Vocabulary List

Nouns Determiners Adjectives Prepositions Pronouns
Verbs Adverbs Conjunctions Alphabetical List Exercises

The following words are the most common in written texts, according to research done by Jean Baudot on a million word corpus. The results of his work are published in Fréquences d'utilisation des mots en français écrit contemporain (Montréal, 1992).

The first 250, more or less, are given here first by part of speech, then in an alphabetical list with their meanings. If you want to check the meaning of a word, use Find in Page (Ctrl + F) to find the word in the alphabetical list where the meaning is given.

You can test your knowledge of French Vocabulary in various ways. Go to the Exercises at the end of this page for suggestions.

N.B. To take into account the slightly different nature of written texts on the web, extra words are being added to the lists. These words are identified here: hier, aujourd'hui, demain, chaud, froid

Nouns

homme, jour, monsieur, temps, vie, monde, enfant, heure, année, femme, pays, livre [= pound], chose, travail, cas, cours, main, fait, état, part [usual meaning = share], question, point, saint, partie, père, problème, fille, effet, ville, mois, rapport, eau, façon, coup, maison, gouvernement, service, tête, place, école, droit [=law], besoin, nombre, exemple, raison, dieu, lieu, église, doute, étude, mesure, fin, compte, famille, soir, groupe, société.

Determiners

le, un, les, des, son, du, au, ce, la, leur, mon, deux, notre, quelque, certain, trois, votre, tel, chaque, aucun, quel, plusieurs, quatre, cent, six.

Adjectives

même, autre, grand, premier, petit, nouveau, certain, seul, jeune, dernier, bon, français, beau, long, canadien, général, politique, possible, haut, public, vieux, important, chaud, froid.

Prepositions

de, à, en, dans, par, sur, avec, sans, entre, sous, vers, jusque, avant, chez, contre, pendant, devant.

Pronouns

il, se, qui, je, elle, ce, tout, on, que, nous, le, me, vous, lui, en, où, celui, dont, moi, cela, rien, la, tu, ça, eux, leur.

Verbs

être, avoir, faire, pouvoir, devoir, aller, voir, savoir, falloir, vouloir, prendre, donner, venir, trouver, passer, croire, parler, mettre, demander, devenir, laisser, rester, tenir, penser, connaître, rendre, sembler, aimer, arriver, porter, présenter, comprendre, agir, suivre, attendre, entendre, paraître, répondre, commencer, sortir, obtenir, recevoir, partir, appeler, sentir.

Adverbs

ne, pas, plus, très, encore, peu, moins, là, ainsi, toujours, alors, beaucoup, trop, déjà, si, peut-être, ailleurs, ici, assez, souvent, enfin, maintenant, surtout, tant, hier, aujourd'hui, demain.

Conjunctions

quand, lorsque, si, que, comme.

Because most conjunctions are made up of two words (avant que, parce que...), they are not clearly distinguished in the frequency list and do not therefore appear here.

Alphabetical List

à at, to prep

Elle va à l'école - She goes to school
Il va au parc - He goes to the park (au = à + le)
à Calgary, à Toronto, à dix heures, à noël

agir to act v (il s'agit de = it's a question of)

Il s'agit de trois Irlandais. - It's about three Irishmen.
De quoi s'agit-il? - What's it about?
Il s'agit dans ce film d'un garçon qui s'appelle Potter. This film's about a boy called Potter.
Le tueur a agi seul. - The killer acted alone.

ailleurs elsewhere adv (d'ailleurs = besides)

D'ailleurs elle le sait. - Besides, she knows it.
Elle est partie ailleurs. - She went off somewhere else.

aimer to love, to like v

Il l'aime. - He loves her.
Elle aime le chocolat. - She likes chocolate.
Elles aiment nager. - They like to swim.
On n'aime pas attendre. - People don't like to wait.

ainsi so, in this way adv

aller to go v (il va, ils vont, elle ira)

J'aime aller au parc. - I like to go to the park.
Marty va au parc. - Marty goes to the park.
Il va au parc avec son chien. - He goes to the park with his dog.
Ils vont au parc ensemble. - They go to the park together.

alors then, so adv (alors que = whereas)

Alors, il me dit... - So he says to me...
Que veut-elle alors? So what does she want?
Les importations diminuent alors que les exportations augmentent - Imports are going down, whereas exports are going up.

année year n

cette année, l'année prochaine, l'année dernière - this year, next year, last year

appeler to call v (s'appeler = to be called)

Mon ami m'a appelée. - My friend called me.
Je m'appelle Brian - My name is Brian. I'm called Brian.
Comment s'appelle-t-elle? What's her name? What is she called?

arriver to happen, to arrive v

C'est arrivé hier. It happened yesterday.
Qu'est-ce qui arrive? What's happening?
Martine n'est pas arrivée. Martine hasn't arrived.

assez enough adv

Il n'y a pas assez de clients. There aren't enough customers.
Ce n'est pas assez. It's not enough.
Assez - trop Enough - too much

aucun no, not any det (usually with ne)

Sans aucun doute - Without any doubt.
Aucun Canadien ne le veut. No Canadian wants it.
Il n'a aucune envie de... - He has no desire to...

