Clothing...Learning to say what you wear in French

By , on July 17, 2009, at 4:13 pm | 23 comments | 2,209 views

Context:

I’m sure I have heard somewhere (perhaps from my students) that…(hold your breath there!) Paris is the fashion capital of the world??!!! Ta-dah!! Hehe, don’t wait for me to confirm or deny this claim; I’m only a simple guy who loves wearing jeans and you can say that la Haute Couture is not my area of expertise. However, I do believe it is important that we learn the usual words and expressions people use to describe what they wear…and I propose that we do this in French. Like that idea :-) ?

Goals:

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to do the following:

  •   ask about the type of clothes somebody is wearing
  •  describe the clothes you, yourself, are wearing
  •  I also introduce color names as much as possible here, but this topic will be fully covered in the next lesson.

    Chapter 1 –> Lesson 4:

    Level of difficulty: Easy

    • An important verb you should rapidly learn AND memorize before you even begin this lesson is the verb PORTER (to wear).

    Next, here is a typical question-answer you should quickly get familiar with:
    Q. Qu’est-ce que tu portes?     What do you wear?/ What are you wearing?

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    A. Je porte une chemise.   (I wear/I am wearing a shirt…).

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    IMAGES


    AUDIO CLIPS

    EXAMPLES
    une chemise

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    		 Michel porte une chemise blanche.

    Michel is wearing a white shirt

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    un pantalon

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    		 Charles porte un pantalon.

    Charles is wearing pants.

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    un short

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    		 Je ne porte pas de short en hiver.

    I do not wear shorts in winter.

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    un jean

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    		 Tu portes un jean.

    You’re wearing jeans.

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    des chaussures

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    		 Nous portons des chaussures marron.

    We are wearing brown shoes.

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    des baskets

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    		 Jordan porte des baskets.

    Jordan is wearing sneakers.

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    un chemisier

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    		 Carla porte un chemisier rouge.

    Carla is wearing a red blouse/shirt (woman’s).

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    une jupe

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    		 Marthe porte une jupe.

    Martha is wearing a skirt.

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    une robe

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    		 Mélanie porte une robe violette.

    Melanie is wearing a purple dress.

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    des chaussettes

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    		 Est-ce que tu portes des chaussettes jaunes?

    Are you wearing yellow socks?

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    mettre

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    		 Je mets mes chaussettes.

    I put on my socks.

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    ôter

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    		 J’ôte mes chaussettes.

    I take off my socks.

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    un costume

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    		 Cet homme d’affaires porte un costume.

    This businessman is wearing a suit.

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    une cravate

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    		 Est-ce que Michel porte une cravate?

    Is Michel wearing a tie?

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    un manteau

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    		 Vous portez des manteaux en hiver.

    You wear coats in winter.

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    Well, this appears to be quite a considerable amount of vocab to digest in just lesson…:-) But I still want to complete this lesson with names of accessories usually found in clothing stores or boutiques, you know, stuff like sunglasses, belts, ear-rings, etc…So, shall we keep going? OUI!!!

    CLOTHING ACCESSORIES

    IMAGES


    AUDIO CLIPS

    EXAMPLES
    une bague

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    		 Est-ce qu’elle porte une bague?

    Does she wear a ring?

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    un collier

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    		 Un beau collier.

    A nice necklace

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    une boucle d’oreille

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    		 Karen ne porte jamais de boucles d’oreille.

    Karen never wears earrings

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    une montre

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    		 Une belle montre.

    A nice watch

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    un bracelet

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    		 Un bracelet bleu.

    A blue bracelet

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    une ceinture

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    		 Une belle ceinture.

    A nice belt

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    un sac-à-main

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    		 Un sac-à-main vert.

    A green handbag

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    des lunettes

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    		 Je porte des lunettes.

    I wear eyeglasses

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    des lunettes de soleil

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    		 Bono porte des lunettes de soleil.

    Bono wears sunglasses.

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    une écharpe

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    		 En hiver, on porte une écharpe.

    In winter, people wear scarves.

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    un chapeau

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    		 un chapeau gris.

    A grey hat

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    If you are ready, feel free to complete a short essay here to sharpen your writing skills.

    July 17th, 2009 | Category: | 23 comments | 2,209 views

    23 comments to Clothing

    • anna
      1, July 17, 2009 at 9:43 PM

      It’s the wonderful lesson. All of your lessons show that you have the strong intention to give others. Thank a lot.
      But I have a comment which I can’t see all the texts especially on the right hand. For example de boucle d’oreille, is it written: Karen ne porte jamais de boucle d’oreille. or not? If the frame of text can be seen all, it will be better and better.

      Thank a lot

    • anna
      1, July 18, 2009 at 7:08 AM

      with your suggestion,now I can see them all by changing my computer’s resolution. Thank you so much for your help.

    • iramasson
      1, July 22, 2009 at 9:32 AM

      Firstly,thanks so much for these lessons. I appreciate your effort and the fact that it is all free! I especially love that your proverbs all come with audio (extremely helpful).

      I just want to check something I noticed in this lesson:

      In the example for chaussures – is marron not supposed to be in plural as well? Or maybe it is an exception?

      Thanks

    • mrtaha
      1, July 25, 2009 at 3:14 AM

      Goodday prof. i hope ur going well ..__wel, i have a alittle question .. in the sentence .. tu portes un jean .. the letter (s) on portes ..__do we spell it in this situation ( portes un ) ??? __thank u ..

