Looking for an apartment in France is one of the most paperwork-heavy things a B1 learner can do. The vocabulary is precise (a deux pièces is not a T2, except when it is), the questions follow a predictable script, and the interaction is conducted in vous even with a real-estate agent half your age. This page walks through a typical agency conversation and unpacks the grammatical and lexical patterns you will hear in every visit.
The grammar focus is on four B1-defining structures: the interrogative determiner quel with prices and quantities, the possessive votre/vos in formal address, the conditional for hypothetical preferences, and the chunked language of figures, dates, and times.
The dialogue
Agente : Bonjour, vous cherchez un appartement ? Client : Oui, je voudrais un deux pièces, dans le centre si possible. Agente : Très bien. Quel est votre budget ? Client : Autour de 800 euros par mois, charges comprises. Agente : D'accord. J'ai un beau studio rue Pasteur — il est libre depuis la semaine dernière. Souhaiteriez-vous le visiter ? Client : Pourquoi pas. C'est combien, le loyer ? Agente : 750 euros par mois, charges comprises. Il y a aussi une caution de deux mois et des frais d'agence. Client : Et l'appartement fait combien de mètres carrés ? Agente : 32 mètres carrés. Il est au troisième étage avec ascenseur, cuisine équipée, et donne sur une cour calme. Client : Ça m'a l'air bien. Quand pourrais-je le visiter ? Agente : Demain à quatorze heures, si cela vous convient ? Client : Parfait. Je peux vous confirmer ce soir par mail ? Agente : Bien sûr. Voici ma carte. À demain.
A complete first contact with a régie immobilière, with the questions, numbers, and conventions you will reproduce at every viewing.
Grammar in action
Un deux pièces, un studio, un T3 — French apartment vocabulary
The client asks for un deux pièces. This is the most important piece of French apartment vocabulary, and one of the most counterintuitive: French counts rooms, but it does not count the kitchen, bathroom, or hallway — only the pièces principales (living room and bedrooms).
- un studio — one main room with kitchenette (no separate bedroom)
- un deux pièces (or un T2 / F2) — one living room + one bedroom
- un trois pièces (or un T3 / F3) — one living room + two bedrooms
- and so on
The forms T2, T3, F2, F3 (where T = type, F = fonction) are interchangeable in listings and in agency speech. Un T2 and un deux pièces mean exactly the same thing.
A French listing will tell you the number of pièces and the surface in m² (mètres carrés), and those two figures together give you the price reference. Always ask both.
Je cherche un deux pièces de quarante mètres carrés.
I'm looking for a one-bedroom of forty square meters.
Le studio fait vingt-cinq mètres carrés.
The studio is twenty-five square meters.
C'est un T3 avec deux chambres et un grand salon.
It's a T3 with two bedrooms and a large living room.
Quel est votre budget ? — the interrogative determiner quel
The agent's central question is Quel est votre budget ? The word quel is an interrogative determiner that translates English "what" or "which" — but only when it asks about identifying or specifying something.
Two crucial rules.
1. Quel agrees with the noun it questions. Four forms: quel (m.sg.), quelle (f.sg.), quels (m.pl.), quelles (f.pl.). The noun's gender determines the form, even when quel is separated from the noun by est: Quel est votre budget ? (m.sg.), Quelle est votre adresse ? (f.sg.), Quels sont vos critères ? (m.pl.), Quelles sont vos préférences ? (f.pl.).
2. Quel asks about identification, not action. Use quel for "what is X / which X". Use qu'est-ce que / que when "what" is the object of a verb: Qu'est-ce que vous cherchez ? ("What are you looking for?") — not quel. The split is grammatical, not stylistic.
In the apartment context, quel is constant: Quel est le loyer ? Quel est l'étage ? Quelle est la surface ? Quels sont les frais d'agence ? Quelles sont les charges ?
Quel est votre budget ?
What is your budget?
Quelle est la surface de l'appartement ?
What is the surface area of the apartment?
Quels sont les frais à prévoir ?
What are the costs to expect?
Quelles sont vos disponibilités cette semaine ?
What is your availability this week?
Votre, vos — formal possessives
The agent uses votre budget and could just as easily say vos critères. Two forms — votre (singular noun, regardless of gender) and vos (plural noun, regardless of gender) — cover all formal possessives addressed to one or more people.
