Like many people around the world, people in France have used their time at home during the pandemic to make home improvements with a little DIY French Style.

DIY French Style

According to one poll, as early as the first confinement last spring almost 1/3 des français (31%) said they were doing more travaux d’entretien¹maintenance work(s) and bricolage²from the verb bricoler, to tinker or fiddle about. Grace aux tutoriels vidéos sur Internet³thanks to internet video tutoriels, some of the activities they planned to knock out during their down time include:

Quincaillerie ou magasin de bricolage

For many, the two are synonymous. But une quincaillerie is a more traditional hardware store (and they have been around for generations) while un magasin de bricolage is a bit of a newer concept. They usually will sell de la quincaillerie⁵hardware … et des outils⁶tools … but also sell more. Essentially everything you need to complete those little DIY projects around la maison ou le jardin⁷the house or garden.

Go to either though, and you’re likely to find …

Check out this great video highlighting some Covid confinement bricoleurs and see how they’re getting the DIY done French style!

Pour approfondir votre vocabulaire

A few weeks ago in a post about the recent neige en France I shared this video showing some of the highlights. At about 55 seconds the reporter uses an expression that was new to me … but fits nicely with this week’s topic. Le système D in which the ‘D’ stands for the word débrouille. 

From the French verb débrouiller (to disentangle, to unravel) (but also se débrouiller/to manage, to cope, to handle), débrouille means “to make do, to improvise to get by“. So le système D refers to any situation where you’re resorting to what’s available to accomplish a task (like cooking outside on your camping stove during une panne d’éléctircité⁸a power outage/power failure!).

How To Find A Hardware Store in French

Tool Trouble Hinging On A Good Night’s Sleep – Hardware In French

• 1
  maintenance work(s)
• 2
  from the verb bricoler, to tinker or fiddle about
• 3
  thanks to internet video tutoriels
• 4
  la plomberie shares a root with the French word for lead … le plomb
• 5
  hardware
• 6
  tools
• 7
  the house or garden
• 8
  a power outage/power failure