French Lesson | Nirécol

Invitations and simple plans

Invite someone, accept or refuse politely, and suggest a basic time or place.

Place invitations and plans inside a simple timeline that the listener can follow easily.
Use invitation phrases and simple planning language to keep time, order, or routine markers stable.
Produce one short reading response, one speaking answer, and one writing task that all stay on the same invitations and plans topic.

Listening lab: slow transcripts for beginners

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Ça te dit de… ? On va… ? Making plans uses the near future — aller + infinitive — the easiest and most spoken future in French.

Grammar focus: The near future: aller + infinitive. Work through the explanations and tables below, hear the structures in the dialogue, then lock them in with the interactive drills, the writing task, and the speaking task.

Grammar focus

The near future: aller + infinitive

The easiest way to talk about the future: conjugate aller and add an infinitive. Je vais manger (I am going to eat), nous allons partir demain (we are going to leave tomorrow). In conversation, this form covers most future needs at A1–A2.

Using it well

Add time markers to anchor the plan: ce soir, demain, la semaine prochaine, le week-end prochain, dans deux jours (in two days). The negation wraps aller: Je ne vais pas sortir ce soir. With reflexive verbs, the pronoun matches the subject and sits before the infinitive: Je vais me coucher tôt.

demain matin / demain soir = tomorrow morning / evening.
la semaine prochaine, le mois prochain, l'année prochaine.
dans + duration = in (from now): dans une heure, dans trois jours.

Examples

Je vais visiter le Louvre demain.I am going to visit the Louvre tomorrow.
Nous allons déménager le mois prochain.We are going to move next month.
Elle va prendre le train de huit heures.She is going to take the eight o'clock train.
Ils ne vont pas venir ce soir.They are not going to come tonight.
Tu vas te coucher à quelle heure ?What time are you going to go to bed?
On va partir dans une heure.We are going to leave in an hour.

Watch out

Conjugating the second verb: « Je vais mange ».

Aller + infinitive: Je vais manger.

Only aller conjugates; the action verb stays in the infinitive.

Using « en » for « in two days »: « en deux jours ».

dans deux jours = two days from now; en deux jours = it takes two days.

Dans counts from now; en measures duration — different meanings.

Forgetting the pronoun with reflexives: « Je vais coucher tôt ».

Je vais me coucher tôt.

Coucher without the pronoun means putting someone else to bed.

Grammar and usage

Treat invitation phrases and simple planning language as a reusable frame for invitations and plans, not as a rule to memorize in isolation.
Keep the first invitations and plans sentence short enough that the main message is still obvious before you add a second detail.
If the invitations and simple plans line becomes unstable, return to the shortest useful version and rebuild it with one controlled change.

Pronunciation

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

Vocabulary

tu veux
do you want
avec plaisir
with pleasure
desole
sorry
on se retrouve
let us meet
inviter
to invite
accepter
to accept
refuser
to refuse
disponible
available
avec
with
sans
without
d'abord
first
ensuite
then
souvent
often
ensemble
together
parce que
because
tout de suite
right away

Dialogue

Léa

Salut Hugo ! Tu es libre samedi soir ?

Hi Hugo! Are you free Saturday evening?

Hugo

Samedi ? Oui, pourquoi ?

Saturday? Yes, why?

Léa

Ça te dit d'aller au cinéma ? Il y a le nouveau film de Dupieux.

Do you fancy going to the cinema? The new Dupieux film is on.

Hugo

Bonne idée ! À quelle heure ?

Good idea! At what time?

Léa

La séance est à vingt heures trente, au Rex.

The showing is at 8:30 p.m., at the Rex.

Hugo

Parfait. On se retrouve devant à vingt heures et quart ?

Perfect. Shall we meet outside at a quarter past eight?

Léa

Ça marche. On peut manger une crêpe avant, si tu veux.

Works for me. We can have a crêpe before, if you like.

