed by David Kock says :”The 80/20 Principle asserts that a minority of causes, inputs or efforts usually lead to a majority of the results, outputs or rewards” So instead of learning 10,000 words in no particular order, learn the most common 100 words, then the most common 500 words, and then the most common 1000 words. If you want to check out this classic business book, you can order it here.

Other great ways to improve your vocabulary:

1. Watch Netflix in Original language with original language captions
2. Check out a great book like this: 2000 most frequently used French words
3. Do some quick daily exercises on DuoLingo or any other free language learning app
4. Take some classes with us at Strømmen and speak to a real human in person or online 

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The most common French words are: Oui (yes), non (no), merci (thank you), je (I), tu/vous (you), le/la/les (the), un, une des (a, an and some), le/la/les (it, them), et (and) and mais (but).

What are the most frequently used French words?

Learning the most common words is the first step to learning to speak fluently. Rather than just providing a list of top-100 words without any structure, we’ve created a list based on language sub-areas such as common adjectives, prepositions and verbs. We’ve also broken our list down into noun groups such family, clothing and much more.

Top 10 French words in a nutshell

These are the top ten frequently most used words in the French language:

1. Oui yes
2. Non no
3. Merci thank you
4. Je I
5. Tu/vous you
6. le, la, les the
7. Un, une, des a, an, some
8. le, la, les it, them
9. Et and
10. Mais but

Example sentences with the most common words:

• Oui, je parle français. Yes, I speak French.
• Non, je ne parle pas français. No, I don’t speak French.
• Merci beaucoup. Thank you very much.
• Je mange le pain. I eat the bread.
• Tu manges la salade. You seat the salad.
• Vous mangez la pizza. You eat the pizza.
• Le garçon chante. The boy sings.
• La fille nage. The girl swims.
• Les enfants chantent. The children sing.
• Un garçon écrit. A boy writes.
• Une fille dort. A girl sleeps.
• Des enfant étudient. Some kids study.
• Je le/la mange. I eat it.
• Je les mange. I eat them.
• Marc et Sylvie. Marc and Sylvie.
• Il aime Sylvie mais il est trop timide. He likes Sylvie but he’s too shy.

How to say “not in French

In French, to say “not”, wrap ne…pas around a verb. For example, “Je ne parle pas français” (I don’t speak French).

This is called negation. This page covers French negation in detail.

• Ne…pas not

Articles: words for “the” and “a, an”

The articles in French (words for the and a/an) must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

The words for the are called the definite article and the words for a/some are called the indefinite article. This page explains these French articles in detail.

• Le the (masculine)
• La the (feminine)
• Les the (plural)
• L’ the (comes before noun starting with a vowel)
• Un a or an (masculine)
• Une a or an (feminine)
• Des some (plural)

Personal pronouns

One of the first steps in learning French is to learn the personal pronouns. These refer to words for people (I, you, he, she, etc.).

This page covers French personal pronouns in detail.

• Je I
• Tu you
• Il he
• Elle she
• On one
• Nous we
• Vous you (formal)
• Ils they (all men or mixed company)
• Elles they (female only)

Stressed pronouns

A second kind of pronoun that’s use for people is is called a “stressed pronoun”. These are words like me, him and her in English.

This page covers French stressed pronouns.

• Moi me
• Toi you
• Lui him
• Elle her
• Nous us
• Vous you
• Eux them
• Elles them (female only)

Most common verbs

Verbs are action words. For example, “I go” or “I eat”. In the list below we included 10 commonly used verbs in the first-person singular (I) form.

This lesson covers the most common French verbs in detail.

• Je suis I am
• J’ai I have
• Je fais I make, I do
• Je vais I go
• Je parle I speak
• Je mange I eat
• Je sais I know
• Je veux I want
• Je dois I must
• Je peux I can

Words for politeness and greetings

It’s essential to learn words for politeness and greetings. Bonjour means hello and au revoir means good-bye.

