Basic Conversational French

When you learn basic conversational French, you are learning how to have a simple exchange of communication between yourself and others. To have a conversation in French, you need to be able to understand what someone is saying to you, and also know how to answer in French. It’s obviously not very practical to learn how to ask questions, but then not understand the answers, (and vice versa)!

This lesson in basic conversational French will teach you how to introduce yourself, how to ask friendly questions during a conversation, and how to respond when people ask the same questions to you.

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We’ll start right at the beginning with “hello”. There are a few ways you can greet someone in French:

If you want to be really French, give the person a peck on each cheek when you are being introduced.

Next, it’s nice to ask the other person how they are doing. You can do this by asking:

“Comment allez-vous?”

Ask this when you are in a formal situation, when you don’t know someone very well, and/or when you want to show someone respect.

If you are talking to someone who is younger than you, or to an old friend, you can say:

“Comment vas-tu?”

Remember to only use the “tu” form with someone you are really familiar with, otherwise it’s an embarrassing faux-pas!

You can also ask “how are you doing” in a few other informal ways:

When someone asks how you are doing, you can respond in a few different ways:

If you are meeting someone for the first time, it’s polite to ask them what their name is. This is how you ask someone their name in French when you are in a formal situation or addressing someone older than you:

“Comment vous appelez-vous?”

If you are addressing someone younger than you, you can ask:

“Tu t’appelles comment?”

When someone asks you your name, you introduce yourself by saying:

“Je m’appelle…” followed by your name.

Another nice thing to ask someone is where they are from. To ask a stranger where they are from, you say:

“Vous venez d’où?”

If you are talking to a child, you would ask it in this way:

“Tu viens d’où?”

When someone asks you where you are from, you can answer in a few different ways:

Now that you’ve had a real conversation with your new acquaintance, it’s time to say good-bye. There are many different ways that you can bid farewell to your new friend:

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