Every month, this series of French blogs takes language learners through a key topic to improve conversation skills with useful words, phrases and structures. In this edition, we’re taking a new direction – it’s all about direction!
When you’re travelling around a French-speaking country, especially on holiday, you might need to ask a local how to get somewhere. But it’s also lovely to be able to give back by helping a French-speaker visiting your own hometown, so we’ll share words and phrases you can use in this this of conversation from both perspectives.
We’ll get things going with the most important conversation-starter for this topic. Quite simply, whether you’re asking the question or being stopped by someone else to ask, the question is most likely going to be ‘where is…?’
The French word you’ll need is very short and easy to say:
où where
For more information, we recommend checking out our French dictionary entry for où.
The next thing to think about is what you might be asking to find, and the directions for how to get there. We’ll continue with a list of nouns that you might want to slot into the question, ‘where is the…?’
Où est [+ definite article and noun] ? Where is the [noun]?
Où se trouve [+ definite article and noun] ? Where is the [noun]?
l’église (m) the church
l’hotel (m) the hotel [add name]
la gare (f) the train station
la gare (f) routière the bus station
l’aéroport (m) the airport
le musée (m) the museum/gallery
le centre-ville (m) the town/city centre
le supermarché (m) the supermarket
If you’re not sure about the specifics of where you’re trying to go, you might just want to ask where the nearest one is. In this case, you can add a few words after your noun in the same phrase:
le/la plus proche the nearest
Où est le métro le plus proche ? Where is the nearest underground station?
Où se trouve la pharmacie la plus proche ? Where is the nearest pharmacy?
Of course an important part of asking someone for directions is being polite. Especially if they’ve agreed to stop and help you! To help you along the way, it might be wise to check out our previous blog on common courtesies in French.
Within these types of interactions, where you might be asking for directions or telling someone where to go, there are more key questions to be aware of in case they come up:
Par où ? Which way?
Par où passer ? Which way do you go?
Comment y aller ? How do you get there?
Où allez-vous ? Where are you going? (plural or formal)
Quelle est l’adresse ? What’s the address?
As an aside, you might want to take a refresher by reading our French conversation blog on asking questions.
Now, to build your vocabulary, let’s delve into the most useful words that you’ll hear in responses to queries about directions and where to go:
rue (f) street (usually street names are inverted compared to English – for example if we say Church Street, it would be Rue de l’Église in French)
avenue (f) avenue
boulevard (m) boulevard
place (f) square
passage (f) alley; lane
coin (m) area; corner
traverser to cross (over the road; cross a square)
à gauche to the left
à droite to the right
tout-droite straight ahead
à côté de next to
devant in front of
faire demi-tour to do a u-turn
cent mètres a hundred metres
prochain next
premier first
dernier previous; last
tourner à to turn to
jusqu’à up to; as far as; until
arreter to stop
station (f) de taxi taxi rank
ligne (f) line (for metro or train for example)
arrêt (m) de busbus stop
Phew, we’ve certainly covered a lot of vocabulary. But with so many possible elements involved in directions and locations, we can now start putting it all together! Let’s imagine a scenario where you’re looking for directions for how to get to a certain gallery while visiting Lyon:
A : Excusez-moi, où se trouve le musée des Beaux-Arts, s’il vous plaît ?
A : Excuse me, please can you tell me where to find the Fine Art Gallery?
B: Oui, je peux vous aider. Vous savez où se trouve la Place de la République ?
B : Yes, I can help you. Do you know where Republic Square is?
A: Oui, je crois qu’elle est à gauche ?
A : Yes, I think it’s to the left?
B : Exactement. Bon, traversez la place et vous verrez la Rue Jean de Tournes. Allez tout-droite, tournez à droite, marchez un kilomètre et puis tournez à gauche.
B : Exactly. So, cross the square and you will see Jean de Tournes Street. Go straight ahead, turn right, walk a kilometre and then turn left.
A : D’accord, merci.
A : OK, thanks.
B : Ou vous pouvez prendre également le métro.
B : Or you could also take the metro.
A : Ah bon, quelle ligne ?
A : Oh really, which line?
B : C’est la ligne A, de Cordeliers jusqu’à Hôtel de Ville Louis Pradel.
B : Line A, from Cordeliers up to Hôtel de Ville Louis Pradel.
A : Merci beaucoup ! Ce n’est pas loin d’ici.
A : Thanks so much! That’s not far from here.
B : De rien.
B: No problem.
Language In Use
Here is a summary of the most useful words, phrases and structures covered in this blog.
Où est [+ definite article and noun] ?
Où se trouve [+ definite article and noun] ?
Par où ?
Comment y aller ?
à gauche
à droite
tout-droite
