vendre at C2 — literary & formal
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Auctions, unsold stock and selling below cost.
Law and the press
French law and journalism are precise about selling. « Vendre à perte » is not a free commercial choice: reselling below the purchase price, « la revente à perte », is banned in France, and the phrase surfaces whenever supermarkets are discussed. « Vendre aux enchères » is the auction room, and « vendre de gré à gré » is the private sale, agreed directly between two parties without any public bidding.
The participle then turns into a noun: « les invendus » are the unsold goods a shop is left with at closing time, standard vocabulary in articles about food waste. The passive dominates these texts — « le tableau a été vendu », « la propriété a été vendue » — and the sum always carries its unit, « trois millions d’euros ». In the saleroom itself, the hammer word is « adjugé ».
💡 Focus at this level: Formal — vendre à perte, vendre de gré à gré, les invendus
👨🏫 How to use « vendre » at this level
1. « Vendre à perte » = to sell below cost price. The law bans « revendre à perte ».
2. « Vendre de gré à gré » = to sell by private agreement, no bidding.
3. « Les invendus » = unsold stock. The participle turned noun.
🔊 Example sentences
✍️ Practice
Which is the legal wording: « vendre moins cher que le prix d’achat » or « vendre à perte » ?
Show answer
« Vendre à perte » — the fixed phrase; what the law actually bans is « la revente à perte ».
What are « les invendus » in an article about supermarkets?
Show answer
The unsold goods left at closing time — a noun built straight on the participle.
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