Your first ten French words: how to say hello, goodbye, please, thank you, yes and no, with a pronunciation respelling for every one. You also meet the two words for "you" — tu for a friend, vous for being polite — a distinction French keeps for life, so it starts on day one.
| French | English | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| bonjour | hello / good day | boh(n)-ZHOOR |
| salutfriends and family only | hi (casual) | sah-LEW |
| au revoir | goodbye | oh ruh-VWAHR |
| bonne nuit | good night | bun NWEE |
| merci | thank you | mehr-SEE |
| s’il te plaît | please (to a friend) | seel tuh PLEH |
| s’il vous plaît | please (polite) | seel voo PLEH |
| oui | yes | wee |
| non | no | noh(n) |
| pardon | excuse me / sorry | pahr-DOH(n) |
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
French has a friend-form and a polite-form. Use tu with family, friends and other children; use vous with adults you do not know, teachers and shopkeepers. The please-phrases above come in both flavors — pick the one that matches the person in front of you.
Where you see (n), the vowel goes through your nose and your lips never close on the n. Say "bonjour" as boh(n)-ZHOOR — no hard n sound, the way "song" has no hard g.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.
New lessons and French workbook news, first
One email when the numbers change. Double opt-in, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.