Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Greg: Hello everyone, I’m Greg. How Many in a French Janitor's Dozen?
Mailys: Bonjour tout le monde. This is Mailys. In this lesson, we will learn about the imperative form used for giving orders.
Greg: Jacques buys flowers for Mireille and then offers them to her.
Mailys: He is using formal French at the florist’s, but informal French with Mireille.
Greg: Let’s listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Employée: Bonjour Monsieur ! Qu'est-ce que je peux faire pour vous ? Comment est-ce que je peux vous aider ?
Jacques: Donnez-moi une demi-douzaine de roses rouges, s'il-vous-plaît.
Employée: Très bien. Attendez un instant... Voilà. Ça fait 14 euros.
Jacques: Merci. Voici 15 euros. Gardez la monnaie !
Employée: Merci bien, monsieur. Bonne journée !
(...)
Mireille: Jacques, par ici !
Jacques: Mireille ! Vite, ferme les yeux !
Mireille: D'accord. Ils sont fermés !
Jacques: Garde-les fermés et donne-moi ta main! Tiens, mon amour !
Mireille: Oh ! Des roses rouges ! Tu es si romantique !...
Mireille: (speaking to herself) Pourquoi est-ce qu'il me donne seulement une demi-douzaine de roses ?
Greg: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly.
Employée: Bonjour Monsieur ! Qu'est-ce que je peux faire pour vous ? Comment est-ce que je peux vous aider ?
Jacques: Donnez-moi une demi-douzaine de roses rouges, s'il-vous-plaît.
Employée: Très bien. Attendez un instant... Voilà. Ça fait 14 euros.
Jacques: Merci. Voici 15 euros. Gardez la monnaie !
Employée: Merci bien, monsieur. Bonne journée !
(...)
Mireille: Jacques, par ici !
Jacques: Mireille ! Vite, ferme les yeux !
Mireille: D'accord. Ils sont fermés !
Jacques: Garde-les fermés et donne-moi ta main! Tiens, mon amour !
Mireille: Oh ! Des roses rouges ! Tu es si romantique !...
Mireille: (speaking to herself) Pourquoi est-ce qu'il me donne seulement une demi-douzaine de roses ?
Greg: Now let’s hear it with the English translation.
Employée: Bonjour Monsieur ! Qu'est-ce que je peux faire pour vous ? Comment est-ce que je peux vous aider ?
Employee: Hello, sir! What can I do for you? How may I help you?
Jacques: Donnez-moi une demi-douzaine de roses rouges, s'il-vous-plaît.
Jacques: Please give me half a dozen red roses.
Employée: Très bien. Attendez un instant... Voilà. Ça fait 14 euros.
Employee: Very well. Wait a moment... Here. That'll be fourteen euros.
Jacques: Merci. Voici 15 euros. Gardez la monnaie !
Jacques: Thanks. Here are fifteen euros. Keep the change!
Employée: Merci bien, monsieur. Bonne journée !
Employee: Thank you, sir. Have a nice day!
Mireille: Jacques, par ici !
Mireille: Jacques, I'm over here!
Jacques: Mireille ! Vite, ferme les yeux !
Jacques: Mireille! Quick, close your eyes!
Mireille: D'accord. Ils sont fermés !
Mireille: OK. They're closed!
Jacques: Garde-les fermés et donne-moi ta main! Tiens, mon amour !
Jacques: Keep them closed and give me your hand! Here you go, my love!
Mireille: Oh ! Des roses rouges ! Tu es si romantique !...
Mireille: Oh! Red roses! You are so romantic!...
Mireille: Pourquoi est-ce qu'il me donne seulement une demi-douzaine de roses ?
Mireille: (speaking to herself) Why is he giving me only half a dozen roses?
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Greg: Okay, so Jacques gave Mireille some roses as a symbol of his love, and so we thought we could talk about France's most famous gardens.
Mailys: Many French gardens are well-known throughout the world. For instance, Monet's Gardens, which have inspired many of Monet's own paintings.
Greg: And Le Jardin des Tuileries, right in the middle of Paris, has been there for centuries and hosts a few popular museums.
Mailys: But perhaps the most famous French garden of all is the Gardens of Versailles, located just outside of Paris.
Greg: It was founded in 1632 by King Louis the 13th. These gardens adjoin the Château de Versailles, and now cover 800 hectares of land. They’re both a world-class tourist destination and one of the most visited sites in France, with millions of visitors annually.
Mailys: Yes, Les Jardins de Versailles have more than 50 fountains and several bronze and marble statues, and the gardens are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Greg: Listeners, make sure you take a look when you’re in France! Now let’s go on to the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Greg: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.
The first word we shall see is:
Mailys: pouvoir [natural native speed]
Greg: can, to be able to
Mailys: pouvoir [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mailys: pouvoir [natural native speed]
Next:
Mailys: donner [natural native speed]
Greg: to give
Mailys: donner [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mailys: donner [natural native speed]
Next:
Mailys: douzaine [natural native speed]
Greg: dozen
Mailys: douzaine [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mailys: douzaine [natural native speed]
Next:
Mailys: rouge [natural native speed]
Greg: red
Mailys: rouge [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mailys: rouge [natural native speed]
Next:
Mailys: garder [natural native speed]
Greg: to keep
Mailys: garder [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mailys: garder [natural native speed]
Next:
Mailys: monnaie [natural native speed]
Greg: change, coins
Mailys: monnaie [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mailys: monnaie [natural native speed]
Next:
Mailys: vite [natural native speed]
Greg: fast
Mailys: vite [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mailys: vite [natural native speed]
Next:
Mailys: œil [natural native speed]
Greg: eye
Mailys: œil [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mailys: œil [natural native speed]
Next:
Mailys: fermer [natural native speed]
Greg: to close
Mailys: fermer [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mailys: fermer [natural native speed]
Next:
Mailys: tiens! [natural native speed]
Greg: here you go (informal)
Mailys: tiens! [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mailys: tiens! [natural native speed]
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Greg: Let’s take a closer look at some of the vocab and phrases from this lesson. Let's start with a very common verb, pouvoir, which means “to be able to”, or “can”. It's an irregular verb. Here is the conjugation and some sample sentences.
Mailys
je peux
tu peux
il peut
nous pouvons
vous pouvez
ils peuvent
Mailys: Here are some sentences. Pouvez-vous me donner une douzaine de roses?
Greg: Can you give me a dozen roses?
Mailys: Je ne comprends rien; peux-tu m'aider?
Greg: I can't understand anything, can you help me?
Mailys: Il ne peut pas travailler demain.
Greg: He can't work tomorrow.
Greg: Next we have ‘Donner’, which means “to give”. Normally, ‘donner’ requires both a direct and an indirect object. The direct object – the thing you are giving – is introduced without a preposition and comes first...
Mailys: ...while the indirect object – the person or thing you are giving it to – is introduced by the preposition ‘à.’
Greg: Here are a few examples.
Mailys: Elle donne de la monnaie à son garçon.
Greg: She is giving change to her son.
Mailys: Quand j'achète une baguette, le boulanger me donne toujours un croissant gratuit.
Greg: When I buy a baguette, the baker always gives me a free croissant.
Mailys: La fille donne la main à sa mère.
Greg: The girl gives her hand to her mom.
Greg: Lastly, ‘Fermé’ is an adjective meaning “closed”. It comes from the verb “fermer”, ‘to close’.
Mailys: Both forms sound the same, but are spelled differently - the ‘-er’ ending is the infinitive form of the verb, and the ‘-é’ ending is the adjective or past participle.
Greg: The ‘er/é’ pair is very common - for example, ‘réserver’ and ’réservé’, ‘recommender’ and ’recommandé’, ‘préférer’ and ’préféré’, and so on.
Mailys: Here are some sentences. Je préfère ce gâteau; c'est mon gâteau préféré.
Greg: I prefer this cake; it's my favorite cake.
Mailys: Ce magasin ferme tôt; il est déjà fermé.
Greg: This store closes early; it's already closed. Okay, time to move on to the grammar!

