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BASIC TOEICBASIC TOEICBASIC TOEICBASIC TOEIC ANDANDANDAND BUSINESS BUSINESS BUSINESS BUSINESS VOCABULARY VOCABULARY VOCABULARY VOCABULARY Compiled by Phil Skolle

The vocabulary of these pages is general business and pertains to fields that are linked to the business world. These terms are often used both in the TOEIC

and in the professional environment. By learning them now you will be able to memorize most of them in the first year at Sup de Co : They are the basics you are supposed to know. Many of them are ‘phrasal verbs’ : get familiar with them, since they are commonly heard wherever you work. Each entry includes an example of how it is used. But there may be several meanings of the same term/verb. If there are terms you don’t understand in these pages, please look them up in a dictionary. These pages will be complemented by material given in class. Also, if you read other material in English (magazines, books and articles from the Internet, you will come across these terms : repeated occurrence will help you memorize them). Good luck.

The CORPORATE WORLD

Balance sheet : bilan. The tax administration requested our balance sheet before making a decision. (Go) Bankrupt / Bust : être en faillite. Bankruptcy : faillite. It took only one year for the SME to go bankrupt/bust.

Beat off : repousser, écarter. We succeeded in beating off a takeover bid from a hostile corporation.

Burn out : être à bout. This is a high-pressure job and many people burn out and leave. Buy out : racheter. Eventually the corporation was bought out by its worst competitor. Carry out : faire, réaliser, mener. We need to carry out an assessment of the risks. Commodity : produit, marchandise. Coffee and crude oil are the most sold commodities in the world. Compensation : indemnité, indemnisation. They received a 10,000 € compensation. Core business : activité principale, essentielle, cœur de métier. Selling services is our core business, not selling advice.

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Domestic : intérieur, national. The figures for domestic sales are slightly better than those for overseas trade.

Etiquette : règles de bienséance. Unlike the dress code, we do respect etiquette in our business. Executive : cadre. I fully trust every executive of the company. Facility : installation, bâtiment. We’ve built new facilities next to the head office. Go under : plonger, être en faillite. During the recession many businesses went under. Head up : diriger, avoir la charge de. She now heads up our Finance Division. Hold up : tenir le coup. I know things are tough. Under pressure. How are you holding up? Issue : problème, question. This is an even bigger issue than I thought… Jeopardize : compromettre, mettre en péril, créer des risques. I believe his management jeopardizes the whole department. Level off : se redresser, se stabiliser. Sales fell sharply, but they’re levelling off now. Merger : fusion. The merger had a terrible result : they laid off 230 workers. Offset : contrebalancer, rétablir l’équilibre. Your decision will offset the effects generated by the heavy losses we are facing. Pick up : redémarrer, s’améliorer. After a two-year slowdown, business is picking up again. Resign / Step down : démissionner / démissionner d’un poste élevé. He has decided to step down after 6 years as head of the company.

Rule out : exclure, être hors de question. The proposed solution was ruled out as too expensive. Sorry, but his negative background rules him out for the position!

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Sell off : vendre (pour se refaire financièrement) Unused land next to the factory was sold off. The business reduced its debt by selling off assets. Subsidiary / Branch / Division : filiale. Rowes is subsidiary of Orion Group. You should contact our Milan branch for this… Subsidy / Bailout : subvention. We don’t need any subsidies/bailouts from the State, and I hope we’ll never do. Survey : étude. Last year we carried out a survey on this specific issue : the results were published in a professional magazine. Take off : prendre son essor. It took my career and my business 10 years to take off. Take on : prendre (charge, responsabilité). I’ve taken a lot of extra work on recently. Take over : acquisition, prendre le contrôle (OPA) / Remplacer , prendre la suite. The group will eventually be taken over by General Electronics. Who’s going to take over when he leaves the company? Turn down : décliner, baisser / décliner une offre (refuser). If the economy turns down, we’ll be in trouble. Our offer was honest, but they just turned it down. Turn out : produire / s’avérer, se trouver que. We turn out 100,000 units per month when the Chinese do 70,000. This deal turned out to be a big mistake! Workforce : effectifs (employés) ; main d’œuvre. Trade always requires an increasing workforce.

CONTRACTS, NEGOTIATION and warranties Agreement : accord, contract. According to the agreement, the caterer will also supply the flowers for the event. Assurance : garantie ; confiance. The sales associate gave his assurance that the missing keybord would be replaced the next day.

