Talking about where you live in French
Tu habites dans un appartement, ou dans une maison?
Do you live in a house or in a flat?
Moi? J'habite dans une maison - Me? I live in a house.
And if you want to describe your home then the adjectives you use must agree with the nouns.
For masculine nouns this means the adjectives stay the same.
Mon appartement est petit - My flat is small.
For feminine nouns like la maison the adjective you use needs to add an -e on the end.
Ma maison est petite - My house is small.
Il y a is a really useful phrase - it means there is or there are.
Dans ma ville il y a un café - In my town there is a cafe.
Il y a un collège dans ma ville - There is a school in my town.
C’est ma ville! - That’s my town!
Talking about types of houses and their location
To ask someone where they live, you can use the following question:
- Tu habites où? - Where do you live?
To say where you or other people live, use the correct form of habiter (to live) followed by the type of house/flat. You can also give details about the location of your house/flat. For example:
- J’habite dans une maison jumelée dans une ville - I live in a semi-detached house in a town.
- Tu habites dans un appartement dans la banlieue - You live in a flat in the suburbs.
- Elle habite dans une maison à la campagne - She lives in a house in the countryside.
To build more sentences to describe where you live, click on the downloadable vocabulary list below:
You can describe your house using adjectives such as grand(e) (big), petit(e) (small), moderne (modern), vieux/vieille (old). Most adjectives need to go after the noun in French, but some adjectives go before the noun. These are often called the BAGS adjectives. BAGS stands for Beauty, Age, Goodness and Size, and examples of these adjectives are:
| Beauty | Age | Goodness | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| beau / belle (beautiful) | vieux / vieille (old) | bon / bonne (good) | grand(e) (big) |
| joli(e) (pretty) | nouveau / nouvelle (new) | mauvais(e) (bad) | petit(e) (small) |
Where I live - places in the town
To ask someone what there is in their town, you can say:
- Qu’est-ce qu’il y a dans ta ville? - What is there in your town?
To reply, you can say dans ma ville, il y a (in my town, there is/there are) or il n’y a pas de (there is no) and then say what there is (or isn’t) in your town. For example:
- Dans ma ville il y a un centre commercial - In my town there is a shopping centre.
- Dans mon village il n’y a pas de centre sportif - In my village there isn't a sports centre.
- Dans la ville la plus proche, il y a un supermarché - In the nearest town there is a supermarket.
For more examples on what there is to do where you live, go to the downloadable useful vocabulary list above.
My local area - what can you do?
To ask someone what they can do in their town, you can say:
- Qu’est-ce qu’on peut faire dans ta ville? - What can you do in your town?
To answer and talk about what you can do in a town, you can use on peut (you can), followed by an infinitive such as aller (to go), regarder (to watch) or jouer (to play).
- Dans ma ville, on peut aller au parc - In my town, you can go to the park.
- On peut faire les courses au supermarché - You can do the shopping at the supermarket.
- On peut regarder un film au cinéma - You can watch a film at the cinema.
- On peut manger au restaurant - You can eat in a restaurant.
Activities in the town in the past
To talk about what you did in your town in the past, use the passé composé(perfect tense). This is formed by using the subject, such as je (I), the correct form of avoir (to have) or être (to be) and a past participle.
You can also use time phrases. Here are some useful past time phrases:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| hier | yesterday |
| hier soir | yesterday evening / last night |
| le week-end dernier | last weekend |
| lundi dernier | last Monday |
| la semaine dernière | last week |
| le mois dernier | last month |
| l’année dernière | last year |
For example:
- Vendredi dernier, je suis allé(e) à la mosquée - Last Friday, I went to the mosque.
- Hier, mon frère a fait du shopping au centre commercial - Yesterday, my brother went shopping in the shopping centre.
- La semaine dernière, ma tante a regardé un match de foot au stade - Last week, my aunt watched a football match at the stadium.
Activities in the town in the future
To talk about what you are going to do in your town in the future, you need to use the correct form of aller (to go) and an infinitive.
You can also use time phrases. Here are some useful future time phrases:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| demain | tomorrow |
| le week-end prochain | next weekend |
| lundi prochain | next Monday |
| la semaine prochaine | next week |
| le mois prochain | next month |
| l’année prochaine | next year |
For example:
- Demain, je vais jouer au tennis au centre sportif - Tomorrow, I’m going to play tennis at the sports centre.
- Le week-end prochain, je vais visiter la cathédrale - Next weekend, I’m going to visit the cathedral.
- La semaine prochaine, je vais manger dans un restaurant - Next week, I’m going to eat in a restaurant.
Quiz
Read the following passage about where Léa lives and answer the questions in this short quiz.
J’habite dans une petite maison dans le centre-ville. Dans ma ville, il y a beaucoup de magasins et un musée. On peut aussi aller au parc et on peut manger au restaurant. Hier, j’ai fait des courses au supermarché et demain, je vais aller à la piscine.
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