"How many words do I need?" is the first question most people ask and the one with the least satisfying answer, because it depends entirely on what you want to do with them. What we can do is show you the shape of it, using the vocabulary we curate for the app: 9,366 French words, each tagged with the CEFR level at which it typically appears.
The levels, by the numbers
| Level | Words at this level | Running total |
|---|---|---|
| A1 — absolute beginner | 685 | 685 |
| A2 — elementary | 916 | 1,601 |
| B1 — intermediate | 2,283 | 3,884 |
| B2 — upper intermediate | 3,012 | 6,896 |
| C1 — advanced | 1,816 | 8,712 |
| C2 — mastery | 654 | 9,366 |
What each band actually buys you
Around 1,601 words: you can survive
The A1 and A2 bands together are the vocabulary of getting through a day — ordering, asking directions, describing where you live, handling a shop or a station. It is a small enough number to be genuinely reachable in a few months, and it is the point at which a trip stops being stressful.
Around 3,884 words: you can follow
Adding B1 is where conversation opens up. You can follow someone speaking normally about a familiar subject, read straightforward articles, and explain what you think rather than only what you need. This is the level most learners have in mind when they say they want to "speak French".
Around 6,896 words: you stop translating
B2 is the band where the language starts running on its own. You can watch a film without subtitles, read a novel with a dictionary open rather than in constant use, and argue a point. It is also where progress feels slowest, because each new word turns up less often than the last.
Beyond that: precision, not survival
C1 and C2 add 2,470 words that you will rarely need and occasionally be very glad to have — the register of academic writing, legal and medical language, the shades of meaning between words that a learner's dictionary translates identically.
The 9,366 words are the same ones the app shows you. You can read every one of them for free in the French vocabulary lists, sorted by topic and level, no sign-up.
A more useful question
Not "how many", but "how many a day, for how long". 1,601 words at ten new words a day is about five months. At three a day it is closer to eighteen. Neither number is the hard part — the hard part is that both assume you do not stop, which is why the method you choose matters more than the target you set.
