Dialogue
French clarification questions: ask for the missing detail
Practise a French clarification dialogue: identify a person, recipient, quantity or deadline, then repeat the complete instruction to confirm it.
- B1
- 13 lines
- Practice mode
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In short
Ask for the exact detail you missed: Qui doit appeler ?, À qui ?, Combien ? or Pour quand ? Repeat the full instruction after the reply. Pardon, tu peux préciser ? opens the exchange; a focused question tells the other person what to clarify.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
You are helping organise a meeting. Nora gives you an instruction, but one person and the deadline are unclear. Practise your lines from the English prompts, then compare them with the French.
- Nora
Léa a parlé à Inès. Elle doit appeler Samir.
English
Léa spoke to Inès. She needs to call Samir.
- You
Pardon, qui est-ce qui doit appeler Samir : Léa ou Inès ?
Ask which of the two women must make the call.
English
Sorry, who needs to call Samir: Léa or Inès?
- Nora
Inès. Léa lui a déjà envoyé les informations.
English
Inès. Léa has already sent her the information.
- You
D’accord, c’est Inès qui appelle Samir.
Repeat the caller’s name and the person she is calling.
English
All right, Inès is the one calling Samir.
- Nora
Et toi, tu peux lui envoyer ton résumé ?
English
And can you send her your summary?
- You
À qui est-ce que je dois l’envoyer, exactement ?
Ask for the recipient, keeping the known summary as an object pronoun.
English
Who exactly should I send it to?
- Nora
À Inès. Ajoute quelques exemples et envoie le tout avant la réunion.
English
To Inès. Add a few examples and send everything before the meeting.
- You
Combien d’exemples veux-tu ?
Ask for the number of examples.
English
How many examples do you want?
- Nora
Deux exemples suffisent.
English
Two examples are enough.
- You
Et pour quand, exactement ?
Ask for the precise deadline.
English
And by when exactly?
- Nora
Pour mardi, avant neuf heures.
English
By Tuesday, before nine o’clock.
- You
Donc, j’envoie mon résumé avec deux exemples à Inès mardi avant neuf heures. C’est bien ça ?
Confirm the action, quantity, recipient and deadline.
English
So I’m sending my summary with two examples to Inès on Tuesday before nine. Is that right?
- Nora
Oui, c’est ça. Merci !
English
Yes, that’s right. Thank you!
How do you ask for clarification in French?
| You missed… | Ask… | A possible answer |
|---|---|---|
| the caller | Qui est-ce qui doit appeler Samir ? | Inès doit l’appeler. |
| the person Inès must call | Qui est-ce qu’Inès doit appeler ? | Elle doit appeler Samir. |
| the recipient of your summary | À qui est-ce que je dois l’envoyer ? | À Inès. |
Both of the first two questions ask for a person, but the roles differ. Qui est-ce qui asks for the subject. Qui est-ce que keeps Inès as the subject and asks for the person called. À qui preserves the recipient relationship in envoyer à.