Common French Words and Phrases
If you are just starting out on your French language learning journey or need a quick refresher course because it's been a while since you've used the French you used to know, then this is the page for you!
Below you will find a number of categories to help you learn some basic French. These include: yes and no, please and thank you, do you speak English/French?, what is your name?, question words, and other useful questions/phrases. Scroll down to learn all this and more!
Common Words and Phrases in French:
Words in bold added during the last update. You can also view this list of common words and phrases from English to French.
Quick Links:
Saying Yes and No in French
French Words for Please and Thank You
Do You Speak English? / French?
Asking What is Your Name? in French
Question Words in French
Other Useful French Sentences
Saying Yes and No in French
Oui ➔ Yes
Non ➔ No
French Words for Please and Thank You
S'il te plaît. ➔ Please
S'il vous plaît. ➔ Please
Merci (beaucoup). ➔ Thanks (a lot).
Merci, madame / monsieur. ➔ Thank you, Madam / Sir. (formal)
Je vous remercie ➔ I thank you
Merci infiniment. ➔ Thanks a million.
De rien. ➔ You're welcome. / Don't mention it.
Avec plaisir. ➔ With pleasure.
Do You Speak English? / French?
Est-ce que vous parlez anglais? ➔ Do you speak English?
Je ne parle pas anglais. ➔ I don't speak English.
Est-ce que vous parlez français? ➔ Do you speak French?
Parlez-vous français? ➔ Do you speak French?
Oui, je parle français. ➔ Yes, I speak French.
Je parle le français un peu. ➔ I speak French a little.
Je parle un petit peut de français. ➔ I speak a little bit of French.
Non, je ne parle pas français. ➔ No, I don't speak French.
Je ne comprends pas. ➔ I don't understand.
Pourriez-vous répéter s'il vous plait? ➔ Could you repeat that please?
Asking What is Your Name? in French
Comment t'appelles-tu? ➔ What's your name?
Comment vous appelez-vous? ➔ What is your name?
Tu t'appelle comment? ➔ What do you call yourself?
Je m'appelle (name) ➔ My name is (name)
Je suis (name) ➔ I am (name)
Question Words in French
Who ➔ Qui
What ➔ Qu'est-ce que
When ➔ Quand
Where ➔ Où
Why ➔ Pourquoi
How ➔ Comment
Other Useful French Sentences
(Comment) ça va? ➔ How are you?
Excusez-moi. ➔ Excuse me.
Je suis désolé(e). ➔ I'm sorry.
Où est le distributeur automatique? ➔ Where is the ATM?
Où sont les toilettes? ➔ Where are the toilets?
Qu'est-ce que c'est? ➔ What is it?
This list of common French words and phrases was last updated on March 17, 2025.
Next Up
French Numbers: Learn how to say number words in French.
Perhaps you want to learn common words and phrases in these other languages?
Afrikaans, Arabic, Bengali, Bosnian, Burmese, Dutch, Filipino, Finnish, French, Gaelic, German, Greek, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Lithuanian, Malay, Mandarin, Maori, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Somali, Spanish, Swedish, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Vietnamese.
The Fine Print