The good news is that basic French sentences are built a lot like English ones. They typically follow a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) pattern. This means you start with the person or thing doing the action (the subject), follow with the action itself (the verb), and end with what receives the action (the object).

Keeping this simple structure in mind will help you form clear, correct sentences right away. Whether you're saying "J'ai une réservation" (I have a reservation) or "Le client attend," you're using this fundamental pattern.

In French, verbs change their endings based on who is performing the action. This is called conjugation. Let's start with the two most important verbs in the entire language: être (to be) and avoir (to have). You'll use them constantly.

Notice how the verb changes with each subject pronoun. For example, Je suis means "I am," while Vous êtes means "You are." In a professional setting, you will almost always use the formal vous when speaking to guests.

Many other verbs follow predictable patterns. The largest group ends in -er, like parler (to speak). To conjugate them in the present tense, you drop the -er and add a new ending.

Pronouns, like je, vous, and il, are the subjects we just used to conjugate verbs. They are essential because they tell you who is doing the action.

Articles are the small words that come before nouns, like "the" and "a" in English. In French, these words change based on the gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) of the noun.

For instance, you would say le client (the male customer) but la table (the table). If you are offering a single pastry, you'd say un croissant, but if you're talking about several, you'd say des croissants.

Now, let's review these core grammar concepts.

With these basics, you can start building practical sentences for your workplace.