Savez-vous planter les choux ? Lyrics
A French action song that asks, "Do you know how to plant cabbages?" Each verse names a part of the body, the foot or the hand, and everyone mimes planting with it. An English translation and ideas for the actions follow.
Savez-vous planter les choux ?
Savez-vous planter les choux
A la mode, à la mode
Savez-vous planter les choux
A la mode de chez nous?
On les plante avec le pied,
A la mode, à la mode,
On les plante avec le pied,
A la mode de chez nous.
On les plante avec la main,
A la mode, à la mode,
On les plante avec la main,
A la mode de chez nous.
In English
Do you know how to plant cabbages
In the way, in the way
Do you know how to plant cabbages
In the way of our house?
We plant them with the foot,
In the way, in the way,
We plant them with the foot,
In the way of our house.
We plant them with the hand,
In the way, in the way,
We plant them with the hand,
In the way of our house.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/savez-vous-planter-les-choux/
- Type
- Action Songs
- Tune
- Light and bouncy, with a pause for the action at the start of each verse
- Best for ages
- 2 to 7 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Savez-vous planter les choux | Crouch a little and pretend to push seedlings into the ground with your fingers. |
| On les plante avec le pied | Tap one foot on the floor, as if pressing a plant into the soil. |
| On les plante avec la main | Press one open hand down onto the floor or your knee. |
| A la mode, à la mode | Turn on the spot, or sway from side to side, while singing. |
What Does Savez-vous planter les choux ? Mean?
The title means "Do you know how to plant cabbages?". It is said roughly sa-vay-voo plahn-tay lay shoo. Les choux are cabbages, a vegetable that grows in rows in a garden. A la mode means "in the manner of", and à la mode de chez nous means "in the way we do it at home", so each verse boasts that this is how the singers plant, just as people do in their own house.
Each verse changes only the body part. The words on this page name the foot (le pied) and the hand (la main), and the book adds a direction: carry on by naming the elbow, the nose and so on, and make the planting movement with the part you name. Because every verse is the same, a child can invent the next one.
That makes it a good song for learning words in French. A child who has sung it knows pied, main, coude and nez (foot, hand, elbow, nose) without a lesson.
History and Origin
This song is in the same Paris songbook as Ah! vous dirai-je, maman, with tunes arranged by Charles-Marie Widor. It appears with three verses and a printed direction to go on with the elbow, the nose and other parts.
The song is a game and a body-parts list at once, and the book treats it as both: it tells singers how to extend it rather than giving a fixed number of verses. Many children's songs in other languages work the same way, with one verse repeated while a single word changes.
Learning Activities
- Plant with the elbow: after the printed verses, sing one more, planting with the elbow, then the nose. Say the French words coude and nez together.
- Garden row: put a line of tape on the floor and 'plant' a pretend cabbage at each step as you sing.
- Your own part: let each child choose the body part for the next verse, and everyone copies them.
- Find the cabbage: look at a real cabbage and a picture of a cabbage plant, and talk about how big it grows.