Learn French for your trip
France first, with notes for Belgium and Switzerland: cafés, stations, markets and the pharmacy.
- 31 modules
- 6 missions
- 1,218 phrases to search, hear and save
- 10 games
Try it free for 14 days.
First Steps teaches the phrases for your first hour, then the course builds up through how French works, food, hotels and getting around, and everyday life. It has 31 modules and six missions.
Real situations, one at a time.
6 missions, each in three stages: Get by, Go further and Like a local. A mission counts as achieved when you know the key language, understand it spoken, say it aloud and handle the conversation.
Missions
Order a coffee in France
From your first café at the counter to a round at the local bar-tabac: you can order exactly what you want, understand the server at normal speed and pay the way people do, in French.
Eat out in France
From 'une table pour deux' to a Friday night in a Lyon bouchon: you can book, order a full meal, shape it to your needs, understand the waiter at normal speed and settle the bill, politely and in French.
Stay at a hotel
Check in, get what you need during your stay and sort out problems, understanding what reception tells you, in French.
Get around by train, metro and bus
Buy the right ticket, get on the right train, metro or bus, catch what the announcements say and find your way on foot, in French.
Shop in France: markets and shops
From your first kilo of tomatoes to a Saturday at the market with the regulars, and from a black jacket in the sales to knowing when the shop reopens: you can buy what you want, understand the seller and pay the way people do, in French.
Get help at a pharmacy and in an emergency
From a sunburn on a beach in Nice to a night at the duty pharmacy with a friend who has a temperature: you can say what is wrong, understand the pharmacist's questions and warnings, and know who to call, in French.
The French you learn, in order.
Every course starts with First Steps, the survival language for your first hour. The tracks after it add to what you can do.
- 1First StepsBonjour, s'il vous plaît, merci, and how to get what you need.
- 2How French worksUnderstand the system behind the phrases
- 3FoodFrom the first café crème to the last course
- 4Hotels & Getting AroundCheck in, catch the train, find your way, and cope when things go wrong.
- 5EverydayMarket stalls, shop counters, the pharmacy, and the day something goes wrong.
- 31
- modules, each in short lessons
- 888
- words and expressions
- 105
- sentence patterns
- 1,218
- phrases in the phrasebook
French you can use on day one.
These are from the first lessons. In the app each has audio, a note on when to use it, and a way to save it.
Bonjour, madame.
Hello, madam.
Merci beaucoup !
Thank you very much!
Excusez-moi, madame…
Excuse me, madam…
Ça coûte combien ?
How much does it cost?
Vous parlez anglais ?
Do you speak English?
Vous pouvez répéter, s'il vous plaît ?
Could you repeat that, please?
L'addition, s'il vous plaît.
The bill, please.
Je voudrais un café, s'il vous plaît.
I'd like a coffee, please.
Three things about French for a traveller.
Tu or vous
French has an informal and a formal "you". The course shows which one to use with a waiter, a shop assistant and a friend.
Seventy in Belgium and Switzerland
You will hear "septante" and "nonante" for 70 and 90 in Belgium and Switzerland, and "huitante" for 80 in some Swiss cantons. The notes cover it.
Regional languages
Breton, Alsatian and Corsican are spoken in places. French is understood everywhere, and the notes mark where you will notice something different.
Places the course has notes on.
Each note is a habit of that place, so you know what to expect where you are going.
Paris & Île-de-France
Paris, Versailles and the region around the capital
Provence & the Riviera
Marseille, Nice, Cannes, Avignon, Aix-en-Provence
Lyon & the Alps
Lyon, Grenoble, Annecy, Chamonix
Brittany
Rennes, Saint-Malo, Brest, Quimper. Breton is heard in places; French is understood everywhere
Normandy
Rouen, Caen, Bayeux, Honfleur and the Normandy coast
Toulouse & Occitanie
Toulouse, Montpellier, Carcassonne, Perpignan
Bordeaux & the Atlantic coast
Bordeaux, La Rochelle, Biarritz, the Dordogne
Alsace & the north-east
Strasbourg, Colmar, Metz, Nancy, Reims. Alsatian is spoken locally; French is understood everywhere
Corsica
Ajaccio, Bastia, Bonifacio. Corsican is spoken locally; French is understood everywhere
The same app plans the trip you are learning French for.
Takes your phrases offline
Download the travel guide on Wi-Fi. The phrasebook, survival and travel packs, local notes and audio then work with no signal.
Plans the trip too
Put places on days, save the TikToks and reels that gave you ideas, see the stops on a map and share the plan.
Keeps your travel map
Colour in the countries you have been to and the ones you want to go to.
About learning French.
How big is the French course?
It has 31 modules, six missions and more than 1,200 phrases you can search, hear and save. Italian and Spanish are larger.
Will it help me in Paris?
Yes. The missions cover coffee, restaurants, hotels, trains, metro and bus, markets and the pharmacy, which are what most visits to Paris involve.
What about Quebec?
The course is written for France, with notes for Belgium and Switzerland. It does not cover Canadian French yet.
Going somewhere else?
Say your first French phrase in a few minutes.
Create a free account, pick French, and start with the phrases for your first hour.
Try it free for 14 days.