Vocabulary Lists

French Vocabulary

Vocabulaire

Themed vocabulary lists and other wordy lessons (synonyms, prefixes, suffixes, abbreviations …) to help you become more verbose in French.

Lessons by level:  A1  |  A2  |  B1  |  B2  |  C1

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Grammar Lessons

-ci Suffix

French suffix -ciUnlike other French suffixes, -ci does not create new words, but rather adds additional meaning to the nouns and pronouns it's attached to.

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Grammar Lessons

-issime Suffix

French suffix -issime
The French suffix -issime is added to adjectives and acts as an intensifier or superlative, adding meanings like "very," "extremely," or "most."

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Grammar Lessons

-là Suffix

French suffix là-Unlike other French suffixes, -là does not create new words, but rather adds additional meaning to the nouns and pronouns it's added to.

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Grammar Lessons

-man / -woman Suffixes

French suffix -man
French has a number of nouns that end in -man, either borrowed directly from English or franglicized. Only a few have feminine equivalents that end in -woman.

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Holidays and Celebrations

7 Things to Know About Bastille

BastilleFor Francophiles, the word "Bastille" is likely to conjure up memories (or dreams) of fireworks and military parades, because the idea of la Bastille is inherently linked to 14 July - at least for English speakers. Chez les Français, not so much. Here are 7 things you should know about la Bastille: the holiday, the prison, and the word itself.

Grammar Lessons

A- Prefix

French prefix a-
The French prefix a- is added to adjectives and nouns to create their antonyms; it's sometimes called the "alpha privative" (a privatif). The most common English equivalents are a- and non-.

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Mistakes and Difficulties

Accentonyms

French accentonyms
Some French accents offer pronunciation clues, others refer back to old spellings, and still others differentiate between otherwise identically spelled words. For all of these reasons, accents matter and must be included when writing (or typing) in French - especially in the case of words that have different meanings with and without accents.

   

Vocabulary Lists

Acronyms and Initialisms

French acronyms and initialisms
Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations created by stringing together the first initial of each word in a phrase. Learning some common French acronyms and initialisms can help you make sense of news, political discussions, administration, and more.

   

   

Mistakes and Difficulties

Ages, Birthdays, Anniversaries

Age and birthdays in French
One of the confusing things for beginning French students is that age is expressed with avoir (to have), rather than être (to be). French also has nouns and adjectives for a person whose age falls within a specific decade.