• Bonjour Hello, good morning
• Au revoir goodbye
• Merci thank you
• De rien you’re welcome
• Salut hi and bye
• Bonsoir good evening
• Bonne nuit good night
• S’il vous plaît please (formal)
• S’il te plaît please (informal)

French numbers

Learning to count to ten is essential for any beginner. Learning these most basic numbers will help you to ask how much things cost, tell time and say the date.

This lesson covers the French numbers 1-100 in detail.

• Un one
• Deux two
• Trois three
• Quatre four
• Cinq five
• Six six
• Sept seven
• Huit eight
• Neuf nine
• Dix ten

Connecting words

Connecting words or conjunctions are words that are used to join two parts of sentence together.

• Et and
• Ou or
• Si if
• Mais but
• Quand when
• Que that
• Qui who, that
• Comme like, as
• Parceque because

French prepositions

A preposition is a word that introduces another part of a sentences. For example, “in the bathroom”, “at the movies” or “with mom”.

The two most commonly used French prepositions are à (to/at) and de (from/of). This page covers the French preposition à in detail and this page covers the French preposition de.

• À to, at
• De from, of
• Avec with
• Pour four
• Par by
• Sans without
• Contre against
• Dans in, inside of
• En in
• Sur on, on top of
• Chez at the home, place of
• Avant before
• Après after

French adverbs

An adverb is a word that’s used to describe how you do something. For example, “I run quickly” or “You speak slowly“.

• Bien well
• Mauvais poorly
• Vite quickly
• Rapidement quickly
• Lentement slowly
• Heureusement fortunately
• Seulement only
• Rarement rarely, seldom
• Souvent often
• Beaucoup a lot
• Un peu a little, a bit
• Trop too, too much

Family members

Learning the words for family members is essential for getting to know people.

This lesson covers French family vocabulary in detail.

• le père father
• la mère mother
• le frère brother
• la soeur sister
• le fils son
• la fille daughter
• le bébé baby
• l’enfant child
• le grand-père grandfather
• la grand-mère grandmother
• le cousin, la cousine cousin
• l’oncle uncle
• la tante aunt

French adjectives

Adjectives are describing words. For example, “a big house” or “an intelligent girl”.

The French rules for adjectives are very complex as the adjective must agree in number and gender with the noun (the thing) it’s describing (talking about).

The -e in parenthesis below indicates the feminine form of the adjective.

This page covers French adjectives and rules in detail.

• grand(e) big
• petit(e) little
• bon (bonne) good
• mauvais(e) bad
• beau (belle) beautiful
• joli(e) pretty
• jeune young
• vieux (vielle) old
• heureux (heureuse) happy
• triste sad

French colors

Learning the colors is very important for describing the things we see. Colors are also adjectives as they are description words.

This page covers French colors in detail.

• Rouge red
• Orange orange
• Jaune yellow
• Blanc white
• Noir black
• Bleu blue
• Vert green

Question words

Question words are words used for seeking information when asking a question. For example: Who, what, where, when and why.

• Quel (Quelle) which
• Qui who
• Quoi what
• Où where
• Quand when
• Why pourquoi

Words about time

Words about time include days of the week, months and times of day.

The following is just a sample of these words. These pages cover these words in detail: Telling time and months and days of the week,

• Aujourd’hui today
• Hier yesterday
• L’heure hour
• Le temps time
• Quelle heure what time
• Midi noon
• Minuit midnight
• Lundi Monday
• Mardi Tuesday
• Mercredi Wednesday
• Jeudi Thursday
• Vendredi Friday
• Dimanche Sunday

Food and drinks vocabulary

It’s nice to learn a few food words. This page offers a very complete list of French food vocabulary.

• le pain bread
• la viande meat
• le lait milk
• le fromage cheese
• le poulet chicken
• la salade salade
• la pomme apple
• la pomme de terre potatoe
• le riz rice
• le gâteau cake
• l’eau water
• le café coffee

Names of places

It’s important to know how to say the names of places. Here’s a list of frequently used words.

• le pays country
• l’état state
• la ville city
• le village town
• l’école school
• l’église church
• la maison house
• le bureau office
• le supermarché supermarket
• la poste post office
• la bibliothèque library

Clothing words

Here’s a brief list of some clothing words. This page covers clothing vocabulary in detail.

