Ways to say it
| French | IPA | Note |
|---|---|---|
| courses | feminine, plural | |
| shopping | /ʃɔ.piŋ/ | masculine |
| magasinage | /ma.ɡa.zi.naʒ/ | Quebec, masculine |
courses refers to essential tasks like grocery shopping or running errands. In contrast, the borrowed English word shopping is used specifically for leisure or retail shopping, such as browsing for clothes or gifts. For a general and formal way to refer to all types of purchases, you can use Les achats.
Which one should you use?
Use courses for essential needs like groceries. Use shopping to describe the leisure activity of browsing and buying non-essential items. In Quebec, magasinage is the standard term for the general activity of shopping.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Quebec, magasinage is the standard term for shopping, while shopping or faire les courses are more commonly used in France.
How does it change in a sentence?
When using the loanword shopping as a noun in the informal phrase to go shopping, it is used with the partitive article du to form faire du shopping.
What mistakes should you avoid?
Do not use the phrase faire du shopping when you mean buying groceries. Instead, you must use the phrase faire les courses.
Did you know?
- The French word for a shop, magasin, shares the same root as the English word 'magazine'. Historically, both words referred to a storehouse or a place where goods were kept.
- The word courses shares its root with the word for 'race' or 'running', reflecting the historical idea of running errands across town.
- While magasinage is common in Quebec, it is almost never used in France, where the word magasin refers only to the store itself and not the act of buying.
Examples in context
- Je fais les courses.I'm shopping.This sentence is useful for expressing the present action of doing the shopping using courses.Tatoeba #2586715 by nimfeo, translation #5840014 by CK
- Je faisais les courses.I was out shopping.This sentence is useful for expressing a past continuous action of doing the shopping using courses.Tatoeba #2200408 by Amastan, translation #5649180 by mailohilohi
- Tu faisais les courses.You did the shopping.This sentence is useful for expressing a completed past action of doing the shopping using courses.Tatoeba #2232302 by Amastan, translation #9480051 by sundown
- Je suis ici pour faire quelques achats.I'm here to do some shopping.
- Oui, j'adore le shopping!Yes, I love shopping!
- 159 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Lucas and Manon are in the kitchen planning their week.
- LucasOn doit faire les courses demain.We have to do the shopping tomorrow.
- ManonEst-ce que tu as besoin de quelque chose ?Do you need anything?
- LucasOui, il manque du lait.Yes, we are out of milk.
- ManonD'accord, je l'ajouterai à la liste.Okay, I will add it to the list.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “shopping” translations and entries courses, shopping, magasinage, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries magasinage, shopping, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