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Cancellation : annulation. The cancellation of her flight caused her problems for the rest of the week. Consider : envisager, réfléchir à. The customer considered buying the equipment until he was informed that the warranty coverage was limited. Cover : couvrir. Will my medical insurance cover the surgery? Determine : déterminer. After reading the contract, I was still unable to determine if our company was liable for back wages. Draw up : rédiger, établir un document. I drew up a list and guidelines you may want to use immediately. Establish : établir, contribuer à. The merger of the two companies established a powerful new corporation. Expiry/Expiration : expiration. Have you checked the expiry date on this item? Imply : laisser entendre ; impliquer. The travel agent implied that the hotel location was not too safe…

Party : groupe de personnes ; parties (affaire juridique). The parties agreed to a settlement in their contract dispute. Promise : promettre. The sales associate promised that the machine would arrive by next week. Reliable : fiable. If I were you I wouldn’t buy from them : they are not reliable because of their inefficiency. Require : exiger, demander. The law requires that each item clearly display the warranty information. Resolve : résoudre. The mediator was able to resolve the problem to everyone’s satisfaction.

marketing, BUSINESS PLANNING and product

development Account for : représenter ; expliquer. Our fashion division accounts for 35% of the sales. The purchase of the new machine accounts for the spending of 3,700 €.

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Address : aborder un problème, s’occuper d’une question. This business plan addresses the needs of small business managers. Attract : attirer, plaire. The new advertising attracts the wrong kind of customer into the store! Avoid : éviter. To avoid going out of business, prepare a good business plan. Branch out : bifurquer, changer de direction/de domaine. The company branched out from accounting into marketing. Break down : échouer ; tomber en panne ; Break down into : fractionner. The deal broke down, so we looked for another partner. The system has broken down and no one has fixed it. The job is easier if you break it down into smaller tasks. Break into : percer. The company hasn’t managed to break into the software market. Bring out : sortir, mettre sur le marché. We brought outa range of new products last month. Build up : créer, constituer. A salesperson must first build up a network of contacts.

Catch on : prendre, démarrer (marché). Hybrid cars will catch on when the demand triggers the supply. Users and makers are the key. Contract out / Outsource / Subcontract : sous-traiter. American companies contract out a lot of their IT work in India.

Convince : convaincre. You must convince the marketing staff before the potential customers. Currently : actuellement, en ce moment. We are currently exploring plans to update the MX model. Customize : personnaliser, sur mesure. We customize not only the product, but also the service. Design : concevoir. This machine is not designed for this kind of product.

Develop : élaborer, mettre au point ; se développer. She developed her ideas into a business plan by getting the appropriate training.

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Downmarket/Upmarket : bas de gamme / haut de gamme. We’ve switched from downmarket products to upmarket products. Examine : étudier, examiner. Before marketing this item, make sure you have examined every aspect of it. Experiment : expérience. We’re now conducting an experiment to see if the product is up to our expectations. Fad : mode passagère, folie actuelle. Classic taste has proven to resist fads.

Fall to : incomber à (responsabilité), être du ressort de. It falls to you, not to your assistant, to make this decision. Fall through : tomber à l’eau. The deal fell through because our partners pulled out. Gather : rassembler ; conclure que. We gathered the proper information : now we’re ready. I gather that interest rates will soon change, won’t they? Market : mettre sur le marché. We couldn’t market the new product in time, which enabled our competitors to get ahead of us. Market research : étude de marché. We carried out market research for this product : the outcome looks good. Mark up : augmenter les prix. These items are heavily marked up. Why? Offer : proposition ; proposer. Devon accepted our offer to help them with their business plan. Outlet : point de vente. Our main competitor has 20 more outlets than we do… Phase out : cesser progressivement. Some chemicals are hazardous : industries are now phasing them out. Primarily : essentiellement. We are primarily concerned with convincing the board of directors to apply for the second loan. Productive : productif, qui rapporte. The unproductive sales meeting brought many staff complaints.

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Prospect(s) : client potentiel / perspectives. I have a number of good prospects on my list. The prospects for growth with our corporation are quite real. Purchase : achat ; acheter. If you purchase these books on-line, don’t forget about the shipping cost. Put together : former, constituer, établir. They’re putting together a new management policy. Range / Line : gamme. They no longer make this range/line of products. Release : sortie (disque, film, produit audiovisuel) The release date of this DVD has been postponed. Retailers : détaillants ; Big retailers : grande distribution. Big retailers usually put the pressure on wholesalers to get lower prices and bigger margins. Rip off : escroquer, arnaquer. You can trust these two reliable tradesmen : they won’t rip you off. Sample : échantillon. I already sent you a sample of the product, didn’t you get it in time ? Supervisor : personne responsable. Mr. Jones is my supervisor, I report to him and I take orders from him only. Upgrade : améliorer / passer au modèle supérieur. We upgraded all our installations last month. We have state-of-the-art equipment. Wholesalers : grossistes. Wholesalers can’t survive without supermarkets…who take advantage of them.

