HomeFrenchGlossary › downtown

French vocabulary · Beginner

How do you say "downtown" in French?

le centre-ville

Noun Masculine

In French, "downtown" is le centre-ville.

Listen to the pronunciation:

Free French learning game. No sign-up, play in browser. See all games

Pronunciation

Pronounce son-truh-VEEL, nasalizing the first syllable and stressing the final one.

Grammar notes

le centre-ville is masculine. Its plural is centres-villes.

Example sentence

Elle travaille au centre-ville près de la rivière.

She works downtown near the river.

Test your French knowledge in our free browser games.

How to remember le centre-ville

Centre-ville literally means 'center of the city', a fully logical phrase for downtown.

Related words

Browse all French words in the glossary.

Questions about le centre-ville

How do you pronounce le centre-ville?

Pronounce son-truh-VEEL, nasalizing the first syllable and stressing the final one.

Is le centre-ville masculine or feminine?

le centre-ville is masculine. le centre-ville is masculine. Its plural is centres-villes.

How is le centre-ville used in French?

le centre-ville is used the same way as the equivalent English noun. For example: Elle travaille au centre-ville près de la rivière. (She works downtown near the river.).

Where can I practice French words for free?

You can play free French minigames in your browser on the Noun Town online games page, no sign-up required. Every word in the French glossary also has native audio and an example sentence you can revisit any time.

"Downtown" in other languages

Curated by Jack Ratcliffe

This word is part of the vocabulary taught in the French language learning game Noun Town, where words are introduced through play rather than memorisation. Want to play the full game? Get Noun Town on Steam.

Noun Town language-learning game on PC, Mac and VR
The full experience

Noun Town on PC, Mac & VR

These browser games are just a taste. The full Noun Town is a bigger, deeper 3D world: explore a living town, talk to its characters and learn thousands of words in immersive VR, Mixed Reality, or on your computer. It's an award-winning game with 590+ reviews on Steam and 12 languages to learn.

See the full game ▶

Spot an error? Email us at contact@noun.town