Learn all about the French masculine articles that mean "the" and "a"
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
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.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
Intro |
|---|
| Virginie: Hello Everyone! Bonjour tout le monde! |
| Eric: [*] How to Mind Your Manners in a French Cinema. Hi, my name is Eric, and I am joined here by? |
| Virginie: Virginie. |
| Eric: What are we going to be looking in, in this lesson? |
| Virginie: Today, you will learn about the definite and indefinite masculine articles. |
| Eric: Okay. And where does this conversation take place? |
| Virginie: In a movie theater where a Jean-Pierre Jeunet movie is playing. |
| Eric: And are our two friends Rob and Giullia are our speakers? |
| Virginie: Giulia doesn't know about this director, so she asks Rob about him. |
| Eric: And these two speakers are friends, they are going to be speaking informal French. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
| Giulia: Tu aimes Jean-Pierre Jeunet? |
| Rob: C’est qui? |
| Giulia: C’est un réalisateur français. C’est le réalisateur d’Amélie. |
| Rob: Ah, oui! C'est un bon film. |
| Giulia: J'aime bien Amélie. |
| Eric: One more time with the translation. |
| Giulia: Tu aimes Jean-Pierre Jeunet? |
| Virginie: Do you like Jean-Pierre Jeunet? |
| Rob: C’est qui? |
| Eric: Who is that? |
| Giulia: C’est un réalisateur français. C’est le réalisateur d’Amélie. |
| Virginie: He is a movie director. He’s the movie director of ""Amélie."" |
| Rob: Ah, oui! C'est un bon film. |
| Eric: Oh, yes! It's a good movie. |
| Giulia: J'aime bien Amélie. |
| Virginie: I like Amélie. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Okay. Do you think Rob and Giulia are in an art house movie theatre? |
| Virginie: Probably. |
| Eric: There are a lot of these theatres in Paris. |
| Virginie: Yes. And Eric, do you know what you can't do in these movie theatres in France? |
| Eric: No I don't know. Talk on my cell? |
| Virginie: Of course you can't! But there is something else. |
| Eric: What is it? |
| Virginie: You can't drink or eat. |
| Eric: Is it forbidden? |
| Virginie: Yes. |
| Eric: And why? |
| Virginie: Well French people believe that a movie is more enjoyable without all those mouth noises. |
| Eric: I remember going to some art cinemas and seeing the people wait for the entire credits to go down to the screen. |
| Virginie: Exactly, yes. It's to protect the quality of what you are watching. |
| Eric: It sounds like they really take it seriously. |
| Virginie: Yes. And it's a great way to enjoy your movie like Amelie. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Okay. So, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Virginie: Aimer [natural native speed] |
| Eric: To like or to love. |
| Virginie: Aimer [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Aimer [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Virginie: Un réalisateur [slowly - broken down by syllable]. |
| Eric: A movie director. |
| Virginie: Un réalisateur [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Un réalisateur [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Virginie: Ah, oui! [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Oh, okay! |
| Virginie: Ah, oui! [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Ah, oui! [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And then. |
| Virginie: Le [natural native speed] |
| Eric: The (masculine). |
| Virginie: Le [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Le [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Virginie: Un [natural native speed] |
| Eric: A or an (masculine). |
| Virginie: Un [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Un [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Then. |
| Virginie: J'aime bien [natural native speed] |
| Eric: I like. |
| Virginie: J'aime bien [slowly - broken down by syllable]. J'aime bien [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And finally. |
| Virginie: Bon [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Good. |
| Virginie: Bon [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Bon [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Okay. So let's take a closer look at the vocabulary in this lesson. |
| Virginie: Yes. The first phrase is.... |
| Eric: This is one of my common phrases in French J'aime bien. |
| Virginie: Right, which means I like. |
| Eric: In our dialog, Giulia says J'aime (stress the word) bien Amelie. |
| Virginie: Yes. And Bien is spelled BIEN and it means literally well, or good. |
| Eric: Right. So here, she's saying, ""I like the movie, Amelie."" And if I like a person, I can say, ""je t'aime bien."" |
| Virginie: Right. Je is I, t' is you, and aime bien is still like. |
| Eric: Literally ""I you like you."" |
| Virginie: Right, I like you! Do you like me, Eric? |
| Eric: Oui, je t'aime bien, Virginie. |
| Virginie: Merci. |
| Eric: This can slightly confusing. What if I say je t'aime to someone? |
| Virginie: Oh, you mean je t'aime without the bien after? |
| Eric: Exactly. |
| Virginie: That means I love you. |
| Eric: Okay so pay attention, if you use the word ""aimer"" without saying aime bien, you are basically declaring your love. |
| Virginie: Right. Be careful. |
| Eric: Okay. Some grammar now! |
| Virginie: Yay! |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: The focus of this lesson is on the masculine articles. |
| Virginie: Remember there are two genders in French. |
| Eric: Masculine and feminine. |
| Virginie: Everything you name in French is either masculine or feminine. |
| Eric: And when you name something you will need to use an article. |
| Virginie: For the masculine, you will use either un (spell) or le (spell). |
| Eric: Okay. So let's go back to our dialog and see how Rob and Giulia use un and le. |
| Virginie: Giulia is talking about Jean-Pierre Jeunet. |
| Eric: And Jean Pierre Jeunet is a French movie director. |
| Virginie: Yes and she says ""c'est un realisateur francais. |
| Eric: Which means… |
| Virginie: It is a French movie director. So here she uses un. And un is the masculine singular indefinite article. |
| Eric: Okay. So why is this called an indefinite article? |
| Virginie: Because you will use it when talking about something general. |
| Eric: So, Giulia says UN realisateur. |
| Virginie: Yes, because Jean Pierre Jeunet is one movie director among others. |
| Eric: Exactly and here is a tip, if you can add the words ""among others"" after your noun… |
| Virginie: That means you need to use an indefinite article. |
| Eric: Un realisateur among others. |
| Virginie: Just one in the multitude of movie directors. |
| Eric: Okay. Another example? |
| Virginie: Yes. For example, Je suis un professeur |
| Eric: I am a teacher, among others. UN professeur. |
| Virginie: Now the other masculine singular article is LE. |
| Eric: And that's the definite article. |
| Virginie: Right and it's used to name things in a specific context this time. |
| Eric: Let's take an example from our dialog. |
| Virginie: Giulia says ""c'est le realisateur dAmelie"" He's the director of Amelie."" |
| Eric: And she uses le because she specifies which director she's talking about. |
| Virginie: Yes she defines him as unique. He is the director of Amelie. |
| Eric: He's the only one who made that movie. |
| Virginie: Right. And LE is also used to name concepts and generic categories. |
| Eric: Exactly. Like the concept ""time"" that's also qualified with a LE |
| Virginie: Right, le temps, time. |
| Eric: Or the category ""sport."" |
| Virginie: Le sport. It includes all the sports. |
| Eric: So there's a slight different here where in English, these are mass nouns which we described just as sports or time. In French we use a definite article to talk about them. |
| Virginie: Yes. |
| Eric: So it's like the thing about the sport or the time. |
| Virginie: And finally le can be used to name something that has already been mentioned in a conversation. |
| Eric: Right, so if you want to say, ""Do you remember the museum we went to last week"" you would say LE musee. |
| Virginie: Right, because both of the people involved in the conversation know which museum it is. |
| Eric: Le musee, the museum we saw last week. |
Outro |
| Eric: Great. Okay, that just about does it for today. Thank you very much for joining us today. |
| Virginie: Salut! Have a good day. |
| Eric: Take care, bye. |
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.
Comments
Hide