Picture scene

French railway station vocabulary: find connections and exits

Explore twelve French station facilities and signs, then help passengers find a platform, buy a ticket, store a bag or catch a connection.

In short

In a station concourse, check le tableau des départs for train information, find le quai for the platform and use le panneau des correspondances for onward connections. Explore twelve facilities, then match each passenger’s next step to the right place.

A traveller stores a suitcase in a station luggage locker.
Malik finds la consigne à bagages before his walk. Illustration: Atelier

Choose your next stop in the concourse

A bright railway-station concourse in a wide three-quarter view. A large departures board with abstract rows hangs centrally above a passage to a visible platfo
Say the next step
FrenchEnglish
Je dois prendre le métro.I need to take the metro.
Je voudrais laisser ma valise ici.I’d like to leave my suitcase here.
Je cherche le quai de mon train.I’m looking for my train’s platform.
Je voudrais acheter un billet.I’d like to buy a ticket.

Une gare, trois voyageurs

Clara vient d’arriver. Elle doit prendre le métro pour rejoindre son hôtel. Elle regarde le panneau des correspondances1 et prend le couloir au fond à droite.

Malik a deux heures avant son prochain train. Il veut se promener sans sa grosse valise. Il cherche la consigne à bagages2, à gauche, près des toilettes. Ensuite, il sort de la gare à pied.

Enfin, Hugo a déjà son billet. Il regarde le tableau des départs pour trouver le quai. Il a une poussette et prend l’ascenseur3 pour monter vers la passerelle. Il suit ensuite les indications pour rejoindre son train.

Read it in English

Clara has just arrived. She needs to take the metro to reach her hotel. She looks at the connections sign and takes the corridor at the back on the right.

Malik has two hours before his next train. He wants to go for a walk without his large suitcase. He looks for the luggage lockers, on the left, near the toilets. Then he leaves the station on foot.

Finally, Hugo already has his ticket. He looks at the departures board to find the platform. He has a pushchair and takes the lift up to the walkway. He then follows the directions to reach his train.

Le quai is the platform where you wait. La voie is the railway track; a departures board may give a track number. Une correspondance is a connection to another train or service. The connection itself is a journey step, while le panneau des correspondances is the visible sign.

Question 1No account needed
Clara needs an underground connection to her hotel. Where does she go?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

à l’accès au métro. Clara follows the connections sign towards l’accès au métro.

Question 2No account needed
Malik wants to walk without his suitcase. What does he need?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

la consigne à bagages. La consigne à bagages is the place to leave luggage while going for a walk.

Question 3No account needed
Hugo has a pushchair. How does he reach the walkway in the text?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

par l’ascenseur. The text says Hugo takes l’ascenseur to go up with his pushchair.

Question 4No account needed
A passenger has no ticket and wants to buy one from a person. Which place fits?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

le guichet. Le guichet is the staffed ticket-sales counter; le distributeur is the machine.