Lesson focus

Mailys: The focus of this lesson is the imperative form.
Greg: That's the verb form used when giving an order. Just like in English, no subject is expressed in the imperative.
Mailys: In French, verbs have 3 imperative forms. Let's look at the imperative of ‘aimer’, for instance.
Mailys
aime
aimons
aimez
Greg: The first one, ‘aime’, is used when the person being asked to do something is referred to as ‘tu’.
Mailys: It's also used when someone is talking to themselves.
Greg: It's spelled the same as the ‘tu’ form, but without the final ‘s’.
Mailys: Here are some other examples, using different verbs. Ferme la porte!
Greg: Close the door!
Mailys: Parle plus fort, s'il-te-plaît.
Greg: Speak louder, please.
Mailys: The second one is used when the person being ordered is ‘nous’; the English equivalent is usually "let's".
Greg: The form is always the same as the ‘nous’ form.
Mailys: For example... Allons au parc!
Greg: Let's go to the park!
Mailys: Écoutons ses conseils.
Greg: Let's listen to his advice.
Greg: The third form, ‘aimez’, is used when the person being ordered is referred to as ‘vous’. It's always the same form as the ‘vous’ form.
Mailys: Attendez un instant.
Greg: Wait a moment.
Mailys: Gardez la monnaie!
Greg: Keep the change.
Greg: In the negative, simply add ‘ne...pas’ on either side of the verb. For example...
Mailys: Ne parle pas!
Greg: Don't speak!
Mailys: N'achetez pas d'essence aujourd'hui.
Greg: Don't buy gas today.
Greg: We learned in lesson 8 that object pronouns go before the verb. However, this doesn't apply to the imperative, where the object comes after the verb.
Mailys: One way to explain it would be to say that without a subject, the pronoun cannot stand alone before the verb.
Greg: The strong form of the pronoun is used instead. Similar to what is done with questions using inversion, a hyphen is used to indicate that the pronoun is not in its usual place. Reflexive verbs also work this way.
Mailys: Regarde-moi.
Greg: Look at me.
Mailys: Ferme les yeux et garde-les fermés!
Greg: Close your eyes and keep them closed!
Mailys: Lave-toi!
Greg: Wash up!
Mailys: Lavez-vous les mains!
Greg: Wash your hands!
Mailys: Levons-nous à 7 heures.
Greg: Let's get up at 7 am.
Greg: In the negative, the pronoun does move up before the verb, as ‘ne’ supports the pronoun.
Mailys: Let’s hear some examples. Ne l'écoute pas!
Greg: Don't listen to him!
Mailys: Ne l'achetez pas!
Greg: Don't buy it!
Mailys: Ne me regardez pas!
Greg: Don't look at me!

Outro

Greg: And that’s going to do it for this lesson! Join us for lesson 18 to find out what Mireille and Jacques get up to!
Mailys: À bientôt!
Greg: See you soon!

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