French small talk vocabulary: 299 words
Everyday greetings, polite phrases and small talk to sound natural fast (English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese). This page lists 40 of them with their French translations, then lets you practise the full set in either direction with spaced repetition.
English to French: the first 40 words
| English | French | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| hello | bonjour | |
| goodbye | au revoir | |
| good morning | bonjour | |
| good afternoon | bon après-midi | |
| good evening | bonsoir | |
| good night | bonne nuit | Said when someone is going to bed, not a greeting. |
| please | s'il vous plaît | |
| thank you | merci | |
| you're welcome | de rien | |
| excuse me | excusez-moi | |
| sorry | désolé | |
| yes | oui | |
| no | non | |
| maybe | peut-être | |
| of course | bien sûr | |
| How are you? | Comment ça va ? | |
| I'm fine | je vais bien | |
| And you? | Et toi ? | |
| nice to meet you | enchanté | |
| What's your name? | Comment tu t'appelles ? | |
| My name is... | je m'appelle... | |
| Where are you from? | D'où viens-tu ? | |
| I'm from... | je viens de... | |
| How old are you? | Quel âge as-tu ? | |
| Do you speak English? | Parles-tu anglais ? | |
| I don't understand | je ne comprends pas | |
| Can you repeat that? | Peux-tu répéter ? | |
| Speak slowly, please | parle lentement, s'il te plaît | |
| What do you do? | Que fais-tu dans la vie ? | Asking about someone's job or profession. |
| How's the weather? | Quel temps fait-il ? | |
| It's sunny | il fait soleil | |
| It's raining | il pleut | |
| It's cold | il fait froid | |
| It's hot | il fait chaud | |
| Have a nice day | bonne journée | |
| See you later | à plus tard | |
| See you tomorrow | à demain | |
| Take care | prends soin de toi | |
| Welcome | bienvenue | |
| Congratulations | félicitations |
259 more words in the full “Small Talk & Greetings” library, each aligned across seven languages and scheduled for you by spaced repetition. Add it to your account and start drilling English to French in one click.
What to watch out for in French
- Accents count. Answers are graded accent-sensitively, so you need
àâçéèêîïô— LinguaSwap shows a one-tap keypad for them while you type. - 95 words carry a usage note in the full library, for the cases where a direct translation would mislead you.
Practise French small talk vocabulary
Words come back just before you would forget them, and every language direction is tracked separately.