Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Sam: Wow! This is a Well Lit Room! In this lesson, you’ll learn how to refer to the furniture in the bedroom and give orders.
Celine: The conversation is between Alice and her son, Rémi, in his bedroom.
Sam: The speakers are family, therefore, the speakers will be speaking informally.
DIALOGUE
Wiz Alice: Rémi !! Viens ici.
Tiny Rémi: Oui, maman.
Wiz Alice: C’est quoi ce désordre! Range ta chambre!
Tiny Rémi: Heu…
Wiz Alice: La chaise est sur le lit, la lampe est par terre.
Tiny Rémi: Heu, oui…
Wiz Alice: La commode est dans le placard ! La moquette est sale. Passe l’aspirateur!
Sam: One more time slowly.
Male: Encore une fois lentement.
Wiiz Alice: Rémi!! Viens ici.
Tiny Rémi: Oui, maman.
Wiz Alice: C’est quoi ce désordre! Range ta chambre!
Tiny Rémi: Heu…
Wiz Alice: La chaise est sur le lit, la lampe est par terre.
Tiny Rémi: Heu, oui…
Wiz Alice: La commode est dans le placard ! La moquette est sale. Passe l’aspirateur!
Sam: One more time with the English.
Male: Encore une fois avec l’anglais.
Wiz Alice: Rémi !! Viens ici. “Rémi!! Come here now.”
Tiny Rémi: Oui, maman.
Sam: Yes mommy.
Wiz Alice: C’est quoi ce désordre! Range ta chambre! “What's this mess?! Clean your room!”
Tiny Rémi: Heu…
Sam: Huh…
Wiz Alice: La chaise est sur le lit, la lampe est par terre. “The chair is on the bed! The lamp is on the floor!”
Tiny Rémi: “Huh, yes.” Heu, oui…
Wiz Alice: La commode est dans le placard! La moquette est sale. Passe l’aspirateur! “The dresser is in the closet! The carpet is dirty. Vacuum!”
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Sam: Okay, guys, I’ve got a funny question for you. If your room is messy, for example, you’re a child in France, your room is messy, are mothers really strict about that?
Celine: It depends on the mother. Now in France, I think that parents tend to be like really cool, too cool for me, I think.
Christophe: Too cool, I think. Yeah. Yeah.
Sam: They’re not strict enough, huh?
Celine: Non, non. And the kids, they shout to their parents sometimes.
Sam: Oh, no.
Celine: Yes. It’s crazy.
Sam: What kind of punishments are rendered for having a messy room?
Celine: Au coin!
Sam: Go to the corner?
Celine: Yes.
Christophe: Yes.
Celine: I remember…okay, this is not my experience but my brother one day, he was really upset with my…angry with my mother and he peed on the table. So he had to stay at the corner for one day.
Sam: One day.
Celine: One whole day.
Sam: One day!
Celine: Yes. Come on, he peed on the table.
Sam: Yeah, but one day!
Celine: No, not one day. Maybe like four hours without moving.
Sam: I think I know in America, some of my friends, if they did that, maybe they would also be punished but different kind of punishment. Okay. We talked about punishments at home. How about punishments at school like for having a messy desk or something like that? Would you get spank or…
Celine: Oh, no. Before, yes. My father told me that he was with the fingers like that…
Sam: They would get cracked over the fingers.
Celine: Exactly. Yeah. With a ruler. But not anymore now, it’s forbidden. The teachers cannot touch the kids, I mean beat the kids.
Sam: Okay. That was very interesting.
Celine: Yes.
Sam: We talked about punishments and things like that.
Christophe: There was aussi at the school le bonnet d’âne.
Sam: Really?
Christophe: You remember le bonnêt d’âne?
Celine: Ah, le bonnêt d’âne. Yes.
Christophe: That was a long time ago.
Sam: The dunce’s cap?
Celine: Okay. By the way, I was never punished but I was a really nice little girl. I’m still.
Sam: Do you believe that, Christophe?
Christophe: No comment.
Sam: Okay.
Celine: Bon ok alors vocabulaire.
VOCAB LIST
Sam: Okay. That’s a good idea. The first item is…
Celine: Désordre [natural native speed].
Sam: Mess.
Celine: Désordre [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Désordre [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Christophe: Ranger [natural native speed].
Sam: To put in order or to arrange.
Christophe: Ranger [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Ranger [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Celine: chambre. [natural native speed]
Sam: Bedroom.
Celine: chambre. [slowly - broken down by syllable] Chambre [natural native speed]
Sam: Next…
Christophe: Chaise. [natural native speed]
Sam: Chair.
Christophe: Chaise. [slowly - broken down by syllable] Chaise [natural native speed]
Sam: Next…
Celine: Lit. [natural native speed]
Sam: Bed.
Celine: Lit. [slowly - broken down by syllable] Lit. [natural native speed]
Christophe: Next…
Christophe: Par terre [natural native speed].
Sam: Floor.
Christophe: Par terre [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Par terre [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Celine: Dans. [natural native speed]
Sam: In.
Celine: Dans. [slowly - broken down by syllable] Dans. [natural native speed]
Sam: Next…
Christophe: Placard. [natural native speed]
Sam: Closet.
Christophe: Placard. [slowly - broken down by syllable] Placard [natural native speed]
Sam: Next…
Celine: Moquette. [natural native speed]
Sam: Rug.
Celine: Moquette. [slowly - broken down by syllable] Moquette. [natural native speed]
Sam: Next…
Christophe: Sale [natural native speed].
Sam: Dirty.
Christophe: Sale [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Sale [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Celine: Aspirateur [natural native speed].
Sam: The vacuum cleaner.
Celine: Aspirateur [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Aspirateur [natural native speed].
Sam: Hey, let’s look at the vocabulary usage from this lesson.
Celine: Pourquoi pas. The first word is désordre.
Christophe: This is a noun equivalent to “mess.” If you break it down, you have “dé” and “ordre” meaning order.
Sam: What is “dé” for?
Celine: It is a prefix expressing a negative idea. It is used to form the opposite of some nouns or adjectives as ordre and désordre. Another example, enchanté(e)…
Sam: désanchanté(e).
Christophe: Yes.
Celine: Bravo.
Sam: Enchanté(e) means “enchanted”, désenchanté(e) means “dis-enchanted.”
Celine: Voilà! Actually, yeah. I think in English, it’s dis.
Sam: Okay. So dé means “dis” or D-I-S in English. Same meaning.
Celine: Oui.
Sam: Great. How about the next item?
Celine: Par terre.
Christophe: This one means “floor.” It is used in the sense of surface and not as a first or second floor.
Celine: Yes. If you want to talk about floors, you would say premier étage, first floor or deuxième étage, second floor.
Sam: How about an example from the dialogue with the word “par terre”?
Celine: So in the dialogue, the lamp is on the floor, la lampe est par terre, and it shouldn’t be. C’est pas vrai?
Sam: I think so.
Celine: Et voilà. So another example with the “par terre”, Christophe?
Christophe: Je suis tombé par terre.
Celine: C’est la faute à Voltaire.
Sam:” I fell on the floor, it’s Voltaire’s fault.”
Celine: No, okay, okay. This is an extract from the musical comedy “Les Misérables” inspired by Victor Hugo’s novel.
Sam: Do you guys have to read this when at school?
Celine: Of course.
Sam: Do you still have the book with you?
Celine: Oui toujours!
Sam: In your bag?
Celine: It’s a classic. It’s not a classic. Not in my bag, but it’s a classic.
Sam: But it’s not in your bag?
Celine: No, it’s in my library. Okay. Next word is “sale”…
Sam: …which means “dirty.”
Christophe: “Sale” is an adjective and can be used as “dangerous” or “dizziness.”
Celine: In the dialogue, the rug is dirty. La moquette est sale.
Sam: Interesting. And also, for example, you could describe a business dealing as dirty in French. How would you say that?
Celine: C’est une sale affaire.
Sam: Okay, I got you.
Celine: So the last word is aspirateur.
Sam: What does that mean again?
Christophe: Vacuum cleaner. Let me give you a clue to remember it. “Aspirateur” shares its root with the verb “aspire.”
Celine: “Aspire” means “inhale or suck in.” So if you can memorize “aspire”, it will be easier to remember “aspirateur.”
Sam: Okay. I got you.
Celine: So for example, in the conversation, Alice says passe l’aspirateur!
Sam: “Vacuum!”
Celine: Oui donc si ta chambre est sale, tu passes l’aspirateur. “If your room is dirty, you should vacuum.”
Sam: Vacuum. Some people say hoover too. Let’s boost your confidence in French with our grammar topic. Today, we’re going to look at how to give instructions and even orders in French, which Celine is pretty good at.

