The French reading room

The first 100 French words

100 entries with meanings · 57% of every running word · 85 of 681 sentences left readable

Ordered by how many whole sentences each word makes readable, not by raw frequency — the reason that matters. «Sentences opened» is how many of the shelf's 681 sentences — every one that is more than a name or a cry — have nothing unknown left in them by the time you reach that rung; it is a running total, not a score for the single word.

#	French	English	As it appears in the text	Sentences opened
1	de	of, from; some, any (prep./partitive art.) — du pain, de l’eau; pas de — no, not any; de… en… — from… to…	d’	2
2	ah	ah!, oh! (interj.)		4
3	le	the (le, la, l’, les); him, her, it, them — as an object (art./pron.)	la, les, l’	5
4	mon	my (mon, ma, mes) (poss. adj.)	ma, mes	6
5	pauvre	poor (adj.)	pauvres	7
6	entrer	to enter, go in, come in (v.); faire entrer — to get (something) in	entrèrent, entrez, entrai, entra	8
7	je	I (pron.)	j’	9
8	venir	to come (v.); venir de + inf. — to have just done; il vint à elle — there came up to her; venir à passer — to happen to pass	venait, viens, vint, venu	10
9	personne	person (n., f.); nobody, anybody — ne… personne (pron.); de sa personne — in his person	personnes	11
10	moi	me, I (stressed pron.); pour moi — as for me		12
11	homme	man (n., m.); saint homme — holy man	hommes	13
12	saint	holy; saint (adj./n., m.); saint Pierre — Saint Peter; sainte croix! — holy cross!; histoire sainte — Bible history	sainte	14
13	alors	then, so (adv.)		15
14	non	no; not (adv.); non plus — neither, (not) either; non sans — not without		16
15	comment	how; what! (adv.)		17
16	fils	son (n., m.) — le fils du roi, the King’s son		18
17	ici	here (adv.)		19
18	hélas	alas (interj.)		20
19	curé	parish priest (n., m.); monsieur le curé — Father		21
20	vivre	to live (v.); vive… ! — long live…!	vive	22
21	pécaïre	(Provençal) alas!, poor thing! — an exclamation of pity (interj.)		23
22	hou	hoo! — a wolf’s howl (interj.)		24
23	croix	cross (n., f.)		25
24	adieu	farewell, goodbye (interj.)		26
25	adessias	(Provençal) goodbye, God be with you — from «à Dieu siás» (interj.)		27
26	pan	bang!, knock! (interj.); pan! pan! — knock! knock!		28
27	jeudi	Thursday (n., m.)		29
28	amen	amen (interj.)		30
29	et	and (conj.)		30
30	répondre	to answer, reply (v.)	répondit, répondait, répondirent	31
31	cheminer	to walk, trudge along (v.)	cheminai, cheminez	32
32	être	to be (v.); c’est — it is; also forms the past of some verbs: elle est venue — she came	était, est, fut, étaient	32
33	frère	brother (n., m.); mes frères — my brethren	frères	33
34	abbé	abbé, Father — title of a secular priest (n., m.); l’abbé Martin — Father Martin		34
35	que	that, which, whom; than; how…! (conj./rel. pron.); ne… que — only	qu’	34
36	avoir	to have (v.); il y a — there is, there are; avoir beau + inf. — to do in vain; avoir peur — to be afraid	avait, a, eut, avez	34
37	à	to, at, in; with (prep.); c’est à… — it belongs to…; à boire — something to drink		34
38	un	a, an; one (art./num.); l’un… l’autre — the one… the other; les unes… les autres — some… others	une, unes	34
39	ami	friend (n., m.; f. amie)	amis, amies, amie	35
40	dire	to say, tell (v.); on aurait dit — you would have said; se dire — to say to oneself	dit, dirent, disait, disant	36
41	il	he; it (il, ils — they) (pron.); il y a — there is; il faut — one must	ils	37
42	tu	you — familiar (pron.)		38
43	rire	to laugh (v.); se mettre à rire — to burst out laughing	riant, rirait, riras, ris	39
44	volontiers	gladly, willingly (adv.)		40
45	son	his, her, its (det.) — son, sa, ses; also le son, sound: à son de trompe; also bran (n., m.) — du son, rabbit bait	sa, ses	40
46	avec	with (prep.)		41
47	ne	not (neg. particle) — ne… pas, ne… point, ne… plus, ne… que (only); ne… rien — nothing; ne… guère — hardly	n’	41
48	pas	not (ne… pas) (adv.); step, pace (n., m.); pas même — not even		42
49	vouloir	to want (v.); que voulez-vous? — what would you have?; en vouloir — to be willing to have (someone)	veux, voulez, voulu, voudrais	43
50	histoire	story; history (n., f.); pas d’histoires! — no stories, no fuss!; histoire sainte — Bible history	histoires	44
51	entre	between, among (prep.); entre autres choses — among other things; entre nous — between ourselves; il entre — he goes in (from entrer)		45
52	âme	soul (n., f.); pas une âme — not a soul	âmes	46