aujourd'hui today adv

Aujourd'hui ils vont au parc.
Le monde aujourd'hui est trop petit. Today's world is too small.
Aujourd'hui, hier et demain. Today, yesterday and tomorrow

autre   other    adj
avant   before    prep
avec   with    prep
avoir   to have    v
beau   beautiful, fine, handsome adj
beaucoup much, many   adv
besoin   need    n
bon   good    adj
ça   that, it    pro
canadien Canadian   adj
cas   case    n
ce   this, that   det OR pro
cela   this, that   pro
celui   this one, that one, the one pro
cent   a hundred   det
certain   certain    prep
chaud hot adj
chose   thing    n
comprendre understand   v
compte   account   n
connaître know    v
contre   against    prep
coup   blow, hit   n
cours   course    n
croire   to believe   v
dans   in    prep
de   of    prep
déjà   already    adv
demain tomorrow adv
demander to ask for   v
dernier   last    adj
des   some, zero translation det
deux   two    det
devant   in front of   prep
devenir   to become   v
devoir   to have to, to owe v
dieu   god    n
donner   to give    v
dont   of which   pro
doute   doubt    n
droit   right, law   n OR adj
du   of the    prep + det
eau   water    n
école   school    n
effet   effect    n
église   church    n
elle   she    pro
en   in    prep
en   of it, of them   pro
encore   still, yet, more   adv
enfant   child    n
enfin   at last    adv
entre   between   prep
état   state    n
être   to be    v
étude   study, studying   n
eux   them    pro
exemple example   n
façon   way, manner   n
faire   to do, to make   v
fait   fact    n
falloir   to have to   v
famille   family    n
femme   woman    n
fille   young girl, daughter n
fin   end    n
froid cold adj
gouvernement government   n
grand   big, large   adj
groupe   group    n
haut   high    adj
heure   hour, time   n
hier yesterday adv
homme   man    n
ici   here    adv
il   he    pro
important important   adj
je   I    pro
jeune   young    adj
jour   day    n
jusque   until    prep
la   the    det
la   it, her    pro
là   there    adv
laisser   to leave   v
le   the    det
le   it    pro
les   the    det
leur   their    det
leur   to them   pro
lieu   place    n
livre   pound, book   n
long   long    adj
lui   to him, to her, to it pro
main   hand    n
maintenant now    adv
maison   house    n
me   me, to me   pro
même   same    adj
mesure   measure   n
mettre   to put    v
moi   me    pro
moins   less    adv
mois   month    n
mon   my    det
monde   world    n
monsieur sir, man   n
ne   not    adv
nombre number   n
notre   our    det
nous   we, us    pro
nouveau new    adj
obtenir   to obtain   v
on   one, people, we, you pro
où   where    pro
par   by    prep
parler   to speak   v
part   share, piece   n
partie   part    n
partir   to leave   v
pas   not    adv
passer   to pass, to spend v
pays   country   n
pendant during    prep
penser   to think   v
père   father    n
petit   small    adj
peu   few, little   adv
peut-être maybe, perhaps adv
place   seat, square, room n
plus   more    adv
plusieurs several    det
point   point, period   n
politique political   adj
porter   to carry, to wear v
possible possible   adj
pouvoir to be able, can   v
premier first    adj
prendre to take    v
présenter to present   v
problème problem   n
public   public    adj OR n
quatre   four    det
que   that, which    pro
quel   which    det
quelque some    det
question question   n
qui   who, which   pro
raison   reason    n
rapport   report    n
recevoir to receive   v
rendre   to return, to make v
rester   to remain, to stay v
rien   nothing   pro
saint   saint    n
sans   without   prep
savoir   to know   v
se   (to) herself, (to) himself, (to) itself pro
sembler to seem, to appear v
sentir   to feel, to smell   v
service   service    n
seul   only, alone   adj
si   if    conj
six   six    adj
société   society    n
soir   evening   n
son   his, her, its   det
sortir   to go out, take out v
sous   under    prep
souvent often    adv
sur   on    prep
surtout   especially   adv
tant   so much, so many adv
tel   such    det
temps   time, weather   n
tenir   to hold    v
tête   head    n
toujours always    adv
tout   all    adj
travail   work    n
très   very    adv
trois   three    det
trop   too    adv
trouver   to find    v
tu   you    pro
un   one, a    det
venir   to come   v
vers   towards   prep
vie   life    n
vieux   old    adj
ville   town    n
voir   to see    v
votre   your    det
vouloir   to want    v
vous   you    pro

Exercises

Here are a few suggestions to practice your knowledge of vocabulary:

be assiduous in entering words in MyVocabulary, and testing yourself on it.
do vocabulary exercises on the Quia French site.
make yourself some flash cards or index cards with the French on one side and the English on the other
highlight in your dictionary all the common words you look up. You'll find them more easily next time and jog your memory.
Make yourself simple sentences using models such as the following, then tryto learn the sentences:

D + N + être (present, imperfect, future, etc.) + adjective. La ville est pleine, la ville était pleine, la ville sera pleine; la fille sera grande, la fille sera belle, etc. etc.

Set aside ten minutes every day to work on your vocabulary and verbs.