Basic French Conversation: What you NEED to know

Want to start speaking and using your French, but not sure where to start? These tips will help.
0:00 - Bonjour !
0:25 -Ça va ? Questions
3:23 - Less boring questions + answers
5:04 - With a shopkeeper
9:18 - Au revoir and leaving
💾 Read, save and/or print the full written lesson here (free): www.commeunefrancaise.com/blo...
🎓 Join my Everyday French crash course (free): www.commeunefrancaise.com/wel...
Learning French can be fun and stimulating. But, I'm here to help make sure that you actually USE your French, not just learn it - and that starts with speaking! All you really need are a few simple phrases to start a French conversation with friends, shopkeepers, and strangers.
In today's lesson, we'll explore some of the most basic phrases you can learn if you want to start having short conversations in French. You can use them to greet your neighbour, buy something from a French bakery, announce that you're leaving a party, and more! Let's dive in.
Take care and stay safe.
😘 from Grenoble, France.
Géraldine

[@AprylZA]

Confession: When I first arrived here, I'd ask for ‹‹deux baguettes›› because I could never remember if it was ‹‹un›› or ‹‹une››! mdr ;0}

[@L4zEGaming]

haha that’s actually pretty smart

[@SoItGoesCAL34]

Moi aussi. I was so humiliated by saying un or une that I would buy deux baguettes. So nice to know I was not the only one. :)

[@AprylZA]

So delicious, it was win-win...until I had so many kilos to lose! ;0+

[@virginiaensinck5828]

😂

[@eightysixxxx]

Hahaha SAME!

[@anonza7733]

You're an excellent teacher, Geraldine! Just an English tip, if you don't mind ;-) "At last" is used for something that you've really been waiting for. For example: "At last! The speech is over!". We normally use "finally" (or less often "*and* last") to indicate the last item in a list, e.g., "X, Y, and finally, Z", or "X, Y, and last (but not least), Z". Funnily enough, "finally" also works as an alternative for "at last" ("finally, the speech is over!"), but not necessarily vice versa.

[@danielgardner3601]

We also use “lastly” for a list. For example, “First use this word to start a conversation, second compliment them, and lastly, ask for their name “. And I would say that would be a better substitute for the way she is using “at last”

[@rushdialrashed9627]

🤣

[@carlmuanya]

Ooooooio

[@pepemouss100]

Comme une française surtout l’accent ! A couper au couteau !

[@ChrissieSM]

In this case, you could say lastly.

[@purevanilla9953]

Very good lesson for an American who who wants to learn French.

[@suzannederringer1607]

You're such a great teacher! Merci!

[@wowjef]

What a wonderful teacher

[@GoFartherPodcast]

I love your channel, professor Geraldine! Merci beaucoup !

[@rubypanterra.]

Merci beaucoup Géraldine! À plus 😘

[@waltherpalmeri6947]

EXCELLENT TEACHING. AWE.

[@look007456]

merci.so helpful

[@giltonsagayi6321]

Merci, Geraldine

[@sannn9]

I took French lessons 12 years ago, but I still remember those phrases! Merci!

[@anthonyjosuerendonvera9235]

Your Channel is all i ever needed for learning french in a way i like and that works for me, your explanations are just so good, really good, thank you

[@lindat1150]

Thank you

[@faithbwire9164]

I enjoyed every bit of it... I guess it's time i continue with my french studies again👍👍👍

[@jasminjohnson2348]

I’m studying abroad and this helps so much!

[@eunicechan4impact]

Vous êtes une très bonne prof, Géraldine. Merci pour ces leçons!

[@nkgnkg4990]

Super teacher❤

[@user-sz5jc7qr9m]

I love this❤

[@sarahleeann7208]

Interesting. I don't think we ever really say goodbye to shopkeepers or cashiers in America. Like, "have a good day/night" or even just "thank you" suffices as a goodbye.

[@SylviaDziuba]

Saying hello and goodbye when you enter and leave a shop is common courtesy in a lot of European countries

[@tanujamullick8371]

For the first time, I think I could learn French. You make it seem possible. Merci

[@taliahlucius9281]

Thank you 🥺 this was soo helpful!

[@cristianadarau5774]

Merci beaucoup pour cette leçon ! J'ai beaucoup appris et je suis contente d'avoir trouvé votre chaîne.

