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)
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.