Dialogue

Vocabulary

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

INTRODUCTION
Sam: Hi! My name is Sam and I’m joined here by…
Céline: Céline.
Christophe: et Christophe.
Sam: How Nice of You to Remember... umm... Someone's Birthday! In this lesson, you’ll learn how to wish someone a happy birthday and tell the difference between C'est (C “apostrophe” est) and elle and some vocab about time.
Céline: The conversation takes place in an office between Alice and her co-worker, Zacharie.
Sam: The speakers know each other, therefore, they’ll be speaking informally.
DIALOGUE
Collègues: Joyeux anniversaire. Joyeux anniversaire Alice.....
Wiz Alice: Non, non, non… ce n’est pas mon anniversaire aujourd’hui.
Lazy Zacharie: Quoi?
Wiz Alice: Oui, mon anniversaire, c’est vendredi. Aujourd’hui, c’est l’anniversaire d'Anne.
Lazy Zacharie: Quel âge elle a?
Wiz Alice: Elle a 40 ans.
Sam: One more time, slowly.
Female: Encrore une fois, lentement.
Collègues: Joyeux anniversaire. Joyeux anniversaire Alice.....
Wiz Alice: Non, non, non… ce n’est pas mon anniversaire aujourd’hui.
Lazy Zacharie: Quoi?
Wiz Alice: Oui, mon anniversaire, c’est vendredi. Aujourd’hui, c’est l’anniversaire d'Anne.
Lazy Zacharie: Quel âge elle a?
Wiz Alice: Elle a 40 ans.
Sam: One more time with the English.
Céline: Encore une fois avec l’anglais.
Collègues: Joyeux anniversaire.
Alice: Joyeux anniversaire, Alice.
Sam: Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you.
Wiz Alice: Non, non, non… ce n’est pas mon anniversaire aujourd’hui.
Sam: No, no, no! Today's not my birthday.
Lazy Zacharie: Quoi?
Sam: What?
Wiz Alice: Oui, mon anniversaire, c’est vendredi. Aujourd’hui, c’est l’anniversaire d'Anne.
Sam: Yeah, my birthday is on Friday. It's Anne's birthday today.
Lazy Zacharie: Quel âge elle a ?
Sam: How old is she?
Wiz Alice: Elle a 40 ans.
Sam: She is forty years old.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Sam: So guys, let me ask you a question.
Christophe: Oui Sam je t’écoute.
Sam: Okay. When at someone’s birthday, do you really emphasize like “happy birthday” or you’re just like “happy birthday.” How would you say “happy birthday” to somebody?
Christophe: On dit juste “joyeux anniversaire”.
Céline: Joyeux anniversaire.
Sam: Joyeux anniversaire? Would you say it like with a really happy intonation or is it not a big deal?
Céline: Of course! Of course with a happy intonation.
Sam: Do you have birthday cake?
Céline: Oui bien sûr.
Sam: What about birthday ice cream cake?
Céline: No, no, birthday cake.
Sam: Okay, I understand. One more question: do you have the party on the same day as your birthday or is it before or after or…
Christophe: Never before.
Céline: Yeah, you shouldn’t. It’s bad luck in France. So the same day or the day after or one week after.
Sam: Okay. Kind of the same thing in America.
Céline: Ah bon?
Sam: It’s not bad luck but we usually just celebrate it as close to the birthday as possible. Only makes sense, huh?
Christophe: Yeah. Sure.
Sam: Now let’s move on the vocabulary and phrases from this lesson. The first item is…
VOCAB LIST
Céline: Un anniversaire [natural native speed]
Sam: A birthday.
Céline: Un anniversaire [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Un anniversaire [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Céline: Ce n'est pas. [natural native speed]
Sam: It’s not.
Céline: Ce n'est pas. [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Ce n'est pas. [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Christophe: Aujourd’hui [natural native speed].
Sam: Today.
Christophe: Aujourd’hui [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Aujourd’hui [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Céline: Quoi.
Sam: What.
Céline: Quoi. Quoi.
Sam: Next…
Christophe: Vendredi [natural native speed]
Sam: Friday
Christophe: Vendredi [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Vendredi [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Céline: quel âge [natural native speed].
Sam: How old.
Céline: quel âge [slowly - broken down by syllable]. quel âge [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Christophe: an.
Sam: Age (as in number of years).
Christophe: an [slowly - broken down by syllable] an [natural native speed]
Sam: Next…
Céline: Joyeux (-euse) [natural native speed].
Sam: Happy or joyous.
Céline: Joyeux (-euse) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Joyeux (-euse) [natural native speed].
Sam: Now let’s look at the vocabulary usage from this lovely lesson. The first item is…
Christophe: Anniversaire.
Céline: Yes, birthday as well as in English anniversaire, is used to refer to the celebration of birth or marriage.
Sam: Great!
Céline: Oui. Next is a group of words, “ce n'est pas.”
Sam: That means “it is not.”
Christophe: It is the negative form of c’est.
Sam: Can you provide us with a short dialogue with the phrase “ce n'est pas”?
Céline: Okay. Let’s say we are playing Tarot. It’s a card game with 78 cards played by teams of two.
Christophe: And I say to Céline, ce n’est pas ton tour.
Céline: Yeah. He’s telling me, “it’s not your turn.”
Christophe: Fantastique. Next is the word “quoi”.
Sam: …which means “what.”
Christophe: It is the informal form of qu’est-ce que.
Céline: Yeah. And it’s mainly used to ask about something. Quoi in informal situation can be used to ask for clarification when you didn’t understand someone.
Christophe: But it is impolite in the formal situation.
Sam: Oh, that’s great to know.
Céline: So next we have the phrase quel âge.
Christophe: This is the best to learn as one element to ask for the age.
Sam: quel âge, how old. Or if you said, quel âge elle a?
Céline: Oui tout à fait. quel âge elle a is in the dialogue.
Sam: Oh. It means “how old is she?”
Céline: “How old is she.” Exactement.
Sam: Finally, the last word, an.
Céline: It means “years.”
Christophe: There is another word to refer to years, which is année.
Céline: The only difference is that année has a notion of length of time that an doesn’t have.
Sam: Maybe an example would make things clearer for us.
Céline: Okay. Je suis allée en France il y a 2 ans.
Sam: “I went to France two years ago.”
Céline: J’ai vécu deux années à Paris.
Sam: “I lived in Paris for two years.”
Céline: In the last example, the word année stress on the fact of length of time passed.
Sam: Interesting. Okay, guys. Now, shall we move on to our grammar point?
Céline: oui.
Sam: Okay. C’est parti. Let’s go.

