FlexiLingoIn one line
After any unit, only
defollows —un kilo de pommes— and France is metric apart from two everyday survivals.
Nouns
Weight and volume
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
le gramme | /ɡʁam/ | gram |
le kilogramme le kilo | /ki.lɔ.ɡʁam/ · /ki.lo/ | kilogram |
la tonne | /tɔn/ | tonne |
la livre | /livʁ/ | half a kilo — traditional |
le litre | /litʁ/ | litre |
le millilitre | /mi.li.litʁ/ | millilitre |
le poids | /pwa/ | weight |
le volume | /vɔ.lym/ | volume |
la livrein France is 500 grams, not an English pound. And masculinele livremeans "book" — only the article tells them apart.
Length and area
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
le millimètre | /mi.li.mɛtʁ/ | millimetre |
le centimètre | /sɑ̃.ti.mɛtʁ/ | centimetre |
le mètre | /mɛtʁ/ | metre |
le kilomètre | /ki.lɔ.mɛtʁ/ | kilometre |
le mètre carré | /mɛtʁ ka.ʁe/ | square metre |
l'hectare (m.) | /ɛk.taʁ/ | hectare |
la longueur | /lɔ̃.ɡœʁ/ | length |
la largeur | /laʁ.ʒœʁ/ | width |
la hauteur | /o.tœʁ/ | height |
la profondeur | /pʁɔ.fɔ̃.dœʁ/ | depth |
l'épaisseur (f.) | /e.pɛ.sœʁ/ | thickness |
la distance | /dis.tɑ̃s/ | distance |
la taille | /taj/ | size, height |
la surface | /syʁ.fas/ | area |
You are converting from imperial and French is not. Feet, inches, miles, pints and pounds simply do not appear. Learn three anchors and stop converting:
Anchor Roughly 1 m a long stride, just over 3 ft 1 kg a bag of sugar, about 2.2 lb 100 km/h motorway speed, about 62 mph And two survivals that will confuse you precisely because they sound familiar.
une livresounds like "a pound" and is 500 g, not 454 — used at market stalls:une livre de beurre.un pouceis an inch, kept only for screen sizes:un écran de 15 pouces.
Containers and portions
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
une bouteille de | /yn bu.tɛj də/ | a bottle of |
un verre de | /œ̃ vɛʁ də/ | a glass of |
une tasse de | /yn tas də/ | a cup of |
une boîte de | /yn bwat də/ | a tin / box of |
un paquet de | /œ̃ pa.kɛ də/ | a packet of |
un pot de | /œ̃ po də/ | a jar of |
un sachet de | /œ̃ sa.ʃɛ də/ | a sachet of |
une tranche de | /yn tʁɑ̃ʃ də/ | a slice of |
un morceau de | /œ̃ mɔʁ.so də/ | a piece of |
une cuillère de | /yn kɥi.jɛʁ də/ | a spoonful of |
une pincée de | /yn pɛ̃.se də/ | a pinch of |
une douzaine de | /yn du.zɛn də/ | a dozen |
une dizaine de | /yn di.zɛn də/ | about ten |
une centaine de | /yn sɑ̃.tɛn də/ | about a hundred |
un millier de | /œ̃ mi.lje də/ | about a thousand |
une dizaine,une centaine,un millierare approximate — "about ten", not "exactly ten". And they are everywhere in news writing.
Indefinite quantity
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
beaucoup de | /bo.ku də/ | a lot of |
un peu de | /œ̃ pø də/ | a little |
peu de | /pø də/ | few, little |
assez de | /a.se də/ | enough |
trop de | /tʁo də/ | too much, too many |
plusieurs | /ply.zjœʁ/ | several |
quelques | /kɛl.kə/ | a few |
la plupart de | /la ply.paʁ də/ | most of |
la moitié de | /la mwa.tje də/ | half of |
le double de | /lə dubl də/ | twice |
le tiers de | /lə tjɛʁ də/ | a third of |
environ | /ɑ̃.vi.ʁɔ̃/ | about |
à peu près | /a pø pʁɛ/ | roughly |
au moins | /o mwɛ̃/ | at least |
au maximum | /o mak.si.mɔm/ | at most |
Verbs
| Verb | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
mesurer | /mə.zy.ʁe/ | to measure, to be (a height) |
peser | /pə.ze/ | to weigh |
contenir | /kɔ̃t.niʁ/ | to hold, to contain |
compter | /kɔ̃.te/ | to count |
ajouter | /a.ʒu.te/ | to add |
enlever | /ɑ̃l.ve/ | to take away |
couper | /ku.pe/ | to cut |
