Invitations and making arrangements in French

Level A2

Invitations and making arrangements in French

Learn to invite someone out and make a clear plan together. Unlike English “you,” French distinguishes tu for familiar address from vous for formal address to one person; vous also addresses several people. Tu veux is a familiar invitation. Seriez-vous and Aimeriez-vous combine formal vous with the conditional to soften a question; the verb comes before the subject pronoun in these inverted questions. Voulez-vous also uses inversion and formal vous, but its verb is in the present tense. In ça t’irait, t’ refers to a familiar listener; vous in vous conviendrait addresses the listener formally here. Both irait and conviendrait are conditional forms that make the suggestion less direct. For a particular upcoming day, say samedi or vendredi without translating English “on”; to decline, use je ne peux pas and add a short reason such as je dois travailler.

Words for being free and meeting up

Ask whether someone is free

Tu es libre moment ?

Invite someone for coffee or lunch

Tu veux activité à l’infinitif moment ?

Accept warmly and suggest a preferred time

“Oui, avec plaisir” is a natural acceptance meaning “Yes, gladly” or “Yes, I'd love to,” without translating English “love” literally. In “Où est-ce qu’on va ?”, on means “we” but takes the singular verb va. Est-ce que introduces a question without an extra verb corresponding to English “do.”

“Oui, ce serait très bien” politely accepts a suggestion. “Je préférerais treize heures” means “I would prefer one o'clock,” with préférerais making the preference less direct. Neither acceptance addresses the listener as tu or vous, so both can be used across casual and formal situations.

Decline with an apology or thanks and a reason

Excuse ou remerciement, je ne peux pas. Raison.

Suggest a time that suits the other person

Et autre moment, ça t’irait ?

Choose a meeting place and time

On peut se retrouver lieu à heure.

Confirm what works and say when you will meet

“Ça me va” means “That works for me” and fits both casual and polite exchanges. In “Trois heures, ça me va”, the time comes first, followed by the same confirmation. “À samedi” means “See you on Saturday”; this farewell uses à even though a day in an invitation, such as vendredi, normally has no preposition.

For a meeting time, use à: “On peut se retrouver devant la pharmacie à trois heures”. Treize heures identifies 1 p.m. unambiguously. Se retrouver means meeting up; rencontrer means meeting or encountering someone, whether for the first time or on another occasion. On takes se even when it means “we.” In “On se retrouve là-bas !”, the present tense refers to the agreed future meeting, and là-bas means “there.”

Conversation: arrange coffee using tu

Conversation: arrange lunch using vous

Practise this lesson

Next lessons