Learn how to ask about the nature of something or someone using the interrogative adjective, quel
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Sam: But... I am Not Even Supposed To Work On Saturdays!!! In this lesson, you’ll learn about seasons, their prepositions and the interrogative pronoun quel. |
| Celine: The conversation goes on between Alice and her co-worker, Zacharie, in the office. |
| Sam: The speakers know each other, therefore, they will be speaking informally. Hello, I’m Sam and we’d like to welcome you to the 16th lesson of our beginner series in FrenchPod101.com – Which Day is It? |
| Celine: Oui. Which Day is It? Quel jour nous sommes. Je suis Céline, my name is Céline. |
| Christophe: et moi c’est Christophe. |
| Sam: Oh, you guys are so excited you forgot to tell us who you were. |
| Celine: Exactement. |
| Sam: Hey, what’s today’s lesson about? |
| Celine: Today, we’re going to talk about days. Zacharie and Alice are talking about days and months. |
| Sam: Sounds interesting. |
| Celine: Oui. |
| Sam: Shall we start? |
| Celine: Allez |
| Sam: C’est parti. Let’s go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Lazy Zacharie: Quel jour sommes-nous ? |
| Wiz Alice: Quel jour, quel mois, quelle saison nous sommes ?! Oh, Zacharie ! |
| Lazy Zacharie: Mars, c’est le mois des anniversaires. Tout le monde a son anniversaire. Alors nous sommes lundi, mardi ? |
| Wiz Alice: Lundi... c’est l’anniversaire d'Anne, la Directrice commerciale, et vendredi, c’est mon anniversaire... |
| Lazy Zacharie: Aah... |
| Sam: One more time slowly. |
| Celine: Encore une fois plus lentement. |
| Lazy Zacharie: Quel jour sommes-nous? |
| Wiz Alice: Quel jour, quel mois, quelle saison nous sommes?! Oh, Zacharie ! |
| Lazy Zacharie: Mars, c’est le mois des anniversaires. Tout le monde a son anniversaire. Alors nous sommes lundi, mardi? |
| Wiz Alice: Lundi... c’est l’anniversaire d'Anne, la Directrice commerciale, et vendredi, c’est mon anniversaire... |
| Lazy Zacharie: Aah... |
| Sam: One more time with the English. |
| Celine: Encore une fois avec l’anglais. |
| Lazy Zacharie: Quel jour sommes-nous? “Which day it is?” |
| Wiz Alice: Quel jour, quel mois, quelle saison nous sommes?! Oh, Zacharie! “Which day, which month, which season is it!? Oh, Zacharie!” |
| Lazy Zacharie: Mars, c’est le mois des anniversaires. Tout le monde a son anniversaire. Alors nous sommes lundi, mardi ? “It’s March; it’s the birthday month! Everybody has their birthday! So, is it Monday, Tuesday?” |
| Wiz Alice: Lundi... c’est l’anniversaire d'Anne, la Directrice commerciale, et vendredi, c’est mon anniversaire... “Monday...it’s Anne's birthday, the Commercial Director and Friday is my birthday. |
| Lazy Zacharie: Aah… |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Sam: Hey guys! What’s your favorite day of the work week? |
| Celine: The work week? |
| Sam: Yeah. |
| Celine: No, no, we don’t like work weeks. |
| Christophe: Yeah. |
| Celine: I mean, our favorite day is Sunday. No, Saturday. |
| Christophe: Saturday too? Saturday. |
| Celine: Sorry, Saturday because on Sunday because on Sunday, everybody is depressed in France because the day after, we have to work. So Saturday. |
| Christophe: Yeah. All stores are closed on Sunday. |
| Celine: Oh, yeah, that’s true. |
| Christophe: That’s a problem. |
| Celine: Yeah. |
| Sam: Yeah. |
| Sam: Maybe payday is a happy day, too. |
| Celine: Bien sûr. But we don’t know which day, so let’s say Saturday. Samedi. Samedi in French. |
| Sam: Saturday. |
| Celine: Samedi. |
| Sam: samedi? |
| Celine: Oui. |
| Sam: Oh, that’s a happy day. |
| Celine: Oui. |
| Sam: I think my friends in America tell me Friday is a happy day. |
| Celine: Peut-être. |
| Christophe: Because of the end of the week maybe. |
| Sam: For most people, yeah. Yeah. |
| Celine: Okay. shall we check the vocab? |
