Learn more about constructing the various forms of question in French, depending on the level of formality you need to use in you conversation
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| Introduction |
| Eric: Hello, everyone. |
| Virginie: Bonjour! Virginie here. |
| Eric: Get Insider Information From the French Locals. |
| Virginie: Eric, in this lesson, what are we going to talk about? |
| Eric: Well, it looks like Joe has made his way into a taxi cab and it looks like he is in Paris’s rush hour. |
| Virginie: That’s true and so you will learn about how to say where you want to go. |
| Eric: Well, let’s have a listen to this conversation. |
| Dialogue |
| Chauffeur de taxi : Bonjour. Vous allez où ? |
| Joe : Bonjour. Avenue Montaigne, s'il vous plaît. |
| Chauffeur de taxi : Quel numéro ? |
| Joe : Tenez. |
| Chauffeur de taxi : Vous parlez français ? |
| Joe : Non, pas vraiment. Juste un peu. |
| Chauffeur de taxi : (rires) Vous parlez plutôt bien ! |
| Joe : Non, pas encore. Vous parlez anglais ? |
| Chauffeur de taxi : Moi ? (laughs) Non. Avenue Montaigne. Il y a un très bon restaurant par là-bas. |
| Joe: Comment il s'appelle ? |
| Chauffeur de taxi : L'Avenue. |
| Joe : Vous pouvez l'écrire ? |
| Chauffeur de taxi : Bien sûr. Un moment...dix avenue Montaigne. |
| (car parking sound) |
| On y est. Ça fait 8 euros. |
| (writing sound) |
| Joe : Tenez. Merci. |
| Chauffeur de taxi : Votre monnaie et le nom du restaurant. |
| Joe : Je peux avoir un reçu, s'il vous plaît ? |
| Eric: One more time, a little more slowly. |
| Virginie: Encore une fois, plus lentement. |
| Chauffeur de taxi : Bonjour. Vous allez où ? |
| Joe : Bonjour. Avenue Montaigne, s'il vous plaît. |
| Chauffeur de taxi : Quel numéro ? |
| Joe : Tenez. |
| Chauffeur de taxi : Vous parlez français ? |
| Joe : Non, pas vraiment. Juste un peu. |
| Chauffeur de taxi : (rires) Vous parlez plutôt bien ! |
| Joe : Non, pas encore. Vous parlez anglais ? |
| Chauffeur de taxi : Moi ? (laughs) Non. Avenue Montaigne. Il y a un très bon restaurant par là-bas. |
| Joe: Comment il s'appelle ? |
| Chauffeur de taxi : L'Avenue. |
| Joe : Vous pouvez l'écrire ? |
| Chauffeur de taxi : Bien sûr. Un moment...dix avenue Montaigne. |
| (car parking sound) |
| On y est. Ça fait 8 euros. |
| (writing sound) |
| Joe : Tenez. Merci. |
| Chauffeur de taxi : Votre monnaie et le nom du restaurant. |
| Joe : Je peux avoir un reçu, s'il vous plaît ? |
| Eric: One more time, with the translation. |
| Virginie: Encore une fois, avec la traduction. |
| Chauffeur de taxi : Bonjour. Vous allez où ? |
| : Hello. Where are you going? |
| Joe : Bonjour. Avenue Montaigne, s'il vous plaît. |
| : Hello. Avenue Montaigne, please. |
| Chauffeur de taxi : Quel numéro ? |
| : Which number? |
| Joe : Tenez. |
| : Here. |
| Chauffeur de taxi : Vous parlez français ? |
| : Do you speak French? |
| Joe : Non, pas vraiment. Juste un peu. |
| : No, not really. Just a little. (modest expression) |
| Chauffeur de taxi : (rires) Vous parlez plutôt bien ! |
| : (laughs) You speak rather well! |
| Joe : Non, pas encore. Vous parlez anglais ? |
| : No, not yet. Do you speak English? |
| Chauffeur de taxi : Moi ? (laughs) Non. Avenue Montaigne. Il y a un très bon restaurant par là-bas. |
| : Me? (laughs) No. Avenue Montaigne. There is a very good restaurant over there. |
| Joe: Comment il s'appelle ? |
| : How is it called? |
| Chauffeur de taxi : L'Avenue. |
| : L'Avenue. |
| Joe : Vous pouvez l'écrire ? |
| : Can you write it down? |
| Chauffeur de taxi : Bien sûr. Un moment...dix avenue Montaigne. |
| : Of course. A moment...Ten Avenue Montaigne. |
| On y est. Ça fait 8 euros. |
| : Here we are. It is eight euros. |
| Joe : Tenez. Merci. |
| : Here. Thank you. |
| Chauffeur de taxi : Votre monnaie et le nom du restaurant. |
| : Your change and the restaurant name. |
| Joe : Je peux avoir un reçu, s'il vous plaît ? |
| : Can I have a receipt, please? |
| Post Conversation Banter |
| Virginie: So Joe takes Taxi to get around but there are many ways of getting around the city in Paris. |
| Eric: Exactly. There is obviously you know, if you want a car, you can take a car. You can rent a car. One thing you may notice though is the gas prices are going to be probably a little higher than in the US. |
| Virginie: It is. It’s really higher than in the US. |
| Eric: And for that reason, a lot of the cars in Europe, in general, are smaller. |
| Virginie: That’s true. No SUVs for example. |
| Eric: No SUVs. |
| Virginie: No, no. |
| Eric: No Hummers. |
| Virginie: No Hummers at all. |
| Eric: But obviously there is plenty of other ways of getting around. You can take the Subway, le metro. |
| Virginie: And in Paris and in several other cities in France, there is this wonderful thing called the vélib. |
| Eric: And that’s basically a nice way of saying velo libre, free bikes. |
| Virginie: Yes. So Eric, can you tell us about it. I think you used it a lot when you were in Paris. |
