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Making Small Talk in French
Making Small Talk in French
Small talk usually takes place at the beginning of a conversation with a stranger you
have just met, after introducing yourselves and finding out where each of you comes
from. Small talk allows you to remain vague, if you so desire, and exchange simple
questions and answers. Of course, it can lead to a more serious conversation, but small
talk generally deals with innocuous subjects such as the weather, family, or work. In
other words, it is a wonderful way to acquaint yourself with someone else and allows
you, as you are sitting in your airplane seat, for example, to decide whether you want to
pursuer the conversation with the stranger next to you or go back to the great book you
were reading.
There are several ways in French to designate small talk. One of them is: parler de
tout et de rein(pahr-lay duh too ay duh ryahN)(talk about everything and nothing).
Question words
In order to start a conversation in any language, you have to use some key question
words. Here are the basic French ones:
Qui? (kee) (Who?)
Qu'est-ce que? (kes-kuh) (What?)
Où? (oo) (Where?)
Quand? (kahN) (When?)
Pourquoi? (poor-kwa) (Why?)
Comment? (ko-mahN) (How?)
Combien? (kohN-byaN) (How much?)
Quel/Quelle? (m. and f.) (kehl) (Which?)
Common responses
Add the following statements your small talk vocabulary. These statements are the
basics of small talk and are indispensable when you are fairly new at a foreign
language:
Je ne comprends pas. (zhuhn kohN-prahN pah) (I don't understand.)
Je ne sais pas. (zhuhn seh pah) (I don't know.)
Pardon/Excusez-moi. (pahr-dohN/eks-kew-zay-mwa) (Excuse me.)
Je suis désolé/désolée. (zhuh sew-ee day-zoh-lay) (I am sorry.)
If you ever find yourself in a foreign country trying to get directions from one of the
locals who starts babbling at you with incredible speed, you can imagine how useful the
previous few sentences are.
After arriving in Paris from New York, Amanda Hull gets on her connecting flight to Nice.
She is very tired because of spending the night on the plane. She collapses in her seat
and gets ready to fall asleep. But minutes after, she is awakened by the following
words:
As you must have figured out, Amanda has taken the wrong seat. She apologizes
profusely and moves to her assigned seat, but is now quite awake. Why not then have a
conversation with this nice young man who seems eager to talk? After the usual
introductions, they continue chatting.
Amanda Hull: Je vais d'abord à Nice, puis à Toulon voir ma fille.(zhuh veh dah-
boh-rah nees pwee ah too-lohN vwar mah fee-y) I am going to Nice first, then to
Toulon to visit my daughter.
Amanda Hull: Oh oui, j'adore la France. (o wee zhah-dohr lah frahNs)Oh yes, I
love France.
Pay attention to two little words that you see over and over again in French. Both are
unpretentious but very important:
et (ay) (and) You must never link et with the next word (no elision). Here is an
example: Il est beau et intelligent (ee-leh bo ay aN-teh-lee-zhahN)(He is
handsome and intelligent.)
dans (dahN) (in) — used for time and space. Notice in these examples that dans
can have slightly different meanings depending on the context. Sorry, you can
seldom translate word for word from French to English or vice-versa!
• Dans un mois (dahN-zaN mwa) (In a month)
Words to Know