Learn how to construct "if" clauses to form both likely and unlikely hypotheses
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Virginie: Bonjour à tous, this is Virginie and welcome to frenchpod101.com. I’m here with JP. |
| JP: Hi everyone, bonjour. This is JP. Intermediate series, season 1, lesson 1 - If you don’t leave France, is it still a vacation? |
| Virginie: And this is the first lesson of our intermediate series and the first lesson of this series. |
| JP: And the theme of this mini-series is traveling, so we’ll be talking about travel topics. |
| Virginie: And this is gonna run for five lessons. |
| JP: Okay. |
| Virginie: Welcome, again, to FrenchPod101.com, it’s a very fun way to learn French, because we are funny people. |
| JP: That’s right, and remember to go to the website, which is FrenchPod101.com. In there you can check out things in the learning center, like the PDF, you can do the flashcards of the lesson, you can do the line-by-line audio, there’s all kinds of things you can do if you go to FrenchPod101.com. And while you’re there, you can think about buying a subscription, we’d like that. |
| Virginie: So what's going on today? What are we gonna talk about? |
| JP: So it looks like in this lesson about travel, we’re gonna learn about how to make hypothetical statements. That’s my hypothesis anyway. |
| Virginie: So this is gonna be a lesson full of doubt, everyone, so be prepared. And in our lesson, dans notre leçon, un couple se dispute. |
| JP: So a couple is fighting. |
| Virginie: Because... Ils ne sont pas d'accord sur leur projet de voyage. |
| JP: They’re fighting about the travel plans, they’re not agreeing about it. |
| Virginie: On écoutons, JP? |
| JP: Yes, we’ll listen, but before we do, Virginie, we should remind our listeners that they can follow along with the PDF. |
| Virginie: Yes, you know that you can follow the lesson notes on the PDF while you listen. |
| JP: And those lesson notes are found on FrenchPod101.com |
| Virginie: Absolument, let’s listen to the conversation now. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Elle : Alors, mon amour, on fait quoi pendant les vacances ? |
| Lui : Écoute, tu sais bien qu’on n’a pas un radis. |
| Elle (N'écoute pas) : Voyons … moi j’irais bien à Tahiti. |
| Lui: Hein ?! Tahiti ! Tu rêves! |
| Elle : Ah… si on avait de l’argent, je voyagerais un peu … |
| Lui : Oui, mais on n’a pas d’argent. |
| Elle : Si tu travaillais, on aurait de l’argent. On n’irait pas encore à la campagne. |
| Lui : Allez… c’est parti… jamais contente. Et puis tu aimes bien la campagne, non ? |
| Elle (sarcastique) : Oui, c’est vrai, ce serait dommage de rater Trifouillis-Les-Oies ! |
| Lui : Voilà, tout de suite, les sarcasmes. À chaque fois c’est la même chose. Si ça continue, je te paie un aller simple pour Papeete. |
| *Papeete est la capitale de Tahiti. |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Elle : Alors, mon amour, on fait quoi pendant les vacances ? |
| Lui : Écoute, tu sais bien qu’on n’a pas un radis. |
| Elle (N'écoute pas) : Voyons … moi j’irais bien à Tahiti. |
| Lui : Hein ?! Tahiti ! Tu rêves ! |
| Elle : Ah… si on avait de l’argent, je voyagerais un peu … |
| Lui : Oui, mais on n’a pas d’argent. |
| Elle : Si tu travaillais, on aurait de l’argent. On n’irait pas encore à la campagne. |
| Lui : Allez… c’est parti… jamais contente. Et puis tu aimes bien la campagne, non ? |
| Elle (sarcastique) : Oui, c’est vrai, ce serait dommage de rater Trifouillis-Les-Oies ! |
| Lui : Voilà, tout de suite, les sarcasmes. À chaque fois c’est la même chose. Si ça continue, je te paie un aller simple pour Papeete. |
| *Papeete est la capitale de Tahiti. |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Elle : Alors, mon amour, on fait quoi pendant les vacances ? |
| JP: So, my love, what are we doing for our vacation? |
| Lui : Écoute, tu sais bien qu’on n’a pas un radis. |
| JP: Look, you know well that we are broke. |
| Elle (N'écoute pas) : Voyons … moi j’irais bien à Tahiti. |
| JP: Let's see…I'd love to go to Tahiti. |
| Lui : Hein ?! Tahiti ! Tu rêves ! |
| JP: What? Tahiti! You're dreaming! |
| Elle : Ah… si on avait de l’argent, je voyagerais un peu … |
| JP: Ah…if we had money, we could travel a little… |
| Lui : Oui, mais on n’a pas d’argent. |
| JP: Yes, but we don't have money. |
| Elle : Si tu travaillais, on aurait de l’argent. On n’irait pas encore à la campagne. |
| JP: If you worked, we would have money. We would not go to the country again. |
| Lui : Allez… c’est parti… jamais contente. Et puis tu aimes bien la campagne, non ? |
| JP: There we go again…never happy. Besides, you like the country, don't you? |
