Module 5 of 8
Staying in the conversation
The four phrases that stop you switching back to English.
What ends most beginner conversations is not a grammar failure. It is the two seconds after you did not catch something, when the silence gets uncomfortable and you switch to English — and the exchange stops being French practice. The phrases that prevent this are worth more than any vocabulary list: Je ne comprends pas, Répétez s'il vous plaît, Plus lentement s'il vous plaît, Excusez-moi.
They work because they give the other person an instruction. A blank look produces the same sentence again at the same speed; Plus lentement produces a slower one. Used early they also set the frame honestly — you are learning, the person in front of you now knows it, and most people adjust willingly once told. The skill this module teaches is staying inside a conversation you are not fully understanding, which is the ordinary condition of the first six months rather than a sign that something has gone wrong.
Played by your device’s own French voice. It is a synthetic voice, not a recording of a teacher — close enough to learn the shape of a word, not close enough to copy exactly.
- Je ne comprends pas.I do not understand.
- Répétez, s'il vous plaît.Please repeat that.
- Plus lentement, s'il vous plaît.More slowly, please.
- Excusez-moi.Excuse me.
- S'il vous plaît.Please.
- Merci beaucoup.Thank you very much.
- Oui.Yes.
- Non.No.
Not understanding is the normal state at this level, not a failure. Four phrases keep you in the conversation instead of ending it in English.