Basic French words and phrases

French Phrases: Basic French words and phrases

The following pages contain some basic French phrases and French words that will be useful in particular to travellers or those starting out on a French course.

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Audio is currently available for topics marked Audio pronunciation available

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A similar list of Spanish phrases is available on our sister site.

Basic French vocabulary and phrases

These pages contain essential French phrases and vocabulary that will be useful across many situations. If you are just starting out with French, start here!

Greetings in French Audio pronunciation available

How to say hello, see you later etc.

Function Words: some Basic French words

Some of the common little 'function' words (prepositions, pronouns etc) that provide the 'glue' for making sentences.

Basic French adjectives Audio pronunciation available

Some basic adjectives of French such as big, small, nice etc.

French adjectives wordsearch

French adjectives crossword

French nouns denoting people Audio pronunciation available

Words for members of the family and other basic French words relating to people.

French wordsearch: people and family

Colours in French Audio pronunciation available

A list of basic French colour adjectives, plus more advanced information on complex colour names and colour modifiers.

French colours wordsearch

French colours crossword

Subject pronouns in French

The French words for I, you, he, she etc

Common French verb forms

A list of the most frequently occurring French verb forms, with their English meanings plus links to full conjugation tables. This list gives you a quick way of finding the English meaning of some basic French verbs.

Object pronouns in French

The French words for me, him, her etc.

Basic clothing terms in French

Generic clothing terms plus terms for describing the material of clothes.

US place names in French

How to say where you come from: the French names of US cities and states.

French phrases for particular situations

Hobbies and pastimes in French: Simple phrases for describing leisure activities such as watching TV, listening to CDs etc. A separate page also looks at musical instruments in French.
Getting around town in French: Names of places, buildings and asking directions in French. Now available in Spanish
Around the house in French: Names of parts of the house (room and furniture) in French, plus how to talk about doing the housework in French.
Shopping in French: Names of shops and useful words and phrases for use inside the shop. Kerching!
NEW! Shopping wordsearch
Holidays: How to talk about your holidays in French: say where you went, what you did, and what went wrong...
Basic food vocabulary: Names of basic meats, fishes, seafood and fruits and vegetables.
NEW! Fruit and vegetables wordsearch
French menu terms: Understand the 'fancy' words that turn a mundane piece of fish into a blanquette of citronated paving stone.
Sport vocabulary in French: Useful vocabulary and phrases for talking about sport in French, plus a page of special vocabulary for talking about the Olympic Games in French.
Christmas in French: Some vocab for talking about trees, prezzies and other Christmassy stuff...

The human body in French

Names of parts of the body in French.

Jobs and professions in French

Names of common job titles in French, split into various categories.

Taking transport in French

French transport phrases for getting around by taxi, coach, train etc., with a section on taking the train in France.

Computers and the Internet

Some French phrases for asking about Internet access, as well as specific facilities such as printing documents, accessing your penstick etc.

Money

How to change and deal with money in French, covering issues such as paying by credit card.

Time expressions in French

How to say phrases such as see you tomorrow in French, plus items such as names of days of the week; on the following page, we also look at the French for months and seasons.

Health

School subjects in French

List of school and university subjects:

educational establishments in French.

phrases for talking about school and education

Writing a letter or e-mail in French

A look at standard letter openings and closures, plus useful vocabulary for writing a business letter in French.

Types of French businesses

Some terminology used to describe different types of company and business in French.

French finance terms

Various terms connected with investment and taxation.

French sales and marketing terms

Terms connected with sales, marketing/advertising and distribution.

Technical terms

Watch this space...!

New pages will be added to this section on a regular basis!