Expand your French vocabulary
Students often ask "how can I sound more French?" and my first recommendation is always to work on vocabulary. In French classes, you tend to learn the most common, basic terms, like bon, which is a typical and very useful adjective that tends to be overused. Read this lesson to learn some different ways to say “good,” including how to pronounce them (click for sound files).
Bon – good
| C’est un bon étudiant. | | He’s a good student. |
| Bonne idée ! | | Good idea! |
Agréable – nice, pleasant, pleasing
| Il est toujours agréable de te voir. | | It’s always nice to see you. |
| C’était une conversation agréable. | | It was a pleasant conversation. |
Bien – good, moral, right, healthy
| Ça serait bien ! | | That would be good! |
| Ce sont des gens bien. | | They are good (moral) people. |
Bien can be used as an invariable adjective only with copular verbs, like être. But it’s more commonly used as an adverb that means “well.”
| Il a répondu en excellent français. | | He responded in excellent/flawless French. |
| C’est excellent ! | | That’s excellent/wonderful! |
| Il a un talent exceptionnel. | | He has exceptional talent / He is exceptionally talented. |
| C’est une occasion exceptionnelle. | | It’s an exceptional opportunity. |
Exceptionnel is a semi-false friend, as it can also describe something as an exception to the norm:
| un numéro exceptionnel | | special issue |
| fermeture exceptionnelle | | unscheduled / unexpected closure |
| C’est un livre extraordinaire. | | It’s an extraordinary book. |
| Elle a connu un succès extraordinaire. | | She has had extraordinary / immense success. |
Like its English equivalent, extraordinaire can mean “out of the ordinary” without necessarily meaning “good”:
| Il a eu un accident extraordinaire. | | He had an extraordinary / unusual accident. |
Merveilleux – wonderful, marvelous
| C’était un spectacle merveilleux. | | It was a wonderful performance/show. |
| Le vin est merveilleux cette année. | | The wine is excellent this year. |
| C’est un homme remarquable. | | He’s a remarkable man. |
| Cela n’a rien de remarquable. | | There’s nothing remarkable about that. |
It’s not exactly a synonym, but the useful French expression tant mieux is somewhat related.
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Bonjour! Je ne comprends pas le terme ´copular’ verbe – c’est nouveau pour moi. Pouvez-vous expliquer s’il vous plaît ? Merci!
Un verbe copule est un verbe qui lie un sujet à son attribut pour exprimer un état d’être, comme être, apparaître, sembler, etc.