| Sam: No. No, I’m joking. Let’s check the vocab. The first item is… |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Christophe: jour. |
| Sam: Day. |
| Christophe: jour. [slowly - broken down by syllable] jour. [natural native speed] |
| Celine: Mois [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Month. |
| Celine: Mois [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Mois [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Next… |
| Christophe: saison. |
| Sam: Season. |
| Christophe: saison. [slowly - broken down by syllable] saison. [natural native speed] |
| Sam: Next… |
| Celine: Mars [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: March. |
| Celine: Mars [natural native speed]. Mars [slowly - broken down by syllable]. |
| Sam: Next… |
| Christophe: Tout (e) [natural native speed] |
| Sam: All. |
| Christophe: Tout (e) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Tout (e) [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Next… |
| Celine: Monde [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: People. |
| Celine: Monde [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Monde [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Next… |
| Christophe: lundi. |
| Sam: Monday. |
| Christophe: lundi. [slowly - broken down by syllable] lundi. [natural native speed] |
| Celine: Mardi. |
| Sam: Tuesday. |
| Celine: mardi. [slowly - broken down by syllable] mardi. [natural native speed] |
| Sam: Next… |
| Christophe: Alors |
| Sam: Then… |
| Christophe: alors [slowly - broken down by syllable] alors [natural native speed] |
| Sam: Next… |
| Christophe: Commercial(e) [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Commercial. |
| Christophe: Commercial(e) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Commercial(e) [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Next… |
| Christophe: Directrice [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Director. |
| Christophe: Directrice [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Directrice [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: So guys, shall we look at the vocabulary usage from this lesson? |
| Celine: quelle bonne idée! |
| Sam: What a great idea, as always. The first word is jour. |
| Celine: Day. The word jour can refer to the part of the day with sunlight or the whole 24 hours. |
| Christophe: That is the difference with journée which correspond to the same definition with an additional concept of duration. |
| Sam: Could you give us a sentence, please? |
| Celine: Je travaille le jour, le lundi, et les autres jours de nuit. |
| Sam: “I work during the day time on Monday and the other days at night.” How about journée? |
| Christophe: For example, il n’est pas venu toute la journée. |
| Sam: “He didn’t come all day.” |
| Celine: Yes. In this sentence, the speaker emphasises on the length of time with journée. The next word is mois. With a silent S at the end, it means “month.” |
| Christophe: The other moi without the S refers to me. |
| Sam: Great. |
| Celine: Its meaning is “all” or “whole.” It can be an adjective referring to a thing or people. |
| Sam: Okay, listeners, be careful with the word “tout”, T-O-U-T refers to “all” or “whole.” “Tu”, the pronoun, refers to you in the informal manner. |
| Celine: Yeah. It’s just a matter of pronunciation. |
| Sam: You have to really be careful with the guys. It’s a small difference but it changes the word. So Christophe, can you help me? |
| Christophe: Yeah, of course! |
| Sam: What if I want to say “all” or “whole” in French? |
| Christophe: Tout! |
| Sam: tout? |
| Celine: Tout à fait. |
| Sam: Ah. If I want to say “you” in the casual manner, Celine? |
| Celine: Tu. |
| Sam: tu? |
| Céline: oui! |
| Sam: Ah. |
| Christophe: C’est trop mignon. |
| Celine: C’est trop mignon, t’es mignon Sam. Tout est possible for example. |
| Sam: Everything is possible. |
