Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Christophe: Bonjour je m’appelle Christophe!
Céline: Et moi c’est Céline.
Sam: Sam here! When Are You Going To Introduce Me To All Your Little Friends? In this lesson, you’ll learn how to formulate questions about time and place..
Céline: The conversation takes place over the phone. Aurélie is asking questions to her caller.
Sam: The speakers are friends, therefore, they’ll be speaking informally.
DIALOGUE
Wiz Alice: Aurélie!
Sweety Aurélie: Okay… Pardon. Hé Daniel!
Sweety Aurélie: Super. Où est la fête?
Sweety Aurélie: La fête est quand?
Sweety Aurélie: À quelle heure est-elle?
Sweety Aurélie: Ok, samedi à 18 heures. Au revoir.
English Host: Now let’s try that again slowly.
Wiz Alice Aurélie!
Sweety Aurélie: Okay… Pardon. Hé Daniel!
Sweety Aurélie: Super. Où est la fête?
Sweety Aurélie: La fête est quand?
Sweety Aurélie: À quelle heure est-elle?
Sweety Aurélie Ok, samedi à 18 heures. Au revoir.
English Host: Let’s try that with the English.
Wiz Alice: Aurélie!
Céline: Aurélie!
Sweety Aurélie: Okay… Pardon. Hé Daniel!
Céline: Okay… sorry. Hey, Daniel!
Sweety Aurélie: Super. Où est la fête?
Céline: Great. Where is the party?
Sweety Aurélie: La fête est quand?
Céline: When is the party?
Sweety Aurélie: À quelle heure est-elle?
Céline: What time is it?
Sweety Aurélie: Okay. Samedi à 18 heures. Au revoir.
Céline: Okay, Saturday at 6PM. Bye.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Sam: So guys, what makes a good party?
Céline: It depends. In summer, it’s good to go to southern France and enjoy beach parties. There are a lot of great places like Côte d'Azur by the Mediterranean Sea or the west coast like Biarritz.
Sam: Do you have famous parties in France like the WMC in Miami?
Christophe: Yes. Of course! If you have money, you should go to St. Tropez, but French people also enjoy parties at French places. It’s really fun.
Sam: Oh, like in America!
Céline: Exactement. Yes, Sam. To answer your question, a party cannot be perfect without good friends, drinks, nice food, and music.
Sam: Don’t you mean it can’t be perfect with good friends, drinks, nice food, and music? So what kind of tunes do the new French generation listen to?
Christophe: It depends. Now in France, after parties, we listen to house music.
Céline: Yes. French house music is the perfect soiree.
Sam: Soiree. That’s another word for party, huh?
Christophe: Oui, we also have bringue but we usually say soirée, la soirée.
Sam: By the way, maybe we should introduce our new friend here.
Céline: Oh, yeah. Maybe you’re right.
Sam: Maybe? Definitely!
Christophe: Bonjour!
Céline: Qui est-tu? Who are you?
Christophe: Je m’appelle Christophe!
Céline: Et tu viens d’où?
Christophe: Je viens de Paris.
Sam: Christophe from Paris. Great! Great city!
Céline: Yeah.
Sam: How about the parties in Paris?
Christophe: On passe de très très bons moments.
Sam: So the parties in Paris are great.
Céline: Yeah, I think so.
Sam: Like Toulouse.
Céline: Yes. Different.
Sam: But great.
Céline: But great. Yeah.
Sam: Now let’s look at the vocabulary and phrases from this lesson. The first item?
VOCAB LIST
Céline: Super [natural native speed].
Sam: Super or great.
Céline: Super [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Super [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Christophe: Où [natural native speed].
Sam: Where
Christophe: Où [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Où [natural native speed].
Sam: Next.
Céline: Fête [natural native speed].
Sam: Party.
Céline: Fête [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Fête [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Christophe: Quand [natural native speed].
Sam: When.
Christophe: Quand [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Quand [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Céline: À quelle heure [natural native speed].
Sam: At which time.
Céline: À quelle heure [slowly - broken down by syllable]. À quelle heure [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Christophe: Samedi [natural native speed].
Sam: Saturday.
Christophe: Samedi [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Samedi [natural native speed].
Sam: And lastly…
Céline: Heure.
Sam: Hour.
Céline: Heure [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Heure [natural native speed].
Sam: Now let’s take a closer look at the vocabulary and phrases from this lesson. What’s the first word?
Christophe: Super – great or groovy.
Céline: Yes. This is an interjection to express joy or excitement.
Sam: Are there any other expression for excitement in French?
Christophe: Enorme! Terrible!
Céline: Yeah let’s see an example.
Christophe: Au fait Céline c’était comment la soirée de David Guetta?
Céline: C’était énorme!
Sam: “By the way, Céline, how was the David Guetta party?” “It was awesome.” Okay, guys. Of those three words, which one is used mostly commonly – super, énorme ou terrible?
Céline: énorme ou terrible.
Christophe: C’est plus “jeunes”.
Céline: Yeah. It’s more….
Sam: Common?
Céline: Common yeah. Super, it was maybe long time ago. It’s kind of old fashioned.
Sam: Old fashion. So énorme.
Céline: énorme
Sam: Yeah. If I was studying French and I saw énorme, I would think that meant enormous or huge.
Céline: Big. Yeah. Exactly.
Sam: Oh, it was big. Okay.
Céline: It was big. It was big.
Sam: And terrible.
Céline: Yeah. Terrible has two meanings, good and bad. It depends on the intonation.
Sam: Just like if we say in English, “That was really bad.”
Céline: Yeah. Okay. You have this?
Sam: Yeah. Same thing. Same thing.
Céline: Okay.
Sam: Next word is…
Sam: “Où”...
Christophe: ...as in asking where a place is.
Céline: Yeah. Don’t forget “l’accent”, the accent on the U to differentiate it with the other ou, meaning “or”. Let’s practice. Christophe, où est la soirée?
Christophe: Au Baron!
Sam: “Christophe, where is the party?” “At the Baron.” Hey guys, one more thing with the accents.
Céline: oui?
Sam: If you’re asking a question, for example, où est la soirée, is there an accent on the U?
Céline: oui !
Sam: Okay. And it’s called the accent...?
Céline: C’est l’accent grave!
Sam: For those of you that didn’t get it, above the U, take your pen, make a line, left to right going down. Okay. Our next word, “quand” which means “when.”
Céline: Quand.
Sam: Yes, quand.
Céline: Quand is to ask about time. Okay, let’s say an example. Christophe, c’est quand la soirée à la Favela Chic? “When is the party at Favela Chic?”
Christophe: Demain. “Tomorrow.” Tu viens? “Are you coming?”
Céline: C’est clair! “For sure.” So talking about time, “quelle” is also used to ask at what time an event will occur.
Sam: A quelle heure est le film? “When is the film” or more exactly, “what time is the film?”
Christophe: Allons-y mollo. Let’s take it slow. We will review quand, où, and quelle heure in the grammar point later. Okay.
Céline: Later or now?
Sam: Not so much later because now…
Céline: What is not so much later?
Sam: Maybe not…
Céline: It’s now.
Sam: Basically now.
Céline: Okay.
Sam: So we can see the grammar.
Céline: Okay. C’est parti.

