Une Comptine: 123, Nous Irons Au Bois

For this month’s French song of the month we look at a traditional French nursery rhyme. This is typically sung in the playground and practically every French child will know this inside out.

This classic rhyme rests on the principle of rhyming the words with the numbers that we write down and therefore is commonly used as a playful and musical way to help young children learn how to count. For those of us who are learning French, this can be useful for revising the numbers. Also, as you will notice, this comptine uses several different forms of the verb aller in the future tens which may help you to remember it!

Listen to the song here:

Here are the lyrics:
1, 2, 3
Nous irons au bois;
4, 5, 6
Cueillir des cerises;
7, 8, 9
Dans mon panier neuf;
10, 11, 12
Elles seront toutes rouges!

This translates into English as:
1, 2, 3
We are going to the forest
4, 5, 6
To pick some cherries
7, 8, 9
In my new basket
10, 11, 12
They will all be red!