| Elle (sarcastique) : Oui, c’est vrai, ce serait dommage de rater Trifouillis-Les-Oies ! |
| JP: (sarcastic) Yes, that's true, it would be a shame to miss Trifouillis-Les-Oies! |
| Lui : Voilà, tout de suite, les sarcasmes. À chaque fois c’est la même chose. Si ça continue, je te paie un aller simple pour Papeete. |
| JP: There we go, sarcasm right away. Every time it's the same. If it goes on like this, I'll buy you a one-way ticket to Papeete*. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| JP: All right, this conversation was about the choice between an exotic fun vacation and a vacation in the countryside, right? |
| Virginie: Oui, elle veut aller a Tahiti et il veut aller a la campagne. |
| JP: She wants to go to Tahiti and he wants out in the countryside...so what is this "Trifouillis-les-Oies", |
| Virginie: Trifouillis-les-Oies |
| JP: Is it a real place? |
| Virginie: Non. En fait, in fact, Trifoullis-les-Oies is a fictional place that French people use to talk about places in the middle of nowhere, where nothing exciting happens, ever. |
| JP: So, like, out in the goonies? |
| Virginie: Right. |
| JP: So it’s a place where you DON'T want to spend your vacation. |
| Virginie: And literally it means something like "Rummage on the Geese" |
| JP: "Rummage on the Geese"!! Trifouillis-les-Oies, rummage on the geese! I always wonder how you guys come up with things. |
| Virginie: Well I guess the word “geese” |
| JP: les oies |
| Virginie: les oies, it actually refers to the country or something like that. |
| JP: Ok, this is etymology by Virginie. |
| Virginie: Exactly, I was raised on etymology. It’s my drug. |
| JP: And wine |
| Virginie: And wine. Donc vous prenez Virginie, vous prenez du vin, vous prenez d’etymology, et vous avez FrenchPod101.com. |
| JP: That's a great equation, wine, etymology, and Virginie, at Frenchpod101.com |
| Virginie: Exactly. |
| JP: Ok, let's stop with the sarcasm and let’s take a look at the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Virginie: voyons [natural native speed] |
| JP: let's see |
| Virginie: voyons [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: voyons [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: les sarcasmes [natural native speed] |
| JP: sarcasm |
| Virginie: les sarcasmes [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: les sarcasmes [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: c'est dommage [natural native speed] |
| JP: it's a shame |
| Virginie: c'est dommage [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: c'est dommage [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: rater [natural native speed] |
| JP: to miss, to mess up |
| Virginie: rater [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: rater [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: un aller simple [natural native speed] |
| JP: a one-way ticket |
| Virginie: un aller simple [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: un aller simple [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: allez [natural native speed] |
| JP: come on |
| Virginie: allez [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: allez [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: tout de suite [natural native speed] |
| JP: right away, right now |
| Virginie: tout de suite [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: tout de suite [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: ne pas avoir un radis [natural native speed] |
| JP: to be broke, to not have a penny |
| Virginie: ne pas avoir un radis [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: ne pas avoir un radis [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: prendre du bon temps [natural native speed] |
| JP: to have a good time |
| Virginie: prendre du bon temps [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: prendre du bon temps [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Virginie: c'est parti [natural native speed] |
| JP: here we go again, let's go |
| Virginie: c'est parti [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: c'est parti [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| JP: Let's take a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. What’s first? |
| Virginie: The first one is "on n'a pas un radis" |
| JP: To not have a radish. |
| Virginie: Exactly, that's literal, and that's casual, actually, and that means... |
| JP: To be broke, to not have a penny, not even a radish. |
| Virginie: Yes, exactly, not not even a radish. |
| JP: Wow, that’s not having much. |
| Virginie: If you have a potato, you’d be alright. But if you don’t have a radish... |
| JP: Then you got nothing! |
| Virginie: Yeah, I’m not making any sense right now… But, anyway. You need to know that this expression is casual. |
