Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Virginie: Bonjour tout le monde! Hello, this is Virginie and I am here with Eric.
Eric: Hello, Eric here. Don’t Answer These French Questions Incorrectly.
Virginie: How are you, Eric?
Eric: Doing well, how are you?
Virginie: I am very good, thank you. So Eric, what is our dialogue about?
Eric: Looks like Joe is passing through customs.
Virginie: Yes and our conversation is going to be between the custom agent and Joe.
Eric: Joe is finally getting closer to France itself.
Virginie: Yes getting there.
Eric: Okay. Let’s have a listen to the dialogue.

Lesson conversation

Policier aux frontières : Passeport, s'il vous plaît.
Joe : Bonjour. Voilà.
Policier aux frontières : Durée de votre séjour ?
Joe : Vous pouvez répéter, s'il vous plaît ?
Policier aux frontières : Quelle est la durée de votre séjour ?
Joe : Deux semaines.
Policier aux frontières : Lieu de votre séjour ?
Joe : Hôtel du Louvre.
Policier aux frontières : Motif de votre séjour ?
Joe : Vous pouvez répéter s'il vous plaît ? Lentement, s'il vous plait ?
Policier aux frontières : Quel est le motif de votre séjour ?
Joe : Affaires et tourisme.
Policier aux frontières : D'accord. Merci. Bon séjour en France.
Eric: One more time, a little more slowly.
Virginie: Encore une fois, plus lentement.
Policier aux frontières : Passeport, s'il vous plaît.
Joe : Bonjour. Voilà.
Policier aux frontières : Durée de votre séjour ?
Joe : Vous pouvez répéter, s'il vous plaît ?
Policier aux frontières : Quelle est la durée de votre séjour ?
Joe : Deux semaines.
Policier aux frontières : Lieu de votre séjour ?
Joe : Hôtel du Louvre.
Policier aux frontières : Motif de votre séjour ?
Joe : Vous pouvez répéter s'il vous plaît ? Lentement, s'il vous plait ?
Policier aux frontières : Quel est le motif de votre séjour ?
Joe : Affaires et tourisme.
Policier aux frontières : D'accord. Merci. Bon séjour en France.
Eric: One more time, with the translation.
Virginie: Encore une fois, avec la traduction.
Policier aux frontières : Passeport, s'il vous plaît.
Eric: Passport, please.
Joe : Bonjour. Voilà.
Eric: Hello. Here you are.
Policier aux frontières : Durée de votre séjour ?
Eric: Length of stay?
Joe : Vous pouvez répéter, s'il vous plaît ?
Eric: Can you repeat, please?
Policier aux frontières : Quelle est la durée de votre séjour ?
Eric: What is the length of your stay?
Joe : Deux semaines.
Eric: Two weeks.
Policier aux frontières : Lieu de votre séjour ?
Eric: Place of stay?
Joe : Hôtel du Louvre.
Eric: Louvre Hotel.
Policier aux frontières : Motif de votre séjour ?
Eric: Purpose of your stay?
Joe : Vous pouvez répéter s'il vous plaît ? Lentement, s'il vous plait ?
Eric: Can you repeat, please? More slowly?
Policier aux frontières : Quel est le motif de votre séjour ?
Eric: What is the purpose of your stay?
Joe : Affaires et tourisme.
Eric: Business and sight seeing.
Policier aux frontières : D'accord. Merci. Bon séjour en France.
Eric: Okay. Thank you. Enjoy your stay in France.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Eric: Joe must have a work visa I guess.
Virginie: Yes, un visa de travail, a work visa.
Eric: So is it difficult to enter France?
Virginie: Well, it depends on your situation, of course.
Eric: Okay. So if you are a student or if you are there for work, it’s probably pretty easy.
Virginie: It is very easy.
Eric: Are there a lot of people who immigrate to France?
Virginie: Yes, there are people coming from the other EU countries and there are also people coming from former colonies.
Eric: And traditionally France has been pretty welcoming to immigrants, right?
Virginie: Yes. Actually, France at three points in its history needed people from abroad. So was obviously welcoming, right.
Eric: So I guess in the 1850s, they needed labor. Then after World War I.
Virginie: Oui, to compensate the war dead.
Eric: And then also finally in the 1970s to get more labor as well.
Virginie: Yes, and these were immigrants from former colonies like Algeria, for example.
Eric: France is a very multicultural nation.
Virginie: Oh, oui, oui, oui although nowadays immigration policies are getting really strict. So it’s not as easy to get in.
Eric: It is interesting. They also opened an immigration museum recently in Paris.
Virginie: Right.
Eric: And so you can go if you get the chance and see the entire history of people coming into France from everywhere else in the world.
Virginie: Yes it’s very interesting.
Eric: Well, let’s have a look at some of the vocabulary.
VOCAB LIST
Virginie: une durée [natural native speed]
Eric: a length
Virginie: une durée [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: une durée [natural native speed]
: Next:
Virginie: une semaine [natural native speed]
Eric: a week
Virginie: une semaine [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: une semaine [natural native speed]
: Next:
Virginie: un motif [natural native speed]
Eric: a reason
Virginie: un motif [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: un motif [natural native speed]
: Next:
Virginie: les affaires [natural native speed]
Eric: belongings, business
Virginie: les affaires [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: les affaires [natural native speed]
: Next:
Virginie: le tourisme [natural native speed]
Eric: the tourism
Virginie: le tourisme [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: le tourisme [natural native speed]
: Next:
Virginie: Deux semaines [natural native speed]
Eric: two weeks
Virginie: Deux semaines [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: Deux semaines [natural native speed]
: Next:
Virginie: un lieu [natural native speed]
Eric: a place
Virginie: un lieu [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Virginie: un lieu [natural native speed]
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
Eric: Ok, so the officer says "duree de votre sejour"
Virginie: Yes and that's length of your stay.
Eric: Sejour is "stay."
Virginie: Yes and to use it you could say "je passe un bon sejour"
Eric: That would be "I am spending a good stay." literally
Virginie: Yes again that's je passe
Eric: I am spending
Virginie: Un bon
Eric: A good
Virginie: Sejour
Eric: stay.
Virginie: So, do you think our officer here is being friendly enough?
Eric: Yes, she repeats when Joe asks her too.
Virginie: True. And she actually says at the very end "bon sejour en France
Eric: Which is "have un good stay in France"
Virginie: Oui
Eric: So what is "bon voyage"?
Virginie: Bon voyage is "have a good trip!
Eric: Oh I see. Now, what else does our officer ask Joe?
Virginie: She asks "duree de votre sejour"
Eric: Yes and that's "length of your stay. Let's break it down by syllable
Virginie: Duree
Eric: Length
Virginie: de
Eric: Of
Virginie: Votre sejour
Eric: And that's your stay
Virginie: Oui. duree de votre sejour.
Eric: Typical customs question
Virginie: Exactly. We particularly watch Americans entering the country!
Eric: Yeah they're suspicious.
Virginie: Ahaha
Eric: Now what's her next question?
Virginie: It's "motif de votre sejour?
Eric: Ahh, motif.
Virginie: Yes that means reason of your stay
Eric: Are there other words for "reason" that she could have used?
Virginie: Oui, par example, for example, "raison"
Eric: That sounds like the English Reason.
virginie: Yes, but here the officer uses protocolar French, administrative French if you want
Eric: So the word motif is more of a formal word for "reason"
Virginie: Oui c'est ca. Yes, that's it.
Eric: Alright. So quick recap
Virginie: We have "duree de votre sejour?
Eric: Length of your stay?
Virginie: Motif de votre sejour
Eric: Reason of your stay.
Virginie: good. that will be it for vocabulary.
Eric: Yes, now is time for grammar

