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 can 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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Verb conjugation tables for more than 1,600 French verbs in all the simple and compound tenses and moods.
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Practice is the key to improving your French, and just 15 minutes a day on some kind of French activity can make a huge difference. Check out these ideas and draw up your own schedule.