Learn the secrets you'll need to know to determine whether a French adjective precedes or follows the noun it modifies
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| Introduction |
| Virginie: Bonjour à tous! Hello! |
| Eric: Bonjour! Eric here, Gengo French lesson 26 –The best French Dish you will ever have. |
| Virginie: Hi, this is Virginie and I am with Eric again. |
| Eric: Again Virginie is with me. What are we gonna be looking at today? |
| Virginie: Today we will learn about the verb être, to be, in the past tense. |
| Eric: Then we are also gonna be using indirect pronounce and phrases such as tell me. |
| Virginie: Our dialog takes place at Yves and Catherine’s place still. |
| Eric: And they are talking about tomorrow’s big plans. |
| Virginie: Let's listen to the conversation. |
| Dialogue |
| Yves : À table ! |
| Joe : Ce repas est vraiment incroyable ! |
| Catherine : Oui, j'ai un mari exceptionnel. J'ai beaucoup de chance. |
| Joe : Une belle maison, un repas délicieux, c'est le paradis ! |
| Catherine : Oh, arrête. Alors dis-moi, c'est comment la France ? |
| Joe : Oh, c'est génial ! Les gens sont sympas, et c'est magnifique. |
| Yves : Et comment c'était, l'hippodrome de Longchamp ? |
| Joe : C'était vraiment génial. Et il faisait très beau. |
| Catherine : Ah ! L'hippodrome de Longchamp ! Nous avons beaucoup de souvenirs là-bas. |
| Yves : Mais c'était il y a longtemps ... |
| Catherine : À propos, nous allons à Vincennes demain. |
| Joe : Ah oui, j'ai hâte ! |
| Eric: One more time, a little more slowly. |
| Yves : À table ! |
| Joe : Ce repas est vraiment incroyable ! |
| Catherine : Oui, j'ai un mari exceptionnel. J'ai beaucoup de chance. |
| Joe : Une belle maison, un repas délicieux, c'est le paradis ! |
| Catherine : Oh, arrête. Alors dis-moi, c'est comment la France ? |
| Joe : Oh, c'est génial ! Les gens sont sympas, et c'est magnifique. |
| Yves : Et comment c'était, l'hippodrome de Longchamp ? |
| Joe : C'était vraiment génial. Et il faisait très beau. |
| Catherine : Ah ! L'hippodrome de Longchamp ! Nous avons beaucoup de souvenirs là-bas. |
| Yves : Mais c'était il y a longtemps ... |
| Catherine : À propos, nous allons à Vincennes demain. |
| Joe : Ah oui, j'ai hâte ! |
| *Vincennes east of Paris is now a suburb of the French capital where the château de Vincennes is located, a massive 14th and 17th century royal castle. |
| Eric: One more time, with the translation. |
| Yves : À table ! |
| Eric: Dinner is ready! |
| Joe : Ce repas est vraiment incroyable ! |
| Eric: This meal is really incredible! |
| Catherine : Oui, j'ai un mari exceptionnel. J'ai beaucoup de chance. |
| Eric: Yes, I have an outstanding husband. I'm very lucky. |
| Joe : Une belle maison, un repas délicieux, c'est le paradis ! |
| Eric: A beautiful house, a delicious meal, it's paradise! |
| Catherine : Oh, arrête. Alors dis-moi, c'est comment la France ? |
| Eric: Oh, stop it. So tell me, how is France? |
| Joe : Oh, c'est génial ! Les gens sont sympas, et c'est magnifique. |
| Eric: Oh, it's great! People are nice, and it's gorgeous. |
| Yves : Et comment c'était, l'hippodrome de Longchamp ? |
| Eric: And how was the Longchamp racetrack? |
| Joe : C'était vraiment génial. Et il faisait très beau. |
| Eric: It was really great. And it was very sunny. |
| Catherine : Ah ! L'hippodrome de Longchamp ! Nous avons beaucoup de souvenirs là-bas. |
| Eric: Oh, the Longchamp racetrack! We have a lot of memories there. |
| Yves : Mais c'était il y a longtemps ... |
| Eric: Yes, but it was a long time ago. |
| Catherine : À propos, nous allons à Vincennes demain. |
| Eric: By the way, we're going to Vincennes tomorrow. |
| Joe : Ah oui, j'ai hâte ! |
| Eric: Oh, yes, I can't wait! |
| Post Conversation Banter |
| Eric: So Joe enjoyed his day at the horse racing. Is that like a usual thing to do? |
| Virginie: To bet on horses? |
| Eric: Yeah, is that like a typical French weekend? You go to the casinos and bet on horses? |
| Virginie: No, not really. But yeah, some people do, actually. I had some friends that were hooked on betting on horses. |
