French for your first 48 hours in France

Bonjour is a useful first word at a French shop counter. It opens the exchange before you ask for something, and that small pause is worth remembering when you are tired and concentrating on the question. The first two days bring plenty of similar details: the word on the station board, the kind of receipt you need, the way you ask whether a kitchen is still serving. This page runs the 48 hours in order, from the arrivals hall to the paperwork on day two, and puts the French for each stop beside it. The rows come from our French collection, 500 phrases we wrote and reviewed, with 188 of them in the six tables here, taken from the survive lane and the travel lane next to it.

Bonjour comes before the question

Bonjour. is a polite default for opening a daytime exchange, especially at a counter. Say it to the pharmacist, the bus driver, the person already in the lift. After late afternoon it becomes Bonsoir. and the send-off you get on the way out is Bonne journée. which wants merci, vous aussi back rather than silence.

Two apology words split a job English runs together. Pardon. is for bumping into somebody or squeezing past. Excusez-moi. is how you open a request to a stranger, and it also carries a real apology when you are late. Getting these the wrong way round is harmless, and getting them right makes you sound like somebody who has been here before.

Then the two rows that decide how the next ten minutes sound. Je parle un peu français. sets the level. Désolé, mon français n'est pas très bon. does more work than its translation suggests, because it tells the other person what you may need help with. Ask directly for slower speech if you need it. Keep Vous parlez anglais ? until after bonjour, never instead of it.

The repair kit for the moment you lose the thread

Most of day one is spent not quite catching things, so this lane is 24 rows of ways to ask again. Vous pouvez répéter, s'il vous plaît ? and Plus lentement, s'il vous plaît. are the two you will wear out. Ça s'écrit comment ? converts a name or a street you cannot hear into something you can read.

One row in the collection is built to be edited. Comment on dit « receipt » en français ? keeps the English word in the middle of a French frame, so you drop whatever you are missing into the quotation marks and the sentence still works. That is the trick worth stealing from this section: a frame you can reuse beats a phrase you can only say once.

Notice what the guillemets are doing there. French keeps the quotation marks and a space inside them, and the same spacing rule puts a gap before a question mark in Je peux vous aider ? Nobody will mark you down for typing it flat, and reading it is easier once you know the space is deliberate.

Out of the station: the quai, the composteur, the free seat

At a station, check the departure board rather than relying only on your ticket. Il part de quel quai ? is a live question rather than something the ticket already answers, because the departure platform may be announced later or change. Timing varies by station and service.

Il faut composter le billet ? is the fine-avoiding row. The rule depends on the operator and ticket, not simply on whether you have paper or a screen. Some regional services have removed paper-ticket stamping; others retain validation requirements. Check the rules for your TER region and the instructions on the ticket. Ask for the right piece of card while you are at it: Un ticket, s'il vous plaît. covers bus, metro and tram, and a train needs a billet, so Un aller-retour pour Lyon, s'il vous plaît. is the shape for a longer trip.

Inside a packed metro carriage two short rows do all the social work. Vous descendez ? is what the person behind you asks before your stop, and the answer decides whether they push past you or wait. Cette place est libre ? asks whether the seat is free rather than whether it is taken, so oui means sit down. In a taxi, hold your phone up and say À cette adresse, s'il vous plaît.

A forfait, an eSIM, and the word engagement

Je voudrais une carte SIM. gets you to the counter and Un forfait avec internet, s'il vous plaît. describes what you want on it, since a forfait is the plan and data is la data or les gigas when anybody says it out loud. Ask Il y a combien de gigas ? for the allowance.

The word that costs money is engagement. C'est sans engagement ? asks whether you can cancel next month, and a plan avec engagement has a minimum commitment period. Check its length, notice requirements and any cancellation charges. Ask it before the paperwork, in the shop, out loud.

This lane also carries Vous avez une eSIM ? which our Spanish and Italian collections do not have. Landing with a profile already installed is now ordinary and the French list is the one that noticed. Once you are connected, the number you give out has its own rhythm: Mon numéro, c'est le 06 12 34 56 78. is read in pairs, zéro six, douze, trente-quatre, with ordinary French mobile numbers beginning 06 or 07.

Cards, cash, and the shop that is open when everything else is shut

Où est le distributeur le plus proche ? uses the spoken word for a cash machine, while the sign above it says DAB. At the till, Je peux payer sans contact ? asks whether contactless is accepted; your card or phone may still require authentication, and Vous prenez la carte ? is worth asking in a small bakery or on a market stall, where a minimum spend is common. Take Le ticket de caisse, s'il vous plaît. and hang on to it, as proof of purchase. A change-of-mind return and a faulty-goods claim have different rules; a missing receipt does not automatically turn one into an exchange.

