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Greetings, Numbers & Common Phrases Cheat Sheet
A printable reference covering French greetings, numbers, polite expressions, classroom phrases, and basic conversation patterns for grades 6-10.
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This cheat sheet covers essential French greetings, numbers, and everyday phrases that students use in first conversations. It helps students recognize polite expressions, introduce themselves, ask simple questions, and respond appropriately. A clear reference is useful because French spelling, pronunciation, and formality rules can be hard to remember at first. The most important ideas are when to use formal or informal language, how to count accurately, and how to build short sentence patterns. Students should know greetings such as bonjour, salut, and au revoir, plus polite words like merci and s'il vous plaît. Number patterns, especially from 70 to 99, need extra practice because they use addition and multiplication ideas in French.
Key Facts
- Bonjour means hello or good morning, and bonsoir means good evening.
- Salut means hi or bye and is used with friends, classmates, or people you know well.
- Au revoir means goodbye, while à bientôt means see you soon.
- Merci means thank you, and de rien means you are welcome.
- S'il vous plaît is the formal or plural way to say please, and s'il te plaît is the informal singular way to say please.
- The numbers 0 to 10 are zéro, un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix.
- For 21, 31, 41, 51, and 61, French uses et un, as in vingt et un for 21.
- French numbers from 70 to 99 use patterns such as soixante-dix for 70, quatre-vingts for 80, and quatre-vingt-dix for 90.
Vocabulary
- Bonjour
- A common greeting that means hello or good morning.
- Salut
- An informal word that can mean hi or bye.
- Au revoir
- A standard phrase used to say goodbye.
- S'il vous plaît
- A polite formal or plural phrase that means please.
- Merci
- A polite word that means thank you.
- Nombre
- A French word that means number.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Using salut with adults or strangers, which is wrong because salut is informal and should be used with friends or familiar people.
- Forgetting accents in words like ça and bientôt, which is wrong because accents can change pronunciation and are part of correct spelling.
- Translating numbers word for word from English, which is wrong because French uses special patterns such as soixante-dix for 70 and quatre-vingts for 80.
- Using s'il te plaît with a teacher or unfamiliar adult, which is wrong because the formal phrase is s'il vous plaît.
- Answering ça va with only oui every time, which is incomplete because common responses include ça va bien, comme ci comme ça, or ça ne va pas.
Practice Questions
- 1 Write these numbers in French: 7, 14, 21, 35.
- 2 Write these French numbers as digits: douze, vingt-neuf, soixante-dix, quatre-vingt-trois.
- 3 Translate these phrases into French: hello, thank you, see you soon, please.
- 4 A student greets a teacher with salut and asks for help using s'il te plaît. Explain what should be changed and why.