• la chemise shirt
• le pantelon pants
• la jupe skirt
• la robe dress
• le chemisier blouse
• le pull sweater
• les chaussures shoes
• les chaussettes socks

Conclusion

We hope we have helped to provide a comprehensive overview of the most common French words. We have summarized our top-10 list in the following table.

French	English	Pronunciation and comments
Oui	Yes	Pronounced «wee». «Mais oui!» Means of course!
Non	No	Pronounced «nɔ̃» or nasal «on». Non, je n’aime pas le fromage. No, I don’t like cheese.
Merci	Thank you	Pronounced «mer-see». Merci beaucoup means «Thank you very much».
Je	I	Pronounced «ʒə» or «juh». Je parle français! I speak French!
Tu/vous	You (informal), You (plural and formal)	Tu = ty, vous = vu or vou. This page covers pronunciation of tu.
le, la, les	The	Pronounced «luh», «lah» and «lay». When you want to say «the» all nouns require one of these words.
Un, une, des	A, an, some	Pronounced «uhn», «yn» and «day». Nouns require these articles as well.
le, la, les	It, them	Pronounced «luh», «la» and «les». These are covered in this object pronoun lesson.
Et	And	Pronounced «ay» and never «et». Et never has a liason in French.
Mais	But	Pronounced «may». Liason rule can apply to mais.

More lessons:

• French for beginners – how to get started
• French vocabulary lists
• French grammar lessons

More resources:

• Top 1000 French words

Do you know how many words there are in the French language? Come on, have a guess.

Most French dictionaries list around 60,000. But Le Grand Robert, one of the most prominent resources, gathers more than 100,000 words for a total of 350,000 different meanings.

Sounds overwhelming? Keep in mind that even native French speakers know merely a fraction of that! To start having basic conversations, you only need a few hundred basic French words for beginners. 

Further down the line, you’ll be considered “proficient” in French upon reaching around 5,000 words. That’s only about 5% of the whole collection.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves! In this article, we’ll list all of the French beginner words that will allow you to handle many everyday situations, whether you want to talk, listen, or both.

You only need a few words to start a conversation and make friends.

Table of Contents

1. Pronouns
2. Verbs
3. Numbers
4. Nouns
5. Conjunctions
6. Adjectives
7. Adverbs
8. Le mot de la fin

1. Pronouns

Let’s start our list of beginner French words with the most useful pronouns you should learn as you begin your studies.

At first, all you’re gonna need are the personal subject pronouns (“she,” “you,” “we,” and so on). As you move forward, you’ll quickly add some more to your arsenal.

→ To learn all about this topic, from the general rules to the 10 main categories of French pronouns, make sure to visit our complete guide on FrenchPod101.com.

1 – Personal Subject Pronouns

Personal subject pronouns replace the subject of a sentence.

• Sophie parle français. (“Sophie speaks French.”)
• Elle parle français. (“She speaks French.”)

Person	French pronoun	English
1st person sg.	je, j’	I
2nd person sg.	tu / vous	you (casual / formal)
3rd person sg.	il, elle, on	he, she, one
1st person pl.	on / nous	we (casual / formal)
2nd person pl.	vous	you
3rd person pl.	Ils, elles	they

2 – Impersonal Pronouns

When a sentence doesn’t have a clear subject, let’s stay vague and impersonal:

ça, ce, c’ (“it”)

• Ça fait mal. (“It hurts.”)
• Ce n’est pas vrai. (“It is not true.”)
• C’est important. (“It is important.”)

il (“it”)

• Il est temps. (“It’s time.”)
• Il pleut. (“It’s raining.”)

3 – Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are used with reflexive verbs. For example:

• se lever (“to stand up”)
• se promener (“to stroll”)
• s’habiller (“to get dressed”)

Person	French pronoun	Example
1st person sg.	me, m’	Je me lève. (“I stand up.”)
2nd person sg.	te, t’	Tu te lèves. (“You stand up.”)
3rd person sg.	se, s’	Elle s’habille. (“She gets dressed.”)
1st person pl.	nous	Nous nous préparons. (“We’re getting ready.”)
2nd person pl.	vous	Vous vous rasez. (“You shave.”)
3rd person pl.	se	Ils se promènent. (“They are strolling.”)

