Sports

• First things first, learn the French vocabulary relating to sports. For example, football is ‘le football’, swimming is ‘la natation’, and rollerblading is ‘le roller’. Knowing the names of sports is essential for being able to talk about your hobbies.

• Remember to learn the phrases for playing, liking, disliking, or preferring a sport. ‘Je joue au football’ means ‘I play football’. ‘J’aime la natation’ means ‘I like swimming’. ‘Je n’aime pas le roller’ means I don’t like rollerblading. ‘Je préfère le tennis’ implies I prefer tennis.

• Learn how to use the verb ‘faire’ when discussing sports in French. This irregular verb is used with the general sense of ‘to do’, and it is often utilised when talking about many activities, including most sports. For instance, ‘Je fais du vélo’ translates to ‘I do cycling’.

• Time phrases can help you talk about when you play specific sports. Learn how to say ‘every day’ (chaque jour), ‘once a week’ (une fois par semaine), ‘occasionally’ (de temps en temps), and ‘never’ (jamais).

• Be able to eloquently express your opinion. Not only should you be able to say if you like or dislike a particular sport, but you should also be able to say why. For example, ‘Je préfère le tennis parce que c’est plus excitant que le football’, implying ‘I prefer tennis because it’s more exciting than football’.

• Understand the terms for pieces of sports equipment in French. Knowing the words for ‘ball’ (le ballon), ‘rack’ (la raquette), ‘uniform’ (l’uniforme), and ‘helmet’ (le casque) will come in handy.

• Keep in mind that you need to use the correct prepositions when speaking about participating in a sport. For instance, we say, ‘Je joue au football’ (I play football) and ‘Je fais de la natation’ (I do swimming). Note the use of ‘au’ with ‘joue’ and ‘de la’ with ‘fais’.

• Familiarise yourself with verbs used in sports context like ‘gagner’ (to win), ‘perdre’ (to lose), ‘courir’ (to run), ‘nager’ (to swim), etc.

Remember, practising by writing short paragraphs about your likes and dislikes in sports, what sports you play and why, will help you in retaining these points better.