B2Unit 2 of the B2 course · « Le monde du travail »
Working in French means chairing meetings, writing minutes and sending formal letters. Here are the phrases, the false friends that trip up English speakers, and the gérondif and dont.
By the end of this unit you can: run a meeting and write a formal letter.
French meetings run on set phrases. The chair opens with the agenda, gives people the floor, moves things along and closes. Learn these as blocks and you'll sound in control.
Un agenda is your diary; the meeting agenda is l'ordre du jour. Un délai is the time you're given (or a delay); the deadline itself is l'échéance or la date limite. And éventuellement means « possibly », not « eventually ».
Take the nous form of the present, drop -ons and add -ant: nous travaillons → en travaillant. The gérondif says how (by…) or when (while…) something happens, and its subject is always the subject of the main verb. Three irregulars: être → en étant, avoir → en ayant, savoir → en sachant.
Put tout before en to stress that two actions happen at the same time, often with a touch of contrast, like « while still ». En attendant is a gérondif that has become a fixed phrase: « while waiting » or simply « in the meantime ».
Use dont when the verb or expression is built with de: parler de, avoir besoin de, s'occuper de, être fier de. Dont also translates « whose ». Word order stays simple: dont + subject + verb.
After a preposition, use lequel for things, agreeing in gender and number. With à it fuses: auquel, auxquels, auxquelles (but à laquelle). After a longer preposition ending in de (près de, à côté de, au cours de), it becomes duquel, desquels, desquelles (but de laquelle). For people, qui is usually preferred: la collègue avec qui je travaille.
Your details top left, the recipient's on the right, then place and date (Rio, le 3 novembre 2026), Objet :, and the greeting (Madame, Monsieur,). Then three short paragraphs: why you're writing, the details, what you expect. Cordialement is fine for emails, but a formal letter ends with a full closing formula.
Formal French runs on fixed formulas, so don't translate from English. You don't « look forward »: you write dans l'attente de votre réponse. You don't « kindly find »: you write veuillez trouver ci-joint. In very official letters to an administration, you may even open with j'ai l'honneur de…
Elena Laurent, a project manager at an engineering firm in Rio, chairs a video meeting with a partner company in Lyon to launch a solar-energy project. Afterwards, she writes the formal letter that follows it up.
Tap 🔊 to hear each one, recorded by a native-sounding French voice.
| Listen | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| ordre du jour(masculine) | agenda (for a meeting)False friend: un agenda in French is a diary or planner. | |
| point(masculine)Le premier point concerne le budget. (The first item concerns the budget.) | item (on the agenda) / point | |
| passons à…Passons au point suivant. (Let's move on to the next item.) | let's move on to… | |
| prendre la parole | to take the floor / to speakThe chair gives the floor: je donne la parole à Madame Laurent. | |
| faire le pointFaisons le point sur le projet de Brasília. (Let's review where we are with the Brasília project.) | to take stock / to review where things stand | |
| échéance(feminine) | deadline / due dateAlso la date limite. Careful: un délai is the time allowed (or a delay), not the deadline itself. | |
| compte rendu(masculine) | minutes / written reportPlural: des comptes rendus. Rédiger le compte rendu = to write up the minutes. | |
| à l'issue deÀ l'issue de la réunion, une décision sera prise. (At the end of the meeting, a decision will be taken.) | at the end of / following |
| Listen | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| poste(masculine)Elle a obtenu un poste de cheffe de projet. (She got a job as a project manager.) | position / jobUn poste = a job; la poste = the post office. | |
| salarié / salariée | employee (m / f)Anyone on a salary. Les salariés = the staff. | |
| embaucher | to hire / to take onMore formal: recruter. The noun: l'embauche (f). | |
| licencier | to dismiss / to lay offUn licenciement = a dismissal or redundancy. | |
| démissionner | to resignLa démission = resignation. Elle a démissionné de son poste. | |
| télétravail(masculine) | remote work / working from homeÊtre en télétravail = to be working from home. | |
| en attendantEn attendant le directeur, commençons par le budget. (While we wait for the director, let's start with the budget.) | while waiting (for) / in the meantime | |
| tout en + gérondifIl a démissionné tout en restant ami avec son patron. (He resigned while staying friends with his boss.) | while (at the same time) / while stillStresses two actions at once, often with a hint of contrast. |
| Listen | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| projet(masculine) | project / plan | |
| dossier(masculine) | file / case / matterSuivre un dossier = to handle a matter. Un dossier de candidature = an application file. | |
| bilan(masculine) | review / assessment / balance sheetFaire le bilan = to assess the results. | |
| dontC'est le dossier dont je m'occupe. (That's the matter I'm handling.) | of which / whose / that… (verb + de)Replaces de + noun, after verbs like parler de, avoir besoin de, s'occuper de. | |
| … dont je vous ai parléVoici le projet dont je vous ai parlé. (Here's the project I told you about.) | … that I told you about | |
| lequel / laquelleC'est l'outil avec lequel nous travaillons. (It's the tool we work with.) | which (after a preposition)Plural: lesquels, lesquelles. After avec, pour, sans, sur, dans… | |
| auquel / à laquelleC'est un problème auquel nous n'avions pas pensé. (It's a problem we hadn't thought of.) | to which / to whomÀ + lequel fuses into auquel. Plural: auxquels, auxquelles. | |
| duquel / de laquelleLa réunion au cours de laquelle la décision a été prise… (The meeting during which the decision was taken…) | of which (after près de, au cours de…)Used after longer prepositions ending in de. Plural: desquels, desquelles. |
| Listen | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| objet(masculine) | subject line (of a letter)Written before the greeting: Objet : candidature au poste de comptable. | |
| suite à…Suite à notre entretien téléphonique, je vous confirme ma candidature. (Further to our phone conversation, I confirm my application.) | further to… / following…Standard in business letters. Purists prefer à la suite de. | |
| je me permets de…Je me permets de vous relancer au sujet de ma facture. (I'm writing to follow up on my invoice.) | I am writing to… / may I…Literally « I allow myself to ». A polite way into a request. | |
| candidature(feminine) | application (for a job or course)Poser sa candidature = to apply. Une lettre de motivation = a cover letter. | |
| veuillez trouver ci-joint… | please find attached…Before the noun, ci-joint usually stays unchanged: veuillez trouver ci-joint mon CV et ma lettre. | |
| je reste à votre disposition | please don't hesitate to contact meLiterally « I remain at your disposal ». Often followed by pour tout renseignement complémentaire. | |
| dans l'attente de votre réponse | I look forward to hearing from youLiterally « awaiting your reply ». It leads straight into the closing formula. | |
| Je vous prie d'agréer, Madame, Monsieur, l'expression de mes salutations distinguées. | Yours faithfully,The full formal close. Repeat the exact greeting you opened with, e.g. Madame la Directrice. |
This unit is part of French Ultimate's B2 course: 5 short lessons with an animated video each, speaking and listening practice, a reading and an end-of-unit test.
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