Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

Intro

Virginie: Hello, everyone, bonjour. This is Virginie.
Eric: Bonjour. Eric here! Making Your French Birthday List by Using the Negative to State What You Don't Have!
Virginie: What are we going to talk about today?
Eric: Well Rob and Cathy are leaving the wine tasting event. They are going back to their respective houses.
Virginie: And I assume they will be talking about what they don't have.
Eric: Exactly. Well let's find out.
Virginie: Okay. Let's listen to the conversation.

Lesson conversation

Rob: Tu habites loin?
Cathy: Oui, à Versailles.
Rob: Tu as une voiture?
Cathy: Non, je n’ai pas de voiture.
Rob: Tu as un abonnement de métro?
Cathy: Oui, bien sûr.
Eric: One more time with the translation.
Rob: Tu habites loin?
Eric: Do you live far?
Cathy: Oui, à Versailles.
Virginie: Yes, in Versailles.
Rob: Tu as une voiture?
Eric: Do you have a car?
Cathy: Non, je n’ai pas de voiture.
Virginie: No, I don’t have a car.
Rob: Tu as un abonnement de métro?
Eric: Do you have a monthly subway pass?
Cathy: Oui, bien sûr.
Virginie: Yes, of course.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Eric: Versailes, where is that exactly?
Virginie: It's one hour south west from Paris.
Eric: And the chateau is a must see.
Virginie: Of course. And there is something really fun to do in the Chateau's park.
Eric: Oh yes, what's that?
Virginie: You can have a boat ride on the canal.
Eric: Wow.
Virginie: Yes, it's beautiful. And it makes you think that you're a king or a queen or something. It's pretty nice. That gives you another perspective on the Castle.
Eric: Right. So after a long visit in the castle, go take out a row boat!
Virginie: Yes it's really relaxing. And the park is very, very nice too.
Eric: And if you aren't that interested in the castle, you can just go directly to the park.
Virginie: Oui. The access is very, very cheap, a couple of euros I think.
Eric: Bargain, nice.
Virginie: It is, it's very nice.
VOCAB LIST
Eric: Well, let's hear a little vocabulary.
Virginie: Fist, Loin [natural native speed]
Eric: Far.
Virginie: Loin [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Loin [natural native speed]
Eric: And then.
Virginie: Une voiture [natural native speed]
Eric: A car.
Virginie: Une voiture [slowly - broken down by syllable] Une voiture [natural native speed]
Eric: Next.
Virginie: Un abonnement [natural native speed]
Eric: A subscription, a pass.
Virginie: Un abonnement [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Un abonnement [natural native speed]
Eric: Then.
Virginie: Métro [natural native speed]
Eric: Subway.
Virginie: Métro [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Métro [natural native speed]
Eric: Next.
Virginie: Bien sûr [natural native speed]
Eric: Of course.
Virginie: Bien sûr [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Bien sûr [natural native speed]
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
Eric: So the first phrase we're going to look at is?
Virginie: It is ""loin.""
Eric: And ""loin"" means far.
Virginie: Oui. Rob asked Cathy ""tu habites loin?""
Eric: Do you live far?
Virginie: See, it's just like in English. All you have to do is add ""loin"" after the verb.
Eric: And it also means far away
Virginie: Yes, for example if you want to say you are far away, you will say ""tu es loin.""
Eric: What else?
Virginie: An important word if you live in the country is, you always need a car in the country.
Eric: Indeed.
Virginie: But if you live in Southern France you will hear the word ""une auto"" to refer to a car and not ""une voiture.""
Eric: Really?
Virginie: And that's spelled AUTO. It's short for automobile.
Eric: Some words do vary from one French region to another?
Virginie: Exactly, oui. Each region has its own phrases too.
Eric: I've heard that the word ""plastic bag"" is different in the North and in the South.
Virginie: Yes, it's true. In the north they say ""un sac plastique.""
Eric: Plastic bag.
Virginie: Exactly. And in the South they say ""une poche plastique.""
Eric: Une poche.
Virginie: But really most of the time French people understand each other! No worries.

Lesson focus

Eric: Okay, great. Well, let's jump in to some grammar. So our focus today is how to say you don't have something.
Virginie: Yes. Like in our dialogue, Cathy says, ""je n'ai pas de voiture.""
Eric: And that's ""I don't have a car.""
Virginie: Now remember in a previous lesson we saw how to say ""I have something.""
Eric: Yes, I would say ""j'ai une voiture.""
Virginie: I have a car. So far so good. We have j'ai…
Eric: To say, I have.
Virginie: And then we have ""une voiture.""
Eric: And that's ""a car"", the indefinite article ""une"" and voiture ""car.""
Virginie: Now to say that you don't have a car
Eric: All you do is squeeze the verb between n' and pas.
Virginie: Absolutely. Je n'ai pas.
Eric: And then add the word ""de"" right after.
Virginie: Je n'ai pas de.
Eric: Je n'ai pas de voiture.
Virginie: Je n'ai pas de voiture.
Eric: Notice that now we got rid of the indefinite article ""une.""
Virginie: Yes the indefinite article just disappears. Instead we say pas de.
Eric: One more time, Virginie?
Virginie: Je n'ai pas de voiture.
Eric: And what it really means is ""I don't have a car in general.""
Virginie: Yes. Now if you want to say you don't have the car.
Eric: So like if we're talking about a specific car?
Virginie: Yes. You will say ""Je n'ai pas LA voiture.""
Eric: So all you do is again squeeze your verb between ""n'"" and ""pas.""
Virginie: And that's Je n'ai pas.
Eric: Then you add your definite article.
Virginie: Je n'ai pas la.
Eric: And finally, ""car.""
Virginie: Je n'ai pas la voiture.
Eric: Let's hear both sentences one more time?
Virginie: Bien sur. Of course.
Eric: I don't have a car.
Virginie: Je n'ai pas DE voiture.
Eric: I don't have the car.
Virginie: Je n'ai pas la voiture.
Eric: Excellent. Right, so that would how you say you don't have something.

Outro

Virginie: Yes. I think you're all set for today! Thank you. Au revoir.
Eric: Thank you very much.

Grammar

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