Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

Learn New Words FAST with this Lesson’s Vocab Review List

Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Notes

Unlock In-Depth Explanations & Exclusive Takeaways with Printable Lesson Notes

Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Transcript

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!

Comments

Hide