Learn how to ask for directions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Greg: Hello everyone, I’m Greg. Which Way To The French Theater? |
| Mailys: Bonjour tout le monde. This is Mailys. In this lesson, we will learn how to ask for directions. |
| Greg: Mireille and Jacques are out for a walk and have to ask someone for directions. |
| Mailys: They will use informal French together, but formal French to ask the stranger for directions. |
| Greg: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Mireille: La ville est vraiment belle après la pluie ! |
| Jacques: Oui et tout est si propre! Alors, où est-ce que tu aimerais aller ? |
| Mireille: Euh… j’aimerais bien aller au cinéma ! |
| Jacques: Excellente idée ! Mais je ne sais pas où c’est. |
| Mireille: Moi non plus. Tu peux peut-être demander à quelqu’un. Ce monsieur a l’air gentil. |
| Jacques: D’accord. Pardon monsieur, est-ce que vous savez où est le cinéma ? |
| Monsieur: Le cinéma ? Attendez un instant… Ah oui ! Continuez tout droit, puis au marché, tournez à gauche. Ensuite, au premier coin de rue, tournez à droite. Le cinéma est à cent mètres devant vous. |
| Jacques et Mireille: Merci beaucoup, Monsieur ! |
| Monsieur: De rien. |
| Greg: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Mireille: La ville est vraiment belle après la pluie ! |
| Jacques: Oui et tout est si propre! Alors, où est-ce que tu aimerais aller ? |
| Mireille: Euh… j’aimerais bien aller au cinéma ! |
| Jacques: Excellente idée ! Mais je ne sais pas où c’est. |
| Mireille: Moi non plus. Tu peux peut-être demander à quelqu’un. Ce monsieur a l’air gentil. |
| Jacques: D’accord. Pardon monsieur, est-ce que vous savez où est le cinéma ? |
| Monsieur: Le cinéma ? Attendez un instant… Ah oui ! Continuez tout droit, puis au marché, tournez à gauche. Ensuite, au premier coin de rue, tournez à droite. Le cinéma est à cent mètres devant vous. |
| Jacques et Mireille: Merci beaucoup, Monsieur ! |
| Monsieur: De rien. |
| Greg: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Mireille: La ville est vraiment belle après la pluie ! |
| Mireille: The city is really beautiful after the rain! |
| Jacques: Oui et tout est si propre! Alors, où est-ce que tu aimerais aller ? |
| Jacques: Yes and everything is so clean! So, where would you like to go? |
| Mireille: Euh… j’aimerais bien aller au cinéma ! |
| Mireille: Hmmm… I wouldn’t mind going to the movies! |
| Jacques: Excellente idée ! Mais je ne sais pas où c’est. |
| Jacques: Excellent idea! But I don’t know where it is. |
| Mireille: Moi non plus. Tu peux peut-être demander à quelqu’un. Ce monsieur a l’air gentil. |
| Mireille: Me neither. Maybe you can ask someone. That gentleman seems nice. |
| Jacques: D’accord. Pardon monsieur, est-ce que vous savez où est le cinéma ? |
| Jacques: Ok. Excuse me Sir, do you know where the movie theater is? |
| Monsieur: Le cinéma ? Attendez un instant… Ah oui ! Continuez tout droit, puis au marché, tournez à gauche. Ensuite, au premier coin de rue, tournez à droite. Le cinéma est à cent mètres devant vous. |
| Monsieur: The movie theater? Wait a minute… Ah, yes! Go straight ahead, then at the market, turn left. Then, at the first street corner, turn right. The theater is 100 metres in front of you. |
| Jacques et Mireille: Merci beaucoup, Monsieur ! |
| Jacques and Mireille: Thank you very much, Sir! |
| Monsieur: De rien. |
| Monsieur: You’re welcome. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Greg: So Mailys, to get around in Paris, you can take the bus, a cab or the subway, called ‘le métro’, and of course, you can also enjoy the city by foot. |
| Mailys: Yes, and another cool way to see Paris is by bike. Since 2007, Paris has had a complete network of thousands of rental bikes called ‘Vélib'. |
| Greg: Bikes are available at hundreds of service points across the city. If you pay a deposit, you can buy a day ticket or a one-week ticket that allows you to ride for 30-minutes at a time, as often as you'd like. You can also buy long-term passes, if you want. |
| Mailys: You can pick up a bike at any Vélib' station and return it at any other station in the city. |
| Greg: So if you are planning a visit to Paris, why not try a really original, practical and healthy way to visit the city -- use ‘Vélib’' and see it by bike! |
| Mailys: I think it’s a great idea! |
| Greg: Now let’s go 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: pluie [natural native speed] |
| Greg: rain |
| Mailys: pluie [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: pluie [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: non plus [natural native speed] |
| Greg: neither |
| Mailys: non plus [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: non plus [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: peut-être [natural native speed] |
| Greg: maybe |
| Mailys: peut-être [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: peut-être [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: demander [natural native speed] |
| Greg: to ask for |
| Mailys: demander [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: demander [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: quelqu’un [natural native speed] |
| Greg: someone |
| Mailys: quelqu’un [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: quelqu’un [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: tout droit [natural native speed] |
| Greg: straight ahead |
