Learning French in Paris, Leçon 8 – 1

Repeat the sounds

	[a]	[o]	[u]	[i]	[y]
[s]	sa	so	sou	si	su
[z]	za	zo	zou	zi	zu
[ʃ]	cha	cho	chou	chi	chu
[ʒ]	ja	jo	jou	ji	ju

Explaining places

At some point we all have to ask for directions. Asking them in another language adds another layer of difficulty as there are two parts to understand, the question and the answer.

As an example, imagine you are in a small French village and need to find the toilet.

Excusez-moi monsieur, je cherche les toilettes s’il vous plaît?
Les toilettes ? Elle est sur la place de l’église, en face de la marie.
La place de l’église ? Ou est-ce qu’elle est ?
Elle est dans la centre-ville.
Merci Monsieur.
Je vous en prie.

Or perhaps a less formal exchange explaining where you live,

Tu habites en banlieue?
Non, j’habite dans le centre-ville, à côté de la place de la Républic.
Ah? Et il est comment ton quartier?
Oh, il est practique. Il y a un gare.

Each of these exchanges follow the same basic form. Someone asks where something is and then the other answers first with the place (lieu) and then with more precision.

C’est ou?
Le lieu!

There are some basic adjectives for explaining where things are in relation to others.

French	English	Example
Ici	Here	It is here.
Là-bas	Over there	It is over there.
En face	Across or opposite	Across from the supermarket.
De face	From the front.	Look from the front.
Sur	On	On the table.
Devant	In front of	In front of the table.
Derrière	Behind	Behind the table.
À gauche	To the left.	To the left of the table.
De gauche	From the left	Three steps from the left of the table.
À droit	To the right	To the right of the table.
De droit	From the right	Three steps from the right of the table.
Tout droit.	Straight ahead	Then go straight ahead.
Loin	Away	Go away
De loin	Far from	Our cousins live far from us.
Dans	In	In the house.
Prés	Near	Near the salt.
À côté	In the area of	In the region of the Louvre

Parts of a town

Une or un have been used to denote the masculinity or femininity of the word.

French	English
Une boulangerie	A bakery
Une gare	A station
Un parc	A parc
Une station de métro	A metro station
Une école	A school
Une pharmacie	A pharmacy
Un commissariat	A police station
Un centre commercial	A commercial center
Une place	A place
Une église	A church
Une mairie	A town hall
Une poste	A post office
Un supermarché	A supermarket
Une boucherie	A butcher