Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

Learn New Words FAST with this Lesson’s Vocab Review List

Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Notes

Unlock In-Depth Explanations & Exclusive Takeaways with Printable Lesson Notes

Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Transcript

Intro

Eric: Using Descriptions to Play "I Spy" in French.
Virginie: So what are we looking at in this lesson?
Eric: Well, Rob is at that wine tasting with Cathy. She asked him about his home.
Virginie: Oh, yes. Shall we listen to the conversation?
Eric: Let's do it.

Lesson conversation

Rob: Giulia, tu as un téléphone portable?
Giulia: Oui.
Giulia: Non…non…
Rob: (rires) Qu’est-ce que tu as dans ton sac?
Giulia: J’ai…un portefeuille, un stylo, un paquet de Kleenex…
Rob: (rires) Et un téléphone portable?
Giulia: Ah! Voilà!
Eric: One more time with the translation.
Cathy: Donc, tu viens d’où, Rob?
Virginie: So, where do you come from, Rob?
Rob: Je viens de Chicago.
Eric: I come from Chicago.
Cathy: Qu’est-ce qu’il y a à Chicago?
Virginie: What’s in Chicago?
Rob: Il y a … des immeubles!!!
Eric: There are… buildings!
Cathy: Il y a aussi les fameux hot dogs!
Virginie: There are the much talked about hot dogs too!
Rob: Oui! Les fameux hot dogs et les fameux bandits!
Eric: Yes! The much talked about hot dogs and the much talked about gangsters too!
Cathy: Al Capone…Ah, l’Amérique…
Virginie: Al Capone…Oh, America!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Eric: I love how French people say Hot dogs.
Virginie: Yes. You know, if you translated it literally it would be chien chaud
Eric: I've heard that they say that in Quebec actually, they say chien chaud.
Virginie: That's true, that's Quebec French.
Eric: So Rob is from Chicago.
Virginie: Yes, it always sounds very dangerous to French ears, Chicago.
Eric: Really? Do you guys associate it with gangsters?
Virginie: Yes, exactly.
Eric: I guess it conjures up with the 1920 Chicago.
Virginie: Yes, the prohibition, the gangster, the mafia.
Eric: Interesting, okay. But French has its own gangsters too, right.
Virginie: Yes, we have our own gangster. For example in the 60s and 70s there was that one man called Jacques Mesrine.
Eric: Jacques Mesrine?
Virginie: Yes he was French Public Ennemy #1.
Eric: Was he a murderer?
Virginie: No, he was more of a professional robber. He robbed banks.
Eric: If you want to hear a little bit more about him, you can go to our lesson notes.
Virginie: Yes there is a good summary of who he was in the cultural insight.
VOCAB LIST
Eric: But for now, let's take a closer look at the vocabulary.
Virginie: Okay First, Qu'est-ce que / qu'est-ce qu' [natural native speed]
Eric: What.
Virginie: Qu'est-ce que / qu'est-ce qu' [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Qu'est-ce que / qu'est-ce qu' [natural native speed]
Eric: Next.
Virginie: Il y a [natural native speed]
Eric: There is, there are and also ago.
Virginie: Il y a [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Il y a [natural native speed]
Eric: And then.
Virginie: à + city [natural native speed]
Eric: At, in.
Virginie: à + city [slowly - broken down by syllable]. à + city [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have
Virginie: Un immeuble [natural native speed]
Eric: Building.
Virginie: Un immeuble [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Un immeuble [natural native speed]
Eric: Okay.
Virginie: Fameux [natural native speed]
Eric: Illustrious or well-known.
Virginie: Fameux [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Fameux [natural native speed]
Eric: Okay.
Virginie: Un hot-dog [natural native speed]
Eric: A hot dog.
Virginie: Un hot-dog [slowly - broken down by syllable], Un hot-dog [natural native speed]. Un bandit [natural native speed]
Eric: A gangster.
Virginie: Un bandit [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Un bandit [natural native speed]
Eric: And finally.
Virginie: L'Amérique [natural native speed]
Eric: America.
Virginie: L'Amérique [slowly - broken down by syllable], L'Amérique [natural native speed]
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
Eric: Okay. So what are we going to look at first?
Virginie: Okay, so our first word is un bandit.
Eric: Ah, Jacques Mesrine est un bandit.
Virginie: Exactly, Eric Jacques Mesrine is a gangster.
Eric: Could you also say gangster in French?
Virginie: Yes. We actually use the English version (with the French accent) =Un Gangster.
Eric: Wow, that sounds pretty tough.
Virginie: I know. Stop making fun of me when I speak Frenglish Eric, please un gangster.
Eric: It's fine. It comes from the American movies.
Virginie: Definitely, yes. Bandit sounds more French.
Eric: So let's talk about fameux. It sounds like famous in English.
Virginie: Yes but it doesn't mean famous, it's a faux-ami, a fake friend, do you know that word?
Eric: Right, a fake friend? Well what do you mean by that?
Virginie: You know, les faux amis, fake friends, are words that sound the same in the two languages, in French and in English, but they mean different things.
Eric: What does fameux mean exactly?
Virginie: It means ""much talked about"", or ""notorious"", ""illustrious.""
Eric: So how do you say ""famous"" in French?
Virginie: It's a good question. It's celebre. For example Madonna est celebre. Madonna is famous.
Eric: Okay I see.
Virginie: And, another example with fameux is ""le fameux vin de Californie.""
Eric: The much talked about or the well known California wine.
Virginie: Exactly.
Eric: One last word I would like to mention is Aussi.
Virginie: Moi aussi! Me too.
Eric: Aussi means too or also.
Virginie: Oui. Cathy gets excited and says ""il y a aussi les fameux hot-dogs!""
Eric: There are the famous hot dogs too!
Virginie: And usually aussi is placed right after the verb in French.
Eric: An example Virginie?
Virginie: Je suis professeur de francais. Je suis aussi actrice.
Eric: I am a French teacher. I am also an actress. So remember, aussi means too and aslo.