Lesson focus

Christophe: Often, some students have trouble with the usage of “c’est” and “il est” when writing or speaking.
Sam: Okay. So it sounds like our grammar point is going to help our students differentiate between c’est and il est.
Céline: Oui. Let’s have a look at each one. C’est is composed of two years – ” c’ “ and the verb form “est”.
Christophe: The “ c’ ” is the contraction of the demonstrative pronoun “cela” referring to an object far away previously mentioned.
Céline: It is contracted to its first letter C, followed by an apostrophe in front of the verb starting with a vowel as it is with the verb être in the third person singular, in “c’est”.
Sam: Okay. But when do we use this “c’est”?
Christophe: In the dialogue, it is used to state the day as in c’est vendredi and the celebration c’est l’anniversaire d’Anne.
Generally speaking, c’est is used to identify something or someone.
Céline: For its form, you can observe that the phrase c’est is always followed by a noun.
Sam: Oh, wow, I get it. It’s like a grammatical ID. What about il est?
Christophe: il est is an incomplete phrase with the masculine personal pronoun il followed by être in the third person singular form.
Céline: The phrase il est indicates a quality of a person or thing. It is always used with an adjective.
Sam: For example?
Céline: Let’s say I’m talking about you. Let’s say I’m talking about you. Il est sympa. I’m describing that you have a nice way of being.
Christophe: On the other hand, I could also say C’est un homme sympa. In this case, I express the same idea, but here identify and defined the man.
Sam: Oh, thank you. That’s very clear.
Céline: Yeah. And we are nice today, right?
Christophe: Maybe.
Céline: Oh mon Dieu. Okay. So Sam, c’est quand ton anniversaire?
Sam: Oh. When’s my birthday? It’s a secret.
Christophe: Why a secret?
Sam: Oh, I’m just joking. My birthday? February 4th. Le 4 de février.
Céline: le 4 février.
Sam: Le 4 février.
Céline: Et toi Christophe?
Christophe: Me?
Céline: Oui toi.
Christophe: Le 12 novembre.
Céline: Et moi c’est le 21 octobre. So don’t forget.
Sam: So let’s recap. My birthday is February 4th, Christophe’s is November 12th, and Céline is October 20th.
Céline: Twenty-first!
Sam: Oh, I forgot already!
Céline: Oh mon Dieu!
Sam: So it’s the 21st. All you listeners, you can still send us a gift if you have time.
Céline: Oui.

Outro

Sam: But I think that’s a good place to end today’s lesson. So thank you, guys!
Céline: oui merci beaucoup Sam et merci Christophe.
Christophe: merci Céline. merci Sam.
Sam: Merci. Au revoir.
Céline: A bientôt!
Christophe: Au revoir.

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