6 Best French Audiobooks For Beginners With Study Guide [2025]

Audiobooks are one of the best tools you can use as a language learner, especially at the beginning of your language learning journey. When you listen to audiobooks, it automatically helps you understand the structure of the language way faster. You’ll also get familiar with the language, its pronunciation, and vocabulary.

I’ve already learned 3 foreign languages, and audiobooks are always part of my language journey from the beginning.

I’ve picked 6 best French audiobooks for beginners that will help you significantly improve your French language. So let’s explore them together.

6 Best French Audiobooks For Beginners

Here is a list of my favorite French audiobooks for beginners.

They are ranked from the easiest to understand for complete beginners to the more difficult ones that will take you from the beginner to the intermediate level:

1. 30 French Short Stories: For Complete Beginners
2. 101 Conversations In Simple French
3. Easy French Phrase Book
4. Short Stories In French
5. Conversational French Dialogues
6. French Short Stories For Beginners

1. 30 French Short Stories: For Complete Beginners

30 French Short Stories is the best audiobook to start first from our list. It uses the easiest vocabulary and explains the basics of French grammar. This audiobook will give you the foundation for understanding French if you’re a newbie.

The audiobook works with simple and everyday life vocabulary everybody uses in French-speaking countries.

Each story has 300 words and is specially written for beginners who have never been in contact with the French language before.

Once you listen to the story, you’ll get a summary of important words with English translations. So you don’t have to waste your time looking up words and their meaning in a dictionary.

➡ Get 30 French Short Stories here & start listening to its free audio.

2. 101 Conversations In Simple French

Oly Richards, the author of this book, takes you right to the French-speaking environment with short, everyday dialogues. They are set in typical day-to-day situations such as shopping, cafes, restaurants, housing, meeting friends, and making arrangements.

This is perfect for getting into the language and understanding the language structure with simple sentences. I recommend you listen to this audiobook as the second one.

The book again uses simple vocabulary with useful words you need to learn to communicate in French in real situations. Overall, you’ll learn over 15,000 French words. Isn’t it amazing?

Each dialogue only contains about 150 words to make it easier for you. Each chapter contains English definitions and translations of the more difficult French words.

Ultimately, each conversation is summarized to double-check if you understood it correctly.

➡ Get 101 Conversations In Simple French here & start listening.

3. Easy French Phrase Book

Here at Voices of Travel, I’m all about learning languages for travel. This book will teach you 1500 common phrases for travel and everyday life in French-speaking countries.

It’s especially great if you commute to work by car. It’ll teach you how to pronounce consonants and vowels (and their combinations) in French. After, it’ll give you common phrases you can use with exact English translations.

It’s great for you to commute by car somewhere because you can learn the basics, exact phrases, and how to pronounce the words speaking out loud in a car.

But of course, you can do it anywhere else. Just make sure to learn the pronunciation of the words according to the audiobook.

➡ Get Easy French Phrase Book here & start listening.

4. Short Stories In French

Now it’s time to have fun with some French stories. The audiobook Short Stories French contains 8 exciting stories in different genres. Some are about history, science fiction, romance, thrillers, and comedy.

You’ll again learn a lot of new vocabulary in a way you can understand. Believe me, you won’t feel frustrated when listening to this audiobook. The book works with interesting stories that automatically make you want to understand them. The learning will come naturally to you.

Each story also includes a summary of bold words, a bilingual word list, and a plot summary. In the end, you’ll have a few comprehension questions to double-check whether you’ve understood the story correctly.

➡ Get Short Stories In French here & start listening.

👉 READ ALSO: How To Set Achievable Language Learning Goals: 9-Step Guide

5. Conversational French Dialogues

Conversational French Dialogues also contain simple dialogues and short stories. However, they have more of a problem-solving nature, which is what I love about the book.

Go for this audiobook after you listen to the other books with simple conversations in typical situations. This book tries to solve some kind of problem in each story: renting a car or going to a doctor and explaining you’re not feeling well.

It’ll guide you through common life situations and help you solve them in French language.

The first story is always in French. After that, it also comes with an English translation of the entire story to double-check that you understood.

➡ Get Conversational French Dialogues here & start listening.

6. French Short Stories For Beginners

Lastly, you can expand your French vocabulary with the French Short Stories. This audiobook contains 20 easy-to-read capturing stories to broaden your understanding and add new vocabulary to your list.

Each story will work with an important language topic, such as adjectives, verbs, past tense, or giving directions. You’ll listen to dialogues set in the everyday life of French-speaking people.

After each story, you’ll get a list of the most essential vocabulary. Also, you’ll be able to go through some questions in French and double-check if you understood each story. Don’t worry. They also come with answers if you’re unsure or don’t understand.

This book will slowly take you to the intermediate level.

➡ Get French Short Stories For Beginners here & start listening.

