Useful Words in French / Les mots utiles
| It’s / That’s | c’est | /sɛ/ | There is/are | il y a | /il i a/ |
| There is/are | voilà | /vwala/ | Here is/are | voici | /vwasi/ |
| and | et | /e/ | always | toujours | /tuʒuʀ/ |
| but | mais | /mɛ/ | often | souvent | /suvɑ̃/ |
| now | maintenant | /mɛ̃tnɑ̃/ | sometimes | quelquefois | /kɛlkəfwa/ |
| especially | surtout | /syʀtu/ | usually | d’habitude | /dabityd/ |
| except | sauf | /sof/ | also, too | aussi | /osi/ |
| of course | bien sûr | /bjɛ̃ syʀ/ | again | encore | /ɑ̃kɔʀ/ |
| so so | comme ci, comme ça | /kɔm si, kɔm sa/ | late | en retard | /ɑ̃ʀətaʀ/ |
| not bad | pas mal | /pa mal/ | almost | presque | /pʀɛsk/ |
| book | le livre | /lə livʀ/ | friend (fem) | une amie | /y nami/ |
| pencil | le crayon | /lə kʀɛjɔ̃/ | friend (masc) | un ami | /œ̃ nami/ |
| pen | le stylo | /lə stilo/ | woman | une femme | /yn fam/ |
| paper | le papier | /lə papje/ | man | un homme | /œ̃ nɔm/ |
| dog | le chien | /lə ʃjɛ̃/ | girl | une fille | /yn fij/ |
| cat | le chat | /lə ʃa/ | boy | un garçon | /œ̃̃ gaʀsɔ̃/ |
| money | l’argent (m) | /laʀʒɑ̃/ | job / work | le travail | /lə tʀavaj/ |
The expression il y a is reduced to y a in everyday speech. When il y a is followed by a number, it means ago. Il y a cinq minutes means five minutes ago. Some common slang words for money include: le fric, le pèze, le pognon, des sous and for job/work: le boulot.
To express in a certain month, such as in May, use en before the month as in “en mai.” With dates, the ordinal numbers are not used, except for the first of the month: le premier mai but le deux juin. Also note that months are all masculine and not capitalized in French (same as days of the week).
