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Lesson Transcript

Salut, je m'appelle Ingrid. Hi everybody! I’m Ingrid.
Welcome to FrenchPod101.com’s “Le français en 3 minutes”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn French.
In the last lesson, we learned the most common forms of greetings in French. Do you remember them?
In this lesson we’re going to learn a very useful phrase: “Do you speak English?”
If you find yourself in a situation where you need assistance in English, this phrase can be a lifesaver. And because you’re asking it in French, you can be sure that everyone will understand what you’re saying, even if their answer is no.
Here's the informal way to say it.
Est-ce que tu parles anglais?
[slowly] Est-ce que tu parles anglais?
In French, verbs change depending on the pronoun that is used. Please notice the word “tu” in this middle of the sentence. Remember that this is the informal way to say “you?” The next word is the verb, parler, which means to speak. Because it is referring to “tu,” it is conjugated to tu parles.
Est-ce que is an interrogative form to introduce the question. It is similar to the English word "Do" here. And you probably recognize “anglais” to be “English.”
Est-ce que tu parles anglais?
To learn how to properly conjugate -er verbs, like parler, please look at our Absolute Beginner series on FrenchPod101.com. You can find very detailed grammar lessons and resources there!
We’re now going to make this sentence formal. First, we need to use the formal version of “you,” which is Vous. If we change the word for “you,” we will conjugate parler differently. It becomes parlez. Everything else stays the same:
Est-ce que vous parlez anglais?
[slowly] Est-ce que vous parlez anglais?
Adding excusez-moi , "excuse-me", the sentence becomes even more polite:
Excusez-moi, est-ce que vous parlez anglais?
[slowly] Excusez-moi, est-ce que vous parlez anglais?
The responses you will receive could be one of these three:
Ouì. "Yes."
[slowly] Oui.
Un peu. "A little."
[slowly] un peu.
Non, je ne parle pas anglais. "No, I don’t speak English."
[slowly] Non, je ne parle pas anglais.
Since this last one is a negative statement, we need to say ne before the verb, parle, and pas after it. Notice also that the verb, parle is slightly different than parlez. Remember, the verb changes depending on the pronoun used. We are now talking about je, French for "I," Thus “I do not speak” is:
Je ne parle pas.
Now it’s time for Ingrid’s Insights.
For those of you who are not only English speakers, you can obviously use this question with any language you need. French people study other European languages at school, so maybe you will get lucky! Just substitute anglais with…
Italien for Italian.
Russe for Russian.
Espagnol for Spanish.
Allemand for German.
In this lesson we mentioned the expression excusez-moi. But did you know that this could also be used as an apology? In the next lesson we will learn this and other ways to apologize in French. It’s never too late to show your good manners with French people!
I'll see you in our next Le français en 3 minutes lesson.
À bientôt!

Comments

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25 Comments
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FrenchPod101.com
2012-08-17 18:30:00

Bonjour! Est-ce que tu parles anglais?

Angel
2019-12-15 01:08:38

Bonjour gens est-ce vous parler espagnol?

Frenchpod101.com
2019-09-02 05:09:49

Bonjour Mohammed !

The difference is with "le tutoiement" and "le vouvoiement".

Plus d'informations ici: https://www.frenchpod101.com/lesson/audio-blog-lesson-s3-24-saying-hello-in-french-doesnt-have-to-be-difficult/

Bon dimanche !

Marie Alice

Team FrenchPod101.com

Mohamed
2019-09-01 01:37:13

Hello,

Would you please answer my question

what is the difference between "Parlez-vous Anglais?" and "Est-ce que tu parles anglais?"

FrenchPod101.com
2018-08-02 01:20:45

Hi Mohamed,

Thank you for posting!

We hope to see you often at FrenchPod101.com!

@James,

Thank you for your message. At the moment we don't have the option to save the voice recordings.

Thank you for your kind understanding.

Sincerely,

Cristiane

Team FrenchPod101.com

Mohamed
2018-07-31 00:38:01

merci beacoup

James
2018-07-27 14:23:41

Can I save my voice recordings somehow?

FrenchPod101.com
2017-06-12 20:36:31

Bonjour Nisma,

Great to have you here!

Please stay tuned, as we'll have new lessons for you every week! And if you have any questions, feel free to ask us. ;)

Cristiane

Team FrenchPod101.com

nisma
2017-06-12 14:12:59

❤I love Frenchpod101.com and I love French vocabulary

FrenchPod101.com
2017-03-06 20:12:46

Bonjour Ash,

Thank you for your positive comment.

Have a great day!:wink:

Cristiane

Team FrenchPod101.com

ash
2017-03-05 11:40:33

good stuff

FrenchPod101.com
2017-01-18 00:08:23

Merci Brenos pour votre réponse ! :smile:

A bientôt !

Marie Alice

Team FrenchPod101.com

Breno dos anjos
2017-01-13 06:12:10

Bonjour! Ouì, Je parle l'anglais un peu et je peux parler le portugais très bien.

Marco
2016-12-09 04:47:08

This classes are the best. I really enjoy learning french!

karmen Pereira
2016-10-03 03:26:29

I love your french class. Thank you a lot.

kenan5hao
2016-06-04 18:33:58

Merci!

FrenchPod101.com
2016-01-07 17:07:54

Hi Kayla,

I personally would like to ask you to talk with your parents and show them how strong you want to study French : ) But if you'd like to find the solution within your lifetime account I'd like to let you know that with your free lifetime account, you can still check the newest lessons published within three weeks.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Thank you,

Jae

Team FrenchPod101.com

kayla
2016-01-03 08:05:48

salut je mapple Jakayla glover I am 11 years old and I love your website but I can't learn French because I have to pay to learn French :sob: :disappointed: :angry:

FrenchPod101.com
2014-10-21 00:33:04

Bonjour Zaidi,

Merci pour vos messages !

Pour demander à quelqu'un si il parle anglais il y a deux façons :

- Parlez-vous anglais ? (more polite)

- Parles-tu anglais ?

Bonne journée !

Marie Alice

Team FrenchPod101.com

zaidi1300
2014-10-14 17:15:25

Pourquoi ne pas Ingrid avoir son propre profil? Pouvez-vous s'il vous plaît demander aux responsables du langage innovant de faire un Urdupod101.com ou Urduclass101.com et même Pashtopod101 ou Pashtoclass101, S'IL VOUS PLAÎT.

:sob:

zaidi1300
2014-10-14 17:10:07

COMMENT ALLEZ-VOUS ?

TU BIEN?

ET

CA VA?

:smile:

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