Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

Introduction
Virginie: Hi everyone, Bonjour tout le monde! This is Virginie.
Eric: Bonjour! This is Eric. Fitting in and Making Friends. Several sure-fire phrases to help your social life.
Virginie: What are we going to learn in this lesson?
Eric: In this lesson, we are going to learn how to say what you think.
Virginie: Yes and that’s very important if you want to impose yourself in France.
Eric: So we are still at the restaurant?
Virginie: Yeah, with Joe and Frank and everyone else and dinner is served.
Eric: It’s time for Joe’s big food tasting. Good luck with that.
Virginie: Well Eric, you like tartar steak, don’t you?
Eric: I do, I do.
Virginie: Okay. Let’s see if Joe likes tartar steak.
Eric: Let’s have a listen to the conversation.
Dialogue
Serveuse : Tenez ... le foie gras, les escargots, l'entrecôte de boeuf, les bouchées à la reine, et le steak tartare.
Franck : Santé !
Joe : Santé !
Directrice : Bon appétit.
Franck : Joe, essayez ça.
Joe : D'accord. Qu'est-ce que c'est ?
Directrice : Un steak tartare.
(Joe le goûte)
Franck : Alors, qu'est-ce que vous en pensez ?
Joe : C'est très bon. Délicieux.
Franck : Il aime ! Essayez ça.
Joe : Hmmm...c'est pas mauvais.
Directrice : Ahah, il n'aime pas !
Franck : Tu es libre demain ? On se dit "tu", d'accord ?
Joe : D'accord. Oui, je suis libre demain.
Directrice : On va jouer aux courses. Tu veux venir ?
Joe: D'accord.
Franck : On a rendez-vous à 11h Place de l'Etoile. Tiens, mon numéro de téléphone.
Joe : Très bien ! Merci.
Eric: One more time, a little more slowly.
Virginie: Encore une fois, plus lentement.
Serveuse : Tenez ... le foie gras, les escargots, l'entrecôte de boeuf, les bouchées à la reine, et le steak tartare.
Franck : Santé !
Joe : Santé !
Directrice : Bon appétit.
Franck : Joe, essayez ça.
Joe : D'accord. Qu'est-ce que c'est ?
Directrice : Un steak tartare.
(Joe le goûte)
Franck : Alors, qu'est-ce que vous en pensez ?
Joe : C'est très bon. Délicieux.
Franck : Il aime ! Essayez ça.
Joe : Hmmm...c'est pas mauvais.
Directrice : Ahah, il n'aime pas !
Franck : Tu es libre demain ? On se dit "tu", d'accord ?
Joe : D'accord. Oui, je suis libre demain.
Directrice : On va jouer aux courses. Tu veux venir ?
Joe: D'accord.
Franck : On a rendez-vous à 11h Place de l'Etoile. Tiens, mon numéro de téléphone.
Joe : Très bien ! Merci.
Eric: One more time, with the translation.
Virginie: Encore une fois, avec la traduction.
Serveuse : Tenez ... le foie gras, les escargots, l'entrecôte de boeuf, les bouchées à la reine, et le steak tartare.
Waitress: Here...goose liver, snails, ribeye steak, queen's bites, and steak tartare.
Franck : Santé !
Frank: Cheers!
Joe : Santé !
Joe: Cheers!
Directrice : Bon appétit.
Manager: Enjoy your food!
Franck : Joe, essayez ça.
Frank: Joe, try this!
Joe : D'accord. Qu'est-ce que c'est ?
Joe: Okay. What is this?
Directrice : Un steak tartare.
Manager: Steak tartare.
(Joe le goûte)
(Joe tries it)
Franck : Alors, qu'est-ce que vous en pensez ?
Frank: Well, what do you think?
Joe : C'est très bon. Délicieux.
Joe: It's very good. It's delicious.
Franck : Il aime ! Essayez ça.
Frank: He likes it! Try this one.
Joe : Hmmm...c'est pas mauvais.
Joe: Hmmm...it's not bad.
Directrice : Ahah, il n'aime pas !
Manager: Ah ah, he doesn't like it!
Franck : Tu es libre demain ? On se dit "tu", d'accord ?
Frank: Are you free tomorrow? We can say "tu" to each other, okay?
Joe : D'accord. Oui, je suis libre demain.
Joe: Okay. Yes, I'm free tomorrow.
Directrice : On va jouer aux courses. Tu veux venir ?
Manager: We're going to a horse race. Do you want to come?
Joe: D'accord.
Joe: Okay.
Franck : On a rendez-vous à 11h Place de l'Etoile. Tiens, mon numéro de téléphone.
Frank: We'll meet at the Place de L'Etoile at eleven o'clock in the morning. Here is my phone number.
Joe : Très bien ! Merci.
Joe: Very good!
Post Conversation Banter
Virginie: So it seems that Joe doesn’t really like snails, right?
Eric: He doesn’t seem too fond of them but how often are these really eaten in France?
Virginie: Not really often, that’s right, yeah. It’s just once a year basically for New Year’s Eve and Christmas.
Eric: Really?
Virginie: That’s about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric: Interesting, okay. So is there some sort of tradition with escargots in Christmas?
Virginie: Well, I mean it’s usually what you eat along with foie gras, and sometimes people eat a turkey too. It really depends on families. I know that my family, it’s snails because we love it better, yeah.
Eric: How do you prepare them?
Virginie: Umm you can prepare them with a little white wine and some herbs and garlic.
Eric: Wow!
Virginie: And it’s really good, yeah in the oven.
Eric: That sounds good.
Virginie: For snails.
Eric: What about foie gras, that’s a little bit expensive usually, right?
Virginie: It is very expensive, yeah. So it’s the same thing, people don’t eat foie gras every day in France. So obviously, so it’s once a year, twice a year for, you know, special occasion.
Eric: I see, okay and that’s produced in Southwestern France, right?
Virginie: Yes. Most of it’s produced in the Bellegarde, which is Southwest central, yeah.
Eric: I see. When you go to a restaurant in France, who pays the bill?
Virginie: It depends, really. If it’s a couple and they are dating, usually they will split in half, I think. Obviously before, the man used to pay the bill but now women are standing for their right to pay the bill.
Eric: That is an important thing.
Virginie: Yes.
Eric: It’s important, right? And I guess friends also usually will split the bill.
Virginie: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric: Well, you know, I think it’s something interesting is people who work in France will sometimes get things called Ticket Restaurant, or restaurant tickets.
Virginie: Ah it’s correct.
Eric: Where their employer will actually split the bill with them.
Virginie: Yeah. So Ticket Restaurant is basically a voucher, and some of the vouchers are paid by the employee. It’s taken out of his paycheck and the employer pays for half.
Eric: That’s pretty great that your boss will – actually gets you a free lunch.
