Clothing in French: Conversations for Beginners

Learn French to shop at a department store. Learn French to shop at a department store.

Clothing in French: Conversations for Beginners

Welcome to Everyday French Conversations for Beginners Week 4 Episode 1. We’ll learn about French clothing and department stores.

Let’s talk about shopping in a smaller city in France. There are some shopping centers, but you can find small independent ones, too. Tonight, we’ll talk about how to shop at a big department store where you can buy cosmetics, things for your home, furniture, clothing, a huge range of items and brands. We’ll run a scenario with a salesperson and an American shopping.

(03:20) Dialogue shopping at the department store.

(04:00) Breaking down that dialogue: Hello, ma’am. I’m looking for a sweater. “Oh yes, ma’am. What size do you take?” It’s not for me. A 42, I think. “Very good. Which color?” I don’t know. Let’s see. A blue, perhaps. Yes, a light blue, like this one here. “Oh yes, it’s very pretty.” How much does it cost? “Fifty euros.” It’s a little bit too expensive. “All right, go to the next rack.” Oh good. I thank you, ma’am.

(06:08) Let’s review words and phrases people might need to know to go shopping in France to buy clothes. How much is it? Cash. Credit card.

(07:45) Discussion about clothing sizes, British vs. U.S. sizes. You can get up to size 44 before needing to go to a plus size shop. There big sales during the year in July, after Christmas, and in February. More discussions about obscure stores as well as well-known ones.

(09:45) Reviewing names of common items of clothing. Sweater. T-shirt (said the same). Shirt. Hat. Jacket. Dress. Suit. Bathing suit. Pants/trousers. Belt. Shoes. Socks. A tie. Jeans. Underwear. Bra. Skirt.

(11:45) The big words and phrases we discussed this episode: I’m looking for… Sweater. A size. Do you need…? In what color? Light blue. As, or like. This one. Pretty. Two. Department/rack/section. They have. To have. On sale. I thank you.

We hope you picked up some language on how to go shopping in France. For more resources on learning and teaching languages, to get on our mailing list or get the workbook for this course, be sure to visit reallifelanguage.com/reallifelanguageblog. Also, if you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe and leave a rating.

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