Casual conversations with French speakers are a great way to practice your language skills! Here, tutor Beth L. shares 22 useful French phrases that will come in handy…
When learning a new language, it’s important to keep on talking — and listening — to practice your new skills. If you’ve already learned basic conversational phrases, now it’s time to move on to some more interesting conversation topics!
To help you practice and prompt your new French-speaking friends, below are some useful French phrases to use. In each case, the first version is formal, while the second is informal.
French Conversation Starters
- Qu’est-ce que vous faites ce weekend? / Qu’est-ce que tu fais ce weekend?
What are you doing this weekend? - Que’est-ce que vous avez fait le week-end dernier? / Qu’est-ce que tu as fait le week-end dernier?
What did you do last weekend? - Comment est-ce que vous allez passer vos vacances? / Comment est-ce que tu vas passer tes vacances?
How are you going to spend your vacation? - Quelles autres langues est-ce que vous parlez? / Quelles autres langues est-ce que tu parles?
What other languages do you speak? - De quelle nationalité êtes-vous? / De quelle nationalité es-tu?
What is your nationality? - Qu’est-ce que vous faites dans votre temps libre? / Qu’est-ce que tu fais dans ton temps libre?
What do you do in your spare time? - Quelles sont vos sports préférés? / Quelles sont tes sports préférés?
What are you favorite sports? - Quelles sont vos chansons préférées? / Quelles sont tes chansons préférées?
What are your favorite songs? - Où est-ce que vous avez voyagé? / Où est-ce que tu as voyagé?
Where have you traveled? - Où est-ce que vous voudriez voyager? / Où est-ce que tu voudrais voyager?
Where would you like to travel? - Qu’est-ce que vous aimez manger? / Qu’est-ce que tu aimes manger?
What do you like to eat?
Where do you live?
What kind of work do you do?
What is your favorite subject matter in school / middle school / high school / university?
Do you have a dog / pet?
Do you have brothers or sisters? Describe them.
What is your favorite film? Why?
What is your favorite book?
Who is your favorite actor? Why?
Who is your favorite musician?
What is your favorite place? Describe it.
If you could live anywhere, where would you live?
Not sure where to bring up these French phrases? Check out some ideas for practicing conversational French here. And of course, these phrases will come in handy when you’re working with your French tutor, as well! The more speaking and listening practice you get, the faster you’ll learn.
Post Author: Carol Beth L.Carol Beth L. teaches French lessons in San Francisco, CA. She has her Masters in French language education from the Sorbonne University in Paris and has been teaching since 2009. Learn more about Carol Beth here!
Photo by Pedro Ribeiro Simões
Suzy S.