Feelings, energy, and simple problems

Explain how you feel, what is going wrong, and what kind of help you need in everyday situations.

Manage a short health and everyday communication exchange with a clear opening, a useful detail, and a calm closing line.
Use simple feeling statements and problem explanations without overbuilding the sentence.
Turn the reading and dialogue on health and everyday communication into one guided spoken answer and one short personal written response.

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Fatigué, content, stressé — and the avoir states: avoir faim, avoir froid, avoir besoin de. Saying how you feel, simply and correctly.

Grammar focus: The verb avoir (to have) and its everyday expressions. Work through the explanations and tables below, study the real examples, then lock the structures in with the interactive drills, the writing task, and the speaking task.

Grammar focus

The verb avoir (to have) and its everyday expressions

Avoir means « to have », but French also uses it where English uses « to be »: for age (J'ai 25 ans), hunger (J'ai faim), thirst (J'ai soif), and being right or cold. Mastering avoir early unlocks dozens of daily sentences.

Fixed avoir expressions

These expressions never use être, even though English says « to be ». They cover physical states (faim, soif, chaud, froid, sommeil), judgments (raison, tort), feelings (peur, envie), and needs (besoin de). Because they are noun-based, they intensify with très only indirectly: say j'ai très faim — never « je suis très faim ».

Avoir expressions

French	English
avoir … ans — J'ai 30 ans.	to be … years old
avoir faim — Nous avons faim.	to be hungry
avoir soif — Tu as soif ?	to be thirsty
avoir chaud / froid — Elle a froid.	to be hot / cold
avoir besoin de — J'ai besoin d'aide.	to need
avoir raison / tort — Vous avez raison.	to be right / wrong

avoir — to have

	Présent
je	ai
tu	as
il/elle	a
nous	avons
vous	avez
ils/elles	ont

Examples

J'ai deux sœurs.I have two sisters.
Tu as quel âge ?How old are you?
Il a 25 ans.He is 25 years old.
Nous avons faim.We are hungry.
Vous avez une question ?Do you have a question?
Elles ont froid.They are cold.
J'ai besoin d'un stylo.I need a pen.

Watch out

Using être for age, hunger, or thirst ("Je suis faim").

Use avoir: J'ai faim, j'ai soif, j'ai 20 ans.

These are fixed avoir expressions in French; être here is a direct anglicism.

Confusing a (has) and à (to/at) in writing.

a = form of avoir (Il a un chien); à = preposition (à Paris).

The accent is the only visible difference and changes the meaning completely.

Forgetting the liaison in nous avons / vous avez / ils ont.

Pronounce the s/t link: nous‿avons "noo-za-von", ils‿ont "il-zon".

Without the liaison, ils ont (they have) sounds like ils sont (they are).

Grammar and usage

Treat simple feeling statements and problem explanations as a reusable frame for health and everyday communication, not as a rule to memorize in isolation.
Keep the first health and everyday communication sentence short enough that the main message is still obvious before you add a second detail.
If the feelings, energy, and simple problems line becomes unstable, return to the shortest useful version and rebuild it with one controlled change.

Pronunciation

Read one short model line for health and everyday communication slowly enough that the key chunk stays connected from start to finish.
Repeat the strongest feelings, energy, and simple problems sentence twice: first for clarity, then for a smoother rhythm.
Keep the mouth rhythm calm while you practise health and everyday communication; speed is much less important than reuse at this stage.

Vocabulary

la douleur
pain
le médicament
medicine
le médecin
doctor
la pharmacie
pharmacy
avec
with
sans
without
d'abord
first
ensuite
then
souvent
often
ensemble
together
parce que
because
tout de suite
right away

Dialogue

Patient

J'ai une douleur depuis hier et je cherche un médicament simple.

I have had a pain since yesterday and I'm looking for a simple medicine.

Pharmacienne

D'accord. Je vais vous poser quelques questions avant de vous conseiller.

All right. I'll ask you a few questions before advising you.

Coach

Aujourd'hui, on réutilise la douleur et le médicament dans une petite scène de cours.

Today, we reuse la douleur and le medicament in a short classroom scene.

Learner

Je commence avec une phrase courte, puis j'ajoute un détail simple pour rendre la réponse plus utile.

I start with a short sentence, then I add one simple detail to make the answer more useful.

Coach

Très bien. Garde la structure stable et vérifie si chaque mot a une fonction claire.

Very good. Keep the structure stable and check that every word has a clear function.

Learner

D'accord. Je répète encore la phrase, puis je la change légèrement pour parler de ma propre situation.

All right. I repeat the sentence again, then I change it slightly to talk about my own situation.

Reading

Guided reading: Feelings, energy, and simple problems

Le langage de la sante au quotidien reste pratique et limite. Il permet de décrire un problème simple, de dire depuis quand il dure, de comprendre une recommandation et de suivre une petite demarche à la pharmacie ou chez le médecin.

