100+ Core French Words and Phrases to Build Sentences

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A short list of French words can be useful, but frequency alone does not tell you how to use them. A word such as de, que or y changes meaning with its grammar and context. Learn each item inside a phrase, then notice it again in something you read or hear.

This guide gives you more than 100 common French forms to work with. It is not a universal ranking: results vary across conversation, fiction, news and other corpora. The sections group words by what they do in a sentence, and the examples show a practical first use.

If you are just starting, pair this list with French greetings, ways to say thank you and ways to ask how someone is. Then choose the words that fit the conversations you actually want to have.

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18 Core French Pronoun Forms

Subject pronouns normally sit before a conjugated verb. French distinguishes informal singular tu from plural or polite singular vous. On can mean an indefinite “one/people”, and it is also widely used for informal “we”.

• je: “I”: Je comprends. (“I understand.”)
• tu: informal singular “you”: Tu viens ? (“Are you coming?”)
• il: “he” or “it” for a masculine noun: Il arrive. (“He is arriving.”)
• elle: “she” or “it” for a feminine noun: Elle est prête. (“She is ready.”)
• on: “one/people” or informal “we”: On y va ? (“Shall we go?”)
• nous: “we”: Nous habitons ici. (“We live here.”)
• vous: plural “you” or polite singular “you”: Vous avez le temps ? (“Do you have time?”)
• ils: “they” for a masculine or mixed-gender group in standard agreement: Ils sont là. (“They are there.”)
• elles: “they” for an all-feminine group: Elles arrivent. (“They are arriving.”)
• moi: stressed “me/I”: Moi, je préfère le thé. (“I prefer tea.”)
• toi: stressed informal “you”: Et toi ? (“And you?”)
• lui: stressed “him”: Je pars avec lui. (“I am leaving with him.”)
• elle: stressed “her”: C'est pour elle. (“It is for her.”)
• nous: stressed “us”: Chez nous. (“At our place.”)
• vous: stressed “you”: Je viens avec vous. (“I am coming with you.”)
• eux: stressed masculine or mixed “them”: Je pense à eux. (“I am thinking about them.”)
• elles: stressed feminine “them”: C'est à elles. (“It is theirs.”)
• ça: “that/it” in many everyday contexts: Ça va ? (“How is it going?”)

The stressed forms moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux and elles appear after prepositions, after c'est/ce sont, in comparisons and for emphasis. They are not interchangeable with the short object pronouns that sit beside a verb.

15 Core French Possessive Determiners

These forms go before a noun, so modern grammars call them possessive determiners rather than possessive pronouns. They agree with the thing being described, not with the gender of its owner. For example, son livre can mean “his book” or “her book”.

• mon, ma, mes: “my”: mon livre, ma table, mes amis
• ton, ta, tes: informal singular “your”: ton livre, ta table, tes amis
• son, sa, ses: “his/her/its”: son livre, sa table, ses amis
• notre, nos: “our”: notre maison, nos voisins
• votre, vos: plural or polite singular “your”: votre avis, vos questions
• leur, leurs: “their”: leur enfant, leurs enfants

Before a feminine singular noun beginning with a vowel or mute h, French normally uses mon, ton or son: mon amie, not ma amie. The independent possessive pronouns are different forms such as le mien, la tienne and les leurs.

6 Core French Question Words

Question words work inside several question patterns. Learn the complete example rather than replacing one English word mechanically.

• qui: “who”: Qui est là ? (“Who is there?”)
• que / quoi: “what”: Qu'est-ce que tu veux ? (“What do you want?”); Avec quoi ? (“With what?”)
• quand: “when”: Quand est-ce qu'on part ? (“When are we leaving?”)
• où: “where”: Où habitez-vous ? (“Where do you live?”)
• pourquoi: “why”: Pourquoi pas ? (“Why not?”)
• comment: “how”: Comment ça marche ? (“How does it work?”)

2 Core French Response Words

• oui: “yes”: Oui, bien sûr. (“Yes, of course.”)
• non: “no”: Non, merci. (“No, thank you.”)

You will also hear si as a positive answer that contradicts a negative question or statement. For example, Tu ne viens pas ? Si ! means “You're not coming? Yes, I am!”

19 Core Nouns and Other Content Words

The original version called every item here a noun, but several are pronouns, determiners or adverbs. That distinction matters because it changes where the word can go. Learn a noun with its article and a useful phrase.

• tout, toute, tous, toutes: forms meaning “all/whole/every”, depending on grammar: tout le monde (“everyone”), tous les jours (“every day”)
• ici: “here”: J'habite ici. (“I live here.”)
• là: “there”: Pose-le là. (“Put it there.”)
• rien: “nothing/anything”, depending on the construction: Je ne vois rien. (“I see nothing.”)
• peu: “little/few”: un peu de temps (“a little time”)
• une chose: “a thing”: quelque chose (“something”)
• autre: “other/another”: une autre question (“another question”)
• le temps: “time” or “weather”: Je n'ai pas le temps. (“I don't have time.”)
• la vie: “life”: la vie quotidienne (“daily life”)
• un accord: “an agreement”: d'accord (“okay/agreed”)
• le monde: “the world” or “people” in tout le monde
• une fois: “once/one time”: encore une fois (“one more time”)
• l'été: “summer”: en été (“in summer”)
• un homme: “a man”: un jeune homme (“a young man”)
• un père: “a father”: mon père (“my father”)
• quelque / quelques: “some/a few/about”, depending on the construction: quelques minutes (“a few minutes”)
• un besoin: “a need”: avoir besoin de (“to need”)
• une femme: “a woman” and, in some contexts, “a wife”
• un jour: “a day”: un jour de congé (“a day off”)

12 Core French Verbs

These verbs occur in many everyday constructions, and all 12 are irregular in at least part of their conjugation. Do not learn the infinitive alone. Start with one high-use form and one phrase, then add the tense and person you need.

