Lesson 14- Faire (to do/make) | Expressions with faire | Faire vs.

jouer (to play)

Learning objectives

• CEFR level covered

• • to learn to conjugate the French verb faire (to do/make) in the present tense

• • to learn some expressions with the French verb faire

• • to learn when to use faire (to do) and jouer (to play)

• • to learn some French time expressions in order to build more complex sentences using these 2
verbs
Faire (to do/make)
The following are the conjugations for the present indicative, or present:
I do my homework / je fais mon excercice

Je fais Je fais mes devoirs I do my homework

rapidement. quickly.

Tu fais Tu fais la vaisselle après le You do the dishes after

dîner. dinner.

Ils/Elles/On fait Elle fait du jogging à la She goes jogging at the

plage. beach.

Nous faisons Nous faisons les courses We go shopping at the

au supermarché. supermarket.

Vous faites Vous faites attention aux You pay attention to the
enfants. children.

Ils/Elles Font Elles font ses valises pour They pack their bags for
le voyage. the trip.
Faire (to do/make)
• Present Progressive Indicative
In French the present progressive can be expressed with the simple present tense, or with
the present tense conjugation of the verb être (to be) + en train de + the infinitive verb
(faire).
Je suis en train de faire Je suis en train de faire I am doing my homework
mes devoirs rapidement. quickly.
Tu es en train de faire Tu es en train de faire la You are doing the dishes
vaisselle après le dîner. after dinner.
Ils/Elles/On est en train de faire Elle est en train de faire du She is jogging at the
jogging à la plage. beach.
Nous sommes en train de faire Nous sommes en train de We are shopping at the
faire les courses au supermarket.
supermarché.
Vous êtes en train de faire Vous êtes en train de faire You are paying attention to
attention aux enfants. the children.
Ils/Elles sont en train de faire Elles sont en train de faire They are packing their
ses valises pour le voyage. bags for the trip.
Expressions with faire
1. Faire la fête (Go to party)

• If you’re going out with friends in France or are invited to a French party, it’s likely that
you’ll hear the expression on va faire la fête (we’re going to party).

• J’ai beaucoup fait la fête la semaine dernière et je suis fatigué.[I partied a lot last week
and I am tired.]

2. Faire attention (Be careful)

Fais attention aux voitures dans la rue ! [Be careful of the cars on the street!]

3. Faire le ménage

• Faire le ménage literally means “to do the household” but it’s used to describe doing the
housework or the cleaning.

• C’est pas juste ! Chaque jour, je dois faire le ménage toute seul ! [It’s not fair!
Everyday I have to do the housework on my own! ]
Eu => euhhhh => E
Peu
Peut
Seul
Seuil
Meule
Geule / bec / bouche / levres
Expressions with faire
• 4. Faire la grasse matinée
• Translating literally to “to do the fat morning”
• Ce week-end, je vais faire la grasse matinée—c’était fatigant, la
semaine. [This weekend, I will lay around—this week was tiring.]
• 5. Faire la tête
• translates to say “to do the head”
• Il était très malpoli aujourd’hui. Je pense qu’il fait la tête. [He
was very rude today. I think he is in a bad mood.]
Expressions with faire
6. Faire beau/mauvais
Translate to say “it makes beautiful” or “it makes bad,”
Je suis super content aujourd’hui—il fait vraiment beau ! [I am really happy
today—the weather is really beautiful!]
7. Faire la sourde oreille
literally “to make a deaf ear” and like its English equivalent—to turn a deaf ear—
Je lui ai téléphoné ce matin, mais il a fait la sourde oreille. [ I called him this
morning, but he turned a deaf ear.]
8. Faire de la peine à quelqu’un
Like its English language equivalent—it saddens me—
Expressions with faire
9. Faire des économies
literally as “to do the savings”
Je voudrais aller en vacances donc je dois faire des
économies. [I would like to go on holiday, so I must save.]
10. Faire la bise
literally means “to make the kiss,”
Il était très malpoli ! Il n’a pas fait la bise. [He was very rude! He
didn’t greet me by kissing.]
Faire vs. jouer (to play)
The verbs JOUER and FAIRE are both used to describe hobbies, including playing or doing sports.
JOUER literally means to.
FAIRE means to do / to make. play
There are some general rules that govern whether to use JOUER or FAIRE when talking about sports or
games.
 JOUER is most often used to discuss playing games (such as chess, dominos, cards, Monopoly, etc.),
team sports, or sports in which there is at least one opponent.
More specifically, JOUER is used to talk about sports that use a ball, bat, club, and/or a stick. JOUER is a
regular -ER verb.
 JOUER+au(x) is used to talk about the following sports and games:
• jouer au basket(ball) : to play basketball jouer aux cartes : to play cards
• jouer aux échecs : to play chess jouer au foot(ball) : to play soccer

 JOUER+du/de la/de l’ is used to talk about playing musical instruments such as:
• jouer de la batterie : to play the drums jouer du clavier : to play the keyboard
jouer de la flûte : to play the flute jouer de la guitare (électrique) : to play the (electric) guitar
• jouer du piano : to play the piano
Ex: Je joue au piano. / Mme Shweta jout à la guitare.
Mme Tanya jout au basketball/badmilton/tenis
Faire vs. jouer (to play)
We can also use the verb FAIRE with sports and other activities.

However, FAIRE is usually used to talk about sports and other activities that you can do by yourself,
rather than with a team or against an opponent. These sports and activities generally do not involve
the use of a ball, bat, club, and/or a stick.

• Use FAIRE+du when the sport/activity that follows is masculine and singular;
• use FAIRE+de la when the sport/activity that follows is feminine and singular;
• use FAIRE+de l’ when the sport/activity that follows is singular (masculine OR feminine) and
begins with a vowel or vowel sound.

• FAIRE is an irregular verb.

• faire du bateau : to go boating faire de la boxe (boxer) : to box
• faire du cheval : to go horseback riding faire du cyclisme (rouler) : to go cycling / to bike
• faire de l’escalade : to go rock climbing faire du golf : to play golf
• faire du jogging : to go jogging faire de la lutte (lutter) : to wrestle
Vocabulary
Conduire : drive
Je conduis la voiture : I drive the car.
Se lever du mauvais pied / etre de mauvais humeur : to wake up with
the wrong/bad feet (wake up in bad shape)
Contre : against / vs
Thank you