French beginners improve faster when they focus on words that appear constantly in speech and text.
Use this starter list as your launch point before moving into the full 1000-word path.
20 most common French words for beginners
- le - the (masculine)
- de - of/from
- un - a/an (masculine)
- etre - to be
- et - and
- a - to/at
- il - he/it
- avoir - to have
- ne - not
- je - I
- son - his/her/its
- que - that
- se - oneself
- qui - who/that
- ce - this/that
- dans - in
- en - in
- du - of the/some
- elle - she/it
- au - to the/at the
Common Words helps you learn high-frequency vocabulary in short sessions with pronunciation, translations, and examples.