By the end of this lesson you'll be able to ask someone about their weekend, tell them about yours, and keep the conversation going with a question in return.
The Monday question
On a Monday morning, colleagues and friends in France ask the same thing as they do everywhere: how was your weekend? This lesson brings together the passé composé with être and the time expressions for the past, and gives you the phrases that make it sound like a real chat.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| Tu as passé un bon week-end ? | tew ah pah-SAY uhn bohn wee-KEND | Did you have a good weekend? |
| Qu'est-ce que tu as fait ? | kess-kuh tew ah FEH | What did you do? |
| Tu es sorti / sortie ? | tew eh sor-TEE | Did you go out? (to a man / a woman) |
| Et toi ? | ay TWAH | And you? |
Qu'est-ce que tu as fait ? uses the participle fait, from the lesson on irregular past participles. With someone you call vous, it's Vous avez passé un bon week-end ?
Answering
A real answer has two parts: a quick reaction, then a detail or two.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| Oui, super ! | wee sew-PEHR | Yes, great! |
| C'était bien. | say-TEH BYAN | It was good.Fixed phrase for now. |
| C'était nul. | say-teh NEWL | It was rubbish.Fixed phrase for now. |
| Rien de spécial. | ryan duh spay-SYAHL | Nothing special. |
| Je suis resté / restée à la maison. | zhuh swee res-TAY ah lah meh-ZOHN | I stayed at home. (man / woman) |
| J'ai fait la grasse matinée. | zhay feh lah grahss mah-tee-NAY | I had a lie-in. |
C'était means "it was". It belongs to a tense you'll learn later, so for now, keep it as a fixed phrase.
Oui, super ! Samedi, j'ai joué au foot avec des amis.
Yes, great! On Saturday, I played football with some friends.
Bof, rien de spécial. J'ai fait les courses.
Meh, nothing special. I did the shopping.
C'était bien. Dimanche, je suis allée au marché.
It was good. On Sunday, I went to the market. (said by a woman)
Je suis restée à la maison et j'ai lu.
I stayed at home and read. (said by a woman)
Note the mix: j'ai joué with avoir, je suis allée with être. Think about each verb on its own, because a single sentence can have both.
Using on
In everyday conversation, French speakers say on much more often than nous. When on means "we" and the verb takes être, the participle usually agrees as it would with nous: on est allés for a group of men or a mixed group, and on est allées for a group of women.
On est partis samedi matin.
We left on Saturday morning.
With avoir, nothing changes: On a mangé au restaurant (We ate at a restaurant).
Avoir or être with passer
Passer is the verb you'll hear in the Monday question, and it can go either way.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| passer | pah-SAY | to spend (time); to drop by |
| chez | shay | at the home ofFixed in this phrase for now: chez Léa. |
| voir | vwahr | to seealler voir quelqu'un: to go and see someone |
With a direct object, such as a length of time or a weekend, it takes avoir: J'ai passé un bon week-end (I had a good weekend).
When it means "to drop by", there's no direct object, and it takes être. Chez (at someone's home) is a fixed part of this phrase for now.
Je suis passé chez Léa.
I dropped by Léa's.
En français
- Salut, Karim ! Tu as passé un bon week-end ? (Hi, Karim! Did you have a good weekend?)
- Oui, super ! On est allés à Annecy, et on a fait du vélo. Et toi ? (Yes, great! We went to Annecy and we cycled. And you?)
- Rien de spécial. J'ai fait la grasse matinée samedi, et je suis restée à la maison. (Nothing special. I had a lie-in on Saturday, and I stayed at home.)
- Tu n'es pas sortie ? (You didn't go out?)
- Si ! Dimanche, je suis passée chez Léa. (Yes I did! On Sunday, I dropped by Léa's.)
Notice the si: it answers a negative question, as you learned in the lesson on yes/no questions. Notice too how the second speaker asks Et toi ? A good answer always hands the conversation back.
What's next
Next, the review of this unit brings everything together, as you write about a weekend and a holiday. If your weekend was quiet, you can also say so with the lesson on other negative expressions.