Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Sam: You Have Them Chanting Your Name in No Time! In this lesson, you’ll learn how to greet people formally and tell your name with the verb s’appeler.
Céline: The conversation is between Robert Martin and Émilie during the day.
Sam: The speakers meet for the first time, therefore, the speakers will be speaking formally.
DIALOGUE
Robert Martin: Bonjour, je m'appelle Robert Martin.
Émilie: Bonjour, je suis Émilie.
Robert Martin: Enchanté, Émilie.
Émilie: Enchantée, Monsieur Martin.
Robert Martin: S'il vous plaît, appelez-moi Robert.
Sam: One more time slowly.
Céline: Ok c’est parti. Plus lentement.
Robert Martin: Bonjour, je m'appelle Robert Martin.
Émilie: Bonjour, je suis Émilie.
Robert Martin: Enchanté, Émilie.
Émilie: Enchantée, Monsieur Martin.
Robert Martin: S'il vous plaît, appelez-moi Robert.
Sam: One more time with the English.
Robert Martin: Bonjour, je m'appelle Robert Martin.
Sylvain: Hello, my name is Robert Martin.
Émilie: Bonjour, je suis Émilie.
Céline: Hello, I’m Émilie.
Robert Martin: Enchanté, Émilie.
Sylvain: That's a pleasure, Émilie.
Émilie: Enchantée, Monsieur Martin.
Céline: Nice to meet you too, Mr. Martin.
Robert Martin: S'il vous plaît, appelez-moi Robert.
Sylvain: Please, call me Robert.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Céline: I like sober Sylvain. Sam, did you now that Martin was also a first name, un prénom?
Sam: Well, actually in English, we have Martin as a first name. But I think we say Martin, like Martin Scorsese.
Céline: Oh yes, how could I forget?
Sam: In France, do you have middle names?
Céline: Oh not really. We have many first names actually.
Sam: Do you have more than one first name?
Céline: Yes, I have two others, but I won't tell you.
Sam: Why?
Céline: We never use them, but the custom in France is to give the name of the grandparents or godfather or godmother.
Sam: Okay, and do you have some unusual first names in France?
Céline: Of course, and I think some people don't think about their children's future by giving them super names like “culotte” or “planète”.
Sam: Culotte?
Céline: Yes.
Sam: That means undergarments, right?
Céline: Yes.
Sam: Underwear.
Céline: Yes, exactement. Oui, voila.
Sam: Drawers, as they would say on the East Coast.
Céline: But now in France, people tend to give old names like Charles.
Sam: Charles.
Céline: Charles in French.
Sam: Okay, okay.
Céline: Yeah, my two brothers' names are Antoine et Edward.
Sam: Antoine and Edward?
Céline: Yeah.
Sam: Oh, okay. My grandfather's name is Edward.
Céline: Ah oui?
Sam: Yeah. Now, we'll look at the vocabulary and phrases for this lesson. First.
VOCAB LIST
Céline: Je m'appelle [natural native speed].
Sam: My name is.
Céline: Je m'appelle [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Je m'appelle [natural native speed].
Sam: Next.
Céline: Je / j' [natural native speed].
Sam: I.
Céline: Je / j' [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Je / j' [natural native speed].
Sam: Next.
Céline: Suis [natural native speed].
Sam: Am, as in I am.
Céline: Suis [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Suis [natural native speed].
Sam: Next.
Céline: Enchanté(e) [natural native speed].
Sam: Nice to meet you.
Céline: Enchanté(e) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Enchanté(e) [natural native speed].
Sam: Next.
Céline: S'il vous plaît [natural native speed].
Sam: The formal version of please or if you please.
Céline: S'il vous plaît [slowly - broken down by syllable]. S'il vous plaît [natural native speed].
Sam: Next.
Céline: Appelez-moi [natural native speed].
Sam: Call me. The vous form of call me or the plural form of call me.
Céline: Appelez-moi [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Appelez-moi [natural native speed].
Sam: Now, we'll take a look at the vocabulary and phrases for this lesson. First.
Céline: Je m'appelle.
Sam: Can you give us an example of je m'appelle?
Céline: Je m'appelle Carla. My name is Carla. Je m'appelle comes from the reflexive verbs s'appeler to indicate names.
Sam: Ah, so s'appeler literally means to be named.
Céline: Yes, we’ll talk about this grammar point later. So the next word is je suis. Can you try, Sam?
Sam: Je suis Nicolas Sarkozy.
Céline: You want to be the French President?
Sam: Why not? I want to be famous.
Céline: Oh, as he is in la presse people.
Sam: What is la presse people?
Céline: It's an expression we use in France for the media covering only celebrities with a lot of pictures, gossip magazines.
Sam: Like those magazines when you go to the supermarket, the checkout counter.
Céline: Maybe.
Sam: Oh definitely, they're entertaining.
Céline: Yes.
Sam: But the phrase je suis indicates names as je m'appelle. So what's the difference?
Céline: Well, as we said earlier, je m'appelle is to be named while je suis is I am.
Sam: For example, Je suis okay.
Céline: I'm okay.
Sam: Yeah.
Céline: Yeah, exactement.
Sam: Oh okay, okay. Next, we have a phrase.
Céline: S'il vous plait.
Sam: If you please or in English, I think we just say please.
Céline: Exactement.
Sam: That's an important one, s'il vous plait. Oh, one thing, with s'il vous plait, would you use it at the beginning or the end? For example, if you're asking for something.
Céline: Hmm… Un café s'il vous plait. At the end.
Sam: Okay. So for example, if I want to use s'il vous plait -- hmm, what a good example. For example, my brain is not working this morning. Puis-je avoir un peu de l’eau, s'il vous plaît.
Céline: Yes, but it's “puis-je avoir un peu d’eau”.
Sam: Un peu d’eau?
Céline: Ou “un verre d’eau”. A glass of water is better. S'il vous plaît.
Sam: What about a cup of water?
Céline: No, it's a glass of water.
Sam: But if you get the water in a paper cup, it's a cup.
Céline: In France, we don't serve water in a…
Sam: Oh, I'm sorry. Désolé, Madame.
Céline: Ah, mademoiselle.
Sam: Madamoiselle. I'm sorry.
Céline: Okay, that's better. So another example with s'il vous plait?
Sam: For example, if I'm at party, I can say this, Carla, voulez-vous danser avec moi, s'il vous plait? Would you like to dance with me, please?
Céline: Do you think that was Sarkozy's pick-up line?
Sam: Sarkozy's pick-up line? Maybe. Nicolas, le séducteur. Nicolas, the seductor.
Céline: Yes.
Sam: Probably. I bet he's a smooth character, yeah? But he's married now.
Céline: Yes, with Carla.
Sam: She's very beautiful.
Céline: Yeah, yeah. Okay, so let's go back to s'il vous plait. S'il vous plait is the formal please and s'il te plait is the informal please, s'il te plait.
Sam: S'il te plait?
Céline: Um-hmm.
Sam: S'il te plait?
Céline: S'il te plait.
Sam: S'il.
Céline: S'il.
Sam: Te.
Céline: Te.
Sam: Te.
Céline: Plait. S'il te plait.
Sam: S'il te plait. Okay. So what's next?
Céline: Appelez-moi. It means call me.
Sam: Appelez-moi Sam le charmeur, Sam the charmer.
Céline: With your American accent, I'm sure girls are at your feet.
Sam: Really? With French women, I definitely have to go to France.
Céline: Yeah, sure. So basically, to ask people to use my first name or my nickname, I would say appelez-moi.
Sam: What's your nickname in French?
Céline: My nickname?
Sam: Maybe, yeah your nickname.
Céline: I won't tell you.
Sam: Why?
Céline: Because. Do you have a nickname Sam?
Sam: Maybe.
Céline: Don't play games. Just tell me.
Sam: Next time. Okay, mademoiselle.
Céline: Okay.
Sam: You weren't so cooperative today. You wouldn't give me your nickname.
Céline: But who cares? I think listeners are more interested in grammar point.
Sam: You might be right.
Céline: Okay, so let's go.

