Finding places and asking for directions in French

Level A1

Finding places and asking for directions in French

You are looking for a café and the train station in an unfamiliar area. Use il y a to say that a place exists, où est to ask where an identified place is, and allez or tournez to give the route. You will practise two short instructions and a request to hear them again; you do not need a whole city map.

Bring back location, destination and a request

Start with “Où est le livre ?” (Where is the book?): où asks where and est means is. In “Le livre est sur la table.” (The book is on the table), le livre is the book, la table is the table, and sur means on. “Je vais au café.” means I’m going to the café: je is I, vais is the form of aller (to go) used with je, and au joins à + le before this masculine place name. Here café is the place, not the drink. For help, “Vous pouvez répéter, s’il vous plaît ?” means Can you repeat that, please?: vous addresses the listener politely, pouvez means can, répéter means repeat, and s’il vous plaît means please. After pouvez, keep the infinitive répéter; listen to these sentences before moving from the room to the street.

Two places and three directions

Learn the places with their articles: un café / le café (a café / the café) is masculine, and une gare / la gare (a train station / the train station) is feminine. Ici means here; il y a means there is or there are, with no change to il y a for a feminine noun.

Aller means to go and tourner means to turn; the instructions below use allez (go) and tournez (turn). For the route, learn tout droit (straight ahead), à droite (to the right) and à gauche (to the left) as complete expressions: the cards droite and gauche need à in these instructions. Play the words, then point straight ahead, right and left as you say the three expressions.

A short exchange with a passer-by

A visitor asks whether there is a café here; the passer-by says there is one on the right. The visitor then asks where the station is and hears two instructions: go straight ahead, then turn left. The visitor asks for repetition, hears the same route again, and says merci (thank you).

Listen once for the places and once for the directions. The question about the café and the question about the station do different jobs; the next two sections explain that difference. The vous request and the instructions use the polite forms suitable for this exchange.

Il y a: introduce what is there

“Il y a un café ici.” introduces a café: there is a café here. Keep il y a as one useful expression, then name what exists; here il does not refer to a male person, and these written models keep all three words. With our two singular places, choose un café or une gare, but keep il y a unchanged.

To ask a spoken yes/no question, you can keep these words in the same order and let your voice rise at the end: “Il y a un café ici ?” Unlike English “Is there…?”, this French question does not swap the first words. Ici supplies the place (here); the dialogue instead answers with à droite (on the right). Listen to the statement and question and try that contrast.

Il y a un café / une gare ici.

Où est: locate an identified place

“Où est le café ?” asks where the café is, once the people can identify which place is meant; it does not ask whether a café exists. Use où est followed by le café or la gare, just as you used où est le livre. The answer names the place, then est and the location: “Le café est à droite.” (The café is on the right) or “La gare est à gauche.” (The station is on the left).

Compare “Il y a un café ici.”, which introduces a café, with “Le café est à droite.”, which locates it. Both can describe the same situation, but their starting point differs. English has the useful parallel there is a café / the café is; keep the French il y a in the first job instead of replacing it with est.

Où est le café / la gare ?

Allez and tournez: give the route

To guide someone, use “Allez tout droit.” (Go straight ahead), “Tournez à droite.” (Turn right) or “Tournez à gauche.” (Turn left). Allez comes from aller and tournez from tourner; these imperative forms give instructions with no subject vous spoken before them. They address one person politely or several people, and in this exchange we use them for one visitor. Tout droit means straight ahead, whereas à droite means to the right: listen for the final t sound in droite, absent in droit. For the station, say “Allez tout droit. Tournez à gauche.”, doing the two steps in that order. To change the route, keep allez tout droit and replace only the second instruction with tournez à droite; you can use these forms without learning the full imperative chart.

Recognition only: more places on a map

A larger map may show more than the two places you are practising: “Sur la carte, il y a une banque et une boulangerie.” means On the map, there’s a bank and a bakery. La carte is the map, une banque a bank, une boulangerie a bakery, and et means and; sur la carte means on the map. Notice the same il y a introducing what the map shows, including these two places. Just recognise this sentence and its labels: you are not asked to name these extra places or give a route between them.

Your turn: find the café, then the station

Before playing the examples, ask whether there is a café here; now imagine that both people know which café is meant and say that the café is on the right. Next ask where the station is, then give the route straight ahead and left, in that order. Finally ask politely for repetition; the five examples below give those five answers in order. Listen and repeat them, then change left to right in the route using the model from the instructions section. Your summary is il y a + a place to introduce its existence, où est + the identified place to ask its location, and allez/tournez + a direction to guide someone. You can return to places in the Explorer to recognise their names and try a question with a familiar one; this is practice, not a test you must pass to explore.

Practise this lesson

Next lessons