Learn how to respond to questions a customs officer might ask you when you're entering France
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| 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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