In the first article in this series some basic vocabulary was introduced. Remember that out of the suits (LES COULEURS) only hearts translates directly into French as COEURS. Spades is PIQUES which literally means pikes (the weapon), diamonds is CARREAUX , literally squares or floor tiles while clubs are TREFLES which means clover.

Remember that a Queen is UNE DAME and a Jack is UN VALET. UN ROI is a straight translation of King. So the letters at the corners of French honour cards are R, D and V. But be careful of the Ace (AS). This card does not carry the letter A but the number 1. So when totting up your points remember to allocate 4 points to the Ace and not one!

When you play bridge with French friends or at a French bridge club you will find that almost everyone will play a strong no-trump (UN SANS ATOUT FORT) of 15 to 17 points together with five card majors (MAJEURS CINQUIEMES) and the better minor. Few players will know Acol and you may find it easier to adopt the local convention which incidentally is very similar to Standard American. So a one No Trump rebid after opening one of a Minor shows a balanced 12-14 points .not the 15-16 as in Acol.

So now let’s look at LA DISTRIBUTION. Yes that is the same in French. SINGLETON and DOUBLETON are the same with a different pronunciations. A void is UNE CHICANE , a bare Ace is UN AS SEC a Queen to three is UNE DAME TROISIEME. If you want to find out if there is a bridge club near to you have a look at the excellent website of LA FEDERATION FRANCAISE DE BRIDGE. You will see that well over a thousand clubs are divided into 12 LIGUES and that each LIGUE is sub-divided into three or four COMITES, each of which covers about five departments. For example LE COMITE DU LIMOUSIN covers Haute Vienne, Creuse, Correze and parts of Dordogne, Lot and Cantal with a total of 24 clubs. The Federation is sponsored by the bank Societe Generale which produces booklets for the various COMITES.

Incidentally I would be interested to hear of your experiences in French bridge clubs. If you email etcetera the editor will send your comments on to me.