French for English speakers School · Lesson 6

Waking up

French for daily life — Je déteste me lever trop tôt le matin (I hate waking up too early in the morning) — with reflexive infinitive after détester.

Conversation

  1. Cassian Cassian

    Je déteste me lever trop tôt le matin.

    I hate waking up early in the morning.

    Tip: <le matin> and similar expression show that an event takes place at a certain time.

  2. Pishi Pishi

    Ouais, avec les cours qui commencent, il faut se lever tôt.

    Oh yeah. With school starting, you wake up too early.

  3. Cassian Cassian

    Pff, je veux me lever vers 10h.

    Ugh! I want to wake up at 10.00.

  4. Pishi Pishi

    Bah, je suis un chat et je n'ai pas à aller à l'école, alors…

    Well, I am a cat. I don't have to go to school, so...

Common questions

Quick answers about this lesson's grammar and vocabulary.

How do you say 'I hate to ...' in French?

Je déteste + infinitive: Je déteste me lever tôt. Détester = hate (verb). When followed by a reflexive verb, the reflexive stays.

Tôt vs tard?

Tôt = early. Tard = late. Trop tôt = 'too early'. Adjective form: matinal (morning-person).

What does avec les cours qui commencent mean?

'With classes starting'. Les cours = classes. Commencer = to begin. Qui commencent = 'which begin' (relative clause).