| Eric: Wow, gamblers anonymous friends. |
| Virginie: Exactly. But it’s like actually when you go there it’s a fun day, and suddenly you are gambling because there are a lot of people, usually it’s sunny, it’s in the summer and you have horses and it’s just – the atmosphere, you know, it’s like when you go to a game or |
| Eric: Yeah. It’s like a sport event, I guess. What was the name of the place? The Longchamp hippodrome? |
| Virginie: Yeah, L'hippodrome de Longchamp. |
| Eric: You’ve been there you said? |
| Virginie: I’ve been there once, yeah. Otherwise, we have casinos too in France, but I’ve never been to a French casino, ever. |
| Eric: Really? |
| Virginie: Yeah, because they are not usual. They are usually on the Riviera and in Monaco obviously but that’s not France. And there are some around Paris, but they are forbidden in the cities, so we don’t have any within the cities. |
| Eric: You have to go out and do this? |
| Virginie: Yeah, exactly. |
| Eric: Interesting. |
| Virginie: It’s not as exciting as Vegas. |
| Eric: Have you been to Vegas? |
| Virginie: Yes. |
| Eric: Ok. But you haven’t been to the one in France, so you really can’t compare. |
| Virginie: Yes, maybe it’s true. |
| Eric: Ok. In any case, let’s get into a little vocabulary. |
| Vocab List |
| Virginie: une table [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a table |
| Virginie: une table [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: une table [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: un repas [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a meal |
| Virginie: un repas [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: un repas [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: incroyable [natural native speed] |
| Eric: incredible |
| Virginie: incroyable [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: incroyable [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: exceptionnel(-le) [natural native speed] |
| Eric: outstanding |
| Virginie: exceptionnel(-le) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: exceptionnel(-le) [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: beaucoup de [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a lot of |
| Virginie: beaucoup de [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: beaucoup de [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: la chance [natural native speed] |
| Eric: luck |
| Virginie: la chance [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: la chance [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: le paradis [natural native speed] |
| Eric: paradise |
| Virginie: le paradis [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: le paradis [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: beau, belle [natural native speed] |
| Eric: beautiful |
| Virginie: beau, belle [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: beau, belle [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: génial(e) [natural native speed] |
| Eric: great |
| Virginie: génial(e) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: génial(e) [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: les gens [natural native speed] |
| Eric: people |
| Virginie: les gens [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: les gens [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: magnifique [natural native speed] |
| Eric: gorgeous |
| Virginie: magnifique [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: magnifique [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: un hippodrome [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a racetrack |
| Virginie: un hippodrome [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: un hippodrome [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: un souvenir [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a memory |
| Virginie: un souvenir [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: un souvenir [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: il y a longtemps [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a long time ago |
