In this lesson, we are going to discuss a “bunch” of words, starting with concrete things like bananas or flowers and moving on to more abstract ideas. French has a bunch of different translations for the word “bunch,” as it can mean a bunch of things (un tas de choses)!

Let's start with the edible kind of bunch, as in “a bunch of grapes,” or une grappe de raisin in French. In this video, the grappes de raisin are actually made of stone to decorate the front of a church:

Elles sont principalement composées de grappes de raisin et d'animaux étranges et surprenants

They are mainly composed of grape bunches and strange and surprising animals

Caption 27, Voyage en France Lagny-sur-Marne - Part 2

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And yes, une grappe is where we get the English word "grape"!

But when we're talking about a bunch of other kinds of fruit, such as bananas, we use a different term: un régime.

Je vois un régime de bananes qui pousse sur un bananier.

I see a bunch of bananas growing on a banana tree.

However, if you were buying a bunch of radishes, for example, you would NOT ask for une grappe de radis or un régime de radis. Instead, you would ask for une botte de radis (a bunch of radishes). We say une botte for any root vegetable that can be tied up in a bunch:

Vous trouverez de belles bottes de radis frais au marché.

You will find beautiful bunches of fresh radishes at the market.

And if you decided to add a bunch of flowers to your purchases, you would be asking for un bouquet de fleurs. This, of course, is "a bouquet" in English:

Huit : un bouquet de fleurs.

Eight: a bouquet of flowers.

Caption 11, Joyeuses Pâques! Vocabulaire

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Indeed, you can buy tout un tas de trucs (a whole bunch of stuff) at the market, as Manon attests in her video:

Ou faire le marché ou faire ses courses. C'est-à-dire acheter tout un tas de trucs.

Or go to the market or go shopping. That is to say, to buy a whole bunch of stuff.

Caption 40, Margaux et Manon Emplois du verbe faire

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Un tas de trucs is synonymous with un tas de choses (a bunch of things):

J'ai organisé un tas de choses.

I put a bunch of things in order.

Caption 48, Le Jour où tout a basculé À l'audience: Détournement d'argent dans le couple ? - Part 4

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Alternatively, the expression un tas de choses can also translate as "loads of things":

Y a des tas de choses qui nous dépassent...

There are loads of things that are beyond us...

Caption 54, Sophie et Patrice Le tarot de Marseille

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You can also use un tas de for more specific things:

Et puis, tout un tas de messages et de sculptures à découvrir d'urgence

And then, a whole bunch of messages and sculptures to discover urgently

Caption 25, Voyage en France île de Chatou

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When "bunch" refers to a group of people, as in a “bunch of friends,” we're talking about une bande d’amis:

On est une bande d'amis sur Paris depuis quinze ou vingt ans.

We are a bunch of friends based in Paris for the past fifteen or twenty years.

Caption 4, French Punk Frustration

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The term une bande de (a bunch of) can also be used pejoratively, as in une bande de snobs (a bunch of snobs):

Il va te dire les Français sont une bande de snobs. 

He'll tell you the French are a bunch of snobs. 

Caption 49, Le Québec parle aux Français - Part 2

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Une bande specifically refers to a group of people, a musical band for example, or a gang:

Le vilain petit canard de la bande

The ugly duckling of the gang

Caption 9, Le Monde Pourquoi le service à la cuillère au tennis fascine ou exaspère

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But instead of saying une bande de, you can use un tas de to express disgust or frustration with a group of people—or in the case of this cartoon, human-like pigs:

"Horrible!", dit Piggeldy. « Un tas de cochons »!

"Horrible!" said Piggeldy. "A bunch of pigs!"

Caption 30, Piggeldy et Frédéric Voyage à Pont-à-Cochon

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Un tas literally means "a pile" or "a heap" of materials lying on top of one another:

Ici, quand je pars d'un tas de bois

Here, when I start from a pile of wood

Caption 70, Vauréal Laurent Azriel, luthier

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As for the sometimes sarcastic English expression “thanks a bunch,” this is simply merci beaucoup:

Je dois devoir tout recommencer à cause de toi. Merci beaucoup ! 

Thanks to you, I’m going to have to start all over again. Thanks a bunch!

Since "a bunch" can mean tout un tas de choses (a whole bunch of things), feel free to watch des tas de vidéos Yable (loads of Yable videos) to get un tas d’idées (a bunch of ideas). Thank you for reading!

Most tourist phrase books are bound to include the handy little phrase Où sont les toilettes s’il vous plaît ? ("Where are the toilets, please?") The word toilettes is self-explanatory, but it has other meanings besides the obvious. So, let’s explore some toilette-related vocabulary and discuss the evolution of public restrooms.

