When you start learning French, you know youโre going to have to deal with grammar, pronunciation, fluency, listening skills and a whole lot more.
Another thing you canโt 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.
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Table of Contents
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 โhourโ and the French word heure are both ultimately derived from the Greek word hลra โ which makes โhourโ and heure cognates.
Although itโs not always the case, cognates are often very similar โ and sometimes even identical โacross languages, so if youโre 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, youโll often be able to guess the meaning of words you donโt 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, itโs estimated that as many as 30% of English words come from French.
Why Do French And English Share So Many Cognates?

Thereโs one big reason for the shared vocabulary between English and French and thatโs 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.
Thatโs 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 โ to the ire of the Acadรฉmie franรงaise 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 โfreeโ 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 โ something weโll return to later in this post.
Of course, thereโs 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 letโs 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 โ fruit
2. aubergine โ aubergine
British English uses the French word while American English prefers โeggplantโ โ although according to one story, the word โeggplantโ was actually coined by an Englishman in Singapore when he discovered a certain local variety there that strongly resembled eggs!
3. carrot โ carotte
4. onion โ oignon
5. bank โ banque
6. address โ adresse
7. architecture โ architecture
8. telephone โ tรฉlรฉphone

This word is derived from the Greek tฤlฤ (far) and phลnฤ (voice) and was adopted into both languages when the telephone was invented.
9. piano โ piano
This word came to both French and English from Italian.
10. cinema โ cinรฉma
11. weekend โ week-end, weekend
One of the classic loanwords from English to French.
12. internet โ Internet
In French, Internet is usually capitalised unless it is used with an article.
13. port โ port
As in a harbour.
French Cognates That Are More Different
Other cognates are noticeably more different in terms of spelling and pronunciation, but itโs still easy to see that they are essentially the same word.
14. hour โ heure
15. beer โ biรจre
Both words ultimately derive from the Latin word bibere (to drink).
16. wine โ vin
17. bottle โ 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 doesnโt work in every case, so you should still pay attention to any exceptions you meet.
Itโs also useful to remember that French nouns ending in -ion are almost always feminine.
Here are just a few examples.

18. election โ รฉlection
19. production โ production
20. emotion โ emotion
21. fiction โ fiction
22. religion โ rรฉligion
23. invasion โ invasion
Words ending in -al
English words that end in -al are often the same in French. Here are some examples.
24. animal โ animal
25. international โ international
26. final โ final
27. central โ 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 โ adorable
29. inseparable โ insรฉparable
30. recyclable โ recyclable
31. table โ table

Words ending in -ible
Similarly, words ending in -ible tend to be the same.
32. horrible โ horrible
33. impossible โ impossible
34. visible โ visible
35. divisible โ divisible
Words ending in -ance
Another group of words that are often the same in both French and English are words ending in -ance โ and here are a few examples.
36. distance โ distance
37. ambulance โ ambulance

38. finance โ finance
39. tolerance โ 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 youโre not sure.
40. impatience โ impatience
41. intelligence โ intelligence
42. independence โ indรฉpendence
43. science โ 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 โ important
45. elephant โ รฉlรฉphant

46. restaurant โ restaurant
47. tolerant โ tolรฉrant
Words ending in -ct
Another large group of words that are the same or very close in both languages are those ending in -ct โ and here are just a few examples.
48. direct โ direct
49. correct โ correct
50. insect โ insect
51. object โ 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 โ accent
53. accident โ accident
54. intelligent โ intelligent
55. talent โ talent
Words ending in -ty change to -tรฉ in French
Words in English that end in -ty often have a counterpart in French that ends in -tรฉ. 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 donโt know it.
Here are some examples of -ty words in English that end -tรฉ in French โ and most nouns with this ending are feminine.
56. responsibility โ responsabilitรฉ
57. liberty โ libertรฉ
58. fraternity โ fraternitรฉ
59. maternity โ maternitรฉ
60. masculinity โ masculinitรฉ
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 โ and the feminine form of such words in French has the same -ive ending as in English.
61. positive โ positif, positive
62. active โ actif, active
63. relative โ relative, relative
In the sense of โ one thing relative to anotherโ, this word has the same meaning in French โ but in the sense of a family member, this is a false friend. See the false friends section below for more details.
64. pensive โ 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 โ musique
66. classic โ classique
67. tragic โ tragique
68. fantastic โ fantastique
69. logic โ 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 โ classique
71. logical โ logique
72. ethical โ รฉthique
73. identical โ 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 youโll need to learn them. Check the false friends section below for more details.
74. completely โ complรจtement
75. practically โ practiquement
76. partially โ partiellement
77. exactly โ exactement
78. directly โ 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 โ curieux
80. delicious โ dรฉlicieux
81. fabulous โ 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 โ often, the word is the same in French with an -aire ending.
82. vocabulary โ vocabulaire
83. dictionary โ dictionaire