CONFERENCES Accommodate : contenir ; satisfaire. This room can accommodate over 130 people. Arrangement : dispositions. The travel arrangements were taken care of by Sara’s assistant.

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Attend : assister à, être présent à. Attend to : s’occuper de. How many people do you expect to attend the conference ? The manager attended to all the visitors’ needs. Conference : congrès, symposium. The conference took place from June 4 until June 7. Front desk / Reception desk : accueil. Ask the hostess at the front desk : she has the programs. Get in touch : contacter. Did you manage to get in touch with them in time? Hold : contenir ; tenir. The room could held 80 people. We held a meeting last week, didn’t you know about it? Location : lieu. The Hyatt was the perfect location for that conference. Overcrowded : surpeuplé. The conference room was overcrowded : too many guests! Register : s’inscrire en arrivant. All visitors are required to register at the front desk when they arrive. Session : séance. The morning session was longer than the afternoon session.

Sign up : s’inscrire, s’engager ; faire signer (attirer). I signed up with a temp-work agency. The phone providers compete hard to sign up customers. Take part in : participer. We couldn’t get enough people to take part in the meeting, so we cancelled it.

COMPUTERS and OFFICE TECHNOLOGY Affordable : abordable financièrement. The company had to find an affordable communication system. Back up : sauvegarder. Did you back up all your files on a DVD, as I advised you? Data : données. The data are stored in a second hard drive.

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Delete : effacer. We deleted all the data by mistake! Display : afficher; affichage. The program displays a blurred image on the screen. Durable : solide. Make sure you purchase a durable pieces of furniture.

Facilitate : faciliter. We tried to facilitate the transition to the new system.

Fail : omettre. Failure : échec ; panne. There’s been repeated failures on this computer, and you failed to inform me about them.

Figure out : trouver, comprendre. I finally figured out how to solve the problem. Hook up to: brancher, connecter. Hook up with : créer un partenariat. You can hook up your laptop to the network. We’ve hooked up with a German company to produce spare parts.

Key in : composer/entrer qch sur clavier. First, you must key in your password. Network : réseau. We set up a new network to share files. Operate : (faire) fonctionner. Does anyone know how to operate this system? Does anyone know how this system operates?

Process : procédé, procédure, traitement. There’s a specific process for determining why the computers are malfunctioning. I processed the data and found the error.

Provider : fournisseur de service. The department was pleased with the phone and internet provider. Recur : se répéter. There has been recurring problems with this machine; let’s replace it. Shut down : éteindre, fermer. Shut down the system before you leave, will you?

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Skill : capacities, competence. He has excellent technical skills : he’ll come up with a solution. Stay on top of : rester à la pointe de. In this industry we have to stay on top of current developments. Store : conserver, stocker. You stored the pictures in the wrong file! Voice mail : messagerie vocale. I left a message on your voice mail last night… Warning : avertissement. There was no warning message before the whole system went out.

OFFICE PROCEDURES Accurately : précisément, avec exactitude. You must calculate the number we need accurately.

Assessment : evaluation. Were you able to assess the amount of work needed? Bring in/on : recruter, faire appel à. The managers decided to bring in new consultants. Code : règles, conventions. Contrary to what you may think, the dress code is important in American companies. Concern : souci. Our major concern here is to keep away from trouble before the audit.

Emphasize : insister sur. The manager and the regulations emphasize the importance of safety. Expose : sensibiliser ; habituer à. If you’re been exposed to the various functions of the department, you’ll do better. Hamper : gêner, entraver. Not complying with the regulations hampers our credibility. Manage : parvenir, réussir à. They managed to sort out the problem within a day.

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Overview : examen rapide global. I did a quick overview of the situation : everything’s alright. Run : diriger ; (faire) fonctionner ; lancer une opération/procédure I’m in charge of running this business until next year. Check the figures while the computer’s running. We’ll be running an inventory next week. Run out of : manquer de. We used all the pieces and quickly ran out of supplies. Outdated : démodé, périmé. This seminar will help us get rid of outdated methods within the department. Practice : pratique. Reading the check-list should become a common practice. Sort out : régler un problème, se débrouiller. This is not an easy case : if you can’t sort it out, call me. Thoroughly : de manière approfondie. We’ve looked for a solution thoroughly. Work out : trouver un arrangement, une solution. Don’t worry about the short delay : we’ll work something out.

