Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

Introduction
Virginie: Hello, everyone, this is Virginie and I am here with Eric. Hi, Eric.
Eric: Wow the Crowd With These Fine Lines for Meetings or Public Events.
Virginie: What are we going to learn today?
Eric: Well, it looks like Joe’s had a dinner party with his co-workers and make some very interesting and colorful friends.
Virginie: Yes. They are at a local restaurant called L'avenue, The Avenue, and I think Joe is about to try a lot of bizarre foods in that restaurant.
Eric: Well, let’s have a listen.
Dialogue
Directrice : Bon travail tout le monde. Je vous présente Joe, des Etats-Unis.
(bonjour collectif)
Directrice : Joe, je vous en prie.
Joe : Bonsoir tout le monde. Je m'appelle Joe McFly, je suis de Californie. Je suis consultant en marketing. Et j'aime la France.
Groupe : Bonsoir, enchanté.
Directrice : Merci Joe. Je vous en prie, asseyez-vous.
Franck : Joe, je suis Franck. Enchanté.
Joe : De même.
Franck : Vous aimez le foie gras ?
Joe : Non, je n'aime pas. (pause) J'adore. (rires)
Franck : Et les escargots ? Vous aimez ?
Joe : Hmmm...qu'est-ce que c'est ?
Franck : Ah, les escargots, c'est délicieux. Vous allez adorer. C'est très français.
Joe : D'accord. Vous avez d'autres suggestions ?
Franck : OK, laissez-moi faire. Oh, et vous voulez boire...?
Joe : Ah ben je vous laisse faire.
Franck : Très bien ! (il appelle la serveuse) S'il vous plaît ?
Eric: One more time, a little more slowly.
Virginie: Encore une fois, plus lentement.
Directrice : Bon travail tout le monde. Je vous présente Joe, des Etats-Unis.
(bonjour collectif)
Directrice : Joe, je vous en prie.
Joe : Bonsoir tout le monde. Je m'appelle Joe McFly, je suis de Californie. Je suis consultant en marketing. Et j'aime la France.
Groupe : Bonsoir, enchanté.
Directrice : Merci Joe. Je vous en prie, asseyez-vous.
Franck : Joe, je suis Franck. Enchanté.
Joe : De même.
Franck : Vous aimez le foie gras ?
Joe : Non, je n'aime pas. (pause) J'adore. (rires)
Franck : Et les escargots ? Vous aimez ?
Joe : Hmmm...qu'est-ce que c'est ?
Franck : Ah, les escargots, c'est délicieux. Vous allez adorer. C'est très français.
Joe : D'accord. Vous avez d'autres suggestions ?
Franck : OK, laissez-moi faire. Oh, et vous voulez boire...?
Joe : Ah ben je vous laisse faire.
Franck : Très bien ! (il appelle la serveuse) S'il vous plaît ?
Eric: One more time, with the translation.
Virginie: Encore une fois, avec la traduction.
Directrice : Bon travail tout le monde. Je vous présente Joe, des Etats-Unis.
Manager: Great job, everyone. This is Joe from the United States.
Directrice : Joe, je vous en prie.
Manager: Joe, please.
Joe : Bonsoir tout le monde. Je m'appelle Joe McFly, je suis de Californie. Je suis consultant en marketing. Et j'aime la France.
Joe: Hello, everyone. My name is Joe McFly; I am from California. I am a marketing consultant. And I like France.
Groupe : Bonsoir, enchanté.
Group: Good evening, nice to meet you.
Directrice : Merci Joe. Je vous en prie, asseyez-vous.
Manager: Thank you, Joe. Please have a seat.
Franck : Joe, je suis Franck. Enchanté.
Frank: Joe, I'm Frank. Nice to meet you.
Joe : De même.
Joe: Same here.
Franck : Vous aimez le foie gras ?
Frank: Do you like goose liver?
Joe : Non, je n'aime pas. (pause) J'adore. (rires)
Joe: No, I don't like it. (pause) I love it. (laughter)
Franck : Et les escargots ? Vous aimez ?
Frank: What about snails? Do you like snails?
Joe : Hmmm...qu'est-ce que c'est ?
Joe: Hmmm...what is it?
Franck : Ah, les escargots, c'est délicieux. Vous allez adorer. C'est très français.
Frank: Oh, snails are delicious! You'll love it! It's very French!
Joe : D'accord. Vous avez d'autres suggestions ?
Joe: Okay, do you have any other suggestions?
Franck : OK, laissez-moi faire. Oh, et vous voulez boire...?
Frank: Okay, leave it to me. Oh, and you want to drink...?
Joe : Ah ben je vous laisse faire.
Joe: I leave it to you.
Franck : Très bien ! (il appelle la serveuse) S'il vous plaît ?
Frank: Great! (calls out a waitress) Please?
Post Conversation Banter
Virginie: Okay. So I guess Joe’s co-workers are, you know, trying to make fun of him by having him taste a bunch of different foods.
Eric: That could be funny, I guess.
Virginie: Yeah.
Eric: French foods are delicious but some are little eccentric.
Virginie: Yeah, some are a little strange. Well, you probably know the steak tartar?
Eric: Yeah you know I tried steak tartar after a few months of looking at it and thinking about it but I was very scared of it and then I’ve eventually tried it and it was delicious.
Virginie: Okay good. What was the dressing?
Eric: I don’t know. I think it had a kind of like chive and pepper…
Virginie: Okay.
Eric: Mixed in with the meat I think.
Virginie: Sometimes there is just an egg on top of that.
Eric: I think there was an egg as well.
Virginie: Yeah, but if it’s just an egg, it’s hard but if there is pepper and you know, other spices, it’s all easier to swallow.
Eric: Indeed.
Virginie: Yes. Joe’s co-workers are trying to be funny, right?
Eric: Right, it looks like it.
Virginie: Yeah, French people can be very funny sometimes. Do you think French people are funny Eric?
