Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

Intro

Virginie: Bonjuor.
Eric: Eric here!
Virginie: Understanding French Easily.
Eric: In this lesson you will learn how to say hi.
Virginie: And how to say you understand and you don't understand something.
Eric: Our dialog takes place after History class when Rob meets Giulia.
Virginie: Rob has been now studying at the Sorbonne for a week and still has a hard time to understand everything in class.
Eric: Rob and Giulia are now friends.
Virginie: And since they are friends, our two characters will be speaking informally
Eric: Let's listen to this conversation.

Lesson conversation

Rob: Salut Giulia, ça va?
Giulia: Ça va et toi?
Rob: Bof.
Giulia: Ça ne va pas?
Rob: Je ne comprends pas le français!
Giulia: Tu comprends très bien le français!
Eric: One more time with the translation.
Rob: Salut Giulia, ça va?
Eric: Hi Giulia, how are you?
Giulia: Ça va et toi?
Virginie: I’m good, and you?
Rob: Bof.
Eric: Not really well.
Giulia: Ça ne va pas?
Virginie: You’re not good?
Rob: Je ne comprends pas le français!
Eric: I don’t understand French!
Giulia: Tu comprends très bien le français!
Virginie: You understand French very well!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Eric: it seems that Rob is down today, don't you think Virginie?
Virginie: Yes it's sometimes hard to live in a country where you don't understand everything that's said.
Eric: Especially at school. Apparently our two characters just got out of History class.
Virginie: Yes and History class at the Sorbonne which is a prestigious university is quite a difficult thing to go through.
Eric: Right. I assume Rob had a hard time getting all the details about Napoleon.
Virginie: But he shouldn't get discouraged!
Eric: Giulia is there to reassure him. So let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.
VOCAB LIST
Virginie: Ça va? [natural native speed]
Eric: How are you?
Virginie: Ça va? [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Ça va? [natural native speed]
Eric: And now the answer.
Virginie: Ça va. [natural native speed]
Eric: I'm fine.
Virginie: Ça va. [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Ça va. [natural native speed]
Eric: And next.
Virginie: Je ne parle pas bien le français. [natural native speed]
Eric: I don't speak French very well.
Virginie: Je ne parle pas bien le français. [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Je ne parle pas bien le français. [natural native speed]
Eric: And next.
Virginie: Très bien [natural native speed]
Eric: Very well
Virginie: Très bien [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Très bien [natural native speed]
Eric: Next.
Virginie: Comprendre [natural native speed]
Eric: To understand.
Virginie: Comprendre [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Comprendre [natural native speed]
Eric: Next.
Virginie: Et toi [natural native speed]
Eric: And you.
Virginie: Et toi [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Et toi [natural native speed]
Eric: Next.
Virginie: Ca ne va pas [natural native speed]
Eric: It's not going well
Virginie: Ca ne va pas [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Ca ne va pas [natural native speed]
Eric: And finally.
Virginie: Bof [natural native speed]
Eric: Not really (casual).
Virginie: Bof [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Bof [natural native speed]
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
Eric: Okay. So let's take a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson.
Virginie: Yes. The first word/phrase we’ll look at is Ca va?
Eric: Which means ""How is it going?""
Virginie: When you meet a friend, it's the first thing you say after saying hi.
Eric: What is ca va, literally?
Virginie: It would be ""it goes?"" Ca is it and va is goes.
Eric: And it's a pretty automatic phrase to say in France when you meet a friend.
Virginie: It's almost like a punctuation mark, you say Salut ca va?
Eric: So when someone asks ""Ca va?"" he is really inquiring into his friend's well-being?
Virginie: Not really, as you said it's automatic.
Eric: And usually you just answer Ca va which means ""I'm well.""
Virginie: And literally, it goes.
Eric: Watch your intonation though. It's going down this time.
Virginie: Yes your answer is a statement, right? So you will be Ca va.
Eric: But the question would be?
Virginie: Ca va?
Eric: Ca va Virginie?
Virginie: Ca va.
Eric: Let's use a slightly different way of asking Ca va now.
Virginie: Right, you can also ask ""Comment ca va?""
Eric: And the added word at the beginning of the sentence is ""Comment.""
Virginie: Which means how.
Eric: Either way it's totally normal. How do you answer to comment ca va?
Virginie: You can answer Ca va or you can say Ca va bien.
Eric: Ca va bien. Bien is well or fine.
Virginie: Comment ca va, Eric?
Eric: Ca va bien, merci.
Virginie: Oh you just added a new word!
Eric: Oh yes?
Virginie: You said merci, which is thank you.
Eric: That's because I'm polite.
Virginie: You are. And it's always better to say Ca va bien merci, or Ca va merci.
Eric: But here Rob actually says something different, he says ""bof"", which in this context means ""not really"", or ""not really well.""
Virginie: Yes. This word bof is used a lot in France. People use it a lot. It's a casual and short way to say ""Not really well,"" ""Not really good.""
Eric: And you can use this in other contexts?
Virginie: Yes for example when you're asked ""Did you like this movie?"" You can answer bof. That means not really well. I didn't enjoy it very much.

Lesson focus

Eric: Okay, so let's talk a little grammar now. The grammar focus for this lesson is the verb comprendre at the positive and negative forms.
Virginie: Je comprends!
Eric: Okay. Virginie just said she understands. Well good for you, Virginie.
Virginie: Yes. I said Je comprends, I understand.
Eric: The verb is comprendre, to understand.
Virginie: But we know that when you first visit a foreign country it's more likely that you don't understand.
Eric: Right. In these situations you will say ""je ne comprends pas"" I don't understand. Virginie, can you give us detail about the negative form in French?
Virginie: It's really, really easy. All you need to do is squeeze the verb between the two particles NE and PAS.
Eric: That's all?
Virginie: Yes, that's all. Listen to me, Je NE comprends Pas.
Eric: Okay, well that's easy.
Virginie: In our dialog there is another negative sentence though.
Eric: Yes Giulia asks Rob ""Ca ne va pas?
Virginie: Which means…
Eric: Literally ""It doesn't go well?
Virginie: See the negative structure here? The verb ""va"" is squeezed between ne and pas.
Eric: Ca ne va pas. So if I want to say ""I'm not well"", I will just say ""Ca ne va pas.""
Virginie: Yes. Quick recap here, I think we need it. Ca va, Eric?
Eric: Bof.
Virginie: Ca ne va pas?
Eric: Ca ne va pas.

Outro

Eric: Okay, that just about does it for today. Okay, good bye!
Virginie: Salut!

Grammar

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