| Eric: I did a little bit. I mean basically these are bikes that you can get from a group console and you ride them all around the city and at a certain point, you just return it to any of the other consoles that are set up. So it’s sort of like a temporary bike. So, Virginie, I think you were telling me you had a friend who had a story about this. |
| Virginie: Yes okay. It’s really funny. She lives uphill in Paris. |
| Eric: Right. |
| Virginie: And since people don’t have to return the bike wherever they took it, people who took it from up the hill to go down the hill return it afterwards to some other point, so nobody returns the bag up the hill because it’s too tiring to go up the hill biking. So my friend doesn’t have an available bike to her house. She has to go down the hill. |
| Eric: That’s sad. |
| Virginie: Yeah it is sad. |
| Eric: Okay. So let’s move on to a little bit of vocabulary. |
| Vocab List |
| : Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| : quel/quelle/quels/quelles [natural native speed] |
| : which, what |
| : quel/quelle/quels/quelles [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : quel/quelle/quels/quelles [natural native speed]: Next: |
| : une adresse [natural native speed] |
| : address |
| : une adresse [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : une adresse [natural native speed]: Next: |
| : où [natural native speed] |
| : where |
| : où [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : où [natural native speed]: Next: |
| : vraiment [natural native speed] |
| : truly, really |
| : vraiment [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : vraiment [natural native speed]: Next: |
| : plutôt [natural native speed] |
| : rather, instead |
| : plutôt [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : plutôt [natural native speed]: Next: |
| : bien [natural native speed] |
| : well, good |
| : bien [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : bien [natural native speed]: Next: |
| : très [natural native speed] |
| : very |
| : très [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : très [natural native speed]: Next: |
| : un restaurant [natural native speed] |
| : a restaurant |
| : un restaurant [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : un restaurant [natural native speed]: Next: |
| : un nom [natural native speed] |
| : a name |
| : un nom [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : un nom [natural native speed]: Next: |
| : un reçu [natural native speed] |
| : a receipt |
| : un reçu [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : un reçu [natural native speed]: Next: |
| : Où ? [natural native speed] |
| : Where? |
| : Où ? [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : Où ? [natural native speed]: Next: |
| : par là-bas [natural native speed] |
| : over there |
| : par là-bas [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : par là-bas [natural native speed]: Next: |
| : avenue Montaigne [natural native speed] |
| : Montaigne avenue |
| : avenue Montaigne [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : avenue Montaigne [natural native speed]: Next: |
| : Non, pas vraiment. [natural native speed] |
| : No, not really. |
| : Non, pas vraiment. [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : Non, pas vraiment. [natural native speed]: Next: |
| : Juste un peu. [natural native speed] |
| : Just a little. |
| : Juste un peu. [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : Juste un peu. [natural native speed]: Next: |
| : Comment s'appelle... ? [natural native speed] |
| : What is... called? |
| : Comment s'appelle... ? [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : Comment s'appelle... ? [natural native speed]: Next: |
| : bien sûr [natural native speed] |
| : of course |
| : bien sûr [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : bien sûr [natural native speed]: Next: |
| : un moment [natural native speed] |
| : a moment |
| : un moment [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| : un moment [natural native speed] |
| Vocabulary and Phrase Usage |
| Virginie: Let's take a look at the phrase "un moment s'il vous plait |
| Eric: That's what people will tell you when they ask you to wait |
| Virginie: Yes it's like hold on |
| Eric: Or "one moment please" |
| Virginie: Yes. Un moment is "one moment" |
| Eric: And you already know "s'il vous plait", please |
| Virginie: You might also hear "un instant s'il vous plait" |
| Eric: Which means the exact same thing. |
| Virginie: again, un instant s4il vous plait |
| Eric: How would I say "do you have a moment? |
| Virginie: Oh that's easy, it's "tu as un moment?" |
| Eric: tu is you (informal) and as is "have" |
| Virginie: Ok. We also have a few adverbs in our dialogue |
| Eric: Yes first we have "plutôt" |
| Virginie: The taxi driver says "vous parlez plutôt bien" |
| Eric: Which means "you speak rather well" |
| Virginie: Plutot is rather. |
| Eric: And it's followed by another adverb, "bien" |
| Virginie: Bien is well. So if you put plutôt and bien next to each other it will be "rather well" |
| Eric: Plutot bien! |
