By emmacorradini Last updated: May 29, 2023

15 Cute French Sayings That’ll Charm Your Pants Off

Fall in love with French, and then let French help you fall in love.

Learners at any level (and with any relationship status) can benefit from exploring the French culture of love.

Perhaps you’ll want to learn pickup lines, or perhaps you’d prefer to start by learning about weddings and marriage in France.

I mean, what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the French?

Their love of food, their beautiful cities and romantic landscapes..or their penchant for romance?

Everything the French do, they do it with an artful passion. Get ready to learn love from the pros. In just a few moments, we’ll venture through a lovely list of sayings brought to you by great French romantics themselves.

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Why Should You Learn Cute French Sayings?

Sayings are a beautiful part of a language, the way that the great writers used their language to convey spirit and meaning that remains relevant today. The cute and the romantic parts of a language are often what draws people to a language and are shared between languages. Many people who do not speak French will already know these sayings because they are so universal and a linguistic treasure.

Wonderful as this all is, you might be thinking: How does this help me become fluent in French?

You can use these sayings to gain access to an important part of French culture and use this article to help you explore French music and literature, much of which centers on the theme of love. These sayings are also beautiful and may stay with you all your life. Use them to impress people in your life, whether they speak French or not!

How to Learn Cute French Sayings

As well as the sayings and cultural insights presented in this article, there are many other opportunities to get your fix.

For beginners, there are many opportunities to embrace l’amour (love). There are many great love songs out there, great for beginners who can pick up pronunciation and vocabulary from music. Try Celine Dion’s music, she has a French love album out. Carla Bruni has also written many love songs.

As well as that, you might like to try reading a book you’ve already read in English in French. “Twilight” is a great one for this, as it has a lot of romantic phrasing and is suitable for beginners.

If you’re at an intermediate stage, try a magazine, like “Cosmopolitan,” which may have some romance pages. A bit limited on cash? Swap your regular subscription for one in French, it’s also great for motivating you!

Start exploring more reading material and have fun with it as your comprehension gets better. Try to seek out books and magazines with cute French language yourself, starting with writers mentioned in this article.

If you want to get some writing practice in, you could try writing a French love story. Take inspiration from anything in this article, or use your own imagination to create a great romance. You could then ask a French speaker you know to give you some feedback on your writing. If you don’t know anyone, try posting your writing as an italki notebook or adding a note and posting it on the site Fanfic Fr (for French fan fiction) to get some feedback.

You can also go an extra step and hire a private tutor to guide you on italki. Then, they can check out your writing and give you feedback.

The best way for an advanced learner to absorb French romance is to take a trip. Talk to some different people and learn about their relationships, or try your hand at a little flirting. See if you can notice the subtle differences between people and the language they use for relationships. How do they differ between age and status? How different is the culture around relationships compared to the culture of your own home country?

If you can’t take a trip, try and watch a French rom-com, there are many great ones, including “l’Arnacœur“ (Heartbreaker) starring Roman Duris and Vanessa Paradis. It will help you gain a greater sense of culture and nuanced language.

Learners at any level can also explore a little into the French culture of love, perhaps exploring weddings and marriage in France.

Now that you know how to track down some more cute phrases and how to practice them in your everyday life, let’s take a look at all the linguistic ingredients of a beautiful French romance.

15 Cute French Sayings for a Hollywood Romance

When we think about the three most linguistically important parts of a romantic film, we realize that there are three that really make a film legendary.

First, there’s the term of endearment, whispered just at the point that someone is falling for someone else. Then there’s the phrase that melts the heart, a romantic heartfelt statement. After all the drama and action of the movie, there’s a point where hindsight is 20:20 and something very poignant and true is said, a great statement full of wisdom as well as true romance.

Choose an Adorable Term of Endearment

The French have many terms of endearment that sound a bit strange to us. This can be true of many languages and regions though, for example, in Japan “egg with eyes” is considered a great compliment. These are some of the most popular terms of endearment in French:

Mon petit chouchou—This is often translated as “my little cabbage” but can also refer to a kind of cream puff pastry. It describes someone who’s very dear to you. The French like to repeat syllables to make cuter-sounding words, so mon petit chou also becomes mon petit chouchou. These carry slightly different connotations, with chou being sweetheart and chouchou more like darling. It originates from the observation that cabbages and chou pastries are small and round like a baby’s head, which is to be adored.

Ma puce—This one translates to “my flea,” which sounds very weird and offensive, but is a term of closeness and love. This isn’t necessarily romantic and can apply to children as well as partners. It’s thought that it originated when fleas were a daily issue for people and those that they were closest to would pick them off.

Ma bichette—This one is sweet, but watch out: It only applies to girls! It translates to “my small doe,” and is particularly used for younger women.

Mon mignon—This translates to “my little one.” It comes from the old French word mignot which meant dainty. It’s the equivalent of the English “sweetheart.” The feminine version is mignonne.

Mon trésor—Translates to “my treasure.”

The French are also very fond of their animals, so mon mimi (my pussycat), ma chaton (my kitten) and mon lapin (my rabbit) are all common terms of endearment.

Choose a Cute French Saying to Melt Someone’s Heart

These romantic sayings will make you sound wordly and wise. Write your favorite ones down in a notebook and try to memorize them. Try to make your pronunciation perfect. Use them in conversation where relevant. Explore the literature of the writers that really speak to you in these quotes if you’re an advanced learner, and try reading some of their work. Marvel at the beauty of the French language and remind yourself why you’re learning it.

“Entre deux cœurs qui s’aiment, nul besoin de paroles.” (Two hearts in love need no words.)—Desbordes-Valmore was a writer in the 19th Century. She wrote mostly poetry, which is considered to be deeply emotional. An anthology of her poetry is available.

“Le cœur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point.” (The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing.)—Blaise Pascal was the father of Pascal’s triangle. He did a lot of theological/philosophical work, including “Pensées“ (thoughts).

“Le seul vrai langage au monde est un baiser.” (The only true language in the world is a kiss.)—Musset was also a writer in the 18th century. He wrote many novels, plays and poems which are worth a read.

“Il n’y a qu’un bonheur dans la vie, c’est d’aimer et d’être aimé.” (There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.)—George Sand was really a woman, Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin. She had affairs with Chopin and Musset and disobeyed many of society’s rules for women. She also wrote many plays and novels.

Choose a Cute French Saying That Perfectly Sums Up Romance

“L’amour fait les plus grandes douceurs et les plus sensibles infortunes de la vie.” (Love makes life’s sweetest pleasures and the most sensitive misfortunes.)—Scudery, a female writer in the eighteenth century. She was a feminist before her time. You can view her complete works here.

“Aimer, ce n’est pas se regarder l’un l’autre, c’est regarder ensemble dans la même direction.” (Love doesn’t mean gazing at each other, but looking, together, in the same direction)—St Exupéry, author of “Le Petit Prince” (The Little Prince) was a writer and aviator of the early 20th century (hence many of his writings involve aircraft.) His work, especially “Le Petit Prince,” is considered classic. His other works can be found here. If you enjoyed C.S Lewis, you will fall in love with St Exupéry’s books.

“Je vois la vie en rose” (I see the world through rose-tinted glasses)—Edith Piaf, the great cabaret singer sang mostly of love or sorrow. She had a hard and mostly tragic life despite her fame. Her music can be a great place to start for learning on the theme of love.

Now that you’ve got all this lovely language on your side, it’s time to get your romance with French out on the open road!