Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Maryssa: Apologies in a Business Setting. Maryssa Here.
Aurore: Bonjour, I'm Aurore.
Maryssa: In this lesson, you’ll learn about apologizing at work. The conversation takes place at the office.
Aurore: 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: Bonjour, je suis tellement désolé ! Je suis en retard ! Excusez-moi pour le retard, j'ai eu un problème de bus à cause de la grève !
Laurène: Ne t'en fais pas Thomas, je comprends. C'est moi qui suis désolée, j'avais oublié la grève, j'aurais dû te dire de rester chez toi pour faire du télétravail.
Thomas: Il y a une possibilité de faire du télétravail ?
Laurène: Lors de situations compliquées comme celle-ci, oui. Quoi qu'il en soit excuse-moi et si il y a encore grève demain tu pourras rester chez toi.
Thomas: Ne vous excusez- pas ! Merci pour votre compréhension en tout cas. Au travail à présent !
Laurène: Tout à fait ! Arrêtons de nous excuser et travaillons !
Maryssa: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
Thomas: Bonjour, je suis tellement désolé ! Je suis en retard ! Excusez-moi pour le retard, j'ai eu un problème de bus à cause de la grève !
Laurène: Ne t'en fais pas Thomas, je comprends. C'est moi qui suis désolée, j'avais oublié la grève, j'aurais dû te dire de rester chez toi pour faire du télétravail.
Thomas: Il y a une possibilité de faire du télétravail ?
Laurène: Lors de situations compliquées comme celle-ci, oui. Quoi qu'il en soit excuse-moi et si il y a encore grève demain tu pourras rester chez toi.
Thomas: Ne vous excusez- pas ! Merci pour votre compréhension en tout cas. Au travail à présent !
Laurène: Tout à fait ! Arrêtons de nous excuser et travaillons !
Maryssa: Listen to the conversation with the English translation.
Thomas: Good morning, I'm so sorry! I'm late! I'm sorry that I'm late, I had trouble with my bus because of the strike!
Laurène: Don't worry Thomas, I understand. I am the one who's sorry, I forgot about the strike, I should have told you to stay at home to do telework.
Thomas: Is there a possibility to do telework?
Laurène: In such complicated circumstances, yes. Anyway, excuse me, and if there is a strike tomorrow, you can stay home.
Thomas: No need to apologize! Thank you for your understanding anyway. Let's work now!
Laurène: Indeed! Let's stop apologizing and work instead!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Maryssa: Poor Thomas. He probably had a stressful morning getting into the office, only to find out that he could have stayed at home.
Aurore: It’s a shame they didn’t organize it better.
Maryssa: Yes, it would have saved stress and more work could have been done.
Aurore: There’s a growing number of independent workers in France.
Maryssa: Do you know how many there are?
Aurore: There are two million freelancers.
Maryssa: That’s a lot! Freelancing has a lot of advantages.
Aurore: The main one is autonomy. You can be your own boss.
Maryssa: It also has some downsides, though.
Aurore: There’s a lot of legal obligations.
Maryssa: Yes, you’re responsible for your own taxes, for example.
Aurore: You must respect things like this.
Maryssa: Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Maryssa: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is...
Aurore: problème [natural native speed]
Maryssa: "problem"
Aurore: problème [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Aurore: problème [natural native speed]
Maryssa: Next we have...
Aurore: retard [natural native speed]
Maryssa: "lateness"
Aurore: retard [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Aurore: retard [natural native speed]
Maryssa: Next we have...
Aurore: dire [natural native speed]
Maryssa: "to say"
Aurore: dire [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Aurore: dire [natural native speed]
Maryssa: Next we have...
Aurore: grève [natural native speed]
Maryssa: "strike"
Aurore: grève [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Aurore: grève [natural native speed]
Maryssa: Next we have...
Aurore: comprendre [natural native speed]
Maryssa: "to understand"
Aurore: comprendre [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Aurore: comprendre [natural native speed]
Maryssa: Next we have...
Aurore: oublier [natural native speed]
Maryssa: "to forget"
Aurore: oublier [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Aurore: oublier [natural native speed]
Maryssa: Next we have...
Aurore: télétravail [natural native speed]
Maryssa: "teleworking"
Aurore: télétravail [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Aurore: télétravail [natural native speed]
Maryssa: And lastly...
Aurore: s'excuser [natural native speed]
Maryssa: "to apologise"
Aurore: s'excuser [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Aurore: s'excuser [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...
Aurore: J'ai eu un problème.
Maryssa: meaning "I had a problem."
Maryssa: Let’s look at this phrase.
Aurore: Avoir is conjugated into the passé composé.
Maryssa: The "past tense." This is also the most common past tense in French.
Aurore: Using it shows that the problem is finished.
Maryssa: What can you say if the problem isn’t over yet?
Aurore: j'ai un problème.
Maryssa: Can you give us an example using this word?
Aurore: Sure. For example, you can say... Quand j'étais au Japon, j'ai eu un problème avec mon passeport.
Maryssa: ... which means "When I was in Japan, I had a problem with my passport."
Maryssa: Okay, what's the next word?
Aurore: J'aurais dû te dire...
Maryssa: meaning "I should have told you..."
Maryssa: Let’s break this down. We’ll look first at "should."
Aurore: This is avoir. In this sentence, it is in the conditional form.
Maryssa: This can express a regret or a reproach. This isn’t a complete sentence.
Aurore: It has to be followed by que and an explanation.
Maryssa: Be careful! When expressing a condition, it is never followed by the past conditional 1st form.
Aurore: For example, si j'aurais. It should be si j'avais.
Maryssa: A more-than-perfect indicative. Can you give us an example using this word?
Aurore: Sure. For example, you can say... J'aurais dû te dire que j'avais raté mon train.
Maryssa: ... which means "I should have told you that I missed my train."
Maryssa: Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

