Restaurant reservations Part 2 (Advanced): Inquiring about parking or valet services.

💬 After pas, un and une turn into de. So un parking becomes pas de parking.

💬 On literally means "one", but in speech it usually means "we". It takes the same verb ending as il.

💬 Voiturier comes from voiture "car", which makes it easy to remember. The final r is silent, so it ends like (vwah-too-ryay).

🇫🇷 Valet parking is mostly found at upscale restaurants in big cities. Most French restaurants have no parking at all, so diners use street parking or a public garage.

💬 Compris usually means "understood", but for prices it means "included". You'll also see service compris on menus.

💬 Payant means something you have to pay for. Its opposite is gratuit "free".

💬 Asking a question this way just means raising your voice at the end. You don't need to change the word order.

💬 The z sound links the two words: (kanz-uh-roh). The s of euros stays silent.

💬 Soirée is the evening as a span of time you spend, while soir is the evening as a point in time. That's why prices are given per soirée.

💬 French gives a price with le or la where English says "per" or "for the". So dix euros la nuit means "ten euros a night".

💬 In everyday speech par contre mostly introduces a catch or a small problem, like "but". Expect bad news to follow it.

💬 Un parking is a false friend: it means a car park, not the act of parking. The describing word privé comes after the noun.

💬 Putting le before a day turns it into "every" that day. Plain vendredi means this coming Friday, but le vendredi means Fridays in general.

💬 Ne ... que means "only", not "not". Wrap it around the verb: Je n'ai que dix euros "I only have ten euros".

🇫🇷 Mince is a mild, polite stand-in for a ruder word. It's perfectly fine to say to a stranger on the phone.

💬 French has its own verb for parking, and se is part of it. With a person it changes: je me gare "I park".

💬 Pour plus a verb's basic form means "to" or "for doing". Swap the verb to reuse the pattern: un endroit pour manger "somewhere to eat".

💬 The d of pied is silent: (ah pyay).

💬 À plus a time gives a distance, so you can say how far a place is. With a car: à cinq minutes en voiture "five minutes by car".

💬 Une heure links smoothly into one sound, roughly (oon-ur). The h is never pronounced.

🇫🇷 Public car parks in French city centres often close overnight. Check the closing time before a late dinner, or your car may be locked in until morning.

💬 Il vaut mieux means "it's better to" and is followed by a verb's basic form. Si il always shrinks to s'il.

💬 Peine usually means "pain" or "trouble", but this whole phrase means "there's no need". Add a verb to reuse it: Ce n'est pas la peine de réserver "No need to book".

🇫🇷 Weekday evenings in France are usually quiet. Restaurants, parking spaces and tables fill up on Friday and Saturday nights.

💬 Il y a means "there is" or "there are". De la means "some", for things you can't count, like space here.

💬 Words like toujours "always" come straight after the verb a, not before it as in English.

💬 Word for word this is "I thank you", with vous sitting before the verb, not after it as in English. Same order with other verbs: je vous appelle "I'm calling you".

🇫🇷 A notch more polished than merci, it suits the end of a phone call with a restaurant where you've asked a few questions.

💬 English treats information as one uncountable thing, but French counts the pieces: ces renseignements is plural. Singular works for one detail, un renseignement "a piece of information".

🇫🇷 This is the polite, slightly formal "you're welcome" you'll hear from restaurant staff. Among friends people say de rien instead.

💬 À plus any day or time makes a goodbye: à samedi "see you Saturday", à ce soir "see you tonight".