Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Sam: Is Everything too Much for You to Handle? This lesson is a follow-up to lesson 24 and once again, we’ll be talking about months of the year.
Celine: This conversation is still between Robert and his son, Rémi.
Sam: The speakers are family, therefore, they’ll be speaking informally. Okay. C’est parti!
Celine: C’est parti!
Sam: Let’s go.
DIALOGUE
Clever Robert: Continue, c’est joli.
Tiny Rémi: Août, vacances et sur les routes.
Tiny Rémi: Septembre, l’automne aux couleurs d'ambre.
Tiny Rémi: Octobre, la nature est sobre.
Tiny Rémi: Novembre, met ta robe de chambre.
Tiny Rémi: Décembre, grelotte de tous ses membres.
Sam: One more time, slowly.
Male: Encore une fois lentement.
Clever Robert: Continue, c’est joli.
Tiny Rémi: Août, vacances et sur les routes.
Tiny Rémi: Septembre, l’automne aux couleurs d'ambre.
Tiny Rémi: Octobre, la nature est sobre.
Tiny Rémi: Novembre, met ta robe de chambre.
Tiny Rémi: Décembre, grelotte de tous ses membres.
Sam: One more time, with the English.
Male: Encore une fois, avec l’anglais.
Clever Robert: Continue, c’est joli.
Sam: Go on, it’s lovely.
Tiny Rémi: Août, vacances et sur les routes.
Tiny Rémi: Septembre, l’automne aux couleurs d'ambre.
Tiny Rémi: Octobre, la nature est sobre.
Tiny Rémi: Novembre, met ta robe de chambre.
Tiny Rémi: Décembre, grelotte de tous ses membres.
Sam: August, vacation on the road.
Sam: September, fall of amber colors.
Sam: October, nature is sober.
Sam: November, put on your dressing gown.
Sam: December, all your members shiver. Here you go, all the months of the year. Yahoo!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Sam: So, we always talk about holidays for workers, but how about for students?
Male: Well, French students are very lucky because they have a lot of holidays, don’t they, Céline?
Celine: Yes! Students have five holidays a year. Vacances de Toussaint.
Sam: All Saints Day.
Male: Vacances de Noël.
Sam: Christmas vacation.
Celine: Vacances d’hiver.
Sam: Winter vacation.
Male: Vacances de printemps.
Sam: Spring vacation.
Celine: Et vacances d’été.
Sam: And summer vacation.
Male: Which is my favorite.
Celine: Yes. I love it, too. Usually I go to the beach.
Sam: Do you have summer homework?
Male: Even if I do, for example, I wouldn’t do any of it during the winter…on some holidays.
Celine: Oh, this is a bad, bad example.
Sam: Oh, no.
Celine: Don’t listen to him. You know, France is divided in three zones: A, B, and C, and holidays are different for winter and spring.
Sam: Oh, I guess you can’t have all of the country on vacation at the same time, right?
Celine: Yes.
Male: And usually, the roads are very, very busy in France. You should book your tickets in advance if you want to go somewhere and very busy.
Celine: Yes.
Sam: Sounds like it’s really crowded.
Celine: Yes, it is.
Sam: That can’t be fun, right?
Celine: Holidays are always fun, Sam.
Sam: Even if the roads are crowded?
Celine: Even if the roads are crowded.
Sam: Oh, I understand.
VOCAB LIST
Sam: Now, let’s take at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is…
Male: Vacances [natural native speed].
Sam: Vacation.
Male: Vacances [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Vacances [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Celine: Continuer [natural native speed].
Sam: To go on, to continue.
Celine: Continuer [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Continuer [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Male: Automne [natural native speed].
Sam: Autumn or fall.
Male: Automne [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Automne [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Celine: Routes [natural native speed].
Sam: Roads.
Celine: Routes [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Routes [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Celine: Ambre [natural native speed].
Sam: Amber.
Celine: Ambre [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Ambre [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Celine: Couleur [natural native speed].
Sam: Colors.
Celine: Couleur [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Couleur [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Male: Nature [natural native speed].
Sam: Nature.
Male: Nature [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Nature [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Celine: Mettre [natural native speed].
Sam: To put.
Celine: Mettre [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Mettre [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Celine: Membre [natural native speed].
Sam: Member or limb.
Celine: Membre [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Membre [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Celine: Robe de chambre [natural native speed].
Sam: A nightgown.
Celine: Robe de chambre [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Robe de chambre [natural native speed].
Sam: Next…
Male: Mois [natural native speed]
Sam: Month.
Male: Mois [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Mois [natural native speed].
Sam: Now let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson.
Celine: Yes. First, we have the word “automne.”
Sam: Autumn or fall.
Male: Yes. After “été” or summer appearing in previous lesson, automne in France is beautiful with maple leaves, but it is also means la fin des vacances, which is sad.
Sam: The end of the holidays?
Celine: Yes.
Sam: Oh, no! What is the season after “automne”?
Celine: L'hiver et le printemps.
Sam: Winter and spring?
Male: L'hiver is the time to go skiing for French people!
Sam: Where do they go?
Celine: Either in the Alps shared by Switzerland, Austria and Italy.
Male: But some of them go to the Pyrénées the border limit with Spain.
Sam: How do say I’m on vacation in French?
Male: Je suis en vacances !
Celine: Les vacances c’est la santé.
Sam: Holidays are healthy.
Male: Well Céline, this is not the real sentence. The real one is “le travail c’est la santé”, which is…
Sam: Work is healthy.
Celine: Oh, Alex! Don’t be so rigid!
Alex: I’m sorry. You are rigid today because you have a neck pain, right?
Celine: Anyway, next word is “couleurs”.
Sam: Colours.
Alex: Céline, quelle est ta couleur preferee?
Sam: “What’s your favourite colour?”
Celine: J'aime le noir et le bleu.
Sam: “I like black and blue.”
Alex: Et moi j’aime les couleurs de la nature.
Sam: “You like the colours of nature?
Celine: Ah la nature, mère nature.
Sam: Mother nature. Do French people care about nature and environment?
Alex: Well, it seems like they try. Did you know that in France there is a ecologist political party? They’re called “Les verts” which means….
Sam: “The Greens.”
Alex: Right.
Celine: Yes. Since 1982, it’s a left political party, as well we have some activists in France like José Bové, but you know Sam in France we say that talking about politics leads to arguments.
Sam: Okay!
Sam: So why don’t we look at some grammar?
Alex: I think that’s a fantastic idea! C’est une idée fantastique!
Sam: Okay!

