5.1: Comment s'orienter en ville

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Objectifs

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.)

Media Alternative

Listen to the audio clips that follow on this page to hear the French pronunciation of vocabulary and examples presented.

On étudie !

An épicerie — "Boutique", Pixabay is in the Public Domain

A boulangerie — "Boutique", Pixabay is in the Public Domain

A clothing store — "Boutique", Pixabay is in the Public Domain

Structure : La préposition à & les contractions

contractions avec à + article défini
à + le = au
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

Endroits publics (Public places)
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

Vocabulaire (Lieux)
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

Flashcards

Study the Quizlet vocabulary flashcards. Listen and repeat the French pronunciation.

Note

Attention au vocabulaire : (1) collège = middle school, junior high ; (2) université, faculté = college ; (3) hôtel = hotel ; (4) auberge = hostel.

Ressources supplémentaires

Watch these videos for vocabulary and pronunciation Practice:

Entrance tickets for museums and French library card — "This work" by William J. Carrasco is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Les commerces

Commerces (Businesses)
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

Commerces (Businesses)
Mots apparentés
la boutique
le café
la pharmacie
le salon de beauté
le supermarché

Note

*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.

Magasins, boutiques, salons de...
Magasin de...	...shop, store	Boutique de...	...salon, shop	Salon de...	...salon, shop
...sport	sporting goods...	...bijoux fantaisie	costume jewelry	...beauté	beauty...
...vêtements	clothing...	...souvenirs	souvenir...	...coiffure	barber...
...chaussures	shoe...	...cadeaux	gift...	...thé	tea...
...jouets	toy...	...vin(s)	wine...
...fleurs	flower...

Note

A wine cellar is a cave à vins

Flashcards

Study the Quizlet vocabulary flashcards. Listen and repeat the French pronunciation.

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.

Ressources supplémentaires

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

Identifiez ces endroits publics
Endroits publics	Endroits publics	Endroits publics
"This work" by pixabay.com is in the Public Domain, CC0	Image by Martin Winkler from Pixabay 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.

Activité B

Les Commerces. Quels sont ces endroits ? Identifiez chaque type de commerce avec C'est....

Quels sont ces endroits ?
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.