Keeping a shared kitchen clean | Learn French in English

About This Lesson

Use Keeping a shared kitchen clean to practice French conversation, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and quizzes.

Dialogue

Je peux laver ma tasse ici ?

zhuh PUH lah-VAY mah TASS ee-SEE Can I wash my cup here?

Utilise l'évier à gauche.

oo-tee-LEEZ lay-VYAY ah GOHSH Use the sink on the left.

Je veux garder l'espace propre.

zhuh VUH gar-DAY less-PAHSS PROH-pr I want to keep the space clean.

S'il te plaît, essuie la table quand tu as fini.

seel tuh PLAY, eh-SWEE lah TAHBL kahn too ah fee-NEE Please wipe the table after you finish.

Les déchets vont dans cette poubelle ?

lay day-SHAY vohn dahn set poo-BELL Does trash go in this bin?

Mets-les dans la poubelle près de la porte.

may lay dahn lah poo-BELL pray duh lah PORT Put it in the bin by the door.

Je vais m'en occuper maintenant.

zhuh VAY mon noh-koo-PAY mahnt-NAHN I will take care of it now.

Comme ça, la cuisine est prête pour tout le monde.

kohm SAH, lah kwee-ZEEN eh PREHT poor too luh MOND That keeps the kitchen ready for everyone.

Word by Word

Je “Je” means “I” and is the speaker in “Je peux”, “Je veux”, and “Je vais”. It is placed before the verb to show who is acting or feeling; for example, “Je veux” introduces what the speaker wants.

peux “peux” expresses ability or permission in the question “Je peux laver ma tasse ici ?”. It is used with an infinitive such as “laver” in the reusable pattern “Je peux + infinitive” to ask whether an action is possible or allowed.

laver “laver” means “to wash” in “laver ma tasse”. It is an infinitive after “peux” and takes the thing being washed as its object, here “ma tasse”; this pattern is useful for talking about washing an object.

ma “ma” means “my” before “tasse” in “ma tasse”. It identifies the cup as belonging to or being associated with the speaker, and it comes directly before the noun it describes.

tasse “tasse” means “cup” in “laver ma tasse”. It is the object of “laver”, so the phrase specifies what the speaker wants to wash; the same noun can be used after an action that involves a cup.

ici “ici” means “here” and identifies the place where the speaker asks to wash the cup. It appears at the end of “Je peux laver ma tasse ici ?”, and it can be placed after an action to specify the location.

Utilise “Utilise” means “use” in the direct instruction “Utilise l'évier à gauche.” It addresses one familiar person and comes before the thing to use, here “l'évier”; this is a practical pattern for giving a simple instruction.

l'évier “l'évier” means “the sink” in “Utilise l'évier à gauche”. The form identifies a specific sink, and “l'” is used before the vowel sound at the beginning of “évier”; it is the object of “Utilise”.

à “à” helps form the location expression “à gauche”, meaning “on the left” here. In this expression it connects the location with the sink, and “à” is commonly used before a place or position.

gauche “gauche” means “left” in “à gauche”. Together with “à”, it tells the listener which side to use; the expression can be placed after a noun to identify its position.

veux “veux” expresses wanting in “Je veux garder l'espace propre”. With “Je”, it states what the speaker wants to do, followed by the infinitive “garder”; “Je veux + infinitive” is a reusable way to express a wish or intention.

garder “garder” means “keep” or “maintain” in “garder l'espace propre”. It follows “veux” as an infinitive and takes “l'espace” as its object, while “propre” describes the condition to maintain.

l'espace “l'espace” means “the space” in “garder l'espace propre”. It is the place the speaker wants to maintain, and “l'” is used before the vowel sound at the beginning of “espace”; it can follow an action that affects a shared area.

propre “propre” means “clean” in “garder l'espace propre”. It describes the condition of “l'espace” after the action, so “garder ... propre” expresses maintaining something in a clean state.

S'il te plaît “S'il te plaît” is the whole polite expression meaning “please” in “S'il te plaît, essuie la table”. “S'il” introduces the polite formula, “te” refers to the person being addressed, and “plaît” completes the expression; together they soften the instruction “essuie la table”.

essuie “essuie” means “wipe” in the instruction “essuie la table”. It addresses one familiar person and is followed by the object “la table”; this pattern is useful when asking someone to wipe a surface.

la “la” is the definite article in “la table”, referring to a specific table in the shared kitchen. It comes directly before the noun and helps identify the surface to be wiped.

table “table” means “table” in “essuie la table”. It is the surface that should be wiped, so it follows the instruction and its article; the phrase is useful for giving a cleaning instruction.

quand “quand” means “when” and introduces the time condition in “quand tu as fini”. It links the request to the moment the other person has finished, and it can introduce a clause describing when an action should happen.

tu “tu” means “you” for the person addressed in “tu as fini”. It is the subject of “as fini” and comes before the verb; this form is used when speaking directly to one familiar person.

as “as” means “have” as part of “tu as fini”, which says that the person has finished. Here it works with “fini” to express completed action, not possession; the pattern is “tu as + completed action.”

fini “fini” means “finished” in “tu as fini”. Together with “as”, it expresses that the listener has completed the task, and the whole expression follows “quand” to mark when the table should be wiped.

