Asking for what you want
🎯 Ask for a thing, say please and thank you, and understand the answer.
🗣️ Say these out loud
- Je voudrais un café, s'il vous plaît. 🔊 zhuh voo-DRAY un ka-FAY, seel voo PLEH I would like a coffee, please. Je voudrais is the polite form. Je veux ('I want') sounds like a small child demanding.
- s'il vous plaît 🔊 seel voo PLEH please Literally 'if it pleases you'. With a friend: s'il te plaît.
- Merci beaucoup. 🔊 mair-SEE bo-KOO Thank you very much. The answer is de rien (duh ree-AN) — 'it was nothing'.
- Combien ça coûte ? 🔊 kom-BYAN sa KOOT How much does it cost? Ça (sa) means 'that' and is one of the most useful words in the language.
- Je cherche la gare. 🔊 zhuh SHAIRSH la GAHR I am looking for the station. Swap la gare for anything: les toilettes, l'hôtel, la sortie (the exit).
- Je ne comprends pas. 🔊 zhuh nuh kom-PRON pa I do not understand. Say it without embarrassment. Every learner uses it a thousand times.
Read every line aloud twice before moving on. The mouth learns a language, not the eye.
🔍 The sandwich that makes a sentence negative
Look at the last phrase. French wraps the verb in two slices of bread: ne … pas. Whatever the verb is, it sits in the middle.
- Je comprends → Je ne comprends pas (I understand → I do not understand)
- Je sais → Je ne sais pas (I know → I do not know)
- In fast speech the ne almost disappears: 'j'sais pas'. Learn it with the ne; hear it without.
🌍 Among the people
Un café in France means a small strong black coffee, standing at the counter, drunk in two minutes. If you want it with milk, ask for un café au lait.
🔁 Practise today
- Order breakfast out loud for an imaginary family of four, using je voudrais four times.
- Turn these positive sentences negative: Je parle français. Je comprends. Je sais.
- Learn combien ça coûte so well that it arrives before you think about it.
