Learning French is a loooong process and sometimes, you just need to be operational.
It doesn’t mean knowing every word of the dictionary plus using a perfect grammar.
No.
It means knowing how to survive France.
How to be an independant woman, ready for any situation.
I’m talking about « survival » phrases.
The phrases you will use in France when you don’t know how to say « that », or what « this » is called.
And want it no matter what.
How to say « I want « that » »?
This is what we’ll see in today’s episode of Comme une Française TV.
Click to watch « How do you say that »:
Et toi?
Share your experience by leaving a comment below this video :
What do you do when you have NO idea how what you’re looking for is called?
Do you just leave without buying?
Or point at it?
The comment section is the best area to start discussions and ask questions!
I’m looking forward to reading your anecdotes.
A la prochaine,
Géraldine
PS: Yes, you still have time to order your French Christmas Box. Click to buy yours today.
how would you say ‘it’s called ‘tempeh'” in french?
how you would say “midmarket” in french?
Bonjour Phaseten,
“Clients milieu de gamme” might work.
what is a “ver du premier groupe ” ?
you mentioned it when you used the word forwarder.
“Un verbe du 1e groupe”. 🙂 You’ll find more here: http://la-conjugaison.nouve…
Salut! Merci pour le site, c’est excellent!! Pis je voudrais ajouter « C’est quoi cette affaire, là? » comme on dit au Québec! 🙂
Superbe expression. 😀 Merci Dejah !
I love the videos..j’aime beaucoup. Really help my comprehension. I recommended this to my french teacher. in English we wouldn’t say ‘how it is called’ we would say ‘ how do you say’
or maybe, ‘what is is called in English….’
Merci Alex. 😉
When I’m looking for something at a store and don’t know how it’s called, I just say ‘Je cherche….’ and then I describe what I’m looking for the best I can in other terms, usually employing ‘truc’ and ‘chose’ too many times!
Coucou Rosie,
C’est une excellente technique. Bravo !
Bonjour Geraldine,
I am a beginner in French and have recently come across your site. I found your videos and tips are so helpful! What you re doing is just brilliant!
I am in Dordogne at the moment and planning to visit a local farmers market on the next days so I will get to practice all those phrases quite a lot!
Merci,
Yasmin
Bonjour Yasmin,
Glad to help.
It’s wonderful to see you improve your French with daily practice!
Salut Geraldine
You are right, it is a long process. These tips are very helpful – Merci. One day I may be able to write my feedback in French…..
Hi Roz!
Glad you’re French in improving.
What about: next comment you post is in French? We’ll all be very proud of it!
Excusez-moi. Je ne peut pas parler bien le Francais 😉 <– this is my most popular sentence when I was in Paris 😀
Bonjour Trinh Thanh Su !
Super ! The exact form is “Excusez-moi. Je ne parle pas bien français.” 😉
Your French will be SO MUCH better next time you visit Paris. I’m SO looking forward to it!
I remember going to a fromagerie in Paris on my trip and it brings back sweet memories! I talked with a young girl who was a shop assistant there and I cannot remember it now but I must have had this kind of conversation then!
Bonjour Valeria,
Awesome! What did you buy?
Salut Géraldine,
Je viens de découvrir Comme une française il ya juste quelque mois mais je le trouve excellent – félicitations. Mon premier stage en France était en 1978 et je suis tombé sur des gens très sympa qui m’ont donnés un conseil très utile – le mot « truc » ! Bien sur depuis ce temps la j’ai appris plusieurs autres phrases mais le truc continue de me sauver la situation de temps en temps.
Bon allez et merci encore une fois.
R
Bonjour Rob,
Ton français est parfait ! Je suppose donc que ce stage en 1978 t’a fait aimer la langue française. 🙂
Oui tu as tout à fait raison : “truc”, “machin” et ‘bidule” nous sauvent souvent la mise !
Bonjour Geralidine, For the expression: “Je voudrais de ca, s’il vous plait.” Does the preposition, “de” change to “de la” if it’s a feminine object? Or will it always be “de”? I noticed in the video the word was in parentheses, so I wondered if it is subject to change. Merci!
Bonjour Alice,
Great question!
It doesn’t change whether feminine or masculine.
I put “de” in parentheses for the following reason:
Je voudrais DE ça = I’d like SOME OF this
Je voudrais ça = I’d like this
If you want to buy some pâté at the boucherie : “Je voudrais DE ça” (you won’t by all of it: it’s a 3kg pâté)
If you want to buy a croissant at the boulangerie : “Je voudrais ça” (you buy the full croissant)
Merci pour votre réponse dans le question par Alice! Quand j’étais à Bruxelles, et j’ai fait un peu de shopping, je toujours dit “Je voudrais ça” ou “Je voudrais acheter ça” mais je sais pas si ces phrases sont correctes.
Mon premiere langue est Anglais, et pour moi, le phrase “I would like that” est correct. Le même phrase en Français, je suis pas certain.
Bonjour Tim,
Ces phrases sont tout à fait correctes et polies si tu ajoutes “s’il vous plaît” à la fin.
C’est excellent ! Bravo !
Ta traduction de “I would” en “je voudrais” est parfaite.
D’accord! Merci encore, Geraldine! Bonne continuation!
Bonjour Geraldine, Je suis Ellen:) comme se vas? Is that correct? Je suis Americaine. Je (will) vas a Provence en Avril. Am I speaking so you can understand? I will buy antiques in markets. I will study hard so I can speak a little French, and ask how much it is? I forgot already how to say, “I want that”. Merci Comme une Francaise TV! Salut, Ellen
Bonjour Ellen,
Comment ça va ?
You can use “Combien coûte ceci ?” (How much is this?) and “Je voudrais cet objet” (I want this object).
For antiques (as well as luxury clothes), we often use the word “pièce” (feminine) instead of “objet”.
Use “C’est une très belle pièce.”