Learn how to ask for directions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Maryssa: Asking for Directions. Maryssa Here. |
| Laurent: Bonjour, I'm Laurent. |
| Maryssa: In this lesson, you’ll learn about asking for directions. The conversation takes place in the street. |
| Laurent: It's between Laurène, Thomas, and a pedestrian. |
| Maryssa: The speakers are two co-workers and a stranger, therefore, they will speak both formal and informal French. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Laurène: Mince... je crois bien que nous sommes perdus. |
| Thomas: Pourtant d'après le GPS de mon téléphone, le consulat doit être là. |
| Laurène: Attends, je vais demander à quelqu'un. |
| Laurène: Monsieur, excusez-moi de vous déranger, mais peut-êre pouvez-vous nous aider, nous sommes perdus. |
| Piéton: Oui bien sûr. Que cherchez-vous ? |
| Laurène: Le consulat s'il vous plaît. Malgré notre GPS nous ne le trouvons pas. |
| Piéton: Vous n'êtes pas très loin il faut remonter la rue, puis aller dans la petite ruelle en cul de sac sur votre gauche. |
| Laurène: Merci beaucoup ! |
| Maryssa: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Laurène: Mince... je crois bien que nous sommes perdus. |
| Thomas: Pourtant d'après le GPS de mon téléphone, le consulat doit être là. |
| Laurène: Attends, je vais demander à quelqu'un. |
| Laurène: Monsieur, excusez-moi de vous déranger, mais peut-êre pouvez-vous nous aider, nous sommes perdus. |
| Piéton: Oui bien sûr. Que cherchez-vous ? |
| Laurène: Le consulat s'il vous plaît. Malgré notre GPS nous ne le trouvons pas. |
| Piéton: Vous n'êtes pas très loin il faut remonter la rue, puis aller dans la petite ruelle en cul de sac sur votre gauche. |
| Laurène: Merci beaucoup ! |
| Maryssa: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Laurène: Bummer...I think we are lost. |
| Thomas: Yet, according to the GPS on my phone, the consulate must be there. |
| Laurène: Wait, I'll ask someone. |
| Laurène: Sir, I'm sorry to bother you, but maybe you can help us, we are lost. |
| Pedestrian: Yes, of course. What are you looking for? |
| Laurène: (We are looking for) the consulate. Despite our GPS, we do not find it. |
| Pedestrian: You are not very far; you have to walk up the street, then go into the little alley with a dead end on your left. |
| Laurène: Thank you so much! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Maryssa: It seems like they weren’t far away from the consulate. |
| Laurent: Not at all! Sometimes it’s that last few metres that are the hardest part. |
| Maryssa: Yeah, especially in a new area with a lot of similar looking buildings. |
| Laurent: They did all of the right things to try to find the consulate, though. |
| Maryssa: Oh yes, they had the location on their GPS, didn’t they? |
| Laurent: Having a map, either a paper one or on your phone, is a good idea. |
| Maryssa: A lot of the GPS apps allow you to download the maps so you can use them offline, too. |
| Laurent: That’s handy if you’re in another country and don’t want to use your data. |
| Maryssa: You could even print them out and do it in a slightly more old-fashioned way. |
| Laurent: Or screenshot them! |
| Maryssa: That’s a good idea, too. That way, if you have to show them to a passerby when you ask for help, they can see where you’re going. |
| Laurent: You can say Je voudrais aller là. |
| Maryssa: "I want to go there." Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Maryssa: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Laurent: croire [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: to believe |
| Laurent: croire [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: croire [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: perdu [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: lost |
| Laurent: perdu [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: perdu [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: d'après [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: yet |
| Laurent: d'après [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: d'après [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: consulat [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: consulate |
| Laurent: consulat [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: consulat [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: demander [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: to ask |
| Laurent: demander [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: demander [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: malgré [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: in spite of |
| Laurent: malgré [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: malgré [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: déranger [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: to disturb |
| Laurent: déranger [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: déranger [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: remonter [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: to walk up |
| Laurent: remonter [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: remonter [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: Next we have... |
| Laurent: rue [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: street |
| Laurent: rue [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: rue [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: And last... |
| Laurent: ruelle [natural native speed] |
| Maryssa: alley |
| Laurent: ruelle [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laurent: ruelle [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Maryssa: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Laurent: selon, d'après |
| Maryssa: meaning "according to". |
| Maryssa: This is two separate words that share the same meaning. |
| Laurent: Yes, both selon and d'après mean "according to." |
| Maryssa: They are prepositions. |
| Laurent: Selon provides information about the relation between two elements or events. |
| Maryssa: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Laurent: Sure. For example, you can say... Je mange selon ma faim |
| Maryssa: … which means "I eat according to my hunger." |
| Maryssa: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Laurent: malgré |
| Maryssa: meaning "despite". |
| Maryssa: This is another preposition. |
| Laurent: It’s pretty easy to use, I think. |
| Maryssa: Its sense and function are the same as the English "despite" and "in spite of." |
| Laurent: En dépit de means basically the same, but is less common. |
| Maryssa: What is the difference? |
| Laurent: Think of malgré meaning "despite." En dépit de is "in spite of." |
| Maryssa: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Laurent: Sure. For example, you can say... Il travaille malgré sa fatigue. |
| Maryssa: ... which means "He is working despite his tiredness." |
| Maryssa: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Maryssa: In this lesson, you'll learn about asking for directions. When asking for directions, remember to always be polite. |
| Laurent: Yes, use the polite vous when you ask for directions from a stranger. |
| Maryssa: How can you get someone’s attention in a polite way? |
| Laurent: You can start by saying pardon monsieur or pardon madame. |
| Maryssa: "Excuse me, sir" or "excuse me, madam." |
| Laurent: Also, excusez-moi. |
| Maryssa: "Excuse me," or "sorry." Then you can ask where something is. |
| Laurent: The patterns for that are où est ...? or où se trouve ...? |
| Maryssa: That second one includes a reflexive verb that means "to be found." Let’s hear an example sentence. |
| Laurent: Pardon monsieur, où se trouve la bibliothèque? |
| Maryssa: "Pardon me, sir, where is the library?" |
| Laurent: You can also use je cherche. Excusez-moi, je cherche le marché. |
| Maryssa: "Excuse me, I’m looking for the market." In the business world, you might use these phrases to ask about a few places that can be found in the office. Let’s hear a couple of examples with these. |
| Laurent: Excusez-moi madame, où est la salle de réunion? |
| Maryssa: "Excuse me madam, where is the conference room?" |
| Laurent: Excusez-moi madame, où est l’ascenseur? |
| Maryssa: "Excuse me madam, where is the elevator?" |
| Laurent: Excusez-moi madame, où sont les toilettes? |
| Maryssa: "Excuse me madam, where is the toilet?" Next, let’s look at giving directions. |
| Laurent: To say "go straight," you use continuez tout droit. Continuez tout droit jusqu'au marché. |
| Maryssa: "Keep going straight all the way to the market." How do we say "to turn left," or "to turn right?" |
| Laurent: tournez à gauche or tournez à droite, respectively. Au marché, tournez à gauche. |
| Maryssa: "At the market, turn left." |
| Laurent: Au parc, tournez à droite. |
| Maryssa: "At the park, turn right." |
Outro |
| Maryssa: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Laurent: A la prochaine! |
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