Learn how to describe the world around you using the French equivalents of "there is" and "there are"
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Intro |
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| 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. |
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