The complete second-person possessive paradigm:
| singular noun | plural noun | |
|---|---|---|
| familiar (tu) | ton, ta | tes |
| formal / plural (vous) | votre | vos |
In formal speech, votre and vos replace ton, ta, tes across the board. There is no gender split for votre (it covers both votre maison and votre appartement); there is no second form for vos.
In an agency, every reference to the client's belongings, criteria, or situation will use votre or vos: votre budget, vos critères, votre dossier, vos pièces justificatives, votre adresse actuelle.
Quel est votre budget mensuel ?
What is your monthly budget?
Pouvez-vous m'envoyer vos pièces justificatives ?
Could you send me your supporting documents?
Votre dossier est complet, je vous remercie.
Your file is complete, thank you.
Souhaiteriez-vous, je voudrais, pourrais-je — the conditional in service interactions
The agent says Souhaiteriez-vous le visiter ? The client says Je voudrais un deux pièces and Quand pourrais-je le visiter ? Three different verbs — souhaiter, vouloir, pouvoir — all in the conditional.
Why the conditional everywhere? Because in any service interaction (real estate, banking, hospitality, administrative offices), the conditional is the default register for both parties. The agent uses it to soften a proposal; the client uses it to soften a request. Substituting the present tense — Je veux un deux pièces, Vous voulez le visiter ? — is grammatically correct but reads as terse, even rude.
The four conditionals you will hear most often in a French agency:
- je voudrais — to state what you want (in place of je veux)
- j'aimerais — to state what you would like (similar to je voudrais, slightly warmer)
- pourriez-vous / pourrais-je — for requests
- souhaiteriez-vous — for proposals from the agent's side
Note also the inversion form pourrais-je — the regular 1st-singular conditional of pouvoir with subject inversion. Be careful with the spelling: pourrais (conditional) ends in -s, while pourrai (future) does not. This is the formal equivalent of est-ce que je pourrais.
Je voudrais visiter cet appartement.
I would like to visit this apartment.
Souhaiteriez-vous voir d'autres biens ?
Would you like to see other properties?
Pourrais-je vous rappeler dans la soirée ?
Could I call you back this evening?
Charges comprises — fixed expressions you will see in every listing
The agent specifies 800 euros par mois, charges comprises. The phrase charges comprises is a fixed legal expression that means "with utility charges included". It is the answer to the question Le loyer comprend-il les charges ? — does the rent include the building charges (heating in shared systems, hot water, common-area maintenance, garbage)?
Two forms appear in listings and in conversation:
- CC = charges comprises — charges are part of the rent
- HC = hors charges — charges are extra, billed separately
In both cases, the additional expenses are les charges (always plural in this sense), distinct from le loyer (the base rent). When a client asks C'est combien le loyer ?, the agent should always specify whether the figure is CC or HC.
Other fixed expressions in the dialogue:
- une caution — security deposit (usually equal to one or two months' rent)
- des frais d'agence — agency fees (charged once, when the lease is signed)
- une cuisine équipée — a kitchen with built-in appliances
- donne sur — looks out onto / faces (a courtyard, a street, a garden)
Le loyer est de 800 euros par mois, charges comprises.
The rent is 800 euros a month, utilities included.
Hors charges, ça fait 720 euros, plus 80 euros de charges.
Excluding utilities, it's 720 euros, plus 80 euros for utilities.
L'appartement donne sur une cour calme.
The apartment faces a quiet courtyard.
Numbers, prices, and the comma as decimal separator
French notates numbers with conventions that consistently catch English speakers off guard.
- The decimal separator is a comma, not a period. 2,5 is read deux virgule cinq, not deux point cinq. 800,50 euros is "eight hundred euros and fifty cents".
- The thousands separator is a space, not a comma. 2 500 is two thousand five hundred. Some publications use a non-breaking space, others use no separator at all (2500); you will rarely if ever see 2,500 in a French text — that would be misread as 2.5.
- Currency goes after the figure: 800 euros, not €800 in spoken or written French (though €800 appears in international formats and on signs). The most common spoken pattern is huit cents euros.
For prices in real estate, the standard formula is NUMBER + euros + par mois (per month) or par an (per year): 800 euros par mois, 9 600 euros par an.
Le loyer est de 800 euros par mois.
The rent is 800 euros a month.