4 – Interrogative Pronouns

• Qui ? (“Who?”)
  Qui est là ? (“Who’s there?”)

• Où ? (“Where?”)
  Où es-tu ? (“Where are you?”)
• Quand ? (“When?”)
  On commence quand ? (“When do we start?”)

• Quoi ? (“What?”)
  
  On fait quoi ce soir ? (“What are we doing tonight?”)

• Pourquoi ? (“Why?”)
  
  Pourquoi tu ris ? (“Why are you laughing?”)

5 – Indefinite Pronouns

• tout (“everything”)
• rien (“nothing”)
• quelque chose (“something”)

• tout le monde (“everybody”)
• personne (“nobody”)
• quelqu’un (“somebody”)

Elle se réveille. (“She wakes up.”)

2. Verbs

Here’s a list of the 50 most useful French verbs for beginners. Of course, depending on whether you’re studying, visiting, or working in France, you might have different needs. But this is a good place to start in any case!

→ For all the information you’ll need on regular verb groups (-ER and -IR), irregular verbs, and reflexive verbs, be sure to have a look at our full article on FrenchPod101.com.

être

to be

avoir

to have

aller

to go

vouloir

to want

pouvoir

to be able to / can

devoir

to have to / must

falloir	to be necessary
This verb is only conjugated in the third person, with the impersonal pronoun il (“it”). In this case, it means “it is necessary that.” Il faut partir à l’heure. (“We must leave on time.”) Il faut que je parte. (“I have to go.”)

faire

to do

dire	to say / to tell

parler

to talk / to speak

aimer

to like / to love

mettre

to put / to place

remettre

to put back

poser

to put down / to ask

prendre

to take / to catch / to capture

donner

to give

savoir

to know

entendre

to hear

voir

to see

demander

to ask / to request

répondre

to answer / to reply

chercher

to look for

trouver

to find / to discover

retrouver

to regain / to meet up

rendre

to return / to give back / to make

venir

to come

passer

to pass / to go / to come

croire

to believe / to think

montrer

to show

commencer

to begin / to start

continuer

to continue / to keep going

penser

to think

comprendre

to understand / to include

rester

to stay / to remain

attendre

to wait

partir

to leave

arriver

to arrive / to happen

suivre

to follow

revenir

to come back

connaître

to know

compter

to count

permettre

to permit / to allow

s’occuper

to take care of

sembler

to seem

lire

to read

écrire

to write

devenir

to become / to turn into

décider

to decide

tenir

to hold

porter

to carry / to wear

Just add a few tenses and you can talk about anything!

3. Numbers

As a beginner, you really won’t need much as far as counting and numbers go. In most situations, you can get by with only small numbers; I’d not go further than 1 to 10 for now.

→ Should you need more digits, you could check out our article on French numbers. You’ll find everything you need to count from zero to infinity! It’s available for free on FrenchPod101.com.

• 0        Zéro
• 1        Un
• 2        Deux
• 3        Trois
• 4        Quatre
• 5        Cinq
• 6        Six
• 7        Sept
• 8        Huit
• 9        Neuf
• 10       Dix

4. Nouns

As a beginner, your basic French vocabulary arsenal should consist of the most common nouns in various categories. Knowing these alone will allow you to communicate basic ideas in a pinch. 

French nouns can be masculine or feminine, and you can generally determine which gender a word is based on the ending. However, because you don’t want to think about it in the middle of a conversation or get tricked by exceptions, the best way to learn nouns is to always use the article.

• Train Un train (“A train”)
• Voiture Une voiture (“A car”)

In the following list, I’ll mention the article for each word. In case the plural is irregular, I will include that as well. For every other word, the general rules apply.

