Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

Learn New Words FAST with this Lesson’s Vocab Review List

Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Notes

Unlock In-Depth Explanations & Exclusive Takeaways with Printable Lesson Notes

Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Transcript

Introduction
Virginie: Bonjour à tous! Hello!
Eric: Bonjour à tous! Eric here. Take Charge of The Situation Using Your French.
Virginie: Hi, this is Virginie here. I am with Eric.
Eric: And I am with Virginie. Happy to be here with her. How are you?
Virginie: I am good. How are you?
Eric: So, in this lesson, what are we going to be looking at?
Virginie: We are going to be looking at giving directions.
Eric: And then we are going to be using a little bit of the imperative tense.
Virginie: Yes and there will be also a little bit of left, a little bit of right. In this dialogue, Joe is on the train and he is going to visit the Eiffel Tower.
Eric: Okay great. Let’s have a listen.
Dialogue
Annonce : Prochain arrêt, Cambronne.
Joe: Excusez-moi, quel est cet arrêt ?
Passager : C'est Cambronne.
Joe : Quel est le prochain arrêt ?
Passager : Bir Hakeim, la Tour Eiffel.
Joe : Merci.
Passager : De rien.
Annonce : Bir Hakeim.
(La porte du train se ferme et le train part)
(Dans la rue)
Joe : Excusez-moi, où est la Tour Eiffel ?
Piéton : Allez tout droit, puis tournez à gauche au prochain feu. Ensuite, allez tout droit et tournez à droite à la prochaine intersection. Elle est sur la droite.
Joe : Merci.
Piéton : Je vous en prie.
Eric: One more time, a little more slowly.
Virginie: Encore une fois, plus lentement.
Annonce : Prochain arrêt, Cambronne.
Joe: Excusez-moi, quel est cet arrêt ?
Passager : C'est Cambronne.
Joe : Quel est le prochain arrêt ?
Passager : Bir Hakeim, la Tour Eiffel.
Joe : Merci.
Passager : De rien.
Annonce : Bir Hakeim.
Joe : Excusez-moi, où est la Tour Eiffel ?
Piéton : Allez tout droit, puis tournez à gauche au prochain feu. Ensuite, allez tout droit et tournez à droite à la prochaine intersection. Elle est sur la droite.
Joe : Merci.
Piéton : Je vous en prie.
Eric: One more time, with the translation.
Virginie: Encore une fois, avec la traduction.
Annonce : Prochain arrêt, Cambronne.
Eric: Next stop, Cambronne.
Joe: Excusez-moi, quel est cet arrêt ?
Eric: Excuse me, what stop is this?
Passager : C'est Cambronne.
Eric: This is Cambronne.
Joe : Quel est le prochain arrêt ?
Eric: What's the next stop?
Passager : Bir Hakeim, la Tour Eiffel.
Eric: Bir Hakeim.
Joe : Merci.
Eric: Thank you.
Passager : De rien.
Eric: You're welcome.
Annonce : Bir Hakeim.
Eric: Bir Hakeim.
Joe : Excusez-moi, où est la Tour Eiffel ?
Eric: Excuse me, where is the Eiffel Tower?
Piéton : Allez tout droit, puis tournez à gauche au prochain feu. Ensuite, allez tout droit et tournez à droite à la prochaine intersection. Elle est sur la droite.
Eric: Go straight, and turn left at the first light. Then go straight and turn right at the next intersection. It's on the right.
Joe : Merci.
Eric: Thank you.
Piéton : Je vous en prie.
Eric: You're welcome.
Post Conversation Banter
Eric: Wow, so, Joe is going to the Eiffel Tower.
Virginie: Yes, exciting.
Eric: So have you ever gone?
Virginie: Actually I did but it was during a special event.
Eric: What was the event?
Virginie: It’s called Nuit Blanche, literally, up all night.
Eric: All-nighter?
Virginie: Yeah all-nighter, yeah.
Eric: What is that?
Virginie: It’s a cultural and artistic event in Paris that lasts a whole night.
Eric: What do you do?
Virginie: Well, there are free exhibitions and performances all over the city and they take place in unusual places. That’s what’s interesting about it.
Eric: Like, for example, besides the Eiffel Tower.
Virginie: From public pools to factories to the city hall, there are exhibits all over.
Eric: Wow, that’s great. I've never heard of this. This sounds amazing.
Virginie: Yeah.
Eric: What happens on the Eiffel Tower?
Virginie: Oh, it was great. There was that French artist. Her name is Sophie Calle.
Eric: Sophie Calle.
Virginie: Sophie Calle, yes, and what she did is, she installed a reconstitution of her bedroom on the third floor of the Eiffel tower in a little cabin, you know.
Eric: Okay, that’s great.
Virginie: Yeah, and so she was lying in bed and she had people come in and tell her about one event of their life.
Eric: Wow, okay, did you get to go in?
Virginie: No, it was too crowded but I could see her from the outside.
Eric: Wow, okay but you could only go in one person at a time.
Virginie: Yeah, exactly.
Eric: Wow, okay. It’s interesting. What was like the idea besides her work?
Virginie: Well, I think she recorded all the stories and then she released them in a book or on a CD, as part of her artistic work about everyday life and people.
Eric: Okay, great. Well, worth checking out I guess. Sophie Calle.
Virginie: Right. Sophie Calle.
Eric: Okay. So let’s have a listen to some of the vocabulary.
Vocab List
Virginie: prochain(e) [natural native speed]
Eric: next
Virginie: prochain(e) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: prochain(e) [natural native speed]
Virginie: un arrêt [natural native speed]
Eric: a stop
Virginie: un arrêt [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: un arrêt [natural native speed]
Virginie: où [natural native speed]
Eric: where
Virginie: où [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: où [natural native speed]
Virginie: tout droit [natural native speed]
Eric: straight ahead
Virginie: tout droit [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: tout droit [natural native speed]
Virginie: tourner [natural native speed]
Eric: to turn
Virginie: tourner [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: tourner [natural native speed]
Virginie: à gauche [natural native speed]
Eric: left, on the left, to the left
Virginie: à gauche [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: à gauche [natural native speed]
Virginie: le feu [natural native speed]
Eric: the traffic light
Virginie: le feu [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: le feu [natural native speed]
Virginie: premier/première [natural native speed]
Eric: first
Virginie: premier/première [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: premier/première [natural native speed]
Virginie: deuxième [natural native speed]
Eric: second
Virginie: deuxième [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: deuxième [natural native speed]
Virginie: une intersection [natural native speed]
Eric: an intersection
Virginie: une intersection [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: une intersection [natural native speed]
Virginie: ce/cet [natural native speed]
Eric: this, that
Virginie: ce/cet [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: ce/cet [natural native speed]
Virginie: sur [natural native speed]
Eric: on, by, about, over
Virginie: sur [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: sur [natural native speed]
Virginie: Je vous en prie. [natural native speed]
Eric: You are welcome, please
Virginie: Je vous en prie. [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: Je vous en prie. [natural native speed]
Virginie: de rien [natural native speed]
Eric: you're welcome
Virginie: de rien [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: de rien [natural native speed]
Virginie: à droite [natural native speed]
Eric: right, on the right, to the right
Virginie: à droite [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: à droite [natural native speed]
Vocab and Phrase Usage
Virginie: Ok, so what are we gonna look at first?
Eric: OK, let's get started on the directions.
Virginie: Yes. First, we have "tout droit"
Eric: And that's straight on, or straight ahead.
Virginie: For example, je vais tout droit.
Eric: I go straight ahead.
Eric: then we have "à gauche"
Virginie: and that's left, to the left, or on the left.
Eric: For example, "je tourne a gauche"
Virginie: I turn left.Eric just used the verb "tourner", to turn.
Eric: And now right, to the right , or on the right is à droite
Virginie: Je tourne à droite
Eric: I turn right.
Virginie: Let's practice this vocab a little bit.
Eric: OK. Virginie, what do you do to go from your place to your local movie theatre?
Virginie: Alors, je vais tout droit
Eric: OK...you go straight
Virginie: Je tourne à gauche
Eric: And you turn left
Virginie: Je tourne à droite
Eric: You turn right
Virginie: Et voila!
Eric: Your local movie theatre is very close to your place. OK now that we know some basic directions, let's see some traffic vocabulary.
Virginie: Yes it can be useful when you're given directions to know how to say a traffic light, etc
Eric: Ok, a traffic light, that's in our dialogue, isn't it?
Virginie: Yes it is. The pedestrian tells Joe to turn left at the next traffic light.
Eric: Le feu.
Virginie: that's easy. Le feu in French is the traffic light.
Eric: It can also mean fire.
Virginie: That's true.
Eric: Now what about the other word that is very similar to English, intersection?
virginie: Its une intersection.
Eric: Oh it ends with ION, which I believe means it's feminine
Virginie: good point. good review.
Eric: Is there another word for crossroad?
Virginie: Yes, there is also un carrefour.
Eric: Like the French grocery store?
Virginie: Absolutely. Carrefour.
Eric: OK. So if I get directions in France and someone tells me to go to the next carrefour should I look for the store?
Virginie: Actually that's a good point. It can be confusing.
Eric: I'll just expect one or the other.
Virginie: good idea. OK let's talk about our grammar point.