84. contrary โ contraire
85. arbitrary โ 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 โ touriste
87. pianist โ pianiste
88. artist โ artiste
89. modernist โ 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 โ cubisme
91. creationism โ crรฉationnisme
92. realism โ rรฉalisme
93. tourism โ tourisme
94. solipsism โ solipsisme
Circumflex Accents
Circumflex accent often โhidesโ an โsโ
The circumflex accent in French often indicates that an โsโ 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 โsโ retained โ and here are some examples.
95. hospital โ hรดpital
96. forest โ forรชt
97. coast โ cรดte
98. island โ รฎle

Others with a circumflex accent are often very similar
Sometimes, the circumflex doesnโt hint at a lost โsโ retained in English, but the English word is still very similar.
99. hotel โ hรดtel
We can find the lost โsโ in the English word โhostelโ.
100. dinner โ dรฎner
101. age โ รขge
False Cognates In French โ 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 โ also known as โfalse friendsโ.
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 donโt know that a word is a false friend โ and unfortunately, youโll encounter this a lot when learning French
As a result, although you are usually safe guessing the meanings of words, sometimes youโll find that what you say is significantly different from what you thought you were saying โ possibly with amusing results.
The only way round this is to learn and remember the most common false friends to avoid making mistakes.
Hereโs a list of some of the false friends that most often cause trouble for learners โ but also be aware that there are many, many others.
102. actually โ 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 โactuallyโ means something like โin factโ, but the French word actuel means โcurrentโ or โpresentโ โ so actuellement means โcurrentlyโ or โat presentโ. Hereโs an example:
- Il est actuellement indisponsible. (He is currently unavailable.)
If you want to say โactuallyโ in French, you can say something like en fait (in fact) โ like this:
- En fait, je nโaime pas le thรฉ. (Actually/in fact, I donโt like tea.)

103. surely โ sรปrement
You would be forgiven for thinking that sรปrement is a word used to express certainty, but in fact, itโs used to express doubt.
Compare the two following sentences:
- Il va sรปrement venir demain. (Heโs probably going to come tomorrow.)
- Cโest sรปr quโil va venir demain. (Itโs 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 thereโs no doubt.
104. normally โ normalement
This one can be considered a half-false friend because the French word does sometimes have the English meaning of โnormallyโ as in โusuallyโ.
However, itโs very commonly used in the way we use โshouldโ 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 โnormallyโ to mean โshouldโ even though this meaning doesnโt 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 โnormallyโ, it still often implies the idea that thatโs what should happen under normal circumstances. Another more neutral way to say โnormallyโ in French is dโhabitude:
- Dโhabitute, je me lรจve ร 6h du matin. (I normally/usually get up at 6am.)
105. eventually โ รฉventuellement
Another false friend from the -ly/-ment group. In English, eventually means โin the endโ, especially after a long delay, but the meaning in French is very different.
รventuel in French means something like โpossibleโ or โpotentialโ, so รฉventuellement means โpossiblyโ or โpotentiallyโ. Hereโs an example:
- Je pourrais รฉventuellement quitter la France. (I might possibly leave France.)
To say โeventuallyโ in French, you can use finalement:
- Finalement, il a trouvรฉ un nouveau poste. (Eventually/in the end, he found a new position (job).)
106. balance โ balance

