By the end of this lesson you'll be able to talk about the sports you play, the instruments you play, and how you like to spend your free time.
What do you do in your free time?
French has two main verbs for free-time activities: jouer (to play), a regular -er verb, and faire (to do). Each one comes with à or de, so you'll put the lesson on à and de with articles to work straight away.
The tricky part is that the preposition changes with the kind of activity.
Jouer à: games and ball sports
As a rough guide, games and ball sports take jouer à. Remember that à melts together with le and les.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| jouer | zhoo-AY | to play |
| jouer au foot | zhoo-ay oh FOOT | to play football |
| jouer au tennis | zhoo-ay oh teh-NEES | to play tennis |
| jouer au basket | zhoo-ay oh bahs-KET | to play basketball |
| jouer aux cartes | zhoo-ay oh KART | to play cards |
| jouer aux échecs | zhoo-ay oh-zay-SHEK | to play chess |
| jouer aux jeux vidéo | zhoo-ay oh zhuh vee-day-OH | to play video games |
Je joue au tennis le dimanche.
I play tennis on Sundays.
Ils jouent aux jeux vidéo le soir.
They play video games in the evening.
Le foot is the everyday word for football (soccer in American English). Le football américain is the other kind.
Jouer de: musical instruments
For musical instruments, use jouer de. English says "play the piano", and French literally says "play of the piano".
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| jouer du piano | zhoo-ay dew pyah-NOH | to play the piano |
| jouer du violon | zhoo-ay dew vyoh-LOHN | to play the violin |
| jouer de la guitare | zhoo-ay duh lah ghee-TAR | to play the guitar |
Lucas joue du violon.
Lucas plays the violin.
So the rule is: à for games, de for music.
Faire de: many other activities
Other sports and activities, the ones without a ball, generally take faire de. This is a rough guide rather than a law, so learn each phrase as you meet it.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| faire du vélo | fehr dew vay-LOH | to cycle |
| faire du ski | fehr dew SKEE | to ski |
| faire du yoga | fehr dew yoh-GAH | to do yoga |
| faire de la natation | fehr duh lah nah-tah-SYOHN | to swim (as a sport) |
| faire de la danse | fehr duh lah DAHNSS | to dance (as a hobby) |
| faire de la randonnée | fehr duh lah rahn-doh-NAY | to go hiking |
Nous faisons du yoga le matin.
We do yoga in the morning.
Elle fait de la randonnée.
She goes hiking.
English often uses a single verb for these ("to cycle", "to ski", "to swim"), but French likes to say "do some cycling". For now, just learn each phrase as a whole. The form of faire comes from the lesson on faire and aller.
Music, reading and going out
Some free-time activities don't need either verb.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| lire | leer | to readUse it after j'aime for now: j'aime lire. |
| la lecture | lah lek-TEWR | reading |
| écouter de la musique | ay-koo-tay duh lah mew-ZEEK | to listen to musicFixed phrase for now. |
| aller au cinéma | ah-lay oh see-nay-MAH | to go to the cinema |
| les loisirs | lay lwah-ZEER | free-time activities, leisure |
| la télévision / la télé | lah tay-lay-vee-ZYOHN / lah tay-LAY | television, TV |
Lire (to read) is an irregular verb, so for now, use it only as an infinitive after j'aime or j'adore.
Talking about what you like
All of this works together with what you learned in the lesson on likes and dislikes. Put jouer or faire in the infinitive straight after aimer, and keep the preposition.
J'aime jouer aux échecs.
I like playing chess.
Tu aimes faire du ski ?
Do you like skiing?
Je déteste faire de la natation.
I hate swimming.
You can also talk about a sport as a general thing, without a verb, and then it takes le or la: J'adore le tennis, Je déteste le ski.
Putting it together
Here's a short chat about free time. Look at how the verbs change with the activity.
- Tu fais du sport ? (Do you do any sport?)
- Oui, je joue au foot, et je fais du vélo. (Yes, I play football and I cycle.)
- Moi, je joue de la guitare, et j'aime lire. (Me, I play the guitar, and I like reading.)
What's next
Next, the lesson on yes/no questions will let you ask people about their hobbies. You'll bring it together in the review of this unit, and the lesson on du, de la and des explains more about the words used in faire du vélo.