The best way is to learn the French vocabulary in “town” and start talking with the locals so as not to feel lost and helpless when visiting a country.
It is also a good way to make relationships and friends
In this post you will learn all the usefull vocabulary and preposition to build you own sentences.
Shops and buildings : les magasins et les bâtiments
- la bibliothèque: the library
The means of transport: les moyens de transport
- voyager: to travel
- conduire: to drive
- voler: to fly
- un avion: a plane
- une voiture: a car
- un train: a train
- le métro: the underground
- un vélo: a bicycle / a bike
- une moto: a (motor)bike
- un scooter: a (motor)scooter
- un bateau: the boat
- un bus: the bus
- un taxi: a taxi / a cab
- un tramway: the tramway / tram
Vocabulary to navigate the city: se diriger dans la ville
Pour aller à l’école s’il-vous-plaît? How do you go to school please?
Pour aller au supermarché
- tourner: to turn
- à droite: (on the) right
- à gauche: (on the) left
- continuer: to continue
- tout droit: straight on
- le carrefour: intersection
- les feux/ les feux de signalisation: the traffic lights
- traverser: to cross
- la route: the road
- la gare routière: the bus station
- prendre: to take
- la rue: the street
- le trottoir the pavement / sidewalk
- le passage clouté: the pedestrian crossing
- le passage piéton: the pedestrian crossing
Vocabulary is great but you need to know how to use it. So, now, let’s study the prepositions you need to speak perfect French sentences when you ask for direction?
First, what is a preposition?
A preposition is a small word that connects places or ideas together.
In English, common prepositions include “at, by, for, from, in, of, on, to,”
Here I give you useful French prepositions of place. We can say that prepositions are a kind of linking words to connect the elements in the sentence.
Knowing these French linking words often make THE difference in your French speaking skills
à (to, at, in + city).
- Je travaille à Paris. (in + city) (I work in Paris).
- Je vais à la bibliothèque
- Comment puis-je aller au* supermarché
* Au is the contraction of a + le, because supermarche is masculine (le supermarché). In french, we don’t say comment puis-je aller à le supermaché but comment puis-je aller au supermarché.
But we use à la for feminine noun like bibliothèque in the example above
chez (at/to someone’s place).
- Je suis chez Anne. (I am at Ann’s place).
Note : Je vais chez moi =I’m going home.
en (in, by).
- Elle travaille en France (in+feminine country) (she works in France).
- Nous sommes en juin.(en + month) (it’s June).
- Elle voyage en voiture (en + transportation inside which you are) (She is travelling by car).
En can also be a French pronoun
dans (inside, in, within).
- j’arrive dans deux minutes (I’ll be here within 2 minutes).
- Je veux aller dans le métro. I want to go to the metro.
devant opposite derrière. (in front of // behind).
- Devant ce magasin, il y a le parc. (in front of this shop, there’s the park).
- Derrière la bibliothèque, il y a la station de bus. (behind the library, there is the bus station).
En face de (facing, across from).
- Le magasin est en face du musée/ lycée . (the shop is across from the museum).
à côté de/ près de (beside, near, next to).
- Le magasin est à côté du musée. (the shop is next/near/beside the museum).
- Il habite près de chez moi. (he lives near my house).
loin de (far from).
- Il habite loin de chez moi. (he lives far from me).
- Le magasin est loin du musée. (the shop is far from the museum).
entre (between).
- La boulangerie se trouve la rue de Grange et la rue d’Apt. (The bakery is located between rue de Grange and rue d’Apt.).
Here it is, now you have all the tools to visit France and ask any help from French people if you need.
Other useful vocabulary : My hobbies, My home
Voilà!
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