🎧 Audio by Marie Assel Cambier — native speaker & pro voice artist from France
If you’re just starting out, learning the most common French words will help you build a foundation quickly. This list of 100 basic French words is grouped by theme — greetings, numbers, food, family, and more.
🔝 Top 10 French Words
These words appear constantly in daily conversation:
- Oui — yes
- Non — no
- Merci — thank you
- De rien — you’re welcome
- Je — I
- Tu / Vous — you (informal / formal)
- Le, la, les — the
- Un, une, des — a, an, some
- Et — and
- Mais — but
🔢 French Numbers 1–10
- Un — one
- Deux — two
- Trois — three
- Quatre — four
- Cinq — five
- Six — six
- Sept — seven
- Huit — eight
- Neuf — nine
- Dix — ten
👉 Continue with my full guide to French numbers 1–100.
🙋 Greetings and Polite Words
- Bonjour — hello, good morning
- Au revoir — goodbye
- Merci — thank you
- De rien — you’re welcome
- Salut — hi / bye
- Bonsoir — good evening
- Bonne nuit — good night
- S’il vous plaît / S’il te plaît — please (formal / informal)
🚫 French Negation Words
- Ne… pas — not
👉 To make a sentence negative, place ne… pas around the verb.
Je ne parle pas français. — I don’t speak French.
📚 French Articles
French articles agree with the gender and number of the noun:
- Le — the (masculine)
- La — the (feminine)
- Les — the (plural)
- L’ — the (before vowel)
- Un — a, an (masculine)
- Une — a, an (feminine)
- Des — some (plural)
👤 French Personal Pronouns
- Je — I
- Tu — you (informal)
- Il / Elle — he / she
- On — one, we, people in general
- Nous — we
- Vous — you (formal / plural)
- Ils / Elles — they
💬 Stressed Pronouns
- Moi — me
- Toi — you
- Lui / Elle — him / her
- Nous — us
- Vous — you
- Eux / Elles — them
⚡ Common French Verbs (je form)
- Je suis — I am
- J’ai — I have
- Je fais — I do, I make
- 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
🔗 Connecting Words (Conjunctions)
- Et — and
- Ou — or
- Si — if
- Mais — but
- Quand — when
- Que — that
- Qui — who
- Comme — like, as
- Parce que — because
📍 French Prepositions
- À — to, at
- De — from, of
- Avec — with
- Pour — for
- Par — by
- Sans — without
- Contre — against
- Dans — in, inside
- En — in
- Sur — on
- Chez — at the home/place of
- Avant / Après — before / after
🕒 Useful Adverbs
- Bien — well
- Mal — badly
- Vite — quickly
- Rapidement — quickly
- Lentement — slowly
- Heureusement — fortunately
- Seulement — only
- Rarement — rarely
- Souvent — often
- Beaucoup — a lot
- Un peu — a little
- Trop — too much
👪 French Family Words
- Le père — father
- La mère — mother
- Le frère — brother
- La sœur — sister
- Le fils / La fille — son / daughter
- Le bébé — baby
- L’enfant — child
- Le grand-père / La grand-mère — grandfather / grandmother
- L’oncle / La tante — uncle / aunt
✨ Adjectives
Adjectives change for masculine/feminine forms:
- Grand(e) — big
- Petit(e) — small
- Bon(ne) — good
- Mauvais(e) — bad
- Beau / Belle — beautiful
- Joli(e) — pretty
- Jeune — young
- Vieux / Vieille — old
- Heureux / Heureuse — happy
- Triste — sad
🎨 Colors
- Rouge — red
- Orange — orange
- Jaune yellow
- Blanc — white
- Noir — black
- Bleu — blue
- Vert — green
👉 Continue with my full guide to French colors.
❓ French Question Words
- Quel / Quelle — which
- Qui — who
- Quoi — what
- Où — where
- Quand — when
- Pourquoi — why
- Est-ce que — question starter
🕒 French Time Words
- Aujourd’hui — today
- Hier — yesterday
- l’heure — hour
- le temps — time
- Quelle heure — what time
- Midi — noon
- Minuit – midnight
- Midi — noon
- Demain — tomorrow
🗓️ French Days of the Week
- Lundi — Monday
- Mardi — Tuesday
- Mercredi — Wednesday
- Jeudi — Thursday
- Vendredi — Friday
- Samedi — Saturday
- Dimanche — Sunday
🍎 French Food and Drink Words
- Le pain — bread
- La viande — meat
- Le lait — milk
- Le fromage — milk
- Le poulet — chicken
- La salade — salad
- La pomme — apple
- La pomme de terre — potato
- Le riz — rice
- Le gâteau — cake
- L’eau — water
- Le café — coffee
👉 See the complete French food vocabulary list.
🏠 French Words for Places
- 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
👕 French Clothing Words
- La chemise — shirt
- Le pantalon — pants
- La jupe — skirt
- La robe — dress
- Le chemisier — blouse
- Le pull — sweater
- Les chaussures — shoes
- Les chaussettes — socks
🚀 Continue Learning French Words
- French numbers 1–100
- French food vocabulary
- Days of the week in French
- French family vocabulary
- French greetings and expressions
- Top 100 French verbs
📚 Explore More on FrenchLearner
👉 French Word of the Day — daily new words with audio
👉 French vocabulary lists — by theme and level
👉 French song lyrics — learn through music
