Französisch-Übersicht

Travel

from booking to the airportA2

In one line

le voyage is a journey, le trajet is the trip you make routinely, and les vacances is always plural.

Nouns

The trip and the plan

FrenchPronunciationEnglish
le voyage/vwa.jaʒ/journey, trip
les vacances (f. pl.)/va.kɑ̃s/holiday
le séjour/se.ʒuʁ/stay
le trajet/tʁa.ʒɛ/route, run
le départ/de.paʁ/departure
le retour/ʁə.tuʁ/return
la destination/dɛs.ti.na.sjɔ̃/destination
l'itinéraire (m.)/i.ti.ne.ʁɛʁ/itinerary
l'agence de voyages (f.)/a.ʒɑ̃s də vwa.jaʒ/travel agency
le guide/ɡid/guide, guidebook
la visite guidée/vi.zit ɡi.de/guided tour
l'excursion (f.)/ɛks.kyʁ.sjɔ̃/day trip
le souvenir/suv.niʁ/souvenir, memory

Airport and border

FrenchPronunciationEnglish
l'aéroport (m.)/a.e.ʁɔ.pɔʁ/airport
le vol/vɔl/flight
la compagnie aérienne/kɔ̃.pa.ni a.e.ʁjɛn/airline
l'enregistrement (m.)/ɑ̃.ʁə.ʒis.tʁə.mɑ̃/check-in
la carte d'embarquement/kaʁt dɑ̃.baʁ.kə.mɑ̃/boarding pass
la porte/pɔʁt/gate
le contrôle de sécurité/kɔ̃.tʁol də se.ky.ʁi.te/security check
la douane/dwan/customs
le passeport/pas.pɔʁ/passport
le visa/vi.za/visa
la valise/va.liz/suitcase
le bagage/ba.ɡaʒ/piece of luggage
le bagage à main/ba.ɡaʒ a mɛ̃/hand luggage
le sac à dos/sak a do/rucksack
l'escale (f.)/ɛs.kal/stopover
le décalage horaire/de.ka.laʒ ɔ.ʁɛʁ/time difference, jet lag
l'assurance voyage (f.)/a.sy.ʁɑ̃s vwa.jaʒ/travel insurance

Where you go

FrenchPronunciationEnglish
la plage/plaʒ/beach
la mer/mɛʁ/sea
la montagne/mɔ̃.taɲ/mountain
la campagne/kɑ̃.paɲ/countryside
le camping/kɑ̃.piŋ/campsite
l'auberge de jeunesse (f.)/o.bɛʁʒ də ʒø.nɛs/youth hostel
la carte postale/kaʁt pɔs.tal/postcard
l'appareil photo (m.)/a.pa.ʁɛj/camera

English borrowed three of these and changed them.

FrenchWhat English made of it
le voyagea sea voyage only — French means any journey
le souvenira trinket only — French means a memory as well
la campagneEnglish "campaign" — French means the countryside

And one grammar trap. English "luggage" is uncountable — you cannot have "two luggages". French le bagage counts perfectly normally: un bagage, deux bagages, les bagages. So J'ai deux bagages is right, and the English instinct to avoid the plural is what is wrong here.

Verbs

VerbPronunciationEnglish
voyager/vwa.ja.ʒe/to travel
partir en vacances/paʁ.tiʁ ɑ̃ va.kɑ̃s/to go on holiday
réserver/ʁe.zɛʁ.ve/to book
annuler/a.ny.le/to cancel
faire ses valises/fɛʁ se va.liz/to pack
s'enregistrer/sɑ̃.ʁə.ʒis.tʁe/to check in
embarquer/ɑ̃.baʁ.ke/to board
atterrir/a.te.ʁiʁ/to land
décoller/de.kɔ.le/to take off
visiter/vi.zi.te/to visit (a place)
découvrir/de.ku.vʁiʁ/to discover
se détendre/sə de.tɑ̃dʁ/to relax
emporter/ɑ̃.pɔʁ.te/to take with you

