French: How to Say It

This is a phrasebook and a map of French sentences in one page. First, 138 phrases for the situations you meet first, each with a play button and a note on when to use it. Then 33 sentence patterns, the frames that most everyday sentences are built on. Last, a one-page survival sheet you can print or keep on your phone.

Your device has no French voice, so the play buttons are hidden.

Phrases by topic

Pick a topic. Each phrase has a note on formality: who you can say it to, and where a region says it differently. When in doubt with a stranger, choose the polite form; nobody minds being treated with respect.

The French here is the standard taught in schools and understood everywhere, spelled as in France. Where Belgium, Switzerland, Quebec or West and Central Africa say it differently, the note names both; neither is more correct.

French has two ways to say “you” to one person: tu, for friends, family, children and people your age, and vous, for strangers, older people and work. Vous is also the plural for everyone. When in doubt, start with vous; the other person will often offer tu (on peut se tutoyer ?). Many phrases have one form for a man and one for a woman, written side by side: enchanté, enchantée.

Sentence patterns

A pattern is a frame you can fill with your own words. Each one below shows the structure, an example you can play, its translation and a note on the catch. Filter by level to see what to learn first: the A1 patterns are enough to ask, answer, refuse and want things; A2 adds the past and comparisons; B1 adds opinions, wishes and conditions.

Practising out loud

• Shadow the phrases. Play one, then say it at the same speed, twice. Your mouth learns the rhythm before your head learns the grammar.
• Swap one word. Take a pattern and change one piece: a different place, a different person, a different time. Ten variations of one frame teach more than ten new frames.
• Learn the repair phrases first. Sorry?, more slowly and how do you say…? keep a conversation going when everything else fails.
• Mind the formality. Use the polite forms with strangers, older people and at work until someone invites you to switch.

Survival sheet

The phrases you would want on a card in your pocket on a first trip, on one page. Print it, or take a screenshot.

What sticks

• A handful of whole phrases carries you through greetings, shops, transport and emergencies.
• Patterns are frames: learn the structure once and fill it with any words you know.
• Use the polite form with strangers; the notes tell you where regions differ.
• The repair phrases (sorry?, slower, how do you say…?) are the most useful sentences you will learn.
• Say everything aloud; play, repeat, swap one word, repeat.