Eric: Sure. I don’t know if they have the reputation of being funny but they actually are very funny.
Virginie: Yeah thank you. Am I funny?
Eric: You are very funny.
Virginie: Thank you. French people, you know they have these Belgian jokes.
Eric: Ah.
Virginie: That are…
Eric: Picking on the Belgian’s again.
Virginie: Yeah I know. It’s not fair…
Eric: It’s mean.
Virginie: It’s really mean and there is no explanation to that. I don’t know why there are so many Belgian jokes in French and I am not going to tell you a Belgian joke. I am against it.
Eric: What a tease!
Virginie: No, no, no.
Eric: What about political humor, like Les Guignols?
Virginie: Oh yes, les Guignols de l'info is a puppet show on TV and they portray the politicians, the French politicians.
Eric: It’s really well done. It’s hilarious.
Virginie: It is very, very funny, yes.
Eric: Okay. So why don’t we get into a little vocabulary?
Virginie: Yes, let’s do that.
Vocab List
vraiment [natural native speed]
truly, really
vraiment [slowly - broken down by syllable]
vraiment [natural native speed]
aimer [natural native speed]
to like
aimer [slowly - broken down by syllable]
aimer [natural native speed]
une suggestion [natural native speed]
a suggestion, a recommendation
une suggestion [slowly - broken down by syllable]
une suggestion [natural native speed]
un escargot [natural native speed]
a snail
un escargot [slowly - broken down by syllable]
un escargot [natural native speed]
être [natural native speed]
to be
être [slowly - broken down by syllable]
être [natural native speed]
vous [natural native speed]
you (formal)
vous [slowly - broken down by syllable]
vous [natural native speed]
très [natural native speed]
very
très [slowly - broken down by syllable]
très [natural native speed]
autre [natural native speed]
other
autre [slowly - broken down by syllable]
autre [natural native speed]
boire [natural native speed]
to drink
boire [slowly - broken down by syllable]
boire [natural native speed]
laisser faire quelqu'un [natural native speed]
to leave it to someone
laisser faire quelqu'un [slowly - broken down by syllable]
laisser faire quelqu'un [natural native speed]
Bon travail. [natural native speed]
Good job.
Bon travail. [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Bon travail. [natural native speed]
Je vous en prie. [natural native speed]
You are welcome, please
Je vous en prie. [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Je vous en prie. [natural native speed]
Et...? [natural native speed]
What about...?
Et...? [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Et...? [natural native speed]
vouloir [natural native speed]
to want
vouloir [slowly - broken down by syllable]
vouloir [natural native speed]
adorer [natural native speed]
to be fond of, to love
adorer [slowly - broken down by syllable]
adorer [natural native speed]
Post Conversation Banter
Virginie: first let's see the phrasess "Laissez moi faire" and "je vous laisse faire"
Eric: Yes, frank in our dialogue says "laissez moi faire, "leave it to me", to Joe
Virginie: Yes when it comes to choosing the meal, Frank seems to take control
Eric: So, first of all. This phrase is conjugated at the imperative form.
Virginie: Yes, it's an order, or rather a assertion (ask eric for the right term)
Eric: Our verb here is the verb "laisser"
Virginie: That means to leave, to let
Eric: And it's conjugated with the vous conjugation, since Frank talks to Joe in a formal way
Virginie: Yes he say "laissez" (spell) the z at the end is an indication that it's the vous conjugation
Eric: After that we have "moi", which is me
Virginie: So, "laissez moi" , let me
Eric: And then we have a verb we're familiar with by now, "Faire"
Virginie: And that's to do, or do
Eric: So in the end laissez-moi faire is literally let me do.
Virginie: And that's something you will be able to use a lot.
Eric: Yes, whenever you want to take control over things.
Virginie: Just say "laissez-moi faire"
Eric: Now Joe later on says "je vous laisse faire"
Virginie: Yes he leaves the drink choice to Frank as well.
Eric: He says "I leave it to you
Virginie: It really looks like laissez moi faire, although the difference is that it's not in the imperative form.
Eric: No it's the affirmative form, just a common statement.
Virginie: so what joe says is "je"
Eric: I
Virginie: Vous
Eric: you
virginie: laisse
Eric: Let, or leave
Virginie: Faire
Eric: do.
Virginie: Literally it's I you let do.
Eric: In French, the pronouns are placed before the verb, usually.
Virginie: Once again, it's je (subject) vous (pronoun) laisse (let) faire (do)
Eric: Good.
Virginie: Now another phrase here is "Bon travail"
Eric: Oh yes the Manager Madame Fonta says it at the very beginning of the dialog
Virginie: And that means "good job".
Eric: Le travail, in French, is "job" and also "work".
Virginie: Yes. Once again, le travail. So to say "good job" in French is really easy.
Virginie: Just say bon which by now we know means "good"
Eric: And then just say "travail, "job"
Eric: Bon travail, Virginie!
Virginie: Merci, Eric!
Eric: So, maybe a little grammar?
Virginie: Yes, maybe a little grammaire now.