Virginie: Yeah. It’s true. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary.
Vocab List
Virginie: une entrecôte de boeuf [natural native speed]
Eric: a ribeye steak
Virginie: une entrecôte de boeuf [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: une entrecôte de boeuf [natural native speed]
Virginie: les bouchées à la reine [natural native speed]
Eric: regional dish with heavy cream and mushrooms
Virginie: les bouchées à la reine [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: les bouchées à la reine [natural native speed]
Virginie: un steak tartare [natural native speed]
Eric: steak tartare
Virginie: un steak tartare [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: un steak tartare [natural native speed]
Virginie: essayer [natural native speed]
Eric: to try
Virginie: essayer [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: essayer [natural native speed]
Virginie: ça [natural native speed]
Eric: it
Virginie: ça [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: ça [natural native speed]
Virginie: penser [natural native speed]
Eric: to think
Virginie: penser [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: penser [natural native speed]
Virginie: maintenant [natural native speed]
Eric: now
Virginie: maintenant [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: maintenant [natural native speed]
Virginie: demain [natural native speed]
Eric: tomorrow
Virginie: demain [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: demain [natural native speed]
Virginie: on [natural native speed]
Eric: we
Virginie: on [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: on [natural native speed]
Virginie: se dire [natural native speed]
Eric: to say to each other
Virginie: se dire [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: se dire [natural native speed]
Virginie: aller [natural native speed]
Eric: to go
Virginie: aller [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: aller [natural native speed]
Virginie: venir [natural native speed]
Eric: to come
Virginie: venir [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: venir [natural native speed]
Virginie: jouer aux courses [natural native speed]
Eric: betting on the horses
Virginie: jouer aux courses [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: jouer aux courses [natural native speed]
Virginie: d'accord [natural native speed]
Eric: okay
Virginie: d'accord [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: d'accord [natural native speed]
Virginie: avoir rendez-vous (avec quelqu'un) [natural native speed]
Eric: to meet (someone)
Virginie: avoir rendez-vous (avec quelqu'un) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: avoir rendez-vous (avec quelqu'un) [natural native speed]
Virginie: à [natural native speed]
Eric: at or to
Virginie: à [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: à [natural native speed]
Virginie: mon [natural native speed]
Eric: my, mine
Virginie: mon [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: mon [natural native speed]
Virginie: un numéro de téléphone [natural native speed]
Eric: a phone number
Virginie: un numéro de téléphone [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: un numéro de téléphone [natural native speed]
Virginie: santé [natural native speed]
Eric: cheers
Virginie: santé [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: santé [natural native speed]
Virginie: bon appétit [natural native speed]
Eric: Enjoy your meal.
Virginie: bon appétit [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: bon appétit [natural native speed]
Virginie: bon [natural native speed]
Eric: good
Virginie: bon [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: bon [natural native speed]
Virginie: mauvais [natural native speed]
Eric: bad
Virginie: mauvais [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: mauvais [natural native speed]
Virginie: pas [natural native speed]
Eric: not
Virginie: pas [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: pas [natural native speed]
Virginie: libre [natural native speed]
Eric: free
Virginie: libre [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: libre [natural native speed]
Vocab and Phrase Usage
Eric: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson.
Virginie: The first word/phrase we’ll look at is....
Eric: I would like to talk about the little word on
Virginie: Yes, both Frank and the Manager say "on"
Eric: On in French has several meanings.
Virginie: Here in the dialogue it means "we", nous.
Eric: And it's a less formal way to say "nous"
Virginie: Nowadays it is very common. Very few people say "nous"
Eric: Everybody says "on"
Virginie: For example, the manager here says "on va jouer aux courses"
Eric: We're going to a horse race.
Virginie: Now look at the verb. It's va.
Eric: On va. We are going, or we go. On uses the same conjugation as il or elle.
Virginie: Yes. Il va, he goes, elle va, she goes, and on va, we go.
Eric: So anytime you want to say "we" when in France, you can use "on"
Virginie: Another example to illustrate...
Eric: We speak french
Virginie: On parle francais.
Eric: We eat a tartare steak
Virginie: On mange un steak tartare. Instead of "nous mangeons un steak tartare.
Eric: Ok now frank says something that can only be found in French
Virginie: Yes he says "on se dit tu?" to joe
Eric: And that means "we can say "tu" to each other, right?
Virginie: Yes. In France when people meet for the first time, especially in a business context, they use vous to talk to each other
Eric: Vous is formal.
Virginie: Yes and when they fell more comfortable with each other, someone will offer, or ask to say "tu" to each other.
Eric: And tu is informal. More friendly.
Virginie: Yes, once you say "tu", there is somehow less distance between the people.
Eric: It makes the relationship more casual.
virginie: Let's hear it again "on se dit tu?
Eric: So literally it's "on"
Virgine: we
Eric: Se dit
Virginie: tell other other
Eric: Tu
Virginie: informal You.
Eric: We tell each other informal you is the literal translation.
Virginie: But what it really means is "we can tell each other you?
Eric: As for the little "se", for now just think about it as a word for "each other". OK, how about we switch to our grammar point?

