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How to Say ‘I went to the seaside.’ in French

Je suis allée à la mer.

zhuh swee ah-LAY ah lah mair

[zhuh swee ah-LAY ah lah mair]

Phrase Breakdown

Je suis allée

zhuh swee ah-LAY

I went

Link 'suis' and 'allée' with a 'z' sound: 'swee-za-LAY'.

Example

Je suis allée à Paris.

I went to Paris.

Words in this phrase

[zhuh]

Pronoun used by the speaker to identify themselves.

Example

Je suis content.

I am happy.

suis

[swee]

have (auxiliary)

Form of 'être' used as a helper verb to form the past tense of movement verbs.

Example

Je suis parti tôt.

I left early.

allée

[ah-LAY]

went

Feminine past participle of 'aller'; the extra -e agrees with a female speaker.

Example

Elle est allée au cinéma.

She went to the cinema.

à la mer.

ah lah mair

to the seaside.

'À' means 'to'. Finish with a falling tone because this is a statement.

Example

J'adore aller à la mer.

I love going to the seaside.

Words in this phrase

[ah]

Used with infinitive verbs to indicate purpose.

Example

Elle commence à chanter.

She begins to sing.

[lah]

the

A definite article preceding a noun.

Example

La porte est ouverte.

The door is open.

mer

[mair]

sea

Feminine noun for the sea or ocean.

Example

La mer est calme ce matin.

The sea is calm this morning.

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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