Level A2 (Upper Beginner)
The French Word of the day is les vacanances, meaning “vacation”. Today you’ll learn its:
Meaning
Pronunciation
Example sentences
Related words
Meaning
Les vacances means vacation or holidays in French. It’s always used in the feminine plural form. A common mistake beginners make is saying la vacance, but that’s incorrect in this context.
Pronunciation
Example sentences
The French use two verbs to express “going on vacation”: aller en vacances and partir en vacance. While aller means to go and partir means “to leave”, these two ways of saying “to go on vacation” are more or less synonymous.
aller en vacances, partir en vacances
to go on vacation
On part en vacances en Espagne cet été.
We are going on vacation to Spain this summer.
Où est-ce que tu préfères passer les vacances, au bord de la mer ou en montagne ?
Where to you prefer to spend your vacation, at the sea shore or in the mountains?
Bonnes vacances ! Profitez de votre séjour !
Have a good vacation! Enjoy your stay!
The following example sentences uses the term les grandes vacances, which refers to summer vacation in France.
Sylvie va visiter le sud de la France pendant les grandes vacances.
Sylvie is going to visit the south of France during summer vacation.
This example sentence uses the term les vacances scolaires, which is “school vacation”.
Les vacances scolaires en France sont toujours en février.
School vacation in France is always in February.
Word origin
Vacances comes from the Latin vacans, which is the past participle of the Latin verb vacare (to be free, not busy, vacant).
Related words
A2 Level:
- la plage – beach
- la mer – sea
- le soleil – sun
- le voyage – trip
- le camping – camping
- la valise – suitcase
- le train – train
- l’avion (m) – airplane
- le passeport – passport
- le billet – ticket
B1–B2 Level:
- le séjour – stay
- la réservation – reservation
- les bagages (m) – luggage
- les congés – time off, paid leave
- la location de vacances – vacation rental
- faire une croisière – to take a cruise
- se détendre – to relax
- partir à l’étranger – to go abroad
- les activités de plein air – outdoor activities
- le circuit touristique – guided tour
Continue learning French!
Now that you’ve mastered les vacances, check out our lesson on the names of 10 major French cities. Want to keep learning? Follow our daily French Word of the Day series!