L'appartement fait 32 mètres carrés.
The apartment is 32 square meters.
La caution est de 1 600 euros, soit deux mois de loyer.
The deposit is 1,600 euros, or two months' rent.
Demain à quatorze heures — the 24-hour clock and date expressions
The agent proposes Demain à quatorze heures. French routinely uses the 24-hour clock in formal and semi-formal contexts: appointments, train schedules, business hours, official documents. Quatorze heures = 2 p.m.
The structure is NUMBER + heures (+ MINUTES):
- quatorze heures — 2:00 p.m. / 14:00
- quatorze heures trente — 2:30 p.m. / 14:30
- quinze heures quarante-cinq — 3:45 p.m. / 15:45
In casual conversation, especially with friends, the 12-hour clock is fine: à deux heures de l'après-midi, à quatre heures. But in any professional context (interview, real estate, doctor's office), the 24-hour clock is expected and quatorze heures is what you will hear.
For dates, the structure is le + DAY + MONTH (+ YEAR) with no preposition before the day: le 15 janvier, le 3 mars 2026. Days and months are not capitalized in French.
Demain à quatorze heures, si cela vous convient.
Tomorrow at 2 p.m., if that works for you.
Le rendez-vous est fixé au 15 janvier.
The appointment is set for January 15th.
L'agence est ouverte de neuf heures à dix-huit heures.
The agency is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Si cela vous convient — formal closure of a proposal
The agent ends her proposal with si cela vous convient ? — literally "if that suits you". This is one of the most useful conversational closers in formal French.
The verb convenir à quelqu'un means "to suit someone / to be acceptable to someone". The subject is the thing being proposed (cela, ce créneau, cette heure); the indirect object is the person (me, te, lui, nous, vous, leur). Note: convenir takes an indirect object with à, never a direct one.
Variants of the same closer:
- si cela vous convient — if that suits you
- si vous êtes d'accord — if you're in agreement
- si cela vous va — if that works for you (slightly less formal)
Demain à quatorze heures, si cela vous convient ?
Tomorrow at 2 p.m., if that suits you?
Cette date ne me convient pas, malheureusement.
That date doesn't work for me, unfortunately.
Si cette heure ne vous convient pas, dites-le-moi.
If this time doesn't work for you, let me know.
Common mistakes
These are the predictable trip-ups for English speakers in French apartment-hunting.
❌ Quel est votre adresse ?
Incorrect — *adresse* is feminine, so *quelle*, not *quel*.
✅ Quelle est votre adresse ?
What is your address?
Quel must agree with the noun it questions. Adresse is feminine, so quelle. The same trap exists with votre (which does not change) — beginners often think votre is masculine because it has no -e, but it covers both genders. The agreement is on quel, not on votre.
❌ Je cherche un trois pièces avec trois chambres.
Incorrect — *un trois pièces* already implies two bedrooms (one living room + two bedrooms).
✅ Je cherche un quatre pièces avec trois chambres.
I'm looking for a three-bedroom apartment.
A French trois pièces has two bedrooms, not three — because the living room counts as a pièce. To get three bedrooms, you ask for a quatre pièces.
❌ Le loyer est 800 euros par mois.
Acceptable but missing the standard preposition *de*.
✅ Le loyer est de 800 euros par mois.
The rent is 800 euros a month.
When stating a price, the structure is est + de + figure, not just est + figure. The omission is grammatically tolerated in conversation but flagged as informal; in any formal context, include the de.
❌ J'ai une rendez-vous demain à 2 p.m.
Incorrect — *rendez-vous* is masculine, and the 24-hour clock is standard in professional contexts.
✅ J'ai un rendez-vous demain à quatorze heures.
I have an appointment tomorrow at 2 p.m.
Two errors in one sentence: rendez-vous is invariably masculine (un rendez-vous), and "p.m." is not used in French — convert to the 24-hour clock. The same applies to "a.m." → just give the hour without specification, or use du matin if disambiguating in casual speech.
❌ Je veux le visiter, s'il vous plaît.
Acceptable but blunt — agency interactions expect the conditional.
✅ Je voudrais le visiter, s'il vous plaît.
I would like to visit it, please.
The present-tense je veux is grammatically correct but reads as a demand. In any service interaction in France — real estate, banking, restaurants, public administration — default to the conditional je voudrais.
Key takeaways
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