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How to Say ‘Open your mouth, please.’ in French

Ouvrez la bouche, s'il vous plaît.

oo-vray lah boosh seel eel voo pleh

[oo-vray lah boosh seel eel voo pleh]

Phrase Breakdown

Ouvrez la bouche,

oo-vray lah boosh

Open your mouth,

'Ouvrez' is the polite imperative of 'ouvrir'. Say 'oo-VRAY la BOOSH'. The 'z' of 'ouvrez' is silent here.

Example

Ouvrez la bouche et dites « ah ».

Open your mouth and say 'ah'.

Words in this phrase

Ouvrez

[oo-vray]

open

Imperative verb used by a teacher to tell students to open something.

Example

Le professeur dit « Ouvrez » dans l'instruction « Ouvrez vos livres. »

The teacher says “Open” in the instruction “Open your books.”

[lah]

the

A definite article preceding a noun.

Example

La porte est ouverte.

The door is open.

bouche

[boosh]

mouth

Means 'mouth'.

Example

Ou dans la bouche, juste après avoir tenu la tête ?

Or in the mouth, right after holding the head?

s'il vous plaît.

seel eel voo pleh

please.

This is the polite form of 'please'. Say it smoothly as 'seel voo PLEH'.

Example

Asseyez-vous, s'il vous plaît.

Sit down, please.

Words in this phrase

[seel]

Part of the fixed polite expression s'il te plaît.

Example

S'il y a une table libre, on peut s'asseoir.

If there’s a free table, we can sit down.

[eel]

Impersonal subject used for weather expressions.

Example

Aujourd'hui, il fait beau.

Today, the weather is nice.

vous

[voo]

to you

Indirect object pronoun: the person receiving something.

Example

Je vous donne la monnaie.

I give you the change.

plaît

[pleh]

pleases

From plaire; means is pleasing to or is liked by someone.

Example

J'espère que ce cadeau vous plaît.

I hope you like this gift.

Guides for French learners

The Most Common French Verbs: the 20 You'll Actually UseThe 20 most common French verbs, with the present-tense forms you need, real example sentences with native audio, and two shortcuts for past and future.Ordering in French: Cafés, Bakeries and Restaurants (with Menu Vocabulary)How to order in French at a café, a bakery and a restaurant: the phrases, the questions staff ask, and the menu and food vocabulary to understand the answers.

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