| Virginie: il y a longtemps [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: il y a longtemps [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: à propos [natural native speed] |
| Eric: by the way |
| Virginie: à propos [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: à propos [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: avoir hâte [natural native speed] |
| Eric: can't wait |
| Virginie: avoir hâte [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: avoir hâte [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: ah, oui [natural native speed] |
| Eric: oh, yes |
| Virginie: ah, oui [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: ah, oui [natural native speed] |
| Vocab and Phrase Usage |
| Virginie: our first phrase is "a propos” |
| Eric: And that means "by the way" |
| Virginie: Yes. Catherine uses it as a transition to talk about their trip to Vincennes with Joe the following day |
| Eric: So, it's used just like "by the way" |
| Virginie: Yes, at the beginning of a sentence, to mark a transition |
| Eric: The first word in this expression is the preposition "a" |
| Virginie: Oui and it's followed by "propos", which means statement, or speech |
| Eric: Again, it's a propos. |
| Virginie: A propos. Eric, we have another little phrase in our dialogue, and it's "j'ai hate" |
| Eric: Which means I can't wait. |
| Virginie: let's see what the expression is |
| Eric: It's "avoir hate" |
| Virginie: literally, to have haste |
| Eric: Conjugated, it's what Joe says, j'ai |
| Virginie: I have |
| Eric: And hate |
| Virginie: Haste. |
| Eric: I can't wait. Now if you want to say "I can't wait to work |
| Virginie: You will add the preposition "de" right after j'ai hate. |
| Eric: j'ai hate de travailler. |
| Virginie: And if your verb starts with a vowel you all know what is going to happen! |
| Eric: The e of de will drop. |
| Virginie: As in J'ai hate d'aller a Vincennes. |
| Eric: I can't wait to go to Vincennes |
| Virginie: Or j'ai hate d'etre bronzee |
| Eric: I can't wait to be tan |
| Virginie: Now. One last phrase, or expression if you prefer. |
| Eric: Yes its "il y a longtemps. |
| Virginie: Yes in our dialogue our characters talk about memories, about the past |
| Eric: And Yves says il y a longtemps, a long time ago |
| Virginie: Yeah I think he's talking about the longchamp racetrack. |
| Eric: Our characters love to bet on horses! |
| Virginie: Ahaha. So (slowly), Il y a longtemps is a long time ago |
| Eric: And the structure is very easy. It's il y a |
| Virginie: Remember it means there is |
| Eric: And then longtemps |
| Virginie: Which is literally "long", or "a long time" |
| Eric": So, in the end, we have "there is long", there is a long time |
| Virginie: Now if you want to be more specific about the amount of time. Just use il y a |
| Eric: And then add the time. For example, five days ago |
| Virginie: Il ya cinq jours |
| Eric: Or one hour ago |
| Virginie: Il y a une heure. |
| Eric: And finally "two moths ago" |
| Virginie: Il y a deux mois |
| Eric: Ok so the pattern again is il y a + time |
| Virginie: Oui!! A propos. Eric, by the way, Eric, since we're talking about the past, why don't we jump to our grammar point? |
| Eric: Yes let' talk about l'imparfait |
| Virginie: L'imparfait is one the French past tenses |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: So what is in the imparfait in our dialogue? |
| Virginie: First we have "c'etait" in "c'etait genial" |
| Eric: Yes when Joe is talking about horse betting |
| Virginie: He says c'etait genial, it was great |
| Eric: Could you spell that for us virginie? |
| Virginie: Bien sur. Its C'etait |
| Eric: OK. C' is it, we know that, and etait is the past form of être |
| Virginie: Let's talk about the main usage a little bit. |
| Eric: Yes. What is the imparfait used for? |
| Virginie: First you will use it when describing an emotional state in the past |
| Eric: That's the one from our dialogue "it was great! |
| Virginie: Yes Joe is expressing his past enthusiasm |
| Eric: So, emotions, what else? |
