Let's break it down...
In French, the verb “to play” is jouer. Jouer is a regular -er verb. What that means is when you conjugate jouer, it follows certain rules that every -er verb follows. This is great because about 90% of the verbs in French are -er verbs. You will learn more about -er verbs in a later module.
The verbs être, aller, avoir, venir, and vouloir are NOT -er verbs. These are irregular verbs, and they don’t follow the rules.
Use the table below to see how jouer is conjugated in the present tense.
| French conjugation | |
|---|---|
|
je joue |
I play, I am playing |
|
tu joues |
you play, you are playing |
|
il/elle joue |
he/she plays or is playing |
|
nous jouons |
we play or are playing |
|
vous jouez |
you play are playing (plural, formal) |
|
ils/elles jouent |
they play or are playing |
Notice that three forms of jouer--joue, joues, and jouent--sound the same. Yes, all those letters at the end are silent!
In the video, you learned that the French use the verb jouer when speaking about sports with balls. They also use jouer for a few other games and musical instruments. Click each image to see and hear examples.
Some sports are played both in the United States and France. Soccer is popular in both countries; but in France, it is a national obsession. Rugby and handball are two other sports that are played much more in France, and tennis is popular there, too.
What sports do you enjoy? American football and baseball are not played very much in France, but basketball is starting to become popular in France.
Notice that to say you play a sport, you say jouer au. Au is a combination of the words à and le, à + le = au. So jouer au foot literally means "to play at the soccer."
Question
How do you say Do you play soccer in French?
Tu joues au foot?/ Est-ce que tu joues au foot?/ Joues-tu au foot?
