Surviving abroad in France

For anyone who wants to learn French and speak it with confidence and fluency, I always recommend my Complete French Course. But sometimes you need to learn French quickly, and in a way that’s specific to the situation you find yourself in, such as when you’re abroad in a French-speaking country. If you’ve found yourself in this scenario or are planning to visit France soon, but don’t know your magazines from your magasins, these essentials will help you get by.

Let’s start with the basics. You may already know the words for 'hello' (bonjour), 'good evening' (bonsoir), 'please' (s'il vous plaît), 'thank you' (merci), 'excuse me' (excusez-moi) and 'goodbye' (au revoir), but these are essential. If you employ polite language when speaking to a stranger, they will be a lot more likely to help you!

It’s easy to get lost when you’re abroad, and you can’t always rely on Google Maps for directions, so it’s handy to know what to say when you need to know where to go. The verb chercher is your best friend in this case. To indicate that you’re looking for a particular place, use Je cherche l'hôtel ('the hotel') or le restaurant ('restaurant') or le magasin ('shop') or whatever place it is you’re looking for.

Je cherche l'hôtel de l'Étoile s'il vous plaît ('I'm looking for the Hotel de l'Étoile please')

You can also say Où est/Où sont ?, meaning ‘Where is/Where are..?’

Où est le musée du Louvre s'il vous plaît ? ('Where is the Louvre museum?')

Où sont les toilettes ? ('Where are the toilets?')

Of course, if you’re asking a question, you also need to be able to understand the answers you’ll receive. So let’s take a look at a couple of directions you might hear.

C'est tout droit ('It's straight ahead')

C’est à gauche ('It's on the left')

C’est à droite ('It's on the right')

Traversez la rue ('Cross the street')

Tournez à droite ou à gauche ('Turn right or left')

To ask for your reservation, you’ll want to say J'ai une réservation au nom de + [your name]

J'ai une réservation au nom de Richard ('I have a booking under Richard's name')

Some other useful phrases include

La clim (climatisation) ne marche pas ('The AC is not working')

Y a-t-il une pharmacie à proximité ? ('Is there a pharmacy nearby?')

J'ai perdu la clé de ma chambre ('I’ve lost my room key')

No trip in France would be complete without a pit stop at the boulangerie ('bakery'). When selecting your desired pastry, it’s sufficient to say Bonjour, un pain au chocolat s’il vous plaît ('Hello, a pain au chocolat please') or Un croissant et une baguette s’il vous plaît ('A croissant or baguette please'). You can say Je voudrais ('I would like') at the start of the request, but the truth is the French rarely say this in practice.

In a boulangerie it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the food options, but luckily they should all have labels. If you’re struggling to pronounce the name of millefeuille, you can always point and say celui-ci ('this one here') or celui-là ('that one there').

If you find yourself at a bar, the waiter is likely to ask Qu'est-ce que je vous sers ? ('What can I get you?')

Again, you can keep it simple and just say Un café s’il vous plaît or Un jus d'orange. Some other words for common drinks include la bière ('beer'), l'eau ('water'), le vin ('wine') and le thé ('tea').

If you want to book a table, the word you want is une réservation. And like in English, you can use it in its verb form too.

Je voudrais réserver une table/faire une réservation pour une table pour deux personnes pour ce soir s’il vous plaît ('I'd like to book a table for 2 for tonight please')

When asking for the menu, you can say Je peux voir la carte s’il vous plaît ? ('Can I see the menu please?')

And when asking for the bill/cheque, you can either say Je peux avoir l'addition s’il vous plaît ? ('Can I have the bill please?') or just L'addition, s’il vous plaît ! ('The bill please')

When asking how much something costs, say C'est combien ? ('How much is it?') or Combien ça coûte ? ('How much does it cost?'). If you want a bag to bring your shopping home, ask S'il vous plaît, puis-je avoir un sac ? ('Please could I have a bag?'), and if you would like a receipt, say Un ticket de caisse, s'il vous plaît ('A receipt please').