French daily routine vocabulary: 60 words from waking up to bedtime

60 French words for everyday life

Reflexive verbs are listed with se (or s' before a vowel). The next section shows how they change. These are the same 60 words the Contos web app reviews as flashcards.

Reflexive verbs: je me lève, tu te couches

The first verbs in the list carry se, which means the action is done to yourself: you wake yourself, you dress yourself. Se changes with the person, and becomes m', t' or s' before a vowel: je m'habille.

Se réveiller is waking up; se lever is getting out of bed, so you can do one long before the other. In the past, reflexive verbs take être, and the participle agrees: je me suis levé for a man, je me suis levée for a woman.

Prendre une douche isn't reflexive, but se doucher means the same and is just as common.

How often? Toujours, souvent, jamais

Frequency words go straight after the verb: je prends souvent le bus, not je souvent prends. Jamais needs ne before the verb: je ne prends jamais le métro. D'habitude and parfois can open the sentence instead: d'habitude, je marche.

That line also shows a trap in the list. Tard means late in the day (je me couche tard); being late for something is en retard. Tôt is early in the day; arriving early for something is en avance.

The list gives aller au travail for to commute, because that is how people describe an ordinary trip to work; the journey itself is le trajet. Faire la navette also means to commute, but it suggests travelling back and forth between two places, often a long way (je fais la navette entre Lille et Paris).

Weather, chores and greetings: what people actually say

Weather: il fait, il y a

French talks about weather with il fait and il y a: il fait beau, il fait froid, il y a du soleil, il y a du vent. That is why the list gives il y a du vent for windy; the adjective venteux is correct but rare in speech. Ensoleillé and nuageux describe a day or the sky: une journée ensoleillée, le ciel est nuageux. To ask, say Quel temps fait-il ?

Le temps means both weather and time, and the sentence tells you which:

Chores and errands with faire

• faire les courses is the food shopping; faire du shopping is browsing for clothes and fun.
• faire la vaisselle (the washing-up) and faire la lessive (the laundry) both use faire. General housework is faire le ménage.
• sortir la poubelle is to take the bin out.
• un billet is a train ticket (and a banknote), un ticket is a bus or métro ticket, and le ticket de caisse is the till receipt.

Greetings from the list

Bonjour works all day; switch to bonsoir in the evening. Désolé and enchanté take an extra -e when a woman says them: désolée, enchantée. And bienvenue means welcome, as in welcome to my home; it is never the reply to merci. For that, see how to say you're welcome in French, and for the rest, hello and how are you.