1000 Most Common French Words
The 1,000 most common French words, ranked by frequency. Covers around 80% of spoken French per Nation (2006); the workhorse vocabulary every learner needs.
Source: Nation (2006) on top-1k coverage of spoken English.
Curriculum
991 words
| # | Freq | Word |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | êtreto be |
| 2 | 2 | deof, from |
| 3 | 3 | jeI |
| 4 | 4 | avoirto have |
| 5 | 5 | pasnot (in ne...pas negation) |
| 6 | 6 | àto, at, in |
| 7 | 7 | lethe (masculine singular) |
| 8 | 8 | quethat, which, what |
| 9 | 9 | lathe (feminine singular) |
| 10 | 10 | vousyou (formal or plural) |
| 11 | 11 | tuyou (informal singular) |
| 12 | 12 | una, an (masculine) |
| 13 | 13 | etand |
| 14 | 14 | ilhe, it (masculine) |
| 15 | 15 | cethis, that, it (demonstrative) |
| 16 | 16 | nenot (first part of negation) |
| 17 | 17 | lesthe (plural) |
| 18 | 18 | faireto do, to make |
| 19 | 19 | allerto go |
| 20 | 20 | enin, to (preposition); of it, some (pronoun) |
| 21 | 21 | onone, we, people (informal) |
| 22 | 22 | çathat, it (informal demonstrative pronoun) |
| 23 | 23 | unea, an (feminine) |
| 24 | 24 | pourfor, in order to |
| 25 | 25 | toutall, every, quite, everything |
| 26 | 26 | pouvoirto be able to, can |
| 27 | 27 | direto say, to tell |
| 28 | 28 | dessome, of the (plural indefinite and partitive article; also contraction of de + les) |
| 29 | 29 | quiwho, which, that (relative pronoun); who? (interrogative) |
| 30 | 30 | maisbut |
| 31 | 31 | vouloirto want |
| 32 | 32 | savoirto know (facts, how to) |
| 33 | 33 | dansin, inside |
| 34 | 34 | nouswe, us |
| 35 | 35 | elleshe, her, it (feminine) |
| 36 | 36 | meme, to me, myself (first-person singular object pronoun) |
| 37 | 37 | bienwell, good, very |
| 38 | 38 | siif; so (intensifier); yes (contradicting a negative statement) |
| 39 | 39 | dusome, any (masculine); of the |
| 40 | 40 | ythere, to it, about it (adverbial pronoun) |
| 41 | 41 | nonno, not |
| 42 | 42 | avecwith |
| 43 | 43 | plusmore; no more (in negation ne...plus) |
| 44 | 44 | monmy (masculine singular possessive) |
| 45 | 45 | voirto see |
| 46 | 46 | teyou, to you, yourself (second-person singular object pronoun) |
| 47 | 47 | devoirto have to, must; duty |
| 48 | 48 | moime, I (stressed tonic first-person pronoun) |
| 49 | 49 | ouiyes |
| 50 | 50 | suron, on top of, about, over (preposition); also 'sure, certain' as the adjective sûr/sûre |