Lesson focus

Alex: Today's grammar point is about “tout.” Tout means whole, any, every, or very depending on the context.
Celine: It can be an adverb, and adjective and or a pronoun.
Alex: Tout is an adverb when it precedes an adjective and in that case it is always invariable as in “vous êtes tout bronzés”
Sam: “You are completely tanned.”
Celine: Or “vous êtes tout propres.”
Sam: “You are completely clean.”
Celine: The exception is with the feminine form. If tout precedes an adjective, it agrees with the subject as in “elle est toute bronzée”
Sam: “She is completely tanned.”
Alex: “Elles sont toutes propres.”
Sam: “They, as in the ladies, are completely clean.”
Alex: Now let’s see “tout” as an adjective. We saw in our dialogue “tous les mois de l'année”.
Sam: “All the months of the year.”
Alex: Well, here it is easy. “Tout” agrees with the gender and the number. Tout is an adjective if it precedes a determinant as in “tous les garçons.”
Sam: “All the boys.” “Tous” ends with s instead of T because it’s in the plural form.
Celine: Yes. Also, as in “toutes les filles”
Sam: “All the girls.” Here, it’s in the feminine plural, so we need to add an E and the S after the last T.
Celine: “Tout” is an adjective when it precedes a noun as in “en tout état de cause, je vous appellerai.”
Sam: “In any case, I’ll call you.”
Alex: “Tout” is an adjective when it precedes a pronoun as in, “j'aime tous ceux qui m'aiment.”
Sam: “I love everybody who loves me.”
Celine: Yes. And lastly, “tout” as a singular pronoun is invariable as in, “tout est vendu.”
Sam: “Everything got sold.”
Alex: “Tous” and “toutes” as plural pronouns as in “tous arrivent!”
Sam: “Everybody is coming!” Ouh! That was a real grammar point!
Celine: Sam! Also, pay attention. Don’t confuse “tout” as a pronoun or adjective as in “les DVD sont tout neufs.”
Sam: “DVDs are completely new!”
Celine: “Les DVD sont tous neufs!”
Sam: “All the DVDs are new!” Hey, those two sentences sound alike to me!
Celine: Non, non, non, Sam. Didn’t you hear the S in “les DVD sont tous neufs!”
Sam: Ah, okay.
Celine: “Les DVD sont tout neufs!”
Sam: Oh, I understand now.
Celine: Yes. It’s tricky. That’s why you have to pronounce the S.
Sam: Without the S, the sentence is a little bit different. So listeners, be careful.
Alex: Well, it changes the meaning, actually.
Sam: Okay. So let’s just recap those. Alex, why don’t you help me?
Alex: Sure, Sam. Alors, “Les DVD sont tout neufs”, which means…
Sam: “The DVDs are completely new.”
Alex: Right. “Les DVD sont tous neufs!”
Sam: “All the DVDs are new.”
Alex: Right, you got it.
Sam: Oh, great. I’m picking it up little by little, and I’m sure our listeners are too, right?
Alex: Voilà!

Outro

Sam: Of course! I think that’s a good place to wrap up for today, don’t you?
Alex: Voilà!
Sam: Until the next time.
Celine: Au revoir!
Alex: A la prochaine, au revoir!
Sam: Bye-bye.

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