partager | /paʁ.ta.ʒe/ | to divide |
remplir | /ʁɑ̃.pliʁ/ | to fill |
vider | /vi.de/ | to empty |
estimer | /ɛs.ti.me/ | to estimate |
Adjectives
| Masculine | Feminine | English |
|---|---|---|
lourd /luʁ/ | lourde /luʁd/ | heavy |
léger /le.ʒe/ | légère /le.ʒɛʁ/ | light |
plein /plɛ̃/ | pleine /plɛn/ | full |
vide /vid/ | vide /vid/ | empty |
épais /e.pɛ/ | épaisse /e.pɛs/ | thick |
fin /fɛ̃/ | fine /fin/ | thin |
entier /ɑ̃.tje/ | entière /ɑ̃.tjɛʁ/ | whole |
suffisant /sy.fi.zɑ̃/ | suffisante /sy.fi.zɑ̃t/ | sufficient |
insuffisant /ɛ̃.sy.fi.zɑ̃/ | insuffisante /ɛ̃.sy.fi.zɑ̃t/ | insufficient |
exact /ɛɡ.zakt/ | exacte /ɛɡ.zakt/ | exact |
approximatif /a.pʁok.si.ma.tif/ | approximative /a.pʁok.si.ma.tiv/ | approximate |
Set phrases
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
Ça pèse combien ? | /sa pɛz kɔ̃.bjɛ̃/ | how much does it weigh? |
Ça mesure combien ? | /sa mə.zyʁ kɔ̃.bjɛ̃/ | how big is it? |
Je fais un mètre soixante-quinze. | /ʒə fɛz œ̃ mɛtʁ swa.sɑ̃t.kɛ̃z/ | I'm 1m75 |
Ça fait deux kilos. | /sa fɛ dø ki.lo/ | that comes to two kilos |
un demi-litre | /œ̃ də.mi.litʁ/ | half a litre |
un kilo et demi | /œ̃ ki.lo e də.mi/ | a kilo and a half |
une centaine de personnes | /yn sɑ̃.tɛn də pɛʁ.sɔn/ | about a hundred people |
à peu près dix minutes | /a pø pʁɛ di mi.nyt/ | roughly ten minutes |
au moins trois fois | /o mwɛ̃ tʁwa fwa/ | at least three times |
deux fois plus | /dø fwa ply/ | twice as much |
Traps
| Trap | Explanation |
|---|---|
After a unit, only de | un kilo de pommes, not des pommes. See quantites. |
la livre ≠ le livre | Feminine, half a kilo; masculine, a book. |
Height uses faire | Je fais 1m75 — not Je suis. |
Weight uses peser | Je pèse 70 kilos or Je fais 70 kilos. |
demi before a noun never agrees | une demi-heure — hyphenated, no e. |
et demi after a noun does agree | une heure et demie, because heure is feminine. See heure. |
| Metric, with two survivals | Feet and miles are not used. But une livre (500 g) is alive at market stalls — une livre de beurre — and un pouce (inch) for screens: un écran de 15 pouces. |
Body and clothing sizes
three different systems you need when shopping
Height and weight take faire:
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
Je fais 1m75. | /ʒə fɛ œ̃ mɛtʁ swa.sɑ̃t.kɛ̃z/ | I'm 1m75 |
Je fais 70 kilos. | /ʒə fɛ swa.sɑ̃t.dis ki.lo/ | I weigh 70 kilos |
Je mesure 1m75. | /ʒə mə.zyʁ œ̃ mɛtʁ swa.sɑ̃t.kɛ̃z/ | the same — more formal |
English uses "to be" for both — "I'm five ten", "I'm 70 kilos" — and that is exactly what does not work. Je suis 1m75 is wrong. French uses faire for a measurement, and avoir for age. Three different verbs where English uses one:
| French | Pronunciation | |
|---|---|---|
| I'm 30 | J'ai 30 ans. | /ʒe tʁɑ̃.t‿ɑ̃/ |
| I'm 1m75 | Je fais 1m75. | /ʒə fɛ œ̃ mɛtʁ swa.sɑ̃t.kɛ̃z/ |
| I'm tired | Je suis fatigué. | /ʒə sɥi fa.ti.ɡe/ |
And 1m75 is read un mètre soixante-quinze.
Clothing size also takes faire plus a number:
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
Je fais du 40. | /ʒə fɛ dy ka.ʁɑ̃t/ | I'm a size 40 |
Quelle taille faites-vous ? | /kɛl taj fɛt.vu/ | what size are you? |
Quelle pointure ? | /kɛl pwɛ̃.tyʁ/ | what shoe size? |
And French sizes differ from Canadian ones:
| Type | France | Canada |
|---|---|---|
| women's clothing | 36–46 | 4–14 |
| shoes | 35–46 | 5–12 |
| men's shirts | collar in centimetres | collar in inches |
So do not state a number — show it, or ask:
Vous l'avez en plus grand ?— do you have it in a bigger size?Je peux essayer ?— can I try it on?
Those two sentences replace knowing the size system at all.