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Les magasins

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French English
L’animalerie (feminine) The pet shop
L’épicerie (feminine) The grocery shop
L’épicerie fine (feminine) The deli
L’opticien (masculine) The optician’s
La bijouterie The jewellery shop
La boucherie The butcher’s
La boulangerie The bakery (bread)
La boutique The shop
La cordonnerie The cobbler’s
La droguerie/la quincaillerie The hardware shop
La jardinerie The garden centre
La librairie The bookshop
La mercerie The haberdashery
La papeterie The stationery shop
La parfumerie The perfume shop
La pâtisserie The bakery (cake)
La pharmacie The pharmacy
La poissonnerie The fishmonger’s
La presse The newspaper-store
Le centre commercial The mall/shopping centre
Le fleuriste The florist
Le magasin The shop
Le magasin bio The health food shop
Le magasin de bricolage The DIY store
Le magasin de jouets The toy shop
Le supermarché The supermarket
Le tabac The tobacconist’s

Forming sentences

Basic rule

As shops are places, when using the verb “aller,” (to go) or “être,” (to be) we need to use the contracted articles “au, à la, à l’, aux” instead of the definite articles.

For example:
Je vais à la boulangerie → I go to the bakery.

The exceptions

For some shops in this list, we are actually using the name of the profession and not the name of the shop as we do not have one in the language. This is the case for “le fleuriste” and “l’opticien”. As a result, the contracted articles cannot be used. Instead, we need to use the preposition “chez” which refers to someone’s place, shop or practice. In addition to those two, in the language we prefer to use “le cordonnier” (the cobbler) instead of “la cordonnerie” (the cobbler’s shop).

For example:
Je vais chez le fleuriste → I go to the florist’s.
Je vais chez le cordonnier → I go to the cobbler’s.

 

“Le magasin”

“Le magasin” can be followed by “de” and the noun describing what it sells. Many shops in France are called like that.

For example:
Le magasin de souvenirs → The souvenir shop.
Le magasin de chaussures → The shoe shop.
Le magasin de fruits et légumes → The fruit and vegetable shop.

More in the books

Werther you are learning by yourself, with Anais and Co or if you are a FLE teacher find this lesson and many more in a beautiful book.

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