This lesson covers the vocabulary of employment life once you already have a job: the type of contract you sign, how you are paid, your hours, your leave entitlements, and how you interact with colleagues and supervisors.
| a permanent, open-ended contract (CDI) | un contrat à durée indéterminée |
French employment contracts are central here: a contrat à durée indéterminée, almost always abbreviated CDI, is the standard permanent contract; a contrat à durée déterminée, or CDD, is a fixed-term contract used for temporary or project-based work. You will see both abbreviations everywhere on real job postings and payslips, even though this lesson teaches the full spelled-out forms as the citation forms you type.
This domain shows up in exam tasks that ask you to describe your work situation, compare working conditions, or take a position on labour issues such as strikes (faire grève) or workplace harassment (le harcèlement au travail) — realistic topics for TEF and TCF opinion and synthesis tasks. It is equally practical for real life: understanding your rémunération, your avantages sociaux, and your congés is essential once you start working in Canada.
Two cards mark a Canada/standard-French distinction: Canadian French uses un travailleur autonome for a self-employed person or freelancer, while standard French more often says un travailleur indépendant. For exam answers, use the standard-French term; use the Canadian term for talking about your own working life here.