| JP: On, here, means “we,” so we don’t have money. |
| Virginie: "On n'a pas un radis" |
| JP: Now later he said the standard expression ... |
| Virginie: "On n'a pas d'argent" |
| JP: We don't have any money. So, in France, if you have a radish, you can pay for things |
| Virginie: Oui parfois on paye avec des pommes de terre aussi. |
| JP: Ahah sometimes you pay with potatoes. |
| Virginie: Les francais sont rustiques. French are rustic. |
| JP: I love vegetable idioms. |
| Virginie: I will give you un aller simple to vegetable land. |
| JP: Is that a transition to the word "un aller simple?" |
| Virginie: Oui, c'etaitt nul, je sais. It was lame, I know |
| JP: Mais non! By the way that's the word for a one-way ticket |
| Virginie: Oui. Il veut envoyer sa copine a Papeete |
| JP: He wants rto send his girlfriend to Papeete |
| Virginie: Pour toujours |
| JP: Forever. How tragic. So un aller simple is composed of two words |
| Virginie: First aller, in the infinitive form, and simple, which is simple. |
| JP: So a one way ticket in French is literally "a simple to go" |
| Virginie: Hehe and vous pouvez demander un aller simple dans le bus |
| JP: You can ask for un aller simple in the bus |
| Virginie: Pour le train, etc |
| JP: For a train ride etc...what about a round trip ticket? |
| Virginie: C'est un aller retour |
| JP: So literally a to go - return |
| Virginie: Oui. bon. un peu de grammaire maintenant |
| JP: Oui, grammar time. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Virginie: Aujourd'hui, nous allons faire des hypothèse |
| JP: We're going to make hypothetical statements. |
| Virginie: si, si, si |
| JP: Why are you saying yes in Spanish Virginie? |
| Virginie: Mais non, si, en francais, ca veut dire "if" |
| JP: Oh it means "if"...I guess I thought I was on Spanishpod101 |
| Virginie: ok si on regarde le dialogue |
| JP: If we look at the dialogue... |
| Virginie: There are a few examples. We'll take just one |
| Jp: Lequel? Which one? |
| Virginie: I kind of like the line "si tu travaillais on aurait de l'argent" |
| JP: Aha "if you worked we would have money", that's what I call resent |
| Virginie: He's probably very lazy, il est feignant!! |
| JP: Feignant is lazy in French. |
| Virginie: Oui. Donc, elle dit si tu travaillais...elle utilise l'imparfait |
| JP: She uses the imperfect tense. In English it would be if you worked... |
| Virginie: OUi, et apres elle fait une hypothèse avec le conditionnel! |
| JP: She's amazing， that lady. OK she makes a hypothetical statement using the conditionnel, can we hear it, Virginie? |
| Virginie: "on aurait de l'argent" |
| JP: We would have money. So here the conditional, which the tense of hypothetical actions, is "aurait" |
| Virginie: C'est le verbe avoir. |
| JP: To have. So here "on aurait" is "we would have". |
| Virginie: Absolument. |
| JP: The conditional tense is very easy as it's the equivalent as the "would" form in English..I would go, I would find etc. |
| Virginie: Before we get to the conjugation rule, we'd like to recap the whole structure of our sentence |
| JP: OK. The First part of the sentence is starting with "si", if and is in the imperfect tense |
| Virginie: si tu travaillais |
| JP: If you worked. And the second part of the sentence uses the conditional tense |
| Virginie: On aurait de l'argent |
| JP: We would have money |
| Virginie: OK, if you look closely to the dialogue, or listen to it again, you will find this structure several times. |
| JP: Now how do we conjugate our hypothesis, Virginie? |
| Virginie: C'est tres facile. Take the infinitive of your verb |
| JP: OK for example in the dialogue "voyager" in the sentence"on voyagerait un peu" |
| Virginie: Oui, "voyagerait" c'est l'infinitif de "voyager" plus the ending corresponding to the pronoun "je" |
| JP: " and that's AIS |
| Virginie: (in French) A-I-S |
| Jp: So that's easy, keep your infinitive form and add the right ending. |
| Virginie: Oui la bonne terminaison, the right ending. You'll find those in the PDF of this lesson |
| JP: Or in the conjugation chart at Frenchpod101.com |
| Virginie: Donc je voyagerais is of course |
| JP: I would travel.Now some verbs are irregular in French as you know |
| Virginie: Yes some of the main ones are in the dialogue as well. Il y a "avoir" |
| JP: We just it, "to have". |
| Virginie: Ensuite, il y a "etre", to be |
| JP: Then you'll find "pouvoir", can. |
| Virginie: All in the conditional tense. |
Outro |
| JP: Alright, now have fun and thanks for listening. |
| Virginie: Bye, everyone. |
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110 Comments
HideWhat did you think of this lesson?
