Learn about the pronoun en and how to form adverbs
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Greg: Hello everyone, I’m Greg. Being Taken by Surprise in France. |
| Mailys: Bonjour tout le monde. This is Mailys. In this lesson, we will learn about the pronoun ‘en’ and how to form adverbs. |
| Greg: Jacques meets his friend Marcel after work and introduces him to Mireille for the first time. |
| Mailys: They are all using informal French. |
| Greg: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Jacques: Marcel, par ici ! |
| Marcel: Salut mon vieux ! Comment vas-tu? Je ne te vois pas beaucoup dernièrement ! |
| Jacques: Je sais, je sais, mais je suis occupé, tu sais, avec Mireille. |
| Marcel: Ah ben, dis donc, ça a l’air de bien aller entre vous deux. |
| Jacques: Ça, tu peux le dire ! Ah, la voilà !... Mireille, je te présente mon bon ami Marcel. Marcel, je te présente Mireille, ma petite amie. |
| Mireille: Salut Marcel ! Jacques me parle toujours de toi ! |
| Marcel: Salut Mireille ! Enchanté de faire ta connaissance ! Jacques me parle beaucoup de toi aussi ! Je t’offre un café ? |
| Mireille: C’est pas de refus. |
| Marcel: Je t’en offre un aussi, Jacques ? |
| Jacques: Ah merci, je ne dis pas non. |
| Marcel: Alors, ils ont des plans pour ce soir, les amoureux ? |
| Jacques: Non, nous n’en avons pas. |
| Mireille: Ah si, nous en avons, nous allons dîner chez mes parents un peu plus tard. |
| Jacques: QUOI !?! |
| Greg: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Jacques: Marcel, par ici ! |
| Marcel: Salut mon vieux ! Comment vas-tu? Je ne te vois pas beaucoup dernièrement ! |
| Jacques: Je sais, je sais, mais je suis occupé, tu sais, avec Mireille. |
| Marcel: Ah ben, dis donc, ça a l’air de bien aller entre vous deux. |
| Jacques: Ça, tu peux le dire ! Ah, la voilà !... Mireille, je te présente mon bon ami Marcel. Marcel, je te présente Mireille, ma petite amie. |
| Mireille: Salut Marcel ! Jacques me parle toujours de toi ! |
| Marcel: Salut Mireille ! Enchanté de faire ta connaissance ! Jacques me parle beaucoup de toi aussi ! Je t’offre un café ? |
| Mireille: C’est pas de refus. |
| Marcel: Je t’en offre un aussi, Jacques ? |
| Jacques: Ah merci, je ne dis pas non. |
| Marcel: Alors, ils ont des plans pour ce soir, les amoureux ? |
| Jacques: Non, nous n’en avons pas. |
| Mireille: Ah si, nous en avons, nous allons dîner chez mes parents un peu plus tard. |
| Jacques: QUOI !?! |
| Greg: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Jacques: Marcel, par ici ! |
| Jacques: Marcel, over here! |
| Marcel: Salut mon vieux ! Comment vas-tu? Je ne te vois pas beaucoup dernièrement ! |
| Marcel: Hey, man! How are you? I don't get to see much of you lately! |
| Jacques: Je sais, je sais, mais je suis occupé, tu sais, avec Mireille. |
| Jacques: I know, I know, but I'm busy, you know, with Mireille. |
| Marcel: Ah ben, dis donc, ça a l’air de bien aller entre vous deux. |
| Marcel: Gosh, things seem to be going pretty well between the two of you. |
| Jacques: Ça, tu peux le dire ! Ah, la voilà !... Mireille, je te présente mon bon ami Marcel. Marcel, je te présente Mireille, ma petite amie. |
| Jacques: You can say that again! Oh, there she is!... Mireille, let me introduce my good friend, Marcel. Marcel, here is Mireille, my girlfriend. |
| Mireille: Salut Marcel ! Jacques me parle toujours de toi ! |
| Mireille: Hi, Marcel! Jacques always talks about you! |
| Marcel: Salut Mireille ! Enchanté de faire ta connaissance ! Jacques me parle beaucoup de toi aussi ! Je t’offre un café ? |
| Marcel: Hi, Mireille! Nice to meet you! Jacques also talks a lot about you! Shall I offer you coffee? |
| Mireille: C’est pas de refus. |
| Mireille: Gladly. |
| Marcel: Je t’en offre un aussi, Jacques ? |
| Marcel: Can I also offer you one, Jacques? |
| Jacques: Ah merci, je ne dis pas non. |
| Jacques: Ah thanks, I won't say no. |
| Marcel: Alors, ils ont des plans pour ce soir, les amoureux ? |
