Page 429 - Lonely Planet France’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

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Language

The sounds used in spoken French can almost all be found in English. There are a couple of
exceptions: nasal vowels (represented in our pronunciation guides by o or u followed by an
almost inaudible nasal consonant sound m, n or ng), the ‘funny’ u (ew in our guides) and the
deep-in-the-throat r. Bearing these few points in mind and reading our pronunciation guides
below as if they were English, you’ll be understood just fine.

Where’s …?
BASICS Où est …? oo ay …
Hello. Bonjour. bon·zhoor
Goodbye. Au revoir. o·rer·vwa EATING & DRINKING
Yes./No. Oui./Non. wee/non
Excuse me. Excusez-moi. ek·skew·zay·mwa What would you recommend?
Sorry. Pardon. par·don Qu’est-ce que vous kes·ker voo
conseillez?
kon·say·yay
Please. S’il vous plaît. seel voo play I’d like …, please.
Thank you. Merci. mair·see Je voudrais …, zher voo·dray …
s’il vous plaît. seel voo play
You’re welcome. I’m a vegetarian.
De rien. der ree·en Je suis végétarien/ zher swee vay·zhay·ta·ryun/
vay·zhay·ta·ryen (m/f)
végétarienne.
Do you speak English?
Parlez-vous anglais? par·lay·voo ong·glay Please bring the bill.
Apportez-moi
a·por·tay·mwa
I don’t understand. l’addition, la·dee·syon
Je ne comprends pas. zher ner kom·pron pa s’il vous plaît. seel voo play
How much is this?
C’est combien? say kom·byun
EMERGENCIES
ACCOMMODATION Help! o skoor
Au secours!
Do you have any rooms available? I’m lost.
Est-ce que vous avez es·ker voo za·vay Je suis perdu/perdue. zhe swee·pair·dew (m/f)
des chambres libres? day shom·brer lee·brer
How much is it per night/person?
Quel est le prix kel ay ler pree Want More?
par nuit/personne? par nwee/per·son
For in-depth language information
and handy phrases, check out Lonely
DIRECTIONS Planet’s French Phrasebook. You’ll
Can you show me (on the map)? find it at shop.lonelyplanet.com, or
Pouvez-vous m’indiquer poo·vay·voo mun·dee·kay you can buy Lonely Planet’s iPhone
(sur la carte)? (sewr la kart) phrasebooks at the Apple App Store.

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