Lesson focus

Eric: So as we told you earlier our focus is for you to say "what you think"
Virginie: That's the reason why our grammar focus in this lesson is the verb "penser"
Eric: To think.
Virginie: penser is an ER verb.
Eric: So what do we have in our dialoguee?
virginie: We have this question "qu'est-ce que vous en pensez?
Eric: Ok let's break it down.
Virginie: We already know qu'est ce que....
Eric: Quick reminder- it's what
Virginie: Then we have "vous
Eric: You know that it is the formal "you"
Virginie: Then we have "en"
Eric: Oh that's a new one. So. En is a pronoun.
Virginie: Yes and it stands for the tartare steak. Frank is asking Joe what he think about the steak tartare, and replaced it with the pronoun "en"
Eric: And finally we have "pensez",
Virginie: which is "think"
Eric: Now if there wasn't any pronoun "en" replacing the word "Steak tartare" the question would be different
Virginie: Yes, it would be "qu'est ce que vous pensez du steak tartare?
Eric: What do you think of the tartare steak.
Virginie: so in our question "en" replaces the group of words du steak tartare.
Eric: Are you still following? I hope we're not loosing our audience with those pronouns.
Virginie: Ahah. So recap-
Eric: OK the question without the pronoun is
Virginie: Qu'est ce aue vous pensez du steak tartare?
Eric: And the question with the pronoun "en" is
Virginie: Qu'est-ce que vous EN pensez?
Eric: OK now. Why is there a du after the verb pensez?
Virginie: It's the equivqlent for the English "about", or "of" after the verb to think
Eric: OK. what do you think of is qu'est ce que vous pensez du
Virginie: Yes. Now un steak tartare is masculine. That's why we use "du"
Eric: If it was a feminine noun, like "la ville", the city we would use "de la" after pensez
Virginie: Qu'est ce que vou spensez de la ville?
Eric: And if it was a plural noun...
Virginie: Like "les croisaants", croissants
Eric: Then we would use "des" after "pensez"
Virginie: Qu'est ce que vous pensez des croissants?
Eric: Now if you just want to say, what do you think about this?
Virginie: You will use the same question, qu'est ce que vous en pensez?
Eric: Woo. Be sure to listen to this lesson more than just once!
Virginie: OK, now even though it's not in our dialogue you need to know how to answer this question
Eric: To do so use, again, the verb penser.
Virginie: Je pense que c'est delicieux.
Eric: Virginie just said "I think that it's delicious."
Virginie: Je pense, is “I think”
Eric: And then you have "que"
Virginie: Which means that
Eric: And then "c'est delicieux"
Virginie: Which you saw in a previous lesson that it means "it's delicious."
Eric: Je pense que c'est delicieux.
Virginie: So once again, je pense que c'est delicieux. "I think that it's delicious."

Outro

Eric: Thank you for listening, and if you have any question, take a look at our lesson note.
Virginie: Yes, ok, thank you for listening! Have a great day!
Eric: À bientôt!
Virginie: Au Revoir!

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