Booking and tidying a shared office room | Learn French in English

French lesson set in a contemporary Paris everyday setting: In a shared office, two adults discuss booking a quiet room, adding it to the calendar, and leaving it tidy..

EN → FR / Level: A2

About This Lesson

Use Booking and tidying a shared office room to practice French conversation, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and quizzes.

Dialogue

A

J'ai besoin d'une salle calme pour un appel.

zhay buh-ZWAN dun SAHL KAHLM poor uhn ah-PEL I need a quiet room for a call.
B

Vérifie d'abord le calendrier du bureau partagé.

veh-ree-FEE dah-BOR luh kah-lahn-dree-AY dew bew-ROH par-tah-ZHAY Check the shared office calendar first.
A

La petite salle semble libre cet après-midi.

lah puh-TEET sahl SAHMB lEEBR seh-tah-preh-mee-DEE The small room looks available this afternoon.
B

Ajoute la réservation au calendrier avant de l'utiliser.

ah-ZHOOT lah ray-zer-vah-SYON oh kah-lahn-dree-AY ah-VAHN duh lee-tee-lee-ZAY Add the booking to the calendar before you use it.
A

Est-ce que je dois faire quelque chose après l'appel ?

ess kuh zhuh DWAH fair kel-kuh SHOHZ ah-PREH lah-PEL Should I do anything after the call?
B

Range le bureau et emporte tes affaires avec toi.

RAHNZH luh bew-ROH ay ahn-PORT tay zah-FAIR ah-VEK TWAH Clear the desk and take your things with you.
A

Je laisserai la salle en ordre avant de partir.

zhuh less-RAY lah SAHL ahn ORDR ah-VAHN duh par-TEER I'll leave it tidy before I go.
B

Cela aide la personne suivante à commencer sans problème.

suh-LAH ed lah pair-SON swee-VAHNT ah koh-mahn-SAY sahn proh-BLEHM That helps the next person get started smoothly.

