101+ French Cognates To Grow Your French Vocabulary Fast

When you start learning French, you know you’re going to have to deal with grammar, pronunciation, fluency, listening skills and a whole lot more.

Another thing you can’t escape is mastering enough French vocab to allow you to express yourself clearly.

But you start with a big advantage in this respect thanks to French cognates!

But what are cognates? And how do they help? To answer these questions and more, in this post I look at French cognates and why they are so helpful to English-speakers who want to learn this language.

What Are French Cognates And Why Are They Useful?

In short, cognates are words in different languages that derive from the same root.

For example, the English word “hour” and the French word heure are both ultimately derived from the Greek word hōra – which makes “hour” and heure cognates.

Although it’s not always the case, cognates are often very similar – and sometimes even identical –across languages, so if you’re learning a language that shares many cognates with your own, it makes learning vocabulary a whole lot easier.

For a start, many of the words you meet will be familiar to you, so remembering them will be less challenging. In addition, you’ll often be able to guess the meaning of words you don’t know because they sound similar to words in your own language.

And the good news for English-speaking learners of French is that French and English share a huge number of cognates. Indeed, it’s estimated that as many as 30% of English words come from French.

Why Do French And English Share So Many Cognates?

There’s one big reason for the shared vocabulary between English and French and that’s the Norman conquest of England in 1066.

Following the invasion, Norman French became the language of the royal court and the ruling class, and as a result, large numbers of words were adopted into the local Anglo-Saxon language.

That’s not all, though, because more recently, with English firmly established as the global lingua franca, the direction of travel has been reversed.

French has now taken to borrowing English words back in large quantities, and the French seem to love littering their speech with English loanwords – to the ire of the Académie française that tries to maintain the purity of the French language.

A Huge Advantage For English-speaking Learners Of French

All this means that if you speak English, when you start learning French, you automatically begin with a large block of “free” vocabulary that you already know because of all the words the languages share.

Even better, because words tend to change in predictable ways over time, certain patterns exist that can help you guess what a word is in French just from your knowledge of the word in English – something we’ll return to later in this post.

Of course, there’s much more to learning a language than just remembering words. But the amount of shared vocabulary between French and English will give anyone who knows English a huge head start when they take up learning French.

So now let’s jump right in and look at how you can turn a knowledge of French cognates to your advantage.

True French Cognates That Are Identical Or Very Similar

Many words in French and English are either spelt the same or spelt very similarly. The French pronunciation is usually a little different, but the words remain easy to recognise.

1. fruit – fruit

2. aubergine – aubergine 

British English uses the French word while American English prefers “eggplant” – although according to one story, the word “eggplant” was actually coined by an Englishman in Singapore when he discovered a certain local variety there that strongly resembled eggs!

3. carrot – carotte

4. onion – oignon

5. bank – banque 

6. address – adresse

7. architecture – architecture

8. telephone – téléphone

This word is derived from the Greek tēlē (far) and phōnē (voice) and was adopted into both languages when the telephone was invented.

9. piano – piano

This word came to both French and English from Italian.

10. cinema – cinéma 

11. weekend – week-end, weekend

One of the classic loanwords from English to French.

12. internet – Internet 

In French, Internet is usually capitalised unless it is used with an article.

13. port – port

As in a harbour.

French Cognates That Are More Different

Other cognates are noticeably more different in terms of spelling and pronunciation, but it’s still easy to see that they are essentially the same word.

14. hour – heure

15. beer – bière

Both words ultimately derive from the Latin word bibere (to drink).

16. wine – vin

17. bottle – bouteille

French Cognate Patterns

One of the best ways to quickly grow your French vocabulary is to learn about groups of words that are similar in both languages and the patterns that will allow you to recognise them or guess them.

This works because words and sounds in languages tend to evolve in certain predictable ways.

Here are some of the most important to be aware of.

Word Endings

Words ending in -ion 

Among the largest groups of words that follow similar patterns is that of words ending in -ion. 

They tend to be either identical or very close in terms of spelling, and very often, you will be able to guess how to say a word in French if the English version ends in -ion. 

Nevertheless, this doesn’t work in every case, so you should still pay attention to any exceptions you meet.

It’s also useful to remember that French nouns ending in -ion are almost always feminine.

Here are just a few examples.

18. election – élection

19. production – production

20. emotion – emotion

21. fiction – fiction

22. religion – réligion

23. invasion – invasion

Words ending in -al 

English words that end in -al are often the same in French. Here are some examples.

