Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

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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