Here is a useful extract from an article about Learning French
A lot of people looking at learning French for free want some help because they are looking at buying French property. OK, so let's have a look at a few easy to learn French phrases that might help.
For a start you are probably going to need the help of a real estate agent - un (or une) agent immobilier.
A house is une maison - but nobody just wants "a house"!
Do you want un appartement (I bet you can guess that one)? Do you want un bungalow (yep, some of this really is easy French)? How about une vielle ferme - an old farmhouse?
Combien de chambres? - How many bedrooms? Combien de terrain? - How much land? En ville? - In town? or à la compagne - in the countryside?
So how would you say something like "I would like to view the 3 bedroom property in Cannes?" (You'd have to be pretty rich to afford Cannes, but it will do fine as an example!)
Je voudrais voir means "I would like to see..." Actually, je voudrais is a very useful, easy French phrase. It means "I would like". You can use it in all kinds of situations. You can also use je veux, which is quite common, but that means "I want". If you think about it that isn't quite as polite as "I would like."
So, Je voudrais voir la maison de trois chambres à Cannes. Je voudrais voir - I would like to see - la maison - the house - de trois chambres - of three bedrooms - à Cannes - at Cannes. Easy really!
You might want to rent a house, rather than buy, so you'll want a maison à louer. No? Want to buy straight away, that will be une maison a vendre. If you are driving in France you will quite often see agents signs saying à vendre - for sale. You might also see just a tatty piece of card with a phone number or even it written in chalk on the shutters!
If you're looking for rural French property you will want to know if it's on mains drainage - tout à l'égoût - which is not common, or if it has a septic tank - une fosse septique. You will need to check that it conforms to recent regulation changes - because if it doesn't you will be looking at several thousand Euros to fit a new one!
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