25 Common French Phrases (and the Replies You'll Hear Back)

The most useful common French phrases are bonjour (hello), s’il vous plaît (please), merci (thank you), excusez-moi (excuse me), je voudrais… (I would like…), je ne comprends pas (I don’t understand), and au revoir (goodbye). With those seven you can open, manage and close most everyday exchanges.

Below are 25 phrases organized by conversation moment - not a flat alphabetical dump - each with pronunciation and, crucially, the reply you’re likely to hear back.

Learn all 25 with native audio and spaced repetition. Get it on the App Store or Google Play.

Opening a conversation (1–5)

For the full etiquette behind greetings, see 10 ways to say hello in French.

Asking for things (6–11)

When you don’t understand (12–16)

This block is the one to actually memorize as a set - these five phrases keep any conversation alive when your French runs out mid-sentence.

For the deeper version of this toolkit, see how do you say… in French.

Reacting and keeping it flowing (17–21)

Closing politely (22–25)

See every way to say goodbye in French for the full family of exit phrases.

How to memorize these fast

Chunk by moment rather than trying to learn all 25 at once - master “opening” this week, “asking” next week, and so on. Go audio-first so the phrases enter your ear correctly the first time, and review with spaced repetition rather than one-off memorization; see spaced repetition for French vocabulary.