• être: “to be”: je suis (“I am”), c'est (“it is/that is”)
• avoir: “to have”: j'ai (“I have”), il y a (“there is/are”)
• aller: “to go”: je vais (“I am going”), on y va (“let's go/we're going”)
• faire: “to do/make”: je fais (“I do/make”), il fait froid (“it is cold”)
• savoir: “to know” a fact or know how: je sais (“I know”), je sais nager (“I can swim”)
• vouloir: “to want”: je veux (“I want”), je voudrais (“I would like”)
• dire: “to say/tell”: je dis (“I say”), ça veut dire… (“that means…”)
• pouvoir: “to be able/can”: je peux (“I can”), Est-ce que je peux… ? (“May I…?”)
• voir: “to see”: je vois (“I see”), on va voir (“we'll see”)
• venir: “to come”: je viens (“I am coming”), venir de + infinitive (“to have just done something”)
• croire: “to believe/think”: je crois que… (“I think that…”)
• devoir: “to have to/owe”: je dois partir (“I have to leave”), je vous dois dix euros (“I owe you ten euros”)

15 Core Determiners, Adverbs and Negation Forms

This section used to call all 15 items adjectives or adverbs. In fact, it includes determiners, pronouns and a two-part negation. The label matters less than seeing the word in its normal position.

• ne… pas: standard two-part negation around a conjugated verb: Je ne comprends pas. (“I don't understand.”)
• le, la, les: definite determiners “the”: le livre, la table, les livres
• un, une, des: indefinite determiners “a/an/some”: un café, une idée, des questions
• bien: often “well”: Elle parle bien français. (“She speaks French well.”)
• plus: “more”: plus de temps (“more time”); with negation, ne… plus means “no longer/not any more”
• y: a pronoun often replacing a place or an à-phrase: J'y vais. (“I'm going there.”)
• vraiment: “really”: C'est vraiment utile. (“It is really useful.”)
• maintenant: “now”: Je dois partir maintenant. (“I have to leave now.”)
• toujours: “always” or “still”, depending on context: Il travaille toujours ici. (“He still works here.”)
• très: “very” before an adjective or adverb: très bien (“very well”)
• même: “same/even/self”, depending on position: le même jour (“the same day”)
• encore: “again/still/more”: Encore une fois. (“One more time.”)
• jamais: “ever” or, with negation, “never”: Tu es déjà venu ? Jamais. (“Have you been before? Never.”)
• juste: “just/exact/fair”, depending on context: juste ici (“right here”)
• trop: “too/too much/too many”: trop cher (“too expensive”), trop de bruit (“too much noise”)

21 Core French Connectors and Prepositions

These short words express relationships such as addition, contrast, place, time, cause and condition. Several have many English translations, so the example is more useful than a long string of possible glosses.

• de: “of/from”: Je viens de Dublin. (“I come from Dublin.”); de + le contracts to du, and de + les to des
• et: “and”: un café et un thé (“a coffee and a tea”)
• mais: “but”: C'est petit, mais pratique. (“It is small but practical.”)
• pour: “for/in order to”: C'est pour vous. (“It is for you.”)
• que: introduces many clauses: Je pense que oui. (“I think so.”)
• à: “to/at”: Je vais à Paris. (“I am going to Paris.”); à + le contracts to au, and à + les to aux
• en: “in/by”, among other uses: en France (“in France”), en train (“by train”)
• dans: “in/inside/in [a period of time]”: dans la boîte (“in the box”), dans dix minutes (“in ten minutes”)
• si: “if/whether”: Si tu veux. (“If you want.”); it also answers a negative question positively
• avec: “with”: avec mes amis (“with my friends”)
• sur: “on/about”: sur la table (“on the table”), un livre sur Paris (“a book about Paris”)
• comme: “as/like/since”, depending on the clause: comme ça (“like that”)
• avant: “before”: avant le dîner (“before dinner”), avant de partir (“before leaving”)
• après: “after”: après le cours (“after class”), après avoir mangé (“after eating”)
• ou: “or”: thé ou café ? (“tea or coffee?”); compare accented où, “where”
• par: “by/through/per”: par e-mail (“by email”), deux fois par semaine (“twice a week”)
• aussi: “also/too”: Moi aussi. (“Me too.”)
• alors: “then/so”: Et alors ? (“So what?/And then?”)
• sans: “without”: sans sucre (“without sugar”)
• donc: “so/therefore”: Il pleut, donc je reste ici. (“It is raining, so I am staying here.”)
• chez: “at/to the home, workplace or premises of”: chez moi (“at my place”), chez le médecin (“at the doctor's”)

How to Learn Core French Words in Context

Choose 10 to 12 items that match something you want to say this week. For a noun, record the article and a phrase. For a verb, record one conjugated form and its complement. For a connector or pronoun, save the complete sentence that showed you its job.

1. Read and listen to the phrase in context.
2. Hide it and retrieve the French from the meaning or situation.
3. Change one detail to make a sentence you could use.
4. Try it with a tutor or language-exchange partner, then keep the correction with the phrase.
5. Return to it after a day, a few days and a week instead of rereading the full list.

Once these forms feel familiar, use the same process with vocabulary from your own work, hobbies and relationships. Our French learning resources can help you find more level-appropriate input.