🆅 20 expressions essentielles – 20 key phrases
Les 20 phrases les plus importantes à connaitre en français
The 20 most important phrases to know in French
Écrit par / Written by: Anthony Lucas
Dernière révision / Last update: 18 April 2024
The goal of this lesson is not so much to understand every word you pronounce or the grammatical structure of these sentences but to memorise key words and expressions that will help you to survive.
C’est parti ! Here we go!
I hope you’re ready for your first French lesson! You’ll see, these are just 20 expressions or phrases, so not too many to start with. But these phrases will be super useful for the rest of your French life 🇫🇷😜.
Listen carefully to the audio clips 🎧 and try to repeat them as accurately as possible, as many times as you like.
👍🏼 Oui, non, d’accord : the 3 most important words for this first French lesson for beginners
| 🇫🇷 French | 🇬🇧 English | |
|---|---|---|
| oui | yes | |
| non | no | |
| d’accord | ok |
🤷 Quoiiii ? – Whaaaat?
From the French movie Les 3 Frères
🇫🇷 Didier Bourdon est un humoriste et acteur français connu depuis les années 90 avec le trio comique Les Inconnus.
🇬🇧 Didier Bourdon is a French comedian and actor known since the 90s with the comedy trio Les Inconnus.
For you first French lesson, you need to learn the essential French phrases, allowing you to say at least that you do not speak French!
| 🇫🇷 French | 🇬🇧 English | |
|---|---|---|
| Je suis désolé, je ne comprends pas. | I’m sorry, I don’t understand. | |
| Je ne sais pas. | I don’t know. | |
| Je ne parle pas français. | I don’t speak French. | |
| Je ne parle pas français très bien. | I don’t speak French very well. | |
| Je parle un peu français. | I speak a little French. | |
| Vous parlez anglais ? | Do you speak English? | |
| Vous pouvez répéter s’il vous plait ? | Can you repeat please? | |
| Répétez s’il vous plait. | Repeat please. | |
| Pardon ? | I beg you pardon? | |
| Parlez moins vite s’il vous plait. | Speak slower (less fast) please. |
🇫🇷 Dans l’épisode 21 de la saison 17 de la série Les Simpson, Bart écrit “Je ne parle pas français.” sur le tableau noir pendant le générique.
🇬🇧 In episode 21 of season 17 of The Simpsons, Bart writes “Je ne parle pas français.” on the blackboard during the credits.
Bart Simpson writes (without fail) in French that he doesn’t speak French
🙋🏽 Phrases françaises incontournables pendant les cours de français – Must know French phrases during French lessons
| 🇫🇷 French | 🇬🇧 English | |
| Ça veut dire quoi “merci” ? | What does “merci” mean? | |
| Comment on dit “thank you” en français ? | How do you say “thank you” in French? |
🚨 Phrases françaises indispensables en cas d’urgence ! – Essential French sentences in case of emergency!
French comedian at Montreux Comedy Festival
🇫🇷 Le Montreux Comedy Festival a été fondé en 1989. C’est un festival d’humour se déroulant chaque année au début du mois de décembre à Montreux dans le canton de Vaud, en Suisse.
🇬🇧 The Montreux Comedy Festival was founded in 1989. It is a comedy festival that takes place every year at the beginning of December in Montreux in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland.
| 🇫🇷 French | 🇬🇧 English | |
| À l’aide ! Au secours ! | Help! | |
| Stop ! Arrêtez ! | Stop! | |
| Où sont les toilettes ? | Where are the toilets? |
🫴🏼 Je voudrais … – I would like…
This first French lesson for beginners also gives you the tools to express what you want by saying the magic words Je voudrais. Then you can point at what you want and say ça 🫵🏼.
| 🇫🇷 French | 🇬🇧 English | |
| Je voudrais … | I would like… | |
| Je voudrais ça. | I would like that. |
À RETENIR
WORTH REMEMBERING
Congratulations! You’ve just completed your first French lesson 🥳
You’re off to a great start as you can already tell that you don’t speak (or speak little / or badly) French. You can at least say yes (oui) or no (non) and you can ask very useful questions.
Come back to this lesson and listen to the pronunciation as often as you need to.
Nothing can stop you now 😉
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