If you bump into someone you can say:

Oh, excusez-moi!
Or

Pardon!
You can also use Excusez-moi to get someone's attention:

Excusez-moi, comment est-ce que vous vous appelez?

Excuse me, what's your name? To introduce yourself, instead of just saying "I'm Pascal," in French you say "I am called Pascal": Je m'appelle

Pascal. Pascal: Je m'appelle Pascal. Mlinda: Je m'appelle Mlinda. je m'appelle I'm called tu t'appelles you're called il / elle s'appelle he / she's called nous nous appelons we're called vous vous appelez you're called ils / elles s'appellent they're called
Some letters have accents on them. Some accents change the sound of the letter. For example, the letter e with an acute accent is pronounced 'ay': un caf. In French, there are two ways of addressing someone: you can use the vous form when talking to someone you don't know well, or someone who is older than you, or you can use the tu form when talking to someone you know well or a child. Pascal and Mlinda have just met so they are still using vouswhen speaking to each other. In the vous form most verbs end in -ez.

Comment est-ce que vous vous appelez? What's your name? Vous voulez un caf? Would you like a coffee?
If they knew each other better, they could use tu:

Tu veux un caf? Would you like a coffee?

If you want to ask someone their name you say:

Comment est-ce que vous vous appelez? What's your name?

This is the vous form that you use with older people or people you don't know well. If you were asking a child you would use the tu form:

Comment est-ce que tu t'appelles?

To say what nationality you are, you say:

Je suis I am Mlinda: Je suis suisse. Pascal: Je suis franais.

A woman would say: Je suis franaise. In French, words usually take an -e ending if they refer to a woman. When words end in -en, the -n is doubled before the final -e. Listen to the masculine form first, followed by the feminine.

amricain amricaine anglais anglaise australien australienne canadien canadienne espagnol espagnole franais franaise italien italienne suisse suisse
Note that in French nationality adjectives don't start with a capital but with a lowercase letter. To say where you are from you say Je suis de... I come from.

Mlinda: Je suis de Lausanne, et toi? Pascal: Je suis franais. Je suis de Lyon.

When the place name starts with a vowel, note that debecomes d'.

Je suis d'Atlanta. I'm from Atlanta.

Most names of towns are the same although sometimes pronounced slightly differently:

Je suis de New York. Je suis de Washington. Je suis de Los Angeles. Je suis de Toronto.
But some are different:

Londres London Moscou Moscow Montral Montreal tre is the verb "to be."
The verb tre has fairly irregular forms. You don't need to learn them all at one time, but this will help you to recognize them when you hear them.

je suis I am tu es you are il / elle est he / she is nous sommes we are vous tes you are ils / elles sont they are

Pascal asks:

Vous voulez un caf? Do you want coffee?

And Mlinda answers:

Je voudrais un th. I would like tea. Je voudrais is a polite way of asking for something. Using the present form je veux (I want) would be a bit rude. Note that in French there is always a determiner (in this case un orune) in front of the word for coffee, tea, etc.
Mlinda asks for tea with lemon:

un th au citron tea with lemon

When referring to a single serving, there is a determiner (in this case, un) in front of the noun. Note the word au (or ladepending on the word that follows), which is used to introduce an added ingredient.

un th au lait tea with milk un th la vanille vanilla tea un caf au lait coffee with milk
You'll learn more about au and la in further units. When saying what you do for a living, you use je suis (I am) followed by your profession / occupation. Note that in French there is no determiner (in this case no un or une) in front of the profession.

Pascal: Je suis photographe.

I'm a photographer.

Mlinda: Je suis tudiante.

I'm a student. In French, all nouns have a gender and are either masculine or feminine. Feminine nouns often have a different form from the masculine and often end in -e. A male student would say: Je suis tudiant. I'm a student. but Mlinda, being a woman, says: Mlinda: Je suis tudiante. I'm a student. Other words which behave like tudiant / tudiante are:

consultant / consultante consultant reprsentant / reprsentante representative

Words for jobs which end in -en: change the ending to -enne in the feminine. Listen to the masculine form followed by the feminine.

informaticien / informaticienne computer programmer mcanicien / mcanicienne mechanic musicien / musicienne musician comdien / comdienne actor / actress

Some nouns don't just take an -e in the feminine. Some nouns have quite a different ending in the female form. Listen to the masculine form followed by the feminine.

acteur / actrice actor / actress coiffeur / coiffeuse hairdresser directeur / directrice director serveur / serveuse waiter / waitress vendeur / vendeuse salesclerk
Some words for jobs are the same for men and women:

le / la comptable accountant le / la photographe photographer le / la dentiste dentist

and some words are masculine even though they apply to both men and women:

le mdecin male / female doctor l'avocat male / female lawyer

To say where you work, study or live, use in front of the name of the city, town or village.

Je travaille Paris. I work in Paris. Je travaille New York. I work in New York. Je suis tudiant Paris. I'm a student in Paris.