Word by Word

J'ai In J'ai besoin de..., J'ai helps express “I need.” It is the first-person form of avoir used in this expression, and J'ai besoin de... is a reusable way to state a need.
besoin In J'ai besoin d'une salle..., besoin means “need.” It appears in the construction avoir besoin de + noun, as in J'ai besoin d'une salle.
d'une In J'ai besoin d'une salle..., d'une means “of a” and introduces the thing that is needed. It is de combined with une before the feminine noun salle.
salle salle means “room” here, specifically the quiet room needed for the call. It is used in the phrase salle calme to identify the room and describe it.
calme calme describes the salle as quiet. In salle calme, it gives the quality required of the room; this pattern places the description after the noun.
pour pour introduces the purpose in pour un appel, meaning “for a call.” A reliable reuse pattern is pour + noun to state what something is intended for.
un un marks an unspecified singular noun in un appel, meaning “a call.” It introduces the call that is the purpose of the room.
appel appel means “call” here, referring to the call for which the room is needed. The expression pour un appel identifies the purpose of the room.
Vérifie Vérifie gives the direct instruction “check” in Vérifie d'abord le calendrier. It is the instruction form of vérifier, followed here by the thing to check.
d'abord d'abord means “first” and places the checking before the other actions. In Vérifie d'abord..., it is a reusable way to put one step at the beginning of a sequence.
le le marks the specific calendar in le calendrier. It appears before the masculine noun calendrier to refer to a known calendar.
calendrier calendrier means “calendar” here, the shared office calendar used to check availability and record the booking. It appears as le calendrier du bureau partagé.
du du means “of the” in du bureau partagé and connects the calendar with the shared office. It is the combination of de and le.
bureau bureau means “office” in bureau partagé, but it means “desk” in Range le bureau later in the dialogue. The surrounding words determine which meaning is intended.
partagé partagé describes the bureau as shared in bureau partagé. Together, bureau partagé identifies an office used by more than one person.
La La means “the” before petite salle and identifies the specific room being considered. Its capital letter is due to its position at the start of the sentence; the same article can appear as la elsewhere.
petite petite means “small” and describes the salle in petite salle. It is the form of petit used with this feminine noun.
semble semble means “seems” or “looks” in semble libre, presenting the room’s availability as an observation rather than a confirmed booking. It is the dialogue form of sembler and is reusable before a description such as libre.
libre libre means “available” here, referring to a room that appears unbooked. In semble libre, it describes the room’s apparent availability.
cet cet means “this” in cet après-midi and points to the afternoon in question. It is used before this masculine time expression beginning with a vowel sound.
après-midi après-midi means “afternoon” in cet après-midi. This expression identifies when the small room seems to be available.
Ajoute Ajoute gives the direct instruction “add” in Ajoute la réservation au calendrier. It is the instruction form of ajouter and is followed by the item being added.
réservation réservation means “booking” or “reservation” here, the booking that must be recorded in the calendar. In Ajoute la réservation au calendrier, it is the item being added.
au au means “to the” in au calendrier and marks the calendar as the destination of the booking. It combines à and le.
avant avant means “before” and sets the earlier action in avant de l'utiliser. The reusable construction avant de + infinitive expresses that one action happens before another.
de de in avant de l'utiliser introduces the infinitive l'utiliser after avant. Together, avant de l'utiliser means “before using it.”
l'utiliser l'utiliser means “use it” in avant de l'utiliser, with l' referring to the room in this context. It combines the object pronoun l' with the infinitive utiliser.
Est-ce Est-ce begins Est-ce que, the question structure used to ask whether the speaker should do something. The meaning comes from the full structure Est-ce que, not from Est-ce alone.
que que completes Est-ce que and links the question opener to the statement je dois faire quelque chose. Together, Est-ce que introduces a yes-or-no question.
je je, also written Je at the start of a sentence, means “I” and marks the speaker as the subject. It appears in je dois and Je laisserai.
dois dois in je dois faire expresses “should” or “must” in the question. It is the first-person form of devoir and is followed here by the infinitive faire.
faire faire means “do” in faire quelque chose and is the infinitive following dois. The reusable pattern je dois faire... expresses an action the speaker may be required to do.
quelque chose quelque chose means “something” as a whole. In this expression, quelque indicates an unspecified item and chose means “thing”; together they form an indefinite expression, as in faire quelque chose.
après après means “after” in après l'appel and places the action after the call. It can be reused before a noun to establish a later time.
l'appel l'appel means “the call” in après l'appel. The l' is the shortened form of le before the vowel sound at the start of appel.
Range Range gives the direct instruction to clear or tidy the desk in Range le bureau. It is the instruction form of ranger and is followed by the thing to be put in order.
et et means “and” and joins the two instructions Range le bureau and emporte tes affaires avec toi. It connects actions that should both be carried out.
emporte emporte instructs the other person to take or carry away their things in emporte tes affaires avec toi. It is the instruction form of emporter and is followed by the object being taken.
tes tes means “your” and marks affaires as belonging to the person being addressed. It is placed before the plural noun tes affaires.
affaires affaires means “things” or “belongings” here, referring to the personal items that should be taken from the desk. The phrase tes affaires identifies whose things they are.
avec avec means “with” in avec toi and marks accompaniment. It combines with the pronoun toi to express taking the belongings along with the person addressed.
toi toi means “you” after the preposition avec, so avec toi means “with you.” This stressed pronoun is used after avec to identify the person accompanying the action.
laisserai laisserai means “will leave” in Je laisserai la salle en ordre. It is the first-person future form of laisser and expresses the speaker’s planned action.
en en in en ordre is part of the expression meaning “in order” or “tidy.” It helps describe the state in which the room will be left.
ordre ordre in en ordre refers to an orderly, tidy state rather than to an instruction. The phrase laisser la salle en ordre means to leave the room tidy.
partir partir means “leave” or “go” in avant de partir. It is the infinitive used after avant de to state what happens later.
Cela Cela means “that” or “this” and refers here to leaving the room tidy. It acts as the subject of Cela aide and points back to the preceding action.
aide aide means “helps” in Cela aide la personne suivante à commencer sans problème. It is the third-person form of aider and is followed by the person helped and à + infinitive.
personne personne means “person” in la personne suivante, referring to the next person who will use the room. It is described by suivante.
suivante suivante means “next” or “following” in la personne suivante. It is the feminine form used with personne and identifies the person who comes after the current user.
à à in aide la personne suivante à commencer introduces the action that the next person is helped to do. The reusable pattern is aider quelqu'un à + infinitive.
commencer commencer means “start” or “begin” in à commencer. It is the infinitive after à and describes the next person beginning their work.
sans sans means “without” in sans problème and indicates the absence of difficulty. The reusable pattern sans + noun expresses what is absent.
problème problème means “problem” in sans problème, so the full expression means “without a problem” or “smoothly.” It describes the next person’s ability to get started without difficulty.

Grammar Points

avant de + infinitif

Avant de partir, je dois ranger mes affaires.

ah-VAHN duh par-TEER, zhuh DWAH rahn-ZHAY may zah-FAIR

Before leaving, I must tidy my things.

Use avant de before an infinitive when the subject stays the same in both actions.

devoir + infinitif

Je dois vérifier le calendrier.

zhuh DWAH veh-ree-FYAY luh kah-lahn-dree-AY

I must check the calendar.

Devoir followed by an infinitive expresses obligation or something that should be done.

French Vocabulary

appel noun
ah-PEL call

pour un appel

besoin noun
buh-ZWAN need

J'ai besoin d'une salle calme.

bureau noun
bew-ROH office; desk

le bureau partagé

calendrier noun
kah-lahn-dree-AY calendar

le calendrier du bureau partagé

calme adj
KAHLM quiet

une salle calme

d'abord adv
dah-BOR first

Vérifie d'abord le calendrier.

libre adj
LEEBR available; free

La petite salle semble libre.

partagé adj
par-tah-ZHAY shared

le bureau partagé

petit adj
puh-TEE small petite

La petite salle semble libre.

salle noun
SAHL room

J'ai besoin d'une salle calme.

sembler verb
sahm-BLAY to seem; to look semble

La petite salle semble libre.

vérifier verb
veh-ree-FYAY to check Vérifie

Vérifie d'abord le calendrier.

Quiz

Spelling

Tap the letters to spell the word.

call

Show Answerappel

room

Show Answersalle

office; desk

Show Answerbureau

need

Show Answerbesoin