Les The supplied unit appears as “Les” in “Les déchets” and as “les” in “Mets-les”. In “Les déchets”, it means “the” before “déchets”; in “Mets-les”, it means “them” as the trash being put in the bin. The lowercase form follows the verb because it is attached to the instruction.

déchets “déchets” means “trash” or “waste” in “Les déchets vont dans cette poubelle”. It is what the question is asking about and is connected with its disposal destination, “cette poubelle”.

vont “vont” means “go” in “Les déchets vont dans cette poubelle ?”. Here it asks whether the trash belongs in a particular bin, using “dans” to introduce the destination; this pattern is useful for checking where something should go.

dans “dans” means “in” in “dans cette poubelle”. It marks the bin as the place where the trash goes, and it commonly comes before a container or other location.

cette “cette” means “this” before “poubelle” in “cette poubelle”. It points to one specific bin near the speakers, and it is placed directly before the noun it identifies.

poubelle “poubelle” means “bin” or “trash can” in “cette poubelle” and “la poubelle”. It is the destination for the waste in the question and the specified place in the instruction.

Mets “Mets” means “put” in the instruction “Mets-les dans la poubelle près de la porte”. It addresses one familiar person and is followed by “les”, which refers to the trash; this is a reusable pattern for telling someone where to put something.

près “près” means “near” in “près de la porte”. It gives the position of the bin in relation to the door, and it is used with “de” before the reference point.

de “de” completes the location expression “près de la porte”. It links “near” with the reference point “la porte”; this same preposition is required in the pattern for saying that one thing is near another.

porte “porte” means “door” in “près de la porte”. It is the reference point used to locate the bin, so it follows the expression “près de”.

vais “vais” helps express the speaker’s immediate intention in “Je vais m'en occuper maintenant”. With “Je” and the infinitive expression “m'en occuper”, it means “I am going to take care of it”; “Je vais + infinitive” is a reusable way to state a planned action.

m'en “m'en” refers to the thing or task in “m'en occuper”, which together means “take care of it”. “m'” refers to the speaker as the person taking care of it, while “en” refers back to the task; this combination comes before “occuper” in the expression used here.

occuper “occuper” appears in the expression “m'en occuper”, meaning “take care of it” in this dialogue. Its meaning here comes from the full expression with “m'en”, not from “occuper” alone; the expression is used when someone commits to handling a task.

maintenant “maintenant” means “now” in “Je vais m'en occuper maintenant”. It specifies that the speaker will handle the task immediately, and it can be placed after an action to give its time.

Comme “Comme” contributes to the expression “Comme ça”, which means “that way” here. Together with “ça”, it links the cleaning and sorting actions to the result that follows; the expression is useful for describing the effect of doing something in a certain way.

ça “ça” refers to the actions just described in “Comme ça”, meaning “that way” or “like that”. Its meaning depends on the whole expression with “Comme”, which points to the result of those actions.

cuisine “cuisine” means “kitchen” in “la cuisine est prête”. It is the place being kept ready for everyone, and it is the subject of the description that follows.

est “est” means “is” in “la cuisine est prête”. It links “la cuisine” with the description “prête”, and this pattern is used to describe the current state of a person, place, or thing.

prête “prête” means “ready” in “la cuisine est prête”. It describes the kitchen’s state after the shared cleaning actions, and it follows “est” in the pattern for saying that something is ready.

pour “pour” means “for” in “pour tout le monde”. It marks the people who benefit from or can use the ready kitchen, and it is placed before the person or group concerned.

tout “tout” contributes to the expression “tout le monde”, which means “everyone”. It gives the expression its sense of including all the people concerned; the whole expression is used when referring to a complete group.

le “le” is part of the fixed expression “tout le monde”, meaning “everyone”. It comes before “monde” inside that expression and should be understood together with “tout” and “monde”, rather than as the meaning of the whole expression by itself.

monde “monde” completes the expression “tout le monde”, which means “everyone” in this dialogue. It refers collectively to all the people who use the shared kitchen, and the full expression is used for an entire group of people.

Grammar Points

pouvoir + infinitif

Peux-tu laver la tasse ?

puh-TOO lah-VAY lah TASS

Can you wash the cup?

After pouvoir, the next verb stays in the infinitive: peux + laver.

L'impératif pour donner une consigne

Utilise l'évier, s'il te plaît.

oo-tee-LEEZ lay-VYAY, seel tuh PLAY

Use the sink, please.

The imperative gives a direct instruction and normally omits the subject pronoun.

French Vocabulary

à gauche phrase

ah GOHSH on the left

Utilise l'évier à gauche.

espace noun

eh-SPAHSS space l'espace

Je veux garder l'espace propre.

essuyer verb

eh-SWEE-YAY to wipe essuie

S'il te plaît, essuie la table quand tu as fini.

évier noun

ay-VYAY sink

Utilise l'évier à gauche.

garder verb

gar-DAY to keep

Je veux garder l'espace propre.

laver verb

lah-VAY to wash

Je peux laver ma tasse ici ?

pouvoir verb

poo-VWAR can; to be able to peux

Je peux laver ma tasse ici ?

propre adj

PROH-pr clean

Je veux garder l'espace propre.

s'il te plaît phrase

seel tuh PLAY please

S'il te plaît, essuie la table quand tu as fini.

tasse noun

TASS cup

Je peux laver ma tasse ici ?

utiliser verb

oo-tee-lee-ZAY to use Utilise

Utilise l'évier à gauche.

vouloir verb

voo-LWAR to want veux

Je veux garder l'espace propre.

Quiz

Word Order

Arrange the words in the correct order.

Use the sink on the left.

Show Answer

Utilise l'évier à gauche.

I want to keep the space clean.

Show Answer

Je veux garder l'espace propre.

I will take care of it now.

Show Answer

Je vais m'en occuper maintenant.

Spelling

Tap the letters to spell the word.

cup

Show Answer

tasse

sink

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évier

to wash

Show Answer

laver

to use

Show Answer

Utilise