      • Frenchtastic
        1, July 25, 2009 at 3:42 AM

        Bonjour Mrtaha,
        If I understand well your question, you're asking if the (s) on "portes" should make the liaison with the following word "un" since it begins with a vowel. Is that correct? The liaison in this situation is not obligatory (perhaps it should even be avoided). Liaison in French as you know are these phonetical phenomena whereby two words can be linked to produce "easier" sounds. As a native speaker, I can assure you that I am making make more effort in this situation when I try to establish the liaison between these 2 words PORTES + UN. It is much simpler for me to say TU PORTUN (as if the ES of Portes were swallowed.) So, to answer your question, no, you should not spell the (S )of "portes" in this situation. Hope this helps :-)

      • Frenchtastic
        1, July 25, 2009 at 3:50 AM

        By the way, I just listened once again to the audio clip you've mentioned, and I would like to add that in the sound clips i prepare for each lesson, I make sure to speak at a reasonable speed to allow everybody to catch the correct pronunciation. So I made a pause between PORTES and UN, but in a normal (somewhat faster) conversation, I will combine PORTES+UN as a single word: PORTUN. :-)

    • mrtaha
      1, July 25, 2009 at 4:29 AM

      .. Thank you prof. very much .. ya i get it know ..
      .. prof. i studied ur lessons all , am an old student .. i want to ask you if u please and if u can .. to put some advanced lessons in french .. or it not had to be lessons .. some applications or posts .. like the poem you had posted ..it's very nice .. ..
      thnx for all ..
      the last thing prof. i would like to tell you .. i know i've started to be noisy .. lol .. but i have some sort of plan o project i would like to take ur openion in it ..
      thnx very much .. byebye

      • Frenchtastic
        1, July 25, 2009 at 6:11 AM

        Salut, I can certainly put more advanced lessons, especially for those who have followed me since 2007 from my Youtube channel. I understand that many of the new lessons I am posting so far since the upgrade are very easy. But my goal is to rapidly give everyone a chance to have a solid basis (especially new users discovering the site everyday and joining the group), but in the end, we will work our way all the way to end. If there are specific things/words/expressions more challenging you'd like to understand, you can certainly contact thru my email and I can assist you with that. I will also expand the poem section with many many more audio poems. Stay tuned.
        P.S. You can also email me about the project that's brewing. I will be more than happy to give you my opinion on it. Merci

    • simoziko
      1, January 17, 2010 at 6:11 AM

      I’m afraid there are some words are not pronounced.Why??
      Thank you

    • simoziko
      1, January 19, 2010 at 9:28 AM

      the words that are not pronounced are:
      ôter= take off
      des chaussettes=socks
      thank you

    • simoziko
      1, May 4, 2010 at 1:01 PM

      thank you, Everything is OK now.
      Bye

    • djiobex
      1, September 22, 2010 at 11:45 AM

      hello herman, first of all i would like to thank you for your hardwork and patience in teaching us and entertaining our question…well, anyway, i just like to ask something about the audio of “Karen ne porte jamais de boucles d’oreille”, the “ne porte jamais” is pronounced as “nuh por-tuh ja-meh” but in the phrase “Je porte des lunettes” the “porte” is pronounced as “port”, is there a rule that if it is followed by “jamais” the “e” must be pronounced?

      thank you!!! and more power TEACHER!!! :-)

      • prof_frenchtastic
        1, September 23, 2010 at 12:22 PM

        Great question, Djiobex! This difference in the sounds “port” ( in “je porte des lunettes”) versus “port-tuh” (in “Karen ne porte jamais de boucles d’oreille”)could be considered very minor [that is, it is NOT a mistake] and may be attributed to the way speech tone and inflections fluctuates in an actual conversation. Although the last (e) in verbs like ‘porte’, ‘parle’, ‘change’, or an infinitive like ‘faire’ is usually not pronounced, it doesn’t mean that it can’t, so you could also here ‘fair-uh’ or ‘port-uh’ or ‘parl-uh’. You will hear BOTH ways (silent e or not) in usual conversation between French natives. but, i’m glad you’ve detected this variation in my examples and provided me with an opportunity to explain it. merci!

    • simoziko
      1, September 22, 2010 at 2:52 PM

      Je suis très heureux d’apprendre le français.
      Merci

    • djiobex
      1, September 24, 2010 at 8:55 AM

      merci professor it settles my confusions!!!have a nice day…

    • omarguevaraz
      1, April 1, 2011 at 12:54 AM

      Love the lesson , merci

    • nanee
      1, December 19, 2011 at 1:33 AM

      iam nanee iam new in this lessons do u think mr.herman i can learn french i want to speak french well please tell me how ti this .thanhs

      • prof_frenchtastic
        1, December 19, 2011 at 10:53 PM

        Salut Nanee! Well, my immediate answer will be yes! You can if you truly want to. Nothing prevents you from succeeding in this endeavor :-) A great deal of motivation will be necessary, but yes, you can do it. :-) Let me know if you need some assistance along the way, okay?
        Herman

    • nanee
      1, December 20, 2011 at 12:56 AM

      hi prof,yes i need your assistance ana i want to tell you that iam begining to learn french with you and i fond many programs but yours is the best off all, iwant to contact with you by french but iam affraid from misteks and iam stay at home no one to talk with him in french so, how con i improve my speaking in french.
      merci

    • simoziko
      1, January 15, 2012 at 11:24 AM

      Je ne porte pas de short en hiver.
      Et toi??
      Qu’est-ce que tu portes?

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