1000 Most Common French Words.
Vocabulary Builder
The 1,000 words that make up about 70% of everyday written French, grouped by theme and by the patterns that link French to English, each with IPA, an easy English respelling and three example sentences glossed word by word.
302 pages · Paperback & Kindle · Beginner
an example sentence from the entry for ville (town, city)
Patterns, not lists.
One thousand high-frequency words in three Parts: the essential grammar words, the words that look like English, and the rest by theme.
You know more French than you think. A core of just 1,000 words makes up about 70% of everyday written French, and hundreds of them already look familiar because they resemble English: table is table, forêt is forest, liberté is liberty.
This frequency reader is built around those connections. It opens with the small grammar words that hold every sentence together, then sorts the lookalikes by the pattern that links each set to its English cousin: identical twins spelled the same in both languages (table, simple, image), the "ghost s" hiding in forêt and bête, predictable endings like liberté and musique. The rest of the thousand follow by everyday theme, so related words stay together instead of scattering down a frequency list.
Every entry gives the meaning, the IPA and an easy English respelling with the stressed syllable in capitals, then three example sentences glossed word by word with a natural translation underneath, so the grammar arrives with the vocabulary. Three short guides come first: how to pronounce French, the words most likely to fool you (pain is bread, coin is a corner), and the everyday phrases French builds differently, from j'ai faim (I'm hungry) to j'ai mal à la tête (I have a headache). The key irregular verbs carry a conjugation table, and each Part ends with a test, with the answers at the back.
- 01Identical twinsWords spelled the same in English and French: table, simple, image
- 02The ghost sA circumflex often marks an s that English kept: forêt is forest, bête is beast
- 03Predictable endingsSuffixes that translate themselves: liberté is liberty, musique is music
- 04Three sentences per entryReal usage with literal interlinear glosses and natural translations
- 05Three guides up frontHow to pronounce French, Words That Fool You (false friends and double meanings) and Say It the French Way (everyday phrases English builds differently)
- 06Verb tables, tests and answersShort tables for the key irregular verbs, a test at the end of each Part, and the answer key at the back
A few entries carry a short usage note under the meaning, for words whose behaviour matters more than their translation: how de shortens to d' before a vowel, or which verbs take être.
Why this edition.
Start from what you know
Hundreds of the most common French words look like English ones. Learning them in pattern groups turns memorisation into recognition.
Built on frequency
These 1,000 words make up about 70% of everyday written French, and a running total at the end of every chapter shows how much of it the words so far account for.
Sound right from day one
Every word carries its IPA and an easy English respelling with the stressed syllable in capitals, and a guide up front covers nasal vowels, silent final letters and liaison, so the sounds are learned with the spelling instead of guessed from it.
Warned about the traps
A page of false friends and double meanings catches the words most likely to fool you: pain is bread, coin is a corner, and voler means both to fly and to steal. A second page shows the everyday phrases French builds differently, like j'ai faim for I'm hungry.
Grammar by exposure
Three glossed example sentences per entry show each word working in real French, word order, agreement and idiom included. The key irregular verbs add a short table: present, imperfect, future and passé composé.
the three example sentences for ville (town, city). A thousand entries read like this
The details.
- Series
- Vocabulary Builder
- Language pair
- French–English interlinear
- Format
- Paperback & Kindle
- Print length
- 302 pages
- Coverage
- 1,000 headwords, about 70% of everyday written French; 3,000 example sentences
- Level
- Beginner (A1–A2)
- Published
- June 2026, revised October 2026
- ASIN
- B0HMNSMWJQ
More in French.
Every edition is glossed by hand, word by word, and printed on demand by Amazon.
Unlock everyday French one word at a time, with every example glossed word by word.
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