| Celine: So next word, euh… gentil Christophe. |
| Christophe: Oui gentille Céline. The next word is quel. This is used to ask question with “which” as in, for example… |
| Celine: quel type de musique tu aimes écouter? |
| Sam: “Which type of music do you like to listen to?” How about you, guys? Let me ask you the question. Christophe, quel type de musique tu aimes écouter? |
| Christophe: Tout. Tous types de musique. |
| Sam: All types of music? Hmm. Et toi Céline? Quel type de musique tu aimes écouter? |
| Celine: Moi aussi, tous types de musique. |
| Sam: Anything. Okay. |
| Celine: Voilà. Eh ben donc. On est prêts pour la grammaire maintenant. |
| Sam: Let’s get ready for grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Celine: Quel enthousiasme Sam! So we saw previously the interrogative word quel and its different forms. Do you remember? |
| Sam: Yes. |
| Celine: So today, we will talk about how to use it in questions on the general point of view. |
| Christophe: quel means “which” and is always followed by a noun. |
| Celine: Par exemple, quel plat les gens mangent froid? |
| Sam: ”Which dish do people eat cold? Revenge.” Oh, that’s quite a cold-minded proverb. |
| Christophe: ah oui. Here, the noun plat is preceded by quel agreeing in gender and number with it. |
| Celine: Oui Christophe. But you have to know that the element quel plus noun can be also placed at the end of the question. For example… |
| Christophe: Tu préfères quel plat? |
| Sam: Which dish do you prefer? |
| Celine: So, for example, in the dialogue, Zachary asked, quel jour sommes-nous?. |
| Sam: “What day are we on” or “What day is it?” |
| Celine: Yes. Exactement Sam. But Zachary could have also said “nous sommes quel jour?” |
| Sam: Same meaning but just a slightly different grammar structure. |
| Celine: So quel plus noun is placed at the end. |
| Sam: Yeah. quel plus noun placed at the end or… |
| Celine: quel plus noun placed at the beginning. |
| Sam: Or quel plus noun placed at the beginning. |
| Celine: So which of these do you prefer? |
| Sam: All of them, especially la quiche. |
| Celine: C’est bon la quiche. It’s good and this salty tart with cheese, ham, and eggs is easy to make. |
| Christophe: Anyway, another important issue needs to be raised. |
| Sam: What? You don’t like quiche? |
| Christophe: No. For once, I’m the serious one here. The issue about the question’s future with quel. |
| Sam: Oh, what’s that? |
| Christophe: When formulating a question with quel and être, the word order is different. |
| Celine: Effectivement. In that case, quel is placed first than the verb être and finally a noun. |
| Sam: For example? |
| Celine: quel est ton âge, what is your age? |
| Christophe: or quelles sont ces cigarettes? |
| Sam: “Which cigarettes are those?” |
| Christophe: Any French cigarettes Gauloises, Gitanes. |
| Celine: But you shouldn’t smoke. |
| Christophe: Yes, of course. I know it’s not good. |
| Celine: Smoke is bad for your health. |
| Sam: Yeah. I don’t smoke. |
| Celine: Okay. Me neither. |
| Christophe: I know. But I’m a bad man, so... |
| Celine: Okay. |
| Sam: That’s okay. We’ll forgive you, at least for the rest of this lesson. |
| Celine: so, quel âge as-tu Christophe? |
| Christophe: Vingt-trois ans. |
| Celine: Oh vingt-trois ans. La fleur de l’âge. |
| Christophe: Oui. La fleur de l’âge. |
| Celine: Et toi Sam quel âge as-tu? |
| Sam: Secret. |
Outro |
| Celine: Okay. I won’t say anything because mine is a secret, too. Okay. So that’s the end of today’s lesson. |
| Sam: Yes, that’s the end. |
| Celine: Okay. |
| Sam: Any advice for our listeners? |
| Christophe: Ne pas fumer. |
| Sam: “Don’t smoke.” |
| Celine: Yes, don’t smoke. |
| Sam: So, until the next time. |
| Christophe: Au revoir! |
| Celine: A bientôt! |
| Sam: A la prochaine! |
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