French Everyday Expressions: 60 Phrases Natives Actually Use

You spent a month learning Comment allez-vous ? Then you got to France and heard Ça va ? — every time, from everyone, all day.

That gap is the whole problem with textbook French. The phrases are correct. They are just not the ones people reach for.

A woman at a Paris cafe table listening to two friends talk, the phrases oh la la and ca va drawn in the air between them.

This page is the other list: sixty expressions that actually come out of French mouths, sorted by the moment you need them. Each section links to a fuller breakdown when you want the nine variations and the nuance between them.

One thing to keep in mind as you read: almost every phrase here has a register. Tu or vous, friends or strangers, said out loud or only written. Get that wrong and a perfectly correct sentence lands badly. Where it matters, the tables say so.

When something surprises you

English gives you "wow" and leaves it there. French makes you pick.

Expression	Register	When
Oh là là !	any	The genuine all-purpose one. Not the cliché foreigners think it is — it covers admiration, alarm and exasperation alike
La vache !	casual	Literally "the cow." Closest to "wow" or "damn"
Incroyable !	any	For something impressive rather than shocking
Oh mon dieu	any	Stronger than the English "oh my god," and less throwaway
Qu'est-ce qui s'est passé ?	neutral	"What happened?" — the full form. In speech it collapses to il s'est passé quoi ?
C'est quoi, ce bruit ?	casual	"What's that noise?" — bruit is the everyday word; vacarme and boucan are louder

→ Nine ways to say "wow" · nine ways to say "oh my god" · "what happened" · "noise"

Hello, goodbye, and the bit in between

Expression	Register	When
Ça va ?	casual	Greeting and question at once. The answer is ça va
Quoi de neuf ?	casual	"What's new?" — to someone you have not seen in a while
Ça roule ?	very casual	Friends only. Literally "is it rolling?"
Prends soin de toi	warm	"Take care of yourself." Sincere, not a sign-off
Fais gaffe	very casual	"Watch yourself" — the street version of fais attention
Viens ici	direct	"Come here." Approchez-vous is the polite plural

Prends soin de toi is worth dwelling on. English "take care" has worn down to mean roughly "bye." The French has not — say it and people hear that you mean it.

→ Nine ways to say "what's up" · "take care" · "come here"

Agreeing, disagreeing, and "it's fine"

Expression	Register	When
Je suis d'accord	neutral	The full "I agree"
C'est ça	casual	"That's it" / "exactly" — the one you will use most
Absolument	neutral	Emphatic agreement
C'est vrai	neutral	"That's true." Il est vrai que… is the formal written form
C'est faux	direct	"That's false." Blunter than English — ce n'est pas vrai is softer
Pas de problème	casual	"No problem"
Il n'y a pas de souci	casual	Same idea, more reassuring. Often shortened to pas de souci

→ "I agree" · "it is true" · "it is false" · "it's okay" · "problem"

When you don't know — and when you have an opinion

Expression	Register	When
Je ne sais pas	neutral	The full form
J'sais pas	spoken	What it actually sounds like. The ne is gone and so is most of the je
Aucune idée	casual	"No idea"
À mon avis	neutral	"In my opinion" — the standard opener
Un point de vue	neutral	A point of view, as a thing you hold
Une réflexion	neutral	A thought, in the considered sense — not a passing one

Une pensée and une idée both translate as "thought," but they split: une idée is the thing that occurs to you, une pensée the thing you dwell on.

→ "I don't know" · "question" · "answer" · "idea" · "opinion" · "thought"

What your body is telling you

French does hunger, thirst and exhaustion with avoir and être, not with adjectives. You have hunger.

Expression	Register	When
J'ai faim	neutral	"I'm hungry"
J'ai la dalle	very casual	Slang. Roughly "I'm starving"
J'ai soif	neutral	"I'm thirsty"
Je meurs de soif	casual	"I'm dying of thirst"
Je suis crevé	casual	"I'm wiped out." Crevé literally means punctured
Il fait un froid de canard	idiomatic	"A duck's cold" — bitterly cold
C'est la canicule	neutral	Heatwave. What the news says in August

→ "I'm hungry" · "I'm thirsty" · "I'm tired" · "it's cold" · "it's hot"

Getting people to move

Expression	Register	When
Allons-y	neutral	"Let's go." Slightly formal in speech
On y va	casual	What people actually say
C'est parti	casual	"Here we go" — starting something, not leaving
Allez !	casual	"Come on!" Encouragement or impatience, tone decides
Dépêche-toi	direct	"Hurry up"
Grouille-toi	very casual	Same, ruder
Je m'en vais	neutral	"I'm off" — more final than je pars
J'ai besoin de…	neutral	"I need…" — il me faut… is the more French-sounding alternative

→ "let's go" · "come on" · "hurry up" · "I'm leaving" · "I need"

Warnings, and telling someone to be quiet

Expression	Register	When
Attention !	any	The all-purpose warning. Not "attention" — it means "look out"
Fais attention	neutral	"Be careful," ongoing rather than urgent
Méfie-toi	neutral	"Be wary" — of a person or a situation, not a falling object
Chut !	casual	"Shh"
Tais-toi	direct	"Be quiet." Sharper than it looks on the page
Ferme-la	rude	"Shut it." Know it; do not use it

→ "be careful" · "look out" · "silence"

Love, longing and loathing

Expression	Register	When
Je t'aime	intimate	"I love you." Also "I like you" for a friend — context carries it
Je t'adore	warm	Affectionate, and weaker than je t'aime, not stronger
Tu me manques	intimate	"I miss you" — but literally "you are missing from me." The subject flips
Je déteste	neutral	"I hate"
J'ai horreur de	neutral	"I can't stand" — about things, more than people

Tu me manques catches everyone. The person you miss is the subject. Say je te manque and you have told them that they miss you.

→ "I love you" · "I miss you" · "I hate"

When something went wrong

Expression	Register	When
Une erreur	neutral	A mistake, in the general sense
Une faute	neutral	A mistake you are at fault for — spelling, rules, morals
Une gaffe	casual	A blunder, socially. Faire une gaffe
Un mensonge	neutral	A lie. Mentir is the verb
La vérité	neutral	The truth
Le prétexte	neutral	The reason someone gives, as opposed to la raison, the real one

Erreur and faute are the pair worth learning properly. A wrong sum is une erreur; a spelling mistake is une faute.

→ "mistake" · "lie" · "truth" · "reason"

Talking about talking

Expression	Register	When
Un mot	neutral	A word
La parole	neutral	Speech, or the right to speak. Prendre la parole
Une phrase	neutral	A sentence — not a phrase
La voix	neutral	The voice
Le timbre	neutral	Its quality — what makes a voice recognisable
Un truc	casual	"A thing," when you cannot name it. Machin and bidule do the same job

→ "word" · "sentence" · "voice" · "sound" · "thing"

Can and must

Expression	Register	When
Je peux	neutral	"I can" — ability and permission both
Je suis capable de	neutral	Capability specifically
Je dois	neutral	"I must"
Il faut que je…	neutral	"I have to…" — impersonal, and far more common in speech

Il faut is one of the highest-value constructions in French. It takes the subjunctive, which is why learners avoid it, and natives use it constantly.

→ "I can" · "I must"

The part that is not on this page

You can read all sixty of these and still not be understood.

Everyday French is fast and linked — je ne sais pas comes out as chais pas, il n'y a pas as y'a pas. The words on this page are correct; the version that reaches a French ear is compressed. That is a separate skill, and it is the one that decides whether people switch to English on you.

Start here for the vocabulary. Then say the phrases out loud and find out which ones your mouth is getting wrong.