| Marcel: So, do the lovebirds have any plans for this evening? |
| Jacques: Non, nous n’en avons pas. |
| Jacques: No, we don't have any. |
| Mireille: Ah si, nous en avons, nous allons dîner chez mes parents un peu plus tard. |
| Mireille: Sure we do; we are having supper with my parents a bit later. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Greg: Looks like Jacques was in for a shock! |
| Mailys: He sure was! It sounds like he’ll be meeting Mireille’s parents for dinner. |
| Greg: Yes, so let’s talk about that a bit - food is an important part of life in France and throughout French-speaking cultures. |
| Mailys: People really enjoy inviting friends over to socialize and are even proud to cook for them whatever their special recipe is. |
| Greg: These meals are mostly informal, but the host usually takes great pride in providing an experience their guests will enjoy. |
| Mailys: To thank the host, the guests usually bring a little gift. This can be a bottle of wine, a dessert item, a gift for the house or even a special cheese that the others can try. |
| Greg: The meal is often served in many courses so that the guests have a lot of time to talk and socialize. |
| Mailys: If you have French friends, why not invite them over for supper? |
| Greg: Yes, I think that’s a great idea! Now let’s move 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: par ici [natural native speed] |
| Greg: this way, over here |
| Mailys: par ici [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: par ici [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: vieux [natural native speed] |
| Greg: old |
| Mailys: vieux [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: vieux [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: dernièrement [natural native speed] |
| Greg: lately |
| Mailys: dernièrement [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: dernièrement [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: dis donc [natural native speed] |
| Greg: say! gosh! |
| Mailys: dis donc [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: dis donc [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: ami [natural native speed] |
| Greg: friend |
| Mailys: ami [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: ami [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: toujours [natural native speed] |
| Greg: always |
| Mailys: toujours [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: toujours [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: connaissance [natural native speed] |
| Greg: acquaintance, knowledge |
| Mailys: connaissance [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: connaissance [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: c’est pas de refus [natural native speed] |
| Greg: I won't say no, I won't refuse |
| Mailys: c’est pas de refus [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: c’est pas de refus [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: dîner [natural native speed] |
| Greg: to have dinner |
| Mailys: dîner [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: dîner [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Greg: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Greg: ‘Vieux’ means “old”, but only in relation to age or time, and not in the sense of former. |
| Mailys: The feminine is ‘vieille’. |
| Mailys: Here are some examples. Tes parents ne sont pas très vieux. |
| Greg: Your parents aren't very old. |
| Mailys: Il cherche son vieux livre. |
| Greg: He's looking for his old book. |
| Mailys: Nous habitons dans cette vieille rue depuis dix ans. |
| Greg: We've been living on this old street for ten years. |
| Greg: Next is connaître, which means means to know. |
| Mailys: In lesson 8, we introduced the verb ‘savoir’, which also means “to know”. So, for one English verb, there are two in French. |
| Greg: Let's have a quick look at the conjugation, then let's see how you can determine which verb to use. |
