French vocabulary · 18 words
French places vocabulary: around town and at home
The place words from the French course: the town you walk through (station, park, museum, beach) and the rooms of a house. Each noun comes with its gender, which decides whether you go au parc, à la plage or à l'hôtel.
Good to know
- Before a vowel or silent h, le and la shorten to l': l'école, l'hôtel. The gender is still there: une école, un hôtel.
- Où est la gare ? asks where the station is. Answer with ici (here) or là-bas (over there).
- Going to a place uses au, à la or à l' depending on the noun: au parc, à la plage, à l'école.
Around town
| French | Meaning | Audio |
|---|---|---|
| villefem. (la)Say it: veel | town / city | |
| garefem. (la)Say it: gar | train station | |
| parcmasc. (le)Say it: park — for once, the last letter IS spoken | park | |
| muséemasc. (le)Say it: mu-ZAY — ends like a feminine (la) word but lives on the masculine (le) side | museum | |
| écolefem. (la)Say it: ay-KOHL — vowel start, so le/la squeeze to l' | school | |
| hôtelmasc. (le)Say it: oh-TELL — the h is silent, so the article squeezes: l'hôtel | hotel | |
| restaurantmasc. (le)Say it: res-toh-RAHN — the final t sleeps | restaurant | |
| cinémamasc. (le)Say it: see-nay-MA | the movies | |
| plagefem. (la)Say it: plazh — one syllable of vacation | beach | |
| maisonfem. (la)Say it: may-ZOHN — nasal ending | house |
Saying where
| French | Meaning | Audio |
|---|---|---|
| où estSay it: oo-EH — the tourist's best two words | where is | |
| iciSay it: ee-SEE | here | |
| là-basSay it: la-BAH — point while you say it | over there | |
| en villeSay it: ahn veel | in town / around town |
At home
| French | Meaning | Audio |
|---|---|---|
| chambrefem. (la)Say it: SHAHM-br — bedroom | bedroom | |
| salonmasc. (le)Say it: sah-LOHN — nasal ending, living room | living room | |
| cuisinefem. (la)Say it: kwee-ZEEN — kitchen | kitchen | |
| jardinmasc. (le)Say it: zhar-DAN — nasal ending, garden | garden / yard |
Test yourself
Five of the 18 words on this page, meaning to word. Pick an answer to check it; nothing is saved.
1.Which French word means "town / city"?
2.Which French word means "museum"?
3.Which French word means "the movies"?
4.Which French word means "where is"?
5.Which French word means "bedroom"?
Practice this in Open Lingo
This page comes from the Open Lingo course. In the app it is a short interactive lesson with listening, speaking and spaced-repetition review. Free, and no account needed to try it.
Keep going
- Grammar guideIl y aHow to say there is, there are and there isn't in French with il y a, il n'y a pas de and des, with pronunciation and course examples.
- Grammar guideAu, à la, à l'Why French says au cinéma but à la gare and à l'école: the à + le = au contraction, the l' squeeze before vowels, and the matching du and des.
- Word listFood and drink vocabularyBeginner French words for food, drink and the café, with gender (le/la) and audio from the Open Lingo course.
- ToolNumbers 1 to 100 and converterEvery French number from 0 to 100 in a printable table, a converter that writes out any number up to 999,999, and the rules behind 70, 80, 90 and et un.