Text of the video to learn French expressions related to work
Do you have a minute to help me? I shouldn't have done the bridge. I'm underwater now.
You may think I've just told you a very complicated riddle. Not at all.
I used expressions that are very frequently used at work in France.
If you work in French, if you have to speak in French with colleagues or customers, it's very important to know these expressions.
Hi, it's Elisabeth from the HelloFrench channel. Today we're going to take a look at ten essential expressions to know when communicating at work, and as a bonus we'll look at five acronyms very often used at work in France.
You've got a minute. "You've got a minute" is a very polite expression when you disturb someone on a task while they're working to ask them for something.
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Even more polite is "would you have a minute?" because you're using the conditional. Would you have a minute to give me your opinion on this file? Of course, if you're being polite, you should say "would you have a minute?"
First thing tomorrow. When someone asks you for something and you don't have time to do it right away, you can tell them you'll do it first thing tomorrow.
That means it will be the first task you do the next day. I don't have time to do it now, but I'll do it first thing tomorrow.
Put in the loop. This means either being copied by email, or being kept informed of the different stages of a project. You want to be kept informed of the progress of a project, or you want to continue to follow a file. Can you put me in the loop for organizing the staff party?
Of course, you can change the pronoun in the middle of the sentence. The boss wants you to put it in the loop for this case.
Being on leave. Being on leave simply means you're "out of office". You're on vacation or not working at the moment. I'm on leave, I'll be back on February 13.
Take the afternoon off or take the morning off. This means you take the day off, but only for half a day. If I take the morning off, I don't come to work in the morning. If I take the afternoon off, I don't come to work in the afternoon. I took the afternoon off to take my daughter to the doctor.
Bridging the gap. This expression may seem very odd. A bridge is generally a structure that connects one piece of land to another, because there's a river in the middle. In a professional context, it's used to refer to a day off you're going to take between a bank holiday and the weekend. Are you doing the Ascension Day bridge? Yes, I took Friday off.
To be on the move or to be on a business trip. It means being on a business trip. It means you have meetings or appointments in a city other than the one where you usually work. I'm not in the office today, I'm out of town in Bordeaux.
To be underwater. We use it to say that we have work over our heads. The workload is very heavy. My colleague is on vacation. I have to do her work. I'm underwater.
Gaining skills. It means becoming better at what you do, having more skills. I'm going to take a management training course to improve my skills.
Like a Monday. When you start the week and you just feel like bitching, you're not happy that you're no longer on the weekend when people ask how you're doing, you can answer like a Monday.
And let's finish with our bonus of five acronyms that are very often used in the French work world.
CDD. A fixed-term contract. This means that your employment contract has a duration. It can be six months, a year, three years.
We also have a permanent contract. This is an open-ended contract, which means that the employer cannot terminate your contract, and that you can stay with the company for the rest of your life if you wish. There is no fixed end to your contract.
The SMIC. When we talk about the SMIC in France, we're talking about the minimum wage. It's a word that comes up a lot in the news. Today, the minimum wage in France is equivalent to about €1,300.
RTT. This is time off in addition to your statutory vacations. The number of RTT will be negotiated by your company's agreements, for example, or they will be determined by the number of overtime hours provided for in your employment contract.
And finally, the last acronym is N+ or N-. When I talk about my N+1, he's my direct boss, my manager. My N+2 is my manager's manager, so he's my big boss.
And, conversely, my N-1 is the person I manage.
The video is finished for today, I hope you enjoyed it.
If that's the case, of course, put a "like" on it.
See you soon for a new French video.
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