INTRODUCTION |
Greg: Hello everyone, Iโm Greg, and welcome to FrenchPod101.com. Love at First Sight in France. Thanks for joining us for this series! |
Mailys: Bonjour ร tous. This is Mailys. In this lesson, youโll learn how to say the verb โto beโ in French, โรชtreโ. |
Greg: Two guys, Jacques and his friend Marcel, are sitting in a cafรฉ and noticed a beautiful girl. |
Mailys: They are good friends, so they will be using informal French. |
Greg: Letโs listen to the conversation! |
DIALOGUE |
Jacques: Marcel, la fille devant est vraiment belle. |
Marcel: Ah oui, elle est trรจs belle. |
Jacques: Elle est seule aussi. |
Marcel: Oui, comme toi. |
Jacques: Elle est belle, elle est seule et moi, je suis... je suis... amoureux ! |
Marcel: Tu es amoureux ?! Dรฉjร ?! |
Gerg: Letโs hear the conversation one time slowly. |
Jacques: Marcel, la fille devant est vraiment belle. |
Marcel: Ah oui, elle est trรจs belle. |
Jacques: Elle est seule aussi. |
Marcel: Oui, comme toi. |
Jacques: Elle est belle, elle est seule et moi, je suis... je suis... amoureux ! |
Marcel: Tu es amoureux ?! Dรฉjร ?! |
Gerg: Now letโs hear it with the English translation. |
Jacques: Marcel, la fille devant est vraiment belle. |
Greg: Marcel, the girl in front is really pretty. |
Marcel: Ah oui, elle est trรจs belle. |
Greg: Oh yes, she's very pretty. |
Jacques: Elle est seule aussi. |
Greg: She's alone, too. |
Marcel: Oui, comme toi. |
Greg: Yes, like you. |
Jacques: Elle est belle, elle est seule et moi, je suis... je suis... amoureux ! |
Greg: She's pretty, she's single and I'mโฆ I'mโฆ in love! |
Marcel: Tu es amoureux ?! Dรฉjร ?! |
Greg: Youโre in love?! Already?! |
POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
Greg: So, Mailys... learning a second language takes a lot of time and effort, but English speakers learning French have one major advantage - cognates. |
Mailys: Definitely! These are words that are similar in both languages. |
Greg: Right. Over 1000 years ago, a large number of French words entered the English language. Although these words have evolved separately for a long time, many words are still easily recognizable. |
Mailys: For example, in this lesson, we had โseulโ |
Greg: which means โsoleโ, as in โsingleโ |
Mailys: โamoureuxโ |
Greg: meaning โamorousโ |
Greg: or more recent borrowings like โbeauโ, โbelleโ and โdรฉjร โ as in dรฉjร -vu |
Mailys: which means โalready seenโ or โseen beforeโ. |
Greg: While you need to pay attention to the French pronunciation of these words, you should definitely use these cognates to your advantage! Ok, letโs move on to the vocabulary. |
VOCAB LIST |
Greg: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
The first word we shall see is: |
Mailys: fille [natural native speed] |
Greg: girl, daughter |
Mailys: fille [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Mailys: fille [natural native speed] |
Next: |
Mailys: devant [natural native speed] |
Greg: in front, ahead |
Mailys: devant [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Mailys: devant [natural native speed] |
Next: |
Mailys: vraiment [natural native speed] |
Greg: really |
Mailys: vraiment [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Mailys: vraiment [natural native speed] |
Next: |
Mailys: รชtre [natural native speed] |
Greg: to be |
Mailys: รชtre [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Mailys: รชtre [natural native speed] |
Next: |
Mailys: trรจs [natural native speed] |
Greg: very |
Mailys: trรจs [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Mailys: trรจs [natural native speed] |
Next: |
Mailys: beau, belle [natural native speed] |
Greg: beautiful, handsome, pretty |
Mailys: beau, belle [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Mailys: beau, belle [natural native speed] |
Next: |
Mailys: seul [natural native speed] |
Greg: alone, sole, single, lonely, only |
Mailys: seul [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Mailys: seul [natural native speed] |
Next: |
Mailys: aussi [natural native speed] |
Greg: too, also |
Mailys: aussi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Mailys: aussi [natural native speed] |
Next: |
Mailys: comme [natural native speed] |
Greg: as, like |
Mailys: comme [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Mailys: comme [natural native speed] |
Next: |
Mailys: toi [natural native speed] |
Greg: you |
Mailys: toi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Mailys: toi [natural native speed] |
Next: |
Mailys: et [natural native speed] |
Greg: and |
Mailys: et [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Mailys: et [natural native speed] |
Last: |
Mailys: dรฉjร [natural native speed] |
Greg: already |
Mailys: dรฉjร [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Mailys: dรฉjร [natural native speed] |
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
Greg: Letโs take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. Letโs start with โseulโ. |
