Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

Introduction
Becky: Asking why? In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask why in French.
Body
Becky: Here's the formal way to ask 'Why are you late?' in French.
Yasmine: [Normal] Pourquoi êtes-vous en retard?
Becky: First is a word meaning 'why'
Yasmine: [Normal] Pourquoi [Slow] Pourquoi
Becky: Next is the word meaning 'are'
Yasmine: [Normal] êtes [Slow] êtes
Becky: Next is the word meaning 'you'
Yasmine: [Normal] vous [Slow] vous
Becky: Last is the word meaning 'late'
Yasmine: [Normal] en retard [Slow] en retard
Becky: Note the rising intonation. Listen again to the formal question meaning 'Why are you late?'
Yasmine: [Slow] Pourquoi êtes-vous en retard? [Normal] Pourquoi êtes-vous en retard?
Becky: Now, imagine you are late because you missed the train. Here's the way to say, 'I missed the train.'
Yasmine: [Normal] J'ai raté le train.
Becky: First is a word meaning 'I '
Yasmine: [Normal] j' [Slow] j'
Becky: Next is the word meaning 'have'
Yasmine: [Normal] ai [Slow] ai
Becky: Next is the word meaning 'missed'
Yasmine: [Normal] raté [Slow] raté
Becky: Next is the word meaning 'the'
Yasmine: [Normal] le [Slow] le
Becky: Last is the word meaning 'train'
Yasmine: [Normal] train [Slow]
Becky: Note again the rising intonation. Listen again to the sentence meaning 'I missed the train.'
Yasmine: [Slow] J'ai raté le train. [Normal] J'ai raté le train.
Becky: Here's another formal sample question using ‘why’ - 'Why do you leave so early?'
Yasmine: [Normal] Pourquoi partez-vous si tôt?
Becky: First is a word meaning 'why'
Yasmine: [Normal] pourquoi [Slow] pourquoi
Becky: Next is the word meaning 'leave'
Yasmine: [Normal] partez [Slow] partez
Becky: Next is the word meaning 'you'
Yasmine: [Normal] vous [Slow] vous
Becky: Next is the word meaning 'so'
Yasmine: [Normal] aussi [Slow] aussi
Becky: Last is the word meaning 'early'
Yasmine: [Normal] tôt [Slow] tôt
Becky: Listen again to the question meaning 'Why do you leave so early?'
Yasmine: [Slow] Pourquoi partez-vous si tôt? [Normal] Pourquoi partez-vous si tôt?
Becky: Here's a response meaning, 'Not to miss the train.'
Yasmine: [Normal] Pour ne pas rater le train.
Becky: First is a word meaning 'in order to'
Yasmine: [Normal] pour [Slow] pour
Becky: Next is the word meaning 'not'
Yasmine: [Normal] ne pas [Slow] ne pas
Becky: Next is the word meaning 'miss '
Yasmine: [Normal] rater [Slow] rater
Becky: Next is the word meaning 'the'
Yasmine: [Normal] le [Slow] le
Becky: Last is the word meaning 'train'
Yasmine: [Normal] train [Slow] train
Becky: Listen again to the response, 'Not to miss the train.'
Yasmine: [Slow] Pour ne pas rater le train. [Normal] Pour ne pas rater le train.
Cultural Insight
Becky: Now it's time for a quick cultural insight.
Yasmine: In French you can reply with pourquoi pas? meaning “Why not?” It's used the same way as in English.

Outro

Becky: And that’s all for this lesson. Don’t forget to check out the lesson notes, and we’ll see you in the next lesson!

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