On this page you will find the list of the 100 most common french words frequently used in the french language. It can be a good start if you are teaching yourself french and want to learn your first 100 french words.
To make this list, I checked different ‘100 french world list‘ on Google and took what was the most useful. It appears that the first article on Google is showing some words we hardly use in french nowadays… so I did my own correction.
Anyway, if you want to print this list of the 100 most used french words, just click here and it will show on PDF. It’s free (just like all the PDF lessons on this site).
If you see some english mistakes in my explanation, please let me know ! (I’m french and my english is not perfect…)
Note: usually, the verbs in this list are conjugated when we use them. We also use a lot of “c’est” (meaning “it’s…”).
100 most common french words
(click here to download/print in PDF for free)
| FRENCH | ENGLISH |
| 1. à | to, at, in |
| 2. avoir (verb) | to have |
| 3. avec | with |
| 4. autre | other, another |
| 5. avant | before |
| 6. aussi | too, also/ as |
| 7. aller (verb) | to go |
| 8. aucun | none, either, neither, not any |
| 9. au / aux | to, at, in, the |
| 10. alors | then, so |
| 11. après | after |
| 12. aujourd’hui | today |
| 13. aimer | to love, to like |
| 14. bon | good; (un bon: a coupon, a voucher) |
| 15. beaucoup | a lot, plenty |
| 16. bien | well; (un bien: a good) |
| 17. ça | this /that |
| 18. ce | this, that |
| 19. cela | that, it |
| 20. celui | that, the one, he, him |
| 21. comme | like, as |
| 22. chose | a thing, something |
| 23. dans | in, into, from |
| 24. demain | tomorrow |
| 25. depuis | since |
| 26. demander (verb) | to ask for |
| 27. de | some, any / of, from |
| 28. déjà | already |
| 29. donner (verb) | to give |
| 30. deux | two |
| 31. difficile | hard, difficult |
| 32. dire (verb) | to say, to tell |
| 33. devoir (verb) | to have to, to owe; (le devoir: duty) |
| 34. dernier | last |
| 35. et | and |
| 36. encore | again, yet |
| 37. en | in, by |
| 38. elle | she, her |
| 39. être (verb) | to be; (un être humain: a human being) |
| 40. faire (verb) | to do, to make |
| 41. grand | big, tall, great |
| 42. heure | hour |
| 43. il | he, it |
| 44. jamais | never |
| 45. je | I |
| 46. jour | day |
| 47. le | the |
| 48. lequel | who, whom, which |
| 49. lui | him |
| 50. leur | their, theirs, them |
| 51. mais | but |
| 52. me | me, myself, to me |
| 53. moins | less / minus |
| 54. mon | my (masculine) |
| 55. minute | minute |
| 56. maintenant | now |
| 57. même | same; (adv.) even |
| 58. mettre (verb) | to put, to place |
| 59. nous | we, us |
| 60. ne | not |
| 61. non | no, not |
| 62. on | we |
| 63. où | where |
| 64. ou | or |
| 65. par | by |
| 66. pas | not; (means also footstep) |
| 67. parfois | sometime |
| 68. pouvoir (verb) | to be able to, can; (le pouvoir: power) |
| 69. pour | for, in order to |
| 70. petit | small, little |
| 71. passer (verb) | to pass |
| 72. peu | little, few |
| 73. pendant | during, for |
| 74. plus | more / no more |
| 75. prendre (verb) | to take |
| 76. quand | when |
| 77. que | that, which, who, whom |
| 78. quelque | some |
| 79. qui | who, whom |
| 80. regarder | to watch, to look at |
| 81. rien | nothing |
| 82. rester (verb) | to stay |
| 83. sans | without |
| 84. savoir (verb) | to know (le savoir: knowledge) |
| 85. semaine | week |
| 86. suite | rest, result, follow-up |
| 87. se | oneself, himself, herself, itself, themselves |
| 88. si | if, whether; (adv.) so |
| 89. sur | on, upon |
| 90. son | his, her, its; (un son: a sound) |
| 91. temps | time |
| 92. toujours | always, still |
| 93. tout | all, every |
| 94. très | very |
| 95. un | a, an (masculine) ; (also meaning: number one) |
| 96. venir (verb) | to come |
| 97. voir (verb) | to see |
| 98. vous | you (polite) |
| 99. vouloir (verb) | to want |
| 100. y | there / it |
I suggest we should also have the pronounciation mentioned along the word. As in french words we don’t pronounce it as its written unlike in english.