French phrases for the phone

Learning foreign languages and other subjects in self-study

French for the phone

If you ever have to call somebody and only reach his French-speaking family or roommate, this list of common phrases can save your life. It will allow you to tell them who you are, who you wish to talk to and also understand their response.

Sometimes a female speaker has to use a different wording than a male one in French, just like a woman should say "I'm an actress" and not "I'm an actor" in English. When this is the case, you will find two French equivalents for the English.

Caution: French pronunciation is tricky when you're not used to it.

I would like to provide sound files with every phrase, so if you are a native French speaker and could record these phrases or some of them, your contribution will be greatly appreciated by the users of this site. Please contact me.

English	French
Hello!	Allô!
I am ___ .	Je suis ___ .
I am ___'s friend.	man: Je suis l'ami de ___ . woman: Je suis l'amie de ___ .
I am ___'s work colleague.	man: Je suis le collègue de ___ . woman: Je suis la collègue de ___ .
Can I please speak with ___ ?	Est-ce que je pourrais parler avec ___ , s'il vous plaît ?
He/She is not here.	Il / Elle n'est pas là. Il / Elle n'est pas ici pour le moment.
He/She will return at ___ o'clock.	Il / Elle va rentrer à ___ heures.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12	un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix, onze, douze
in the morning	le matin
in the afternoon	l'après-midi
in the evening	le soir
He/She is busy.	Il est occupé. / Elle est occupée.
I will call back later.	Je rappellerai plus tard.
Please ask him/her to call me back.	Demandez-lui de me rappeler, s'il vous plaît.
Could you call back later?	Pourriez-vous rappeler plus tard?
Yes / No / Okay	Oui / Non / D'accord
Do you speak ___ ?	Est-ce que vous parlez ___ ?
English Arabic Chinese Esperanto French German Italian Russian Spanish	l'anglais l'arabe le chinois l'espéranto le français l'allemand l'italien le russe l'espagnol
Sorry	Pardon
I don't speak ___ .	Je ne parle pas ___ .
I only speak ___ (and ___).	Je ne parle que ___ (et ___ ).
Could you speak more slowly?	Pourriez-vous parler plus lentement?
Could you speak more clearly?	Pourriez-vous parler plus clairement?
Thank you.	Merci beaucoup.
Goodbye.	Au revoir.

Additional pages that might interest you:

Learning French on the internet: tips, tricks and resources
Professional (paid) translations from/to French
Find a tutor who can teach you French
Phone phrases in more languages

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