24. animal – animal

25. international – international

26. final – final

27. central – central

Words ending in -able

Another large group of words that are identical or very close across both languages are those ending in -able. Here are just a few examples, but there are many others.

28. adorable – adorable

29. inseparable – inséparable

30. recyclable – recyclable

31. table – table 

Words ending in -ible 

Similarly, words ending in -ible tend to be the same.

32. horrible – horrible

33. impossible – impossible 

34. visible – visible  

35. divisible – divisible 

Words ending in -ance 

Another group of words that are often the same in both French and English are words ending in -ance – and here are a few examples.

36. distance – distance

37. ambulance – ambulance

38. finance – finance 

39. tolerance – tolerance 

Words ending in -ence 

Like -ance words, words ending in -ence are often the same, allowing you to guess the French version with a good chance of success if you’re not sure.

40. impatience – impatience 

41. intelligence – intelligence

42. independence – indépendence

43. science – science 

Words ending in -ant 

Many English words ending in -ant come from French, which means the French version is often the same or very similar.

44. important – important 

45. elephant – éléphant

46. restaurant – restaurant

47. tolerant – tolérant 

Words ending in -ct 

Another large group of words that are the same or very close in both languages are those ending in -ct – and here are just a few examples.

48. direct – direct 

49. correct – correct

50. insect – insect

51. object – objet

Words ending in -ent 

Words ending in -ent form a large group of words that are the same or very close in both languages.

52. accent – accent 

53. accident – accident 

54. intelligent – intelligent

55. talent – talent 

Words ending in -ty change to -té in French

Words in English that end in -ty often have a counterpart in French that ends in -té. This makes it easy to understand the meaning of French words you might not have seen before and allows you to have a good guess at what a word might be in French if you don’t know it.

Here are some examples of -ty words in English that end -té in French – and most nouns with this ending are feminine.

56. responsibility – responsabilité

57. liberty – liberté

58. fraternity – fraternité

59. maternity – maternité

60. masculinity – masculinité

English words ending in -ive change to -if in French (and -ive in the feminine form)

Words that end -ive in English often end in -if in the masculine form in French – and the feminine form of such words in French has the same -ive ending as in English. 

61. positive – positif, positive

62. active – actif, active

63. relative – relative, relative

In the sense of “ one thing relative to another”, this word has the same meaning in French – but in the sense of a family member, this is a false friend. See the false friends section below for more details.

64. pensive – pensif, pensive 

English words ending in -ic change to -ique in French

The -ic ending in English often has an equivalent -ique ending in French. These words can be either nouns or French adjectives.

65. music – musique

66. classic – classique 

67. tragic – tragique

68. fantastic – fantastique 

69. logic – logique 

English words ending in -ical change to -ique in French

The -ical ending in English can also have the ending -ique in French. In this case, the words in question are usually adjectives.

70. classical – classique

71. logical – logique

72. ethical – éthique

73. identical – identique 

English words ending in -ly change to -ment in French

A very important pattern to remember is that adverbs ending in -ly in English are often similar in French, taking the ending -ment. 

In French, the -ment ending is added to the feminine form of the adjective to make French adverbs.

However, this group also contains some notorious false friends, so you’ll need to learn them. Check the false friends section below for more details.

74. completely – complètement

75. practically – practiquement

76. partially – partiellement

77. exactly – exactement 

78. directly – directement 

English words ending in -ous change to -eux in French

Words ending in -ous in English often have counterparts in French that end with -eux.

79. curious – curieux

80. delicious – délicieux

81. fabulous – fabuleux 

English words ending in -ary change to -aire in French

Another useful group to remember is that of words ending in -ary in English – often, the word is the same in French with an -aire ending.

82. vocabulary – vocabulaire

83. dictionary – dictionaire

84. contrary – contraire 

85. arbitrary – arbitraire 

English words ending in -ist change to -iste in French

Words ending in -ist in English often end in -iste in French. They are usually used to describe a person engaged in a particular activity or the followers of a movement or way of thinking.

86. tourist – touriste

87. pianist – pianiste 

88. artist – artiste 

89. modernist – moderniste 

English words ending in -ism change to -isme in French

This group is similar to the -ist/-iste group above, but these words are used to name the activity, movement or way of thinking.

