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French · Starter pack
French is a Romance language written in the Latin alphabet, with gendered nouns and a spelling system that hides more letters than it sounds.
Hear how French says its own name
First words
The middle column is an approximation built from English sounds — close enough to be understood, not a strict transcription.
| French | Say it like | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bonjour | bon-ZHOOR | Hello / good morning | |
| Bonsoir | bon-SWAHR | Good evening | |
| Salut | sa-LOO | Hi (to a friend) | |
| Comment ça va ? | ko-mon sa VA | How are you? | |
| Ça va bien, merci | sa va bee-AN, mair-SEE | I am well, thank you | |
| Enchanté / Enchantée | on-shon-TAY | Pleased to meet you (man / woman speaking) | |
| Au revoir | oh ruh-VWAHR | Goodbye | |
| Bonne nuit | bon NWEE | Good night |
The polite basics
Ten phrases that carry a beginner through a shop, a station and an introduction.
| French | Say it like | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| S'il vous plaît | seel voo PLEH | Please | |
| Merci beaucoup | mair-SEE boh-KOO | Thank you very much | |
| Excusez-moi | ex-koo-zay MWAH | Excuse me | |
| Je suis désolé(e) | zhuh swee day-zo-LAY | I am sorry | |
| Je m'appelle… | zhuh ma-PELL | My name is… | |
| Parlez-vous anglais ? | par-lay voo on-GLEH | Do you speak English? | |
| Je ne comprends pas | zhuh nuh kom-PRON pah | I do not understand | |
| Combien ça coûte ? | kom-bee-AN sa KOOT | How much does it cost? | |
| Où est la gare ? | oo eh la GAR | Where is the station? | |
| Je voudrais de l'eau, s'il vous plaît | zhuh voo-DREH duh LOH, seel voo PLEH | I would like some water, please |
Counting
Prices, platforms, dates and phone numbers all start here.
Good to know
This is the ten-minute version: the greetings, phrases and numbers a beginner can use this afternoon, held on the page rather than fetched. The full French tutorial — a thousand words, three hundred phrases and five hundred conversations, with your progress kept — is the language’s main page.