Lesson focus

Sam: Okay. Let's look at our grammar point. I believe Céline, you mentioned something about s'appeler earlier.
Céline: Tout à fait. exactly. S'appeler, to be named, is a type of verb quite particular. It is called a reflexive verb, un verbe pronominal, in French. Its particularity is that the information given is reflected back to the subject.
Sam: With a reflexive verb, the subject performs an action on itself.
Céline: Exactement.
Sam: For example, je m'appelle Sam, I call myself Sam. If it's someone else, the pronoun will change.
Céline: Is your brain on fire?
Sam: Yes, why?
Céline: I don't know. This is a hard grammar point, I think.
Sam: Let's give this some examples. I'm convinced they'll understand 100% after they hear several example.
Céline: Je m’habille.
Sam: I dress myself.
Céline: Exactement. Je m'appelle.
Sam: I call myself.
Céline: Tu t'appelles.
Sam: You call yourself.
Céline: Il s'appelle.
Sam: He calls himself.
Céline: Elle s'appelle.
Sam: She calls herself.
Céline: Ça s'appelle.
Sam: It calls itself. I have a question, what if you want to say, "The robot calls itself." How do you say that in French?
Céline: Okay, in that case, Il s'appelle.
Sam: What if the robot is feminine? I'm sorry, what if the robot is a woman?
Céline: Elle s'appelle. Il s'appelle Astroboy.
Sam: Oh, he calls himself Astroboy.
Céline: Exactement. Usually, we use it with food for example.
Sam: For example?
Céline: Ça s'appelle un soufflé. But it's a little bit hard, so you can just say “c’est un soufflé”.
Sam: It’s a soufflé. That sounds easy.
Céline: Exactement.
Sam: That's a good way to do it, fun and easy.
Céline: That's French, fun and easy.
Sam: I thought that was American.
Céline: Okay, I can say, because listeners, they are going to hate me. So okay.

Outro

Sam: Wow, that was an informative lesson. That does it for today.
Sam: Merci beaucoup.
Céline: Merci, au revoir.
Sam: Au revoir. Bye-bye.
Céline: Bye-bye.

Grammar

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Dialog (Formal)

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