# faire les courses



## Minaeth

Hi!

What phrase would native English speakers use to say "*faire les courses*", which generally means in French that you go to the supermarket to buy food and stuff?

Would you say:
*1. go shopping?*
*2. go to the shops?*
*3. go foodshopping?*

Thanks a lot


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## gardian

= Shopping.


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## sound shift

I would say "I've got to go shopping" for "Je dois faire les courses".


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## franc 91

For me it means to go/do the shopping or to go to the shops. We also have the expression - faire son marché, but that obviously means going to a market. In some parts of France, they say - faire des commissions. Une course can mean an errand.


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## Micia93

sorry for this silly question Sound Shift, but we, french, make the difference between "faire *les* courses" (only food) and "faire *des* courses" (which can include food, but also clothing), a bit like "faire du shooping"
how do you make the difference in english ?


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## Micia93

franc 91 said:


> In some parts of France, they say - faire des commissions.


 
I don't want to offend anybody, but it has become a bit obsolete ... 
mostly used by old people I presume ?


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## sound shift

Micia93 said:


> sorry for this silly question Sound Shift, but we, french, make the difference between "faire *les* courses" (only food) and "faire *des* courses" (which can include food, but also clothing), a bit like "faire du shooping"
> how do you make the difference in english ?


Only food: "I've got to go shopping for food"/"I've got to buy some food"/"I've got to get some groceries" (semi-obsolete).

Non-specific: "I've got to go shopping."


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## Micia93

sound shift said:


> Only food: "I've got to go shopping for food"/"I've got to buy some food"/"I've got to get some groceries" (semi-obsolete).
> 
> Non-specific: "I've got to go shopping."


 
thank you !
for once, english is longer than french !


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## Momerath

I think *go shopping* tends to mean go and look around the shops with a view to purchasing something slightly special (clothes, presents, etc.).

*Do the shopping *tends to mean buy everyday stuff that needs to be replenished regularly - mainly food, Micia, but also cleaning products, etc. 

I noticed the difference between  "faire *les* courses"  and "faire *des* courses" when I was living in a village in l'Ain, so perhaps its a rural usage.


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## Micia93

Momerath said:


> I noticed the difference between "faire *les* courses" and "faire *des* courses" when I was living in a village in l'Ain, so perhaps its a rural usage.


 
haha, maybe ! I'm a rural girl !


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## xiancee

"faire les courses" is only for survival
the kind of shopping you do in a small rural place in the 01


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## Micia93

xiancee said:


> "faire les courses" is only for survival
> the kind of shopping you do in a small rural place in the 01


 
you can add the 36 and the 23 !


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## xiancee

and the 89


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## Chris_Sleeps

In English it happens too that one can say "i'm going to the supermarket".  It's implied that what one will be buying is food and drink.

'To go shopping' implies a pleasure, looking around the shops for something nice.


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## williamc

Bonjour,

"I'm off to the shops" would cover most things.


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## bobepine

For what it's worth, both idioms described as old-fashioned above - _grocery shopping _and _faire des commissions - _are still quite current in Quebec, although the French one just means running errands. I'd never come across this distinction between essentials and everything else.


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## sound shift

Chris_Sleeps said:


> 'To go shopping' implies a pleasure, looking around the shops for something nice.


It doesn't imply that to me, Chris.


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## bee88

*"Run errands"* implies what I'd call "light shopping", just picking up a few items you need, which is my understanding of "faire les courses".

(And back at home, Quebec, we also say "faire des commissions".)


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## Momerath

But surely everybody agrees that the word *the* is crucial here. *The shopping* is essentially different from *shopping*. "Doing the shopping" is simply one chore among many, but "going shopping" is now one of the main leisure activities in modern consumerist society (or it was when people had more money).

Also, "to do the XXX" oftens designates something disagreeable that must be done in the normal dreary course of existence:
to do the washing up 
to do the weeding
to do the Christmas cards
to do the hoovering.

