Words you need to find proper housing

What's a "bail" in French? What's the difference between a "salon" and a "salle à manger"? How to describe the style of an apartment? TV5 Monde offers a few exercises to help you find a comfy apartment and nice neighbours!

Four walls and a roof

When you arrive in a new country, you always start by looking for a place to drop your luggage. But it's often not easy to find four walls suitable to become your little nest for a few months, years or even more. Several visits of "appartements" (apartments) or "maisons" (houses) will be needed before finding the ideal "logement" (housing): don't lose track of things and be sure to perfectly know the name of the different rooms of a house thanks to these exercises.

If you want to criticize, try not to offend the landlord of the current tenant: after all, the style of an interior decoration is entirely subjective. Diplomacy is necessary in a real estate negotiation: this is what this "locataire" (tenant) will explain. Convincing the propriétaire" (landlord) or the "agents immobiliers" (real estate agent) that you will be able to pay the "loyer" (rent) is no easy task.

Home sweet home, happy neighbours

But you've been lucky enough: papers are signed, you have the keys. Time to move in. To help you during this step, you can count on French singer Florent Pagny and his song "Ma liberté de penser". You will find in this song all the vocabulary needed to move in your new home.

Time to meet your neighbours! In order not to fail your first contact, you can test what you know before meeting them. If the conversation is good, you can use what you've learned here to invite them to dinner! These few advice will prove useful to be a proper host.

Photo credit: © Stephanie Killgast