Easy Learning French Conversation

In English words, a particular syllable is stressed (concert, dentist), whereas in French each syllable has its own length and each is pronounced with the same intensity.

Liaison (#ulink_c4ee1f05-74f0-55b5-a595-a81c19a12b36)

Liaison is what happens when a French word ending in a consonant which would usually be silent, for example, petit (small), les (the), precedes a word starting with a vowel or a ‘silent’ h. The silent consonant is sounded to make the words flow more easily.

petit ami (boyfriend) is pronounced puh-teet-ah-mee (the t at the end of petit is sounded)

les hôtels (hotels) is pronounced layz-oh-tel (the s at the end of les sounds like a z)

Small talk (#ulink_e8a45c78-6aa3-51c1-b32d-7d6476e1ccd5)

Comment ça va? – How are things? (#ulink_071c0a4a-82d9-5b77-9876-8bfbfb0220ef)

Whether you’re going to be working in a French-speaking country or you’re going to spend some time with your French-speaking friends, you’ll want to be able to chat with people and get to know them better. The phrases in this unit will help you talk naturally to friends, family and colleagues in a number of everyday situations.

GREETINGS (#ulink_5702647b-fbe0-5c2d-878e-6348996a3593)

Just as in English, there are several ways of greeting people in French, depending on who you are addressing, and whether you want to be formal or not. Say bonjour, madame/mademoiselle/monsieur if you want to sound polite and just bonjour to someone you know a little. If you’re on friendly terms with someone, you can say salut! (hi!).

Hello…

BON À SAVOIR!

In French there is no equivalent for good morning and good afternoon – people just say bonjour during the day or bonsoir in the evening.

Use au revoir, madame/mademoiselle/monsieur to say goodbye to people you don’t know well. You can just say au revoir to people you know, or use salut! (bye!) if you are on friendly terms with them.

Goodbye…

See you…

INTRODUCING PEOPLE (#ulink_7bb2ebad-78f8-5050-b923-0c1f7f0c186f)

You may want to introduce people you know to one another. The simplest way is by saying voici (this is) when introducing a person. You can also use je te présente (I’d like you to meet) when addressing someone you know well, or je vous présente to be more formal or when speaking to several people.

This is…

BON À SAVOIR!

When you’re introduced to someone, you’ll want to know how to react. The traditional enchanté should only be used in formal or business situations these days, and very often people just say bonjour.

TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF (#ulink_efc815e3-fd9d-596b-8a0a-8fb25137b44e)

In order to get the conversation going, you’ll want to be able to talk about yourself – what your name is, what you do and so on. To say what your name is in French, you use the verb s’appeler which literally means to call oneself. The s’ (oneself) changes to m’ (myself) in je m’appelle (my name is). For more information on reflexive verbs like s’appeler, see here (#litres_trial_promo).

My name is…

If you want to say how old you are, use j’ai followed by your age and ans (literally I have… years). ai comes from the verb avoir. For more information on avoir, see here (#litres_trial_promo).

I’m…years old

BON À SAVOIR!

If you have to ask Vous avez quel âge?, you can always add sans indiscrétion (if you don’t mind my asking).

To talk about who you are and what you do, use je suis (I am). This comes from the verb être. For more information on être, see here (#litres_trial_promo).

BON À SAVOIR!

When you say what you do in French, you don’t put an article in front of the job name: I’m a baker is je suis boulanger. However, you do need an article when you address someone by their title, so Mrs Chairwoman is Madame la Directrice.

I have…

I live…

BON À SAVOIR!

If you’re female, you’ll say seule (alone) rather than seul.

I’m staying…

To say that you’ve done something for a given length of time, use ça fait… followed by a time word such as jour (day), semaine (week) or an (year) and the verb in the present tense. For more information on the present tense, see here (#litres_trial_promo).

I have…for…

ASKING FOR INFORMATION (#ulink_3843cd1f-9c56-5b93-b7dc-475aca87ea30)

When you’re chatting socially, you will want to ask any number of questions. One simple way of finding out information from someone is to say parlez-moi (tell me) to someone you don’t know very well or parle-moi to someone you’re on friendly terms with.

Tell me…

Another handy way of asking for information in spoken French is to put c’est at the beginning of the sentence before the question word: quoi (what), où (where), quand (when) and so on.

What…?

Where…?

When…?

If you want to ask how long someone has been doing something, use Ça fait longtemps que…? (How long have you…?) followed by the present tense. For more information on the present tense, see here (#litres_trial_promo).

How long have…?

A very versatile way of asking someone socially how something is going or has gone is to use Ça se passe bien,…? (How is…?) or Ça s’est bien passé,…? (How was…?).

How…?

Sometimes you’ll want to ask why a friend or acquaintance did or didn’t do something. You can use Pourquoi…? (Why…?) and the past tense to ask. For more information on the past tense, see here (#litres_trial_promo).