Text conversation
Texting in French: a friend cancels dinner at the last minute
Your friend cancels dinner an hour before. Practise replying in French without sounding cold or passive-aggressive, and suggest another date.
- A2
- 3 replies to choose
- Phone-style thread
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In short
Show you understand (pas de souci, ça arrive), say how you feel lightly if you want (dommage !), and propose a new date (on remet ça à jeudi ?). Remettre à plus tard means to postpone.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
- Coucou… je suis vraiment désolée, je ne vais pas pouvoir venir ce soir 😕Hi… I'm really sorry, I won't be able to come tonight.
- Mon fils a de la fièvre.My son has a temperature.
Reply kindly
- Oui, ça va, c'est juste un rhume. Merci de comprendre 🙏Yes, he's OK, it's just a cold. Thanks for understanding.
Suggest another date
- Jeudi, parfait ! Je t'invite pour me faire pardonner 😄Thursday, perfect! Dinner's on me to make up for it.
Close warmly
Phrases from the conversation
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Pas de souci, ça arrive. | No problem, it happens. |
| Dommage ! | What a shame! |
| On remet ça à… ? | Shall we do it another time, on…? |
| Ça marche ! | Sounds good! |
| Soigne-toi bien. | Take care of yourself. |
| pour me faire pardonner | to make up for it |
French texting between friends uses coucou (hi), emojis and short forms like bisous (love, xx). Ça marche and ça me va are the everyday ways to agree to a plan. If you need to cancel yourself, je suis désolé(e), j'ai un empêchement (something's come up) is the polite classic.
- Pas de problème, c'arrive.Pas de souci, ça arrive.
Ça arrive: ça + verb, no elision.
- On remet à jeudi ça ?On remet ça à jeudi ?
Word order: remettre ça à + day.