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.
Understanding Greetings, Numbers & Common Phrases
French politeness is built into grammar, not just vocabulary. The choice between tu and vous affects the subject word, the verb ending, and sometimes the possessive words used later in the sentence. Tu is normally for one person in a familiar setting.
Vous is used for an adult, a stranger, a teacher, or more than one person. Starting with vous is usually the safe choice when the relationship is unclear. A speaker may later invite someone to use tu.
Students should listen for this change rather than assuming that everyone their age uses the same level of formality. Names matter too. In more formal situations, a family name with Monsieur or Madame can show respect.
French spelling does not always tell an English speaker exactly what to say. Many final consonants are silent, but some become audible when the next word begins with a vowel. This linking is called liaison.
It makes spoken French sound connected rather than like separate printed words. Nasal vowel sounds are another important feature. In words such as bon and un, air passes through the nose as well as the mouth.
These sounds need practice by listening and copying whole words. Do not try to pronounce every letter.
Recordings from a teacher or trusted French audio source are more useful than guessing from spelling. Saying short phrases aloud many times builds the mouth movements needed for clear speech.
Numbers appear in prices, dates, room numbers, scores, phone numbers, bus routes, and times. They need more than memorising a list. Students should notice how a number is built from parts, then say the parts smoothly as one unit.
Some number words change their spelling depending on what follows. Un becomes une before a feminine noun. Cent takes a final s only when it means an exact number of hundreds and no other number follows.
Vingt can take a final s in an exact multiple of twenty, but it loses that s when another number comes after it. These details matter most in writing. In speech, careful rhythm helps listeners separate long numbers.
Some French-speaking regions use words such as septante or nonante, while school materials often teach the forms used in France. Both systems reflect real French use.
Basic conversations work best as connected turns, not isolated phrases. A greeting is followed by a response, then a name, a short comment, or a polite closing. Learning small response pairs helps students react without translating every word in their head.
Useful classroom repair language includes pardon, je ne comprends pas, and pouvez-vous répéter. These phrases let a learner stay involved when they miss something. Pay attention to word order in simple statements.
French usually places the subject before the verb, and negatives place ne before the verb with pas after it. Build accuracy slowly with short sentences first. A brief, understandable sentence spoken politely is more useful than a long sentence that cannot be followed.