72 5.1: Comment s’orienter en ville
In this section, you will learn about:
- Public places (e.g., library, post office, museums, etc.)
- Places of business (e.g., stores, restaurants, shops, etc.)
Listen to the audio clips that follow on this page to hear the French pronunciation of vocabulary and examples presented.
On étudie !
“Boutique”, Pixabay is in the Public Domain
“Boutique”, Pixabay is in the Public Domain
“Boutique”, Pixabay is in the Public Domain
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contractions avec à + article défini |
|---|
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à + le = au |
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à + les = aux |
Pour en savoir plus : La préposition à | Les contractions.
You are visiting a French-speaking city and you want to know where things are. Here are some typical places you may want to go to.
Les endroits publics
| Français | Anglais |
|---|---|
| le commissariat de police | police station |
| la mairie | city hall |
| l’église (f.) | church |
| la bibliothèque | library |
| l’école (f.) | school |
| le lycée | high school |
| le collège* | middle school, junior high |
| le musée | museum |
| la gare | train station |
| le jardin public | public garden |
| la place | plaza, square |
| le bureau de tourisme | office of tourism |
| l’auberge (f.) | hostel |
| le quartier | neighborhood |
| le stade | stadium |
| la piscine | swimming pool |
| la patinoire | ice rink |
| la boîte (de nuit) | night club |
| le centre-ville | downtown |
| Mots apparentés | Mots apparentés |
|---|---|
| le restaurant | l’université |
| le cinéma | l’hôpital |
| le parc | le théâtre |
| la poste | l’aéroport |
| la cathédrale | le zoo |
| la mosquée | la banque |
| la synagogue | l’office de tourisme |
| le temple | l’hôtel |
| le monument | le gymnase |
Attention au vocabulaire : (1) collège = middle school, junior high ; (2) université, faculté = college ; (3) hôtel = hotel ; (4) auberge = hostel.
Les commerces
| Français | Anglais |
|---|---|
| la boulangerie | bakery |
| la pâtisserie | pastry shop |
| l’épicerie | grocery store |
| le centre commercial | shopping center, mall |
| le kiosque (à journaux) | kiosk, a news stand |
| la papeterie | stationary store |
| la brasserie | brewery |
| le magasin* | store, shop |
| la terrasse de café | outdoor café |
| le marché | outdoor, farmers market |
| la boucherie | butcher shop |
| la charcuterie | delicatessen |
| la crèmerie | dairy shop |
| la poissonnerie | fish market |
| la maison | house |
| la librairie* | bookstore |
| la quincaillerie | hardware store |
| le salon de coiffure | barber shop |
| Mots apparentés |
|---|
| la boutique |
| le café |
| la pharmacie |
| le salon de beauté |
| le supermarché |
*Les faux amis : (1) librairie = bookstore ; (2) bibliothèque = library ; (3) magasin (m.) = store ; (4) magazine (f.) = magazine.
You can use the word magasin to indicate a variety of stores that may not have their own word. It’s like saying … store or …shop in English (shoe store, toy store, wine shop).
You may also use the word boutique (shop, salon) for a variety of other businesses.
You can do the same with salon de…, usually for places that provide services rather than products:
Here’s a video that provides examples of instances where you should use magasin, boutique, or salon.
To practice pronunciation, you can listen to the video and repeat.
| Magasin de… | …shop, store | Boutique de… | …salon, shop | Salon de… | …salon, shop |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
…sport |
sporting goods… | …bijoux fantaisie | nail… | …beauté | beauty… |
| …vêtements | clothing… | …souvenirs | souvenir… | …coiffure | barber… |
| …chaussures | shoe… | …cadeaux | gift… | …thé | tea… |
| …jouets | toy… | …vin(s) | wine… | ||
| …fleurs | flower… |
A wine cellar is a cave à vins
But watch out for words like salon ! It has a ton of different meanings depending on the context. Check it out here: salon.
Always remember that there are many ways to name a business in any language. For example, in French, a nail salon or nail shop could be a salon de manucure, boutique de manucure, boutique d’ongles, or salon d’ongles.
When you are not sure what to call a certain type of store, just use magasin de…. and a French speaker will help you find the appropriate term.
Watch these videos to learn more vocabulary and practice your pronunciation:
On pratique !
Activité A
Quels sont ces endroits ? Faites correspondre ces endroits publics avec les photos en bas :
La Mairie de Toulouse
Le Métro de Paris
Le cinéma
Le marché
La bibliothèque de l’université
Le Musée des Beaux-Arts
L’Hôtel El Emir
L’office de tourisme de Colmar
La Cathédrale Notre-Dame à Paris
| Endroits publics | Endroits publics | Endroits publics |
|---|---|---|
 “This work” by pixabay.com is in the Public Domain, CC0 |
|
“This work” by pxhere is in the Public Domain, CC0 |
| 1. C’est la bibliothèque de l’université. | 2. | 3. |
|
“This work” by Pixabay is in the Public Domain, CC0 |
“This work” by pixabay.com is in the Public Domain, CC0 |
“This work” by Pixabay is in the Public Domain, CC0 |
| 4. | 5. | 6. |
|
“This work” by pixabay.com is in the Public Domain, CC0 |
“Hotel El Emir” by Habib Kaki, Flickr is in the Public Domain, CC0 |
“Office de Tourisme, Colmar” by commons.wikimedia.org is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported |
| 7. | 8. | 9. |
Image by 
“This work” by Tanya N. Barach is licensed under CC BY 4.0
“This work” by Pixabay is in the Public Domain, CC0
Activité B
Les Commerces. Quels sont ces endroits ? Identifiez chaque type de commerce avec C’est….
| Commerces | Commerces | Commerces |
|---|---|---|
|
“This work” by Pixabay is in the Public Domain, CC0 |
“This work” by Pixabay is in the Public Domain, CC0 |
“This work” by Pixabay is in the Public Domain, CC0 |
| 1. C’est un magasin de musique. | 2. | 3. |
|
“This work” by Pixabay is in the Public Domain, CC0 |
“This work” by Pixabay is in the Public Domain, CC0 |
“This work” by Pixabay is in the Public Domain, CC0 |
| 4. | 5. | 6. |
|
“E. Dehillerin, selling kitchen equipment since 1820, Paris” by Richard Allaway, Flickr is licensed under CC BY 2.0 |
“This work” by Pixabay is in the Public Domain, CC0 |
“Librairie” by William J. Carrasco is licensed under CC BY 4.0 |
| 7. | 8. | 9. |
Activité C
Qu’est-ce qu’on peut faire dans les endroits suivants ?
Répondez en utilisant le vocabulaire proposé et remplacez les lieux par le pronom Y.
Modèle : Etudiant 1 : Qu’est-ce qu’on peut faire au centre commercial ? (faire des achats)
Etudiant 2 : On peut y faire des achats.
- au centre commercial, dépenser de l’argent
- à la poste, envoyer une lettre
- à la piscine, nager
- au restaurant, dîner
- au cinéma, voir un film
- à la bibliothèque, emprunter des livres
- à la banque, déposer de l’argent
- à la gare, prendre un train
- au stade, voir un match de foot
- à Paris, visiter les musées
- à San Diego, aller au zoo
- dans les boutiques, faire du shopping
- au café, bavarder avec des amis
- à la librairie, acheter des livres
- au parc, se promener
On approfondit !
Use the following resources to type accents and/or search for words:
- Accents: ç, à, é, è, â, ê, î, ô, û, ù, ë, ï, ü
- Dictionnaire français-anglais