| Mailys: tout droit [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: tout droit [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: puis [natural native speed] |
| Greg: then |
| Mailys: puis [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: puis [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: gauche [natural native speed] |
| Greg: left |
| Mailys: gauche [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: gauche [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: coin de rue [natural native speed] |
| Greg: street corner |
| Mailys: coin de rue [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: coin de rue [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: droite [natural native speed] |
| Greg: right |
| Mailys: droite [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: droite [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Greg: Let’s take a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Greg: ‘Non plus’ means “neither” and is the negative equivalent of ‘aussi’, which means “too”. Listen to these sentences and replies. |
| Mailys: Je travaille demain. I work tomorrow. |
| Greg: Ah, moi aussi. Ah, me too. |
| Mailys: Je ne travaille pas demain. I don't work tomorrow. |
| Greg: Moi non plus. Me neither. |
| Mailys: Elle ne veut pas aller à Paris et elle ne veut pas aller à Lyon non plus. |
| Greg: She doesn't want to go to Paris and she doesn't want to go to Lyon either. |
| Greg: Next we have Quelqu'un, which means someone. |
| Mailys: Il y a quelqu'un à la porte! |
| Greg: Someone's at the door! |
| Mailys: Je vois quelqu'un derrière la maison; j'ai peur! |
| Greg: I see someone behind the house; I'm scared! |
| Greg: In a negative sentence, ‘quelqu'un’ becomes ‘personne’, meaning “no one” or “not... anyone.” ‘Pas’ is left out. |
| Mailys: Elle ne connaît personne dans cette ville. |
| Greg: She doesn't know anyone in this city. |
| Mailys: Vous n'avez pas besoin de téléphone parce que vous ne téléphonez à personne! |
| Greg: You don't need a phone because you don't phone anyone! |
| Greg: And lastly, ‘Peut-être’ means “maybe.” However, the way it's used differs from English a bit. Two main constructions exist. First, ‘peut-être’ is added after a verb- |
| Mailys: Le concierge est peut-être malade aujourd'hui. |
| Greg: Maybe the janitor is sick today. |
| Mailys: Elle aimerait peut-être aller au parc. |
| Greg: Maybe she'd like to go to the park. |
| Mailys: C'est peut-être lui. |
| Greg: It may be him. |
| Greg: Secondly, ‘peut-être’ can begin the sentence, but it needs to be followed by ‘que’ |
| Mailys: Peut-être que le concierge est malade aujourd'hui. |
| Greg: Maybe the janitor is sick today. |
| Mailys: Peut-être qu'elle aimerait aller au parc. |
| Greg: Maybe she'd like to go to the park. Ok, now let’s go to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Mailys: The focus of this lesson is asking for and giving directions. |
| Greg: Let's see how you can ask for directions if you are looking for a place or a building. |
| Mailys: Make sure you use the polite ‘vous’ form to ask for directions from a stranger. |
| Greg: To get people's attention, you can start by saying ‘pardon monsieur’, “excuse me Sir”, or ‘pardon madame’, “excuse me Ma’am”. |
| Mailys: You can also say ‘excusez-moi’, meaning “excuse me” or “I'm sorry”. |
| Greg: To ask where something is, you can say ‘où est .(something)..?’ or ‘où se trouve (something)...?’ ‘Se trouver’ is a reflexive verb meaning “to be found”. |
| Mailys: Pardon monsieur, où se trouve la bibliothèque? |
| Greg: Pardon me Sir, where is the library? |
| Mailys: Excusez-moi madame, où est le cinéma? |
| Greg: Excuse me Madam, where is the movie theatre? |
| Greg: You can also use ‘je cherche...’, “I'm looking for”, or ‘savez-vous où est...?’, “Do you know where X is? |
| Mailys: Excusez-moi, je cherche le marché. |
| Greg: Excuse me, I'm looking for the market. |
| Mailys: Pardon, est-ce que vous savez où se trouve le cinéma? |
| Greg: Pardon me, do you know where the movie theatre is? |
| Greg: Let's now see how you can answer when someone is looking for directions and asks you those questions. |
| Mailys: To say “continue straight”, you say ‘continuez tout droit’. "Until" or "up to" is ‘jusqu'à’. |
| Mailys: Continuez tout droit jusqu'au marché. |
| Greg: Keep going straight until the market. |
| Mailys: To tell the person to turn left or right, say ‘tournez à gauche’ or ‘tournez à droite’. |
| Mailys: Au marché, tournez à gauche. |
| Greg: At the market, turn left. |
| Mailys: Au parc, tournez à droite. |
| Greg: At the park, turn right. |
| Greg: You can then use various words to express where they are in relation to the place or building they are looking for. |
| Greg: ‘devant’ means “in front of” and ‘en face de’ means “across the street from”. |
| Mailys: Le café est devant le marché. |
| Greg: The coffee shop is in front of the market. |
| Mailys: Le parc est en face du restaurant. |
| Greg: The park is across the street from the restaurant. |
| Greg: Près de means near. |
| Mailys: Est-ce que vous connaissez la place du marché? Le café est près de la place. |
| Greg: Do you know the Market Place? The coffee shop is near the Place. |
Outro |
| Greg: And that’s it for this lesson! Join us for lesson 19 to find out what Mireille and Jacques do next time! |
| Mailys: Thanks for listening everyone! À bientôt! |
| Greg: See you soon! |
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