French Phrases: Talking about the Olympic Games in French
On this page, we look at some vocabulary and phrases that will be useful for talking
about the Olympic games in French. Naturally, some of this vocabulary relates to sport in general,
whilst some is fairly specific to the Olympics.
| les Jeux Olympiques de Londres | - | the London Olympics | | "les Jeux" | - | "the Games" | | "JO 2012" | - | "London 2012" | | le stade olympique | - | the Olympic stadium | | un(e) athlète | - | an athlete, runner, Olympian | | une médaille ... | - | a ... medal | | ... d'or | - | gold | | ... d'argent | - | silver | | ... de bronze | - | bronze | | un(e) médaillé(e) olympique | - | an Olympic medalist | | le médaillé d'or/d'argent | - | the gold/silver medalist | | les (jeux) paralympiques | - | the Paralympics | | (le relais de) la flamme olympique | - | the Olympic torch (relay) | | la cérémonie d'ouverture | - | the opening ceremony | | la cérémonie de clôture | - | the closing ceremony | | une course | - | a race | | une épreuve | - | an event | | l'épreuve de... | - | the ... event (See event names below) |
 Suggest a change / proposez une modificationEvents (les épreuves)
Of course, many of these event names apply as names of sports
generally. Note that in many ordinary sentences, you would tend to use the
article in French (except when preceded by en or de– see below),
whereas in English the article wouldn't be used.
| le programme olympique | - | the Olympuic programme | | l'athlétisme | - | athletics | | les sports équestres | - | equestrian sports | | les sports aquatiques | - | watersports, aquatic sports | | l'aviron | - | rowing | | le badminton | - | badminton | | le basket(-ball) | - | basketball | | le beach-volley | - | beach volleyball | | la boxe | - | boxing | | le cyclisme | - | cycling | | l'escrime | - | fencing | | le football | - | football | | la gymnastique | - | gymnastics | | l'haltérophilie | - | weightlifting | | le hockey sur gazon | - | field hockey | | le judo | - | judo | | le kayak | - | canoeing | | la lutte (libre) | - | free wrestling | | la lutte gréco-romaine | - | Greek wrestling | | la natation | - | swimming | | la natation synchronisée | - | synchronised swimming | | le pentathlon | - | the pentathlon | | le plongeon | - | diving | | le taekwando | - | taekwondo | | le tennis | tɛnis | tennis | | le tennis de table | tɛniz də tabl | table tennis | | le tir | - | shooting | | le tir à l'arc | tiʁ a laʁk | archery | | le triathlon | - | the triathlon | | la voile | - | sailing | | le volley-ball en salle | - | indoor volleyball | | le water-polo | - | water polo |
Suggest a change / proposez une modificationHow to say at boxing, at swimming etc
Generally speaking, the French word en is used: en natation =
at swimming, en cyclisme = at cycling etc. When the French
word is masculine, then the French word au can also be
used: au cyclisme, au judo. Current usage appears split pretty
much 50-50 between en and au in many of these cases.
In the plural, aux is more common than en, and appears to be
preferred by conservative spakers: aux sports équestres.
But en is still used by some.
Note that the article (le, la or l') is
dropped with en. It is also dropped with de, as in
l'épreuve de natation = the swimming event.
Phrases
| sur les pistes | - | on the tracks | | être sur les podiums | - | to be a medal-winner | | emporter la médaille d'or/d'argent/de bronze | - | to win gold/silver/bronze | | l'emporter (sur...) | - | to win (against...) | | arriver premier/première | - | to come first | | arriver deuxième | - | to come second | | se placer en ...ième position | - | to place ...th |
Suggest a change / proposez une modification
Page written by Neil Coffey. Copyright (c) Javamex UK 2014. All rights reserved. |
