location de voiture
feminine
The English phrase car rental is location de voiture in French.
location de voiture refers to the hiring of cars for short periods.
Meaning: hiring of cars for short periods (noun)
How does it change in a sentence?
While the singular location de voiture is common, it is also very frequent to see the plural location de voitures to indicate the rental of multiple cars or the general business of car rentals.
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often mistakenly use location to mean 'place' or 'position' in French, but in this context, it specifically means 'rental'.
Did you know?
- The word voiture shares a root with the English word 'vector'. Both come from the Latin vectūra, which refers to the act of carrying or transporting.
- In France, you might see a location avec chauffeur option. This specifically means you are renting the car and a professional driver together, rather than driving it yourself.
- The word voiture was originally used for any carriage or vehicle drawn by horses. It only became associated with motorized cars after the invention of the internal combustion engine.
Examples in context
- Il gère une agence de location de voitures.He runs a car rental agency.Tatoeba #11941456 by Amastan, translation #8175804 by Amastan
- Où est le guichet de location de voiture ?Where is the car rental desk?
- Le prix de la location de voiture est élevé.The car rental price is high.
Example conversation
Lucas and Manon are at the airport planning their trip.
- LucasOn cherche une location de voiture ?Are we looking for a car rental?
- ManonOui, Lucas, c'est indispensable pour nos vacances.Yes, Lucas, it is essential for our vacation.
- LucasRegarde, il y a un bureau de location de voiture là-bas.Look, there is a car rental desk over there.
- ManonParfait, allons voir les modèles disponibles.Perfect, let's go see the available models.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “car rental” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
