Learn trends toward using more English in France and ways to endear yourself to your French-speaking hosts
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Virginie: Bonjour à tous! Hello everyone. |
| Eric: Hello, Eric here. That Is So Cliche…You Did Not Just Say That! |
| Virginie: Hello everyone, I am Virginie and welcome back. So Eric, what are we going to see in this lesson? |
| Eric: Today we are going to be looking at Joe’s conversation as it revolves on the plane. |
| Virginie: Right. Joe is still sitting by Manon and they are still talking, which is a good sign I guess for Joe. |
| Eric: Things are looking well for Joe. Let’s begin the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Manon : (à l'hôtesse de l'air) Excusez-moi, de l'eau s'il vous plaît. |
| Joe : Pour moi aussi, s'il vous plaît. |
| Stewart : Oui Madame, oui Monsieur. |
| Manon : Désolée. Donc, la Californie c'est bien. Tout le monde est heureux. |
| Joe : (il rit) Lyon est bien aussi. Et qu'est-ce que tu fais à Lyon? |
| Manon : Je suis ingénieur. |
| Joe : Tu peux répéter? |
| Manon : Je suis ingénieur. |
| Joe : Je ne comprends pas, désolé. |
| Manon : "Ingénieur", en anglais, c'est Engineer. |
| Joe : Tu peux parler anglais? |
| Manon : Oui, un peu. |
| Eric: One more time, a little more slowly. |
| Virginie: Encore une fois, plus lentement. |
| Manon : (à l'hôtesse de l'air) Excusez-moi, de l'eau s'il vous plaît. |
| Joe : Pour moi aussi, s'il vous plaît. |
| Stewart : Oui Madame, oui Monsieur. |
| Manon : Désolée. Donc, la Californie c'est bien. Tout le monde est heureux. |
| Joe : (il rit) Lyon est bien aussi. Et qu'est-ce que tu fais à Lyon? |
| Manon : Je suis ingénieur. |
| Joe : Tu peux répéter? |
| Manon : Je suis ingénieur. |
| Joe : Je ne comprends pas, désolé. |
| Manon : "Ingénieur", en anglais, c'est Engineer. |
| Joe : Tu peux parler anglais? |
| Manon : Oui, un peu. (On peut se dire ‘tu'.) |
| Eric: One more time, with the translation. |
| Virginie: Encore une fois, avec la traduction. |
| Manon : (à l'hôtesse de l'air) Excusez-moi, de l'eau s'il vous plaît. |
| Eric: (to flight attendant) Excuse me, some water, please. |
| Joe : Pour moi aussi, s'il vous plaît. |
| Eric: Me too, please. |
| Stewart : Oui Madame, oui Monsieur. |
| Eric: Yes ma'am, sir. |
| Manon : Désolée. Donc, la Californie c'est bien. Tout le monde est heureux. |
| Eric: Sorry. So, California is nice. Everybody is happy. |
| Joe : (il rit) Lyon est bien aussi. Et qu'est-ce que tu fais à Lyon? |
| Eric: (laughs) Lyon is nice too. And what do you do in Lyon? |
| Manon : Je suis ingénieur. |
| Eric: I'm an engineer. |
| Joe : Tu peux répéter? |
| Eric: Can you repeat? |
| Manon : Je suis ingénieur. |
| Eric: I'm an engineer. |
| Joe : Je ne comprends pas, désolé. |
| Eric: I don't understand. Sorry. |
| Manon : "Ingénieur", en anglais, c'est Engineer. |
| Eric: "Ingénieur," in English, is "engineer." |
| Joe : Tu peux parler anglais? |
| Eric: You can speak English? |
| Manon : Oui, un peu. (On peut se dire ‘tu'.) |
| Eric: Yes, a bit. (We can say 'tu' to each other.) |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Virginie: So English is pretty popular in France. |
| Virginie: Well, yes among young people, yes it is. |
| Eric: A lot of English words are used in French too. |
| Virginie: Oh we like to say a parking lot, so you will say "parking" in French. |
| Eric: Parking. That’s interesting. I noticed that they will kind of chop off parts of the English phrase to make them more easy to say, more French. |
| Virginie: Do you have another example? |
| Eric: Well, for example, instead of saying an email, you can just say "email." |
| Virginie: That’s because a lot of people don’t want to give us any English words. So they turn all the English words into French words and that’s really funny. It’s true. And English is also used in French for marketing purposes. |
| Eric: Right, for example, a new supermarket chain is called Simply Market. |
| Virginie: Oh yes, that’s true. That’s because you know, English words sound way cooler, more trendy or something. |
| Eric: I know. Even there are catch phrases in English. Be happy, be simply. |
| Virginie: Oh so catchy. On the other hand, many French people are not very good at foreign languages, especially in English. |
| Eric: Right. French people can be a little reluctant to speak it. |
| Virginie: Yes especially if you are in France. |
| Eric: So a good way to avoid an icy greeting is to start in French and then maybe see if they want to warm up just some English. |
| Virginie: Oui. Absolutely. |
| Eric: So what vocabulary do we have? |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Virginie: l'eau [natural native speed] |
| Eric: water |
| Virginie: l'eau [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: l'eau [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: madame [natural native speed] |
| Eric: ma'am, Mrs. |
| Virginie: madame [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: madame [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: monsieur [natural native speed] |
| Eric: sir, Mr. |
| Virginie: monsieur [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: monsieur [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: être [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to be |
| Virginie: être [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: être [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: heureux/heureuse [natural native speed] |
| Eric: happy |
| Virginie: heureux/heureuse [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: heureux/heureuse [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: tout le monde [natural native speed] |
| Eric: everybody |
| Virginie: tout le monde [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: tout le monde [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: qu'est-ce que / qu'est-ce qu' [natural native speed] |
| Eric: what |
