How many words do you need to know in order to speak a language? That’s a good question! As with most questions about language learning, the answer is – it depends! Your personal goals, how you intend to use the language, and the language itself all influence this answer. Generally speaking, the best things you can do as a language learner are to think critically about what you’re learning and to prioritize material that will actually be useful to you. As a continuation of our series on lexical frequency lists, we’ve compiled a list of the 300 most common French words. Keep reading to learn more!
Frequency lists are a valuable tool that can help you prioritize the most useful words in your target language so you don’t waste time on niche vocabulary you’ll never use. This will be a great start as you prepare for your first conversations. Of course, you’ll be limited in what you can say, but if you’re planning a short trip or want to master the basics so you can start speaking and growing your confidence, the sections in this article provide crucial building blocks.
The 300 most common French words
In the following lists, you’ll see the most frequently used words in French. One big long list in alphabetical order is boring (and honestly, not very useful). So we’ve broken up our list of the 300 most common French words into several thematic groups. You’ll find all the articles together, all the joining words in one place, and several other useful categories.
Articles
As with most languages, articles are a crucial building block for sentences. In French, all nouns must be preceded by an article. That means you’ll find one of these tiny words in just about every French sentence, whether written or spoken.
| French | English |
|---|---|
| le | the (masc. sing.) |
| la | the (fem. sing.) |
| l' | the (followed by a vowel) |
| les | the (pl.) |
| un | a / an (masc. sing.) |
| une | a / an (fem. sing.) |
| du | some (sing. noun) |
| des | some (pl. noun) |
Careful! Some of these (le / la / les) also function as object pronouns and mean “him”/”her”/”it”/”them.” For example:
- Il le donne à sa mère. = He gives it to his mother.
- Je les voit tous les jours. = I see them every day.
Demonstratives
Just like in English, demonstratives are used to draw attention to a specific person, object, or idea. They must agree with the gender of the noun they indicate.
| French | English |
|---|---|
| ce | that (masc.) |
| cet | that (masc. + vowel) |
| cette | that (fem.) |
| ces | these |
| cela | that |
Pronouns
There are several categories of pronouns in French, and they’re all important to know! You’ll see that not all of the personal pronouns and possessive adjectives appear in the table below. That’s because we’ve only included those you’ll hear and use most often. On the other hand, it’s also very important to know all of them, so don’t hesitate to take a closer look. And there’s no better way to learn them than in context!
Personal pronouns
| French | English | French | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| je | I | mon / ma / mes | my |
| tu | you (sing. inf.) | ton / ta / tes | your (sing. inf.) |
| il / elle / on | he / she / one / [we] | son / sa / ses | his/her |
| notre / nos | our | ||
| vous | you (pl. and/or formal) | votre / vos | your (pl. and/or formal) |
| leur / leurs | their |
In the table above, you’ll notice that “on” translates in English as both “one” or “we.” In everyday spoken French, it’s much more common to use “on” than “nous.” Here are a couple of examples:
- On peut trouver la réponse ici. = One can find the answer here./The answer can be found here.
- On veut manger maintenant. = We want to eat now.
Direct and indirect object pronouns are an important tool for expressing the relationships between yourself, others, and the world around you.
| Indirect Object Pronouns | Direct Object Pronouns | |
|---|---|---|
| French | French | English |
| moi | me | me |
| toi | te | you |
| lui | le / la / l' | him / her |
| nous | nous | us |
| vous | vous | you |
| leur | les | them |
In addition to the subject and object pronouns, there are a few other pronouns that come in very handy in French.
| French | English |
|---|---|
| rien | nothing |
| tout | everything, all |
| ça | that, it |
| personne | nobody |
| en | some, of them |
Prepositions and linking words
| French | English |
|---|---|
| de | of, from |
| du | of, from |
| des | of, from (pl.) |
| à | at, to |
| au | at, to |
| aux | at, to (pl.) |
| chez | at, to |
| pour | for |
| dans | in |
| avec | with |
| sur | on |
| par | by |
| après | after |
| avant | before |
| depuis | since |
| entre | between |
| contre | against |
| sous | under |
| pendant | during |
| que | that, which |
| et | and |
| mais | but |
| comme | like |
| ou | or |
| donc | so |
| soit | either…or |
| puis | then |
| car | as, for, because |
| si | if |
The most common French verbs
There are four verbs that are arguably the most important of all the French verbs. These are used on their own all the time, but are also used to form common fixed expressions as well as past and future verb tenses. If you know these four verbs inside and out, you’ll have a big leg up when you start to learn more advanced verb tenses.
