Dialogue

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Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

Introduction
Virginie: Bonjour à tous! Hello everyone.
Eric: Hello, Eric here. Getting the Best Table and Dish in Town.
Virginie: Hi everyone, this is Virginie and I am here with Eric.
Eric: Hello.
Virginie: Hello, how are you?
Eric: Good.
Virginie: You don’t ask me how I am?
Eric: I assume you are good, you are smiling.
Virginie: Okay, well, actually, I am good. What are we going to see in this lesson, Eric?
Eric: Well, we are going to be looking at the French reflexive verbs.
Virginie: Today, Joe visits a popular restaurant to get even more familiar with French food.
Eric: The conversation is going to be taking place in a restaurant called..
Virginie: L'Envers, and the conversation is between Joe and a waitress.
Eric: Let’s have a listen.
Dialogue
Serveuse : Bonjour Monsieur.
Joe : Une table pour une personne, s'il vous plaît.
Serveuse : Fumeur ou non fumeur ?
Joe : Non fumeur.
Serveuse : Par ici. Voilà.
Joe: Euh ... je peux m'asseoir là ?
Serveuse : Bien sûr.
(10 minutes plus tard)
Serveuse : Vous désirez ?
Joe : Qu'est-ce que vous recommandez ?
Serveuse : Le homard est très bon.
Joe : Je vais prendre ça. Et ça, qu'est-ce que c'est ?
(Il montre ce qu'un autre client mange)
Serveuse : C'est une salade campagnarde.
Joe: Je vais prendre ça aussi.
Serveuse : Très bien. Et pour accompagner ?
Joe : De l'eau. Merci.
Eric: One more time, a little more slowly.
Virginie: Encore une fois, plus lentement.
Serveuse : Bonjour Monsieur.
Joe : Une table pour une personne, s'il vous plaît.
Serveuse : Fumeur ou non fumeur ?
Joe : Non fumeur.
Serveuse : Par ici. Voilà.
Joe: Euh ... je peux m'asseoir là ?
Serveuse : Bien sûr.
(10 minutes plus tard)
Serveuse : Vous désirez ?
Joe : Qu'est-ce que vous recommandez ?
Serveuse : Le homard est très bon.
Joe : Je vais prendre ça. Et ça, qu'est-ce que c'est ?
(Il montre ce qu'un autre client mange)
Serveuse : C'est une salade campagnarde.
Joe: Je vais prendre ça aussi.
Serveuse : Très bien. Et pour accompagner ?
Joe : De l'eau. Merci.
Eric: One more time, with the translation.
Virginie: Encore une fois, avec la traduction.
Serveuse : Bonjour Monsieur.
Eric: Hello, sir.
Joe : Une table pour une personne, s'il vous plaît.
Eric: A table for one, please.
Serveuse : Fumeur ou non fumeur ?
Eric: Smoking or nonsmoking?
Joe : Non fumeur.
Eric: Non-smoking.
Serveuse : Par ici. Voilà.
Eric: Right this way. Here you are.
Joe: Euh ... je peux m'asseoir là ?
Eric: Hmmm...can I sit here?
Serveuse : Bien sûr.
Eric: Of course.
Serveuse : Vous désirez ?
Eric: What would you like?
Joe : Qu'est-ce que vous recommandez ?
Eric: What do you recommend?
Serveuse : Le homard est très bon.
Eric: The lobster is very good.
Joe : Je vais prendre ça. Et ça, qu'est-ce que c'est ?
Eric: I'll have that. And this, what is this?
Serveuse : C'est une salade campagnarde.
Eric: It's a country salad.
Joe: Je vais prendre ça aussi.
Eric: I'll also have that.
Serveuse : Très bien. Et pour accompagner ?
Eric: Very well. And to accompany?
Joe : De l'eau. Merci.
Eric: Water. Thanks.
Post Conversation Banter
Eric: So Joe is getting dinner by himself it seems.
Virginie: Yes.
Eric: So do French people often eat by themselves at restaurants?
Virginie: Well no, not really. I think it’s pretty sad that Joe goes by himself.
Eric: Ah he is lonely I guess but he is in a foreign country. What is he going to do?
Virginie: Exactly. So but French people definitely get coffee by themselves a lot.
Eric: Yeah I have seen that people like sitting on terraces sort of like daydreaming and people watching.
Virginie: Exactly and they read the news, too. It’s very common.
Eric: So what is Joe having?
Virginie: I think he is having a country salad, and a country salad is salade campagnarde.
Eric: Wow, and he is going to have lobster with it, too, right?
Virginie: Yes it’s a pretty interesting combination of dishes, don’t you think?
Eric: Yeah, weird.
Virginie: Yeah.
Eric: Well, what about a croque monsieur? you could order that. Those are pretty good.
Virginie: Oh, yes, croque monsieur are very good and that’s very French too. If you go to a restaurant for lunch in France, you will find croque monsieur in every single place.
Eric: Really?
Virginie: Mhum.
Eric: Can you describe that for us, where it is exactly?
Virginie: So croque monsieur is two slices of toast with ham and cheese.
Eric: And what kind of cheese, like Gruyère?
Virginie: Gruyère.
Eric: Yeah.
Virginie: Swiss cheese, yes.
Eric: Nice.
Virginie: It’s very good.
Eric: And what about a croque madame?
Virginie: Oh, croque madame is almost the same but there is an egg on top of the toast.
