The French language - Survival French!
Or... How to survive with school French in France
The French are much much better at English than we are at French – bear that in mind when you get frustrated... They are also generally very happy to help with some poor monolingual Anglophone if they make the effort to learn 'hello' and 'goodby' in French and you smile a lot and look pathetic;-) In 25 years none of our holidaymakers have had a real problem with it, but many swear to brush up their French for the next time. For a beginners' guide go here...
What follows is unashamedly lifted from the truly excellent site http://www.snappyfrench.com/ with the kind permission of it's author. Please go to the site if you need to know anything about surviving in France. With just the few words below you will never starve, will make friends and know how to refuse that extra glass of wine. Please give it a go, a holiday in France is so much better if you can ask where the toilet is - and of course feel free to print it off.
Snappy Basics
| hello/good morning | bonjour | bonzhooer |
| hello/good evening | bonsoir | bonswah |
| hi! | salut! | salyoo! |
| goodbye | au revoir | oh revwah |
| yes | oui | wee |
| no | non | non |
| I'm sorry | je suis désolé | zhe swee dayzohlay |
| I don't speak French | je ne parle pas le francais | zhe ne parl pa le fronsay |
| I don't speak French well | Je ne parle pas bien le francais | zhe ne parl pa beean le fronsay |
| (Could you speak) slowly please? | lentement s' il vous plaît | lontemon seel voo play |
| do you speak English? | parlez-vous anglais? | parlay voo onglay? |
| please | s'il vous plaît | seel voo play |
| thank you | merci | mehrsee |
| no thank you | non merci | non mehrsee |
| my name is... | je m' appelle... | zhe mappel |
| what is your name? | Comment vous appelez-vous? | Kommon vooz applay voo? |
| how are you? | ça va? | sa va? |
| I'm fine thanks | ça va bien merci | sa va bian mehrsee |
| one | un | ern |
| two | deux | derr |
| three | trois | trwa |
| four | quatre | katr |
| five | cinq | sank |
| six | six | seess |
| seven | sept | set |
| eight | huit | weet |
| nine | neuf | nerf |
| ten | dix | deess |
| I | je |
zh |
| you (for friends) | tu | tyou |
| he | il | eel |
| she | elle | el |
| we | nous | noo |
| you (formal) | vous | voo |
| they | ils (men) elles (women) | eel/el |
| big | grand | gron |
| small | petit | petee |
| how | comment | kommon |
| what | que | ke |
| who | qui | |
| why | pourquoi | porkwa |
| where | où | oo |
| when | quand | kon |
| excuse me | excusez-moi | exkyoozay-mwa |
| I am hungry | j'ai faim | zhay fam |
| I am thirsty | j'ai soif | zhay swaf |
| I would like... | je voudrais... | zhe voodray... |
| I do not want... | je ne voudrais pas... | zhe ne voodray pa... |
| where is...? | où est...? | oo ay...? |
| how much is this? | c'est combien? | say kombeean? |
| I need... | j'ai besoin de... | zhay bezwan de... |
| do you have...? | Avez-vous...? | avay-voo...? |
TIP - If you really can't remember anything else, try to keep the most
important phrases to hand, i.e.
"I'm sorry, I don't speak French. Do you speak English?"
A Small Favour
We hope you've enjoyed reading this short article and will go on to read many more. This website exists both as an information hub for cyclists – (and we offer free advice by email) - but also as a commercial site to sell our cycling holidays. For 27 years we've been the only company in the world offering fully equipped cycle camping holidays and now also offer hotel based holiday and even run our local campsite which is uniquely well geared up for passing cycletourists.
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