Playing Instruments and Sports in French

Zoe is a high school student who has been studying French since 7th grade.

Instruments

When saying you play an instrument in present tense, you must use 'jouer' (which means to play) and follow it 'de' + instrument.

Example

Je joue du piano.

(I play the piano.)

Je joue de la clarinette.

(I play the clarinet.)

If you want to give an opinion on how you play an instrument there are 2 ways:

1. Using a describing verb + jouer + de + instrument". e.g. J'aime jouer du piano (I like playing piano).
2. Using the subject + jouer + adjective + de + instrument e.g. Je joue mal de la guitare (I play the guitar badly).

Sports

When saying you play a sport in present tense, you use 'jouer' or 'faire' and follow it with à + sport. You use 'faire' (which means 'to do' or 'to make') if you want to say 'I do + sport' and use 'jouer' if you want to say 'I play + sport'.

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Example

Je joue au tennis.

(I play tennis.)

Je fais à la natation.

(I do swimming).

If you want to give an opinion on how you play a sport, there are 2 ways:

1. Using a describing verb + jouer/faire + à + sport. e.g. Je n'aime pas jouer au foot
2. Using the subject + jouer + adjective + à + sport e.g. Je joue pas mal aux échecs

What have we learnt today?

For each question, choose the best answer. The answer key is below.

1. How do we construct a sentence to say that you play an instrument?
   • jouer + à + instrument
   • faire + de + sport
   • jouer + de + instrument
   • faire + à + instrument
2. How do we construct a sentence to say that you play a sport?
   • jouer/faire + à + instrument
   • jouer/faire + de + sport
   • jouer/faire + de + instrument
   • jouer/faire + à + sport

Answer Key

1. jouer + de + instrument
2. jouer/faire + à + sport

Tell me what you think!

Author's note

This is my first French blog post on HubPages. Constructive criticism and feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading!

Verb Table