Mailys: โSeulโ has a lot of meanings in French. |
Greg: It does, but they all revolve around the concept of โonly oneโ. |
Mailys: Yes, โJacques est seulโ can mean that Jacques is โaloneโ, โsingleโ or โlonelyโ. |
Greg: This may seem confusing, but the meaning is usually clear from the context. |
Mailys: In the dialogue, when Jacques and Marcel say about the girl โelle est seuleโ, they donโt know if she is single or lonely, so they mean that she is alone. |
Greg: โSeulโ is a typical French adjective - to make it feminine, simply add โ-eโ at the end of the word. However, this โ-eโ is not pronounced. We distinguish the masculine and feminine forms in writing, but spoken, they sound the same |
Mailys: โil est seul,โ |
Greg: โHe is singleโ |
Mailys: โelle est seuleโ |
Greg: โshe is singleโ |
Greg: Letโs now look at another adjective, โbeauโ, which means good-looking. |
Mailys: โJacques est beauโ means โJacques is handsome.โ You have the word โbeauโ in English so itโs easy to remember. What about the feminine form? |
Greg: Beau has an irregular feminine form, โbelleโ, meaning โprettyโ or โbeautifulโ. So โMireille is beautifulโ becomesโฆ |
Mailys: โMireille est belle.โ |
Greg: Exactly. So if I want to say โIโm handsomeโ, Iโd say โje suis beauโ. |
Mailys: And Iโd say โje suis belle!โ |
Greg: Let's now look at the adverb โvraimentโ, meaning โreallyโ or โtrulyโ. |
Mailys: In English, adverbs are constructed by adding โ-lyโ to adjectives, but in French, we add โmentโ. |
Greg: โVraimentโ is made from โvraiโ, meaning โtrueโ, and โyouโ โ-mentโ. |
Mailys: โElle est vraiment belle โฆโ |
Greg: means โshe is really pretty.โ You can also turn other adjectives into adverbs. |
Mailys: If you take โseulโ and you add โmentโ you get โseulementโ, meaning โonlyโ. |
Greg: And donโt forget - French adverbs go after the verb! Ok, letโs move on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus
|
Greg: In this lesson, youโll learn about the verb โto beโ in French. |
Mailys: โรชtreโ. |
Greg: Itโs probably the most common verb in French, so itโs really important to learn it right from the beginning. Letโs look at the present tense conjugation. |
Mailys: je suis |
Greg: I am |
Mailys: tu es |
Greg: you are (informal singular) |
Mailys: il est /elle est |
Greg: he is / she is |
Mailys: nous sommes |
Greg: we are |
Mailys: vous รชtes |
Greg: you are (polite or plural) |
Mailys: ils sont / elles sont |
Greg: they are (ils is masculine, elles is feminine) |
Mailys: Since โรชtreโ is an irregular verb, in writing, every person has a different form. |
Greg: But spoken, โtu esโ and โil estโ sound the same. |
Mailys: Can you explain what happens with โvousโ? |
Greg: The final โsโ in โvousโ is silent, but before a vowel, it sounds like a โzโ, so we getโฆ |
Mailys: โvous รชtes..... โvous รชtesโ [once separating syllables, then once normally]. This process is called liaison. |
Greg: A lot of French words end in a consonant that isnโt pronounced. But when the next word starts with a vowel, that consonant can surface again. |
Mailys: If you think of โvous รชtesโ as a single unit, you wonโt forget liaison. Just remember this compliment - โvous รชtes belle!โ or โvous รชtes beau!โ |
Greg: Merci, Mailys! |
Mailys: โDe rien,โ โyouโre welcome.โ |
Greg: Here are some other examples of how you can use โรชtreโ |
Mailys: Jacques est devant moi |
Greg: Jacques is in front of me. |
Mailys: Vous รชtes belle |
Greg: You are beautiful. |
Mailys: Ils sont seuls |
Greg: They are alone. |
Greg: The adjective that follows the verb to be agrees in number and gender with the subject. |
Mailys: That's why we have โvous รชtes belleโ... |
Greg: where โbelleโ is feminine singular because โvousโ refers to a woman in this example, |
Mailys: and โils sont seulsโ... |
Greg: where โseulsโ is masculine plural, like the subject. |
Mailys: A, in the dialogue, Marcel says โcomme toiโ, meaning โlike youโ, and Jacques says โmoi, je suis amoureux,โ meaning โIโm in love.โ Can you tell us about โmoiโ and โtoiโ? |
Greg: โMoiโ and โtoiโ are called strong pronouns. They have the same meaning as โjeโ and โtuโ, but they are used away from the verb. |
Mailys: โJeโ and โtuโ are always stuck to the verb, but โmoiโ and โtoiโ can be alone or with a preposition. |
Greg: For instance, if I ask โฆโwho wants pizza?โ |
Mailys: โMoi!โ |
Greg: And to say โin front of youโ, what would you say? |
Mailys: Devant toi. |
Greg: In English, we can emphasize the subject and say Youโre not alone, but not in French. |
Mailys: Instead, we add a strong pronoun -- โmoi, je suis seulโ. |
Greg: Thatโs why we sometimes hear French speakers say things like โMe, Iโm hungryโ. Here are some more examples |
Mailys: Moi, je suis seul |
Greg: Iโm alone |
Mailys: Toi, tu es belle |
Greg: You are pretty |
Outro
|
Greg: Ok, thatโs it for this lesson! Join us for the next lesson to find out if Jacques will talk to Mireille! |
Mailys: I canโt wait! ร bientรดt! |
Greg: See you soon! |
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