faire les courses
/fɛʁ le kuʁs/
The English phrase "grocery shopping" is translated into French as faire les courses.
faire les courses refers to the activity of buying food and other essential household supplies from a store.
What does it mean word for word?
Literally, faire les courses means "to do the errands" or "to do the shopping".
Which one should you use?
While faire les courses is used for grocery shopping, faire du shopping is typically used for leisure shopping, such as for clothes or luxury items.
How does it change in a sentence?
The verb faire must be conjugated to match the subject, such as je fais les courses (I am grocery shopping) or nous faisons les courses (we are grocery shopping).
How do you pronounce it?
/fɛʁ le kuʁs/
Did you know?
- In France, the act of faire les courses often involves a distinct social ritual of greeting every shopkeeper with Bonjour before any interaction begins.
- If you were to say faire la course instead of faire les courses, you would be talking about a single race rather than your shopping trip.
- The verb faire derives from the Latin word facere, which is also the root of English words like 'factory' and 'fact'.
Examples in context
- Je vais faire les courses tous les matins.I go grocery shopping every morning.This sentence is useful for showing how to use faire les courses to describe a daily routine.Tatoeba #4180 by TRANG, translation #430012 by witbrock
- On va faire les courses pour la semaine.We're going grocery shopping for the week.
- Elle doit faire les courses après le travail.She has to do the grocery shopping after work.
- Nous allons faire les courses au supermarché.We are going grocery shopping at the supermarket.
Example conversation
Hugo and Léa are talking in their kitchen about their plans.
- HugoLéa, tu veux faire les courses avec moi ?Léa, do you want to go grocery shopping with me?
- LéaOui, je dois acheter du lait et des œufs.Yes, I need to buy some milk and eggs.
- HugoParfait, on y va tout de suite.Perfect, let's go right now.
- LéaAttends, je prends mon sac réutilisable.Wait, I'll grab my reusable bag.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry faire les courses, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries faire, les, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
