Casual Conversations at Work｜French Business Conversation

In the workplace, conversations are not only about work. Small talk plays an important role in building good relationships. Being able to casually ask questions like “How was your weekend?” or “Are you busy today?” in French makes communication much smoother.

Here, I will introduce useful French phrases for small talk at work, along with examples and grammar points.

Dialogue

A

Bonjour, tu as passé un bon week-end ?
（Good morning, how was your weekend?）

B

Oui, très bien. Je suis allé à la campagne. Et toi ?
（Yes, very good. I went to the countryside. And you?）

A

J’ai regardé un film avec ma famille.
（I watched a movie with my family.）

B

Super ! Et aujourd’hui, tu as beaucoup de travail ?
（Great! By the way, do you have a lot of work today?）

A

Oui, la matinée va être bien chargée.
（Yes, the morning is going to be quite busy.）

1. Asking About the Weekend or Holidays

When asking “How was your weekend?” in French, you can say:

The verb passer means “to spend (time).” The phrase “passer un bon week-end” is a common fixed expression meaning “to have a good weekend.”

For casual colleagues, use “tu.” For a boss or someone less familiar, use the formal form: “Vous avez passé un bon week-end ?”

2. Talking About Your Own Experiences

When answering, describe your activities in a simple way:

In the passé composé (compound past tense), the choice of auxiliary verb depends on the verb:

3. Asking About Today’s Workload

A very common phrase at work is:

This literally means “Do you have much work?” and is equivalent to the English expression.

Typical answer:

Here, chargé(e) means “full” or “packed,” often used when talking about schedules or workloads.

4. Using Reactions to Keep the Conversation Flowing

In French, short reaction phrases are essential to keep conversations natural and engaging:

Adding these reactions prevents the conversation from feeling one-sided and makes it flow more smoothly.

Summary

泉（Izumi）

Author

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