CORRESPONDENCE and e-MAILING Apologize : s’excuser. We’d like to apologize for misleading you. That was unintentional. Attachment : pièce jointe (e-mail). I didn’t get your attachment. Did you include it? Copy in on : Mettre en copie jointe. Please, copy me in on all messages coming from that department. I’ll send it to her and copy you in. Courier : coursier. The company has hired a courier to deliver packages to our partners with an electrical vehicle. Enclose : joindre (P.J. courier postal) Enclosed is a copy of the Terms & Conditions.

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Fill in : remplir un document (formulaire) / Fill in on : informer, tenir au courant. Please fill in this paper and return it signed ASAP (as soon as possible). I have to leave. Make sure you fill me in on the details tomorrow.

Fold / Bend : plier. Please, don’t fold the document and don’t bend the envelope! Layout : présentation, mise en page. Please, change the layout so the document looks more attractive. Postage : affranchissement. How much is the postage for Australia? Proof-reading : relecture corrective. To avoid submitting poor documents, make sure you proof-read your texts! Put on : passer qlqn directement (au téléphone). Hold on, he’s here, I’ll put him on…

Put through to : passer qlqn au téléphone par le standard. Can you put me through to Ms. Dillon, please? Hold on, I’ll put you through to her. Quote : mention, indication de tarifs. There was no quote of the rates in the mail. Reach : joindre qlqn. I called several times but I was unable to reach him. Registered-mail : courrier recommandé. Register this mail if you want to keep a trace of it. Revise : récrire. The brochure was revised last year. The last edition is updated.

JOB hunting , RECRUITING and training Ability : capacité, competence. I had to show my ability to work with people who don’t speak French. Apply for : poser sa candidature. She applied for two different jobs and she got interviews right away!

Assignment : mission, tâche, travail. He can manage about any kind of assignment. Just try him.

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Background : experience passée, histoire personnelle. Your background in the field is highly interesting, Sir… Bring in / Take on / Hire : embaucher. We’re planning to bring in a new team of assistants. It was easy to take her on as a manager : her résumé was impressive. I can hire you for a period of 6 months. Call in : convoquer. You’ll be called in for an interview. Come up with : trouver. The new employee came up with a great idea. I’m glad we hired her. Field : domaine professionnel. I am not qualified in the medical field, but I do have competence in pharmaceutical products. Fill in for : remplacer qlqn. I won’t be here next week. Can you fill in for me? Fire : virer quelqu’un. He was fired because his results were below expectation. Business is tough! Follow up : relancer ; suivi. As a follow up, I sent them a list of references. Interview : entretien. How did your interview go? Keep up with : rester à niveau, se maintenir, suivre. I can’t keep up with the constant changes within the company ! Lay off : licencier. 20% of the workforce was laid off after the company was taken over by Kraft Foods. Match : (faire) bien correspondre (deux éléments) For this particular job those two assistants match perfectly. Your qualification has to match our needs, you know… On track : comme prévu, dans les temps. If we stay on track this meeting should be over in 30 minutes. Overtime : heures/temps supplémentaire(s). Don’t worry : If you work overtime you’ll get paid accordingly.

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Prepared to : disposé(e) à. I can do a lot, but I am not prepared to do this. It’s a matter of ethics. Reject : refuser. Unfortunately, my application was rejected. Replace : remplacer. Who’s going to replace the former administrator? Report to : être sous les ordres de, dépendre de (hiérarchiquement) Ms. Wilks runs this Dept. and you report to her. Self-confidence : confiance en soi. She lacks self-confidence but, given time, she will manage. Set up : établir, créer, fixer, préparer, organiser… Please, set up the date, time and place of the event and let me know… Submit : soumettre, proposer. You should submit your résumé to the HR Dept. Time-consuming : chronophage (qui prend du temps) Sitting through the interviews was time-consuming but worthwhile. Training : formation, stage. If you get good training, come and see us again. We’ll reconsider your application. Update : mettre à jour, actualiser ; mise à jour. I never got the new update. What happened?

SALARIES, Promotions AND BENEFITS Achievement/Accomplishment : réalisation, réussite. We’d like to reward you for your professional achievements. The functioning of this department is based on your previous accom-plishments.

