Exercises

Meeting your friend’s friends

Useful introductions: Je m’appelle Vivi means “My name is Vivi”; Je suis une amie de Léa means “I am a friend of Léa’s”. Introduce someone else with C’est Louis: “This is Louis”.

Choose mon, ma, mes according to the following noun: mon copain, ma copine, mes amis. Before ami and amie use mon: mon amie. The owner’s gender makes no difference.

Copain / copine can mean a friend or, in a relationship context, a boyfriend or girlfriend. In the story, son copain, Louis means Léa’s boyfriend. Context matters.

Je suis une amie de Léa./ʒə sɥi yn ami də lea/ — I am a friend of Léa’s.

C’est son copain, Louis./sɛ sɔ̃ kɔpɛ̃ lwi/ — This is her boyfriend, Louis.

Ask someone to repeat

You do not have to understand every fast answer. Plus lentement, s’il vous plaît means “More slowly, please”. With someone you address as tu, use s’il te plaît. Vivi and Louis use tu.

Tu peux répéter ? means “Can you repeat that?”. More formally: Vous pouvez répéter ?. Peux / pouvez is followed by the infinitive répéter: do not conjugate the second verb.

Name the specific gap: Je ne comprends pas ce mot means “I do not understand this word”. Then confirm what you understood: De l’eau ? Oui, merci. That helps the conversation continue.

Plus lentement, s’il te plaît./ply lɑ̃tmɑ̃ sil tə plɛ/ — More slowly, please.

Vous pouvez répéter ?/vu puve ʁepete/ — Can you repeat that?

First requests as a guest

Je peux… ? means “May I…?”. Add an infinitive: Je peux prendre une douche ?. You can ask permission without learning every form of pouvoir at once.

An easy response to an offer of a drink is De l’eau, merci: “Water, thank you”. Before a vowel, de la becomes de l’ in de l’eau. Learn it as a phrase for an unspecified quantity of water.

Où est la salle de bains ? means “Where is the bathroom?”. À droite means “on the right”. You can ask for help with a short sentence.

Je peux prendre une douche ?/ʒə pø pʁɑ̃dʁ yn duʃ/ — May I take a shower?

De l’eau, merci./də lo mɛʁsi/ — Water, thank you.

Cafés and shopping

In France, un café usually means a small black espresso. For coffee with milk, ask for un crème or un noisette.

A polite request is built like this: Je voudrais + what you want + s'il vous plaît. «Je voudrais» means «I would like» and sounds softer than «je veux» («I want»).

You can ask for water for free in a restaurant: une carafe d'eau.

Je voudrais un café.zhuh voo-dreh uh(n) ka-fay — I'd like a coffee.

Une carafe d'eauün ka-raf doh — a jug of water

Directions and the station

The basic formula: Où est + a place (where is it) and Où sont + several places. The answer will come with a direction: tout droit (straight ahead), à gauche (left), à droite (right).

If you didn't catch it, ask again: «Pouvez-vous répéter ?» Everything else will be on the signs: sortie, entrée, sens unique.

Où est la gare ?oo eh la gar — Where is the station?