6.5 Asking the way — Epoché
What you will be able to do Stop a stranger in the street politely and ask where something is, in the two forms that cover almost every case. Understand the answer, which will be built out of about ten words and a handful of verbs. Say how far away something is, and ask. Repeat the directions back to check them, which is the one habit that turns a half-understood answer into a usable one. Sentences from this lesson, before the explanation. Read the French aloud; all of them come back below. French English Excusez-moi, où est le métro ? [1] Excuse me, where is the metro? Excusez-moi, où est la sortie ? [2] Excuse me, where is the exit? Prerequisites : 6.4 and 5.6 — you need the shopping exchanges from the first, because stopping a stranger uses the same opening move, and the city and transport words from the second, because this lesson gives the frame and assumes you know what you are looking for. See 6.4 Conversation and 5.6 Vocabulary if either is missing. Asking the way is the one conversation in this volume where you cannot control the other person's half. You choose your question, and then somebody you have never met talks at you at ordinary speed and points. The strategy that works is therefore not to learn more vocabulary but to learn less: about ten words account for almost every direction anybody will ever give you, and if you can hear those ten you can walk away with the answer even if you missed half the sentence. Who is speaking to whom A stranger in the street is usually addressed with the formal form. While young people may use tu among themselves, when you are interrupting somebody who owes you nothing, the formal form is part of the apology for the interruption and worth observing. The opening move matters more here than anywhere else in this volume. You do not begin with the question. You begin with the word for excuse me , and then the question, and in a shop or a street you may well add the title. A French speaker who is stopped by a stranger who opens with the bare question hears it as a demand rather than a request, and may answer accordingly. The answers you get will also be in the formal form, which is why the imperatives in the tables below all carry the formal ending. How English does it English hides the question inside another question; French asks it straight. A polite English speaker says do you know where the station is , which is a question about the listener's knowledge with the real question buried inside it and the word order undone. French does not do this. It asks where the thing is, directly, with the greeting and the apology in front. The directness is not rudeness; the politeness has already been placed at the beginning of the sentence rather than wrapped around it. English has one verb for being situated; French has two, and the second is more polite. You can ask where something is with the ordinary verb for being, and that is perfectly correct. There is also a reflexive verb meaning to be found or to be situated, and the version built on it sounds slightly more careful, slightly more formal, and is worth having because you will hear it constantly on signs and in announcements. English says walk ; French says on foot . The English answer to a question about distance is often a verb — it's a ten-minute walk . The French version uses a noun phrase meaning on foot, attached to a time. There is no verb of walking in it at all, and once you know that you stop waiting for one. English splits until and as far as ; French uses one word for both. The French word that means until in time also means as far as in space, so the same preposition tells you to wait until noon and to walk as far as the end of the street. English speakers are surprised by this for about a week and then find it convenient. English counts turnings with ordinals and so does French, and the ordinal comes before the noun. The second street on the right is la deuxième rue à droite . Most French ordinals have one form for both genders; only first changes (and second , seconde , the other word for second beside deuxième ), and with the feminine word for street it becomes la première rue . This is a small thing and it is the kind of small thing that makes a rehearsed question suddenly sound wrong. Stopping somebody and asking French English Note Excusez-moi, où est le métro ? [1] Excuse me, where is the metro? the standard shape: apology, then the direct question Excusez-moi, où est la sortie ? [2] Excuse me, where is the exit? the same, with a feminine noun Excusez-moi, où sont les toilettes ? [3] Excuse me, where's the bathroom? a plural noun, so the verb is plural too Excusez-moi, où se trouve la poste ? [4] Excuse me, where is the post office? the more careful verb, meaning is situated Excusez-moi, où se trouve la bibliothèque ? [5] Excuse me, but where is the library? the same verb with a longer noun Pardon, où est la station de taxi ? [6] Excuse me, where is the taxi stand? the shorter apology, equally usable Je suis perdu. [7] I am lost. three words that get you help anywhere (a woman would say perdue ) Je ne suis pas d'ici. [8] I'm from out of town. literally I am not from here ; it buys patience Je suis perdu, pouvez-vous m'aider, s'il vous plait ? [9] I am lost. Can you help me, please? the whole opening in one sentence The first six rows are one sentence pattern with different nouns dropped into it, and that is the most economical thing in this lesson. Learn the frame, and every place name in the city becomes a question you can already ask. Rows four and five use the more formal verb, and the only reason to prefer it is that it sounds a shade more polite; either is correct. Rows seven and eight are the ones to keep in reserve. Saying that you are lost, or that you are not from the area, changes the way the answer is delivered: people slow down, point more, and often walk part of the way with you. It is the most efficient sentence in the lesson per syllable spent. The first dialogue