66 - 15 Sports in French (Part II)

 
 

Listen to this episode to learn 15 sports in French! 🏸 More sports in episode 65.

If you’d prefer to listen on the go, listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Links & Cheat Sheet

Transcript

Intro: Welcome to the French Made Easy podcast, where I give you all the basics you need to speak French clearly and confidently. I'm your host, Mathilde, and I'm a French teacher, mumpreneur, and bread and cheese lover. Join me as I dive into all things French for beginners, and deliver to you bite-sized and easy-to-follow lessons every Tuesday. Let's get started, "on commence"!

Hello everyone! Bonjour à tous! Welcome back to the French Made Easy Podcast. This is episode number 66, numéro 66! 

Today's episode is part II of our lesson on sports in French. If you haven't listened to part I yet, then head over to episode 65 first. 

Alright, so in this lesson, you'll first learn 15 sports in French, but I'll also have a chat with you about conjugation because, in French, there are two verbs that we can use to describe the sports we play or do. We can use the verb "faire", which means "to do or to make" (and by the way, I have a full lesson on the verb "faire" in episode 24), but you can also use the verb "jouer" which means "to play". 

Now I haven't talked about the verb "jouer" in the podcast yet, but that's all good; I'll write the conjugation of that verb + the audio inside the transcript for those who want to learn it now. (Linked at the bottom of this page!)

So anyway, I'll share with you a few tips to know which verb to use when you talk about the sports you do. 

If you're new to the podcast, then before you get started on the lesson, make sure you have your lesson cheat sheet, so you can have a look at the words while hearing them. Then after the lesson, you can head over to the French Made Easy library to download your lesson's exercises. And it's free. 

Ok cool, now let's get started. Here are 15 sports in French. 

Please repeat after me, répetez après moi: 

  • le badminton (badminton)

  • la randonnée (hiking)

  • l'athlétisme (athletics)

  • le karaté (karate)

  • le hockey (hockey)

  • le volley (volleyball)

  • la voile (sailing)

  • le patinage (ice skating)

  • le tir à l'arc (archery)

  • l'escrime (fencing)

  • la plongée (diving)

  • l'aviron (rowing)

  • le surf (surfing)

  • l'escalade (climbing)

  • le baseball (baseball)

Alright, so there we have them, our 15 sports.

Now, let's talk about verbs. 

As I briefly explained earlier in the episode, to tell what sport you practice, you can use the verb "faire" (to do, to make) or the verb "jouer" (to play)

So should you use the verb "faire" or "jouer"? 

As a general rule, you can use the verb "jouer" with sports using a ball. And for sports without a ball, you can use the verb "faire." I'll give you some examples in a minute.

Now in modern French, French speakers, I included, will also use "faire" instead of "jouer." 

For example, instead of saying "Je joue au foot." I can also say "Je fais du foot." Both are correct.

But what's very important to note here is that it's not the same with the verb "jouer." It's not interchangeable. When talking about sports, you cannot use "jouer" with every sport, usually only for sports with a ball. Otherwise, that's incorrect.

For example: 

  • Let's take a sport with a ball: le badminton.

You can say: “Je joue au badminton.” (I play badminton.) 

You can also say: “Je fais du badminton.”

  • Now let's take another sport: le patinage.

You can say: “Je fais du patinage.”

But you cannot say: “Je joue au patinage. ❌ That's incorrect.

  • Another sport: la voile.

You can say: “Je fais de la voile.”

You cannot say "Je joue à la voile." ❌ That's incorrect. 

Alright. So with that said, that's now the end of today's lesson. I hope you enjoyed this episode, and if you did, then I'd really appreciate a quick rating and review on Apple Podcast. 

À la semaine prochaine, see you next week.

Merci beaucoup, et à bientôt! 🧡

NOTES:

Here’s the conjugation of the French verb “jouer” (to play) in the present tense:

  • je joue

  • tu joues

  • il/elle/on joue

  • nous jouons

  • vous jouez

  • ils/elles jouent

Here’s the audio:

 
Mathilde KienComment