Talking About Gardening in French

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to say what you want or need to do in the garden in French. You’ll also practise using vouloir (to want) and avoir besoin de (to need).

Sentence Builder: In the Garden

Expressing What You Want to Do

French	English
Je veux…	I want…
Il veut…	He wants…
Elle veut…	She wants…

You can follow veux / veut with an infinitive (the base form of a verb that ends in -er, -ir, or -re).

Examples:

• Je veux arroser le jardin. → I want to water the garden.
• Il veut tondre la pelouse. → He wants to mow the lawn.
• Elle veut ramasser les feuilles. → She wants to pick up the leaves.
• Je veux planter des fleurs. → I want to plant flowers.
• Elle veut ratisser les feuilles. → She wants to rake the leaves.

Grammar Tip:

When you use vouloir with another verb, it’s followed by the infinitive.
For example:

Je veux arroser le jardin. → I want to water the garden.

In this structure, vouloir acts as an auxiliary verb (a helping verb).

Expressing What You Need

French	English
J’ai besoin…	I need…
Il a besoin…	He needs…
Elle a besoin…	She needs…

To say you need a particular item, use:

avoir besoin de + noun

Examples:

• J’ai besoin d’un arrosoir. → I need a watering can.
• Il a besoin d’un tuyau d’arrosage. → He needs a hosepipe.
• Elle a besoin d’une tondeuse. → She needs a lawnmower.
• J’ai besoin d’un râteau. → I need a rake.

Grammar Tip:
Notice how de changes to d’ before a vowel or silent h:

d’un arrosoir, d’une tondeuse

Literally, avoir besoin de means “to have need of,” but it’s translated as “to need.”

Try It Out

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