111 Core French Words — The Most Commonly Used Words in French

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Want to jumpstart your French by learning the core words you need to understand the language?

With about 100 French words, you can understand the majority of what you hear. It’s important to learn the right words, though!

These words are those that appear most in newspapers, novels, and even conversations. Why? Many words like le, la, les, de, etc. appear in almost every French sentence, much like the English “a”, “the”, or “of”.

Building a foundation in French with these words can help you become fluent in French faster. And the best part is — because these are core words you’ll come across again and again in different contexts, they’re easy to remember!

Something to note is that this word list isn’t just for beginners. Instead, it shares which words to start with based on word-frequency. You can, however, learn some of the basics of French with these French greetings, how to say “thank you” in French, and learn to ask someone “how are you?” in French. Then, you can come back here to pair the basics with what you learn in this post and have a huge headstart!

This list of core French words include nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and other connecting words. Once you get the hang of these core 100 French words, you can continue building your vocabulary to 500 or even 5,000 words in French! On y va ! (“Let’s get to it!”).

The 18 Core French Pronouns

French pronouns — these are words like “I”, “he” or “she” — are important to know. You’ll notice that “you” is on this list twice. That’s because French has two forms for speaking to another person: formal and informal.

• je – “I”
• tu – “you”, singular and informal
• il – “he”
• elle – “she”
• on – “one”
• nous – “we”
• vous – “you”, plural, or singular and formal
• ils and elles – they; ils is used for a group of males or mixed gender while elles is used for groups of females only
• ça – “it, that”
• ce, cet, cette – “this” (ces, cettes – “these”)
• moi – “me”
• toi – “you”, used as an indirect object and as the subject in special cases for emphasis
• lui – “him, her, it”

The 15 Core French Possessive Pronouns

• mon, ma, mes – “my”
• ton, ta, tes – “your”, singular and informal
• son, sa, ses – “his”, “her”, or “their”
• notre, nos– “our”
• votre, vos – “your”, singular and formal or plural
• leur, leurs – “their”

The Core 6 French Question Words

Who, what, when, where, why, and how. These are core words in every language. Here’s how to say them in French.

• qui – “who”
• quoi – “what”
• quand – “when”
• où – “where”
• pourquoi – “why”
• comment – “how”

The 2 Core French Interjections

Interjections are words that occur on their own as a kind of utterance. There are a few French interjections that are useful to know.

• Non – “no”
• Oui – “yes”

The 22 Core French Nouns

Wondering which French nouns are the best to learn? Depending on what activities interest you, different nouns are going to be more relevant than others. We highly recommend creating your own lists and scripts. Based on word frequency, however, these are the words you’re most likely to come across.

• tout, tous, toute, toutes – “any, every, entire, very, whole, all”
• ici – “here”
• là – “there”
• rien – “nothing”
• peu – “little, not very, bit, few”
• chose – “thing”
• autre – “other”
• temps – “time, times, weather, days”
• vie – “life”
• accord – “agreement, understanding, deal”
• monde – “world”
• fois – “time, times”
• été – “summer”
• homme – “man, person”
• père – “father”
• veut – “want, wish, will, desire”
• quelque – “some, a few, about”
• besoin – “need’
• femme – “woman”

The 12 Core French Verbs

You can get by with knowing a few key verbs in French, but here are 12 of the most common verbs you’ll come across and their conjugations to help get you started.

Many of the most common French verbs are irregular — that means they don’t follow the rules for the three groups of French verbs (-er, -ir, and -re).

être – “to be”

avoir – “to have”

aller – “to go”

faire – “to do, to make”

savoir – “to know (something)”

vouloir – “to want”

dire – “to say”

pouvoir – “to be able to”

voir – “to see”

venir – “to come”

croire – “to believe”

devoir – “to have to”

The 15 Core French Adjectives and Adverbs

Wondering what the most common French adjectives and adverbs are? Look no further than these 15 core French adjectives and adverbs!

• ne… pas – “not”
• le, la, les – “the”
• un, une, des – “a, an”
• bien – “good, well”
• plus – “more, most, further, plus”
• y – “there”, differs from the noun “là” in use as an adverb
• vraiment – “really, truly, genuinely, actually, indeed”
• maintenant – “now”
• toujours – “always, forever”
• très – “very”
• même – “same, even”
• encore – “still, yet, again”
• jamais – “never”
• juste – “just, fair, right”
• trop – “too, overly, too much”

The 21 Core French Conjunctions and Connectors

Learning connector words and conjunctions is a useful way to form sentences and speak French more smoothly. Many of these connectors have multiple translations, but which meaning you’ll use is often deducible through context.

• de – “of, to, from, by, with, than, at”
• et – “and”
• mais – “but”
• pour – “for*
• que – “that, whether, than, which, what”
• à – “to, in, at, with, by”
• en – “in, into, to, of, at”
• dans – “in, into, within, on”
• si – “if, whether, so, that, such, as”
• avec – “with, to, along with, together with”
• sur – “on, about, to, over, at, upon, onto, with”
• comme – “since, as, like, such as”
• avant – ”prior, before, until, front, forward”
• après – “afterwards, after, following”
• ou – “or”
• par – “by, per, through, via, to, on”
• aussi – “also, too, as well”
• alors – “then”
• sans – “without”
• sûr – “sure, certain, safe”
• chez – “in, among, to, amongst”

Strengthen Your French Core with the Most Common French Words

Now that you know the 111 core French words, you can get started and try them out with exchange partners. Looking for a good place to put them to use? Try participating in the Fluent in 3 Months Challenge and level up your French in 90 days.

There are countless directions you can take from here in your French learning. And now that you know your core French words, figuring out what the next step is easier than ever. You’re well on your way to diving into the words that are relevant for your personal, daily use. And if you’re looking for more French resources, you can check out our French resources page.