Les sports

“Faire” or “jouer”

The sports you can play are the same in French and English. You can play football, but you can’t play swimming. With the sports you can play, in French, you have the choice to either use “jouer” or “faire” even if French native speakers will prefer to use “faire” since “jouer” is only used if you are playing or have planned to play.  For the sports you can’t play, “faire” must be used.

With “faire”

The verb “faire” is followed by the partitive articles “du, de la, de l’, des” according to the gender and the numeral of the sport.

For example:
Je fais du football → I do football/ I play football.

With “jouer”

The verb “jouer” is followed by the contracted articles “au, à la, à l, aux’” according to the gender and the numeral of the sport.

For example:
Je joue au football → I play football.

French	English
L’athlétisme (masculine)	Athletics
L’aviron (masculine)	Rowing
L’équitation (feminine)	Horse riding
L’escalade (feminine)	Climbing
La course à pied	Running
La danse	Dance
La natation	Swimming
La planche à voile	Windsurfing
La plongée sous-marine	Scuba diving
La randonnée	Hiking
Le badminton	Badminton
Le basket-ball	Basketball
Le cyclisme	Cycling
Le football	Football
Le golf	Golf
Le handball	Handball
Le hockey	Hockey
Le judo	Judo
Le karaté	Karate
Le rugby	Rugby
Le ski	Skiing
Le snowboard	Snowboarding
Le surf	Surfing
Le tennis	Tennis
Le tennis de table	Table tennis
Le tir à l’arc	Archery
Le volley-ball	Volleyball
Les arts martiaux (masculine)	Martial arts

Notes

“Le tennis de table” is also called “le ping-pong.” In the spoken language, “le football” can be shortened to “le foot,” “le handball” to “le hand,” “le volley-ball” to “le volley” and le “basket-ball” to “le basket.”

“Le cyclisme” is the sport, if you want to say that you cycle use “faire du vélo.”