A tabac is the most useful shop in France for somebody who has been in the country six hours. It may sell stamps, transport tickets and phone top-ups, or serve as a parcel pickup point. Our note on Vous vendez des timbres ? is a reason to check the services and opening hours of the particular shop. Which brings us to C'est ouvert le dimanche ? Some shops close, others open for a shorter day. Check the shop you plan to use; do not assume a tabac is open all Sunday.

One row is a polite exit rather than a question. Je vais réfléchir. can be a polite way to leave without buying, or a genuine plan to think it over. Je regarde, merci. is the earlier version of the same move, and it ends the offer of help without ending the welcome.

The carafe, the carte, and the hours the kitchen keeps

Two French words point at things their English twins do not. La carte, s'il vous plaît. asks for the list of dishes, while le menu is the fixed-price set meal, so Vous avez un menu du jour ? is a separate question about the weekday deal chalked on a board outside. Then there is entrée. Comme entrée, la soupe. orders a starter here, and the same word means the main course on an American menu.

Ask specifically for tap water if that is what you want. Une carafe d'eau, s'il vous plaît. is tap water, which restaurants must provide free to their customers, and asking loosely for de l'eau can put a bottle on the bill instead. Beer measures follow the same logic: Un demi, s'il vous plaît. is a small glass at twenty-five centilitres, and a pint is une pinte. Coffee is smaller than you expect too, since Un café, s'il vous plaît. is an espresso.

Cooking labels are worth checking, so Saignant, s'il vous plaît. asks for rare, while à point asks for a more cooked centre. Describe how you want it if the distinction matters; kitchens do not share a precise international scale. When nuts matter, Je suis allergique aux noix. needs a second sentence, because noix is strictly walnuts and tree nuts are fruits à coque.

When you are ready for the bill, say L'addition, s'il vous plaît. Eye contact and a small air-scribble can also get the request across. Turn up at half past three hoping for lunch and you may need Vous servez encore ? because many kitchens close between lunch and dinner. Others serve continuously; check the hours.

The room, the door code, and the floor you are on

Some French buildings use a keypad at the street door. C'est quoi le code de la porte ? is the row for the digicode at street level, and for a rented flat the code usually arrives by text after the booking rather than from a person. A building with a code and no code in your phone is a bad half hour on a wet evening.

Count floors the British way. The ground floor is the rez-de-chaussée and the premier étage is one flight up, so check the floor separately rather than guessing from the room number. In the room itself, La clim ne marche pas. is what everyone says about the air conditioning, with climatisation as the full word nobody bothers with.

If work is paying, ask for the right piece of paper. Je peux avoir une facture ? gets an invoice with the details an expenses system wants, while reçu is a general acknowledgement of payment, not just a card slip.

The pharmacy, and why the shelves look empty

French pharmacies keep the ordinary things behind the counter. Il me faut une ordonnance ? asks whether you need a prescription, and the answer for paracetamol is no, but you still have to ask a person for it. Say Je voudrais du paracétamol. or ask the pharmacist about a suitable product. Doliprane is one brand, not the inevitable choice.

After hours, Où est la pharmacie de garde ? finds the one on duty for the night or the Sunday, but access arrangements vary, especially at night. Use the local duty-pharmacy information and follow any instruction to call before going. If a doctor is involved, two rows are about money and paperwork rather than health. Je n'ai pas encore de carte Vitale. explains that you do not have the card; ask which documents apply to your coverage rather than assuming reimbursement, and Il me faut un arrêt de travail. is the sick note, which is worth discussing during the consultation. The doctor assesses whether one is appropriate.

15, 17, 18, 112, and the address they ask for first

France still uses separate numbers alongside the European one. 15 reaches the SAMU for a medical emergency, 17 the police, 18 the fire brigade, and 112 is the European emergency number. Calls are free, but do not assume every handset can connect without a SIM; Service Public explains the calling conditions. Appelez une ambulance ! is what you say to whoever is nearest if your hands are busy, and C'est une urgence. is how the call starts.

The row worth rehearsing is the address, because the operator needs the actual location and may ask for access details. Je suis rue de Rivoli, au numéro 20. is one way to put the street first and the number after it. Number-first addresses are also ordinary French. Swap in your own street tonight and say it aloud twice. A theft ends somewhere calmer: Je voudrais porter plainte. is the report, and some property offences with an unknown offender can be reported online. The service may ask you to attend to complete the report; there is no fixed saving in waiting time.

