Link words
All pieces of written work must be structured, and linking words help to maintain a logical and coherent structure, so ideas can be expressed seamlessly. Varying such words and paying attention to the nuances they bring to the meaning of sentences is crucial when learning French. This is only a very short list...I have one document 20 pages long with similar expressions, but this is a great start!
CHRONOLOGY
D'abord - First / firstly
Tout d'abord - First of all
Après - After
Avant - Before
En premier lieu / en second lieu - Firstly / Secondly
Ensuite - Then
Puis - Then
Enfin - At last
Finalement - Finally
En fin de compte - Ultimately / at the end of the day
Dans un premier temps - In the first instance
En dernier lieu - Finally
Pour commencer - To start
Pour finir - To finish
Pour conclure - To conclude
En conclusion - In conclusion
Plus tôt / plus tard - Earlier / later
Désormais - From now on
Maintenant - Now
Dès que / aussitôt que - As soon as
Autrefois / jadis - In days gone by / long ago
Depuis - Since
Au cours de / pendant - During
Soudain - Suddenly
Tout d'un coup - All of a sudden
Auparavant - Formerly, previously
PRESENTATION OF ARGUMENTS
Cependant - However
Pourtant - Yet
Toutefois - However
Néanmoins - Nevertheless
D'une part...d'autre part - On the one hand...on the other hand
Par ailleurs - Furthermore
De plus - Moreover
Bien que + subjunctive - Even though
Quoique + subjunctive - Although
En outre - Moreover
Mais - But
Également - Equally
Non seulement... - Not only...
En conséquence - As a result
Du coup (fam) - As a result
Grâce à - Thanks to
ILLUSTRATION OF ARGUMENTS
En effet - Indeed
En fait - In fact
Ainsi - Thus
Par exemple - For example
Puisque - Since (as in 'since this was the case...')
Parce que / car - Because
Notamment - Notably
Surtout - Above all
Donc - So / therefore
C'est-à-dire - That's to say
