Language for Leisure and Wellbeing: Core Vocabulary

Words for leisure and wellbeing

Talking about your free time and how you look after yourself needs a set of everyday words. Leisure words cover what you do for fun, such as sport, music and reading. Wellbeing words cover looking after your body and mind, such as health, sleep and eating well. This theme is worth learning as a set, because the words come up again and again in listening, reading, speaking and writing. This module gathers the core French words for leisure and wellbeing, shows how to learn them so they stick, and shows how to use them in simple, correct phrases.

Leisure and wellbeing words

Learn these core French words. Each one is glossed with its English meaning.

Match each French word to its meaning

Leisure words against wellbeing words

It helps to sort the theme into two groups, so you know which words belong where.

What does this word mean?

You see the French word la santé. What does it mean?

• health
• sleep
• sport
• music

Learning words that stick

Vocabulary sticks best when you do more than stare at a list. Learn words in their theme, so leisure and wellbeing words are grouped in your memory. Say each word aloud, because hearing it helps you recognise it later. Link it to a picture or an action rather than only the English. Above all, use each word in a short phrase, because a word inside a sentence is far easier to recall than a word alone. And review the set a few days later, so it moves into long-term memory. Theme, sound, picture, phrase, and review: that is how a set of words becomes yours.

Pick the leisure words

Select every word that belongs to the leisure part of the theme.

• le sport, sport
• la musique, music
• lire, to read
• le sommeil, sleep
• la santé, health

Order how to learn a word

Put the steps of learning a new French word so it sticks in a sensible order.

• See the word with its meaning
• Say it aloud
• Link it to a picture or an action
• Use it in a short phrase
• Review it a few days later

Complete the leisure phrases

The French word for sport is le _____. The French word for health is la _____. The French word for sleep is le _____. The French verb for to read is _____.

Talking about a weekend

See how a few words unlock real sentences. With le sport you can say Je fais du sport, meaning I do sport. With la musique you can say Je joue de la musique, meaning I play music. Putting leisure and wellbeing together, you can say Je suis en forme parce que je fais du sport et je mange bien, meaning I am fit because I do sport and I eat well. Notice that the little linking word parce que, meaning because, lets you give a reason, which earns more marks than a single word. Learn the words, then reach for a linking word, and short sentences grow naturally out of the vocabulary.

Tap the wellbeing words

Tap the TWO French words that belong to the wellbeing part of the theme.

• la santé, health
• le sommeil, sleep
• le sport, sport
• la musique, music

The French vocabulary run

Answer each one correctly to keep your lives. Choose what each French word means.

Choose the right word

Read each situation and choose the correct French word.

• You want to say you do sport. Which word do you need?
• You want to talk about looking after your health. Which word do you need?
• You want to give a reason, as in I am fit because I do sport. Which linking word helps?

Build a leisure sentence

Choose the word for each gap to complete a true French sentence about leisure and wellbeing.

Explain how to use the words

A friend has a list of French leisure and wellbeing words but does not know how to use them. Using what you have learned, explain how to learn these words and turn them into sentences.

• Name some leisure words and some wellbeing words
• Explain how to learn a word so it sticks
• Explain how to turn a word into a short phrase
• Explain how a linking word such as parce que helps