Write a clear request message in French: car and donc
It is Monday morning. You are writing a short message to a shop about a lamp that no longer works. You can visit on Tuesday at ten in the morning. Build the message from a greeting, the situation, a polite request, your availability and a courteous ending. Car gives the reason; donc presents what follows from it.
Recover the problem and the request
Bonjour is a polite greeting for this morning message. French also uses it beyond the morning. Cette lampe means this lamp; ne marche plus means no longer works: marcher is functioning here, not walking.
Je voudrais l'échanger means I'd like to exchange it. Voudrais softens the request; you can use this familiar form without learning the whole conditional. L' stands for la lampe. It goes immediately before échanger, the infinitive after voudrais, rather than after the verb as English it does. Listen to the three examples.
Bonjour !
Cette lampe ne marche plus.
Je voudrais l'échanger.
Read one complete short message
Read the five lines in order as one customer's message to the shop. Bonjour opens it; the lamp sentence states the problem. Je voudrais donc l'échanger gives the resulting request: therefore, I'd like to exchange it. The next line says when you can come, and Merci closes courteously. You can put your name after it.
Je peux venir demain à dix heures means I can come tomorrow at ten. Peux means can, venir means come and demain means tomorrow. Here the message is written on Monday, so demain refers to Tuesday; dix heures is ten in the morning in this shop scenario. This is availability offered to the shop, not confirmation of an agreed appointment. Listen once, then read the message aloud.
Bonjour !
Cette lampe ne marche plus.
Je voudrais donc l'échanger.
Je peux venir demain à dix heures.
Merci.
A reason and a consequence
The reason card shows the familiar parce que, because. Car is another way to give a reason, useful in this written message; you will hear car in the next sentence. Donc means so or therefore: it presents a consequence of information already given.
Do not choose between them just to vary the words. Decide whether the next idea explains why you are making the request or tells what follows from the problem. These two meanings, rather than the length of the sentence, guide the choice.
Choose what comes after the link
Je voudrais l'échanger, car cette lampe ne marche plus starts with the request, then gives its reason: because this lamp no longer works. In this model, write a comma before car.
Cette lampe ne marche plus, donc je voudrais l'échanger starts with the problem, then states the consequence: so I'd like to exchange it. Both versions communicate the same request and reason, but the order of ideas changes. Do not replace car with donc while leaving the ideas in their old order if that reverses the intended logic.
In the earlier message, Je voudrais donc l'échanger links back to the previous sentence instead. There, donc follows voudrais; l' still stays with échanger. English can also say therefore inside a sentence. Listen to both complete versions and identify the request and the reason.
Je voudrais l'échanger, car cette lampe ne marche plus.
Cette lampe ne marche plus, donc je voudrais l'échanger.
Say when you can come
Use Je peux venir followed by the day and à followed by the time. The slots jour and heure mean day and time. In the example, demain supplies the day and dix heures supplies the time. Keep venir in the infinitive after peux; this sentence expresses a possible visit, so a future-tense verb is not necessary.
Use à for at in this time expression. Dix is ten; heures is the plural spelling of heure after this number. French says dix heures, whereas English can simply say ten. Venir is appropriate because you are writing to the people at the destination shop. Keep je in this complete sentence. Listen and say the availability line.
Je peux venir demain à dix heures.
Write to the shop yourself
Stay in the same Monday-morning situation: the lamp no longer works and you can visit the shop on Tuesday at ten in the morning. Before reading the examples, write a short message. Greet the shop, then say in your own voice: “I'd like to exchange it, because this lamp no longer works.” Use car to connect the request and its reason. Next say “I can come tomorrow at ten.” End with a thank-you and your name.
Check the first four examples in order and listen to each one. The fifth gives another version of the central sentence: the problem comes first, and donc introduces the request. Replace the car sentence with that version; do not add a second identical request. Check that l' still refers to the lamp and that tomorrow is still Tuesday.
Bonjour !
Je voudrais l'échanger, car cette lampe ne marche plus.
Je peux venir demain à dix heures.
Merci.
Cette lampe ne marche plus, donc je voudrais l'échanger.
A useful message, with a suitable ending
Check five things: greeting, situation, request, availability and a courteous ending. Car introduces your reason; donc introduces the consequence. Je voudrais makes the request politely, and je peux venir offers a possible time. A short, clear message with Bonjour and Merci suits this task; it does not need an elaborate administrative letter.
The final example is only for recognition. Veuillez recevoir mes salutations distinguées is a highly formal letter closing, roughly Yours faithfully. Veuillez gives a formal please; recevoir means receive, mes salutations means my greetings, and distinguées adds respectful formality here. Recognize that tone when reading a longer formal letter; you do not have to produce this formula or its grammar in this lesson.
- formal
Veuillez recevoir mes salutations distinguées.