The verb être
| French | English |
|---|---|
| je suis | I am |
| tu es | you are (sing. informal) |
| il/elle/on est | he/she/one is |
| nous sommes | we are |
| vous êtes | you are (pl. and/or formal) |
| ils/elles sont | they are |
**Obviously you’ll use être to talk about yourself, others and just about anything else in the present tense. It’s also an auxiliary verb that you’ll need in order to speak in the past tense.
The verb avoir
| French | English |
|---|---|
| j'ai | I have |
| tu as | you have (sing. informal) |
| il/elle/on a | he/she/one has |
| nous avons | we have |
| vous avez | you have (pl. and/or formal) |
| ils/elles ont | they have |
**Avoir is also an auxiliary verb that you’ll need in order to speak in the past tense.
The verb aller
| French | English |
|---|---|
| je vais | I go |
| tu vas | you go (sing. informal) |
| il/elle/on va | he/she/one goes |
| nous allons | we go |
| vous allez | you go (pl. and/or formal) |
| ils/elles vont | they go |
**Aller is an auxiliary verb that you’ll need in order to speak in the future tense.
The verb faire
| French | English |
|---|---|
| je fais | I do/make |
| tu fais | you do/make (sing. informal) |
| il/elle/on fait | he/she/one does/makes |
| nous faisons | we do/make |
| vous faites | you do/make (pl. and/or formal) |
| ils/elles font | they do/make |
**Though faire is not used for any special verb tenses, it’s an important part of many French expressions (faire du shopping, faire du sport, faire beau/chaud/froid, faire la cuisine, etc.).
Other useful verbs
| French | English |
|---|---|
| aider | to help |
| aimer | to like |
| appeler | to call |
| arrêter | to stop |
| arriver | to arrive |
| attendre | to wait |
| chercher | to look for |
| comprendre | to understand |
| connaître | to know, to be familiar with |
| croire | to believe |
| devoir | to be obligated to |
| dire | to say |
| parler | to speak |
| partir | to leave |
| passer | to pass |
| penser | to think |
| pouvoir | to be able to |
| prendre | to take |
| regarder | to watch |
| rester | to stay |
| savoir | to know |
| sortir | to go out |
| trouver | to find |
| tuer | to kill |
| venir | to come |
| voir | to see |
| vouloir | to want |
Adjectives
Because French nouns are gendered, and subject-verb agreement is necessary, you’ll want to make sure that the adjective you employ matches with the rest of your sentence. Many (but not all) French adjectives have different forms to reflect gender and number.
In the table below, if an adjective has multiple forms, the masculine form is listed first, and the feminine form follows.
| French | English |
|---|---|
| bien | well |
| bon / bonne | good |
| mal | bad |
| très | very |
| juste | correct, fair |
| trop | too |
| sûr(e) | sure, safe |
| vrai(e) | true |
| mieux | better |
| petit(e) | small |
| grand(e) | large |
| beaucoup de | many |
| vite | fast |
| désolé(e) | sorry |
| bas(se) | low |
| tard(e) | late |
| entendu | understood |
| vieux / vieille | old |
| fini | finished |
| nouveau / nouvelle | new |
| super | great |
| ensemble | together |
| beau / belle | beautiful |
| tout(e) (le) | all |
| tous / toutes | all, each |
| même | same |
| autre | other |
| sans | without |
| quelque | some |
| quel(le) | which, what |
| seul(e) | alone |
| moins (de) | fewer |
| plus (de) | more |
| peu (de) | few |
| tant (de) | so much / many |
| chaque | each |
Adverbs
Adverbs are employed to add additional information to enrich a sentence.