The French cognate of "bathroom" is la salle de bain. But whereas "bathroom" is a catch-all term for any type of restroom, la salle de bain specifically refers to a bathroom containing une baignoire (a bathtub) or une douche (a shower)—in other words, a bathroom you can bathe in (salle de bain literally means "bathing room"). You'll typically find this type of bathroom in someone's home:

Alors ici, c'est la salle de bain.

So here, this is the bathroom.

Caption 35, Joanna Son appartement

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Inside Joanna's salle de bain, you will find les toilettes (the toilet) and a few other essentials:

Vous avez un placard ici, les toilettes, le lavabo, avec du savon pour me laver les mains.

You have a cupboard here, the toilet, the sink, with some soap for me to wash my hands.

Caption 36, Joanna Son appartement

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La salle de bain is where one goes to faire sa toilette (wash up):

Allons Susie, il faut rentrer faire ta toilette.

Come on, Susie, you have to wash up.

Caption 5, Il était une fois: L’Espace 6. La révolte des robots - Part 1

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To do that, you may want to use un gant de toilette (a washcloth), an item that the piglet Piggeldy always carries in his suitcase:

Pyjama, dentifrice, brosse à dents, savon et gant de toilette.

Pajamas, toothpaste, toothbrush, soap, and washcloth.

Caption 13, Piggeldy et Frédéric Voyage à Pont-à-Cochon

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As for Sacha in the video below, she doesn’t travel light, since she carries deux trousses de toilette (two toiletry bags):

Trois brosses à dents, deux trousses de toilette...

Three toothbrushes, two toiletry bags...

Caption 15, Extr@ Ep. 11 - Les vacances - Part 4

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Most people don’t usually include le papier toilette (toilet paper) in their travel kit, but this essential item was in short supply in the early days of the COVID pandemic:

Les ventes de pâtes ont été multipliées par cinq, celles de papier toilette par trois et demi...

Sales of pasta have increased fivefold, those of toilet paper by three and a half...

Captions 21-22, Le Monde Coronavirus : bientôt la pénurie dans les supermarchés ?

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In France, les toilettes publiques (public toilets) come in various shapes and sizes. Some are round and made of cast-iron. Known as les vespasiennes in reference to the Roman emperor Vespasian, these vintage urinals date from the 1900s and are fast disappearing. Daniel Benchimol gives us a glimpse of one of the last remaining ones in his tour of Paris's thirteenth arrondissement:

...ce sont ces toilettes: on les appelle les  « vespasiennes ».

....are these toilets: we call them "vespasiennes" [urinals].

Caption 16, Voyage dans Paris Le Treizième arrondissement de Paris - Part 1

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French speakers also adopted the British acronym "WC" (water closet) to refer to public toilets. Note that it’s always known as les WC (plural), and it's pronounced "vay-say" (as if it were written VC). The term WC is somewhat dated in France, but you'll still see it around:

Le terme « les WC » figurent encore sur les plans de ville.

The term "WC" still features on city maps.

You might even hear the term les waters: 

« Les waters » est un autre synonyme pour les toilettes publiques.

"Water closet" is another synonym for public restrooms.

Even more dated is les cabinets. Be careful with this one: in the plural form, it refers to a toilet, but un cabinet is a professional office:

Les cabinets extérieurs sont plutôt rares.

Outhouses are rather rare.

Je suis secrétaire dans un cabinet médical. 

I'm a secretary in a doctor's office. 

For a more modern type of toilet, we have les sanisettes, which are fully automated restrooms on the streets of major cities like Paris:

La première sanisette a été ouverte le 10 novembre 1981.

The first sanisette opened on November 10, 1981.

More recently, an environmentally-friendly invention called l'uritrottoir (sidewalk urinal) was introduced in 2018 to help curb les pipis sauvages (peeing on the streets). First tested in the cities of Nantes and Paris, they caused a bit of an uproar, as the public complained that these minimalist urinals afforded little privacy and encouraged exhibitionism. Per Wikipedia: 

« Un uritrottoir est un urinoir public écologique...destiné à lutter contre les incivilités urinaires ».

“A uritrottoir is a public, eco-friendly urinal...aimed at curbing public urination.”

Many public toilets have separate male and female facilities. To make sure you enter the correct one, look for the letter F (for femmes) or H (for hommes). This is the way to ask for the men’s room or ladies’ room:

Où sont les toilettes pour hommes ? Où sont les toilettes pour femmes ?

Where is the men's room? Where is the ladies' room?

But nowadays, restrooms are not necessarily gender specific:

Les toilettes unisexes ou mixtes sont utilisables par les deux sexes.

Unisex and all-gender toilets may be used by both sexes.

That’s it for our tour of the toilettes! Wishing you a stress-free search for public restrooms in French-speaking countries. If you're ever in need of one in France, try consulting toilettespubliques.com.