• Un train, des trains (“Train, trains”)
• Une voiture, des voitures (“Car, cars”)
• Un mois, des mois (“Month, months”)

For more information on the gender and plural of French nouns, we just happen to have a detailed article on FrenchPod101.com.

1 – Time

une heure

an hour

une minute

a minute

un jour

a day

un mois

a month

un an / une année	a year
An is mainly used with numbers, as in: J’ai 20 ans. (“I’m 20 years old.”) Deux fois par an (“Twice a year”) Année is used in most other cases:  L’année prochaine (“Next year”) Chaque année (“Every year”)

un lundi

Monday

un mardi

Tuesday

un mercredi

Wednesday

un jeudi

Thursday

un vendredi

Friday

un samedi

Saturday

un dimanche

Sunday

un matin

morning

un midi

noon

un après-midi

afternoon

un soir

evening

une nuit

night

2 – Places

un monde

world

un pays

country

un endroit

place

une mer

sea

une forêt

forest

une montagne

mountain

un magasin

shop

3 – Technology & Internet

un téléphone

phone

un écran

screen

un ordinateur

computer

internet

internet

4 – Home

une maison

house

une porte

door

une fenêtre

window

une cuisine

kitchen

une chambre

bedroom

des toilettes

toilets / restroom

5 – City & Transport

une voiture

car

un bus

bus

un train

train

un avion

plane

un taxi

taxi / cab

un vélo

bicycle

une ville

city

une rue

street

une avenue

avenue

une route

road

6 – People

une mère

mother

un père

father

Maman

Mom

Papa

Dad

une femme

woman / wife

un homme

man

un mari

husband

un frère

brother

une sœur

sister

une famille

family

une copine

girlfriend

un copain

boyfriend

un fils

son

une fille

daughter

un ami

friend

7 – Body

une tête

head

un œil / des yeux

eye / eyes

une bouche

mouth

un nez

nose

une oreille

ear

des cheveux

hair

un bras

arm

une main

hand

8 – Food

une table

table

une assiette

plate

un verre

glass

de l’eau

water

un fruit

fruit

un légume

vegetable

un café

coffee

du pain

bread

9 – Work & Studies

un étudiant

student

une école

school

un docteur

doctor

un vendeur

salesman / vendor / seller

un professeur

professor

10 – Conversation

une question

question

une réponse

answer

un mot

word

une phrase

phrase / sentence

une idée

idea

There is always a bit of time to review vocabulary lists.

5. Conjunctions

There’s a LOT to say and explain about conjunctions, but luckily, you don’t need to use many of them when you start learning French.

→ Later on, though, have a look at our complete guide on French conjunctions to learn everything about how to list things, express conditions, state consequences, and much more.

• et (“and”)
  Un chat et un chien (“A cat and a dog”)
• ou (“or”)
  De l’eau ou du vin (“Water or wine”)
• si (“if”)
  
  Si tu veux venir (“If you want to come”)

• parce que (“because”)
  
  Je mange parce que j’ai faim. (“I eat because I’m hungry.”)

• mais (“but”)
  Un peu mais pas trop (“A bit, but not too much”)

• pour (“for” / “to” / “so that”)
  J’apprends le français pour voyager. (“I learn French to travel.”)
  
  C’est pour toi. (“It’s for you.”)

• par (“by” / “out of” / “with” / “using” / “through”)
  Je suis aidé par un expert. (“I’m helped by an expert.”)
  Je passe par Paris et Bordeaux. (“I go through Paris and Bordeaux.”)

Un chat et un chien (“A cat and a dog”)

6. Adjectives

French adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe. In this table, you’ll find both genders in the format [ Masculine – Feminine ], as they can get quite irregular. If you see only one, it just means that the masculine and feminine forms are identical.

Plurals, on the other hand, are rather predictable and follow the general rules of the French plural.

