Learn French Vocabulary With the Sims - Bathroom Routine • French Today

This video featuring the Sims really hits two birds with one stone :

The French bathroom vocabulary
The French reflexive verbs (the “se” verbs), which are used a lot in the bathroom routine. Follow this link to my article about the French reflexive / pronominal verbs.

1 – French Shower, Bath and Bathroom Vocabulary

La salle de bain(s) – bathroom – 2 spellings are possible, with or without the s.
La salle de douche – shower room
Le cabinet de toilette – a room with a sink, sometimes a shower, sometimes a toilet.
Les toilettes – Restrooms in French
Une baignoire – a bathtub
Un bain – a bath
Une douche – a shower (not a douche…)
Un lavabo – bathroom sink (≠ un évier = kitchen sink)
Un bidet – ahh, the infamous French bidet. A small bathroom furniture in which you wash… your feet of course :-)
Un rideau (de douche) – a (shower) curtain
Le pommeau de douche – the shower head
La poignée de douche – the hand shower
Le robinet – the tap
Le siphon – the drain
Prendre un bain – to take a bath
Prendre une douche – to take a shower
Se laver – to wash
Se laver les cheveux – to wash your hair
Se rincer – to rinse
Se brosser les dents, les cheveux – to brush your teeth, your hair
Le savon – soap
Le gel-douche – shower gel
Du bain moussant – bubble bath
De la mousse – foam
Le shampoing – shampoo (pronounce it shan(nasal) poin(nasal))
L’après-shampoing – conditioner
Une brosse – a brush
Un sèche-cheveux – a hair dryer
Une éponge – a sponge
Le gant de toilette – a wash cloth (usually a rectangular glove in France, not just a small towel)
La serviette de toilette / de bain – towel
Le tapis de bain – bathroom rug
La douche fuit – the shower is leaking
Il y a une fuite – there is a leak
La baignoire est bouchée – the bathtub is clogged
L’eau est froide, tiède, chaude, brûlante – the water is cold, cool, warm, scolding hot

Now, follow this link to learn everything about asking for the restroom in French, and related French toilet vocabulary.

Also, do you know how to wash your hair in a French style bathtub (with only a hand shower and often no curtain)?

2 – Learn French Daily Bathroom Video

Now, let’s learn the French daily bathroom routine vocabulary in the context of an easy story featuring the video game “The Sims”

You will notice that many toiletry related verbs use a “se” construction: so I suggest you first read my article about French reflexive verbs.

If you enjoy learning French in context, check out French Today’s downloadable French audiobooks: French Today’s bilingual novels are recorded at different speeds and enunciation, and focus on today’s modern glided pronunciation.

French Transcript and English Translation of the Video

Notre Sim dort.
Our Sim is sleeping.

Maintenant, elle se réveille, elle se lève, et elle va dans la salle de bains.
Now she wakes up, she gets up and she goes into the bathroom.

Elle va aux toilettes, elle fait pipi et puis elle s’essuie et elle tire la chasse.
She uses the bathroom, she pees, then she wipes herself and flushes.

Elle se lave les mains avec du savon liquide, et puis elle va prendre une douche.
She washes her hands with liquid soap, then she takes a shower.

Elle se déshabille et puis elle rentre dans sa douche et elle se lave avec du gel pour la douche : elle se frotte bien.
She gets undressed and then enters her shower and washes with shower gel: she scrubs herself energetically.

Et puis elle se lave les cheveux avec du shampoing.
And then, she washes her hair with shampoo.

Peut être qu’elle se rase, on sait pas !
Maybe she shaves, we don’t know!

Elle se rince les cheveux et pendant tout le temps de sa douche, elle chante !
She rinces her hair and during all the time of her shower, she sings!

Avec les Sims, c’est magique. Elle ne s’essuie pas, elle ne s’habille même pas ! Un tour et elle est prête !
With the Sims, it’s magical. She doesn’t dry herself, she doesn’t even get dressed! A spin and she is ready!

Elle se lave les dents avec une brosse à dent et du dentifrice.
She brushes her teeth with a toothbrush and toothpaste.

Elle se regarde dans le miroir. Normalement, elle devrait se coiffer les cheveux, se sécher les cheveux et puis se mettre de la crème, et se maquiller: se faire les yeux, et se mettre du brillant à lèvre.
She looks at herself in a mirror. In the normal life, she should comb her hair, dry her hair and moisturize her skin, and apply make-up: do her eyes and put some gloss.

Mais encore une fois, un Sim n’a pas besoin de faire tout ça.
But once more, a Sim doesn’t need to do all that.

Maintenant, elle va dans sa chambre, et elle va se changer : peut être qu’elle va se mettre en tenue de sport, ou bien tout simplement en jean et en T-shirt, ou encore elle peut se mettre une robe.
Now, she goes to her room and changes: maybe she’ll put a sports outfit on, or just a jean and T-shirt, or else she can wear a dress.

If you enjoyed this video, please press like, and share it with your students and teachers – I think this makes a fun video to use in the classroom, don’t you ? Let me know what you think – I read all the comments and your feedback is very important to me.

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