90. cubism – cubisme

91. creationism – créationnisme 

92. realism – réalisme 

93. tourism – tourisme

94. solipsism – solipsisme

Circumflex Accents

Circumflex accent often “hides” an “s”

The circumflex accent in French often indicates that an “s” once present in an older version of the language has since disappeared.

This is useful to English speakers since the English word is often the same but with the lost “s” retained – and here are some examples.

95. hospital – hôpital 

96. forest – forêt 

97. coast – côte 

98. island – île 

Others with a circumflex accent are often very similar

Sometimes, the circumflex doesn’t hint at a lost “s” retained in English, but the English word is still very similar.

99. hotel – hôtel 

We can find the lost “s” in the English word “hostel”.

100. dinner – dîner

101. age – âge 

False Cognates In French – AKA False Friends

One of the biggest problems with languages that share lots of cognates is that they usually have lots of false cognates too – also known as “false friends”.

Sometimes, two words can be derived from the same root, but over time, they may have diverged, so now they have quite different meanings.

This is something that can easily catch you out if you don’t know that a word is a false friend – and unfortunately, you’ll encounter this a lot when learning French

As a result, although you are usually safe guessing the meanings of words, sometimes you’ll find that what you say is significantly different from what you thought you were saying – possibly with amusing results.

The only way round this is to learn and remember the most common false friends to avoid making mistakes.

Here’s a list of some of the false friends that most often cause trouble for learners – but also be aware that there are many, many others.

102. actually – actuellement

This word has to be near the top of any list of French false friends because it catches people out all the time.

The English word “actually” means something like “in fact”, but the French word actuel means “current” or “present” – so actuellement means “currently” or “at present”. Here’s an example:

• Il est actuellement indisponsible. (He is currently unavailable.)

If you want to say “actually” in French, you can say something like en fait (in fact) – like this:

• En fait, je n’aime pas le thé. (Actually/in fact, I don’t like tea.)

103. surely – sûrement

You would be forgiven for thinking that sûrement is a word used to express certainty, but in fact, it’s used to express doubt.

Compare the two following sentences:

• Il va sûrement venir demain. (He’s probably going to come tomorrow.)

• C’est sûr qu’il va venir demain. (It’s sure/certain that he will come tomorrow.)

As you can see, the first version introduces an element of doubt into the situation while the second version tells us that there’s no doubt.

104. normally – normalement 

This one can be considered a half-false friend because the French word does sometimes have the English meaning of “normally” as in “usually”.

However, it’s very commonly used in the way we use “should” to express the idea that you think something will probably happen or that you think something is true, like this:

• Normalement, je le recevrai avant son anniversaire. (I should receive it before his birthday.)

• Normalement, il le sait. (He should know [I think he knows].)

This one probably catches out more French speakers using English than vice versa because they often use “normally” to mean “should” even though this meaning doesn’t exist in English.

This common mistake is instructive, though, and if you can start using normalement in this way when you speak French, it will make you sound more like a native.

When normalement is used to mean “normally”, it still often implies the idea that that’s what should happen under normal circumstances. Another more neutral way to say “normally” in French is d’habitude:

• D’habitute, je me lève à 6h du matin. (I normally/usually get up at 6am.)

105. eventually – éventuellement

Another false friend from the -ly/-ment group. In English, eventually means “in the end”, especially after a long delay, but the meaning in French is very different.

Éventuel in French means something like “possible” or “potential”, so éventuellement means “possibly” or “potentially”. Here’s an example:

• Je pourrais éventuellement quitter la France. (I might possibly leave France.)

To say “eventually” in French, you can use finalement:

• Finalement, il a trouvé un nouveau poste. (Eventually/in the end, he found a new position (job).)

106. balance – balance

The French meaning of balance is quite unrelated to “balance” in English, either as a noun or a verb.

The main meaning of balance in French is “scales” as in the thing you use to weigh something – and with a capital B, it’s the word for the star sign Libra.

The noun “balance” can be translated into French with words like équilibre or objectivité, depending on the context.

107. savage – sauvage

If you want to say something or someone is savage, don’t use the word sauvage in French – because it means “wild” or “untamed”. Here’s an example:

• Il y a beaucoup d’animaux sauvages dans la jungle. (There are lots of wild animals in the jungle.)

If you want to say “savage”, you can use French words like féroce or violent, depending on what you want to express.

108. relative – relatif

I mentioned this one above, and it’s important to note that while relatif means “relative” in the sense of “relative to something else”, it doesn’t refer to a “family member”.

For that, you can say un parent, une parente – or simply un membre de la famille.