→ You might want to check out a more detailed article on French adjectives for more grammar info and examples.

bon – bonne

good / right / correct

mauvais – mauvaise

bad / wrong / incorrect

facile

easy

difficile

difficult / hard

nouveau – nouvelle

new

cher – chère

expensive

grand – grande

large / big / tall / great / major

gros – grosse

big / fat

petit – petite

small / little

long – longue

long

court – courte

short

rapide

fast / quick

lent – lente

slow

chaud – chaude

hot / warm

froid – froide

cold

premier – première

first

dernier – dernière

last / final / latest

même

same

autre

other

différent – différente

different

seul – seule

only / alone / lonely

meilleur – meilleure

best / better

pire

worst

beau – belle

handsome / beautiful

moche

ugly

fort – forte

strong / high / important

gentil – gentille

nice / kind

fou – folle

crazy / mad

content – contente

glad

malade

sick / ill

important – importante

important

noir – noire

black

blanc – blanche

white

bleu – bleue

blue

rouge

red

sucré – sucrée

sweet

salé – salée

salty

délicieux – délicieuse

delicious

Cette tarte est délicieuse ! (“This tart is delicious!”)

7. Adverbs

If you need a reminder on what adverbs are, how they’re formed, and where to place them in a sentence, I would recommend a pit stop at our extensive article on French adverbs.

1 – When

tard

late

tôt

early

bientôt

soon

hier

yesterday

aujourd’hui

today

demain

tomorrow

avant

before

après

after

2 – How Often

jamais

never

trop

too much

souvent

often

toujours

always

peut-être

maybe

aussi

as well / too / also

3 – Where

ici

here

là

there

partout

everywhere

dedans

inside

dehors

outside

4 – How

bien

well

mal	badly / poorly

vite

quickly

5 – How Much

vraiment

truly / really

tout	all / everything

rien

nothing

beaucoup

many / much / a lot

seulement

only

peu	little / few

très	very / really

plus

more

moins

less

Il a très faim ! (“He’s really hungry!”)

8. Le mot de la fin

In this guide, you’ve learned more than 200 of the most useful French words for beginners: pronouns, verbs, nouns, adjectives, and all that jazz. As you keep learning French, you might find it handy to have them all conveniently gathered in one place.

Can you think of any more words you might need to know as you start your language learning journey? Let us know in the comments and we’ll get back to you!

Make sure to explore FrenchPod101.com, as we have plenty of free resources to help you practice your grammar and learn more basic French words and structures. Our vocabulary lists are another great way to learn and review the pronunciation of new words.

Remember that you can also use our Premium PLUS service, MyTeacher, to get personal 1-on-1 coaching with your own private teacher. They can help you practice with beginner words and more. In addition to providing you with assignments, personalized exercises, and recorded audio samples, your teacher will review your work and help improve your pronunciation. 

Happy learning on FrenchPod101!

About the Author: Born and bred in rainy Northern France, Cyril Danon was bouncing off various jobs before he left everything behind to wander around the wonders of the world. Now, after quenching his wanderlust for the last few years, he’s eager to share his passion for languages.

By OptiLingo • 5 minute read

Learn Basic French Words and Phrases

French is an awesome language. If you’re traveling to France, you’ll know first hand. But, the French are really proud of their language. Before you travel, you should definitely learn the most basic French words and phrases to get by. You’ll navigate easier and receive better customer service if you speak a little bit of French. Luckily, it doesn’t take long to learn at all. Use this handy vocabulary list to learn the most common French words in less than 30 minutes, and start your journey to fluency. 

Psst! Did you know we have a language learning app?

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Common French Words

Let’s dive right in with some of the most common French words and phrases.

• Bonjour: a general greeting meaning “hello” or “good morning”
• Au revoir: goodbye
• Oui: yes
• Non: no
• Merci: thank you
• Merci beaucoup: thank you very much
• Fille: girl
• Garçon: boy
• Femme: woman
• Homme: man
• Amour: love
• Français: French
• S’il vous plaît: please (literally, “if you please”)
• Bonsoir: good evening
• Bonne nuit: good night
• Excusez-moi: excuse me
• De rien: a casual way of saying “you’re welcome”
• Je vous en prie: a formal way to say “you’re welcome”
• Temps: time
• Jour: day
• Monde: world
• Monsieur: mister or gentleman
• Raison: reason
• Mademoiselle: Miss, referring to an unmarried woman
• Madame: a married or older woman
• Beau: handsome
• Belle: beautiful
• Chat: cat
• Chien: dog
• Fort: strong

Common French Phrases

Now that we’ve looked at some common French words, let’s learn some frequent phrases. These will be helpful to know as you start forming full sentences, particularly if you plan to travel and talk with native French speakers.

