Learn about the French imperative form of the verb, which we use for giving orders
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| 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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