English to French Common Words and Phrases
When learning a new language or taking a quick refresher course, it's important to learn the most basic commonly spoken words and phrases.
This page is filled with basic words to know in French, with English translations. There are English to French translations for yes and no, please and thank you, asking if a person speaks English or French, asking and giving a person's name, question words, and more.
Note: Words in bold added during the last update. You can also view this list of common words and phrases from English to French.
Yes and No:
Yes ➔ Oui
No ➔ Non
Please and Thank You:
Please ➔ S'il te plaît
Please ➔ S'il vous plaît
Thanks (a lot) ➔ Merci (beaucoup)
I thank you ➔ Je vous remercie
You're welcome ➔ De rien
Do You Speak English? / French?
Do you speak English? ➔ Est-ce que vous parlez anglais?
Do you speak French? ➔ Est-ce que vous parlez français?
I speak French a little ➔ Je parle le français un peu
I speak a little bit of French ➔ Je parle un petit peut de français
I don't understand. ➔ Je ne comprends pas.
Could you repeat that please? ➔ Pourriez-vous répéter s'il vous plait?
What is Your Name?
What's your name? ➔ Comment t'appelles-tu?
What is your name? ➔ Comment vous appelez-vous?
What do you call yourself? ➔ Tu t'appelle comment?
My name is (name) ➔ Je m'appelle (name)
I am (name) ➔ Je suis (name)
Question Words:
Qui ➔ Who
Qu'est-ce que ➔ What
Quand ➔ When
Où ➔ Where
Pourquoi ➔ Why
Comment ➔ How
Other Useful Questions and Phrases:
Excuse me. ➔ Excusez-moi.
How are you? ➔ (Comment) ça va?
I'm sorry. ➔ Je suis désolé(e).
What is it? ➔ Qu'est-ce que c'est?
Where are the toilets? ➔ Où sont les toilettes?
Where is the ATM? ➔ Où est le distributeur automatique?
*Basic words list last updated: April 7, 2018.
Next Up
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, Dutch, Filipino, French, Gaelic, German, Greek, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Indonesian, Irish, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Lithuanian, Malay, Mandarin, Maori, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Somali, Spanish, Swedish, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Vietnamese.