108 Part II: French in Action

Words to Know

Getting Direction about Directions

Whenever and wherever you travel, you are bound to need directions at some point. Understanding a few basic expressions can enable you to get the general idea or direction of where to go. The following sections have the details. You can also find information that tells you what to do if you find yourself having difficulty catching everything you’re told.

Using direct commands to give directions

When someone directs you to a location, that person is giving you a command. In a command, it’s understood that you’re being addressed, but French has two ways to say you — the familiar tu (tew) and the polite vous (vooh).

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Chapter 7: Asking Directions and Finding Your Way 109

As discussed in Chapter 5, to form the command, you just omit the tu, nous (nooh) (we), or vous in front of the verb (just as you drop the you and we in English):

Va au centre. (vah oh sahN-truh.) (Go to the center.)

Allez tout droit. (ah-ley tooh drwah.) (Go straight ahead.)

Traversons le pont. (trah-vehr-sohN luh pohN.) (Let’s cross the bridge.)

For –er verbs only, drop the final –s from the tu form in all commands, as in these examples:

However, when you ask directions from people you don’t know or don’t know well, you’ll probably find that they address you with the polite vous. In such a case, remember that the ending of most verbs in the vous form is –ez. Here are some verbs in the vous form that will come in very handy:

Tournez. . . . (toohr-ney. . . .) (turn. . . .) as in Tournez à droite/à gauche/à la rue…. (toohr-ney ah drwaht/ah gohsh/ah lah rew. . . .) (Turn right/left/on. . . street.)

Prenez. . . . (pruh-ney. . . .) (take. . . .) as in Prenez la deuxième rue à droite/à gauche. (pruh-ney lah duh-zee-ehm rew ah drwaht/ah gohsh.) (Take the second street on the right/on the left.)

Montez. . . . (mohN-tey. . . .) (go up. . . .) as in Montez la rue. . . /le boulevard. . . /l’avenue. . . . (mohN-tey lah rew. . . /luh boohl-vahr. . ./ lahv-new. . . .) (Go up. . . street/. . . boulevard/. . . avenue.)

Descendez. . . . (dey-sahN-dey. . . .) (go down. . . .) as in Descendez la rue. . . ./le boulevard. . . ./l’avenue. . . . (dey-sahN-dey lah rew. . . ./ luh boohl-vahr. . . ./lahv-new. . ..) (Go down. . . street/. . . boulevard/. . .

avenue.)

Continuez à. . . . (kohN-tee-new-ey ah. . . .) (continue on. . . .) as in

Continuez à la rue. . . ./au boulevard. . . ./à l’avenue. . . . (kohN-tee- new-ey ah lah rew. . . ./oh boohl-vahr. . . ./ah lahv-new. . . .) (Continue on. . . street/. . . boulevard/. . . avenue.)

Allez tout droit. (ah-ley tooh drwah.) (Go straight.)

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110 Part II: French in Action

Traversez. . . . (trah-vehr-sey. . . .) (cross. . . .) as in Traversez la rue. . . ./ le boulevard. . . ./l’avenue. . . ./le pont. (trah-vehr-sey lah rew. . . ./luh boohl-vahr. . . ./lahv-new. . . ./luh pohN.) (Cross. . . street/. . .boulevard/. . .

avenue/the bridge.)

Softening commands with “il faut”

Commands tend to sound a bit bossy. So in French, you have a way out of this. You can use just one form for everybody — il faut (eel foh) (one has to). This impersonal form exists only in the il (eel) (it) form. When you use il faut in commands, the form il faut never changes. Simply put the infinitive of any verb after it, as these examples show. Whether the sentence is translated with I, you, or we depends on the context:

Il faut retourner à l’hôtel. (eel foh ruh-toohr-ney ah loh-tehl.) (I/you/ we have to go back to the hotel.)

Il faut aller au centre-ville. (eel foh-tah-ley oh sahNn-truh veel.) (I/you/ we have to go downtown.)

Il faut prendre un taxi. (eel foh prahN-druhN tah-ksee.) (I/you/we have to take a cab.)

For information on using il faut with indirect pronouns, refer to Chapter 16.

Expressing distances in time and space

As Chapter 3 explains, you can use the preposition à for time expressions such as à demain (ah duh-mahN) (see you tomorrow), à bientôt (ah byaNtoh) (see you soon), and even à la semaine prochaine (ah lah suh-mehn proh-shehn) (see you next week), but you can also use à for distance away from you, as in the following:

Àdeux minutes. (ah duh mee-newt.) (It takes only two minutes, It’s two minutes away.)

Àcent mètres. (ah sahN meh-truh.) (Only 100 meters farther, It’s in about 100 meters.)

C’est à cent mètres (d’ici). (seh-tah sahN meh-truh [dee-see].) (It’s 100 meters [from here].)

C’est à deux kilomètres. (seh-tah duh kee-loh-meh-truh.) (It’s 2 kilometers away, It’s 2 kilometers from here.)

Paris has 20 districts called arrondissements (ah-rohN-dees-mahN) (see Figure 7-1), numbered in a clockwise spiral pattern. The first district is in the heart of Paris and includes the Louvre. The higher the number, the farther

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Chapter 7: Asking Directions and Finding Your Way 111

from the center the district is; the smaller the number, the closer to the center it is. When you speak with people who live in Paris, you often hear them use ordinal numbers to indicate what section of the city a particular location is. For example, if someone says Dans quel arrondissement est le restaurant?