| French | English |
|---|---|
| pas | no, not |
| ne | not |
| si | so |
| y | here, there |
| plus | more |
| non | no |
| oui | yes |
| ici | here |
| là | there |
| alors | so, then |
| beaucoup | a lot |
| jamais | never |
| aussi | too, also |
| encore | still |
| maintenant | now |
| peu | rarely |
| vraiment | really |
| toujours | always |
| déjà | already |
| moins | less |
| assez | enough |
| tant | so much |
| ni | neither…nor |
| longtemps | for a long time |
| seulement | only |
People and the human body
| French | English |
|---|---|
| homme | man |
| femme | woman |
| père | father |
| mère | mother |
| personne | person |
| monsieur | gentleman, sir |
| fille | daughter, girl |
| fils | son |
| garçon | boy |
| gens | people |
| papa | dad |
| maman | mom |
| enfants | children |
| ami(e) | friend |
| famille | family |
| frère | brother |
| soeur | sister |
| mec | guy |
| yeux | eyes |
| sang | blood |
| main | hand |
| tête | head |
Other nouns
There are several other nouns that come up frequently in conversation. You’ll be likely to use these as a beginner:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| chose | thing |
| truc | thing |
| vie | life |
| monde | world |
| fois | time (occurrence) |
| dieu | God |
| besoin | need |
| an(s) | year(s) |
| mort | death |
| jour | day |
| soir | evening |
| maison | house |
| nom | name, noun |
| argent | money |
| merde | shit, crap, poop |
| nuit | night |
| peur | fear |
| passé | past |
| demain | tomorrow |
| raison | reason |
| heure | hour |
| amour | love |
| chance | luck, opportunity |
| voiture | car |
| problème | problem |
| porte | door |
| travail | work |
| sens | sense, direction |
| idée | idea |
| demande | request |
| histoire | history, story |
| ville | city |
| mois | month |
| eau | water |
| cas | case, affair |
| terre | earth, ground |
| place | place |
Numbers
| French | English |
|---|---|
| une | one |
| deux | two |
| trois | three |
Question Words
In French, most of these words also appear in affirmative phrases.
| French | English |
|---|---|
| qui | who |
| quoi | what |
| où | where |
| pourquoi | why |
| quand | when |
| comment | how |
| quel(le) | which |
| combien | how many |
Ex.:
- Qui est cet homme? = Who is that man?
- C’est l’homme qui vend les crêpes! = He’s the man who sells crepes!
Other common French phrases
There are a few additional words and short phrases that you’ll definitely want to include in your list of must-know French words. You’ll hear and use them all the time, and several of them are crucial for being polite to those you speak with!
| French | English |
|---|---|
| merci | thank you |
| d'accord | O.K. (agreement) |
| bonjour | hello |
| salut | hi |
| s'il vous plaît | please |
| au revoir | goodbye |
| voilà | here is/are, there is/are, there you have it |
| voici | here is/here are |
How to learn this French vocabulary
As you may have noticed, this list of the 300 most common words in French is limited. It’s mainly sentence-building words: articles, adverbs, logical connectors… We therefore encourage you to learn more vocabulary – useful for you, of course – in addition to this list. The vocabulary here will help you construct grammatically correct sentences, but you’ll also need a broader vocabulary of nouns and verbs to talk about your experiences. The MosaLingua Premium app is designed to help learners commit important vocabulary into their long term memory quickly. Actually, we use frequency lists ourselves to help us design our apps, and the SRS (Spaced Repetition System) provides a science-based approach to memorization.
And if you’re a regular reader of our blog, it’s no secret. You know what we’re going to say now: have fun!
Learning a language is all about having fun. If you just have a list to learn by heart, it might be difficult to stay motivated. So let’s start with fun! Of course, learning the most frequently used words in French also requires some work on your part. But it’s also ESSENTIAL to stay motivated. So don’t hesitate to watch films and series (there are several on Netflix, for example, that are very good, even with English subtitles). You can also listen to music in French, read novels or short texts, travel to a French-speaking country and try to pronounce the words you see in the street, chat with native speakers… In short, there are lots of options.
We’ve also created MosaSeries to help you learn French progressively, from beginner to intermediate levels. L’homme sans nom is the captivating story of a man who has lost his memory and is doing everything in his power to recover it.
Go further
If you’d like to dive into this subject even farther, you might enjoy:
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