English to French: A1 patterns
Practice one useful pattern.
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New pattern
French: asking for help politely
A polite question can ask someone directly for help.
Ready to start.
Ask someone politely if they can help you.
Model answerPouvez-vous m’aider ?
How this works
Pouvez-vous is a polite “can you?” question. The action comes after it in the infinitive: aider, to help. In m’aider, m’ means “me” and sits before the action.
Build it piece by piece
- Pouvez-vous
- Can you (polite/plural)
- m’aider
- help me
- me montrer
- show me
- l’entrée
- the entrance
Me becomes m’ before a vowel sound: me + aider → m’aider.
Worked example
Ask whether someone can show you the entrance.
Pouvez-vous me montrer l’entrée ?
Compare this with the model above. Notice what stayed the same and what changed. Read both aloud before continuing; this part is for learning, not scoring.
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