Learn about French relative pronouns
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Greg: Hello everyone, I’m Greg. Have the Parents Reached a Verdict in France? |
| Mailys: Bonjour tout le monde. This is Mailys. In this lesson, we will learn about relative pronouns. |
| Greg: Mireille’s parents are discussing whether Jacques is the right guy for Mireille. |
| Mailys: They are using informal French together. |
| Greg: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Aline: Que penses-tu de ce garçon ? |
| Serge: Ce n'est pas un mauvais garçon et il est quand même gentil, mais ce n'est pas le genre de garçon que j'imagine pour Mireille. |
| Aline: Moi non plus. Je crois qu'elle peut trouver un autre homme qui a un emploi plus... quel est le mot que je cherche ? |
| Serge: Sûr ? |
| Aline: Exactement. |
| Serge: Oui, un homme qui a un avenir plus sûr, qui a plus d'argent, qui peut lui offrir une meilleure vie et que nous pouvons présenter à toute la famille. |
| Aline: Et il a l'air un peu jeune pour elle, aussi... Puis il ne boit même pas de vin, c'est bizarre, ça... |
| Serge: Chut ! Elle arrive ! |
| Mireille: Alors, qu'est-ce que vous pensez de Jacques ? |
| Aline: Nous pensons qu'il est très ... intéressant ! Si tu es heureuse, nous sommes heureux, nous aussi. |
| Greg: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Aline: Que penses-tu de ce garçon ? |
| Serge: Ce n'est pas un mauvais garçon et il est quand même gentil, mais ce n'est pas le genre de garçon que j'imagine pour Mireille. |
| Aline: Moi non plus. Je crois qu'elle peut trouver un autre homme qui a un emploi plus... quel est le mot que je cherche ? |
| Serge: Sûr ? |
| Aline: Exactement. |
| Serge: Oui, un homme qui a un avenir plus sûr, qui a plus d'argent, qui peut lui offrir une meilleure vie et que nous pouvons présenter à toute la famille. |
| Aline: Et il a l'air un peu jeune pour elle, aussi... Puis il ne boit même pas de vin, c'est bizarre, ça... |
| Serge: Chut ! Elle arrive ! |
| Mireille: Alors, qu'est-ce que vous pensez de Jacques ? |
| Aline: Nous pensons qu'il est très ... intéressant ! Si tu es heureuse, nous sommes heureux, nous aussi. |
| Greg: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Aline: Que penses-tu de ce garçon ? |
| Aline: What do you think of that boy? |
| Serge: Ce n'est pas un mauvais garçon et il est quand même gentil, mais ce n'est pas le genre de garçon que j'imagine pour Mireille. |
| Serge: He's not a bad boy and he's still nice, but he's not the kind of boy I imagine for Mireille. |
| Aline: Moi non plus. Je crois qu'elle peut trouver un autre homme qui a un emploi plus... quel est le mot que je cherche ? |
| Aline: Me neither. I believe she can find another man who has a job that's more...what's the word I'm looking for? |
| Serge: Sûr ? |
| Serge: Secure? |
| Aline: Exactement. |
| Aline: Exactly. |
| Serge: Oui, un homme qui a un avenir plus sûr, qui a plus d'argent, qui peut lui offrir une meilleure vie et que nous pouvons présenter à toute la famille. |
| Serge: Yes, a man who has a more secure future, who has more money, who can offer her a better life, and whom we can introduce to the whole family. |
| Aline: Et il a l'air un peu jeune pour elle, aussi... Puis il ne boit même pas de vin, c'est bizarre, ça... |
| Aline: And he looks a bit young for her, too... And he doesn't even drink wine, that's weird... |
| Serge: Chut ! Elle arrive ! |
| Serge: Shhh! She's coming! |
| Mireille: Alors, qu'est-ce que vous pensez de Jacques ? |
| Mireille: So, what do you think about Jacques? |
| Aline: Nous pensons qu'il est très ... intéressant ! Si tu es heureuse, nous sommes heureux, nous aussi. |
| Aline: We think that he's very...interesting! If you are happy, then we are happy too. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Greg: Since Jacques is visiting Mireille's parents, we thought it would be a good opportunity to learn about family members in French. |
| Mailys: Good idea! Mireille's mother and father are ‘la mère et le père de Mireille.’ |
| Greg: It's common for children -- even adults -- to call their parents ‘maman’ and ‘papa’, which are “mom” and “dad”. |
| Mailys: And the brother and the sister are ‘le frère et la soeur.’ |
| Greg: To say the word “siblings”, we simply use ‘frères et soeurs.’ |
| Mailys: So, to ask "do you have any siblings?", we'd say ‘avez-vous des frères et soeurs?’. |
| Greg: “Uncle” is ‘oncle’ and “aunt” is ‘tante’. Finally, “grand-mother” and “grand-father” are ‘grand-mère et grand-père.’ |
| Mailys: It's also common to say ‘grand-maman et grand-papa,’ for “grandma and grandpa”, and in some families, children say ‘mamie’ and ‘papie’. Ok, 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: mauvais [natural native speed] |
| Greg: bad, wrong |
| Mailys: mauvais [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: mauvais [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: genre [natural native speed] |
| Greg: genre, type, kind |
| Mailys: genre [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: genre [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: imaginer [natural native speed] |
| Greg: to imagine |
| Mailys: imaginer [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: imaginer [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: croire [natural native speed] |