[@TMD3453]

Merci, Geraldine! So helpful to know a few short phrases to know for many occasions. It’s all about usage! Take care 🇫🇷🇺🇸

[@toutenfrancais...everythin9498]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/j5bTcqmilMishZI

[@janedmunds4218]

I want a book with little stick figures in simple situations at la boulangerie and the museum, on the train etc. with French in conversation bubbles

[@sarahmclin2434]

Thank you! I am learning on duolingo, but I wanted to supplement my learning with videos so I can learn how to hear French. It is quite different from hearing English! Thank you for sharing.

[@y2ksmoothie3]

In the exact same situation right now. Hope it's going well lol

[@Fibey]

@@y2ksmoothie3 same here how's it going for you?

[@smalls9852]

Thank you so much. I have been trying to learn French and this is a wonderful video.

[@TheMausky]

Very helpful…

[@josedosanjos2200]

Thanks for the french lesson.

[@lucialovecraft]

I’m taking up French lessons again and I forgot how much I love the language! Thankfully I have a friend in Paris to practice with ❤ can’t wait to visit France some day

[@josedosanjos2200]

You are a nice french teacher !

[@markscranton6609]

Excellent moment ! Je rencontre quelqu'un le dimanche qui veut m'aider avec mon français et je veux lui montrer que j'essaye. Excellent timing! I am meeting someone on Sunday who wants to help me with my French and I want to show them that I am trying.

[@priyanshbhardwaj8091]

Essayer is irregular verb... it is not j'essaye... it is j'essaie, tu essaies, il essaie, nous essayons, vous essayes, ils essaient... though j'essaye can also be also used sometimes... but j'essaie is better and more correct..

[@markscranton6609]

@@priyanshbhardwaj8091 Merci! I use Google translate for sentences beyond my current abilities, and it has it's shortcomings. Thank you for the tip!

[@priyanshbhardwaj8091]

@@markscranton6609 welcome... I am also a French learner though 😊 One learner helping other

[@dancarroll6349]

Allez. J’ai vraiment aimé cette leçon. Merci, Géraldine!

[@lynnelhampton-bott6917]

Bon soir! Merci beaucoup pour ces lecons

[@josephinepoku1260]

You’re a great teacher! 👍

[@1aikane]

You are wonderful

[@ahmedyakub8656]

Very interested 😊

[@jimmyhenrix2565]

Merci 🙏 madame

[@rozhin6055]

This really helped me with my prononciation, merci 😍

[@liudmilaivanova7773]

Super! merci ,

[@crazycatlady312]

I love this page. Planning to go to France for my 30th birthday so I need to brush up on my French 😊

[@kerrysupporter]

Merci

[@icelma3014]

Vous êtes un très bon professeur et vos vidéos sont très claires. J'aimerais continuer à apprendre avec vous ! Félicitations pour votre excellent travail, être un enseignant n'est pas aussi facile qu'il n'y paraît. Merci beaucoup

[@boondocksdragon8959]

I'm so happy to have stumbled across your channel! After taking four years of French throughout school and uni, I haven't spoken it in over a decade. Now my 15yo wants to learn so we can practice together, and I'm so rusty! I'll be binging your videos until I'm back to my best. 💚

[@SoItGoesCAL34]

Thanks! A demain

[@Yahdbbdnn]

This helped a lot ! Merci beaucoup! 🇫🇷

[@MOSARTCHANNEL]

Hi Geraldine …I love your teaching style ….it’s east to follow and you are very good at conveying the message…..well done…👍 I’ve been learning french ….I love the sound of French language…..yes I subscribed to your channel…..🙏 Merci…..🙏☮️🌏Ⓜ️MO - Melbourne

[@andreasmikle9233]

I want to learn french and this is the year. I will need you to teach me 🤗

[@antonisaputra5750]

merci beaucoup madame. I am so happy to learn french with you

[@toutenfrancais...everythin9498]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/j5bTcqmilMishZI

[@antonisaputra5750]

Merci beaucoup madam. Next time if you visit my home town in padang city of west sumatera - Indonesia. I hope can speak french with you.

[@toutenfrancais...everythin9498]

@@antonisaputra5750 De rien Monsieur! That would be amazing :) I hope you find my videos helpful!

[@wallykaspars9700]

Fabulous! Merci beaucoup! "Tu fais quoi dans la vie?" Years ago I heard that it is impolite to ask French strangers want they do for a living.

[@eaglenoimoto]

It depends on the context, it’s not a common party “opening” line as it is in English speaking countries (same in most of Europe, actually. I was really confused that it is a common small talk topic when I moved to the UK, and I’m German)... not impolite, but you might be considered a bore with nothing else to say. In certain situations, it’s a normal question to ask.

[@mt.shasta6097]

@@eaglenoimoto in UK, it can be a way of finding out if you are of a "higher" income or "lower" income. That gives the class-consious society the information they need to decide how to interact with you. Sad, but true.

