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DATING

The chat up lines that might actually bag you a date in France

If you've tried making your move in France, you may have noticed it is far from being a walk in the park. So here's a little helping hand for better French flirting.

The chat up lines that might actually bag you a date in France
The Eiffel tower is illuminated with pink hearts and love messages to mark the Valentine's day in Paris in 2020. (AFP / STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN)

If you’ve just clapped eyes on the woman of your dreams in a French bar, you need to make sure that your approach won’t lead to either dismissive laughter or a slap.

Classic cheesy chat up lines like Tu n’as pas eu mal quand tu es tombée du ciel? (did it hurt when you fell from the sky) are petty unimpressive even in English, but are even less likely to snag you a date with a French lady.

So we’ve asked a selection of our French friends which approaches might make them more inclined to accept a date with a charming English-speaker.

(Hopefully this goes without saying, but if you’re getting nowhere and the lady has made it clear that she is not interested, then please don’t run through this entire list, just gracefully back off and leave her to enjoy her night out.)

Je peux t’offrir un verre?

If you are in bar, Je peux t’offrir un verre? – May I buy you a drink? will be your go-to opening line. Offering someone a drink may be a classic and universal move, but it remains one of the most likely to success approach, even in France. Depending on the time of the day, you may want to suggest having a café instead.

Mes copains m’ont parié que je ne pouvais pas démarrer une conversation avec la plus belle femme du bar. Tu veux boire un coup avec leur argent ?

‘My buddies bet I wouldn’t be able to talk to the most beautiful woman in the bar. Wanna have a drink on them?’ – which is a variant of the usual ‘Je peux t’offrir un verre?’ that might allow to stand out and get a positive answer. 

J’aimerais beaucoup faire ta connaissance.

‘I would really like to get to know you’. Usually following an hello, a ‘J’aimerais beaucoup faire ta connaissance‘ would be ideal if you need a break from more physics-orientated chat-up lines.

Je suis tombé sous ton charme.

‘I fell under your spell.’ This is where it gets serious. Je suis tombé sous ton charme is not a phrase you would use on a regular basis though – save it for someone who really took your breath away.

Tu me fais perdre tout mes moyens.

‘You’re making me lose myself.’ Whether you seem to have lost your ability to speak, cannot think straight, feel like you are being hypnotized, are nervously sweating or all of it at the same time, this is the line for you.  

Tu me fais tourner la tête.

In the words of the famous Edith Piaf in her song Mon Manège à moi, Tu me fais tourner la tête – ‘You’re making my head spin’ means to feel dizzy, as though you were drunk in love. Not to be mistaken with a literal translation which would be to turn somebody’s head.

T’as de beaux yeux, tu sais.

As Jean Gabin said: ‘You have beautiful eyes, you know’. It may not earn you an answer such as an Embrasse-moi – (kiss me) as with Gabin’s co-star Michèle Morgan, but a thoughtful reference to this classic French cinema line will probably be appreciated. The French do use this line figuratively from time to time  – when changing the tone of their voice to impersonate Gabin, it makes it harder to know whether they mean it or are just quoting Quai des Brumes.

Vous venez souvent ici?

‘Do you come here often?’ – Another classic icebreaker, so let’s learn it in French. Though it may not be the most creative or subtle approach, let’s argue that it’s better than not to say anything.

Excuse moi de te déranger, mais je me suis dit que je serai fou de ne pas venir te parler.

‘Sorry to bother you, but I thought it would be crazy not to come and talk to you.’ – With this one, you will be going straight to the point. Candid and honest, all the while being considerate by apologising right away.

Salut, j’ai envie de t’aborder. Mais j’ai peur. Je ne sais donc pas si je vais le faire ou pas.

‘Hey, I really want to talk to you, but I’m scared. So I don’t know if I’m gonna do it.’ The paradox of approaching someone by saying you don’t know if you’re going to actually approach them will either have them giggling or giving you a pitying look – we are betting on a fifty-fifty chance on that one.

J’aimerai beaucoup te revoir.

‘I would really love to see again’. If any of the lines above helped you strike up a conversation with a stranger, let them know you really appreciated the time spent in their company and would like a second chance, saying ‘J’aimerais beaucoup te revoir‘ may be a way to get there!

Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?

Only joking! Unless you are actually part of a Lady Marmalade tribute act, do not ever use this one.

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ELECTIONS

10 essential French phrases to help you understand France’s snap election

Here are some of the words and phrases that you're likely to hear during the campaign for upcoming parliamentary elections in France.

10 essential French phrases to help you understand France's snap election

France heads to the polls at the end of the month, after President Emmanuel Macron called a snap election following a humiliating loss in the recent European vote.