53	ce	this, that; these, those (dem. adj.); it, that (pron.) — c’est, it is; ce qui, ce que — what	c’, cette, ces, cet	46
54	loup	wolf (n., m.)		47
55	faire	to do, make (v.); faire + inf. — to have (something) done; il se fit — there came; faire le mort — to play dead; se faire à — to get used to	fit, fait, faisait, faite	48
56	qui	who, which, that (rel./interr. pron.); à qui — to whom, whose; qui… qui — one… another		49
57	là	there; then (adv.); en rester là — to stop there; ce fut là — that was		51
58	rien	nothing (pron.); ne… rien — nothing; rien que — merely, just; ne valoir rien — to be no good		52
59	quand	when (conj.)		53
60	voilà	here is, there is; here are (prep.); les voilà — there they are; la voilà partie — off she goes; voilà qui est bien — that’s it		54
61	bien	well; very, quite; indeed (adv.) — bien aise, very glad; bien autre chose — something quite different; bien plus — far more	biens	55
62	eh	eh!, hey!, why! (interj.); eh bien — well		57
63	y	there; in it, to it (pron./adv.); il y a — there is		58
64	nous	we; us, to us; ourselves (pron.)		59
65	encore	still, yet; again; even (adv.) — encore plus, even more		60
66	possible	possible (adj.)		61
67	bientôt	soon (adv.); j’aurai bientôt fait — I’ll soon be done		62
68	aï	(Provençal) ay!, oh! — a cry of dismay or pain (interj.)		63
69	en	in, into; while (+ -ing) (prep.); of it, of them, some (pron.); en train de — in the middle of; s’en aller — to go away		63
70	vous	you (pron.)		64
71	donner	to give (v.) — donner un bal, to give a ball; donner des coups de corne — to butt	donna, donne, donné, donnait	65
72	donc	so, then, therefore; (emphatic) do…! (conj./adv.)		66
73	fleur	flower (n., f.); la fine fleur de farine — the finest wheat flour	fleurs	67
74	paradis	paradise, heaven (n., m.)		68
75	purgatoire	purgatory (n., m.)		69
76	monsieur	Mr, Monsieur; sir, gentleman (n., m.; pl. messieurs); M. — short for Monsieur; monsieur le marquis — my lord Marquis	m’, messieurs	70
77	comme	like, as; how…! (conj./adv.); comme si — as if		71
78	peine	trouble, difficulty; sorrow (n., f.) — sans peine, easily; en peine, at a loss; à peine — hardly, scarcely; faire de la peine — to grieve		72
79	oui	yes (adv.)		73
80	oh	oh! (interj.)		74
81	soupirer	to sigh (v.)	soupirant	75
82	se	himself, herself, itself, themselves; each other (reflexive pron.); s’ also stands for si — if — in s’il, s’ils	s’	75
83	tout	all, every; quite, very (adj./adv.); tout à coup — suddenly; tout de suite — at once; tout à fait — entirely; tout à l’heure — right away	toute, tous, toutes	75
84	elle	she, her; it (pron.) — elles, they, them (f.)	elles	75
85	peur	fear (n., f.); avoir peur — to be afraid; de peur que — for fear that; faire peur — to frighten		76
86	voir	to see (v.); se voir — to see oneself; voyons — let’s see; voyez-vous — you see	vit, vu, vis, voyait	76
87	peu	little (adv.); un peu — a little; si peu — so little; peu instruit — little schooled		77
88	silence	silence (n., m.)		78
89	lui	him; to him, to her (pron.)		78
90	ennui	boredom, weariness (n., m.)		79
91	aller	to go (v.); s’en aller — to go away, leave; aller + inf. — to go and…, be going to…; y aller de bon cœur — to throw oneself into it	alla, allait, va, vais	79
92	finir	to finish, end (v.); c’est fini — it’s over	fini, finie	80
93	dans	in, into (prep.)		80
94	montagne	mountain; the mountains, the hills (n., f.)		81
95	cabinet	small room, closet; cabinet (piece of furniture) (n., m.)	cabinets	82
96	fête	feast, festival (n., f.); faire fête à — to give a joyful welcome		83
97	pour	for; in order to (prep.); pour moi — as for me; pour sa sœur — as for her sister		83
98	si	if, whether (conj.); so (adv.) — si fort, so hard; yes (after a negative question); s’il vous plaît — please		83
99	heure	hour (n., f.); tout à l’heure — at once (old), in a moment	heures	84
100	cucugnanais	of Cucugnan (adj.); les Cucugnanais — the people of Cucugnan (n., m.)		85

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The fourth column

A French verb is printed in more shapes than any list has room for, and the shapes are where a beginner stalls: être is on every list, while the page says «fut», «était», «sont». The column carries the commonest shapes each word takes in these eight tales, counted, with the glued forms given their apostrophe back. Inverted forms like «dit-il» are left out of it, because they are the verb with a pronoun attached rather than a new spelling.

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