Lesson focus

Celine: Merci Sam. To be able to do so, can you tell me, Sam, the instructions given in the dialogue?
Sam: The mother said, “Clean your room! Vacuum!” And that’s it.
Celine: No, no, you missed one – “come here”.
Christophe: “Clean your room” is Range ta chambre.
Celine: Tout à fait, Christophe. To be precise, it means “put your room in order” and not clean.
Christophe: Then vacuum is “passe l’aspirateur” and come “viens”.
Sam: Okay. Why isn’t there any subject?
Celine: Simply because all these verbs “viens”, “passe”, “range” are conjugated at the imperative form.
Christophe: It’s the only tense which doesn’t require a subject.
Sam: Very fast and efficient to give orders, huh.
Celine: Oui. And there are only three conjugations, so less to memorize.
Sam: That appeals to my laziness.
Christophe: Plus, you can only give orders to third parties. The three forms are second person singular, first person plural, and second person plural.
Sam: So let’s hear some examples. How about if a mother is giving a command to one child that would be the second person singular?
Christophe: Mange tes épinards.
Sam: “Eat your spinach.” How about the second person plural example?
Celine: Yeah. If there are two kids or more, the mother would say Mangez vos épinards.
Sam: “Eat your spinach.”
Celine: And the last form…I mean, the kids are going to eat the spinach because they know that they are going to have a gift after that. So they would say “Mangeons nos épinards”.
Christophe: Oui mangeons nos épinards.
Sam: “Let’s eat our spinach.”
Celine: Voilà.

Outro

Sam: Okay. That’s an interesting and informative grammar point for today. And I think that’s a good place to end today’s lesson. So, I think we’ll end there and we hope to hear from you guys soon. So, until the next time.
Celine: A bientôt!
Christophe: A bientôt!
Sam: A bientôt!

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