How to Make Plans With a Friend in French

Whether you're in France or just want to pretend to be, making plans in French is an intermediate skill that requires knowing times, places, directions and verb tenses in addition to sentence structure and how to ask a question. Fortunately, since the person you're talking to is your friend, you only need to use the "tu" and "je" verb forms.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Ask your friend what she's doing on the day and time you'd like to make plans with her. You can say, "Qu'est-ce que tu fais ce soir?" which means, "What are you doing tonight?" You may replace "ce soir" with the day of the week. The phrase would then be something like, "Qu'est-ce que tu fais Samedi matin?" which is "What are you doing Saturday morning?"

2. Wait for his response. If he gives a response like "Rien" or "Je resterai chez moi," to tell you he has no plans, ask him to do the activity you've chosen. Start the sentence informally with "Veux-tu aller" and add the place or event. Be sure to use "à" or "au" which translates as "to" after "aller."

3. Tell her the time. You might hear a question like, "A quelle heure?" which is a simple "At what time?" To give the time, you need to know the numbers 1 through 12 in French and add the word "heure" on the end. For example, "à sept heure" is "at seven o'clock." Be sure to again use "à" before the number to say "at."

4. Listen for his affirmative or negative response. "Malheureusement" is a common declining reply meaning "Unfortunately." "Bien sûre" is "Of course" and is often heard as a positive "Oui" reply.

5. Reply according to the situation. If she's coming, give her a "Super!" and "A bientôt!" which is "See you soon!" If she can't come this time, let her know it's OK by saying, "Peut-être une autre fois," which means "Maybe another time."