An easy-to-tote communications road map-French to go! France is the world's #1 tourist destination, with 2.2 million American visitors in 2002, and French the second most popular foreign language among U.S. high school and college students. This handy little phrasebook fits easily into pocket, purse, or bag-and helps tourists and students make themselves understood right away.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Conventions Used in This Book 2 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 3 Where to Go from Here 4 Chapter 1: I Say It How? Speaking French 5 The French You Know 5 Friendly allies — bons alliés (bohN-zah-lyay) 6 Kissing cousins 7 False friends — faux amis 9 Lenders and borrowers 10 Mouthing Off: Basic Pronunciation 11 The French alphabet 11 Vowel sounds 13 The accent 14 The mute e 14 The nasal sounds 15 Consonants 15 The liaison 17 The elision 17 Stress 18 Idioms and Popular Expressions 18 Chapter 2: Grammar on a Diet: Just the Basics 21 Constructing Simple Sentences 21 Nouns 22 Adjectives 22 Verbs 23 Adverbs 24 Asking Questions 24 Commanding Your Subjects 26 Regular and Irregular Verbs 27 Regular verbs 28 Irregular verbs 28 The Simple Tenses: Past, Present, and Future 29 Using the past tense with avoir 30 Using the past tense with être 33 Doing the future with aller 36 Conjugating the tenses 36 Probing Pronouns 39 Subject pronouns 39 Direct object pronouns 40 Objects of prepositions 41 Indirect pronouns 42 All the Little Words: Gender, Articles, and Adjectives 43 Gender bending 43 An article on articles 44 Dealing with possessive adjectives 45 The Formal/Informal Debate 46 Chapter 3: Numerical Gumbo: Counting of All Kinds 47 1, 2, 3: Cardinal Numbers 47 Discovering Ordinal Numbers 50 Telling Time 52 Counting the hours 52 Being on time 54 Days, Months, and Seasons 55 What day is it? 55 Month by month 56 Meet the four seasons 58 Money 59 Exchanging your dollars at a bank 59 Using credit cards and ATMs 61 Chapter 4: Making New Friends and Enjoying Small Talk 63 Hello! Greetings and Introductions 64 Saying hello and good-bye 64 Asking “How are you?” 65 Replying to “How are you?” 66 Introducing yourself and others 66 Grand Inquisitor: Questions 69 Question words 69 Posing simple questions 71 So Where Are You From? 71 Describing cities 75 Getting down to the address 76 Making Small Talk on the Job 77 Speaking about Speaking 79 How’s the Weather? 81 How Is Your Family? 82 Chapter 5: Enjoying a Drink and a Snack (or Meal!) 85 All about Meals 85 The meals 86 Setting the table 86 Going Out to Eat 87 Getting a reservation 87 Ordering at the restaurant 88 Going out for breakfast 92 Getting a Drink 93 Paying the Bill 95 Chapter 6: Shop ’Til You Drop! 97 Heading Out on the Town 97 Getting around the store 98 Shopping for clothes like a pro 101 Hitting the Market and the Pâtisserie 106 Fresh air, fresh food: The outdoor market 106 Finding food stores large and small 108 Weighing and Measuring 109 Paying for Your Prize 110 Comparing Better and Best 112 Making comparisons 112 Using superlatives 113 Verbs for the Active Shopper 114 Chapter 7: Making Leisure a Top Priority. 117 Going Out on the Town 117 Visiting museums 117 Going to the theater 119 Going to the movies 121 Enjoying a concert 122 Getting wild at a nightclub 125 Enjoying the Great Outdoors 126 Going skiing 126 Hitting the beach 128 Setting up camp 130 Sports, Sports, Sports 133 Chapter 8: When You Gotta Work 137 Picking Up the Phone 137 Meeting at the Office 139 Making an appointment 139 Conducting a meeting 140 Surfing the Internet 141 Chapter 9: I Get Around: Transportation 143 On the Move: Transportation 143 Taxis 143 Trains 145 Bus 147 Subway 147 Rental cars 148 Passing Passport Control 150 Asking for Directions 153 Asking “where” questions 153 Answering “where” questions 154 Getting direction about directions 156 Using commands 159 Expressing distances 159 Going north, south, east, and west 160 Asking questions when you’re lost 162 Chapter 10: Laying Down Your Weary Head: House or Hotel 163 Making a Home 163 Scoping Out the Hotel 168 Checking In and Checking Out 170 Chapter 11: Dealing with Emergencies 175 Surviving Health Emergencies 175 At the scene of an accident 175 At the hospital 178 Dealing with a Nonemergency 179 Meeting the Law 184 Accidents 184 Robbery, theft, and aggression 186 Chapter 12: Ten Favorite Expressions 189 C’est un fait accompli 189 Quel faux pas! 189 Comme il faut 190 Bon appétit! 190 Quelle horreur! 190 Oh là là! La catastrophe! 190 À tout à l’heure! 191 C’est la vie! 191 Comme ci, comme ça 191 C’est le ton qui fait la musique! 191 Chapter 13: Ten Phrases That Make You Sound French 193 Ça m’a fait très plaisir! or C’était génial! 193 Passez-moi un coup de fil! 193 On y va! or Allons-y! 194 Je n’en sais rien 194 Mais je rêve! 194 Quel amour de petit garçon! 195 Vous n’avez pas le droit 195 Tu cherches midi à 14h 195 Je veux acheter une bricole 195 Prenons un pot! 196 Index 197