(dahN kehl ah-rohN-dees-mahN eh luh reh-stoh-rahN?) (In which district is the restaurant?), the response may be Il est dans le deuxième (eel eh dahN luh duh-zee-ehm) (It is in the second [district]).

If you’re going to give or follow directions, you need to know your ordinal numbers so that you know where to turn: at the first, second, or third street or traffic light, for example. Check out the ordinal numbers in Chapter 4.

Going north, south, east, and west

If you’re unfamiliar with a place, the directions that use local landmarks (which may only be known by the locals!) aren’t going to do you much good. And when the person giving you directions doesn’t know your exact location (if you’re asking for directions over the phone, for example), he or she can’t very well tell whether you need to turn right or left to get to your destination. In those cases, it’s easier to use cardinal points: north, south, east, and west. What’s an added bonus of using cardinal directions? It makes taking unplanned side trips — exploring the French countryside, for example — that much easier.

Figure 7-1:

Paris’s 20 districts, with some landmarks identified.

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112 Part II: French in Action

nord (nohr) (north), nord-est (nohr-ehst) (northeast), and nord-ouest (nohr-wehst) (northwest)

sud (sewd) (south), sud-est (sew-dehst) (southeast), and sud-ouest (sew-dwehst) (southwest)

est (ehst) (east)

ouest (wehst) (west)

When you ask for or give directions by using cardinal points, always place au (oh) (to the) in front of a cardinal point that begins with a consonant and à l’ (ahl) (to the) in front of a cardinal point that begins with a vowel. Here are some examples:

Paris est au nord de Nice. (pah-ree eh-toh nohr duh nees.) (Paris is north of Nice.)

La Suisse est à l’est de la France. (lah swees eh-tah lehst duh lah frahNs.) (Switzerland is east of France.)

Talkin’ the Talk

Julie asks her French friend Cécile about the location of the

Versailles castle. (Track 7)

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Chapter 7: Asking Directions and Finding Your Way 113

Julie: Très bonne idée! treh bohhn ee-dey!

That’s a very good idea!

Cécile: OK. Il faut se téléphoner avant samedi. oh-keh. eel foh suh tey-ley-fohh-ney ah-vahN sahm-dee.

Okay. We have to telephone each other before Saturday.

Julie: Très bien. Au revoir, Cécile. treh byaN. ohr-vwahr, sey-seel.

Great. Bye, Cécile.

Words to Know

Checking directions or your location

What if you get lost on your way to Versailles? Or maybe you just want to make sure that you’re on the right track, wherever you may be going. Here are some helpful questions that you can ask:

Est-ce que c’est la bonne route pour. . . ? (ehs-kuh seh lah bohhn rooht poohr. . . ?) (Is this the right way to. . . ?)

Où va cette rue? (ooh vah seht rew?) (Where does this street go?)

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114 Part II: French in Action

Comment s’appelle cette ville? (koh-mahN sah-pehl seht veel?) (What’s the name of this town?)

Pourriez-vous m’indiquer comment aller. . . ? (pooh-ree-ey-vooh maN- dee-key koh-mahN-tah-ley. . . ?) (Could you indicate. point out [to me] how to get to. . . ?)

What to do when you don’t understand

What do you do if you don’t understand the directions just because the person to whom you are speaking is talking too fast, mumbling, or has a pronounced accent? Well, don’t give up! Instead, say that you don’t understand and ask the person to repeat the information more slowly. That’s when the following phrases can help you:

Pardon. Je ne comprends pas. (pahr-dohN. zhuh nuh kohN-prahN pah.) (Pardon. I don’t understand.)

Excusez-moi! Est-ce que vous pouvez répéter, s’il vous plaît? (ehks- kew-zey-mwah! ehs-kuh vooh pooh-vey rey-pey-tey, seel vooh pleh?) (Excuse me. Can you repeat that, please?)

(Parlez) plus lentement. ([pahr-ley] plew lahNt-mahN.) ([Speak] more slowly.)

Qu’est-ce que vous avez dit? (kehs-kuh vooh-zah-vey dee?) (What did you say?)

Of course, it’s always handy to know how to say thank you, or thank you very much, which in French is merci (mehr-see) or merci beaucoup (mehr-see boh-kooh). In reply, you may hear De rien (duh ryaN) (It’s nothing) or Je vous en prie (zhuh vooh-zahN pree) (You are welcome).

Talkin’ the Talk

Vivianne is looking for Le Panthéon (luh pahN-tey-ohN) (the Pantheon). She asks un agent de police (uhN-nah-zhahN duh pohlees) (a police officer) for directions.

Vivianne: Excusez-moi, s’il vous plaît. Pour aller au Panthéon? ehks-kew-zey-mwah, seel vooh pleh. poohr ah-ley oh pahN-tey-ohN?

Excuse me, please. To get to the Pantheon?

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116 Part II: French in Action

Fun and Games

You need to explain to a friend how to go from point A to point B on the map following the arrows.

Using the vocabulary in this chapter, fill in the blanks.

(A) ________________ (Go down or Take) la Rue des Écoles. (B) ________________

(Turn right) au Boulevard Montparnasse. (C) ________________ (Take) le Boulevard Montparnasse à l’Avenue Beaubourg et (D)________________

(turn southwest). (E) ________________ (Turn right) à la Rue de La Salle et

(F) ________________ (Follow) la Rue de La Salle et votre destination est à droite (to your destination on the right).

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