• Je suis désolé(e): I’m sorry
• Comment vous appelez-vous?: What is your name?
• Parlez-vous anglais?: Do you speak English?
• Je m’appelle: My name is
• Comment allez-vous?: How are you doing?
• Quelle heure est-il?: What time is it?
• Pouvez-vous m’aider?: Can you help me?
• Combien ça coûte?: How much is this?
• Je t’aime: I love you
• À tout à l’heure!: See you later!

Useful French Phrases for Travelers

We’ve looked at some common everyday words and phrases. Here are some specific phrases that might be useful if you need to get information in French-speaking areas.

• Je ne comprends pas: I do not understand
• Parlez lentement, s’il vous plaît: Speak slowly, please
• Répétez, s’il vous plaît: Repeat, please
• Où sont les toilettes?: Where are the toilets?
• Où est un bon restaurant/un bon café?: Where is a good restaurant/cafe?
• Je cherche le métro/le gare/l’aéroport: I am searching for the metro/train station/airport
• Où est la plage/le centre-ville?: Where is the beach/city center?
• Je cherche l’hôtel/l’hôpital/la banque: I am searching for the hotel/hospital/bank
• Pourriez-vous me/nous prendre en photo?: Are you able to take my photo/our photo?

French Grammar: The Basics

Grammar is the boogeyman of language learning. Nobody likes it. But, it’s important to be familiar with the most basic rules, so you can start forming sentences in French quickly. With the useful French vocabulary you now have, you’re only steps away from fluency.

1. Nouns Have Genders: In French, nouns are either feminine or masculine. These French genders affect a lot of grammatical rules. You need to conjugate adjectives and articles in French to fit the gender and number of the noun. For “the”, the French have “le” (masculine), “la” (feminine), and “les” (plural). For the English “a” and “an”, the French use “un” (masculine) and “une” (feminine).
2. Verbs Conjugate Differently: In English, verbs in the present tense have only two forms. For example talk and talks. Meanwhile, in French, you have to conjugate verbs up to six different ways to fit the pronoun. 
3. Adjectives come after the noun: In English, the adjective is placed before the noun. But, in French, the adjective is often found after the noun. Note that this is true often, but not always. Adjectives describing beauty, age, number, goodness, and size (or BANGS) come before the noun as an exception.

Tips For Learning Common French Words

Before you begin learning the most common French words, it’s good to know how you can study the best. Use this advice to guide your experience and maximize your language learning success.

• Use your trip as motivation: Motivation and enthusiasm are crucial to language learning success. And an upcoming trip is the perfect opportunity to motivate you. Build your excitement and your fluency at the same time.
• Review often: Once you’ve read these common French words and phrases and understood their meaning, make sure you review your material multiple times before you travel. This method is called spaced repetition, and it’s the best way to remember your language lessons.
• Don’t be afraid to speak: Speaking is the only way you’ll become fluent in French. Feel free to say these common French words out lout to get comfortable with the language. By the time you arrive to France, you’ll have no problem talking with the locals.
• Learn about French culture: French culture is incredibly rich in cultures and traditions. Learn a little bit about them before your trip, so you don’t commit faux pas.

Learn More Useful French Words and Phrases

Knowing these common French phrases will be extremely handy when you go to France. But, of course, there’s a lot more to the language. Perhaps this list was just the beginning of your language learning journey. If you want to learn the most useful phrases in the French language, you should try OptiLingo.

OptiLingo gives you the most high-frequency words and phrases in French. Forget about learning unnecessary vocabulary. This fun and effective method will make French more accessible than ever. Speak like a local with minimal study time. Discover how great learning French is by trying OptiLingo today!