Learn how to ask someone, "Write it down please"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| In the previous lesson, we covered how to ask “How do you say this in French?” Comment on dit ça en français? do you remember? |
| Today, because we don’t want you to be off guard in any kind of situations in French, we are going to introduce you to a new phrase that is very important to help you focus your skills, not on the sounds, but on the writing. So let’s start with this new lesson. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| In French, "Can you write it down please?" is Vous pouvez l'écrire, s'il vous plaît ? |
| Vous pouvez l'écrire, s'il vous plaît ? |
| Let’s break it down by syllable: Vous pouvez l'écrire, s'il vous plaît ? |
| Now let's hear it once again: Vous pouvez l'écrire, s'il vous plaît ? |
| The first words, vous pouvez, mean "can you." It comes from he verb pouvoir, “can,” and in this case we used it in the formal or plural way of speech, vous. |
| Let's break down this word and hear it one more time: vous pouvez |
| And, vous pouvez |
| Next we have the word, l'écrire, which in French is “write it." |
| L’ is the pronoun for “it”; and écrire is the infinitive form of “to write” or “to write down.” |
| Let’s break them down by syllable and hear it once again: l'écrire |
| L'écrire |
| So to recap here, we have Vous pouvez l'écrire ? |
| Literally this means "can you write it?" |
| Finally, just add s'il vous plaît ? Which we know by now means “please” in French. |
| Altogether, we have: Vous pouvez l'écrire, s'il vous plaît ? |
| Vous pouvez l'écrire, s'il vous plaît ? |
| Next we have another way to express the same meaning. |
| Vous pouvez me l'écrire, s'il vous plaît? |
| Vous pouvez me l'écrire, s'il vous plaît? |
| “Can you write it down for me?” |
| Let’s break it down by syllable: Vous pouvez me l'écrire, s'il vous plaît? |
| Now let's hear it once again: Vous pouvez me l'écrire, s'il vous plaît? |
| The only thing that changes in the sentence is adding the pronoun me, which literally translates as “me.” In other words, this sentence means “Can you me write it?” |
| Vous pouvez me l'écrire, s'il vous plaît? |
| Vous pouvez me l'écrire, s'il vous plaît? |
| Once you have the written words, you may find that you have no idea how to pronounce them. In French, "How do you pronounce this?" is Comment vous prononcez ça ? |
| Comment vous prononcez ça ? |
| You can say this while pointing at the word. |
| Let’s break it down by syllable: Comment vous prononcez ça ? |
| Now let's hear it once again: Comment vous prononcez ça ? |
| The first word, comment, means "how." |
| Let's break down this word and hear it one more time: comment |
| And, comment |
| Next, we have vous prononcez, which in English is "you pronounce." And it’s the formal way to say “you pronounce.” |
| Once again: vous prononcez |
| vous prononcez |
| Then you have ça, which you know very well and is "this." |
| Comment vous prononcez ça? |
| Comment vous prononcez ça? |
| So to recap here, we have Comment vous prononcez ça? Literally, this means "How do you pronounce this?" |
| Now, it might happen that people are not carrying any piece of paper or a pen, so before asking Vous pouvez l'écrire, try asking “Do you have paper and pen?” |
| In French, it’s gonna be: Vous avez un papier et un stylo? |
| Vous avez un papier et un stylo? |
| Let’s break it down by syllable: Vous avez un papier et un stylo? |
| Now let's hear it once again: Vous avez un papier et un stylo? |
| The first words, vous avez, mean “do you have,” and it’s the second person plural or the formal of the verb avoir, “to have." |
| Then you have un papier, which in English is "paper." |
| Let’s break it down by syllable and hear it one more time: un papier |
| un papier |
| Then you have et, which is “and," and finally un stylo, “a pen." |
| Let’s break it down by syllable and hear it one more time: un stylo |
| un stylo |
| So let’s hear the entire sentence now: Vous avez un papier et un stylo? |
| Alright, so that’s it for this lesson, thank you! |
Outro |
| Okay, to close out this lesson, we'd like you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you're responsible for shouting it aloud. You have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so bonne chance, that means “good luck” in French. |
| “Can you write it down please?” - Vous pouvez l'écrire, s'il vous plaît? |
| Vous pouvez l'écrire, s'il vous plaît? |
| Vous pouvez l'écrire, s'il vous plaît? |
| “Can you write it down for me, please?” - Vous pouvez me l'écrire, s'il vous plaît? |
| Vous pouvez me l'écrire, s'il vous plaît? |
| Vous pouvez me l'écrire, s'il vous plaît? |
| “How do you pronounce this?” - Comment vous prononcez ça? |
| Comment vous prononcez ça? |
| Comment vous prononcez ça? |
| “Do you have paper and pen?” - Vous avez un papier et un stylo? |
| Vous avez un papier et un stylo? |
| Vous avez un papier et un stylo? |
| Alright, that’s going to do it for today. |
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