Learn how to ask every "what" and "who" question you'll need to work your way around the French city's landmarks, cultural hot spots, and those French bread and pastry shops
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Intro |
|---|
| Virginie: Salut! |
| Eric: Eric here! |
| Virginie: To Know Anything About Anybody in France, You HAVE to Start Here! |
| Eric: In this lesson you will learn how to identify people and objects. |
| Virginie: You will learn the two questions "Who's this?" and "What's this?" |
| Eric: Our dialog takes place on a weekend. |
| Virginie: Giulia offers Rob to go to a museum. |
| Eric: But our poor Rob doesn't know this museum. |
| Virginie: So he asked Giulia, "What is this?" |
| Eric: These speakers are friends. Therefore the speakers will be speaking informally. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
| Giulia: Tu viens au Centre Georges Pompidou? |
| Rob: Le Centre Georges Pompidou? Qu’est-ce que c’est? |
| Giulia: C’est un musée d’art moderne. |
| Rob: Et Georges Pompidou, qui c’est? |
| Giulia: Oh là là. C’est un président français. |
| Eric: One more time with the translation. |
| Giulia: Tu viens au Centre Georges Pompidou? |
| Virginie: Are you coming to the Georges Pompidou Center? |
| Rob: Le Centre Georges Pompidou? Qu’est-ce que c’est? |
| Eric: The Georges Pompidou Center? What is that? |
| Giulia: C’est un musée d’art moderne. |
| Virginie: It's a museum of modern art. |
| Rob: Et Georges Pompidou, qui c’est? |
| Eric: And who is Georges Pompidou? |
| Giulia: Oh là là. C’est un président français. |
| Virginie: Oh la la, he is a French President. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Virginie: Now, Eric have you ever been to the Centre Georges Pompidou? |
| Eric: Of course it's something you really don't want to miss in Paris. |
| Virginie: Yes. I used to go all the time. The Centre George Pompidou is the museum of modern art in Paris. |
| Eric: Right and have extremely futuristic architecture. |
| Virginie: Yes. If you pass by, you can't miss it. And it really has a great programmation. |
| Eric: Theaters, music and movies… |
| Virginie: …a very good bookstore, conferences... |
| Eric: …we definitely recommend a visit there. |
| Virginie: Absolutely. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Okay. So let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Virginie: Le centre [natural native speed] |
| Eric: The Center |
| Virginie: Le centre [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Le centre [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Virginie: Un musée [natural native speed] |
| Eric: A museum. |
| Virginie: Un musée [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Un musée [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And? |
| Virginie: L'art [natural native speed] |
| Eric: An art |
| Virginie: L'art [slowly - broken down by syllable]. L'art [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Virginie: Moderne [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Modern. |
| Virginie: Moderne [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Moderne [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Virginie: Nn président [natural native speed] |
| Eric: A President. |
| Virginie: Un président [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Un président [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And finally. |
| Virginie: Venir [natural native speed] |
| Eric: To come. |
| Virginie: Venir [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Venir [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Great. So let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases in this lesson. |
| Virginie: Okay. I think the most important word in here is.... |
| Eric: Venir. And that means to come. |
| Virginie: Giulia asks Rob ""Tu viens au centre georges pompidou? |
| Eric: Are you coming to the georges pompidou center? |
| Virginie: But attention, venir is an irregular verb. You will find the complete conjugation in the lesson notes. |
| Eric: Let's just see how you say I'm coming or you're coming. |
| Virignie: I'm coming is Je viens (spell) |
| Eric: And you're coming is ""tu viens"" (spell). |
| Virginie: And in a question ""tu viens?"", means ""are you coming?"" and implies ""do you want to come with?"" |
| Eric: Oh la la! |
| Virginie: Why do you say oh la la, Eric? |
| Eric: I don't know, I heard Giulia said it and it sounds good. |
| Virginie: Yes. Oh la la is an infamous French way of expressing your impatience. |
| Eric: Just like Giulia's impatience in our dialog. She's a little tired of Rob's questions. |
| Virginie: You can also say oh la la to express a surprise. |
| Eric: But the intonation is going to be slightly different. |
| Virginie: Exactly. You will be ""Oh la la! Eric Eric has been to the hairdresser's!!"" |
| Eric: It's true. Maybe our listeners can feel the new haircut in my voice. |
| Virginie: Ahah. Okay now it's time to get some grammar highlights! |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: So the focus of this lesson is asking ""What is this"" and ""Who is this?"" |
| Virginie: Let's start with ""What is this?"" Qu'est-ce que c'est? |
| Eric: This is a really useful phrase and a strange one too to foreign ears. |
| Virginie: The first part of the question is ""Qu'est-ce que"" and that means ""What?"" |
| Eric: Okay, so far so good. |
| Virginie: And the second part of the question is ""c'est"" (spell) |
| Eric: Which means literally ""this is."" |
| Virginie: So literally the question is ""What this is?"" Qu'est-ce que c'est. |
| Eric: Usually the French don't inverse the verb and the subject to ask a question. |
| Virginie: No they usually don't. |
| Eric: Except in very formal occasions. So Virginie, how do we answer that question? How do you say ""This is""? |
| Virginie: That's very simple, you just say ""C'est"" |
| Eric: The ""c'est"" from the question. |
| Virginie: Right. And see how Giulia says ""c'est un musee, it's a museum. |
| Eric: Yes she used the indefinite masculine article UN (spell) |
| Virginie: Okay, lett's practice - Eric, qu'est-ce que c'est? |
| Eric: C'est un stylo. |
| Virginie: Of course you can't see what we are talking about, but Eric just said ""this is a pen"" c'est un stylo. |
| Eric: And now if you want to ask ""who is this,"" it's also really easy. |
| Virginie: Remember in our dialogue, Rob says ""Qui c'est? |
| Eric: The first word is qui, which means who? |
| Virginie: And you probably recognized the second part of the question, which didn't change it's ""c'est."" |
| Eric: So literally it means ""Who this is?"" |
| Virginie: And you will answer this question just like you answered the previous question ""What is this?"" |
| Eric: Right, you will say ""C'est"", ""This is...."" |
| Virginie: So imagine that Eric and I are at the White House's garden party and George Clooney is there but of course I don't know him because I never go to the movies, I will ask Eric ""Qui c'est?"" Who is this? |
| Eric: And I will answer C'est George Clooney. This is George Clooney |
| Virginie: And I want to know details about George Clooney because he's pretty cute. I will ask ""George Clooney, qui c'est?"" George clooney, who is this? Same question. |
| Eric: And I will answer with that George Clooney, ""C'est un acteur"", he is an actor. |
| Virginie: Note how in French we say ""C'est"", this is, to describe the person's profession. |
| Eric: Okay, a quick recap - |
| Virginie: Qui c'est? Who is this? |
| Eric: C'est George Clooney. This is George Clooney. |
| Virginie: George Clooney, qui c'est? |
| Eric: C'est un acteur. He's an actor. |
| Virginie: And of course Eric and I didn't go to the White House's garden party that day. |
| Eric: Right, we were occupied. |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, great. Well, that just about does it for today. Okay, good bye |
| Virginie: Au revoir! Salut! |
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