If you’re either following French media or talking talking with your French friends, colleagues or neighbours then here are a few handy phrases to understand.

READ ALSO What would a victory for Le Pen’s party mean for France?

Législatives – these elections are parliamentary elections, where the voters are picking their local representative in the Assemblée nationale and therefore determining the make-up of the French parliament. They are known in French as les élections législatives or more commonly simply les législatives (pronounced roughly as lej-is-la-teev).

They are distinct from un élection présidentielle, which elects the president.

Scrutin – Scrutin, pronounced scroo-tan, is a word used to describe the vote. Le jour du scrutin = the day of the vote. 

Sondage – Sondage, pronounced son-darjh, is an opinion poll. 

They are frequently used in French media coverage of elections and provide a guide as to which issues are important for voters and which candidates are the most popular. 

As is always the case, however, they should be taken with a pinch of salt. Experts note that a number of variables can influence the result of a poll, including timing, phrasing, whether it is conducted online or in-person and the make-up of the sample. 

READ ALSO Who can vote in France’s snap parliamentary elections?

Aux urnes – Classic history rears its head every time there’s an election in France, with this snappy, headline-friendly term that dates back to antiquity.

Aux urnes – pronounced ohz urns – is the act of voting itself, and references the ancient Greek manner of voting, in which light or dark-coloured pebbles were placed into an urn to indicate a voter’s intentions. It basically means ‘to the ballot box’, but because its phrasing echoes the French national anthem’s famous line of Aux armes citoyens it’s used as a rallying call for people to vote.

Taux de participation – Taux de participation, pronounced toe de parti sipass-ion, literally means ‘rate of participation’. 

In an electoral context, this is used to describe the voter turnout – the percentage of the voting age population who cast their vote during an election. 

READ ALSO A voté: How to register and cast your vote in France

Voter turnout tends to be significantly lower in legislative, municipal and EU parliament elections in France – June’s European elections, the result of which in France prompted Macron to call the snap parliamentary poll, saw a turnout of 51.49 percent, one-and-a-half points higher than in 2019.

The opposite of a taux de participation is a taux d’abstentiontoe dab-stenss-ion – abstention rate. 

Premier tour/ deuxieme tour – As in presidential elections in French parliamentary elections, there are two rounds of voting. These rounds are referred to as tours, pronounced tore

In the first round (June 30th) the electorate can cast their vote for any of the official candidates.  

If any of these candidates win an absolute majority in the first round of the election (more than 50 percent of the vote) then there is no need for a second round. If no-one gets 50 percent, the top-scoring candidates from this first round then face off in a second round (July 7th), with the highest scoring candidate winning.

In presidential elections only the two highest scorers from round one go through to round two. However in parliamentary elections anyone who got more than 12.5 percent of the vote goes through to the second round – so second rounds can be a three or even four-person run-off.

Dissolution – Britons in France, cast your mind back to history lessons in school, and Henry VIII’s ‘dissolution of the monasteries’, and you’ll be on the right sort of lines. In 21st-century French political terms ‘dissolution’ – pronounced diss-o-loose-eon – means winding up, or termination of the current parliament to prepare for the election.

READ ALSO Macron dissolves parliament and calls elections after big EU vote defeat

Front republicain – The concept of a ‘Front republicain’ – pronounced front re-publee-cahn – is far from new. It’s the idea that, when necessary, France’s mainstream parties put aside their differences in order to combat extremists, particularly those among the far-right movement.

It has been seen in the second round of the presidential elections of 2017 and 2022, when the final candidates were far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron – and in that context plenty of people who detest Macron and all that he stands for cast their vote for him because they considered the alternative, a far-right president of France, was much worse.

For these parliamentary elections, the Front Républicain is more to do with political parties and essentially involves parties making agreements not to run candidates against each other in certain constituencies, to avoid splitting the vote and allowing in  a Rassemblement National candidate.

It’s sometimes also known as a Front populaire.

READ ALSO What happens next as France heads for snap elections?

Pari fou – This is not a standard election phrase, admittedly. Pari fou – pronounced, pretty much as it’s written, parry foo – means crazy bet. 

It has been used to describe Macron’s decision to go to the polls – and it has the advantage of being short and snappy, so newspaper subs love it because it makes for a punchy headline.

Barrage – Another non-standard French electioneering term. A barrage – pronounced bah-rarjh – is a dam.

In today’s politics, it is being used to describe efforts to block the electoral path to power for the far-right parties. As in the headline: Emmanuel Macron appelle les électeurs à se rendre aux urnes pour faire barrage à l’extrême droiteEmmanuel Macron calls on voters to go to the polls to block the far right.

READ ALSO Macron asks backing from all ‘able to say no to extremes’ in snap vote

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