Maryssa: In this lesson, you'll learn about apologizing at work. We’re sure that you already know some ways to apologize in French.
Aurore: An easy way is to say je suis désolé.
Maryssa: "I’m sorry." However, in this lesson we will look at how to apologize at work. It’s very common to use adverbs.
Aurore: For example, tellement "so," vraiment "really," or sincèrement "sincerely."
Maryssa: There is also a verb you can use.
Aurore: s'excuser
Maryssa: You can use this as "to apologize for oneself." A basic pattern is-
Aurore: Excusez-moi pour...
Maryssa: "Excuse me for…" or "I’m sorry for…" followed by a reason.
Aurore: Or Je suis désolé(e) pour…
Maryssa: "I’m sorry for…" followed by a reason. Let’s hear some examples with reasons attached.
Aurore: Je suis désolé pour le retard.
Maryssa: "I’m sorry for the delays."
Aurore: Je suis désolé, j’ai oublié d’écrire le rapport.
Maryssa: "I’m sorry, I forgot to write the report."
Aurore: Excusez-nous pour le dérangement.
Maryssa: "We apologize for the inconvenience."
Aurore: Il s’est excusé pour son absence.
Maryssa: "He apologized for his absence." If someone apologizes to you, here are a couple of sentences you can reply with.
Aurore: Je vous en prie.
Maryssa: "You're welcome." or "Don't mention it."
Aurore: Ce n’est rien, ne vous en faites pas.
Maryssa: "It’s fine, don’t worry about it." Moving on from apologies, when you start a job you won’t know immediately what it is possible to do. In the conversation we heard earlier, Thomas didn’t know it was possible for him to work from home.
Aurore: You can ask if something is possible by saying Il y a une possibilité de…?
Maryssa: "Is there a possibility to…?" and then add an infinitive verb.
Aurore: Another option is Est-ce qu’il est possible de...?
Maryssa: "Is it possible to…?" again, followed by an infinitive verb. Let’s finish this lesson by hearing some examples.
Aurore: Il y a une possibilité de partir plus tôt ?
Maryssa: "Is there a possibility to leave earlier?"
Aurore: Est-ce qu’il possible d’être remboursé ?
Maryssa: "Is it possible to get a refund?"

Outro

Maryssa: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye!
Aurore: A la prochaine!

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