French High Frequency Verbs

If you’re mystified by which French high frequency verbs and words belong in your French class since you ditched the textbook, you’re in the right place. So you drank the kool-aid and decided to start moving towards a proficiency oriented instruction model. Welcome to the party!

But then again, where on earth do you start with your curriculum? What do you present as the core of your class if it’s no longer grammar structures? (No hate on grammar, it just has a different role in a comprehensible input classroom. Check out this helpful guide from ACTFL’s guiding principles on the essential role of context when teaching grammar concepts.)

I recommend you start with high-frequency verbs to anchor your practice since they will pay off the fastest for students. Following the words, phrases, and verbs that students already need to communicate almost makes too much sense. 

What are the French high frequency verbs and why do they matter? 

The whole idea behind frequency in language is that when we study language through Second Language Acquisition, we’ve discovered that languages are actually not that different from each other beyond surface-level features. Every language uses the same components to create sentences in order to produce meaning, but may do it in a different order, or including/excluding certain pieces. However, they all pull from the same few elements in order to create meaning: such as a time frame, a subject, a predicate, etc. In that same way, humans use most frequently the same 500 words (no matter the language) in order to communicate 90% of our oral/written/signed ideas. 

What this means for your students is that by learning the most frequently used words – or high frequency verbs – students are more likely to reach meaning faster, and acquire more language faster. 

This does not mean that 500 words is all they need, since these are high-function words such as in, they, do, are, be, it. You can already imagine how often we use these words to create ideas. The next piece is high-content words (often nouns and adjectives) to fill in the pieces. 

High Content Words vs. High Function Words

What are high-content words? They are things like dog, sweater, purple, extra, soup, mask, etc. Tons of content. Tons of meaning. Not alot of function. 

It’s mostly high function words like it, around, for, to, etc that get used the most. Make sure that these are a huge part of what your students see and work with every day and you’ll have far less instances of this: 

Sra. Treco – I remember this word, sabado, but what is “ella?” and what is “donde?” Every world language teacher knows this feeling. Students are absorbing so many words, they hold onto those high-content words like saturday. But even with lots of repetitions like good CI teachers, the connector words get lost and the students don’t get credit for how much they really have acquired. 

I have a whole post on this common mistake plus several more in curriculum – be sure to check it out here : 9 common curriculum mistakes & what to do instead. 

High Frequency Verbs 

So what’s the main importance for high-frequency verbs? The simplest way to put it is this is what students need to communicate and understand communication in Spanish the most! You’ll be leading them directly to the most useful, frequent, and helpful verbs. And no, they are not in regular/irregular/present/past/future/subjunctive order. That’s not how they are used in speech. 

How proficiency oriented teachers using comprehensible input can use high frequency verbs: you can design units around them! 

So what are the high frequency verbs your students need to know? These are of course not in tense use order. I would highly recommend getting a high frequency verb dictionary to see the full extent of their usage in speech. More on that below. 

But for your quick reference, here are the first 20 that you can focus on with students:

French High Frequency Verbs in Order:

• #5 être
• #8 avoir
• #20 pouvoir
• #25 faire
• # 27 mettre
• #37 dire
• #39 devoir
• #43 prendre
• #46 donner
• #53 aller
• #57 vouloir
• #67 savoir 
• #68 falloir (faut)
• #69 voir
• #80 demander
• #83 trouver
• #85 rendre
• #88 venir
• #90 passer
• #95 comprendre 

– P.292 French High Frequency Dictionary 

Super 7 and Sweet 16 Verbs 

These are incredibly useful tools created by brilliant world language teachers and presenters. The super 7 verbs (™) were created by Terry Waltz based partially on frequency, as well as what’s needed to communicate the most important ideas in language. Things like I want, I have, I do, etc. Without these, your students cannot communicate. Sweet 16 is an expansion to aid in storytelling and storyteaching methods by Mike Peto.

Martina Bex explains their usage and importance best. Check out her post here on why these are such powerhouse must-haves in your French classroom.

The Super 7™ Verbs by Terry Waltz in French 

If you’re anything like me, you love ’em and you just want the list so you can get to planning novels, stories, and activities already. They’re kinda hard to find, so here’s a handy dandy list of the super seven verbs in French by Terry Waltz for your materials. Be sure to check out her blog here.

• C’est / elle est / il est
• Il y a 
• Elle a / Il a 
• Elle veut / Il veut
• Elle va / Il va 
• Elle peut / Il peut 
• Elle aime / Il aime 

High Frequency Verb Dictionaries

Here are some dictionaries to get you started. I don’t create any curriculum, unit, or lesson materials without them anymore. All links below are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission at no cost to you if you choose to purchase.

Spanish High Frequency Dictionary* – affiliate link

French Frequency Dictionary* – affiliate link

Japanese Frequency Dictionary* – affiliate link

Chinese Frequency Dictionary* – affiliate link

German Frequency Dictionary* – affiliate

Russian Frequency Dictionary* – affiliate

Portuguese Frequency Dictionary* – affiliate

Arabic Frequency Dictionary* – affiliate

High Frequency Verb Unit Ideas

Here are some high frequency verb unit ideas for your class and some insight into why they work so well. Spend some time with me and my friend Jade over at la Secundaria! 

How to Use High Frequency Verbs in French Class

Check out this post on my French classroom decor to see how I used all kinds of high frequency verb tools around my room while I was still teaching.

You can also see more of these high-frequency based resources to use during holidays or help you build out units:

Picture Talk with High Frequency Verbs – Les Maisons à Travers le Monde

French High Frequency Verb Posters

French High Frequency Verb Posters – 1st Person

French 1 Irregular Verbs Games & Activities

French Christmas Reading based on High Frequency Verbs

French Digital Interactive Notebook#2 for High Frequency Words + Verbs

More French Teacher Resources

Ready to get started? Check out this post to get more free French resources. Use this free guide to help you weave high frequency verbs and other powerhouse content into your curriculum and move closer to your proficiency and comprehensible input goals.

Have you ever wished the transition to proficiency were easier to do? Grab the FREE toolkit here to learn the framework for updating your practice to comprehensible input – without all the overwhelm – and prepare for the challenges ahead. 

Free Conference for World Language Teachers 

If you’re ready to jump in and get started with proficiency and teaching with comprehensible input, I have another resource to help you on your journey below:

Sign Up for the Next Practical & Comprehensible Free Virtual Conference! Every year, I gather together the best and brightest in the field of world language to share with you how to switch to proficiency through comprehensible input. All with practical ideas that you can use tomorrow. It’s a FREE virtual conference – join the waitlist and find out more about the speakers here.

Rooting for you,