🇫🇷 Free French Vocabulary Flashcards
8 beginner decks covering the 157 most useful French words — every word listed below with its English translation, free to read and free to study with spaced repetition.
Start studying free →Why start with these French words?
French pronunciation looks intimidating on paper — silent letters, nasal vowels, liaisons — which is exactly why beginners should start with a small set of high-frequency words and learn them by sound. The decks above cover the essentials: greetings, numbers, food, travel and the verbs that hold sentences together. Work through them with spaced repetition, ten words a day, and pair each card with its spoken sound rather than its spelling. French shares thousands of words with English (restaurant, hotel, important), so once the core vocabulary clicks, reading French becomes surprisingly manageable — the hard part is the ear, and these first words train it.
How to study these decks
Read a deck below to preview every word, then sign up free to study it with spaced repetition — the method that schedules each card back right before you would forget it. Ten words a day is the sweet spot: enough to progress fast, small enough to sustain. Say each word out loud as you go, and practise English → French as well as the easier direction, because that is the one that lets you speak. For the method behind it, see our guide to learning a language with flashcards.
Numbers 1–20 20 cards
Counting is the first superpower in any language — prices, times, quantities and phone numbers all run on these twenty words.
| English | French (Français) |
|---|---|
| one | un |
| two | deux |
| three | trois |
| four | quatre |
| five | cinq |
| six | six |
| seven | sept |
| eight | huit |
| nine | neuf |
| ten | dix |
| eleven | onze |
| twelve | douze |
| thirteen | treize |
| fourteen | quatorze |
| fifteen | quinze |
| sixteen | seize |
| seventeen | dix-sept |
| eighteen | dix-huit |
| nineteen | dix-neuf |
| twenty | vingt |
Greetings & Basics 18 cards
The polite essentials: hello, thank you, please, sorry — the twenty phrases that set the tone of every conversation you'll ever have.
| English | French (Français) |
|---|---|
| hello / good day | bonjour |
| good evening | bonsoir |
| hi (casual) | salut |
| goodbye | au revoir |
| see you soon | à bientôt |
| please (formal) | s'il vous plaît |
| thank you | merci |
| you're welcome | de rien |
| yes | oui |
| no | non |
| excuse me | pardon |
| I'm sorry | désolé(e) |
| how's it going? | comment ça va ? |
| fine, thanks | ça va bien, merci |
| nice to meet you | enchanté(e) |
| I don't understand | je ne comprends pas |
| do you speak English? | parlez-vous anglais ? |
| good night | bonne nuit |
Days & Months 20 cards
Plans, bookings and birthdays: the days of the week and months of the year, plus 'today' — the vocabulary of every calendar conversation.
| English | French (Français) |
|---|---|
| Monday | lundi |
| Tuesday | mardi |
| Wednesday | mercredi |
| Thursday | jeudi |
| Friday | vendredi |
| Saturday | samedi |
| Sunday | dimanche |
| January | janvier |
| February | février |
| March | mars |
| April | avril |
| May | mai |
| June | juin |
| July | juillet |
| August | août |
| September | septembre |
| October | octobre |
| November | novembre |
| December | décembre |
| today | aujourd'hui |
Family Words 19 cards
Mother, brother, grandmother, friend — the people words that come up in every getting-to-know-you conversation.
| English | French (Français) |
|---|---|
| mother | la mère |
| father | le père |
| brother | le frère |
| sister | la sœur |
| son | le fils |
| daughter | la fille |
| grandfather | le grand-père |
| grandmother | la grand-mère |
| uncle | l'oncle |
| aunt | la tante |
| cousin | le cousin / la cousine |
| wife | la femme |
| husband | le mari |
| family | la famille |
| friend (m) | l'ami |
| friend (f) | l'amie |
| child | l'enfant |
| baby | le bébé |
| parents | les parents |
Food & Drink 20 cards
Menus, markets and breakfast tables: the core food and drink words you'll use every single day abroad.
| English | French (Français) |
|---|---|
| water | l'eau |
| bread | le pain |
| milk | le lait |
| coffee | le café |
| tea | le thé |
| beer | la bière |
| wine | le vin |
| cheese | le fromage |
| egg | l'œuf |
| meat | la viande |
| chicken | le poulet |
| fish | le poisson |
| rice | le riz |
| fruit | le fruit |
| apple | la pomme |
| vegetables | les légumes |
| salt | le sel |
| sugar | le sucre |
| breakfast | le petit-déjeuner |
| dinner | le dîner |
Travel & Directions 20 cards
Airports, tickets, left and right: the survival kit for getting anywhere — and for asking where anywhere is.
| English | French (Français) |
|---|---|
| airport | l'aéroport |
| train | le train |
| bus | le bus |
| car | la voiture |
| ticket | le billet |
| hotel | l'hôtel |
| beach | la plage |
| city | la ville |
| street | la rue |
| map | la carte |
| left | à gauche |
| right | à droite |
| straight ahead | tout droit |
| near | près |
| far | loin |
| where is…? | où est… ? |
| station | la gare |
| luggage | les bagages |
| passport | le passeport |
| help | au secours / de l'aide |
Colours & Adjectives 20 cards
Colours plus the little describing words — big, small, new, expensive — that make your sentences suddenly specific.
| English | French (Français) |
|---|---|
| red | rouge |
| blue | bleu |
| green | vert |
| yellow | jaune |
| black | noir |
| white | blanc |
| orange | orange |
| pink | rose |
| purple | violet |
| grey | gris |
| brown | marron |
| big | grand |
| small | petit |
| new | nouveau |
| old | vieux |
| beautiful | beau |
| ugly | laid |
| expensive | cher |
| cheap | pas cher |
| good | bon |
20 Most Useful Verbs 20 cards
To be, to have, to want, to go: the twenty verbs that power the majority of everyday sentences.
| English | French (Français) |
|---|---|
| to be | être |
| to have | avoir |
| to do / make | faire |
| to go | aller |
| to come | venir |
| to want | vouloir |
| to be able to | pouvoir |
| to speak | parler |
| to eat | manger |
| to drink | boire |
| to live (reside) | habiter |
| to see | voir |
| to know (facts) | savoir |
| to give | donner |
| to say | dire |
| to work | travailler |
| to buy | acheter |
| to love / like | aimer |
| to sleep | dormir |
| to take | prendre |