The French meaning of balance is quite unrelated to โbalanceโ in English, either as a noun or a verb.
The main meaning of balance in French is โscalesโ as in the thing you use to weigh something โ and with a capital B, itโs the word for the star sign Libra.
The noun โbalanceโ can be translated into French with words like รฉquilibre or objectivitรฉ, depending on the context.
107. savage โ sauvage
If you want to say something or someone is savage, donโt use the word sauvage in French โ because it means โwildโ or โuntamedโ. Hereโs an example:
- Il y a beaucoup dโanimaux sauvages dans la jungle. (There are lots of wild animals in the jungle.)
If you want to say โsavageโ, you can use French words like fรฉroce or violent, depending on what you want to express.
108. relative โ relatif
I mentioned this one above, and itโs important to note that while relatif means โrelativeโ in the sense of โrelative to something elseโ, it doesnโt refer to a โfamily memberโ.
For that, you can say un parent, une parente โ or simply un membre de la famille.
109. parent โ parent
To clarify the entry above, in French, parent doesnโt 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 โ visiter
Visiter can catch you out if youโre 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 โ but you donโt 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 chรขteau demain. (I want to visit the castle tomorrow.)
- Je vais rendre visite ร un vieil ami demain. (Iโm going to visit/go and see an old friend tomorrow.)
111. quit โ quitter
This one is a great example of how words with the same root can drift in meaning over time.
In English, โto quitโ means to stop doing something or to give something up โ as in โto quit smokingโ. However, in French, it means โto leaveโ. Look at these examples:
- Il quitte son travail ร 18h tous les jours. (He leaves work at 6pm every day.)
- Il a quittรฉ la piรจce en courant. (He went running out of the room.)
- Je veux arrรชter de fumer. (I want to quit smoking.)
For the language geeks out there, the same word exists in Spanish โ and it has yet another meaning. Quitar in Spanish means โto take offโ or โto removeโ (as in an item of clothing).
112. assist โ assister
โAssistโ in English means โto helpโ โ but in French, assister means โto be presentโ:
- Jโai assistรฉ ร son marriage. (I was (present) at his wedding.)
113. car โ car
The French word has a different meaning from the English version โ in French, it means โcoachโ (as in a large road vehicle). It can also be used as a conjunction meaning โbecause, for, sinceโ.
A โcarโ in French is une voiture.
114. cave โ cave

In English, a cave is where a caveman lives, but in French, itโs a place to keep wine: in French, it means โcellarโ or โwine cellarโ.
115. chair โ chair
In English, you sit on a chair โ but in French, it means โfleshโ.
116. deception โ dรฉception
In English, โdeceptionโ means โtrickeryโ, but in French, dรฉception means โdisappointmentโ.
If you want to say โdeceptionโ in French, you can use tromperie or duperie.
117. formidable โ formidable
This word is used differently in French and English. In French, formidable means โgreatโ or โamazingโ. However, if you want to say โformidableโ in French, you can use a word like redoubtable or impressionnant.
118. library โ librarie
In English, a library is where you borrow books, but in French, itโs where you go to buy them โ because librarie means โbookshopโ.

119. money โ monnaie
Monnaie in French doesnโt mean โmoneyโ, it means โchangeโ โ as in the coins you receive after you buy something if you donโt give the exact amount.
120. pass an exam โ passer un examen
In English, if you โpassed an examโ, it means you got a good score and succeeded โ but in French, passer un examen simply means โto take an examโ.
If you succeed, you can say rรฉussir 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 โ sensible
This is one of my favourites because I think it shows just how sneaky false friends can be. Sensible in French means โsensitiveโ โ if you want to say โsensibleโ in French, you should say raisonnable, sensรฉ or pratique.
122. rest โ rester
โRestโ in English means โto have a breakโ or โstop workingโ โ but in French, rester means โto stayโ. To say โhave a breakโ 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 crevรฉ, je veux faire une pause. (Iโm worn out, I want to have a break.)
123. vest โ veste
A โvestโ in English is something you wear under your shirt โ but in French, veste refers to a jacket of the kind you wear with a suit.
124. costume โ costume
In English, a costume is what you wear at Halloween, but in French, itโs what you wear for formal events โ because in French, it means โsuitโ.
In French, costume can also refer to fancy dress โ but another word you can use for this is dรฉguisement.
125. magazine โ magasin
A โmagazineโ in English is something you read โ but in French, magasin means โshopโ.

FAQ About French Cognates
What are 10 French cognates?
1. Animal
2. Banane (banana)
3. Cafรฉ (coffee)
4. Chocolat (chocolate)
5. Dรฉlicieux (delicious)
6. Tรฉlรฉvision (television)
7. Photo (photo)
8. Hรดpital (hospital)
9. Musique (music)
10. Police (police)
What are 5 examples of cognate?
1. Art
2. Centre (center)
3. Table
4. Date
5. Film
What is a cognate in French?
A cognate is a word that looks and sounds similar in two languages and has the same or similar meaning. For example, nation in English and nation in French are cognates because they are spelled almost identically and share the same meaning.
What are 10 English words borrowed from French?
1. Ballet
2. Cuisine
3. Boutique
4. Champagne
5. Genre
6. Cafรฉ
7. Chauffeur
8. Dรฉjร vu
9. Rรฉsumรฉ
10. Matinรฉe
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.
Itโs just a case of learning how to pronounce the French cognates and remembering the patterns.
I donโt suggest learning the patterns Iโve mentioned here by heart. Itโs more a case of getting a feel for things โ 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, itโs important to remember the exceptions โ those notorious French false friends โ to help you avoid making mistakes or saying anything thatโs quite different from what you intended.
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Olly Richards
Creator of the StoryLearningยฎ Method
Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearningยฎ method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.
Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.
When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preachesโhe speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.