Skip to content

vital

vital

adjective vee-TAL Less Common

Origin: Latin vitalis (of life)

Also means

essential

Usage Note

Vital agrees in gender and number: vitale, vitaux, vitales. The phrase organes vitaux refers to vital organs. In informal usage it can mean simply 'absolutely essential' for any purpose, not just biological survival. The related noun vitalité means 'vitality'.

Examples

"Le sommeil est vital pour la santé."

Natural Translation

Sleep is vital for health.

Free starter pack

Building your French vocabulary?

Get the 100 most common French words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.

Explore French by topic