| Virginie: To describe lasting actions n the past, like the weather for example. |
| Eric: Oh. I think we have that in our dialogue as well? |
| Virginie: Oui. Joe says "il faisait beau", which is "the weather was nice, or "it was sunny. |
| Eric: OK. Then I think you use the imparfait to describe a repetitive action in the past. |
| Virginie: Yes, a habit in the past. It would be the equivalent of the English, I used to, or I would |
| Eric: Can you give us an example? |
| Virginie: Mais oui. But yes! Talking about your childhood for example. J'allais a l'ecole tous les jours. |
| Eric: I would go to school every day. |
| Virginie: Repetitive action. |
| Eric: Perfect for us as we repeat the same things all the time! |
| Virginie: Ahah. Now there are other uses but we'll stick to what we have for now. |
| Eric: ok yes it's a good introduction. |
| Virginie: Now let's see how to construct your imparfait conjugations. |
| Eric: I love the imparfait, it's one of the easiest tenses in French. |
| Virginie: Yes! So, to conjugate, let's take to be, être. |
| Eric: What you will do is keep the first part of the infinitive |
| Virginie: Yes usually it's the part before the ER for ER verbs, the IR for IR verbs, etc. |
| Eric: For être, it's a little more specific. What do we keep? |
| Virginie: We keep ET and we get rid of RE |
| Eric: OK, I have my ET then what do I do? |
| Virginie: You just add the imparfait endings for each pronoun. |
| Eric: Hmmm let's take the je ending to start. |
| Virginie: Oui. The ending for "je" is AIS, pronouced E |
| Eric: So our verb will be ET and then AIS |
| Virginie: Oui, par example, for example, j'etais malade hier. |
| Eric: I was sick yesterday. |
| Virignie: Or j'etais heureuse hier. |
| Eric: I was happy yesterday. |
| Virginie: Exactly. Now the ending for "tu" is the same as for "je". |
| Eric: Great. So it's still spelled ETAIS |
| Virginie: Oui, Eric, hier tu etais triste. |
| Eric: Eric, yesterday you were sad. |
| Virginie: Which is not true I hope. |
| Eric: No, it's not true, j'etais haureux, I was happy. |
| Virginie: Good. Now let's see the ending for il, elle, and on |
| Eric: It will be "ait" (pronounced "e" |
| Virginie: So your verb will become etait, (pronounce it) |
| Eric: For example, Joe etait a l'hippodrome de longchamp hier. |
| Virginie: Joe was at the longchamp racetrack yesterday |
| Eric: Great. What about the rest? |
| Virginie: You can check the rest of the conjugation in our lesson notes, th e imparfait with nous, vous and ils and elles. |
| Eric: Perfect. |
| Virginie: And you will also find some insights about the indirect pronoun as in "dis-moi" |
| Eric: Tell me. |
| Virginie: The indirect pronoun here is moi. |
| Eric: Oui. We've seen this pronoun a little bit in our earlier lesson. With chez moi, chez toi, chez nous. |
| Virginie: Absolutely! |
Outro |
| Virginie: So, I think we're done for this lesson, Eric. |
| Eric: Sounds good. Thank you for listening! |
| Virginie: Merci Beaucoup, bye-bye! |
| Eric: Au Revoir! |
8 Comments
HideBonjour Tony Finoro !
Merci beaucoup for posting. Don't worry, just try to keep your studies as a regular habit! You will see, your French will skyrocket if you are able to do it regularly. I'd advise that you create a development plan, including how much time and what lessons you will study every next week. And then stick to it! 😉
Let us know if you have any questions.
Kind regards,
Levente
Team FrenchPod101.com
😄 Very Good!, but the work alone part is hard. One must visit a French speaking population to take in the French language and culture more fully.
Hi Peggy,
Thank you for your positive feedback!
Let us know if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team FrenchPod101.com
Excellent lesson
Hi Manuel,
Thanks to your feedback we were able to fix the issue.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
Please let us know if you have any question or other feedback!
Regards,
Ofelia
Team FrenchPod101.com
INTRODUCTION, LESSONS MATERIAL, REVIEW...This 3 sections are not present in this lesson...Can you please verify? Thanks! Manuel
Where are the exercises?