Your first useful French conversation
A complete French sentence usually names a subject and a conjugated verb: je parle, vous travaillez. Je becomes j’ before a vowel sound in j’habite. Use vous with a person you do not know in a professional conversation. Tu is for a friend or someone with whom you use informal address. Learn short meaningful chunks and change one detail each time. A greeting alone does not communicate your purpose.
Example
Bonjour, je m’appelle Leïla. J’habite à Ottawa. Je cherche un cours de français. Est-ce que vous pouvez parler plus lentement ?
Hello, my name is Leïla. I live in Ottawa. I am looking for a French course. Can you speak more slowly? Each sentence does one job: introduce, locate, state a need, repair understanding.
Practice notes
Practise this exchange aloud with your own details. Then cover it and try again. If you forget a word, use a repair phrase: Comment dit-on … en français ? or Pouvez-vous répéter, s’il vous plaît ? Ask one question and listen to the answer. In the next session, change the situation from a class enquiry to a library enquiry.
Original lesson and examples by TEF Practice. Exam format checked September 11, 2026 against CCI preparation materials.