Vocabulary list
Material and care labels in French: ask before buying
Learn French words for fabric composition, hand washing and drying. Ask a shop assistant about a label, then check your understanding with a short quiz.
- A2
- 12 words
- Gender marked
- With examples
- Learn this in the A2 notebook →
In short
Ask Ce pull est en quelle matière ? (What is this jumper made of?). For care, ask Il se lave comment ? (How do you wash it?) and Est-ce qu’il passe au sèche-linge ? (Can it go in the tumble dryer?).
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
Read the composition
Read the care instructions
Name the garment, then ask about its label
Find:
- Lina
Ce pull est en pure laine ?
Is this jumper pure wool?
- Seller
Non, il contient soixante pour cent de laine et quarante pour cent d’acrylique.
No, it contains sixty per cent wool and forty per cent acrylic.
- Lina
Et pour le lavage ?
And what about washing?
- Seller
L’étiquette indique « lavage à la main » et « séchage à plat ».
The label says “hand wash” and “dry flat”.
- Lina
À plat, ça veut dire sur une surface horizontale ?
Does flat mean on a horizontal surface?
- Seller
Oui, exactement.
Yes, exactly.
En laine names a material; contient de la laine says wool is part of the composition. In the scene, the two percentages add up to 100. The care line is a separate piece of information. For a machine-washable garment, follow up with À quelle température ? to ask for the temperature on its label.