Hugo

Avec plaisir ! À samedi alors.

With pleasure! See you Saturday then.

Reading

Plan message

Ines invite un ami a sortir après le travail.

Ils choisissent un lieu et une heure avec des phrases courtes.

Les invitations demandent une langue simple mais sociale: proposer, accepter, refuser avec tact, puis organiser les détails. Ce thème est utile parce qu'il combine politesse, temps, lieux et petites negociations.

Dans cette scène, l'apprenant avance pas à pas autour de invitations et plans. Il relit les expressions tu veux, avec plaisir, desole, on se retrouve 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 legerement pour parler de sa propre vie. Cette petite adaptation montre que la leçon n'est pas seulement comprise, mais déjà reusable dans une tâche personnelle.

What does Ines suggest?
Which two planning details do they choose?
Which actions are part of a simple invitation exchange?
Why does invitation language combine several useful beginner skills?

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 invitation message and one reply. Keep the response short but complete: start clearly, add one detail, and end with one useful closing or follow-up line.

0 words0 / 16 target words used

tu veux
avec plaisir
desole
on se retrouve
inviter
accepter
refuser
disponible
avec
sans
d'abord
ensuite
souvent
ensemble
parce que
tout de suite

Speaking task

Invite someone and agree on a time and place. 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 « Je vais visiter le Louvre demain. » (I am going to visit the Louvre tomorrow.) and change one detail — person, place, time, or object — so the sentence is true for you. Keep the structure intact.
Take the model « On va partir dans une heure. » (We are going to leave in an hour.) and change one detail — person, place, time, or object — so the sentence is true for you. Keep the structure intact.
Take the model « Ils ne vont pas venir ce soir. » (They are not going to come tonight.) 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.

Dialogue work

Read the dialogue « Une invitation au cinéma » aloud, taking one role; switch roles on the second pass.
Hide the French side and rebuild each line from the English translation, then compare with the original.
Pick the two most useful lines of the dialogue and memorize them as ready-made blocks.

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: dans — On va partir dans une heure.
Exercise 2: vais — Je vais visiter le Louvre demain.
Exercise 3: te — Tu vas te coucher à quelle heure ?
Exercise 4: allons — Nous allons déménager le mois prochain.
Exercise 5: vont — Ils ne vont pas venir ce soir.
Exercise 6: prendre — Elle va prendre le train de huit heures.
Quiz — Which phrase does Léa use to suggest the cinema? → « Ça te dit d'aller au cinéma ? ». Ça te dit de + infinitive = do you fancy…? — the friendly invitation frame.
Quiz — When do they meet? → At 8:15 p.m. in front of the cinema. On se retrouve devant à vingt heures et quart = outside at 8:15.
Quiz — How do you say “to refuse” in French? → refuser. « refuser » means “to refuse”.
Quiz — Which French expression means “let us meet”? → on se retrouve. « on se retrouve » means “let us meet”.

Common mistakes and repair

Conjugating the second verb: « Je vais mange ».

Aller + infinitive: Je vais manger.

Only aller conjugates; the action verb stays in the infinitive.

Using « en » for « in two days »: « en deux jours ».

dans deux jours = two days from now; en deux jours = it takes two days.

Dans counts from now; en measures duration — different meanings.

Forgetting the pronoun with reflexives: « Je vais coucher tôt ».

Je vais me coucher tôt.

Coucher without the pronoun means putting someone else to bed.

Review and next steps

The near future: aller + infinitive — watch for: Conjugating the second verb: « Je vais mange ». Fix: Aller + infinitive: Je vais manger.
Before the next lesson, rebuild « Je vais visiter le Louvre demain. » from its English (I am going to visit the Louvre tomorrow.) without looking, then check every ending and accent.
Second check — Using « en » for « in two days »: « en deux jours ». Fix: dans deux jours = two days from now; en deux jours = it takes two days.

Coaching notes

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

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