By the end of this lesson you'll be able to write a short interview about free time: asking someone about their hobbies and answering the same questions yourself.
What you've learned
This unit has been about free time. Skim the list and go back to anything that feels shaky.
- Use two key verbs. You know every form from the lesson on faire and aller.
- Join à and de to articles. You know au, aux, du and des from the lesson on à and de with articles.
- Talk about hobbies. You know jouer à, jouer de and faire de from the lesson on hobbies and sports.
- Ask yes/no questions. You know three styles and when to say si, from the lesson on yes/no questions.
- Ask for information. You know où, quand, pourquoi and the rest, from the lesson on question words.
- Talk about the weather. You know il fait, il pleut and the seasons, from the lesson on weather and seasons.
A few words to hold it together
Most of these are familiar. Quand now has a second job: it can join two ideas in one sentence, without asking anything.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| le week-end | luh wee-KEND | the weekend, at weekends |
| souvent | soo-VAHN | often |
| quand | kahn | when (joining two ideas)Quand il pleut, … (When it rains, …) |
| aussi | oh-SEE | also, too |
| mais | meh | but |
| la pluie | lah PLWEE | the rain |
A model interview
Imagine Salma is interviewing Théo for a class newsletter. They've just met, so they use vous. Here's the interview, exchange by exchange.
Qu'est-ce que vous faites le week-end ? — Je joue au foot et je fais de la randonnée.
What do you do at weekends? — I play football and I go hiking.
Où est-ce que vous jouez ? — Au parc, quand il fait beau.
Where do you play? — In the park, when the weather's nice.
Et quand il pleut ? — Je vais au cinéma.
And when it rains? — I go to the cinema.
Pourquoi ? — Parce que je déteste la pluie !
Why? — Because I hate the rain!
Faites-vous du ski ? — Oui, souvent, en hiver.
Do you ski? — Yes, often, in winter.
Vous ne jouez pas de la guitare ? — Si, et je joue aussi du piano.
Don't you play the guitar? — Yes, I do, and I play the piano too.
Look at the variety here. There's qu'est-ce que, où est-ce que, a one-word pourquoi, an inverted faites-vous, and a si. The answers don't have to be long. In a real conversation, short answers are natural: Au parc, Oui, souvent.
Your turn
Write your own interview on paper or in a notes app. It can be with a friend, a family member, or a famous person you invent answers for. Decide first if you're using tu or vous, and stay with it. Aim for six questions and answers, and include:
- one yes/no question with intonation
- one yes/no question with est-ce que
- a question with où or quand
- a pourquoi question, answered with parce que
- a question with quel or quelle and a noun
- something about what happens when the weather is good or bad
Then answer your own questions, about yourself.
Check your work
Go through your interview once for each question below.
- Does each sport or instrument have the right au, du or de la?
- Do you have où with its accent when you mean "where"?
- Does quel match its noun?
- Did you keep tu or vous the same all the way through?
What's next
The next unit is about food and shopping, and it starts with the lesson on food and drink. Soon after that, the lesson on du, de la and des looks again at some of the small words you've used in this unit, and the lesson on ordering at a café puts your polite questions to use.