| Let's look at the sentence pattern. |
| This pattern is the structure that all of our examples will follow. |
| Veux-tu + infinitive verb ? |
| "Do you want + infinitive verb?" |
| Let's look at veux-tu first. |
| Veux is a form of the verb vouloir, which means "to want." |
| It is conjugated here for tu, the informal singular "you." |
| When you invert the verb and subject like this—veux-tu—you are asking a yes or no question: "Do you want?" |
| After that is the infinitive verb—a verb that is not conjugated. |
| In French, infinitives always end in -er, -ir, or -re. In this sentence pattern, the infinitive verb comes after veux-tu and shows what the person wants to do. |
| So, this sentence structure—Veux-tu + infinitive—means "Do you want to [do something]?" |
| Veux-tu is typically used in more formal situations or when you want to sound especially polite or traditional, such as in literature, official speeches, or when speaking to someone you don't know well. |
| In everyday conversation, French speakers usually say tu veux ?, relying on rising intonation to show it's a question, just like in English, where "You want to go?" becomes a question through tone alone. |
| For example, if you want to say, "Do you want to go?" |
| the formal or old-fashioned version would be Veux-tu venir ? |
| while the more natural, casual version would be Tu veux venir ? |
| Let's see how a line from the dialogue follows this pattern. |
| Veux-tu te reposer d'abord ? |
| "Do you want to rest first?" |
| In this sentence: |
| Veux-tu is the inverted question form, meaning "do you want?" It includes veux, from vouloir, and tu, the informal "you." |
| Te reposer is a reflexive infinitive verb, meaning "to rest." Te is the reflexive pronoun that matches tu, and reposer is the base form of the verb. |
| D'abord is an adverb meaning "first." |
| So, Veux-tu te reposer d'abord ? follows the pattern Veux-tu + infinitive verb, and it means "Do you want to rest first?" |
| Now, you can use this structure to suggest activities to do with others in French! |
| In French, there is another way to ask someone if they want to do something |
| Ça te dit de… |
| This means "Do you feel like..." and is a bit softer and more casual. |
| After ça te dit de, we use an infinitive verb—a verb that ends in -er, -ir, or -re, and is not conjugated. |
| Ça te dit de + infinitive verb ? |
| In this pattern, te means "to you," and dit comes from the verb dire, meaning "to say." Literally, it means "does that say something to you…?" But in real conversation, it's just a friendly way to ask if something sounds good or if someone's interested. |
| For example, |
| Ça te dit de sortir ? "Do you feel like going out?" |
| So, to sum up, Veux-tu is formal, old-fashioned, and very polite, |
| Tu veux is for close friends and more direct. |
| Ca te dit de works in both casual and polite situations. |
| Now let's look at some speaking examples. |
| Veux-tu prendre le petit-déjeuner ? |
| "Do you want to have breakfast?" |
| Can you see how the pattern applies here? |
| Let's break it down: |
| Here, veux-tu is the question form of "do you want?" Veux is the verb from vouloir, meaning "to want," and tu is the informal subject pronoun "you." |
| The verb and subject are inverted to make a question. |
| Next is prendre, the infinitive verb, meaning "to have" or "to take." This is the action the speaker is asking about, so it fits the second part of the pattern. |
| Then comes le petit-déjeuner, meaning "breakfast." It is the object of the verb prendre. |
| So, Veux-tu prendre le petit-déjeuner ? fits the sentence pattern Veux-tu + infinitive verb, and it means "Do you want to have breakfast?" |
| Here's another example |
| Ça te dit de regarder un film ? |
| "Do you feel like watching a movie?" |
| Ça te dit de regarder un film ? |
| "Do you feel like watching a movie?" |
| This sentence fits the pattern: |
| Ça te dit de + infinitive ? |
| This is a friendly and common way to suggest doing something together in French! |
| Let's try one more, |
| Veux-tu aller au restaurant ? |
| "Do you want to go to the restaurant?" |
| Veux-tu aller au restaurant ? |
| "Do you want to go to the restaurant?" |
| Another one. |
| Veux-tu organiser une fête ? |
| "Do you want to organize a party?" |
| Veux-tu organiser une fête ? |
| "Do you want to organize a party?" |
| One last example. |
| Ça te dit de venir dîner chez moi ? |
| "Do you feel like coming to dinner at my place?" |
| Ça te dit de venir dîner chez moi ? |
| "Do you feel like coming to dinner at my place?" |
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