| Virginie: For example, if I ask you eric "ca va Eric? How are you eric? you can answer. |
| Eric: Plutot bien Virginie. Rather well Virginie |
| Virginie: OK! Now this little expression "par la bas |
| Eric: and that's over there, or around there |
| Virginie: yes the taxi driver says "il y a un bon restaurant par la-bas" |
| Eric: There is a good restaurant over there. |
| Virginie: You can use this expression if someone asks you where something is |
| Eric: Oh yes and you only have a vague idea of where that thing is |
| Virginie: Then you say "c'est par la bas" |
| Eric: It's over there, somewhere. |
| Virginie: Now let's look at "juste un peu" |
| Eric: that's just as little. |
| Virginie: Yes, let's break it down - juste is just |
| Eric: OK. And un - peu is a little |
| Virginie: Juste un peu. |
| Eric: It's also useful if you're offered wine |
| Virginie: Yes, and you just want a little bit of wine |
| Eric: You're not like those wine drinkers |
| Virginie: You certainly don't want to be drunk in a foreign language. |
| Eric: So, just say - juste un peu |
| Virginie: And your french friends will slow down on the wine pouring |
| Eric: I think it's time for some grammar |
| Virginie: Let's do it! |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Virginie: so what are our multiple focuses today? |
| Eric: First, we'll take a quick look at the verb to speak |
| Virginie: OK. What else? |
| Eric: Then we'll see take a look at the yes no question |
| Virginie: Very good. And then? |
| Eric: Then we'll follow up with our last lessons with a review on adjectives |
| Virginie: Quel programme! What a program! Let's go! |
| Eric: C'est parti. |
| Virginie: Je parle francais. |
| Eric: What are you saying? |
| Virginie: I'm saying "I speak French. |
| Eric: Oh ok. Can you say that again? |
| Virginie: Je parle francais |
| Eric: So parle in this sentence is "speak" |
| Virginie: Oui! And the infinitive is parler |
| Eric: It's an ER verb, which means its infinitive ends with ER |
| Virginie: Yes and all the verbs in ER are conjugated the same way. |
| Eric: So, after you ve learned the conjugation of parler, you'll know all the ER verbs conjugations |
| Virginie: tout a fait. Absolutely. Let's see the entire conjugation. So, je parle francais...et tu parles francais Eric |
| Eric: Oui. Et our listener, does he/she speak french? |
| Virginie: Oui, il/elle parle francais. |
| Eric: Yes he/she speaks French. |
| Virginie: Et nous? And us? Nous parlons francais. |
| Eric: Virginie and I parlons francais, we speak French. |
| Virginie: Now, the formal you and the plural you have always the same conjugation |
| Eric: Yes and for parler what is it? |
| Virginie: It's Vous parlez with EZ at the end of the word |
| Eric: Vous parlez francais. That's what our cab driver asks Joe in our dialogue, by the way. |
| Virginie: Oui. And...finally, our listeners, do they speak french? |
| Eric: Bien sur, ils/elles parlent francais. |
| Virginie: Excellent. We're all set with the verb parler. |
| Eric: What's next? |
| Virginie: the yes/ no questions! |
| Eric: We saw one of them in one of our previous lessons |
| Virginie: OUi. Remember we talked about the closed question, or yes/no question starting with est-ce que |
| Eric: est-ce que starting the question and meaning literally "is it that? |
| Virginie: Right. But now, let's see another way of asking a yes no question |
| Eric: the structure is easy. But let's take an example from our dialogue |
| Virginie: Yes. The taxi driver asks Joe "vous parlez francais" |
| Eric: It means do you speak french? |
| Virginie: Literally it is "you speak french? |
| Eric: Easy - the structure is subject then verb then complement. |
| Virginie: Another example...let's see.. tu aimes le vin, eric? |
| Eric: Oui. |
| Virginie: See, it works. |
| Eric: OK. My turn. Tu aimes les hamburgers Virginie? |
| Virginie: Non. |
| Eric: OK. |
| Virginie: Actually I do love burgers, but it was just to give you the answer with no. |
| Eric: Now you know that to ask someone whether he /she speaks french, you can say |
| Virginie: Tu parles francais? |
| Eric: Or Est-ce que tu parles français? |
| Virginie: great. Now we want to ask if you noticed an adjective in the dialogue. |
| Eric: Just to practice the last lesson. |
| Virginie: Eric, can you help? |
| Eric: Yes, I see the adjective "bon" in the sentence "il y a un bon restaurant par la-bas |
| Virginie: And what is the adjective? |
| Eric: It's bon. It means “good.” |
| Virginie: Il y a un bon restaurant, again, it means "there is a good restaurant.” |
| Eric: Ok, so where is it placed in the sentence? |
| Virginie: Well, bon is placed right before the noun, restaurant. |
| Eric: And what is the rule again? |
| Virginie: The rule is that the adjectives good and bad, bon and mauvais, go before the noun. |
| Eric: Just a quick reminder. |
| Virginie: That’s always useful. |
Outro |
| Eric: We thank you very much for listening! |
| Virginie: Thank you all! Merci beaucoup! |
| Eric: À bientôt! |
| Virginie: À bientôt, au revoir! |
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