Eric: Well, you are getting me really hungry now. Let’s take a look at some of the vocabulary we have.
Virginie: C’est parti.
Vocab List
Virginie: fumeur [natural native speed]
Eric: smoking, as in the smoking section of a restaurant
Virginie: fumeur [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: fumeur [natural native speed]
Virginie: non fumeur [natural native speed]
Eric: non-smoking
Virginie: non fumeur [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: non fumeur [natural native speed]
Virginie: s'asseoir [natural native speed]
Eric: to sit
Virginie: s'asseoir [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: s'asseoir [natural native speed]
Virginie: là [natural native speed]
Eric: there, here
Virginie: là [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: là [natural native speed]
Virginie: recommander [natural native speed]
Eric: to recommend
Virginie: recommander [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: recommander [natural native speed]
Virginie: un homard [natural native speed]
Eric: a lobster
Virginie: un homard [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: un homard [natural native speed]
Virginie: aussi [natural native speed]
Eric: too, also
Virginie: aussi [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: aussi [natural native speed]
Virginie: campagnard(e) [natural native speed]
Eric: from the country
Virginie: campagnard(e) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: campagnard(e) [natural native speed]
Virginie: désirer [natural native speed]
Eric: to want, to desire for
Virginie: désirer [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: désirer [natural native speed]
Virginie: pour [natural native speed]
Eric: for, to
Virginie: pour [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: pour [natural native speed]
Virginie: accompagner [natural native speed]
Eric: to accompany
Virginie: accompagner [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: accompagner [natural native speed]
Vocab and Phrase Usage
Virginie: Let's start with fumeur and non fumeur.
Eric: Thats smoking and non smoking.
Virginie: Which one would you pick Eric?
Eric: I don't smoke, so I guess non smoking.
Virginie: You know that in France now it's forbidden to smoke in restaurants and bars
Eric: That's true! How come Joe has an option?
Virginie: Well, it's June, so the outdoor spaces are open, and you can smoke there.
Eric: Oh I see.
Virginie: So Eric is un non fumeur, a non smoking person.
Eric: Non is "non" and fumeur" is smoker.
Virginie: Fumeur comes from the verb fumer, to smoke.
Eric: And what is our next word?
Virginie: It's the little word LA.
Eric: And that means there.
Virginie: Yes Joe asks if he can sit there.
Eric: Now we already saw that "la bas" is over there
Virginie: Yes. and if you only keep the la in "la bas", that becomes "there.
Eric: OK. So if I want to say "I'm there, i will say Je suis la.
Virginie: Tout a fait. Absolutely.
Eric: What if I want to say "I'm here"
Virginie: You will say the exact same thing "je suis la"
Eric: So you don't use "ici", here, to say "I'm here"
Virginie: No, strangely enough, you use "la".
Eric: Hmmm. OK. Je suis la, I'm here or I'm there.
Virginie: Oui.
Eric: so at some point in the dialogue, the waitress asks "Vous desirez?”
Virginie: Literally, it's "you desire?"
Eric: And it stands for "what would you like?"
Virginie: Oui. So, if go to a french restaurant you will that question "vous desirez" from waiters.
Eric: Are there any other typical phrases to ask "what would you like?"
Virginie: Yes, there are plenty. You might come across this question "vous avez choisi"?
Eric: And it's "did you make your choice?
Virginie: Yes, again "vous avez choisi"
Eric: OK so remember these two phrases "vous desirez?
Virginie: And "vous avez choisi?"
Eric: OK. This conversation makes me hungry.
Virginie: Let's talk about the preposition "pour"
Eric: Yes. Joe, when he arrives at the restaurant, says, "une table pour une personne"
Virginie: And that's "a table for one person"
Eric: Let's break it down.
Virginie: first we have "une table"
Eric: And that's a table"
Virginie: Then we have "pour"
Eric: That's for. You will see later that "pour" can also mean "to" "in order to, etc
Virginie: Yes. then we have "une personne"
Eric: That's "one person". So here "une" is not the indefinite article.
Virginie: No it's not. It's the number "one". But it's exactly the same spelling and pronunciation
Eric: OK.
virginie: So, again, "une table pour une personne"
Eric: what about a table for two? It's more usual.
Virginie: Right. It's the same with the number two, deux.
Eric: Une table pour deux personnes
Virginie: Exactly.
Eric: Alright you're all set to eat at the best restaurants in France.
Virginie: Let's see our grammar point.

