Learning French vocabulary

There are about 100,000 French words according to the dictionary. Even native French speakers have trouble learning them all, but to be considered fluent, it's essential to know at least some common French words and phrases.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re learning French for business or for fun, there's no secret to building vocabulary: reading will help you learn more. However, it is possible to spice up your learning process with other activities.

If you are under the impression that reading isn't sufficient, mayhaps you ought to try Frantastique: the first seven days are free!

How Frantastique can help me learn French words faster

Our short, 10-minute lessons are sent on a daily basis so that you can focus on learning instead of planning to learn. No cramming involved: our spaced learning approach helps you retain the words you learn over the long term.

Vocabulary is a serious matter, but you can make it fun with Frantastique. Our lessons are story-driven - you don't just learn from a vocabulary list, you learn with context. Solidify the vocabulary you’ve built up, and learn more efficiently with our artificial intelligence engine.

You’ll learn some 12,000 words & phrases listed below with our online French course.

Already know a word? Nor a problem. Our daily lessons are also personalized based on what you know and what you need to know. You get to tailor your own learning experience easily, without fuss.

Frantastique delivers short, personalized and fun lessons. Our goal: your motivation, participation and progress.

How to improve my French vocabulary

Practice makes perfect. Sorry, we don’t make the rules. Some effort is required to speak naturally, construct sentences, and keep your language skills sharp. Back in the days of classroom learning, people used flashcards, repeated words and phrases and tried to memorize sentences through brute force. Nowadays we can learn the French language with a bit of patience, a computer or mobile device, and probably a credit or debit card.

Learning basic French words should be a pleasure, not a chore. You should have fun speaking French and talking to native French speakers and locals. It should be easy to complain about the number of scooters on the road and the rising price of croissants. Using Frantastique will make improving your French vocabulary and repeting and remembering words and phrases easy and fun!

Where do French words come from?

French is widely acknowledged as a Romance language and bears certain similarities to English due to the evolution of the English language from "Old English," which was a Germanic language (influenced by Celtic), to "Middle English," also known as Anglo-Norman French. This transformation occurred after the Norman Conquest of 1066, when William the Conqueror invaded the region now recognized as Britain.

Romance languages include Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Italian. These languages have their roots in Latin, which is why they are also called Latin languages. Latin and Greek are some of the oldest languages of record.

Did you know? Some French words don’t have English equivalents, like for example dépaysé, while other French words do have equivalents, for example un chat is “a cat”. Don't forget that some English words don't have French equivalents. Such is the case with "shallow", "siblings" or "feedback".

Also, many words share the same spelling and meaning between English and French, such as "garage", "restaurant" or "original", while others share the same meaning with sometimes (very) similar spellings. Take for instance "patrol" / patrouille or "family" and famille.

And then, there are some words called "false friends" which share the same spelling between the two languages but don't have the same meaning, such as "chair" or "pain". Read more about false friends.

Words & phrases you can learn with Frantastique

No, not just letters.

Click on any of the letters below to see the full extent of the words you can learn with us.

Further reading

Do you need more than words? Sounds Extreme. We've got you covered!

Frantastique goes beyond words. Grammar, tenses, phrases, business vocabulary, culture... you can learn it all with our online French course.

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