| Mailys |
| je connais |
| tu connais |
| il connaît |
| nous connaissons |
| vous connaissez |
| ils connaissent |
| Greg: The verb ‘connaître’ is always used with a noun. |
| Mailys: Here are some examples. Est-ce que tu connais Jacques? |
| Greg: Do you know Jacques? |
| Mailys: Elle ne connaît pas cette rue. |
| Greg: She doesn't know that street. |
| Greg: ‘Savoir’, on the other hand, can be used in three different situations. First, it can be used alone, as in- |
| Mailys: Je sais, je sais. |
| Greg: I know, I know. |
| Greg: Second, it can be used with a verb in the infinitive- |
| Mailys: Il sait faire la cuisine. |
| Greg: He knows how to cook. |
| Mailys: Elle ne sait pas nager. |
| Greg: “She can't swim” or “She doesn't know how to swim.” |
| Greg: Third, it can be used with ‘que’ and a sentence- |
| Mailys: Sais-tu que Jacques a une copine? |
| Greg: Do you know that Jacques has a girlfriend? |
| Mailys: Nous savons tous qu'apprendre une langue est difficile. |
| Greg: We all know that learning a language is difficult. Ok, and with that, let’s move on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Mailys: The focus of this lesson is the pronoun ‘en’ and how to form adverbs. |
| Greg: We learned about direct and indirect object pronouns in previous lessons. |
| Mailys: In this lesson, you’ll learn about the pronoun ‘en’, which replaces any noun introduced by the preposition ‘de’. |
| Greg: Like all other pronouns, ‘en’ precedes the verb. There is no similar word in English. |
| Mailys: For instance, if you say ‘je parle du film.’ |
| Greg: I'm talking about the movie, |
| Mailys: you can replace ‘du film’ with ‘en’ - ‘j'en parle’ |
| Greg: I'm talking about it. To understand when to use ‘en’, you have to pay attention to the French verb; you can't rely on the English translation. Here are a few more examples. |
| Mailys: Tu parles de ton ami |
| Greg: “you talk about your friend” becomes |
| Mailys: tu en parles |
| Greg: you talk about it |
| Mailys: Il arrive du marché |
| Greg: “He's arriving from the market” becomes |
| Mailys: il en arrive |
| Greg: he's arriving from there |
| Mailys: Elle écoute du jazz |
| Greg: “She listens to jazz” becomes |
| Mailys: Elle en écoute |
| Greg: “She's listening to it” or “She’s listening to some”. |
| Greg: Another case where ‘en’ is very common is when replacing a noun that follows a number. |
| Mailys: For instance, ‘je veux trois roses.’ |
| Greg: “I want three roses” becomes |
| Mailys: j'en veux trois |
| Greg: “I want three.” While English can simply omit the noun, in French, it has to be replaced with ‘en’. |
| Mailys: Est-ce que tu veux des biscuits? |
| Greg: Do you want cookies? |
| Mailys: Merci, mais j'en veux seulement un. |
| Greg: Thanks, but I only want one. |
| Mailys: Avez-vous des roses? |
| Greg: Do you have roses? |
| Mailys: J'en prends une douzaine. |
| Greg: “I'll have a dozen.” Here ‘une douzaine de rose’ becomes ‘une douzaine’ and ‘de rose’ becomes ‘en’. |
| Mailys: Si vous avez du café, j'aimerais en acheter 300 grammes. |
| Greg: If you have coffee, I'd like to buy 300 grams. |
| Greg: In lesson 11, the adjective ‘dernier’ meaning “last” was introduced. In this lesson, we find the word ‘dernièrement’ meaning “lately”. |
| Mailys: As you can see, ‘dernièrement’ is made up of the feminine form of the ‘dernier’ and ‘-ment’, which is equivalent to the English “-ly”. |
| Greg: This is the most common way to form adverbs in French. Here are some examples. |
| Mailys: ‘seul’ becomes ‘seulement’, which means “only.” |
| Greg: ‘exact’ becomes ‘exactement’, exactly |
| Mailys: ‘heureux’ becomes ‘heureusement’ which means “happily” or “luckily”. |
| Greg: Make sure you read the lesson notes for more examples. |
Outro |
| Greg: And that’s it for this lesson! Join us for lesson 21 to find out how Jacques' meeting with Mireille's parents will go! |
| Mailys: À bientôt! |
| Greg: See you soon! |
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