French War and Military Vocabulary

Unfortunately, to follow the news in French, this bilingual French English war and military vocabulary may come in handy.

1 – War = La Guerre (not la gare)

La guerre – war.

Watch out for the pronunciation since I hear many students mistake “la gare” (A sound = the train station) with “la guerre” (ay sound).

2 – Peace = La Paix

This weird French word ends in a silent X, and is pronounced like “pay”.

We talk about “des pourparlers de paix”, “des négociations de paix” = peace talks.

3 – War French  Vocabulary

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1. Un conflit armé – an armed conflict
2. Une déclaration de guerre – a war declaration
3. Un traité de paix – a peace treaty
4. Un armistice – an armistice
5. Un cessez-le-feu – a cease fire
6. Un soldat – a soldier
7. S’engager – to enrol
8. Recruter – to recruit
9. Un ennemi – an enemy
10. Une super puissance – a superpower
11. Un empire – an empire
12. Un combat – a combat
13. Un génocide – a genocide
14. Un massacre – a massacre
15. Un combattant – a fighter
16. Un tirailleur – a rifleman / marksman
17. Envahir – to invade
18. Une invasion – an invasion
19. Une attaque – an attack
20. Un bombardement – a bombing
21. Une bombe – a bomb
22. Une victime – a victim
23. Un blessé – a wounded
24. Un tué – a person who was killed
25. Un mort – a dead person
26. Un amputé – an amputee
27. Une tranchée – a trench
28. Un espion – a spy
29. Un traitre – a traitor
30. Un allié – an ally
31. S’allier avec quelqu’un – to be allied with someone
32. Une alliance – an alliance
33. La victoire – the victory
34. Les vainqueurs, les gagnants – winners
35. Gagner la guerre – to win the war
36. La défaite – the defeat
37. Les perdants – losers
38. Perdre la guerre – to lose the war
39. Se rendre – to surrender
40. Fuir – to flee
41. Une dette de guerre – a war debt

4 – Une arme = a weapon

1. Une arme à feu = a firearm
2. Un revolver, un pistolet = a handgun
3. Une mitrailleuse = a machine gun
4. Une mitraillette = an automatic handgun, a Tommy gun
5. Un fusil = a rifle
6. Une balle = a bullet
7. Tirer sur quelqu’un = to shoot at someone
8. Se faire tirer dessus = to be shot at
9. Tuer quelqu’un = to kill someone
10. Abattre quelqu’un = To intentionally kill someone with a weapon / to strike someone down
11. Blesser quelqu’un = to wound someone
12. Un tank – a tank
13. Un camion – a truck
14. Un hélicoptère – a helicopter
15. Un avion – a plane
16. Un missile – a missile
17. Un bateau – a boat
18. Un sous-marin – a submarine

5 – Different French Armies

1. L’armée – the army (general term)
2. L’armée de terre – the army (the ground division)
3. L’armée de l’air – the Air Force
4. La Marine nationale – the Navy (not the Marines, which would be translated as “les troupes de marines”… Note as well that “la marine marchande” is the ensemble of commercial ships.

6 – How do You Say World War I and World War II in French?

We have several ways to talk about WWI and WWII in French.

1. La Première Guerre mondiale, La Guerre de 14 (quatorze) = WWI
2. La Deuxième Guerre mondiale, La Guerre de 40 (quarante) = WWII

7 – The War Against Terror in French

I wrote a whole article to talk about the French Terrorism Vocabulary – you’ll find more war-related terms there.

You may also be interested in D-Day – Le Débarquement and Vive la France – How to Express Patriotism in French.

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