Learn another French phrase that will give you the tools to learn French from the French-speaking people around you
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| INTRODUCTION |
| In today's lesson, we'll introduce you to a phrase that help you ask how to pronounce the word you read. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| When you come across a word you can't read, you can simply use this phrase to get your answer. |
| "How do you read this?" in French. |
| In the context of this sentence, the word “this” in French is ça and not ce la. Please read the PDF to understand the difference. |
| Let's hear this word one more time: ça |
| And ça |
| So in French, "How do you read this in French?" is Comment ça se lit en français? |
| Comment ça se lit en français? |
| Let’s break it down by syllable: Comment ça se lit en français? |
| Now let's hear it one more time: Comment ça se lit en français? |
| The first word, comment, means "how." |
| Let's break down this word and hear it one more time: comment |
| Comment |
| It is followed by ça, which in English means "this." |
| So to recap here, we have Comment ça. Literally, this means "how this." |
| Let’s take a look at the next word, se, means "itself." |
| Se |
| And, se. |
| This is followed by lit, which in French is "reads." |
| Lit |
| And, lit. |
| Next we have en, which in French is “in.” |
| En |
| And, en. |
| Finally, we have français, which means “French.” |
| français |
| français |
| So all together, we have Comment ça se lit en français ? Literally, this means "How does this read itself inFrench?" and translates to something like "how do you read this in French?" |
| Once you know how to say the word, you will want to know what it means. |
| To ask this, "What does it mean?" Say, Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire? |
| Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire? |
| Let’s break it down by syllable: Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire? |
| Let's hear it once again: Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire? |
| The first word, qu'est-ce que, means "what is it that" and translates as "what." |
| Let’s break it down and hear it one more time: qu'est-ce que |
| And, qu'est-ce que |
| It is followed by ça, which, as we just learned, means "this." |
| So to recap here, we say Qu'est-ce que ça, literally, this means "What is it that this." |
| Let’s take a look at the next word, veut, which means "wants." |
| Veut |
| And, veut |
| This is followed by dire, which in French is "to say." |
| Dire |
| And, dire |
| So all together we have Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire? |
| Literally, this means "What is it that this wants to say?" and translates as "what does it mean?" |
| To use today’s phrase, just point at whatever word or phrase you don't know. For instance, a line in a book or an ad in the Metro, and say the phrase Comment ça se lit en français ? |
| If you would like a shorter version, you can drop the ending en français, and just point and say Comment ça se lit ? |
| Comment ça se lit ? |
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. |
| “How do you read this in French?” - Comment ça se lit en français? |
| Comment ça se lit en français? |
| Comment ça se lit en français? |
| “What does it mean?” - Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire? |
| Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire? |
| Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire? |
| This is the end of today’s lesson. See you soon! À bientôt! |
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