Latest update: July 2026 — we re-checked every channel on this list, flagged the ones that have gone quiet, fixed broken videos, and updated the French in Action section after its host site shut down.
According to research by Paul Sulzberger of Victoria University of Wellington, frequently listening to a language — even before you understand it — builds the brain patterns you need to start picking up words.
To do that, you could listen to a podcast, watch French TV or watch French movies.
Or you could go to Youtube and learn French with one of the Youtube channels I selected for you.
Whether you’re a beginner, intermediate or advanced French learners, there is a Youtube channel for you here!
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The Best Youtube Channels for beginner French learners
Learning French with videos can be extremely rewarding and fun, but you need to make sure you don’t end up watching videos that are 90% in English.
Otherwise you may have fun, but you won’t learn much.
Here is a selection of Youtube channels where you can learn authentic French without spending hours hearing English.
Frenchpod101
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-iweoUesoA
Frenchpod101 is mainly known as a podcast, but it’s also a very active Youtube channel full of short videos that’ll teach you common French words as well as sentences and help you improve your understanding of spoken French with listening exercises.
Comme Une Française
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNJKh12BrT8
After living in the UK for a while, Géraldine decided to come back to France to help English speakers learn about the country and act like real French persons.
Comme Une Française videos focus on everyday topics and teach you useful vocabulary, but also explain how to act like a real French person in every situation.
For example you can learn about “la galette des rois” or discover how to take part in a French debate (the French love to debate everything).
Oh La La, I Speak French
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL8xnel2MH4
This web series for French learners shows the life of two French sisters in Los Angeles.
Each episode has subtitles and contains daily French conversations of DELF level A1-A2 (beginner).
These videos are ideal to discover the French language and get used to its sounds and sentences.
Once you’re done with the first season, make sure you check out the second one to discover the adventures of Soso in her favorite city, Paris.
One honest caveat: the channel hasn’t posted anything new in years. Both seasons are still online, though, and they remain a fun, gentle way in for beginners.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvJdGu79fRY
Damon and Jo
Damon and Jo traveled the world and produced hilarious videos dedicated to their adventures, food, beauty products, dancing…and French grammar.
The duo succeeded in making boring topics such as le passé composé entertaining and explained French culture from an American and Brazilian perspective.
Fair warning: the duo went their separate ways in 2019 and the channel hasn’t posted since — but their French videos with English subtitles are still online and still worth mining. Damon has kept making French-language videos on his solo channel, Damon Dominique.
I usually don’t recommend listening to non native speakers speak French because their pronunciation is often imperfect but I have to admit Damon and Jo’s accent is pretty impressive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHiTSdUHRm0
Walk, Talk and Learn French
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cBUxZi6Ocg
In this series of videos, Pierre-Benoît walks around the streets of France and explains the meaning of ads and other signs he stumbles upon.
This approach gives you the opportunity to discover the streets of France as if you were there, to learn plenty of useful words and to learn grammar in context.
It’s an older series, so don’t expect new episodes — it now lives on the Coffee Break Languages channel (the team behind Coffee Break French).
Learn French with Vincent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs96pLzbGwI
Vincent’s goal is to help you go from beginner to advanced with his videos.
His videos follow a logical order and teach you useful vocabulary and grammar.
If you already understand basic French, you can also learn French with realistic dialogues.
Learn French With Pascal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uidh4EbP0w
This Youtube channel contains a large selection of videos on different topics such as verb tenses, pronunciation, songs and grammar lessons.
Alexa Polidoro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq--V9P4rmM
Alexa is one of the best-known French teachers on Youtube, and she’s still posting several videos a week. She also relaunched her podcast in June 2026 if you’d rather listen on the go.
You can learn basic French words with her videos or you can choose to use her Conversational French Vocabulary series and learn with authentic and fun French videos that come with English subtitles.
French in Action
French in Action isn’t a Youtube channel, but rather a complete French course for beginners.
The idea is that you watch everyday situations in French and learn in context.