Benefit : avantage. Benefit from : bénéficier de. In this new job, I get better benefits in addition to my basic salary. Contribute : contribuer, donner. Thank you for contributing a few hours of your time to this project. Dedication : dévouement, engagement. His dedication to high-quality results in tremendous improvement in our corporation.

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Eligible : avoir droit à. Are you sure you are eligible for the new scheme? Fringe benefit / Perk : avantage en nature. In addition to my salary I get substantial fringe benefits/perks, such as a car and free airline tickets. Look forward to : avoir hâte de. We’re all looking forward to meeting the new CEO. I look forward to seeing you at the conference. Look to : dépendre de, compter sur. Don’t look to me to settle all your disagreements ! Raise : augmenter ; augmentation de prix/salaire. When was the last time they raised your salary ? Recognition : reconnaissance. I didn’t get a lot of recognition for my dedication and achievements. Retire : partir à la retraite. Retirement : retraite. She retired at the age of 64 but was still active as a volunteer. Union : syndicat. To be a union member doesn’t mean you have to be constantly on strike. Vested interest : intérêt personnel. The company has a vested interest in the welfare of its employees.

Wage : salaire (horaire ou hebdomadaire) They spent half of their wages on rent !

SHOPPING / PURCHASING Bargain : bonne affaire ; marchander. She bargained for over an hour, finally reducing the price by half. Behaviour : comportement. We’re currently conducting a survey on consumers’ behaviour. Bulk : en gros, grosses quantités, en vrac. We always buy in bulk for this kind of small, cheap items.

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Checkout : caisse (supermarché) ; départ (hôtel) ; faire une procédure de sortie. The line at this checkout is too long, let’s go to another one. I’d like to check out before 9:00 tomorrow morning, okay? Did you check out these items without entering the references?

Expand : agrandir. We have to expand our store to welcome an increasing number of customers. Explore : faire une recherche systématique. Did you explore the food department to find out if they have the new exotic products? Item : article. All the items are mixed on the same shelf : you have to sort them out. Trend : tendance. The current trend of the market in terms of clothing is rather ugly! Refund /pay back : remboursement / rembourser. It didn’t work properly? Did you ask for a refund?

Return : retourner un article. If you ever find a faulty item, please don’t hesitate to return it.

SHIPPING, INVOICES and inventory

Carrier : transporteur. We had to change carriers to maintain our delays. Charge : demander (prix à payer) There’s no extra charge for the shipping. How much did they charge you for this lousy piece of equipment?

Delivery : livraison. Can you check the delivery time with the carrier? Discrepancy : écart, erreur, divergence. You must find the discrepancy between the two lists. It doesn’t tally. Estimate : devis. I need an estimate for this job, with VAT included. Fulfill : remplir, satisfaire (une obligation). If your expectations are too high they might be hard to fulfill.

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Invoice : facture. There is a mistake in the invoice. Can you correct it? Lead time : délai de production/livraison. The lead time for this operation is too short. Give us an extra week. On hand : disponible. We had too much stock on hand, so we organized a special sale. The new employee will be on hand if you need help. Order : commande. I placed an order for 200 units. Is it okay? They ordered the new model, so we’d better send it right away. Rectify : rectifier (résoudre un problème, une situation) Did you rectify the situation with the supplier ? Ship : envoyer, expediter. When exactly did you ship the package? Because it never got here! Supply : fournir ; stock, fourniture. They supplied 10,000 additional units that were not needed! We do have enough supply, so we can meet your demand. Tedious : fastidieux. This is a tedious job, but you get a good pay for it. Terms : conditions. The terms of payment are clearly stated in the invoice I sent.

BANKING, investment and ACCOUNTING Accounting : comptabilité. All our accounting procedures took more than a week. Add up : coller, coïncider. I checked the counts : it doesn’t add up. There’s a glitch in the figures. Amount /Sum : montant, somme. 260 dollars? I earned twice that amount just by investing in stock.

Asset : actif ; atout. The company’s assets are worth millions of €. Having you with us is a good asset for the team. Balance : solde restant. The balance of the accounts was positive.

