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First 50 French Words Every Beginner Should Learn

Lalo TeamยทUpdated April 17, 2026ยท3 min read

Start your French journey with the 50 most essential high-frequency words. These cover roughly 40% of everyday conversation.

These 50 words cover ~40% of everyday French

Pronouns(11)

il

he, it

/il/

je

I

/ส’ษ™/

ce

this, that, it

/sษ™/

se

oneself, himself, herself

/sษ™/

qui

who, which

/ki/

elle

she, her

/ษ›l/

nous

we, us

/nu/

on

one, we (informal)

/ษ”ฬƒ/

y

there, to it

/i/

vous

you (formal/plural)

/vu/

tu

you (informal)

/ty/

Determiners(2)

son

his, her, its (masculine)

/sษ”ฬƒ/

leur

their, to them

/lล“ส/

Articles(6)

le

the (masculine singular)

/lษ™/

un

a, one (masculine)

/ล“ฬƒ/

la

the (feminine singular)

/la/

les

the (plural)

/le/

des

some, of the (plural)

/de/

du

of the, some (masculine)

/dy/

Core Verbs(9)

รชtre

to be

/ษ›tส/

avoir

to have

/avwaส/

dire

to say, to tell

/diส/

faire

to do, to make

/fษ›ส/

pouvoir

to be able to, can

/puvwaส/

aller

to go

/ale/

vouloir

to want

/vulwaส/

savoir

to know (a fact)

/savwaส/

venir

to come

/vษ™niส/

Common Nouns(1)

homme

man

/ษ”m/

Adjectives(2)

tout

all, everything, every

/tu/

grand

big, tall, great

/ษกสษ‘ฬƒ/

Adverbs(4)

ne

not (first part of negation)

/nษ™/

pas

not (second part of negation)

/pa/

plus

more, plus

/ply/

bien

well, good

/bjษ›ฬƒ/

Prepositions(9)

de

of, from

/dษ™/

en

in, of it, some

/ษ‘ฬƒ/

sur

on, upon

/syส/

pour

for, in order to

/puส/

dans

in, inside

/dษ‘ฬƒ/

au

to the, at the (masculine)

/o/

avec

with

/avษ›k/

par

by, through, per

/paส/

ร 

to, at, in

/a/

Connectors(6)

et

and

/e/

que

that, which, what

/kษ™/

mais

but

/mษ›/

si

if, so, yes (contradicting)

/si/

comme

like, as

/kษ”m/

ou

or

/u/

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