carte postale
/kaʁ.t(ə) pɔs.tal/feminine
The English word postcard is translated into French as carte postale.
A carte postale is a rectangular piece of thick paper to be mailed without an envelope.
Meaning: rectangular piece of thick paper to be mailed without an envelope (noun)
How does it change in a sentence?
The noun is feminine, so the indefinite article une must be used to say une carte postale (a postcard). When forming the plural, both the noun and the adjective take an 's', resulting in cartes postales (some postcards).
When do people say it?
When concluding a postcard, you can use different phrases. À bientôt means 'See you soon', Amicalement means 'Warm regards' and Grosses bises means 'Big kisses'.
Did you know?
- The phrase carte postale can be used metaphorically in French to describe a scene that is perfectly picturesque, as in un paysage carte postale.
- The word carte is a cognate of the English word 'charter', both descending from the Latin 'charta'.
- In French, the word for 'card' in carte postale is the same word used for 'map' in the phrase carte routière.
Examples in context
- Envoie-moi une carte postale.Send me a postcard.This sentence uses carte postale.Tatoeba #330513 by trotter, translation #324886 by CK
- Envoyez-moi une carte postale !Send me a postcard!Tatoeba #11189974 by lbdx, translation #6547898 by sundown
- Je t'enverrai une carte postale.I'll send you a postcard.Tatoeba #2208161 by sacredceltic, translation #2206673 by Hybrid
- J'aimerais envoyer une carte postale à mes amis.I would like to send a postcard to my friends.
- 19 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Gabriel and Manon are at a souvenir shop in Paris.
- GabrielRegarde cette belle carte postale !Look at this beautiful postcard!
- ManonElle est très jolie, Gabriel.It is very pretty, Gabriel.
- GabrielJe vais acheter une carte postale pour ma mère.I am going to buy a postcard for my mother.
- ManonC'est une excellente idée.That is an excellent idea.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “postcard” translations and entries carte postale, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries carte, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