Day two: the guichet, the RIB and the proof you keep on your phone

Two documents recur in French paperwork. Vous avez un justificatif de domicile ? is proof of address, such as an electricity bill or a rent receipt. Keep a copy handy, but check which documents and formats the particular procedure accepts. Voici mon RIB. hands over your bank details, it is said reeb, and an employer, a landlord and a phone company will each want one, so print two.

Inside the building, C'est quel guichet ? is the question that saves the morning. You take a ticket from the machine first and the screen calls your number to a counter, and standing in the wrong place is how an hour disappears. Où est la mairie ? is worth knowing because the mairie and the préfecture do different jobs: local services such as school enrolment at the mairie, and residence-permit matters through the préfecture or the relevant online service. Check the procedure rather than just arriving at either building.

One number will not exist yet. Je n'ai pas encore de numéro de sécu. is a normal thing to say for weeks, while your registration is being processed. The identifier has 13 digits plus a 2-digit check key, and the application route and timing vary. What the rest of the process looks like depends on your nationality and your contract and it changes, so check the current rules rather than this page. The row that ages best is Je voudrais résilier mon contrat. which works on a phone plan, a gym and a flat, and which you will need sooner than you think.

Where this list thins out

Our variety line for the French 500 says French of France, with Quebec noted only where the everyday word differs. That is an honest label for a real limit. A reader landing in Montreal, Brussels or Dakar gets a list pointed somewhere else, and the further from Paris the page travels the more of it is merely correct rather than useful.

The second limit is the gap between how these rows are written and how French comes back at you. Spoken French swallows sounds the written line keeps: il y a arrives as ya, je ne sais pas as chais pas, and half of what a tired ear misses is a vowel that was never said. Our rows are written the way you should say them. Nothing on this page teaches you to hear them.

Third, register. Every survive row here is vous, because a stranger at a counter is vous and that is the safe default on your first day. Colleagues your own age will often open in tu and the survive lane does not mark where that happens, so the first tu somebody offers you will arrive unannounced. Take it and use it back.

What we would add if we rebuilt the lane is the automated phone menu: the recorded voice that reads nine options at full speed before a human is possible. There is no row for it, and the repair kit does not help when there is nobody to repeat anything.

Making it stick

Read the section that matches tomorrow out loud tonight, twice. Silent reading helps with recognition; saying the words aloud also practises producing them while somebody waits.

After that, let the charger do the repetition. One entry plays each time the phone goes on to charge: the French, a pause, the English, a pause, the French again. Set up the Shortcuts automation on iOS; on Android, check the background and battery settings for direct charger detection. Playback remains subject to platform restrictions. A weighted sampler chooses it and leans towards entries you have not heard for a while, which is a rotation rule rather than a claim about your memory. We wrote up why one word beats one lesson at that moment in One word per charge: why a lesson would fail.

The full set and the way we chose what went in are on The Vocabcord 500, and the whole French list, work lane and all, is The 500 French phrases you actually need. For prepared French audio beyond this page, Vocabcord's French packs add graded vocabulary and listening in the app.

Common questions

What is the first thing you should say in a French shop?

Bonjour, before the question. Bonjour. is a polite default in a daytime shop exchange, so it comes before a request, a price question and even before Vous parlez anglais ? On the way out you will be given Bonne journée. and merci, vous aussi is the reply.

Is tap water free in French restaurants?

Yes, and you name it. Une carafe d'eau, s'il vous plaît. gets you a jug of tap water, which restaurants must provide free to their customers. Asking loosely for de l'eau can bring a bottle and a line on the bill. The other menu trap is the word carte: La carte, s'il vous plaît. is the list of dishes and le menu is the fixed-price set meal.

What is the emergency number in France?

112 is the European emergency number; calls are free, subject to the phone being able to connect. France also keeps 15 for the SAMU medical service, 17 for the police and 18 for the fire brigade. Say C'est une urgence. to open the call, and give your actual location. One possible wording is Je suis rue de Rivoli, au numéro 20.

How do you buy a SIM card or a phone plan in France?

Ask for Je voudrais une carte SIM. then Un forfait avec internet, s'il vous plaît. for a plan with data. The question that saves money is C'est sans engagement ? to check for a minimum commitment period. Ask about its length and cancellation conditions. If your phone takes one, Vous avez une eSIM ? asks whether an eSIM is available. You still need to follow the provider's purchase and activation process.