Lesson focus

Virginie: Our focus today is the question beginning with quel
Eric: Oh yes, that's what the officer says after Joe asks her to repeat.
Virginie: Yes instead of shortening her questions
Eric: And that's what she does when she only say "duree de votre sejour"
Virginie: she asks a complete question with "quelle"
Eric: Yes, now the interrogative "quelles meqns what.
Virginie: And we know you are wondering "but, they said in a previous lesson that what was "qu'est-ce que"
Eric: Well, the French language has many ways to say what.
Virginie: So we are going to explain the difference between the use of quelle and the use of qu'est-ce que
Eric: It's a very usual confusion among french language learners
Virginie: OK c'est parti.
Eric: let's take our dialog as an example
Virginie: YEs the officer says "quelle est la duree de votre sejour
Eric: "what is the length of your stay"
Virginie: now we need a question with qu'est-ce que
Eric: Well, in a previous lesson there was one
Virginie: Oui it was "qu'est-ce que vous faites?
Eric: What do you do?
Virginie: So, it's easy. In the question Qu'est-ce que vous fqites qu'est-ce que is followed by a personal pronoun, vous
Eric: That's true. So, each time you want to ask "what do you? what does he? what do we? you need to use qu'est-ce que
Virginie: Whereas when you want to ask What is the problem? or what is the capital of France you will use quel
Eric: So, to recap, when "what" is followed by q personal pronoun such as tu
Virginie: Use qu'est-ce que
Eric: And when "what"is followed by the verb to be, etre, as in "quelle EST la duree de votre sejour
Virginie: Use "quel. Now one exception
Eric: The question "what is it", although it's followed by the verb to be, is qu'est-ce que c'est.
Virginie: That's one exception. There are a few others, but not a lot
Eric: We hope that helps!
Virginie: Now you will use quel in other situations too
Eric: YEs each time you can replace "what" by "which"
Virginie: Use quel. Example. Which T-shirt is this?
Eric: Quel est ce T-shirt?
Virginie: Or...which T-shirt do you want?
Eric: Quel T-shirt tu veux?
Virginie: OK if you're not sure yet, listen to the lesson once again.
Eric: Yes it's a tricky grammar point.
Virginie: Now an important detail about quel
Eric: Yes, quel agrees to the gender of the noun it is related to
Virginie: therefore, although the pronunciation doesn't change,
Eric: The spelling will be different whether it's masculine, feminine and plural.
Virginie: You will find all the spellings in the lesson notes!

Outro

Virginie: Alright, thank you all for listening! And bye, Eric.
Eric: Take care, Virginie.

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