fournitures scolaires
The English phrase school supplies is translated into French as fournitures scolaires.
Other ways to express this concept include Le matériel scolaire, which is suitable for both formal and informal contexts and the informal expressions Les affaires d'école or Les trucs d'école.
What does it mean word for word?
The term fournitures scolaires is composed of fournitures (supplies or provisions) and scolaires (school-related or scholastic).
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Quebec and some African countries, the term les effets scolaires is used to refer to school supplies.
How does it change in a sentence?
The noun fournitures is feminine, which means the adjective scolaires takes the feminine plural form. Note that the adjective scolaire is invariant in gender, so it remains the same whether the noun it modifies is masculine or feminine. While fournitures scolaires is the standard way to refer to the whole category of supplies, the singular form fourniture scolaire can be used to refer to one specific school supply.
Did you know?
- In France, the list of fournitures scolaires required for students is often strictly mandated by the school and must be followed exactly by parents.
- French students traditionally use a trousse, a specific small zipped pouch, to hold their fournitures scolaires rather than a pencil box.
- A common 'fourniture' in French schools is the ardoise, a small slate or whiteboard used for quick exercises and erased immediately.
Examples in context
- Les enseignants paient souvent des fournitures scolaires de leurs propres deniers.Teachers often buy school supplies with their own money.This sentence shows how teachers might pay for fournitures scolaires using their own money.Tatoeba #3327936 by sacredceltic, translation #3123743 by Hybrid
- Où puis-je acheter les fournitures scolaires?Where can I buy school supplies?
- Tu as pris tes affaires d'école aujourd'hui?Did you bring your school supplies today?
- Il faut acheter des fournitures scolaires pour la rentrée.We need to buy school supplies for the new term.
- Où puis-je trouver des fournitures scolaires bon marché ?Where can I find cheap school supplies?
Example conversation
Nathan and Chloé are at a stationery store before the school year starts.
- NathanChloé, as-tu la liste des fournitures scolaires ?Chloé, do you have the list of school supplies?
- ChloéOui, elle est dans mon sac.Yes, it is in my bag.
- NathanD'accord, commençons à chercher les fournitures scolaires.Okay, let's start looking for the school supplies.
- ChloéBonne idée, allons au rayon papeterie.Good idea, let's go to the stationery aisle.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