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Borrow : emprunter. We borrowed too much money from the bank. Client : client (d’un service) This bank provides good information for its clients about how it operates. Cut back : faire des économies ; limiter les dépenses ; réduire les marges. Cut down on : réduire les coûts/les dépenses. We’ll have to cut back/down on staff, which is unpopular… Deadline : délai, date butoir. We’re just two weeks away from the deadline for this year’s taxes. Debt : dette. France’s increasing debt is partly due to a lack of reforms. Deduct / Subtract : déduire / soustraire. Were you able to deduct your current expenses on your tax return form? Down payment : apport. The bigger your down payment, the smaller the interests you’ll pay. Figures : chiffres. The figures for last year are excellent. Forecast : prévisions. The forecast indicates a deficit. Shall we proceed or withdraw? Fund : fonds ; financer. The whole project was funded by the Vanderbilt Foundation. Income : revenu. The income tax has gone down, but my income has also gone down ! Loan : prêt, emprunt. Take out a loan from the Manhattan Chase Bank : their rates are better. Mortgage : hypothèque. They mortgaged their house to get extra money to invest in their business. Outstanding : impayé. This client still has several outstanding bills. Overall : global. The company’s overall expectations were not realistic. Owe : devoir. We’ve paid off 70% of our debt. We owe them much less than we thought.

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Pay off : rembourser. With this loan, you’ll have to pay off only 14 months.

Pull out : se retirer. The investors suddenly pulled out, which left us in real trouble. Put up : financer. They offered to put up $ 20,000 to start up the project. Raise money : trouver des financements. We raised money for the environmental protection of the site. Rate : taux ; tarif. This year, interest rates have gone down. Call them and ask them their hotel rates. Return : retour sur investissement, rapport, rentabilité. We are quite satisfied with a 40% return. Round up : arrondir (un chiffre, une somme) The final sum was rounded up to 500 instead of 498.87. Settle : payer une note/ un dû. I settled the bill before I left. No need to take care of it. Shares / stock : actions. How many shares/much stock did you buy to generate so much? Statement : relevé. If you check the statements of accounts, you’ll see how much we owe. Take out / Withdraw : retirer de l’argent. How much did you take out/withdraw from your bank account?

Turnover : chiffre d’affaire ; rotation. The company turnover is about 200,000 €. We’d do better with a lower employee turnover. Withhold : retenir une somme. They are not supposed to withhold money even if you owe them money. Write off : effacer (dette). After the lost the case they were forced to write off almost 40,000 € in debts. Yield : rendement, rentabilité. This operation may yield millions if we do things right.

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BOARD MEETINGS and COMMITTEES Agenda : ordre du jour. The agenda of the meeting will be sent to each of you ahead of time. Appropriate : approprié, le bon moment. Discussing that matter now is not appropriate. Bring forward : Avancer (date). If you bring forward the meeting date at the last minute, I might not be there. Bring up : évoquer, soulever une question. Since you’re bringing that up, let me tell you that this problem has been solved long ago. Call off : annuler ; geler. I’ve been informed that the presentation had been called off. Is that so? Deal with : ‘gérer’, s’occuper de, se charger de, se débrouiller avec. Can you face the situation and deal with it ? These customer requests should be dealt with quickly. Irrelevant : hors contexte, hors de propos, inadéquat. The solution you offer sounds irrelevant. Lengthy : trop long. In France, people seem to enjoy lengthy meetings. Matter : sujet, question. We can’t waste time dealing with personal matters. Let’s proceed! Postpone / put off : retarder, différer. I’m afraid we’ll have to put off the whole opening event. Priority : priorité. This item in the agenda is absolutely not our priority. Proceed / Go ahead with : poursuivre, avancer. Okay, you may proceed with the plan. Don’t delay. Progress : progrès, avancée. The reports show the progress for the year. That’s encouraging. Where do we stand now? Any work in progress ?

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eating out and events Mix-up : confusion, erreur. There’s been a slight mix-up : I didn’t order a salad. Have : prendre (un plat/une boisson) What will you have ? Wine or beer ? Pick up the check : payer l’addition. I’m always the one who picks up the check! Reviews : critiques ; articles. The reviews for this play in London are rave.

Stage : organiser, présenter. Ms. Hill is in charge of staging the whole show. Ask her if the location is good.

Sold out : complet (tickets/billets vendus en totalité). I got there too late to buy tickets for the show : it was all sold out.

TRAVELING Announcement : annonce publique. I didn’t hear the announcement : what gate is our plane? Book/Booking : réservation. I booked a seat for you on the Paris-Madrid flight. Check in : procédure d’arrivée. What time did you check in at the hotel last night? Delay : retard. The flight is delayed, as usual! Extend : rallonger la durée d’un séjour. We’ve decided to extend our stay by 5 days. Fare : prix d’un trajet. The train fare has increased since last time I came here.

(To be completed as needed)