French phrases you NEED to know when visiting France

Salut :)

When I went to France this year, my french was really not that great, I had no confidence in saying much to anyone due to me not practicing before I went! I would suggest that you practice your spoken french before you go, and learn the basics! So, I have composed a list below of some of the basic phrases you will need if you visit France.

To get you going you can say the two greeting below.

Bonjour - Good morning and hello - Literally Good day

Bonsoir - Good evening

They may then start to have a conversation with you (happened to me) and instead of staring blank at them (also like I did) you can say the below

Je ne comprends pas - I don’t understand.

You could also ask them if they speak English but I would go for this option last

Est-ce que vous parlez anglais? - Do you speak English?

or

Parlez-vous anglais? Do you speak English?

A lot of french people do in fact speak excellent English, but I always think it's better to at least try and speak french. You wouldn't expect french people to come here and expect you to speak french at them, so it's courtesy to do the same in my opinion! :)

 So, after saying your first greeting, you can combine it with asking them how they are.

Comment ça va? or just  ça va? - How are you?

Followed by

ça va bien, merci, or simply bien merci. - I'm fine, thanks

Other phrases you may need to get by:

Je suis désolé - I am sorry

I remember having to use this at the supermarket at the self-checkout, when I had placed the bag in the wrong place which really angered the staff member working in that area. I had no idea what she said but after saying "je suis désolé" she did seem to calm down a little! So this is useful to say even if you don't understand fully, just to be polite.

To finish off, when you are leaving you can use the below:

Au revoir - Good bye

Bonne nuit - Good night

Bonne journee - Have a good day

The best way to learn french, is to keep practicing. I usually go over in my head what I'm going to say first. They definitely appreciate it more, plus why wouldn't you want to have a go??

I hope this helps!

Have you had any experiences learning a foreign language or visiting a country? What helped you the most?

Our french snacks from a supermarket (supermarché) for our long drive home. These phrases surely came in use then!

À tous!