| Virginie: qu'est-ce que / qu'est-ce qu' [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: qu'est-ce que / qu'est-ce qu' [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: faire [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to do, to make |
| Virginie: faire [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: faire [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: vous [natural native speed] |
| Eric: you (formal) |
| Virginie: vous [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: vous [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: ingénieur [natural native speed] |
| Eric: engineer |
| Virginie: ingénieur [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: ingénieur [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: comprendre [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to understand |
| Virginie: comprendre [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: comprendre [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: anglais(e) [natural native speed] |
| Eric: English |
| Virginie: anglais(e) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: anglais(e) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: savoir [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to know |
| Virginie: savoir [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: savoir[natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: parler [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to speak, to talk |
| Virginie: parler [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: parler [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: un peu [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a little |
| Virginie: un peu [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: un peu [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: moi aussi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: me too |
| Virginie: moi aussi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: moi aussi [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Virginie: What do we have here? |
| Eric: Well, our first word is heureux. |
| Virginie: That means "happy." |
| Eric: It's little bit difficult to pronounce though, isn't it? |
| Virginie: Yes, let's see, heureux. |
| Eric: And that is the male adjective for “happy.” Let me give it a try, heureux. |
| Virginie: Yes, perfect! Heureux. |
| Eric: What about the female version? |
| Virginie: Well, a happy lady would be a heureuse lady! Heureuse. |
| Eric: Ok, so it's heureuse. Pretty close to the male heureux. |
| Virginie: Yes, but it ends with the sound "z", heureuse. |
| Eric: Ok, now what is our next word? |
| Virginie: Tout le monde! |
| Eric: Everybody |
| Virginie: Oui, let me break it down "tout-le-monde" |
| Eric: Literally it is "all the world," |
| Virginie: Yes. tout |
| Eric: "All" |
| Virginie: Le |
| Eric: "The" |
| Virginie: and monde |
| Eric: "World." Tout le monde. |
| Virginie: Yes so to say "everybody is happy", you will say |
| Eric: Tout le monde est heureux. |
| Virginie: Voila! Tout le monde est heureux! |
| Eric: And now we have un peu. |
| Virginie: Un peu is important, it's good to nuance your speech. Un peu is "a little." |
| Eric: That would be very handy if you want to say you only speak a little French. |
| Virginie: Right, if someone asks you if you speak French, you can answer "un peu." Now, let's get ready for grammar, Eric! |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: Right, this lesson is about asking someone their profession. |
| Virginie: Yes, in our dialog, Joe says - qu'est-ce que tu fais a Lyon? |
| Eric: So, what do you do in Lyon? |
| Virginie: The words "Qu'est-ce que" at the beginning of question stand for "what" |
| Eric: And the second part of the question is "tu fais" |
| Virginie: Which means "you do". Tu is "you" and fais is "do." |
| Eric: So literally, this is "what you do?" |
| Virginie: Qu'est-ce que tu fais? |
| Eric: And if Virginie actually asks me |
| Virginie: Qu'est-ce que tu fais Eric? |
| Eric: I will answer, Je suis professeur de francais, I am a French teacher. |
| Virginie: Now, je is "I" and suis is "am." "I am," je suis. |
| Eric: Ok a quick recap. Virginie, qu'est-ce que tu fqis? |
| Virginie: Je suis professeur de francais. |
| Eric: Ok, now is time to introduce the verb etre, "to be." |
| Virginie: Yes, it is used twice in our dialog so it's important. |
| Eric: The first time is in the phrase we talked about earlier |
| Virginie: Remember, tout le monde is "everybody," and our sentence is - tout le monde est heureux. |
| Eric: "Everybody is happy." |
| Virginie: Oui, here our verbe etre, to be, is conjugated with tout le monde, which could be replaced easily by il or elle. |
| Eric: Il and elle are "he" and "she." |
| Virginie: So to say he is/she is, you will say - il est/elle est. |
| Eric: And est is spelled EST. |
| Virginie: Right, so remember, il est / elle est / tout le monde est. |
| Virginie: And a little later in the dialog etre is conjugated with je. |
| Eric: As we actually just saw, je suis , "I am." |
| Virginie: Oui. Manon says - je suis ingenieur, "I am an engineer." |
| Eric: Just like Virginie and I earlier said, je suis professeur de francais, "I am a French teacher." One other interesting point is, if you want to say professions, you don't have to say "a engineer" or "a French teacher," you just say je suis ingenieur, je suis professeur. |
| Virginie: Exactly! That's a good point. Yeah, forget about the article in French when you say your profession. Je suis, and then directly professeur de francais. |
| Virginie: So, to recap real quick, Eric. Je suis is "I am." |
| Eric: And il est is "he is," elle est is "she is." |
Outro |
| Virginie: Ouf! I think we're done for this lesson!! |
| Eric: That was a workout. |
| Virginie: That was intense. Ok! Thank you all for listening. |
| Eric: See you soon. |
Comments
HideAnd you what can you say in French? Je suis beau ? "I'm beautiful?"
