Collins Dictionaries - Easy Learning French Conversation

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’appelerwhich 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.

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

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.

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.

BON À SAVOIR!

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

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.

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-moito someone you’re on friendly terms with.

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