[@edwgwilymedwgwilym2827]

Merci encore Geraldine

[@dicksonmatabile2730]

Impressive

[@bankefa976]

Beautiful lady and great teaching. Visiting France... a bientot.. so this will be helpful..

[@AliMohammed-rn1me]

Marci beaucoup 😍😍

[@legpuf]

So basically I need to learn English to know what means the French sentences because my native language is Spanish 😅anyway, these is the best way to learn French :) merci beaucoup

[@Andy-jp1kc]

French is the most beautiful language in the world, hands down

[@neronito21]

À tout de suite ma professeure

[@christiandufourmentel3237]

Vous êtes une excellente "prof" et merci de donner envie d'apprendre notre belle langue. C'est tellement amusant, n'est-ce pas? _ "You are an excellent teacher and thank you for giving everyone the desire to learn our beautiful language." " It's so much fun, isn't it?"

[@joannajones8533]

Thank you! :) Is there a series of Lessons we could follow?? A sequence? thank you :)

[@johnwoodward1004]

C'est magnifique Geraldine.

[@BoredOfBills]

Can I make a request? My son asked me how to translate into French the English expression "under his own steam" and I could only come up with something clumsy. So, may I request a lesson (in reverse) where Geraldine translates common English idioms into their French equivalents (if they exist)? I'm thinking of things like "off his own bat" and "in the nick of time" and "as thick as two short planks". Any chance?

[@mudlanetv4766]

Watching from Jamaica 🇯🇲🇯🇲 comment ca va

[@nadatragh5755]

Everyone keeps on telling me that i look french. So here i am to fully play the role

[@ButterFly-zh8ho]

There is a small vocabulary problem that appeared recently, the name "pain au chocolat" or the name "chocolatine" depending on the region, it generated physical fights if the wrong word was used, it's a little French war, "pain au chocolat" " or "chocolatine" is a question.

[@susanprochak6061]

What about tu/toing with formal French people you don’t know.

[@sole.81]

I speak spanish and english. I'd like to learn french, but i find the pronunciation so hard! 😭

[@KylianTeam]

very soon i speak good fluently

[@x7SiNz--]

I did a 3 month french course where I was taking a 1 hour lesson everyday. Over that time I started to dislike the French language because of the process. I've never been one to take in information through books repeating over and over again. Are there other ways of learning that are fun?

[@timotheelegrincheux2204]

When you spoke about paying for your purchase in the boulangerie I was reminded of the fact that one does not place the bills or coins directly into the hand of the merchant but rather you lay the money down. The same for when your are given your change, if any. In the United States we usually put the money directly into the hand of the merchant, and the change is handed back the same way. Am I correct in my analysis of these transactions?

[@anticyclone0321]

Correct!

[@bob48219]

Il est trop formel de commencer le salut par "Comment"? Par example "Comment vas-tu?" ou "Comment allez-vous?" ou "Comment ca va?"?

[@lourdessilva]

Mercy Geradine..

[@francescocamodeca4084]

Bonjour....quels sont les livres que tu conseils pour aprrendre le français niveau b2 / c1/c2 merci en avance.. tu es très fort👅🔥🤪

[@michelebriere9569]

My Quebec cousins say Salut for hi and bye.

[@Honeypepper.]

Hey, I know no French at all, but I would love to live in France and I'm seriously thinking about moving there. What do you recommend, a full immersion or try to learn as much as I can before I move?

[@hocndoc]

Aprendez! Learn first!

[@Kit2Canada]

@Wildhoney if you’re planning to live there learn as much as possible before you arrive. Full immersion would be ideal if you have the time and inclination. Also when you arrive it’s crucial to continue your acquisition of the language so as to understand idioms and phrases. Enjoy!

[@Honeypepper.]

@@Kit2Canada thank you

[@dominiquelyoen7535]

@@hocndoc apprenez

[@hocndoc]

@@dominiquelyoen7535 Merci!

[@johngalvin3763]

i am a bit confused if using ''Tu Viens d'ou'' in the fact you are using the Tu form when its a question to a stranger, comments please

[@toutenfrancais...everythin9498]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/j5bTcqmilMishZI

[@SCRABBLEMANSURESH]

@9.18 don't forget to pay😅 desole je ne parle pa's français 9:19

[@SpoonkyCL]

Y a pas à dire, c'est la conjugaison la chose la plus compliquée en français !

[@sandrine525]

L’orthographe et la grammaire aussi , c’est très compliquer pour nous les français aussi , à 26 ans je ne les maîtrise pas. Vu vos premiers mots vous êtes français aussi non ?

