By chloeF Last updated: May 26, 2023

49 French Vocabulary Essentials for Your Daily Morning Routine

Mornings. It may seem like you can’t live with ’em, but one thing’s for sure: You definitely can’t live without ’em.

Same goes for French morning routine vocabulary.

Why Learn French Morning Routine Vocabulary?
French Daily Routine Vocabulary: 49 Words to Shape Your Morning

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Why Learn French Morning Routine Vocabulary?

It’s the perfect small-talk material. Let’s face it, the métro-boulot-dodo (metro-work-sleep, a French expression used to describe the daily grind of the working person) thing has become a fact of modern life, and it feels hard to make the time to see a French film at the theater or to read the complete works of Marcel Proust. This means that idle chatter often centers around the simple stuff like the weather, the take-out you ordered last night and what happened on the way to work this morning.

More domain-specific French = more fluent French. Becoming fluent in French is not only about mastering French grammar. It’s also about building up a big vocabulary. By widening your vocabulary, you also widen the number of people with whom you can converse.

By learning business vocabulary, you can chat with entrepreneurs. By learning food words and food expressions, French foodies are sure to get a kick out of you. Save for the insomniacs and the night owls out there, we all wake up in the morning, and so by learning morning routine vocabulary in French, you’ll be able to chit-chat with, well, everyone.

French Daily Routine Vocabulary: 49 Words to Shape Your Morning

Before we get to that list, if you want some ways to practice these new words, using flashcards can help you study more efficiently.

You can use an app like Quizlet to create fun flashcards. Or, with an app like FluentU, you can hear the words in context through authentic French videos like movie clips and vlogs. FluentU also lets you create multimedia flashcards from any word you encounter in your viewing, so you can add new words to the list as you come across them.

If you want full control over your flashcards and how they look, Anki might be the right app for you. And, of course, you can always go old-school and create some flashcards by hand!

French Vocabulary for Waking Up

Wake up and smell the coffee! Seize the day!

Étirement (m) : stretch

J’aime faire des étirements le matin (I like doing stretches in the morning).

Lit (m) : bed

J’ai un grand lit (I have a big bed).

Réveil (m) : alarm or the process of waking up

C’est dur le réveil (It’s hard waking up)!

Avoir sommeil : to be sleepy

J’ai sommeil (I am sleepy).

Bâiller : yawn

Jeanne bâille sans arrêt (Jeanne is yawning nonstop).

Se lever : to get up

Je me lève à 6 heures (I wake up at 6 o’clock).

Se réveiller : to wake up

Ma fille Élise se réveille sans réveil (My daughter Élise wakes up without an alarm clock).

Sonner : to ring

Je suis comme tout le monde ; je n’aime pas quand le réveil sonne (Like everyone, I don’t like when my alarm clock rings).

Se lever du mauvais pied : to wake up on the wrong side of the bed (to be in a bad mood)

Alain s’est levé du mauvais pied (Alain woke up on the wrong side of the bed).

Tomber du lit : “to fall from the bed,” meaning to wake up early

Je suis tombé(e) du lit beaucoup trop tôt pour réfléchir clairement (I woke up too early to think clearly).

French Vocabulary for Getting Ready

Congratulations! You’ve gotten through the hardest part of the morning: waking up. Here are some useful words to talk about getting ready.

Baignoire (f) : bathtub

À mon avis, prendre un bain dans une baignoire n’est pas très écologique (In my opinion, taking a bath in a bathtub is not very environment-friendly).

Brosse à dents (f) : toothbrush

J’ai une brosse à dents électrique (I have an electric toothbrush).

Dentifrice (m) : toothpaste

J’utilise une dentifrice à la menthe (I use a mint toothpaste).

Chaussures (f pl) : shoes

Je ne porte que des chaussures confortables (I only wear comfortable shoes).

Douche (f) : shower

J’ai pris une douche chaude (I took a hot bath).

Fringues (f pl) : clothes (In more formal contexts, vêtements (m) is preferred.)

Je n’ai pas beaucoup de fringues (I do not have a lot of clothes).

Informations (f pl) : the news (French speakers often say les infos for short.)

Ma radio préférée pour écouter les informations est France Inter (My favorite radio (station) for listening to the news is France Inter).

Lavabo (m) : bathroom sink

Le lavabo est propre (the bathroom sink is clean).

Miroir (m) : mirror

Je me regarde dans le miroir (I am looking at myself in the mirror).