Lesson focus

Virginie: What's our grammar point today, Eric?
Eric: We're going to be describing the things around you.
Virginie: Yes, that can be useful. Rob says that in Chicago Il y a … des immeubles""
Eric: Which means there are buildings.
Virginie: Let's break it down. First we have Il y a. Let me spell it out for you it's Il y a.
Eric: And that's there is, or there are.
Virginie: Right after it, we have ""des immeubles.""
Eric: ""Buildings"".
Virginie: Once again, it's Il y a des immeubles. What's new here is the little word ""des.""
Eric: Des, that's the indefinite plural article.
Virginie: Right. Rob is describing what there is in Chicago among other things.
Eric: So he uses an indefinite article, like he would say a building or a street.
Virginie: Yes. Only it's plus, so it's des, DES, the indefinite article.
Eric: Now, when Cathy mentioned the hot dogs, she uses the definite plural article.
Virginie: Yes she says ""il y a les fameux hot dogs.""
Eric: There are the well-known hot dogs.
Virginie: Les is the definite plus, actually it's LES.
Eric: And of course Chicago has special hot dogs.
Virginie: Yes, they are unique. That's why Cathy uses the definite article.
Eric: LES hot dogs de Chicago.
Virginie: Okay, a quick recap here because it's a little tricky. Il y a.
Eric: There are.
Virginie: Des immeubles
Eric: Buildings.
Virginie: Il y a
Eric: There are.
Virginie: Les fameux hot dogs
Eric: The well-known hot dogs.

Outro

Eric: Okay, great. Well that just about does it for today.
Virginie: Thank you for listening. Au revoir.
Eric: Thank you. Bye.

Grammar

French Grammar Made Easy - Unlock This Lesson’s Grammar Guide

Easily master this lesson’s grammar points with in-depth explanations and examples. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Comments

Hide