Learn the various usages of the French preposition a (to)
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Céline: Bonjour! Je suis Céline. |
| Alex: Bonjour. Je suis Alexandre. |
| Sam: Sam here. Mom, I'm Going. Hi, my name is Sam and I'm joined here by... |
| Alex: Céline. |
| Céline: Merci de me présenter... et Alex. Ça va, Alex? |
| Alex: Ça va très bien. Merci. Let's get into today's conversation right now. |
| Céline: Oui d’accord mais c’est quoi la conversation aujourd’hui? |
| Sam: The conversation is between Aurélie and her mother, Alice. Aurélie is going to see a movie and Alice is asking her lots of questions about where she's going. |
| Céline: C'est parti? |
| Sam: Let's go! |
| Alex: On y va! |
| DIALOGUE |
| Sylvain: Maman, j’y vais. |
| Céline: Au récital littéraire sur Jacques Prévert? |
| Sylvain: Non, je vais à la première de Harry Potter. |
| Céline: Tu y vas accompagnée? |
| Sylvain: Je t’y invite comme tu sembles être intéressée! |
| Sam: One more time, with the English. |
| Céline: Encore une fois, avec l’anglais. |
| Sylvain: Maman, j’y vais. |
| Sam: Mom, I’m going. |
| Céline: Au récital littéraire sur Jacques Prévert? |
| Sam: To the literary recital on Jacques Prévert? |
| Sylvain: Non, je vais à la première de Harry Potter. |
| Sam: No, I’m going to the Harry Potter premiere. |
| Céline: Tu y vas accompagnée? |
| Sam: Are you going there with someone? |
| Sylvain: Je t’y invite comme tu sembles être intéressée! |
| Sam: I’ll invite you there, as you seem to be interested! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Sam: Alice is asking a lot of questions, isn't she? |
| Céline: Oui, mais c’est normal, c’est la maman. |
| Alex: Oui je pense aussi. Sam, est-ce que tu es déjà allé à un récital littéraire de Jacques Prévert? |
| Sam: No. Never! |
| Céline: Moi non plus. Vous savez que Jacques Prévert était un poète français et aussi un scénariste? |
| Alex: C’était un maître des jeux de mots, et des calembours. |
| Sam: Wait, so he was a French poet and a screenwriter? A master of word plays and calembours. |
| Céline: Oui! |
| Sam: Wow. Amazing. |
| Céline: Fantastique. |
| Alex: N’est-ce pas? |
| Sam: Of course, I think so. |
| Céline: So why don't we play with the vocab. |
| Sam: Yeah, let's play with the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Sam: Now, let's look at a few words and phrases from this lesson. The first item is? |
| Céline: Maman |
| Sam: Mom or mother. |
| Céline: Maman. Maman. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Alex: J’y vais |
| Sam: I'm going there. |
| Alex: J’y vais. J’y vais. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Céline: Récital |
| Sam: Recital. |
| Céline: Récital. Récital. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Alex: Littéraire |
| Sam: Literary. |
| Alex: Littéraire. Littéraire. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Céline: Première |
| Sam: Premiere. |
| Céline: Première. Première. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Alex: Accompagner |
| Sam: To accompany. |
| Alex: Accompagner. Accompagner. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Céline: Comme |
| Sam: As |
| Céline: Comme. Comme. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Alex: Sembler |
| Sam: To seem. |
| Alex: Sembler. Sembler. |
| Sam: Lastly? |
| Céline: Intéressé(e) |
| Sam: Interested. |
| Céline: Intéressé(e). Intéressé(e). |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Sam: Now, let's look at the usage or some of these words from the lesson. |
| Céline: Le premier nom est “récital”. |
| Alex: Alors, un récital, c’est une séance musicale où un seul artiste se fait entendre. |
| Céline: Ensuite, le mot “première”. |
| Sam: A derivative of the first? |
| Alex: Yes. It is the ordinal number and the first public presentation of a movie or a theater play. |
| Sam: Is it masculine or feminine? |
| Céline: It's feminine. La première du film. The movie premiere. |
| Alex: Next word is, “comme”, used as a conjunction in the dialogue. |
| Céline: If it means 'resemble', “comme” is a preposition. Exemple: Sam parle beaucoup comme moi. |
| Alex: You are de véritables pipelettes. |
| Sam: Frenglish again? What is a “pipelette”? |
| Céline: It's slang for people who like to talk a lot. Like you, Sam. |
| Sam: Oh, I see. Ok. I got you. How about the coolest word we saw? Accompagner. |
| Céline: This one means 'attend with' or ' to accompany'. |
| Alex: Nous vous accompagnons tout au long du voyage avec FrenchPod101.com. |
| Sam: We accompany one another through this journey of FrenchPod101.com. |
| Céline: Tu deviens un poète Sam. |
| Sam: Thank you. |
| Céline: Je vais t’appeler Jacques! |
| Sam: Vraiment? |
| Céline: Jacques Prévert! Oh t’es nul! Vous dormez les gars! Ok, on va voir si la grammaire va vous réveiller. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Sam: Last but not least, the grammar point! |
| Alex: Le pronom “y”. |
| Sam: Just the letter 'y'? |
| Alex: Exactement. The pronoun 'y' indicates a place and things after a verb followed by the preposition “à”. |
| Céline: Let's illustrate both possibilities. If I want to avoid repeating a place, the pronoun 'y' is used. |
| Alex: Instead of saying “Il va au travail”, “Il y va.” can be used. |
| Sam: Ah. So the pronoun is placed before the verb. |
| Alex: C'est ça. That's it. With the verbs followed by “à”, the pronoun is also used. |
| Céline: Par exemple, Je pense à mon projet. I think about my project. Donc Sam, je pense à mon projet? |
| Sam: J’y pense. I think of it. |
| Céline: Bravo. |
| Alex: Another example with “répondre à”, reply to. Il répond à ton message. |
| Sam: He answers your message. |
| Alex: Il y répond. He answers it. |
| Sam: Are there other verbs with “à”? |
| Céline: Oui. Here's a few common ones. “Réfléchir à”, to reflect on. |
| Alex: “Penser à”, to think of. |
| Céline: “Faire attention à”, to be careful of. |
| Sam: Wow. That was quite insightful. |
| Céline: Par exemple, Sam, fais attention à moi! |
| Sam: Pay attention to you? |
| Céline: Oui. |
| Sam: I don't want to. The lesson's over. |
Outro |
| Sam: Ok. That just about does it for today's lesson. |
| Céline: Merci, à toi aussi Sam. Merci, Alex. |
| Alex: Merci à tous. Au revoir. |
| Céline: Au revoir. |
| Sam: À bientôt! |
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