Wheras "going XXing" invariably means going off to indulge in some leisure pursuit:
I'm going dancing
going partying (yugh!)
      going swimming
      going fishing
      going boozing
      etc.


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## SouthWind96

If you were to go food shopping, you might say *to do the groceries*or *to get the groceries* or *to go grocery shopping*. I hope this helps!


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## Momerath

Maybe in the US, certainly not in the UK or France.


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## bee88

I would have to agree with SouthWind96, those are the phrases I would use here in Toronto. But as pointed out by Momerath, the expression you decide to use will come down to where you are located.


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## Mag38

To me, "_faire *des *courses_" can mean much more than actually buying stuff: go to the post office, to some administrative office as well as going to any kind of shop. That would be even more obvious if I say "_J'ai une course à faire_".

Anyway, my favorite kind remains "_les courses en montagne_": the only time I really do not mind having a huge "_liste de courses_"!! (by the way, would you say "_a mountaineering run_"??)


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## Micia93

you've exactly answered to the question I asked to Sound Shift ! (post 5)


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## Momerath

Mag38 said:


> To me, "_faire *des *courses_" can mean much more than actually buying stuff: go to the post office, to some administrative office as well as going to any kind of shop. That would be even more obvious if I say "_J'ai une course à faire_".



This what people call, or used to call, "doing my messages" in Liverpool (England).


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## Aoyama

The simple difference is :
les courses = daily or frequent shopping, for what is _often needed_ : food, milk, bread, butter, fruits. Close to "the groceries" ...
Des courses = occasional shopping, clothing, shoes etc. 
Les courses can be replaced par _les _commissions. Une commission or des commissions would become _errand/errands_ ...


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## Hooper_X

Mag38 said:


> To me, "_faire *des *courses_" can mean much more than actually buying stuff: go to the post office, to some administrative office as well as going to any kind of shop...



 In these United States, that would fall under the rubric of *running errands*.


As to "*going shopping*," that could mean any kind of shopping. However, the primary connotations vary with gender. If a man says that he's going shopping, he probably means that he's going grocery shopping. A woman might well mean the same, but she might also mean that she's going to 20 stores of divers kinds. 

We also say:


going grocery shopping
going to the supermarket
going to the grocery store
going to "name of supermarket" (Kroger, Trader Joe's, Pigly Wiggly or what have you)
doing the shopping (this implies a repetitive obligatory task)
laying in provisions (this implies the fear of starving over the winter months and might include such things as 50lbs. of beef jerky, rope and a keg of gun powder) 
"*Going shopping for groceries*," to my ears, sounds a little odd.


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## CasparWeinburger

sound shift said:


> Only food: "I've got to go shopping for food"/"I've got to buy some food"/"I've got to get some groceries" (semi-obsolete).
> 
> Non-specific: "I've got to go shopping."



Nothing old-fashioned about /get groceries/. It is what I use all the time. I got to get groceries.


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## franc 91

There's also - we've got the/some shopping to do - il faut que l'on aille faire les courses, which usually means getting food and drink as well as all the other various household necessities you run out of during the week. 
(in our household we don't draw any particular distinction between les ou des courses)
For more recreational shopping, for clothes for example - faire les boutiques or faire le tour des boutiques, aller voir les boutiques (au moment des soldes) - there's also the verb écumer used in this context (et aussi dans la pub).


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## Micia93

OK with you Franc! 
for food, drink, and household necessities, I'd also say "je vais faire les/des courses"
in fact, I will say "les" in case of *usual* groceries shopping (for instant, each friday, which I do) and "des" in case I would miss something (milk, bread ... missing)
But for recreational shopping, I wouldn't use "faire les/le tour des/ boutiques" or "aller voir les boutiques", but I confess I use the english term "je vais faire du shopping".
As for "écumer", it's far too formal in my opinion.


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