In this article, we’re going to look at the French city vocabulary needed to talk about cities or towns in French. We’ll discuss the “anatomy of a city” and the features of them.
You also have access to my flashcard set on Quizlet, where you can test yourself on the following vocabulary list. We present both the English-French and French-English word lists to help you master city vocabulary and vocabulary used around town.
Masculine nouns are in red, feminine nouns are in blue and plurals are in green.
BUILDINGS OR PLACES OF INTEREST
l’hôtel de ville / la mairie – city hall, town hall
le musée – the museum
le restaurant – the restaurant
l’hôpital – the hospital
l’hôtel – the hotel
la poste – the post office
le commissariat / le poste de police – the police station
le palais de justice – the courthouse
l’aéroport – the airport
la gare – the train station
le garage – the garage / car park
le parc – the park
l’église – the church
la cathédrale – the cathedral
le grand magasin – the department store
le monument – the monument
le cinéma – the movie theater / the cinema
le théâtre / la salle de spectacle – the theater (for plays and shows)
la tour – the tower
le centre commerical – the mall / shopping center
le stade – the stadium
la piscine – the pool
la plage – the beach
l’école – the school
le lycée – the high school
l’université – the university
un bâtiment – a building
le gratte-ciel – the skyscraper
une maison – a house
un appartement – an apartment / flat
GETTING AROUND
la station (de… bus / métro) – the bus stop / metro station
la rue – the road
l’avenue – the avenue
le boulevard – the boulevard
le rond-point – the round-about
le carrefour – the intersection
la place – square / court (not in a legal sense)
le pont – the bridge
la route – the street
la voie – the lane of a road
le passage piéton – the crosswalk / zebra-crossing
le trottoir – the sidewalk
l’autoroute – the highway / motorway
PARTS OF THE CITY / GENERAL VOCABULARY
la ville – the city
le village – the town
le centre ville – downtown / city centre
la banlieu – the suburbs
un quartier – neighborhood, quarter
urbain(e) – urban
Check out our vocabulary archive for more French vocabulary lists.