| Greg: to believe |
| Mailys: croire [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: croire [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: autre [natural native speed] |
| Greg: other |
| Mailys: autre [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: autre [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: emploi [natural native speed] |
| Greg: job |
| Mailys: emploi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: emploi [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: sûr [natural native speed] |
| Greg: sure, certain |
| Mailys: sûr [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: sûr [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: argent [natural native speed] |
| Greg: money |
| Mailys: argent [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: argent [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: vie [natural native speed] |
| Greg: life |
| Mailys: vie [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: vie [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: jeune [natural native speed] |
| Greg: young |
| Mailys: jeune [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: jeune [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. What’s first? |
| Mailys: ‘Mauvais’ means “bad” or “wrong”. |
| Mailys: Désolé, vous avez le mauvais numéro. |
| Greg: Sorry, you have the wrong number. |
| Mailys: Elle aime les mauvais garçons. |
| Greg: She likes bad boys. |
| Mailys: Quand elle fait un gâteau, elle utilise toujours la mauvaise recette. |
| Greg: When she makes a cake, she always uses the wrong recipe. |
| Greg: ‘Croire’ means “to believe”. Here is its irregular conjugation. |
| je crois |
| tu crois |
| il croit |
| nous croyons |
| vous croyez |
| ils croient |
| Mailys: Si tu dis que tu aimes le vin, je te crois. |
| Greg: If you say you like wine, I believe you. |
| Mailys: Elle ne veut pas croire mon histoire! |
| Greg: She doesn't want to believe my story! |
| Greg: Autre means other. |
| Mailys: J'aime bien la cuisine italienne, mais les autres préfèrent la cuisine chinoise. |
| Greg: I like Italien cuisine, but the others prefer Chinese cuisine. |
| Greg: To say “another”, use ‘un autre’ or ‘une autre’. |
| Mailys: Un autre café, s'il-vous-plaît. |
| Greg: Another coffee, please. |
| Mailys: Il veut me présenter une autre fille. |
| Greg: He wants to introduce me to another girl. |
| Greg: ‘Autre’ can also mean “more”. |
| Mailys: Deux autres bières, s'il-vous-plaît. |
| Greg: Two more beers, please. |
| Greg: ‘Sûr’ means sure. Remember that ‘bien sûr’ means “of course”. |
| Mailys: Il va être en retard, c'est sûr. |
| Greg: He'll be late for sure. |
| Mailys: Bien sûr que je peux t'aider! |
| Greg: Of course I can help you! |
| Mailys: Il est sûr qu'elle s'appelle Milène, mais je pense que c'est Mireille. |
| Greg: He's sure her name is Milène, but I think it's Mireille. |
| Greg: ‘Jeune’ means “young”. It's one of the few adjectives that go before the noun. |
| Mailys: Les jeunes filles et les jeunes garçons ne prennent pas le même autobus. |
| Greg: “The young boys and the young girls don't take the same bus.” Now it’s time for the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Greg: The focus of this lesson is relative pronouns. |
| Mailys: A relative pronoun is a word that connects a noun to a part of a sentence that provides additional information about that noun. |
| Greg: In English, in the phrase "the boy that I know", "that I know" is a relative clause, and "that" is a relative pronoun. This type of structure is quite useful as it allows you combine two sentences, like "I like this book" and "It's expensive" into a single sentence - "I like the book that's expensive". |
| Mailys: In French, there are 2 relative pronouns used in these kinds of sentences where English uses the word "that", so it's important to learn to use them correctly. |
| Greg: When the relative pronoun refers to the object of the verb in the relative clause, we use ‘que’. |
| Mailys: Typically, you will see ‘que’ followed by a subject and a verb- |
| Mailys: Le livre que je veux lire. |
| Greg: The book that I want to read. |
| Mailys: La fille que nous connaissons. |
| Greg: The girl that we know. |
| Mailys: Les enfants qu'ils regardent. |
| Greg: The children they are looking at. |
| Greg: Note that the word "that" can be omitted in English, but not in French. |
| Mailys: La personne que je vois là-bas. |
| Greg: “The person that I see over there” or “The person I see over there.” |
| Greg: However, when the relative pronoun refers to the subject of the verb in the relative clause, we use ‘qui’. |
| Mailys: Typically, ‘qui’ is followed by a verb and is the subject of that verb- |
| Mailys: Le garçon qui travaille. |
| Greg: The boy who's working. |
| Mailys: Les biscuits qui sont sur la table sont excellents. |
| Greg: The cookies that are on the table are excellent. |
| Mailys: Le livre qui est le plus cher est mon préféré. |
| Greg: The book that's the most expensive is my favourite. |
Outro |
| Greg: And that’s it for this lesson! Join us for lesson 24 to find out where our next dialogue will take Jacques and Mireille! |
| Mailys: I can't wait to find out what's going to happen! À bientôt! |
| Greg: See you soon! |
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