Lesson focus

Christophe: In the past few lessons, we talked a lot about question. Today, we are going to concentrate on open question in general.
Céline: So you can also find references to these type of questions under partial questions in some grammar books.
Christophe: Question partielle.
Sam: Why partial?
Christophe: Such questions are called partial because they only ask specific information about a thing or a person.
Sam: Oh. Can you give me an example to make sure I get it?
Céline: Pourquoi tu rigoles?. So here, the speaker is asking about the reason for the laughter.
Sam: Or a little bit more literally “why do you laugh” but it’s the same meaning. “What are you laughing about? Why do you laugh? Why are you laughing?” In context, it means the same thing.
Céline: Or quand et où tu travailles? “When and where do you work?”
Sam: Okay. So you ask about the location and time of work.
Céline: oui!
Christophe: Excellent! There are answered questions we’ve cared. These questions ask information about the noun. For example, “Quels amis tu invites? “Which friends do you invite?”
Sam: Which friends do you invite?
Céline: In the example “quels” is linked to “amis” meaning friends, and agrees in gender and number with the noun “ami”.
Sam: Okay. What about structure?
Christophe: There are three patterns.
Céline: The first one is with a simple form, “tu invites quels amis?”. It’s similar in word order to an affirmative sentence with the subject first followed by the verb.
Christophe: The second pattern is the form with “est-ce que”. Quels amis est-ce que tu invites?
Céline: And finally, there’s the inversion form where the verb is first followed by the subject, Quels amis invites-tu?.
Sam: “Quels amis est-ce que tu invites?” is which structure?
Christophe: I was waiting for that question. Which form is it closest to when you look at the word order.
Sam: Hmm…”quels amis invites-tu?” No, “quels amis est-ce que tu invites”?
Céline: Yes. Actually, the element “est-ce que” can be omitted. Either way, “quels amis tu invites?” or “quels amis est-ce que tu invites?” is correct.
Sam: Oh, gosh, that’s a lesson.
Christophe: French is fun, right?
Céline: Yeah, French is “mortel”. So guys, what are you doing tonight? qu’est-ce que vous faites ce soir ?
Christophe: En fait il y a une soirée à la maison. Vous venez?
Sam: Oh, there’s a party at your house? Am I coming? Of course!
Céline: Okay. . moi aussi, moi aussi, moi aussi!
Sam: Will there be “jolies Françaises”?
Céline: Jolies françaises, pléonasme.
Christophe: Ouais Sam, French women are pretty and, of course, there will be “jolies filles”.

Outro

Sam: Okay. It’ll be a great time. I can’t wait for tonight. But that’s an end to today’s lesson. See you soon! A bientôt!
Céline: A bientôt!
Christophe: A bientôt!

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