Lesson 1: Small talk with colleagues

Small talk is the light chat you have with colleagues at the coffee machine, before a meeting or on Monday morning. It looks unimportant, but it builds trust and makes work easier.

Le small talk, ce sont ces petites discussions légères avec les collègues (machine à café, lundi matin, avant une réunion). Ça paraît anodin, mais ça crée de la confiance.

Greeting people (Saluer)

English	Français
“Morning!”	Bonjour ! (le matin, informel)
“Hi, how’s it going?”	Salut, ça va ?
“How are you doing?”	Comment vas-tu ?
“Good to see you.”	Content de te voir.
“Long time no see!”	Ça fait longtemps !

Typical answers (réponses courantes):

• “Good, thanks. You?” (Bien, merci. Et toi ?)
• “Not bad, thanks.” (Pas mal.)
• “Can’t complain.” (Je ne me plains pas.)
• “Busy, but good.” (Occupé, mais ça va.)
• “A bit tired today.” (Un peu fatigué aujourd’hui.)

“How are you?” is a greeting more than a real question. Answer in a few words, then ask back. « How are you? » est une formule de salutation : réponds court et renvoie la question.

The weekend (Le week-end)

This is the most common small talk topic, on Monday and on Friday.

On Monday, ask:

• “How was your weekend?” (Comment s’est passé ton week-end ?)
• “Did you do anything nice at the weekend?” (Tu as fait quelque chose de sympa ?)
• “What did you get up to?” (Tu as fait quoi ?)

Answer with the past simple (passé simple anglais, car le week-end est terminé):

• “It was great, thanks. I went hiking with friends.” (Je suis allé faire de la randonnée.)
• “Nothing special. I just stayed in and relaxed.” (Je suis resté chez moi.)
• “I caught up with some friends.” (J’ai revu des amis.)
• “I binge-watched a series.” (J’ai enchaîné une série.)
• “I didn’t do much. I needed to recharge.” (Je n’ai pas fait grand-chose, j’avais besoin de me ressourcer.)

On Friday, ask about plans:

• “Do you have any plans for the weekend?” (Tu as prévu quelque chose ?)
• “Anything fun planned?” (Quelque chose de sympa de prévu ?)

Answer with the present continuous or “going to”:

• “I’m meeting some friends on Saturday.” (Je vois des amis samedi.)
• “I’m going to visit my parents.” (Je vais voir mes parents.)
• “Not really, just taking it easy.” (Pas vraiment, je me repose.)

Attention : on dit « I went » (pas « I have gone ») pour un week-end terminé. Avec un moment fini dans le temps, on utilise toujours le past simple. Et on dit « at the weekend » (UK) ou « on the weekend » (US).

Coffee, lunch and the day

• “Do you fancy a coffee?” / “Want to grab a coffee?” (On prend un café ?)
• “Are you going for lunch?” (Tu vas déjeuner ?)
• “Shall we have lunch together?” (On déjeune ensemble ?)
• “Busy day?” (Grosse journée ?)
• “How’s your week going?” (Comment se passe ta semaine ?)
• “How’s the project going?” (Et le projet, ça avance ?) This one moves small talk toward work. Cette phrase fait passer la conversation vers le travail.

Weather, commute and news

• “Terrible weather, isn’t it?” (Quel sale temps, n’est-ce pas ?)
• “How was your commute?” (Comment s’est passé ton trajet ?)
• “The trains were a mess.” / “Traffic was awful.” (Les trains étaient un chaos. / Il y avait un trafic horrible.)
• “Did you see the match last night?” (Tu as vu le match hier soir ?)

The short question at the end (“isn’t it?”, “don’t you?”) is called a question tag (question tag). It invites the other person to agree. Ce petit morceau final invite l’autre à acquiescer.

Keeping the conversation going (Relancer la discussion)

A simple recipe: answer + one detail + a question back.

“I went to the mountains with some friends. The weather was amazing. What about you?”

Short reactions to show you listen (réactions courtes):

• “Oh nice!” / “That sounds fun!” (Sympa ! / Ça a l’air amusant !)
• “Really?” (Vraiment ?)
• “No way!” (Pas possible !)
• “Sorry to hear that.” (Désolé d’entendre ça.)

Follow-up questions (questions de relance): “Where did you go?”, “Who did you go with?”, “How was it?”

A short dialogue

• A: Morning, Sam! How was your weekend?
• B: Pretty good, thanks. I went to the mountains with some friends. How about you?
• A: Nothing special. I stayed in and watched a few episodes of a series.
• B: Sounds relaxing! Which one?

Ending a chat (Terminer poliment)

• “Anyway, I should get back to work.” (Bon, je dois m’y remettre.)
• “Right, I’d better get going.” (Bon, je ferais mieux d’y aller.)
• “Nice chatting!” / “Good talking to you.” (Sympa de discuter !)
• “Catch you later!” / “See you later.” (À plus tard !)
• “Have a good one!” (Bonne journée / bonne soirée !)

À retenir

• Weekend fini = past simple. Projets du week-end = present continuous ou “going to”.
• Réponse + détail + question en retour = une vraie conversation.
• Les réactions courtes montrent que tu écoutes.

Next time, we look at the daily standup: how to say what you did, what you do today and what blocks you.