Dans cette scène, l'apprenant avance pas à pas autour de ce sujet. Il relit les expressions la douleur, le médicament, le médecin, la pharmacie et il les replace dans une situation très simple pour comprendre comment les mots servent dans un vrai échange.

Ensuite, il vérifie la consigne, il choisit une phrase utile et il la transforme légèrement pour parler de sa propre vie. Cette petite adaptation montre que la leçon n'est pas seulement comprise, mais déjà réutilisable dans une tâche personnelle.

What can A2 health language help a learner do?
Why does health language stay practical and limited at this level?

Practice studio

Turn this lesson into active recall: drill the vocabulary with spaced repetition, then test yourself on meaning and comprehension.

Writing task

Write a short paragraph (4-6 sentences) in French about feelings, energy, and simple problems, reusing at least two expressions from this lesson. Keep the response short but complete: start clearly, add one detail, and end with one useful closing or follow-up line.

0 words0 / 12 target words used

la douleur
le médicament
le médecin
la pharmacie
avec
sans
d'abord
ensuite
souvent
ensemble
parce que
tout de suite

Speaking task

Prepare a short spoken answer (30-45 seconds) in French about feelings, energy, and simple problems, reusing at least two expressions from this lesson. Keep the response short but complete: start clearly, add one detail, and end with one useful closing or follow-up line.

Practice and drills

Pattern transfer

Take the model « Vous avez une question ? » (Do you have a question?) and change one detail — person, place, time, or object — so the sentence is true for you. Keep the structure intact.
Take the model « J'ai besoin d'un stylo. » (I need a pen.) and change one detail — person, place, time, or object — so the sentence is true for you. Keep the structure intact.
Take the model « Elles ont froid. » (They are cold.) and change one detail — person, place, time, or object — so the sentence is true for you. Keep the structure intact.
Write your adapted sentences down, then read each one aloud twice: once slowly for accuracy, once at natural speed.

Active recall

Close the lesson and write the three structures you just studied, each in one fresh example of your own.
Run the exercises in the practice studio below until you score at least 80 %.
Tomorrow, before the next lesson, redo only the items you missed today.

Production

Do the writing task below in one sitting, without a dictionary on the first draft; allow yourself one revision pass afterwards.
Record yourself doing the speaking task, listen once, and redo only the sentence that broke down.
Compare your output against the answer key, then read the corrected versions aloud once so the repair becomes active.

Answer key

Exercise 1: avez — avoir (Présent) : vous avez
Exercise 2: avez — Vous avez une question ?
Exercise 3: ont — Elles ont froid.
Exercise 4: avons — Nous avons faim.
Exercise 5: ai — avoir (Présent) : je ai
Exercise 6: besoin — J'ai besoin d'un stylo.
Exercise 7: as — Tu as quel âge ?
Exercise 8: ai — J'ai deux sœurs.
Quiz — Pick the French for “medicine”. → le medicament. « le medicament » means “medicine”.
Quiz — How do you say “pharmacy” in French? → la pharmacie. « la pharmacie » means “pharmacy”.
Quiz — Which French expression means “doctor”? → le médecin. « le médecin » means “doctor”.
Quiz — Which French expression means “pain”? → la douleur. « la douleur » means “pain”.

Common mistakes and repair

Using être for age, hunger, or thirst ("Je suis faim").

Use avoir: J'ai faim, j'ai soif, j'ai 20 ans.

These are fixed avoir expressions in French; être here is a direct anglicism.

Confusing a (has) and à (to/at) in writing.

a = form of avoir (Il a un chien); à = preposition (à Paris).

The accent is the only visible difference and changes the meaning completely.

Forgetting the liaison in nous avons / vous avez / ils ont.

Pronounce the s/t link: nous‿avons "noo-za-von", ils‿ont "il-zon".

Without the liaison, ils ont (they have) sounds like ils sont (they are).

Review and next steps

The verb avoir (to have) and its everyday expressions — watch for: Using être for age, hunger, or thirst ("Je suis faim"). Fix: Use avoir: J'ai faim, j'ai soif, j'ai 20 ans.
Before the next lesson, rebuild « J'ai deux sœurs. » from its English (I have two sisters.) without looking, then check every ending and accent.
Second check — Confusing a (has) and à (to/at) in writing. Fix: a = form of avoir (Il a un chien); à = preposition (à Paris).

Coaching notes

Finish one full beginner attempt on health and everyday communication before checking support notes or the answer key.
Keep one corrected feelings, energy, and simple problems model sentence and reuse it aloud at the end of the lesson.
If the health and everyday communication task feels hard, shorten the answer rather than abandoning the frame entirely.

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