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French post office vocabulary: explore the self-service area

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated · About the library

Explore ten postal machines, packing objects and service points in French, then follow the steps for sending a parcel in the scene.

In short

For a parcel, look for la table d’emballage (packing table), la balance (scales) and l’automate d’affranchissement (self-service postage machine). Explore ten things, then follow an agent’s directions from packing to posting in this branch.

A woman seals a plain cardboard parcel with adhesive tape at a French post-office packing table beside an unmarked simple parcel scale, no packaging labels.
Inès prepares her parcel at la table d’emballage. Illustration: Atelier

Find the packing and postage points

A small post-office self-service area viewed from its entrance. On the left is a rack of empty mailing boxes and padded envelopes. Beside it a packing table hol
Four useful actions
FrenchEnglish
emballer un objetto pack an object
peser un colisto weigh a parcel
affranchir un colisto pay the postage on a parcel
coller une étiquetteto stick on a label

Un colis pour Lucie

Inès arrive avec un cadeau pour Lucie. Elle prend un carton sur le présentoir et va à la table d’emballage1. Elle emballe le cadeau, puis ferme le carton avec du ruban adhésif.

Elle demande à l’agente : « Où est-ce que je peux peser mon colis ? » L’agente montre la balance2, à côté de l’automate. Inès pose le colis dessus, choisit un mode d’envoi à l’écran et paie par carte. Elle colle l’étiquette sur le carton. « Et maintenant ? » demande-t-elle. « Votre petit colis passe dans l’ouverture de la boîte de dépôt3, au fond à gauche », répond l’agente.

Read it in English

Inès arrives with a present for Lucie. She takes a cardboard box from the display rack and goes to the packing table. She packs the present, then closes the box with adhesive tape.

She asks the agent, “Where can I weigh my parcel?” The agent points to the scales beside the machine. Inès puts the parcel on them, chooses the postage service on the screen and pays by card. She sticks the label on the box. “And now?” she asks. “Your small parcel fits through the opening of the deposit box, at the back on the left,” the agent replies.

Un carton names the cardboard box. Un colis names the parcel you send, including its contents. The postage machine is un automate; the staffed service point is un guichet. Use Où est-ce que je peux… ? to ask where to carry out one action.

Question 1No account needed
The gift still needs packing. Where does Inès go first?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

à la table d’emballage. Inès uses la table d’emballage to pack the gift and close the cardboard box.

Question 2No account needed
She needs to find the parcel’s weight. What does she use?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

la balance. La balance weighs the parcel before Inès chooses the postage service.

Question 3No account needed
According to the agent, where does this small parcel go at the end?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

dans la boîte de dépôt. The agent directs this parcel to la boîte de dépôt, at the back on the left.

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