Learn how to use the French verb aimer, meaning "to like" or "to love"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Greg: Hello everybody, Greg here! |
| Mailys: Bonjour tout le monde, I’m Mailys! |
| Greg: Will We Meet Again in France? |
| Mailys: In this lesson, we will learn about the verb ‘aimer’, meaning “to like” or “to love”. |
| Greg: Jacques, who we introduced in the first lesson, is now in a café speaking with Mireille. He is meeting her for the first time. |
| Mailys: And because they are strangers, they are using formal French. |
| Greg: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Jacques: Bonjour ! Je m’appelle Jacques ! |
| Mireille: Bonjour ! Je m’appelle Mireille. |
| Jacques: Enchanté. Vous aimez le café ? |
| Mireille: Oui, j’aime beaucoup le café ici. Les biscuits aussi sont excellents. |
| Jacques: Moi, je mange souvent ici. J’habite près. Et vous, vous habitez... |
| Mireille: Ah, je suis en retard ! À bientôt ! |
| Jacques: À bientôt, Mireille... À bientôt ?! |
| Greg: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Jacques: Bonjour ! Je m’appelle Jacques ! |
| Mireille: Bonjour ! Je m’appelle Mireille. |
| Jacques: Enchanté. Vous aimez le café ? |
| Mireille: Oui, j’aime beaucoup le café ici. Les biscuits aussi sont excellents. |
| Jacques: Moi, je mange souvent ici. J’habite près. Et vous, vous habitez... |
| Mireille: Ah, je suis en retard ! À bientôt ! |
| Jacques: À bientôt, Mireille... À bientôt ?! |
| Greg: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Jacques: Bonjour ! Je m’appelle Jacques ! |
| Jacques Hello! My name is Jacques! |
| Mireille: Bonjour ! Je m’appelle Mireille. |
| Mireille: Hello! My name is Mireille. |
| Jacques: Enchanté. Vous aimez le café ? |
| Jacques: Nice to meet you. Do you like the coffee shop? |
| Mireille: Oui, j’aime beaucoup le café ici. Les biscuits aussi sont excellents. |
| Mireille: Yes, I like the coffee here a lot. The cookies are also excellent. |
| Jacques: Moi, je mange souvent ici. J’habite près. Et vous, vous habitez... |
| Jacques: I often eat here. I live nearby. And you, do you live... |
| Mireille: Ah, je suis en retard ! À bientôt ! |
| Mireille: Ah, I'm late! See you soon! |
| Jacques: À bientôt, Mireille... À bientôt ?! |
| Jacques: See you soon, Mireille... See you soon? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Greg: In French, there are two words for “you” - ‘tu’ and ‘vous’. |
| Mailys: That’s right! ‘Tu’ is a singular pronoun used in informal French. It’s used between friends and that’s why, in lesson 1, Jacques and Marcel are using ‘tu’. |
| Greg: It’s also used between people of equal status, or when addressing children or pets. |
| Mailys: In spoken French, we sometimes say ‘t’’ before a vowel, so ‘tu aimes’ can become ‘t’aimes’. |
| Greg: ‘Vous’, on the other hand, is more formal. It’s the same word as the plural ‘vous’. |
| Mailys: In the dialogue, Jacques and Mireille are using ‘vous’ because they don’t know each other. |
| Greg: ‘Vous’ is used when addressing strangers or people with authority, and it’s used to indicate politeness, respect, and sometimes distance. |
| Mailys: If Jacques and Mireille get to know each other better, they will probably start using ‘tu’ soon. |
| Greg: It’s not always easy knowing which one to use. Mailys, what do you do if you’re not sure? |
| Mailys: When I’m not sure, I use ‘vous’ just to be safe. Then, the person will tell me if they want me to use ‘tu’. |
| Greg: Good to know! Ok, let’s 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: enchanté(e) [natural native speed] |
| Greg: nice to meet you, pleased to meet you |
| Mailys: enchanté(e) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: enchanté(e) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: aimer [natural native speed] |
| Greg: to like, to love |
| Mailys: aimer [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: aimer [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: beaucoup [natural native speed] |
| Greg: a lot |
| Mailys: beaucoup [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: beaucoup [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: ici [natural native speed] |
| Greg: here |
| Mailys: ici [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: ici [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: souvent [natural native speed] |
| Greg: often |
| Mailys: souvent [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: souvent [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: manger [natural native speed] |
| Greg: to eat |
| Mailys: manger [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: manger [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: habiter [natural native speed] |
| Greg: to reside, to live |
| Mailys: habiter [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: habiter [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: près [natural native speed] |
| Greg: near, close |
| Mailys: près [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: près [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: en retard [natural native speed] |
| Greg: late (for something) |
| Mailys: en retard [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: en retard [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: à bientôt [natural native speed] |
| Greg: See you soon. |
| Mailys: à bientôt [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: à bientôt [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: biscuit [natural native speed] |
| Greg: cookie |
