3.1Core vocabulary
Holiday questions ask where you went, what you did, what went wrong and where you would like to go. The last of these needs the conditional, so it is worth preparing a sentence in advance.
- un sejour
- a stay
- l'hebergement
- accommodation
- une auberge de jeunesse
- youth hostel
- la cote
- the coast
- faire de la randonnee
- to go hiking
- depayser
- to give a change of scene
- un vol retarde
- a delayed flight
- la douane
- customs
- l'office de tourisme
- tourist office
- les endroits touristiques
- tourist spots
3.1Prepositions with places
Which preposition to use depends on the gender and type of the place. En with feminine countries: en France, en Espagne. Au with masculine countries: au Portugal, au Canada. Aux with plurals: aux Etats-Unis. A with towns: a Paris, a Lyon.
Common mistake
Writing 'a France'. Countries take en or au, never a; only towns take a.
3.1The perfect tense with etre
Holiday accounts are full of verbs of movement, which take etre in the perfect and agree with the subject. Aller, partir, arriver, rester, venir, descendre, monter, entrer, sortir, retourner, tomber, naitre, mourir and devenir all take etre, as do all reflexive verbs.
Worked example
Answer:
Common mistake
Forgetting the agreement on etre verbs. The participle must agree with the subject in gender and number, and it is a mark each time.
3.1Weather and description
Weather in the past is nearly always in the imperfect, because it describes a state rather than an event: il faisait chaud, il pleuvait, il y avait du vent. Use the perfect only for a sudden change: soudain, il a commence a pleuvoir.
- En for feminine countries, au for masculine, a for towns
- Verbs of movement take etre and agree with the subject
- Weather in the past is usually imperfect
- Prepare one conditional sentence about where you would like to go