Easy French Phrase Book NEW EDITION

Over 700 Phrases for Everyday Use

Heather McCoy

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9780486310312
• Topic: Langues et linguistique
• Subtopic: Langue française

Here's the perfect companion for tourists and business travelers in France and other French-speaking locales. With more than 700 French phrases and sentences, this book offers fast, effective communications for everyday situations that range from asking directions and renting a car to ordering dinner and finding an ATM.
An easy study guide as well as a handy reference, this user-friendly book features completely up-to-date terms for modern telecommunications. Contents are arranged for quick access to phrases related to greetings, transportation, shopping, medical and emergency situations, and other common circumstances. A phonetic pronunciation accompanies each phrase.

Chapter 1
Greetings and Everyday Expressions

GREETINGS, INTRODUCTIONS,
AND SOCIAL CONVERSATION

One of the ways in which French differs from English is that French uses formal and informal registers of language. These are expressed in the choice of the subject pronoun (vous is formal; tu is informal); the form of the verb; and, sometimes, in the way a question is formed. Always address adults whom you don't know well using the formal form of the verb, and reserve the informal for friends and children. It is interesting to note that Americans have a tendency to be informal in many situations in which the French prefer to interact formally. We've indicated below whenever a given sentence is formal or informal.

You will discover that although the subject pronoun for “we” is nous, the pronoun on frequently is used instead. You can usually tell by the context whether the speaker using on is referring to someone in general, or to the first-personal plural form “we.”

You also will note that another difference between French and English is that nouns in French are either masculine or feminine. This has nothing to do with actual gender—say, the inherent masculine nature of le stylo (the pen), so it’s better to memorize the gender of a noun rather than try to figure out this system of classification! Another important aspect to remember about the gender of nouns in French is that articles, adjectives, pronouns, and some verbs must agree with nouns in gender and number. We have indicated this below where appropriate by providing both the masculine and feminine forms, with the feminine form indicated either with an “e” in parentheses or given in a separate example. Note that when choosing sentences to describe yourself, you'll want to choose the appropriate form.

1. Good morning. Bonjour. Bohn-zhoor

2. Good evening. Bonsoir. Bohn-swahr

3. Good night. (bedtime) Bonne nuit. Buhn nwee

4. Hello. Bonjour. Bohn-zhoor

5. Hi. Salut. Sah-loo

6. Good-bye. Au revoir. Oh ruh vwahr

7. See you soon. À bientôt. Ah byehn-to...