| Mailys: biscuit [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: biscuit [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: excellent [natural native speed] |
| Greg: excellent |
| Mailys: excellent [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: excellent [natural native speed] |
| Last: |
| Mailys: café [natural native speed] |
| Greg: coffee, coffeeshop |
| Mailys: café [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: café [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Greg: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases in this lesson. In lesson 1, we learned that “I am” is je suis, but when you want to introduce yourself, you don't say ‘je suis’. Instead, you say ‘je m’appelle’. |
| Mailys: Je m’appelle |
| Greg: Literally, it means “I call myself”. |
| Mailys: It’s a very useful phrase to learn for when you meet people. This kind of verb is called a reflexive verb. |
| Greg: Now, let's look at ‘beaucoup’. |
| Mailys: ‘Beaucoup’ means “a lot”. Just like ‘vraiment’ in lesson 1, this adverb goes right after the verb - ‘J’aime beaucoup le café,’ - meaning “I like coffee a lot.” |
| Greg: You can also add it after ‘merci’ |
| Mailys: ‘merci beaucoup’ |
| Greg: it means “thank you very much” or “thanks a lot.” |
| Greg: Let's now look at the verb ‘habiter.’ It means “to live”, but only in the sense of living in a place, like a house or a city. It doesn’t mean “to be alive.” |
| Mailys: ‘J’habite ici’ means “I live here.” ‘J’habite à Paris’ means “I live in Paris.” |
| Greg: Its English cognate is “inhabit”. |
| Greg: Let's now look at the adjective ‘excellent’. As you might have guessed, it means “excellent”, and it’s a typical French adjective. |
| Mailys: Just add an ‘e’ to make it feminine! |
| Greg: But pay attention to the pronunciation -- the last ‘t’ is silent in the masculine form… |
| Mailys: ‘excellent’ |
| Greg: …but when you add ‘e’ for the feminine form, the ‘e’ is silent, but makes the ‘t’ pronounced. |
| Mailys: ‘excellente’ |
| Greg: This type of pattern is very common in French and you’ll quickly get used to it. Ok, let’s move on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Greg: In this lesson, we will learn the verb ‘aimer’, meaning “to like” or “to love”. |
| Mailys: It’s a very important verb because ‘aimer’ is used as a model for regular verbs, which all end in ‘-er’, pronounced ‘é’. |
| Greg: Let’s look at the present tense conjugation. |
| Mailys: J’aime |
| Greg: I like |
| Mailys: Tu aimes |
| Greg: You like (informal singular) |
| Mailys: Il aime / elle aime |
| Greg: He/she likes |
| Mailys: Nous aimons |
| Greg: We like |
| Mailys: Vous aimez |
| Greg: You like (polite or plural) |
| Mailys: Ils aiment / elles aiment |
| Greg: They like |
| Greg: So, French verbs are typically presented as a group of six written forms, but when they are pronounced, there are fewer forms than that. |
| Mailys: For regular verbs, take the infinitive or base form, ‘aimer’, remove the ‘-er’ ending, and you have ‘aim-’. This is the pronunciation for all present tense forms, except ‘nous’ and ‘vous’. |
| Greg: For ‘nous’, you add ‘-ons’, |
| Mailys: aimons, |
| Greg: and for ‘vous’, you add ‘-ez’, |
| Mailys: ‘aimez’. |
| Greg: So conjugation is not as complicated as it seems. |
| Mailys: ‘Aimer’ starts with a vowel, so two types of changes occur in the pronouns. |
| Greg: First, ‘je’ becomes ‘j’’ before a vowel -- a process called elision. |
| Mailys: ‘Je’ and ‘aime’ become ‘j’aime’. |
| Greg: Secondly, liaison, which we mentioned in lesson 1, occurs with all plural pronouns |
| Mailys: nous aimons, vous aimez, ils aiment. |
| Greg: The only difference in pronunciation between the singular and plural ‘il(s)’ forms is liaison. |
| Mailys: il aime / ils aiment. |
| Greg: We mentioned that the meaning of ‘aimer’ can be anything from like to love. |
| Mailys: Usually, it means “like” when talking about objects and “love” with people, but it depends on the context. |
| Greg: Here are a few examples to give you an idea |
| Mailys: J’aime le café |
| Greg: I like coffee |
| Greg: Il aime beaucoup Mireille |
| Mailys: He likes Mireille a lot |
| Greg: Il aime Mireille |
| Mailys: He loves Mireille |
| Greg: Here is the conjugation for ‘habiter’ and manger, meaning “to live” and “to eat” respectively, two regular verbs that follow the same pattern as ‘aimer’. |
| Mailys: ‘H’ is silent in French, so ‘habiter’ behaves as if it started with vowel. |
| Greg: From now on, when introducing conjugation, we will only present the ‘il’ form, because ‘elle’ is conjugated the same way. |
| Greg: J’habite - I live |
| Mailys: Je mange - I eat |
| Greg: Tu habites - you live |
| Mailys: Tu manges - you eat |
| Greg: Il habite - he/she/it lives |
| Mailys: Il mange - he/she/it eats |
| Greg: Nous habitons - we live |
| Mailys: Nous mangeons - we eat |
| Greg: Vous habitez - you all live |
| Mailys: Vous mangez - you all eat |
| Greg: Ils habitent - they live |
| Mailys: Ils mangent - they eat |
| Mailys: Greg, in this lesson’s dialogue, we saw how to ask yes or no questions. |
| Greg: Yes, there are a few ways to do that in French, but the simplest way is to use intonation. Say the sentence in a level, slightly raised voice, and go up sharply on the last syllable. |
| Mailys: Tu aimes le café? |
| Greg: Here are a few other examples. |
| Mailys: Tu es seul? |
| Greg: Are you single? |
| Mailys: Elle habite ici? |
| Greg: Does she live here? |
Outro |
| Greg: Well, that’s going to do it for this lesson! Thanks for listening! See you next time, everyone! |
| Mailys: I can’t wait! À bientôt! |
| Greg: Until next time! |
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