Peigne (m) : comb

J’oublie toujours mon peigne quand je voyage (I always forget my comb when I am traveling).

Peignoir (m) : bathrobe

J’enfile un peignoir à la sortie de la douche (I put on a robe upon getting out of the shower).

Petit-déjeuner (m) : breakfast

Pour le petit-déjeuner j’ai mangé une tartine grillée (For breakfast I ate a piece of toast).

Salle de bains (f) : bathroom*

La salle de bains est à côté de ma chambre (The bathroom is next to my bedroom).

*Note: Especially in France, the salle de bains is often a separate room from les toilettes. The salle de bains is dedicated to washing up, whereas les toilettes have the sole function of being, well, the toilet room.

Boire : to drink

Boire du café le matin est non négociable (Drinking coffee in the morning is non-negotiable).

Être à l’heure : to be on time

La plupart du temps je suis à l’heure (Most of the time I am on time).

Être en avance : to be early

Je suis fier/fière de moi: je suis arrivé(e) en avance (I am proud of myself; I arrived early).

Faire son lit : to make one’s bed

Chacun de mes enfants doit faire son lit (Each of my kids must make their bed).

Se brosser : to brush (one’s teeth or one’s hair)

Je me brosse les dents deux fois par jour (I brush my teeth twice a day).

Se depêcher : to hurry up

Il faut que je me dépêche (I must hurry up).

Se doucher : to shower

Je me douche et puis je prends un café (I take a shower and then I drink a coffee).

S’habiller : to get dressed

Mon mari s’habille très vite le matin (My husband dresses quickly in the morning).

Se laver : to wash (oneself)

Je me lave avec du savon biologique (I wash with organic soap).

Se peigner : to comb one’s hair

Élise ne se peigne pas (Élise does not comb her hair).

Prendre : to take, both literally and figuratively (Prendre is quite a versatile verb, much like faire (to do, to make) and is present in many idiomatic expressions.)

Je prends un petit-déjeuner léger (I am having a light breakfast).

Je prends une douche tous les jours (I take a shower every day).

French Vocabulary for Bumps in Your Morning Routine

Hiccups in our morning routines are inevitable. Let’s face it, even if you do everything you can to make your mornings go smoothly (laying out your clothes the night before and setting your alarm…), things can go wrong. Here are some useful words to describe the bumps in the road.

Accident (m) : accident

Suite à un accident grave de voyageur, la circulation sur la ligne 4 est ralentie (Due to a serious accident of a passenger, line 4 is delayed).

Bouchon (m) : traffic jam (In more formal contexts, the French use embouteillage (m)).

Les infos ont annoncé 10km de bouchons sur l’autoroute (The news announced 10km of traffic jams on the highway).

Circulation (f) : traffic flow

La circulation est mauvaise (The traffic flow is bad).

Déviation (f) : detour

J’ai dû prendre une déviation ce matin (I had to take a detour this morning).

Nuit blanche (f) : sleepless night, all-nighter

J’ai passé une nuit blanche (I had a sleepless night).

Temps peu clément (m) : inclement weather

Je suis arrivé(e) en retard à cause du temps peu clément (I arrived late because of the inclement weather).

Travaux [routiers] (m) : road work, road construction

Ils font des travaux sur ma route habituelle (They are doing road construction on my normal route).

Être en retard : to be late

Marie est en retard (Marie is late).

Patienter : to wait patiently

Le train va redémarrer dans quelques instants ; veuillez patienter (The train will restart in a few moments; please be patient).

Ralentir : to slow down

La circulation est ralentie sur l’autoroute (Traffic on the highway is slowed down).

Se rendormir : to fall back asleep

Je me suis rendormi(e) ce matin et j’ai raté mon rendez-vous (I fell asleep this morning and I missed my appointment).

Tomber en panne : to break down

Ma voiture est tombée en panne (My car broke down).

French Vocabulary for Your Weekend Morning Routine

T.G.I.F.! Weekend mornings are great for sleeping in and, of course, reviewing French grammatical structures. Walk right this way, please.

Bruncher (m) : to have brunch

Le dimanche je brunche avec Carole (On Sundays, I have brunch with Carole).

Gueule de bois (f) : hangover

J’ai fait la fête hier soir et j’ai la gueule de bois (I partied last night and I have a hangover).

Faire la grasse-matinée : to sleep in

Le samedi je fais la grasse-matinée (I sleep in on Saturdays).

There you have it!

Regardless of what side of the bed you get out of, you’ll be able to talk (or complain) about it.