Bonjour Chris,
My apologies! I actually misread the lesson notes but no, it's alright. You're right to say that with voyager, voyagions is the right conjugation at the imparfait, however in the lesson it clearly says present, so voyageons is correct.
Again, I'm sorry for the confusion!
Bonne journée,
Marion
Team FrenchPod101
Bonjour Russel,
The devil is in the detail, and here more precisely, it's in the tense! In "il rentrerait", the sentence is conjugated in conditionnel présent, and the conditional is, by definition, unsure. So "should" is correct here.
You could also say "il devrait rentrer", the meaning would be exactly the same!
Bonjour Chris,
On is less formal than nous, that's about the only difference between the two. In everyday conversation, we'd use "on" to be more natural. "Nous" is more written.
And yes, "on" is constructed like "il/elle".
Also, you're right about voyagions, that's the correct form in imparfait. I'll send an email to the team so they check this out.
Bonne journée,
Marion
Team FrenchPod101.com
Aussi, il dit en le texte -
"For example, to say "We traveled" at l'imparfait, take the verb voyager ("to travel") conjugated at the first person singular of the indicative present tense. You will have voyageons. Then drop the -ons ending and add the first person singular ending of l'imparfait, and you'll end up with Je voyageais ("I traveled.")."
C'est confundre moi. N'est pas il "Nous voyageions"??
Two quick questions -
Why do people use 'on' instead of 'nous'?
Is 'on' constructed the same as 'il/elle' so - "on fait un gateau" "on ecrit a mon ecole"?
Thanks!
again I am confused
to me, 'je rentrerait vers six heures' means 'he would come home around six o'clock'
but 'je devrais rentre vers six heures' means 'he should be home around six o'clock'
yet this is different from your lesson. Where am I wrong?
RW
Bonjour Nina,
No, it's not a mistake, just a question of point of view. In the sentence, "Si on avait de l'argent, je voyagerais un peu", the speaker talks about "on" as a unit to refer to their family, but then uses "je" to talk about their own personal goals and desires. "On" would have been correct as well, but here the speaker uses "Je" to put the emphasis on what THEY want on a personal level.
Bonne journée,
Marion
Team FrenchPod101
Hello... reading the transcripts (page 4) when 'Elle' says Ah...si on avait de l'argent, je voyagerais un peu
JP says: Ah...if we had money, we could travel a little.
Why is there je - which means I... is it a mistake or if not, please explain.
Bonjour Melvin,
Thank you for your comment, I'm glad you like JP & Virginie! 😄
Bonne journée,
Marion
Team FrenchPod101
Virginie and JP are the best ..I love the lessons more when they start to explain.
Bonjour David,
First, be careful with your spelling, it's "rater" (I'm guessing you made an auto-correct mistake, but I thought I'd mention it anyway!).
As for the difference, between rater & manquer:
- These two words share a common definition: to miss an event, though manquer gives the idea that you regret missing it, while rater means you don't mind not having been there.
Unique definition of "rater":
- Échoué (to fail) = J'ai raté mon examen (I failed my exam)
Unique definitions of "manquer":
- Ne pas suffire (to not be enough) = Ton gâteau manque de sucre (Your cake lacks sugar)
- In the expression "to miss someone" = Il me manque (I miss him)
I think that's about it! Hope this helps! 😄
Bonne journée,
Marion
Team FrenchPod101