ABOUT YOURSELF
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.
My name is…
| Je m’appelle Jean-Pierre Métayer. | My name is Jean-Pierre Métayer. |
| Je m’appelle Tarik. | My name is Tarik. |
| Il s’appelle André. | His name is André. |
| Elle s’appelle Lara. | Her name is Lara. |
| Vous vous appelez comment? | What’s your name? |
| Moi, c’est Liam. | Hi, I’m Liam. |
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.
I’m…years old
| J’ai trente-sept ans. | I’m thirty-seven years old. |
| J’ai vingt-deux ans. | I’m twenty-two. |
| Mon fils a huit ans. | My son’s eight. |
| Vous avez quel âge? | How old are you? |
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.
| Je suis une amie de Paul. | I’m a friend of Paul’s. |
| Je suis le frère de Ben. | I’m Ben’s brother. |
| Je suis célibataire. | I’m single. |
| Je travaille en tant que programmeur pour l’entreprise Dunier. | I work as a programmer for the Dunier company. |
| Je suis enseignant. | I’m a teacher. |
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…
| J’ai deux sœurs. | I have two sisters. |
| J’ai un fils et une fille. | I have one son and one daughter. |
| On a de la famille dans le sud de la France. | We have relatives in southern France. |
| Elle a les yeux bleus. | She has blue eyes. |
| Il a les cheveux châtain. | He has brown hair. |
I live…
| Je vis au pays de Galles. | I live in Wales. |
| Je vis seul. | I live alone. |
| On habite dans un appartement. | We live in a flat. |
BON À SAVOIR!
If you’re female, you’ll say seule (alone) rather than seul.
I’m staying…
| Je suis descendu à l’hôtel du Palais. | I’m staying at the Palace Hotel. |
| Vous êtes descendu à quel hôtel? | Which hotel are you staying at? |
| Je suis à Paris pour une semaine. | I’m staying in Paris for a week. |
| Je loge chez des amis. | I’m staying with friends. |
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.
I have…for…
| Ça fait cinq ans que je suis infirmière. | I’ve been a nurse for five years. |
| Ça fait dix ans que je vis en France. | I’ve lived in France for ten years. |
| Je suis à Saint-Raphaël depuis deux semaines. | I’ve been in Saint-Raphaël for two weeks. |
| J’apprends le français depuis 6 mois. | I’ve been learning French for 6 months. |
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…
| Parlez-moi de votre famille. | Tell me about your family. |
| Parlez-moi un peu de vous. | Tell me a bit about yourself. |
| Parle-moi de ton nouveau copain. | Tell me about your new boyfriend. |
| Dis-moi en quoi consiste ton boulot. | Tell me what your job involves. |
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…?
| C’est quoi ton adresse? | What’s your address? |
| C’est quoi le numéro de téléphone d’Olivier? | What’s Olivier’s phone number? |
| Qu’est-ce que tu fais dans la vie? | What do you do? |
| À quoi elle ressemble? | What does she look like? |
Where…?
| Où est votre bureau? | Where is your office? |
| C’est
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