Lesson focus

Eric: What's our focus today?
Virginie: How to say you like or dislike something.
Eric: So to do this you will need to know two verbs.
Virginie: Oui. The verb "aimer" and the verb "adorer"
Eric: Let's start with aimer., to like. That's an ER vebs.
Virginie: It means that it will follow the conjugation of all the ER verbs.
Eric: So...let's use it with a word we just saw, "travail"
Virginie: Here's my sentence, J'aime le travail.
Eric: I like work.
Virginie: J'aime
Eric: "I like"
Virginie: And it's spelled "j'aime". Why is it not "je," Eric?
Eric: Well, because the "e" in "je" dropped in front of the vowel "a" at the beginning of "aimer", "je" becomes just "j'".
Virginie: OK, so it sounds like one single word. J'aime.
Eric: And then we have "le travail", which we know is work. Tu aimes le travail Virginie?
Virginie: Do I like work? You forgot I'm French, Eric. I don't like work. Je n'aime pas le travail.
Eric: So Virginie just talked about the negative form, Je n'aime pas le travail.
Virginie: What happened is tht the verb "aime" is squeezed between the negative particule "ne and pas.
Eric: It's the common negative construction in French.
Virginie: So we have "je then n', which is really "ne" with a dropped "e" in front of the verb aime..
Eric: And then to close the negation, you say pas spell. Je n'aime pas.
Virginie: Je n'aime pas.
Eric: Good. OK. Now that you know how to say you like something, let's see how to say you LOVE something. Our verb here is "adorer", to love.
Virginie: Another very easy to use ER verb.
Eric: Tu adores le travail?
Virginie: Oui, j'adore le travail. Note that like with the verb "aimer", the e of "je" dropped.
Eric: J'adore le travail!!
Virginie: I love work! J'adore le travail!!
Eric: Virginie needs to make up her mind on whether she likes work or not.
Virginie: J'adore! I love it!
Eric: Now, to get the full conjugation of these two verb, you can refer to our lesson notes.
Virginie: And.. one last thing before we go.
Eric: Yes?
Virginie: There is another way to say I like in French. It's not in our dialog but I'd like to share it with you.
Eric: How generous of you Virginie. what is it?
Virginie: It's "j'aime bien"
Eric: Oh, so it's j'aime with the adverb bien , well"
virginie: Yes. Literally, I like well.
Eric: So, for example?
Virginie: J'aime bien le travail.
Eric: I like work. Whats the difference with j'aime?
Virginie: There's no difference really, except when you talk about a person
Eric: Why?
Virginie: Because if you say "j'aime Eric", it sounds ambiguous. It could also mean "I am in love with Eric"
Eric: Oh là là.
Virginie: So you add "bien" to specify that it's friendship.
Eric: Ok, so you say, J'aime bien Eric. J'aime bien Virginie.
Virginie: Exactly. I like Eric, I like Virginie.

Outro

Virginie: Ok, I think we're done for this lesson, Eric.
Eric: Thank you very much for listening.
Virginie: Thank you for listening, merci beaucoup ! Au revoir !
Eric: Au revoir !

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