Everyday activities in French

Everyday activities give you a simple way to talk about your life at home, at work or school, and in your free time.

Learning common activity vocabulary helps you describe what you do and when you do it.

Common everyday activities

Some activities use a single verb, such as travailler or étudier. Others use a short expression, such as faire les courses:

French	English
travailler	to work
étudier	to study
manger	to eat
cuisiner	to cook
lire	to read
faire les courses	to go grocery shopping

You can use these words and expressions to make simple statements about what you do:

French	English
Je travaille.	I work. / I'm working.
J'étudie le français.	I study French. / I'm studying French.
Je cuisine.	I cook. / I'm cooking.
Je fais les courses.	I go grocery shopping. / I'm going grocery shopping.

Activities at home

Talking about life at home includes household tasks as well as things you do to relax. Several common household expressions use faire.

French	English
préparer le petit-déjeuner	to prepare breakfast
faire la vaisselle	to do the dishes
faire le ménage	to do the housework
regarder la télé	to watch TV
écouter de la musique	to listen to music
se reposer	to rest

These expressions can describe what different people are doing at home:

French	English
Je prépare le petit-déjeuner.	I prepare breakfast.
Nous faisons la vaisselle.	We do the dishes.
Elle se repose.	She's resting.
Ils regardent la télé.	They're watching TV.

Activities at work

Work activities include going to work as well as what you do during the workday. For example, aller au travail means to go to work, while travailler means to work:

French	English
aller au travail	to go to work
travailler	to work
commencer le travail	to start work
finir le travail	to finish work

You can use these expressions to describe different parts of your workday:

French	English
Je vais au travail.	I go to work. / I'm going to work.
Je commence le travail à neuf heures.	I start work at nine o'clock.
Je travaille toute la journée.	I work all day.
Je finis le travail à cinq heures.	I finish work at five o'clock.

The familiar expression métro, boulot, dodo describes the repetitive cycle of commuting, working, and sleeping. Boulot is an informal word for work or a job. Dodo is an informal word for sleep.

Activities at school

School activities include going to school, attending classes, studying, and doing homework:

French	English
aller à l'école	to go to school
étudier	to study
avoir un cours	to have a class
faire ses devoirs	to do one's homework

You can use these expressions to talk about a school day:

French	English
Elle va à l'école.	She goes to school. / She's going to school.
J'étudie le français.	I study French. / I'm studying French.
Nous avons un cours de français.	We have a French class.
Il fait ses devoirs.	He's doing his homework.

Activities in your free time

Free-time activities use several common verb patterns. You can voir friends, faire a sport, jouer à a game, or use verbs such as sortir and se promener:

French	English
voir des amis	to see friends
sortir	to go out
se promener	to go for a walk
faire du sport	to exercise / play sports
jouer à des jeux vidéo	to play video games
regarder un film	to watch a movie
écouter de la musique	to listen to music

Sortir can describe going out without saying exactly where you are going. Se promener describes walking for pleasure rather than simply going somewhere on foot.

You can use these expressions to talk about what you do when you have free time:

French	English
Je vois mes amis.	I see my friends.
Nous regardons un film.	We're watching a movie.
Elle joue à des jeux vidéo.	She's playing video games.
Ils se promènent dans le parc.	They're taking a walk in the park.

Saying when you do an activity

You can add a part of the day or another time expression to show when an activity happens:

French	English
Le matin, je travaille.	In the morning, I work.
L'après-midi, j'étudie.	In the afternoon, I study.
Le soir, je regarde la télé.	In the evening, I watch TV.
Le week-end, je vois mes amis.	On the weekend, I see my friends.

For an activity that happens at a particular time, use à followed by the time:

French	English
Je commence le travail à neuf heures.	I start work at nine o'clock.
Nous mangeons à midi.	We eat at noon.
Elle finit le travail à cinq heures.	She finishes work at five o'clock.

Asking about someone's activities

Qu'est-ce que tu fais ? can ask what someone is doing. Adding a time expression makes the question more specific:

French	English
Qu'est-ce que tu fais aujourd'hui ?	What are you doing today?
Qu'est-ce que tu fais ce soir ?	What are you doing tonight?
Qu'est-ce que tu fais le week-end ?	What do you do on weekends?
Qu'est-ce que vous faites après le travail ?	What do you do after work?

The time expression helps show whether you are asking about a particular occasion or someone's usual activities.

From learning to practice

As you go through your day, try to recall the French expression for what you are doing. Think about activities at home, work or school, and in your free time, then try to say when you do them.