Shop (Specialist) – la boutique

(Pronounced boo-teek)

To remember that Shop is pronounced boo-teek (boutique) in French, use the following mnemonic:

The elves at the shoe shop made boots out of teak (boutique) - they were very hard-wearing.

NOTE: The French use two words for shop, le magasin and la boutique. Magasin is technically the storage area of a shop but it is often used to refer to a generic shop, whereas a boutique is a small and often specialist shop.

Boutique is feminine, so it's la boutique. Imagine only Labradors are sold at the pet shop.

Examples of boutique (shop) in a sentence

Il y a un joli restaurant et une boutique de souvenirs.

(There is a nice restaurant and a souvenir shop.)

Elle a acheté une nouvelle paire de leggings à la boutique branchée du centre-ville.

(She picked up a new pair of leggings at the trendy downtown shop.)

Ouverture de la boutique à partir du mercredi 1er avril.

(The shop opens on Wednesday, April 1st.)