[@SpoonkyCL]

@@sandrine525 Oui, oui, je suis français et du coup je peux dire que cette vidéo est aussi bien à regarder pour apprendre le français que l'anglais ;)

[@SpoonkyCL]

@@sandrine525 Oui, oui, je suis français et du coup je peux dire que cette vidéo est aussi bien à regarder pour apprendre le français que l'anglais ;)

[@rozhin6055]

My shyness and insecurity makes me look so rude 🥲

[@jessemarvin2763]

Les français: Bonjour ! Comment ça va? Les américains: Go away! I'm introverting!

[@jldparis12d50]

Bonjour … je me permet une réflexion , vos questions au début de la vidéo sont des questions avec intonations montantes donc faisant partie du langage familier mais sont grammaticalement incorrecte dans la langue courante avec inversion du sujet … On dira plus « Que fais-tu dans la vie ? « que « Tu fais quoi dans la vie ? » qui est familier et pas très « joli » ! Il est vrai que c’est plus compliqué pour des non francophones j’en conviens !

[@ShiruSama1]

Is there no liaison in "je voudraiS une baguette" ?

[@Commeunefrancaise]

Non, pas de liaison.

[@anitahendricks]

[@karlaflores245]

Don’t forget to pay😅

[@rushdialrashed9627]

😂

[@rushdialrashed9627]

Always.

[@fCLEF007]

oh your beautiful, beautiful eyes!

[@smsdicarpio5673]

t es belle

[@uggabugg9]

No more formal French?

[@L.M1792]

If you were to ask,, “you have nice beautiful fresh skin, it fills my senses with wonder”? Would this be too blatant a first line to say to a women you had never met before?

[@klarissaclairiton9010]

Shopkeeper is not your friend - I got that vibe when I was in Paris LOL. How about - allez donc chier ....

[@benestores4123]

No hate here, just wondering. Why people have such high regard to french language. That to be classy, you have to say the french brand the way french people do. I mean, noone's correcting french people how to pronounce mcdonald's, and people even find it cute. Anyway, just saying. ✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️

[@blacksilence2077]

if luis swarez was a girl

[@mimihunter4253]

Great teacher a little too fast

[@ImTheSaiki]

The pronunciation is hard 💀

[@LearnFrenchwithLexie]

In order to improve your French pronunciation, learn French phonetics and basic pronunciation rules. Then, focus on improving your French listening skills. Listening and pronunciation go hand in hand, they’re two sides of the same coin. You can’t pronounce a sound you don’t hear. When you are a new-born, your brain can recognise the sounds from any language. But you lose this capacity after a year. This is why your ears don’t recognise French sounds. Luckily, this can be reverse. But, you need to train your ears to French sounds by practicing listening. Improving your listening skills will improve your pronunciation. 💪

[@L.M1792]

If you were to say, “you have nice beautiful fresh skin, it fills my senses with wonder”. Would this be too blatant an opening line to say to women you had never met before?

[@Stopmotian1]

Yes, in any language :)

[@L.M1792]

@@Stopmotian1 I am of course disappointed by this response as it lacks the necessary intimacy I have long hoped for. I must now seek further consultation and a second more professional opinion.

[@toketoke9479]

@@L.M1792 Lee, don't bother seeking a professionals opinion, please. Your opening line is way too blatant and frankly I would run away from you if you ever said that to me. Please, I beg, consider not saying that to anyone.

[@L.M1792]

@@toketoke9479 I am never in a circumstance where I have opportunity to say this to people. I am simply impressed with the beauty of female soft skin and so began to wonder what hope the literate passions of French women could muster for they marginalised within the proximity of a failing Scottish culture. Of course I have to curry hope from somewhere like all living beings must, and so I am drawn towards presumption, perhaps it is your desk jobs and government ties have you stifling in bureaucratic mediocrity. The maintaining of my sense of encouragement is not of tantamount importance but its fizzle seems to remain anyway. 🥸

[@toketoke9479]

@@L.M1792 Aight, mate. 🤨

[@nasratmosazai1951]

Will u complete all video and under stand nothing😅

[@rodrigoalarcon1154]

'américaine' is not a nationality, America is a whole continent

[@kelljanesmith]

It is a nationality for people from the United States of America, commonly abbreviated as America.

[@rodrigoalarcon1154]

@@kelljanesmith yep, people from Brazil are also from the American Continent, thus 'americans'. Same on Argentina, Venezuela, etc. Is as french people called themselves "europeans"

[@nuhaminaklilu4342]

Hey the women is wrong to talk