How to do Laundry the French way

If you go abroad, particularly to France and more particularly in Nice, this is one of the many things you may have to know.

In the Philippines, we do our own laundry in our own home. In France, they do too ! But more often than not, the space is to cramped to even have a washing machine installed in your apartment. If you’re lucky, then there’s no problem. However, for me, I had to use a public laundromat or laverie as we call it in French, which is found almost everywhere. I am going to present to you the vocabulary words you may encounter on your quest to have those dirty and used clothes washed.

Let’s start with the nouns:

• water - l’eau

• wash - lavage

• clothes - linge

• dry clean - pressing

• detergent - lessive

• ironing - repassage

• spinning - essorage

• window / door (of the machine) - hublot

Moving on with the verbs:

• to wash - laver

• to dry - sécher

• to iron - repasser

• to fold - plier

And some handy adjectives:

• dry - sec

• wet - mouillé

• clean - propre

• dirty - sale

• heavy - lourd

• light - léger

• warm - chaud

• cold - froid / frais

• lukewarm - tiède

These were most of the words I wish I knew before doing laundry. I was panicking during my first time but thankfully the French people were kind enough to help me get through every step. I hope these help !