Where Can You Listen To French Audiobooks?

I’ve been using Audible to listen to audiobooks for over 2.5 years now. It’s one of the best audiobook platforms, with thousands of choices.

If you want to try my method of learning the French language using one of these audiobooks, sign up today for free. You’ll get 1 month of a free trial, including 1 free French audiobook.

After that, you only pay about $8 a month, for which you’ll get 1 audiobook.

➡ Get Audible here and start listening to French audiobooks.

💡 NOTE: If any of these audiobooks aren’t on Audible, try Spotify. You can also order the paperback version, which includes free audio, which is a great option, too.

Benefits Of Learning French With Audiobooks

Here is a quick list of the benefits I think listening to audiobooks will significantly help you improve your French:

• listen to them at any time, and anywhere you are
• listen to them even if you’re doing other activities (cleaning a house, commuting to work, doing sports)
• help you to learn how to pronounce words right from the start
• significantly improve your listening skills
• helps you to memorize vocabulary easier and faster

How To Learn French With Audiobooks As A Beginner?

I don’t want to only throw French audiobooks for beginners at you and leave you to somehow learn French with them. I’d also like to guide you on how you can learn French with audiobooks as a beginner.

Here are the steps I recommend you take to learn French with audiobooks:

1. Listen to one section of the audiobook
2. Listen to it again and try to catch a few words and meaning of the story
3. Get a printed version of the audiobook
4. Highlight words you want to learn from the section
5. Translate the words you want to learn & write them down in your language notebook
6. Read the section once again and try to understand the whole context
7. Listen to the audiobook over and over until you understand it very well

First, listen to only a small section of the audiobook – let’s say 5 or 10 minutes. Then, listen to the same section again and try to catch a few words or their pronunciation.

It’s always important, especially if you’re a beginner, to work with a printed version as well. You need to see how the words are written.

So, get the printed version of the audiobook. Once you have it, highlight the words you want to learn. After, translate these words into your native language. Then, read the text and try to understand its context.

Once you have it, listen to the section again while reading the text with your highlighted words. Repeat this process until you feel confident and understand the section. Then, you can listen further.

💡PRO TIP: I also listen to one sentence, stop the audio, and read the sentence on my own. This helps me learn how to pronounce the words right from the beginning, which is essential.

👉 READ ALSO: Best Way To Learn A New Language As An Adult: Simple 9-Step Guide

BONUS: Most Important Skills Of Language Learning

To truly master French, it’s important to work on 4 core skills. Each of these plays a key role in achieving fluency and boosting your confidence in the language. While listening to audiobooks is a great tool for improving comprehension, it’s essential to practice all four skills to reach full fluency.

In my detailed article, I dive deeper into each skill and provide recommended resources to help you strengthen them. Click on the image below to explore more and take your French skills to the next level!

Get My Language Travel Notebook

I’ve also designed a language notebook for you to write down new vocabulary. It’s always great to keep track of new words you want to learn and memorize. So get this notebook, and then while listening to these French audiobooks, write down the vocabulary to learn.

Then listen to the story again and double-check new words in your notebook if you can’t remember their meaning.

Click on the image below to get my language travel notebook:

FAQs

I’ve also answered some frequently asked questions about French learning and audiobooks in general. So check out my answers below:

Can You Learn French From Audiobooks?

Yes, you can if you also use the transcript or a printed version to study vocabulary. If you can listen to the audiobooks, highlight new vocabulary to learn in the printed version, focus on memorizing new words, and then listen to the episodes again, it’s an effective way to learn French from just audiobooks.

What Should A French Beginner Learn First?

Vocabulary and basic grammar are the most important for beginner French learners. Because without these two things, you can’t really produce the language. Incorporate some listening and reading into the process to make it more interesting and help you to learn faster.

What Is An Easy First French Book?

101 Conversations In Simple French is the best and easy book if you’re a beginner French learner. It uses simple vocabulary in everyday dialogues, making it easier to understand and preparing you for basic conversations.

What Is The Simplest Way To Learn French?

Learning vocabulary in topics/situations in which you know you’ll use French. Pick situations in which you’ll need to speak. Then, write down all the words you’ll need to communicate in the situation, translate them into French, and learn them. After, construct basic sentences to communicate in that situation.

What Level Of French Do You Need To Read Les Misérables?

Intermediate learner (B1 level) is a good French level to be at to read Les Misérables.

WRAP-UP: Best French Audiobooks For Beginners

These are my favorite French audiobooks for beginners, and I recommend that you start listening to them as soon as possible. Don’t wait until you learn some vocabulary. Start listening even as a complete beginner, and you’ll learn new words along the way. Audiobooks are the best way to get familiar with the language, pronunciation, and learn your first French words

If you have any questions or need help learning languages, contact me at info(at)voicesoftravel.com. I’ll be excited to talk to you.

Happy Listening!