Starting French can feel like you’re handed a bag of random words and told to just talk, but you need the ones that actually show up at the boulangerie, in your first chat, or on a street sign. This CEFR-aligned A1 list gathers around 800 practical French words you’ll lean on daily-no dusty textbook relics, just useful vocabulary that gets you through real situations.
Each word comes with a straightforward meaning and an everyday example sentence, so you see exactly how it behaves in the wild. There’s audio playback too, because your ears need practice just as much as your eyes. Work through the table at your own speed, and when you’re ready to study offline, grab the free PDF using the button right below the table.
If this topic helped, explore more in our French learning section. it’s the easiest way to keep building related vocabulary without jumping around the web.
Quick Quiz
Think you’ve already locked in these 800 words? Take the quiz below-it’s a friendly nudge to see which ones still need a little love.
Browse the Full List
| Grammar Word | Type | Meaning | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dieu | Noun | God | |
| dieu | Noun | god, deity, divinity | |
| difficile | Adjective | difficult, hard, tough, challenging | |
| dire | Verb | say, tell | |
| dix | Other | ten | |
| docteur | Noun | Ph.D. | |
| dôme | Noun | dome | |
| donc | Conjunction | therefore, so | |
| donner | Verb | give, donate | |
| dont | Noun | whose, which | |
| dormir | Verb | sleep | |
| dos | Other | back | |
| doublure | Noun | twin | |
| doute | Noun | doubt | |
| doyen | Noun | dean | |
| dring | Noun | ring | |
| droguer | Verb | drug | |
| droit | Adjective | right, right-hand | |
| drôle | Adjective | funny | |
| dur | Other | hard, tough | |
| durement | Verb | hard | |
| eau | Noun | water | |
| écharpe | Noun | sash | |
| écho | Noun | echo | |
| école | Noun | school |
