Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Maryssa: Asking for Help in a Difficult Business Situation. Maryssa Here.
Laurent: Bonjour, I'm Laurent.
Maryssa: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask for help in an office. The conversation takes place at the office.
Laurent: It's between Thomas and Laurène.
Maryssa: The speakers are co-workers, therefore, they will speak both formal and informal French. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Thomas: Excusez-moi de vous embêter mais je n'arrive pas à utiliser la photocopieuse. Pourriez-vous m'aider ?
Laurène: Bien sûr. Quel est le problème ?
Thomas: J'ai besoin de photocopier cette image au format A3 et en couleurs. Mais je n'ai pas réussi.
Laurène: Pas de souci je vais te montrer comment faire.
Laurène: C'est bon tu as compris ?
Thomas: C'est tout bon merci. Désolé de vous avoir embêté.
Laurène: Mais pas du tout, tu as eu raison de demander.
Thomas: Merci beaucoup
Maryssa: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
Thomas: Excusez-moi de vous embêter mais je n'arrive pas à utiliser la photocopieuse. Pourriez-vous m'aider ?
Laurène: Bien sûr. Quel est le problème ?
Thomas: J'ai besoin de photocopier cette image au format A3 et en couleurs. Mais je n'ai pas réussi.
Laurène: Pas de souci je vais te montrer comment faire.
Laurène: C'est bon tu as compris ?
Thomas: C'est tout bon merci. Désolé de vous avoir embêté.
Laurène: Mais pas du tout, tu as eu raison de demander.
Thomas: Merci beaucoup
Maryssa: Listen to the conversation with the English translation.
Thomas: I'm sorry for bothering you, but I'm unable to use the copy machine. Could you help me?
Laurène: Sure. What's the problem?
Thomas: I need to photocopy this image in A3 format and in color. But I couldn't manage to.
Laurène: No problem, I'll show you how to do it.
Laurène: It's alright, you got it?
Thomas: All good, thank you. Sorry to have bothered you.
Laurène: Not at all. It's good to ask.
Thomas: Thank you very much.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Maryssa: I think most of us that have worked in an office have had problems with the printer at one point.
Laurent: That’s true! Printers, photocopiers… They’re always difficult to use.
Maryssa: It’s not a surprise that Thomas had to ask for help.
Laurent: And Laurène was glad to help, too.
Maryssa: Is it okay to ask your colleagues for help all of the time?
Laurent: Not really. You should try and find the answer yourself, first.
Maryssa: Right. If there is some information that you can check, do that.
Laurent: Otherwise you’re just wasting your colleagues’ time.
Maryssa: If you do try to answer your questions on your own but can’t, how should you approach a colleague?
Laurent: Concentrate on what is troubling you, and isolate a few priority questions.
Maryssa: This way you can be quick and to the point. How can you ask your colleague for help?
Laurent: You can check if they’re available by saying Puis-je te poser quelques questions concernant mon travail?
Maryssa: "May I ask you some questions about my job?" Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Maryssa: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is...
Laurent: désolé [natural native speed]
Maryssa: sorry
Laurent: désolé [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Laurent: désolé [natural native speed]
Maryssa: Next we have...
Laurent: photocopieuse [natural native speed]
Maryssa: copy machine
Laurent: photocopieuse [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Laurent: photocopieuse [natural native speed]
Maryssa: Next we have...
Laurent: aider [natural native speed]
Maryssa: to help
Laurent: aider [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Laurent: aider [natural native speed]
Maryssa: Next we have...
Laurent: réussir [natural native speed]
Maryssa: to succeed, to accomplish
Laurent: réussir [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Laurent: réussir [natural native speed]
Maryssa: Next we have...
Laurent: montrer [natural native speed]
Maryssa: to show
Laurent: montrer [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Laurent: montrer [natural native speed]
Maryssa: Next we have...
Laurent: embêter [natural native speed]
Maryssa: to bother
Laurent: embêter [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Laurent: embêter [natural native speed]
Maryssa: Next we have...
Laurent: pas du tout [natural native speed]
Maryssa: not at all
Laurent: pas du tout [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Laurent: pas du tout [natural native speed]
Maryssa: Next we have...
Laurent: raison [natural native speed]
Maryssa: reason
Laurent: raison [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Laurent: raison [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: And last...
Laurent: couleur [natural native speed]
Maryssa: color
Laurent: couleur [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Laurent: couleur [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: en couleurs
Maryssa: meaning "in color"
Maryssa: This is an adverbial phrase.
Laurent: It’s used as an adjective.
Maryssa: You might notice that it’s in plural form.
Laurent: Yes, couleurs is plural and it has to be plural in this phrase.
Maryssa: It refers to many colors, not just one color.
Laurent: And that’s why it’s plural.
Maryssa: Can you give us an example using this phrase?
Laurent: Sure. For example, you can say... C'est le premier film en couleurs.
Maryssa: ... which means "This is the first color movie."
Maryssa: Okay, what's the next word?
Laurent: réussir
Maryssa: meaning "to succeed, to accomplish"
Maryssa: All French verbs can be split into one of three groups.
Laurent: Réussir is a second group verb.
Maryssa: All of the verbs in this group have the same ending.
Laurent: Yes, it’s -ir.
Maryssa: Can you give us an example using this word?
Laurent: Sure. For example, you can say... Je n’ai pas bien réussi le test.
Maryssa: ... which means "I didn’t do well on the test."
Maryssa: Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

Maryssa: In this lesson, you'll learn how to ask for help in an office. We’ll start by looking at serious situations where you might need help or assistance.
Laurent: If it is serious or dangerous, you don’t need to worry about being polite.
Maryssa: You can just quickly shout out a warning, or shout for help. These phrases will be helpful outside of the office, too.
Laurent: Right. For example, Au feu !
Maryssa: "Fire!"
Laurent: Appelez le SAMU !
Maryssa: "Call an ambulance!"
Laurent: A l’aide !
Maryssa: "Help me!"
Laurent: Allez-vous en !
Maryssa: "Get out of the way!"
Laurent: Soyez prudent !
Maryssa: "Be careful!"
Laurent: Attention !
Maryssa: "Watch out!" Now, if it isn’t a dangerous situation, you should be polite when trying to get someone’s attention. What can we say in a non-dangerous situation?
Laurent: You can say something like Excusez-moi de vous embêter mais…
Maryssa: "I'm sorry for bothering you but…"
Laurent: Another example is Je suis désolé de vous déranger, mais...
Maryssa: "I’m sorry to interrupt, but…" You can then follow this "but" with why you are interrupting. For example…
Laurent: Je dois vous parler
Maryssa: "I need to talk to you." or
Laurent: Il s’est passé quelque chose
Maryssa: "Something has come up." Once you have someone’s attention, you can ask them for help.
Laurent: The easiest way is to say Pourriez-vous m'aider?
Maryssa: "Could you help me?" You can change this sentence to say what you want help with.
Laurent: The pattern is Pourriez-vous, verbe à l'infinitif, s'il vous plaît?
Maryssa: That is "Could you," plus a verb in infinitive form, followed by "please."
Laurent: For example, Pourriez-vous me donner cette boîte s'il vous plaît ?
Maryssa: "Could you give me this box, please?"
Laurent: Pourriez-vous répondre dès que possible s'il vous plaît ?
Maryssa: "Could you reply as soon as possible, please?"

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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