100 Most Important French Sentences: Part 1
100 Most Important French Phrases is a perfect way to start your French language learning.
100 sentences doesn't mean 100 words ! It is more than that. Some of the words will repeat though and some of them won't belong to the 100 most important words list that you may find on the Internet. (I will publish an article about that soon). What I wanted was to create 100 simple, ready to use sentences that you will need as a beginner and which will form a base and a support for futher learning.
If you have no previous experience with the French language, this is the place to start.
Important !
There is a new post with all 100 Essential Sentences and Expressions in one article. There are also some interactive exercises and a pdf to download. Click on the link or the image below.
Almost of the sentences concern the first person (I) to help you express the most important things concerning YOU. These can be easily transformed to ask for information about your speaker.
The sentences are divided into categories. Starting from the given examples you may create even more than 100 sentences by changing the personal pronoun and the verb conjugation or by forming questions and answers.
Here is the first 10 sentences from the category: speaking about yourself.
Speaking About Yourself 1
| French | English Translation | Explanation | |
| 1 |
Je suis américain. (man) Je suis américaine. (woman) |
I am American. | In general, you need to add “e” to an adjective to get the feminine form. There are two genders in French: masculine and feminine. Thus: "un américain" but "une américaine", "un ami anglais" but "une amie française". |
| 2 |
Vous êtes français Vous êtes française. |
You are French. | In formal speech to be polite with people you don’t know (adults), you need to use “Vous”, the plural form of the personal pronoun, instead of the informal "tu" reserved for the people you know, your friends and the people younger than you in general. |
| 3 | Tu es américain et elle est anglaise. | You are French. | Between friends, kids and people you know you use “tu” (you). |
| 4 | J’habite à New York. | I live in New York. |
Verb “habiter” means “to live”. Je + habite becomes “J’habite”, the “h” is silent here. |
| 5 | Où habitez-vous ? | Where do you live ? |
The formal way of asking questions in French is to switch the verb and the subject. But there are other more common ways to ask questions: by adding "est-ce que" or simply raising your intonation ? |
| 6 |
On habite aux Etats-Unis. Nous habitons aux Etas-Unis. |
We live in the United States. |
“On” is the common ways of saying “we” or “nous” in French. In spoken French you will hear "on" instead of "nous" 99% of the time. |
| 7 | Je m’appelle John. | My name is John. |
Literally “I call myself John”. “s’appeler” (se appeler) is one of the “pronominal verbs” which are very common in Romance languages. “S’appeler" is also the verb with the “er” ending, the simplest and the most common type of verb to conjugate. Look at the difference between this sentence (7) and the next one (8) in terms of conjugation. You need to add "s" in the second person singular. The pronunciation stays the same however. |
| 8 |
Comment t’appelles-tu ? Comment tu t'appelles ? (intonation) |
What's your name ? | Literally “How do you call yourself ?” te + appelles = t'appelles. There can't be two vowels next to each other. It makes the pronunciation easier. |
| 9 | D’où viens-tu ? |
Where do you come from ? / Where are you from ? |
“Tu viens” comes from the verb “venir”, to come. |
| 10 | Je viens du Royaume Uni. | I come from the United Kingdom. |
“venir de” (to come from) + le Royaume Uni = venir du Royaume Uni. So, "de + le" = du. |
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