Lesson focus
Eric: In this lesson we will introduce the French reflexive verbs
Virginie: Yes, and we have a lot of those!
Eric: So first of all, what is a reflexive verb?
Virginie: Well, let's take an example from our dialogue
Eric: Our reflexive verb is in joe's sentence "je peux m'asseoir la?. It's m'asseoir
Virginie: And the infinitive is s'asseoir
Eric: And that means to sit. Or rather to sit oneself.
Virginie: Yes instead of just saying I sit, you will say I sit myself.
Eric: And that's a reflexive verb.
Virginie: exactly. Some French verbs are constructed like this.
Eric: for example, "to get up" in French is "to get oneself up"
Virginie: You say I get myself up.
Eric: Another example, "to take a walk" is in French "to walk oneself”.
Virginie: As in I walk myself.
Eric: Now let's see how these verbs are constructed
Virginie: Yes. the infinitive is made of to parts.
Eric: The first part is the reflexive pronoun "se"(spell) , or s' (spell) before a vowel
Virginie: And the second part is the verb, here it's asseoir.
Eric: So our complete reflexive verb here is s'asseoir.
Virginie: Again, to sit oneself.
Eric: Ok now since this is just an introduction to the reflexive verbs, we will not give you the entire conjugation
Virginie: No, only with "je"
Eric: So I sit, in French is
Virginie: Je m'asseois.
Eric: You cna notice that the reflexive pronoun "se" became "me or m'"
Virginie: Yes the reflexive pronoun will agree to each personal pronouns. It will be different with "tu", il", nous, vous and ils
Eric: Now in our dialogue Joe doesn't say "je m'assois".
Virginie: No, he says , je peux m'asseoir?
Eric: Can I sit?
Virginie: So it's je peux,
Eric: I can or can I
Virginie: and then the infinitive of s'assoir but with the reflexive pronoun for "je"
Eric: M'asseoir. So evne if he uses the infinitive, he keeps the m' . As in "can I sit myself?
Virginie: Yes you wouldn't say "can I sit oneself?
Eric: OK now we need another example.
Virginie: Let's use the verb "se lever"
Eric: to get up.
Virginie: Let's have it follow "je peux" I can, just like in our dialogue.
Eric: It will be je peux me lever
Virginie: See, same thing here, je peux "I can" followed by "me lever", me being the preflecive pronoun for "je" and lever being the infinitive.
Eric: Je peux me lever. I can get up.
Virginie: Don't forget to check out our lesson notes for more details!
Eric: Now how do you say "I take a walk along the Seine" in French
Virginie: Je me promene le long de la Seine.
Eric: Je me promene.
Virginie: Oui, the infinitive is "se promener".
Eric: And how do you say "i can take a walk along the Seine?
Virginie: Je peux me promener le long de la Seine. Again, je peux me promenerr le long de la Seine.
Eric: Good. Well, these reflexive verbs are tricky! I recommend taking a look at our notes on them.
Virginie: Yes, you need to know how they work really, because we have a lot of that in French.

Outro
Eric: Thank you for listening!
Virginie: Thank you very much!
Eric: Au Revoir !
Virginie: Bye-bye!

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