French Lesson The Depot

chapter 15 is French Lesson The Depot – just one of many useful phrases that its worth learning and practicing to improve your Business French.

Using work terminology like ‘the depot’ is important know, so here is how to say it.

  1. “the depot”: « l’entrepôt »

Example sentence

“The depot is where final products are stored.”

« L’entrepôt est l’endroit où les produits finis sont stockés. »  

Breakdown

  • “the depot”: « l’entrepôt »

Again, we’re in the context of a factory. 

So, we’ve seen the other end, “the warehouse”: « le magasin », and now “the depot”: « l’entrepôt ».

  • “is where”: « est l’endroit où »

You noticed that the French needs to add « l’endroit »: “the place where”.

The English doesn’t have to do this, and English prepositions are more meaningful. 

“Where” is enough to say that it’s “the place where”. But the French needs to add « l’endroit où ». 

  • “final products”: « les produits finis »

The French literally says “finished products” and not “final”, so be careful.

  • “TO STORE”: « STOCKER »

Again, that’s a borrowed English word: “stock”.

You may use a synonym which is more French, « RANGER ». 

But in the context of the factory/a company, « STOCKER » is more common.

« RANGER » is also when you tidy up your room.

“the stocks”: « les inventaires »

What is “input” and “output”?  Well, the translation depends on the context.

In electronics you will say « entrée »/« sortie. »

« entrée » is “input” (think of “entrance”); « sortie » is “output” (think of “exit”).

In the context of the factory, “input” and “output” are actually « approvisionnements » and « produits », as we’ve seen. 

So, every translation is very contextual. My clients often ask me why I translate this word that way because they thought the translation was actually a different word. Well it’s not that simple. A word is very rarely equivalent to another word. In most cases a translation will depend on the context, on what you’ve just said, on the specificities of each language. 

So, you see that in the context of electronics and in the context of a factory, the translation in French will be entirely different. We hope you enjoyed French Lesson The Depot. Click HERE for the full version.

And for more lessons, well, you cant have a Depot without a Supply Chain, right?

Grammar point: The passive voice

Again, you need to match the gender and number of each adjective and past participle with the gender and number of the noun. 

Here, the past participle acts as an adjective. For example “final products are stored”.

There is no problem in English, it’s going to be “stored” whether it’s masculine or feminine, singular or plural. But in the French « les produits finis sont stockés », « stockés » will vary. 

Since « les produits finis » is a masculine plural noun, the past participle « stockés » will need to be masculine plural. 

Usually the mark of the feminine will be an extra « -e » at the end of a word, and the mark of the plural will be an extra « -s ». 

So that’s why you have no extra « -e » and an extra « -s » in « stockés ».

Another example would be “taken”. “TO TAKE”, “taken”. No problem in English.

With « PRENDRE », the past participle will be « pris ». « pris » is your masculine singular form. 

If you need to make it feminine you will add an « -e »: « prise ».

If you need to make it plural you need to add an « -s »: « prises »

Now this is a long way from French Lesson The Depot, but we love this resource for learning Business French so take a look here.