Salut Olena ! 😊
Merci pour ta question ! En français, on dirait plutôt "Je suis professeur de piano" pour le masculin et "Je suis professeure de piano" pour le féminin. Tu as bien utilisé "institutrice," mais c'est plus courant de dire "professeur" ou "professeure" dans ce contexte.
Bravo pour ton intérêt à apprendre le français ! (Well done for your interest in learning French!) 🎶
N'hésite pas à nous faire savoir si tu as d'autres questions. (Feel free to let us know if you have any questions.)
Merci beaucoup !
Team FrenchPod101.com
Bonjour,
C'est possible de dire : Je suis le professeur du piano? Et pour féminin ? Je suis institutrice du piano?
merci beaucoup! Olena
Hi Lily,
Thanks for reaching out and for using our language courses!
We appreciate your feedback about the lesson order. The courses were developed at different times by various instructors, which explains the variation in approach and progression.
We're actively working to improve the coherence and flow of our courses. Our team is currently revising the material to ensure a smoother and more logical learning experience. We strongly encourage you to take the updated Level 2 French course (https://www.frenchpod101.com/lesson-library/level-2-french), which has been redesigned to offer a more predictable progression.
Please feel free to share more feedback or ask for help anytime. Ensuring your success and satisfaction in learning is our top priority!
Sincerely,
Ali
Team FrenchPod101.com
The order of these lessons is odd....in lesson 25 we learned reflexive verbs in the passé composé with être, and now in lesson 29 we're introducing the present tense verb être?? This second series is significantly less advanced than the first series. Did they get switched at some point?
Bonjour Aishat,
Bravo, ta phrase est correcte !
Bonne journée,
Marion
Team FrenchPod101.com
Je ne suis pas triste mais je ne suis pas heureuse.
Bonjour Amy,
That would be "Je suis femme au foyer". 😉
Bonne journée,
Marion
Team FrenchPod101
How do you say: I’m a housewife.
Bonjour Daniel,
Qu'est ce que le métier de Défenseur Public ? Policier ?
Merci pour votre commentaire.
Bonne journée
Marie Alice
Team FrenchPod101.com
Bon soirée. Je m'appelle Daniel. J’habite à Brésil. Je suis Défenseur Public, malgré je n’ai pas la certitude s’il y a cette profession en France.
Moi beau garçon. C'est vrai ?
Bonjour Rosanna !
C'est juste en effet !
Merci pour votre message.
Bon dimanche !
Marie Alice
Team FrenchPod101.com
Bonjour Madame/Monsieur,
Merci pour le lecon ,
Mais il ya un problem au'jourdui
tout le pod cast arreter apres 7 minute . Est-ce que il ya une solution ?
Hi Rosana,
You're welcome! Our French team will soon check your French writing. 👍
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team FrenchPod101.com
'Je suis belle.' => pour les femmes.
'Je suis beau.' => pour les hommes
Is it correct Cristiane?
Merci Cristiane! 👍
Hi Rosana,
Thank you for your reply. Please check out our Lesson Library regarding our series:
https://www.frenchpod101.com/lesson-library/absolute-beginner
The above link is for the Absolute Beginner level. You can select the desired level on the menu besides "Show".👍
Let us know if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team FrenchPod101.com
Bonjour Cristiane,
Thanks for your response.
I didn't know what kind I was studying. I was a little lost when I started the course. So, how can I take the regular course?
Merci beaucoup!
Bonjour Rosana,
It seems that you're studying the "How to Master Conversational French" pathway which has a special selection of lessons of different series. You can check out its summary here:
https://www.frenchpod101.com/lesson-library/how-to-master-conversational-french/
Gengo is a set of 30 dialog lessons and a set of 30 "bonus" lessons that have in-depth information on France, French culture, pronunciation, conjugation, and more. It's geared towards absolute beginners in French, so we would recommend it if you are just starting out in French. It's an intensive course designed to take someone from Newbie level to High Beginner/Low Intermediate level.
Hope this helps! Feel free to let us know if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team FrenchPod101.com
Hello There!
I'm trying to make folders of the lessons to review them later, but I'm very confused about the lessons' order.
The lesson comes as 'Beginner S1 #2', but the next lesson is 'Beginner S1 #13', and the next lesson is 'Gengo French S1 #4'
There is no logic in order. And what's 'gengo'?
Thanks!