1000 Most Common French Words

The 1,000 most common French words, ranked by frequency: the workhorse vocabulary every learner needs. 991 here, with swear words held back for their own chapter.

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991 words
# Freq Word
11êtreto be
22avoirto have
33deof, from
44jeI
55pasnot (in ne...pas negation)
66àto, at, in
77lethe (masculine singular)
88quethat, which, what
99lathe (feminine singular)
1010vousyou (formal or plural)
1111tuyou (informal singular)
1212una, an; one (masculine)
1313etand
1414ilhe, it (masculine)
1515cethis, that, it (demonstrative)
1616nenot (first part of negation)
1717lesthe (plural)
1818faireto do, to make
1919çathat, it (informal demonstrative pronoun)
2020allerto go
2121enin, to (preposition); of it, some (pronoun)
2222onone, we, people (informal)
2323unea, an (feminine)
2424pourfor, in order to
2525toutall, every, quite, everything
2626pouvoirto be able to, can
2727direto say, to tell
2828dessome, of the (plural indefinite and partitive article; also contraction of de + les)
2929quiwho, which, that (relative pronoun); who? (interrogative)
3030maisbut
3131vouloirto want
3232savoirto know (facts, how to)
3333dansin, inside
3434nouswe, us
3535elleshe, her, it (feminine)
3636meme, to me, myself (first-person singular object pronoun)
3737bienwell, good, very
3838siif; so (intensifier); yes (contradicting a negative statement)
3939dusome, any (masculine); of the
4040ythere, to it, about it (adverbial pronoun)
4141nonno, not
4242avecwith
4343devoirto have to, must; duty
4444plusmore; no more (in negation ne...plus)
4545monmy (masculine singular possessive)
4646voirto see
4747teyou, to you, yourself (second-person singular object pronoun)
4848moime, I (stressed tonic first-person pronoun)
4949ouiyes
5050ilsthey (masculine or mixed group)