Lesson focus

Virginie: So we'll still be talking about directions
Eric: Yes. Usually, when we give directions when we use the imperative mode.
Virginie: exactly. We sort of give orders. Turn left! Turn right!
Eric: Maybe nice, but it’s still kind of an order.
Virginie: Let's start with turn left. Tourne à gauche.
Eric: We already know that "à gauche" is left.
Virginie: Let's take a look at the verb.
Eric: the infinitive of to turn in French is Tourner.
Virginie: And the imperative singular, meaning you're talking to just one person, and this person is your friend or family, and the word for that is tourne.
Eric: Again, when you say turn left to a friend or someone you know well, you'll say "tourne à gauche"
Virginie: Turn left. Then, if you're talking to a stranger, which will happen a lot in this context, you will say tournez à gauche.
Eric: That's the formal version. Tournez is spelled TOURNEZ.
Virginie: And that's also if you're talking to several people, no matter whether you know them or not.
Eric: Again, tournez a gauche. And that's what we have in the dialogue.
Virginie: Yes the pedestrian tells Joe "tournez à gauche. She uses tournez because she doesn't know him.
Eric: Right. Now the last conjugation of the imperative is very rarely used in French.
Virginie: Yes. It's the equivalent of "let's turn left."
Eric: And it'd be tournons à gauche. Tournons is spelled TOURNONS. This is the same conjugation for nous.
virginie: But we almost never use this form. It sounds a little too fancy nowadays.
Eric: Another verb you'll need to know as far as directions is "aller", to go.
Virginie: As in "go straight", allez tout droit.
Eric: So we already know "tout droit" is straight.
Virginie: Let's see how to say go straight to a friend and then go straight to a stranger.
Eric: To a friend, you would say "va tout droit."
virginie: And then to a stranger, it will be "allez tout droit'. And allez here is ALLEZ.
Eric: To get more insight about how the conjugation works for the imperative, just take a look at our lesson notes.
Virginie: Yes it's a great way to reinforce what you hear.

Outro

Eric: I think we are done for this lesson.
Virginie: Yeah. Thanks for listening.
Eric: Thank you!
Virginie: Bye-bye! Au Revoir!

Comments

Hide