Qu'est-ce que tu fais ? (Faire + Expressions)
The irregular verb faire and its many idiomatic expressions for activities and weather.
TALKING ABOUT ACTIVITIES: combining faire with other patterns
FAIRE DU/DE LA/DE L': for sports and leisure with faire: Je fais du tennis (I play tennis). Elle fait de la danse (she does dancing). On fait de l'escalade (we go climbing).
ASKING ABOUT ACTIVITIES: Qu'est-ce que tu fais comme sport (what sport do you do) ? Tu as des hobbies (do you have any hobbies) ? Qu'est-ce que tu fais le week-end (what do you do on weekends) ? Comment tu passes ton temps libre (how do you spend your free time) ?
THE PRONOUN ON: a fourth way to say "we", used constantly in spoken French
ON = NOUS in everyday speech: on conjugates exactly like il/elle (3rd person singular), but MEANS "we": On fait du sport le samedi (we do sports on Saturdays) (not «nous faisons», though that's also correct — on is far more common when speaking). On va au cinéma ce soir ? (shall we go to the cinema tonight?)
ON can ALSO mean "people/you/one" in general statements, not a specific "we": En France, on mange souvent du pain (in France, people often eat bread) — no specific group is meant, just a general truth.
Common mistake: conjugating on like nous: "on faisons" is wrong — on always takes the same ending as il/elle: on fait, on va, on est, never the -ons ending nous takes.
- - Qu'est-ce que tu fais le week-end ? - Je fais du vélo et de la cuisine. — What do you do on weekends? — I go cycling and cook.
- - Qu'est-ce que vous faites dans la vie ? - Je suis designer. Je travaille dans une agence. — What do you do for a living? — I'm a designer. I work at an agency.
- Faites attention ! Le sol est glissant. — Be careful! The floor is slippery.