Adjectives

MasculineFeminineEnglish
touristique /tu.ʁis.tik/touristique /tu.ʁis.tik/touristy
dépaysant /de.pɛ.i.zɑ̃/dépaysante /de.pɛ.i.zɑ̃t/refreshingly unfamiliar
inoubliable /i.nu.bli.abl/inoubliable /i.nu.bli.abl/unforgettable
épuisant /e.pɥi.zɑ̃/épuisante /e.pɥi.zɑ̃t/exhausting
direct /di.ʁɛkt/directe /di.ʁɛkt/direct
bondé /bɔ̃.de/bondée /bɔ̃.de/packed
dépaysé /de.pɛ.i.ze/dépaysée /de.pɛ.i.ze/disoriented, out of your element
prêt /pʁɛ/prête /pʁɛt/ready

Set phrases

FrenchPronunciationEnglish
Bon voyage !/bɔ̃ vwa.jaʒ/have a good trip
Bonnes vacances !/bɔn va.kɑ̃s/have a good holiday
partir en vacances/paʁ.tiʁ ɑ̃ va.kɑ̃s/to go on holiday
Je pars en France./ʒə paʁz ɑ̃ fʁɑ̃s/I'm off to France
Je reviens dans deux semaines./ʒə ʁə.vjɛ̃ dɑ̃ dø sə.mɛn/I'm back in two weeks
un vol direct/œ̃ vɔl di.ʁɛkt/a direct flight
avec une escale/a.vɛk yn ɛs.kal/with one stop
Le vol est retardé./lə vɔl ɛ ʁə.taʁ.de/the flight is delayed
Rien à déclarer./ʁjɛ̃ a de.kla.ʁe/nothing to declare
Vous êtes ici pour combien de temps ?/vu.z‿ɛt.z‿i.si puʁ kɔ̃.bjɛ̃ də tɑ̃/how long are you here for?
Je suis ici pour le tourisme./ʒə sɥi.z‿i.si puʁ lə tu.ʁism/I'm here as a tourist

Traps

TrapExplanation
les vacances is always pluralLes vacances sont finies. — and en vacances takes no article.
voyage is a journey, trajet a runle trajet domicile-travail is the daily commute.
le vol means both flight and theftContext decides. voler likewise means to fly and to steal.
visiter is for places, not peoplevisiter Paris ✅
for a person: rendre visite à Marie.
partir, not aller, for setting offJe pars en vacances is more natural than Je vais.
la campagne is the countrysideà la campagne means out in the country — and it also means a campaign.
bagage is countableun bagage, les bagages — unlike English "luggage".

voler — one verb, two unrelated meanings

two different roots that arrived at the same shape
LatinMeaningPronunciation
voler 1volareto fly/vɔ.le/
voler 2from falconryto steal/vɔ.le/

The second came from hunting with birds: the hawk "flew" at the quarry and carried it off. voler le gibier was to take the game.

The meaning then widened to theft in general — and that is now the commoner sense of voler.

MeaningPronunciation
L'oiseau vole.the bird is flying/lwa.zo vɔl/
On m'a volé mon sac.my bag was stolen/ɔ̃ ma vo.le mɔ̃ sak/
le vol Paris-Torontothe Paris–Toronto flight/lə vɔl pa.ʁi.to.ʁɔ̃.to/
un vol à l'arrachéa bag-snatch/œ̃ vɔl a la.ʁa.ʃe/

And their derivatives have separated completely:

Pronunciation
un voleura thief — never a flyer/œ̃ vo.lœʁ/
un aviateura pilot/œ̃.n‿a.vja.tœʁ/

English has the same story and kept the other half of it. A "shoplifter" lifts; a hawk that takes the prey is said to have rapt it — and "raptor", "rapture" and "rapt" all come from the Latin for seizing. French simply let one verb carry both halves. So if voler feels arbitrary, remember it is the bird's action either way: the flight, and the snatch at the end of it.

In practice: at an airport vol always means flight. In a police report it always means theft. The context is never actually ambiguous.

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