French for beginners: from bonjour to your first sentences

French for beginners works best in a fixed order: sounds, greetings, two key verbs, numbers, core words and then simple sentences. This page lays out that path in five steps, with recordings, a short story you can read with glosses and a way to tell you have reached A1. Most steps link to a page that goes deeper, such as the French alphabet, French numbers and basic French words. For the whole picture, start at Learn French as an adult in Canada.

What is beginner French, and what is the order to learn it?

Beginner French is the first level of the Council of Europe’s scale, A1. Its descriptor says an A1 user can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases, and can introduce themselves and others [1]. This page covers the skills that descriptor names, in the order below. The order is our plan, not an official curriculum.

What do French lessons for beginners start with?

French language lessons for beginners start with sounds, because every later word is built on them. Learn the alphabet, listen to each word before you read it and say it aloud. Our French alphabet page covers the letters and accents. This ordering is a general observation, not a published finding.

Then add the greetings. bonjour is the safe first word, and hello in French explains when salut fits instead. Add merci and au revoir, and you can already open and close a conversation.

Which beginner French words come first?

The beginner French words that pay off first are the ones you will hear on day one: greetings, yes and no, and the first numbers. Press the play button to hear each one.

Learn each noun with its article from the start, as in un chat and une amie. French articles and gender explains why. For a longer list, see basic French words and common French phrases.

How do être and avoir fit into beginner French?

Être (to be) and avoir (to have) come early because they are two of the most common French verbs. The OQLF’s present tense of être is je suis, tu es, il est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils sont [2]. Larousse gives the present of avoir as j’ai, tu as, il a, nous avons, vous avez, ils ont [3].

With those twelve forms you can say where you are, what you have and what something is like: Je suis à Montréal. J’ai un chat. Il est petit. Practise them aloud until they feel automatic, then move on.

Is there a short French story for beginners?

Here is a short French story for beginners, written for this page around the verbs above. Read it once for the sense, then read it again with the glosses.

Notice the pattern: short sentences, most of them built on être or avoir. Writing three lines of your own about a pet, a city and a friend is a good next step. More reading comes in French reading practice.

How do you know you have reached A1?

You have reached A1 when you can do what the Council of Europe’s A1 descriptor lists. It says an A1 user can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases for concrete needs. They can introduce themselves and others, and ask and answer questions about personal details such as where they live, people they know and things they have. They can interact in a simple way if the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help [1].

Use it as a checklist. Can you greet someone and introduce yourself? Can you say where you are and what you have? Can you ask a simple question and understand a slow, clear answer? If not, return to the step that matches. To see where A1 sits among the other levels, read French levels explained. The descriptor says what a user can do. It gives no number of hours or weeks.

Common mistakes

• Skipping the sounds. Learning words only by sight leaves you unable to understand them when spoken. Listen first, then read.
• Learning nouns without articles. Learn un chat and une amie together, not chat and amie alone.
• Memorising lists and not using them. Say the twelve forms of être and avoir inside real sentences, like the ones in the story.
• Treating A1 as a test score. The Council of Europe describes A1 by what you can do, not by marks [1].
• Relying on a beginner guide from a blog, including this one. The Council of Europe page can change. Compare its date with the date at the top of this one.

Sources