Sadly, Annenberg Learner — the site that streamed all 52 episodes for free — shut down on July 1, 2026, so the official free streams are gone. The series isn’t lost, though: fans have uploaded the episodes (with subtitles) to Youtube, and Yale University Press still sells the workbooks and audio.
The Best Youtube Channels for intermediate and advanced French learners
Easy French
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb4zvZdrMz4
Want to know how French people think?
Each episode features French people answering questions and sharing their opinions and feelings about different topics in authentic street interviews.
Topics include Paris, French cuisine or being a tourist.
Français Authentique
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36PgFQJcGkw
As its name indicates, this Youtube channel is all about authentic French. You can find lots of nice videos where Johan explains common French idioms or simply talks about topics he is interested in such as personal development.
Johan is also the host of the Français Authentique podcast and creator of the Français Authentique course.
Français avec Pierre
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=8I3kwvRiScs
Like Johan, Pierre regularly explains common French expressions, but he also interviews other French speakers and talks about a variety of topics such as culture and grammar.
Golden Moustache
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN38y5MILbs
While Golden Moustache wasn’t made specifically for French learners, this Youtube channel contains lots of entertaining videos with English subtitles.
For example you can find lots of parodies of movies like Star Wars or Skyfall.
The team stopped making new sketches back in 2021, so treat this one as an archive — a very funny archive.
Copycat Cafe
Full disclosure: this one is ours.
On the Copycat Cafe channel, you’ll find French pronunciation tips, real conversation practice, and breakdowns of how the Copycat Method works — short videos designed to get you speaking, not just watching.
You can click here to subscribe.
French stand-up comedians who will make you laugh out loud
Do you enjoy stand-up comedies?
Many talented comedians are French, but it’s not always easy to find shows with English subtitles.
Here is a selection of comedians who will make you laugh out loud, and give you a fun opportunity to practice French. One note: stand-up clips regularly get taken down from Youtube for rights reasons, so where a video has vanished, we point you to the comedian instead.
Florence Foresti
Florence Foresti often tackles issues such as motherhood and femininity.
In one classic bit, she talks about pregnancy and gently makes fun of men who complain at the slightest bit of pain. The clip we originally shared is no longer on Youtube, but searching her name turns up plenty of sketches and full shows.
Gad Elmaleh
Have you ever been traumatized by your French teacher asking you silly questions ? Gad Elmaleh tells us the story of Brian, and shows you what an English lesson in a French school looks like — search “Gad Elmaleh Brian” on Youtube, or browse his official channel for more sketches.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaeWikX4GhE
Ah Valentine’s Day, you either hate it or love it. It seems like Gad hates it. But whether you love this day or not, this video is going to make you laugh for sure.
Patrick Bosso
Want to speak French like a marseillais? Patrick Bosso teaches you how to use the word “putain” and speak like a perfect marseillais. His clips are easy to find on Youtube — search “Patrick Bosso marseillais”.
Cyprien
Cyprien is one of France’s most popular Youtubers. His sketches about everyday life include a classic about going abroad as a student — an experience that looks very different to the person leaving and to everyone else. You can browse his sketches on his channel.
2 websites to learn French with videos
Learning French on Youtube is great, but there are three main limitations:
- It’s hard to find videos with accurate subtitles (auto-generated ones are hit and miss)
- You can’t loop a single tricky sentence until you finally catch it
- You don’t have easy access to a dictionary
FluentU and Yabla solve these problems. They’re both websites that make watching videos in French easier by adding subtitles and allowing you to slow down videos, play them in a loop or even click on words to see their translation.
While FluentU turns Youtube (and Netflix) videos into interactive lessons, Yabla has its own library of authentic French videos with clickable subtitles.
And if you want to discover even more Youtube channels, check out this list of the best French youtubers!
Image credit: wavebreakmediamicro / 123RF Stock Photo
YouTube is great for listening practice — but speaking practice is what gets you from understanding French to actually speaking it. Copycat Cafe combines both: hear native French, copy it, then practice in real conversations. Try it free for 7 days.