Greetings, polite phrases, numbers 1–20
Almost everything this week is a fixed chunk. Greetings are learned whole, not taken apart.
Colours live this week
4 of 10 in playA thing, a person or a place.
An action or a state — what is happening.
Stands in for a noun — I, you, he, it.
Learn it whole. Do not take it apart.
Articles and prepositions arrive in Week 2. Numbers stay plain all week.
Greetings and courtesy
Three to five new items a day — around 25 across the week. Most are grey chunks: say them as single units.
- [Bonjour]Hello / Good day[Bonjour !]
Use before about 6pm.
- [Bonsoir]Good evening[Bonsoir !]
After about 6pm.
- [Au revoir]Goodbye[Au revoir !]
- [S'il vous plaît]Please (formal)Un café, [s'il vous plaît].A coffee, please.
say: si voo plèt
- [Merci beaucoup]Thank you very much[Merci beaucoup !]
Merci on its own is plenty most of the time.
- [De rien]You're welcome[De rien.]
say: deu ryan
- [Oui]Yes[Oui, merci.]
- [Non]No[Non, merci.]
- [Pardon]Excuse me / sorry[Pardon, madame.]
- [Madame]Mrs / madam[Bonjour, madame.]
The safe default for any adult woman.
- [Monsieur]Mr / sir[Bonjour, monsieur.]
- [Mademoiselle]Miss
For young or unmarried women. Madame is safer if you are unsure.
- [Comment ?]What? / Pardon?[Comment ?]
Asks someone to repeat. Treated as a whole chunk this week.
- [Ça va ?]How are you?— [Ça va ?] — [Ça va, merci.]
Casual and universal. Works as question and answer.
- [Ça va.]I'm fine.[Ça va, merci.]
- [Et vous ?]And you? (formal)[Ça va, et vous ?]
Numbers 1–20
Numbers stay plain — no colour. 17 to 19 are simply ten-seven, ten-eight, ten-nine, which makes them a good chunking exercise.
Sentence frames
Here is where blue and green appear for the first time: je is a pronoun, m'appelle is a verb.
- 1
[Bonjour,] je m'appelle name.
Hello, my name is ___.
- 2
Un café, [s'il vous plaît].
A coffee, please.
Swap the noun for anything you want to order.
- 3
— [Ça va ?] — [Ça va, et vous ?]
— How are you? — Fine, and you?
Daily mini-tasks
Listening this week
Coffee Break French, Episode 1
YouTube or Spotify
Scottish accent, slow and clear. Episode 1 covers greetings and ça va. Play at 0.75× and shadow the speaker.