109. parent – parent

To clarify the entry above, in French, parent doesn’t necessarily mean your mother or father (although it can have this meaning) but rather refers to your family members more broadly. This means that, for example, in French, your cousin (cousin) can be considered a parent.

110. visit – visiter

Visiter can catch you out if you’re not careful because its meaning is narrower in French than in English.

You can use this word to say you are visiting an attraction of some kind – but you don’t use it to say you are going to see people. For that, you should use rendre visite. Here are two examples:

• Je veux visiter le château demain. (I want to visit the castle tomorrow.)

• Je vais rendre visite à un vieil ami demain. (I’m going to visit/go and see an old friend tomorrow.)

111. quit – quitter 

This one is a great example of how words with the same root can drift in meaning over time.

In English, “to quit” means to stop doing something or to give something up – as in “to quit smoking”. However, in French, it means “to leave”. Look at these examples:

• Il quitte son travail à 18h tous les jours. (He leaves work at 6pm every day.)

• Il a quitté la pièce en courant. (He went running out of the room.)

• Je veux arrêter de fumer. (I want to quit smoking.)

For the language geeks out there, the same word exists in Spanish – and it has yet another meaning. Quitar in Spanish means “to take off” or “to remove” (as in an item of clothing).

112. assist – assister

“Assist” in English means “to help” – but in French, assister means “to be present”:

• J’ai assisté à son marriage. (I was (present) at his wedding.)

113. car – car

The French word has a different meaning from the English version – in French, it means “coach” (as in a large road vehicle). It can also be used as a conjunction meaning “because, for, since”.

A “car” in French is une voiture.

114. cave – cave

In English, a cave is where a caveman lives, but in French, it’s a place to keep wine: in French, it means “cellar” or “wine cellar”.

115. chair – chair 

In English, you sit on a chair – but in French, it means “flesh”.

116. deception – déception

In English, “deception” means “trickery”, but in French, déception means “disappointment”.

If you want to say “deception” in French, you can use tromperie or duperie. 

117. formidable – formidable

This word is used differently in French and English. In French, formidable means “great” or “amazing”. However, if you want to say “formidable” in French, you can use a word like redoubtable or impressionnant.

118. library – librarie

In English, a library is where you borrow books, but in French, it’s where you go to buy them – because librarie means “bookshop”.

119. money – monnaie

Monnaie in French doesn’t mean “money”, it means “change” – as in the coins you receive after you buy something if you don’t give the exact amount.

120. pass an exam – passer un examen

In English, if you “passed an exam”, it means you got a good score and succeeded – but in French, passer un examen simply means “to take an exam”. 

If you succeed, you can say réussir un examen or simply avoir un examen. On the other hand, if you fail, you can say rater un examen or ne pas avoir un examen.

121. sensible – sensible

This is one of my favourites because I think it shows just how sneaky false friends can be. Sensible in French means “sensitive” – if you want to say “sensible” in French, you should say raisonnable, sensé or pratique.

122. rest – rester

“Rest” in English means “to have a break” or “stop working” – but in French, rester means “to stay”. To say “have a break” in French, you can say faire une pause. Look at these examples:

• Tu vas rester combien de jours? (How many days are you going to stay?)
• Je suis crevé, je veux faire une pause. (I’m worn out, I want to have a break.)

123. vest – veste 

A “vest” in English is something you wear under your shirt – but in French, veste refers to a jacket of the kind you wear with a suit.

124. costume – costume

In English, a costume is what you wear at Halloween, but in French, it’s what you wear for formal events – because in French, it means “suit”.

In French, costume can also refer to fancy dress – but another word you can use for this is déguisement.

125. magazine – magasin

A “magazine” in English is something you read – but in French, magasin means “shop”.

FAQ About French Cognates

Kickstart Your French Learning With French Cognates

Once you start learning French, you will soon realise how many French words are similar to their English equivalents. And this will help you quickly start building your French vocabulary.

It’s just a case of learning how to pronounce the French cognates and remembering the patterns.

I don’t suggest learning the patterns I’ve mentioned here by heart. It’s more a case of getting a feel for things – but being aware of these patterns will certainly help.

The best way to get a feel for French cognates is to follow the rules of StoryLearning and read in French. As you read French books at your level, you'll see French cognates over and over again.

At the same time, it’s important to remember the exceptions – those notorious French false friends – to help you avoid making mistakes or saying anything that’s quite different from what you intended.