36.

femme fatale – A seductrice harboring

vocabulary list bad intentions.
37. fiancé/e – A woman or man who will be
1. à la – To the/in the manner of
married.
2. à la carte – Restaurant menu items sold
38. gaffe – Stupid mistake or blunder
separately or individually usually in
39. genre – Type or kind
smaller portions.
40. haute cuisine – High-end or gourmet
3. à la mode – Refers to serving a desert
cooking
with ice cream, eg “apple pie à la mode.
41. hors d’œuvre – Appetizer
4. à propos – regarding/concerning
42. joie de vivre – Joy of living
5. adieu – good-bye or farewell
43. laissez-faire – Political philosophy
6. amuse-bouche – Small bite-size hors
referring to non-interference
d’œuvre
44. malaise – Sickness or not feeling
7. apéritif – A drink taken before a meal,
comfortable
usually alcoholic.
45. Mardi Gras – Fat Tuesday, annual
8. au jus – Culinary term referring to
festival celebrated in New Orleans.
serving a dish with sauce
46. milieu – Social environment
9. blasé – Not being impressed with
47. né, née – Born, used in writing when
something due to over-familiarity
referring to a woman’s maiden name.
10. bon appétit – “Enjoy your meal” – said
48. nouveau riche – Refers to people who
before eating
have recently become wealthy but were
11. bon vivant – Somebody who enjoys
previously poor.
their life
49. panache – Flamboyance
12. boy voyage – Enjoy your trip!
50. par avion – Air mail
13. bourgeois – Preoccupied with material
51. prêt-à-porter – Ready to wear
values and class rank or status
52. raison d’être – Reason or purpose for
14. brunette – Usually refers to a female
existing
with brown hair
53. rapprochement – Diplomatic term for
15. café – A coffee house
two states or bodies moving towards
16. café au lait – Coffee with milk
each other
17. chic – Stylish, in fashion
54. renaissance – Literally “rebirth” –
18. cliché – A saying that is used to often
Refers to 14-17th century Europe
19. clique – A tight or exclusive group –
55. savant – Knowing or brilliant – often
pronounced “Click” in English.
used in relation to those with Autism.
20. crèche – Nativity scene for christmas
56. soirée – Refers to an evening party
21. crème brûlée – Desert with custard and
57. soupe du jour – Soup of the day.
caramelized sugar
58. tête-à-tête – Literally “head-to-head” –
22. crème de la crème – Best of the best
Refers to two people facing offer in a
23. critique – An analysis of one’s work
close debate.
24. cul-de-sac – dead-end street
59. vinaigrette – Oil and vinegar salad
25. décor – Referring to home decorating
dressing
26. déjà vu – Literally “already seen” but
60. vis-à-vis – Comparing one thing in
refers to situations that seem like
relation to another
they’ve happened before.
27. dossier – A file containing information
about a person
28. eau de toilette – Aromatic splashing
water used after bathing; a mild perfume
or cologne
29. eau de vie – Whiskey, brandy or other
strong alcoholic beverages.
30. en garde – “Take your guard” – said in
the sport of fencing.
31. entre nous – Between us…
32. entrée – The main dish of a meal (US)
or the first course of a meal (UK)
33. façade – A fake persona or false
impressions
34. faux – Adjective for fake, eg faux fur for
fake fur
35. faux pas – Something one must not do
in order to remain polite
months of the year in French the days of the week are written in
the lower case and not capitalized like in
les mois de l’année English.
ENGLISH FRENCH
Below you’ll find the months of the year in
French. Overall they’re quite easy to learn. A
few notes: Pronounce the -t for the month of Monday lundi
August. The two hardest months to pronounce
are June and July. Pronunciation suggestions Tuesday mardi
are given below.

Wednesday mercredi
ENGLISH FRENCH

Thursday jeudi
January janvier

Friday vendredi
February février

Saturday samedi
March mars

Sunday dimanche
April avril

RELATED WORDS
May mai

What day is it? Quel jour sommes-n

June juin

It's... nous sommes...

July juillet

It's c’est...
August août

It's on est...
Septembre septembre

yesterday hier
October octobre

today aujourd'hui
November novembre

tomorrow demain
Decembre décembre

next Monday lundi prochain

The following phrases are useful for talking
about months:
last Monday lundi dernier
 En janvier – in January
 depuis novembre – since november see you monday! à lundi!
 la mi-juin – mid-June
 la fin (de) juillet – the end of July
the day before la veille

Days of the Week

the next day le lendemain
les jours de la semaine
Here you will learn how to say the days of the
two days ago il y a deux jours
week (les jours de la semaine) in French. They
are very simple and quite straightforward and
the pronunciation is not very difficult. Note that
 in three dans dans trois jours

the day after tomrrow après-demain

the day before yesterday avant-hier

week la semaine

next week la semaine prochaine

last week la semaine passée

two weeks (fortnight) quinze jours

day off le jour de congé

public, bank holiday un jour férié

weekend le week-end

daily (adj) quotidien(ne)

weekly hebdomadaire

on week days, during the week en semaine

Example phrases using days of the week

 Quel jour est-ce? What day is it?

 Aujourd’hui, c’est mercredi. Today is
Wednesday.
 Demain, c’est jeudi. Tomorrow is Thursday.

Note that in French to say “on” a given day in

the general sense, the day is written out in the
singular preceded by the definite article. This is
unlike English, which uses the plural. For
example:

 Je me repose le samdi. I rest on Saturdays.

 Je travaille le mardi. I work on Tuesdays.

When referring ‘on the weekend’ or ‘on

weekends’ the French anglicism is also kept in
the singular. For example: 

 Je ne travaille pas le week-end. I don’t work

on weekends.