The words that matter
Madeleine teaches the thousand most common words and phrases real people use in France — not textbook French, and ordered by how often you’ll actually hear them.
Your daily French practice
Build a stronger foundation in French
Madeleine teaches you the most common words and phrases French people actually use — written and spoken, learned together. Each one comes back right before you’d forget it.
Du coup
so, as a result
Download
$9.99/mo or $49.99/yr
How it works
A few minutes a day.
One short session a day. Madeleine chooses the cards — new words entering, known ones due back — and most days it takes about ten minutes.
- 01
See it, hear it
One card at a time: the written word, read aloud in a native French voice. You learn what it looks like and how it sounds at the same time.
- 02
Hold to recall
Press and hold to reveal the meaning and check yourself. Madeleine grades from how you respond — you never rate yourself.
- 03
It comes back
Each word returns right before you’d forget it, on a schedule that adapts to what you know.
Inside the app
The whole app, in four screens.
Why Madeleine
One job, done well.
Written and spoken, together
Every card pairs the written word with lifelike native audio, so you learn to read it and catch it by ear at the same time.
It knows when you’re about to forget
Every review teaches Madeleine how your memory behaves: solid words stretch further apart, shaky ones come back sooner.
Makes your lessons count
Madeleine skips grammar drills on purpose — grammar and conversation are what tutors, classes, and time in France are for. Arrive already knowing the words, and those hours go further.
Only French
No menu of thirty languages spread thin. One language, one carefully built curriculum, with audio and content made only for it.
Calm and private
No streaks, no points, no leaderboards, no guilt. No account and no server — your progress stays on your iPhone.
Questions
Good to know.
- How is Madeleine different from other French apps?
- Madeleine does one thing: it builds your French vocabulary. The course is finite — the most common words and phrases real people use in France — and every item is learned in written and spoken form together, with native audio. It is also calm by design: no streaks, points, leaderboards, or guilt. And it can be finished.
- Is Madeleine for beginners?
- Yes — and for anyone restarting. The words are ordered by real-world frequency, so you begin with the French you'll hear first and most often. There's no placement test and nothing assumed.
- How many French words does Madeleine teach?
- About a thousand of the most common words, plus hundreds of everyday phrases — ordered by real-world frequency so you meet the most useful French first. It is a finite, curated set, and you can finish it.
- Does Madeleine teach grammar or speaking?
- No — and that's deliberate. Madeleine builds the vocabulary and the ear to understand French as it's really spoken; grammar and conversation are better learned from a tutor, a class, or time in France. Arrive already knowing the words, and those hours go further — you shouldn't be paying a tutor to drill flashcards.
- How long does a session take?
- About five to ten minutes. Madeleine chooses the day's cards, and the session ends on its own — there's no daily goal to chase and nothing to catch up on if you miss a day.
- Will I actually remember the words?
- That's the whole design. Every review teaches Madeleine how your memory behaves, and each word comes back right before you'd forget it — the engine is FSRS-6, the modern spaced-repetition algorithm. Grading is inferred from how you respond, so you never rate yourself.
- Can I hear how the words are pronounced?
- Yes. Every word and phrase is spoken aloud in lifelike, native French audio — four voices to choose from — so you learn how French actually sounds, not just how it is spelled.
- Does Madeleine have a free trial?
- No. Madeleine is a single paid subscription — $9.99/month or $49.99/year — with no free tier and no trial. The subscription is the entire business model: no ads, no upsells, and no data to sell. Billing runs through Apple, you can cancel anytime in your App Store account, and refunds are handled by Apple.
- Is Madeleine on Android or web?
- No. Madeleine is built for iPhone, deliberately — so it can stay fully on-device, with nothing to sign in to. There is no web or Android version.
- Is my data private?
- Yes. Madeleine has no account, no login, and no server of its own — your progress stays on your iPhone. The only thing handled online is the subscription itself, through Apple.
Start building your foundation.
Download it, pick a voice, and start on today's words.
$9.99/month or $49.99/year · cancel anytime