Welcome back to our monthly blog, your opportunity to learn some useful words, phrases and examples to help you make conversation in French. But aside from reading our French blogs, what else do you like doing? Whether it’s dancing, writing, singing or gaming in your spare time, this blog all about discussing your hobbies and interests.
We’ll cover the most common ways in which you can express these ideas in French. And if you fancy trying something new, we’ll also share some examples of activities you might want to ask about in French while on holiday. Are you interested? Let’s begin!
We can start by looking at the verbs you might need to navigate this topic. We’ll look at the infinitives, but you’ll need to conjugate these verbs to get chatting about the things that interest you:
- aimer to like
- adorer to love
- préférer to prefer
- faire to do
- s’intéresser (à) to be interested (in)
- apprendre to learn
- pratiquer to practise
- vouloir to want
- essayer; tenter to try
- plaire to please
We have lots of Easy Learning French Grammar pages about verbs and how to conjugate them. You could start with our pages on using the present tense.
Now we’ll need a few nouns to help us build sentences and tell people about our passions:
- temps (m) libre free time
- musique (f) music
- danse (f) dance
- film (m); cinéma (f) film; cinema
- littérature (m) literature
- histoire (m) history
- jeux (mpl) vidéo video games; gaming
- art (m) art
- architecture (f) architecture
- photographie (f) photography
- nature (f) nature; the outdoors
- BD (f) comic books
- mode (f) fashion
- randonnée (f) hiking; walking
- foot (m) football
- basket (m) basketball
- skate (m) skateboarding
- ski (m) skiing
Of course, this list is completely and utterly unlimited! But all you need to do is look up the noun or indeed the verb of the thing you love doing. Just use our English to French dictionary on the Collins website.
Then you can slot your favourite thing into one of the following structures (or replace any of the verbs we listed earlier) to tell people what you like:
- Je m’intéresse à la mode. I’m interested in fashion.
- J’adore la photographie. I love photography.
- Je suis passionnée de foot. I am passionate about football.
- Nous sommes passionnés de la musique brésilienne. We are passionate about Brazilian music.
- On apprend comment tricoter. We are learning how to knit.
- Ça fait longtemps que … ? How long have you been …?
- Ça fait longtemps que tu chantes dans une chorale ? How long have you been singing in a choir?
- Ça fait longtemps que tu t’intéresses à l’histoire français ? How long have you been interested in French history?
- Ça fait dix ans que je fais du skate. I’ve been skateboarding for ten years.
- J’aimerais essayer la peinture cette année. I would like to try painting this year.
- « Est-ce que vous aimez voir cette exposition ? » « Oui, l’art moderne me plaît. » “Do you want to see this exhibition?” “Yes, I love modern art.”
If you’re really keen on a certain hobby or interest, you might want to use adverbs to help you express this.
One of the most common adverbs you could use to show some enthusiasm is bien. Its translation generally means ‘really’ or ‘very much’ in English.
- J’aime la musique rock. I like rock music.
- J’aime bien la musique rock. I really like rock music.
Some other options include:
- très very
- beaucoup a lot
- vraiment really; truly
- trop too (much)
If you want to read more about what adverbs do, head over to our Easy Learning French Grammar section on adverbs.
As you chat back and forth about your interests, you’ll probably find the need to know how to form and answer questions. You can check out our French conversation blog on asking questions, but we’ll also summarise the main points within the context of hobbies.
To ask the question ‘do you like skiing?’, you can:
- Use the structure ‘est-ce que…’ meaning ‘is it that…?’
- Est-ce que tu aimes faire du ski ?
- Est-ce que tu aimes faire du ski ?
- Invert the verb and the subject.
- Aimes-tu faire du ski ?
- Aimes-tu faire du ski ?
- Use ‘upwards’ question intonation on a statement when speaking aloud.
- Tu aimes faire du ski ?
We know that a lot of our readers practise French in order to make the most of a holiday to a France.
As part of hobbies and interests, the next section covers terms and phrases you might want to try out to say what you’d like to do or see on your travels. Some of the activities are for thrill-seekers, while others might be more suited to casual holidaygoers:
- je voudrais or j’aimerais + verb I’d like to [verb]
- Je voudrais prendre des photos au zoo. I’d like totake some photos at the zoo.
- J’aimerais vraiment voir la grotte de Lascaux. I’d really like to see the Lascaux cave paintings.
- J’adore les montagnes russes ! Il y en a ? I love roller coasters! Are there any here?
- On voudrait visiter la cathédrale. We’d like to visit to the cathedral.
- Elle aimerait bien voir le Mont Saint-Michel. She’d really like to see Mont Saint-Michel.
- Ça me plairait vraiment d’essayer faire la planche à voile. I’d love totry windsurfing.
- Je préférerais visiter le château de Versailles. I’d prefer to visit the Palace of Versailles.
- On s’intéresse à monter en téléphérique. We’re interested in taking the cablecar.
If you’re into art and history in particular, you might be planning to go to a French museum or art gallery. But on a Monday or Tuesday, check if it will be open first – many are closed on these days across France.
Language In Use
Here is a summary of the most useful words, phrases and structures covered in this blog.
Je m’intéresse à …
J’adore…
Je fais du / de la…
J’aime (beaucoup/bien) …
Je voudrais essayer…
J’aimerais bien…
Je suis passionné(e) de…
Ça fait longtemps que… ?
Written by Holly Tarbet, freelance copywriter and editor.
All opinions expressed on this blog are those of the individual writers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Collins, or its parent company, HarperCollins.
