Where do you live?' This is a question that the French like to ask. Usually, your answer will be completed with a short description of where you live. In this lesson, we'll learn how to answer this question and to give a short description of your town or village in French.
I Live In...
The nice woman sitting next to you in the train station asks, Où habitez-vous? (Where do you live?). You have been chitchatting with her for a few minutes while waiting for your train to arrive. This question is commonly asked by the French and is not considered rude. Here's how you might answer:
You: J'habite à Philadelphie. (I live in Philadelphia.)
Madame X: Est-ce que c'est une belle ville? (Is it a beautiful town?)
It's common for your talking partner to ask for more details about a town they know little to nothing about. In our example above, the woman would like to know if Philadelphia is beautiful. How would you describe the city? Which details do you include? Which adjectives do you use? Let's find out!
Common Location Descriptions
When describing a town or village, there are several descriptions you can use. Let's work through these descriptions by type.
Size
First, we can use size to describe a town or village. Aside from using the adjectives grand(e) (big) or petit(e) (small), you can also state the number of inhabitants. For example:
Ma ville est grande. Il y a 500,000 d'habitants. (My town is big. There are 500,000 inhabitants.)
C'est un petit village. Il y a 2,000 d'habitants. (It's a small village. There are 2,000 inhabitants.)
Have you noticed that the adjective follows the gender of the noun? Ville is a feminine word, whereas village is masculine.
Ville Village Meaning
une grande ville un grand village a big town/a big village
une petite ville un petit village a small town/a small village
When we want to say the number of inhabitants, we can use il y a, which means 'there is.'
Natural Landscape
You can also talk about the nature surrounding your hometown. What kind of natural features do you have in your town or village?
Il y a une grande rivière dans ma ville. C'est la Seine. (There's a big river in my town. It's la Seine.)
Il y a beaucoup de montagnes autour de mon village. (There are many mountains surrounding my village.)
C'est une ville au bord de la mer. (It's a town on the seaside.)
You may have noticed that il y a can be very useful when describing your town! We're going to use it again to talk about landmarks.
Landmarks
If there's an interesting monument or landmark in your town, you can use it in your description of your hometown. Let's look at some example sentences:
Il y a une grande statue de Mozart dans ma ville. (There's a big statue of Mozart in my town.)
Nous avons une belle église gothique dans mon village. (We have a beautiful Gothic church in my village.)
Il y a beaucoup de gratte-ciels dans ma grande ville. (There are many skyscrapers in my big city.)
