Dialogue

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Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

Intro
Virginie: Salut!
Eric: Eric here!
Virginie: To Know Anything About Anybody in France, You HAVE to Start Here!
Eric: In this lesson you will learn how to identify people and objects.
Virginie: You will learn the two questions "Who's this?" and "What's this?"
Eric: Our dialog takes place on a weekend.
Virginie: Giulia offers Rob to go to a museum.
Eric: But our poor Rob doesn't know this museum.
Virginie: So he asked Giulia, "What is this?"
Eric: These speakers are friends. Therefore the speakers will be speaking informally. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.

Lesson conversation
Giulia: Tu viens au Centre Georges Pompidou?
Rob: Le Centre Georges Pompidou? Qu’est-ce que c’est?
Giulia: C’est un musée d’art moderne.
Rob: Et Georges Pompidou, qui c’est?
Giulia: Oh là là. C’est un président français.
Eric: One more time with the translation.
Giulia: Tu viens au Centre Georges Pompidou?
Virginie: Are you coming to the Georges Pompidou Center?
Rob: Le Centre Georges Pompidou? Qu’est-ce que c’est?
Eric: The Georges Pompidou Center? What is that?
Giulia: C’est un musée d’art moderne.
Virginie: It's a museum of modern art.
Rob: Et Georges Pompidou, qui c’est?
Eric: And who is Georges Pompidou?
Giulia: Oh là là. C’est un président français.
Virginie: Oh la la, he is a French President.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Virginie: Now, Eric have you ever been to the Centre Georges Pompidou?
Eric: Of course it's something you really don't want to miss in Paris.
Virginie: Yes. I used to go all the time. The Centre George Pompidou is the museum of modern art in Paris.
Eric: Right and have extremely futuristic architecture.
Virginie: Yes. If you pass by, you can't miss it. And it really has a great programmation.
Eric: Theaters, music and movies…
Virginie: …a very good bookstore, conferences...
Eric: …we definitely recommend a visit there.
Virginie: Absolutely.
VOCAB LIST
Eric: Okay. So let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.
Virginie: Le centre [natural native speed]
Eric: The Center
Virginie: Le centre [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Le centre [natural native speed]
Eric: Next.
Virginie: Un musée [natural native speed]
Eric: A museum.
Virginie: Un musée [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Un musée [natural native speed]
Eric: And?
Virginie: L'art [natural native speed]
Eric: An art
Virginie: L'art [slowly - broken down by syllable]. L'art [natural native speed]
Eric: Next.
Virginie: Moderne [natural native speed]
Eric: Modern.
Virginie: Moderne [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Moderne [natural native speed]
Eric: Next.
Virginie: Nn président [natural native speed]
Eric: A President.
Virginie: Un président [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Un président [natural native speed]
Eric: And finally.
Virginie: Venir [natural native speed]
Eric: To come.
Virginie: Venir [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Venir [natural native speed]
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
Eric: Great. So let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases in this lesson.
Virginie: Okay. I think the most important word in here is....
Eric: Venir. And that means to come.
Virginie: Giulia asks Rob ""Tu viens au centre georges pompidou?
Eric: Are you coming to the georges pompidou center?
Virginie: But attention, venir is an irregular verb. You will find the complete conjugation in the lesson notes.
Eric: Let's just see how you say I'm coming or you're coming.
Virignie: I'm coming is Je viens (spell)
Eric: And you're coming is ""tu viens"" (spell).
Virginie: And in a question ""tu viens?"", means ""are you coming?"" and implies ""do you want to come with?""
Eric: Oh la la!
Virginie: Why do you say oh la la, Eric?
Eric: I don't know, I heard Giulia said it and it sounds good.
Virginie: Yes. Oh la la is an infamous French way of expressing your impatience.
Eric: Just like Giulia's impatience in our dialog. She's a little tired of Rob's questions.
Virginie: You can also say oh la la to express a surprise.
Eric: But the intonation is going to be slightly different.
Virginie: Exactly. You will be ""Oh la la! Eric Eric has been to the hairdresser's!!""
Eric: It's true. Maybe our listeners can feel the new haircut in my voice.
Virginie: Ahah. Okay now it's time to get some grammar highlights!

Lesson focus
Eric: So the focus of this lesson is asking ""What is this"" and ""Who is this?""
Virginie: Let's start with ""What is this?"" Qu'est-ce que c'est?
Eric: This is a really useful phrase and a strange one too to foreign ears.
Virginie: The first part of the question is ""Qu'est-ce que"" and that means ""What?""
Eric: Okay, so far so good.
Virginie: And the second part of the question is ""c'est"" (spell)
Eric: Which means literally ""this is.""
Virginie: So literally the question is ""What this is?"" Qu'est-ce que c'est.
Eric: Usually the French don't inverse the verb and the subject to ask a question.
Virginie: No they usually don't.
Eric: Except in very formal occasions. So Virginie, how do we answer that question? How do you say ""This is""?
Virginie: That's very simple, you just say ""C'est""
Eric: The ""c'est"" from the question.
Virginie: Right. And see how Giulia says ""c'est un musee, it's a museum.
Eric: Yes she used the indefinite masculine article UN (spell)
Virginie: Okay, lett's practice - Eric, qu'est-ce que c'est?
Eric: C'est un stylo.
Virginie: Of course you can't see what we are talking about, but Eric just said ""this is a pen"" c'est un stylo.
Eric: And now if you want to ask ""who is this,"" it's also really easy.
Virginie: Remember in our dialogue, Rob says ""Qui c'est?
Eric: The first word is qui, which means who?
Virginie: And you probably recognized the second part of the question, which didn't change it's ""c'est.""
Eric: So literally it means ""Who this is?""
Virginie: And you will answer this question just like you answered the previous question ""What is this?""
Eric: Right, you will say ""C'est"", ""This is....""
Virginie: So imagine that Eric and I are at the White House's garden party and George Clooney is there but of course I don't know him because I never go to the movies, I will ask Eric ""Qui c'est?"" Who is this?
Eric: And I will answer C'est George Clooney. This is George Clooney
Virginie: And I want to know details about George Clooney because he's pretty cute. I will ask ""George Clooney, qui c'est?"" George clooney, who is this? Same question.
Eric: And I will answer with that George Clooney, ""C'est un acteur"", he is an actor.
Virginie: Note how in French we say ""C'est"", this is, to describe the person's profession.
Eric: Okay, a quick recap -
Virginie: Qui c'est? Who is this?
Eric: C'est George Clooney. This is George Clooney.
Virginie: George Clooney, qui c'est?
Eric: C'est un acteur. He's an actor.
Virginie: And of course Eric and I didn't go to the White House's garden party that day.
Eric: Right, we were occupied.

Outro
Eric: Okay, great. Well, that just about does it for today. Okay, good bye
Virginie: Au revoir! Salut!

Grammar

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