French Phrases: Vacations/holidays
Places you go on holiday
OK, this is a personal matter, but here are some places you
might go on holiday:
| en vacances | - | on holiday, on vacation | | je suis allé... | - | I went... | | on est allé... | - | we went... | | je vais aller... | - | I'm going to be going... | | j'ai passé mes vacances... | - | I spent my vacation/holidays... | | à la plage | - | to the beach | | au bord de la mer | - | to/at the seaside | | en France | - | to/in France | | en Espagne | - | to/in Spain | | au Canada | - | to/in Canada | | à Paris | - | to/in Paris | | dans les Alpes | - | to/in the Alps | | au Mexique | - | to/in Mexico | | à Cancun | - | to/in Cancun | | j'ai fait du camping | - | I went camping | | on a fait du caravaning | - | we went caravanning | | je suis allé faire du ski | - | I went skiing |
 Suggest a change / proposez une modificationGetting there...
Here are some expressions for mentioning the mode of transport:
| j'ai pris... | - | I took... | | on a pris... | - | we took... | | ...l'autocar | - | ...the coach | | ...l'avion | - | ...the plane | | ...le bâteau | - | ...the ferry | | ...l'Eurostar | - | ...the Eurostar | | ...le train | - | ...the train | | ...la voiture | - | ...the car | | j'y suis allé... | - | I went (there)... | | je suis allé à Paris... | - | I went to Paris... | | ...en autocar | - | ...by coach | | ...en avion | - | ...by plane | | ...en Eurostar | - | ...by Eurostar | | ...en train | - | ...by train | | ...en voiture | - | ...by car | | on a fait 10 heures de route | - | we drove for 10 hours | | on a pris l'autoroute | - | we went on the motorway/freeway | | (on s'est retrouvé) bloqués sur l'autoroute | - | (we ended up) stuck on the motorway |
Suggest a change / proposez une modificationNote that you generally never use aller "on its own": you must always
either mention a place, or else insert the word y.
So to say "we went by car", you would say on y est allé en voiture,
because you're not mentioning the specific place (or you can say on a pris la voiture).
Things to do on holiday
Here are how to say some common holiday activities in French:
| se baigner | - | to go bathing | | se bronzer | - | to sunbathe | | nager | - | to swim | | lire des romans sur la plage | - | to read on the beach | | se détendre | - | to relax | | faire du ski | - | to ski, go skiing | | faire du surf | - | to go surfing | | faire le tour de... | - | have a look round... | | faire une excursion | - | to go on an excursion | | visiter les musées | - | to see the museums |
Suggest a change / proposez une modificationThings that go wrong
Here's how to explain some of the things that tend to go wrong with
my holidays. Surely these have never happened to you:
| on est tombés en panne | - | we broke down | | on est arrivés en retard | - | we got there late | | le train/l'avion est arrivé en retard | - | the train/plane arrived late | | on a perdu le train/l'avion | - | we missed the train/plane | | l'avion est parti en retard | - | the plane was late leaving | | l'avion était surbooké | - | the plane was overbooked | | j'ai oublié mon passeport | - | I forgot my passport | | on a oublié les billets d'avion | - | we forgot the plane tickets | | on a dû faire la queue pendant trois heures | - | we had to queue for three hours | | le musée était fermé | - | the museum was shut | | on s'est perdus en route | - | we got lost on the way | | on n'a pas pu trouver... | - | we couldn't find... | | on a perdu nos valises | - | our luggage got lost, our luggage went missing1 | | la nourriture était dégueulasse2 | - | the food was digusting | | la chambre donnait sur un chantier | - | we had a view of a building site | | il y avait trop de monde | - | it was too crowded, there were too many people | | je me suis fait piquer/bouffer3 par des moustiques | - | I got bitten/eaten alive by mosquitoes | | je me suis fait piquer4 mon portefeuille | - | I had my wallet nicked |
Suggest a change / proposez une modification1. Depending on context, this could also mean "we lost our luggage".
2. dégueulasse is a slang, but very common, word meaning "gross", disgusting;
it's sometimes shortened to dègue or dégueu
(e.g. "trop dègue" = "totally gross").
3. bouffer is a slang word meaning "to eat", but it's quite common.
4. The word piquer with this meaning is informal, but again quite common.
Other holiday essentials
Here are some other phrases and vocab that are useful for
talking about holidays:
| bonnes vacances! | - | have a good holiday! | | bon voyage! | - | have a good trip! | | bonne route! | - | have a safe journey! | | les grandes vacances | - | the (school) summer holidays | | partir en vacances | - | to go on holiday/vacation | | de la crème solaire | - | some suncream | | de la crème après-soleil | - | some after-sun | | j'ai fait ma valise/mes valises | - | I packed, I did my packing | | un bikini | - | a bikini | | un maillot de bain | - | a swimsuit, swimming costume, bathing shorts | | on a passé la nuit... | - | we stayed/spent the night... | | on a logé... | - | we stayed... | | ...dans un hôtel | - | ...in a hotel | | ...dans une auberge de jeunesse | - | ...in a youth hostel | | ...dans une tente | - | ...in a tent | | ...dans la caravane | - | ...in the caravan | | ...chez des amis | - | ...with friends | | on a bien mangé | - | the food was good, we ate well | | on s'est bien amusés | - | we had a good time | | des vacanciers | - | holidaymakers, vacationers | | des aoûtiens | de zausjæ̃ | August holidaymakers/vacationers, summer vacationers | | l'ajisme | - | youth-hostelling | | un(e) ajiste | - | a youth-hosteller |
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Page written by Neil Coffey. Copyright (c) Javamex UK 2014. All rights reserved. |
