Learn about using the plural
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| Greg:Hello everyone, I’m Greg. At a French Job Interview. |
| Mailys:Bonjour tout le monde. This is Mailys. In this lesson, we will review the plural and plural constructions with ‘de’. |
| Greg:Jacques is interviewing for a manager position. |
| Mailys:During the interview, informal French is used. |
| Greg:Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| Homme Pour terminer, pourquoi pensez-vous être la personne parfaite pour ce poste de gérant? |
| Jacques Je suis responsable, j’aime travailler, j’aime les gens et je cherche toujours de nouveaux défis. |
| Femme Très bien, merci. Veuillez attendre quelques minutes, s’il-vous-plaît. |
| (…) |
| Homme Qu’est-ce que vous pensez de Jacques? |
| Femme J’adore ses réponses originales à nos questions difficiles; il semble être la bonne personne, surtout pour notre magasin du centre-ville. |
| Homme Je suis d’accord avec vous. Alors, on le prend? |
| Femme Oui. Demandez-lui s’il peut commencer demain. |
| (…) |
| Homme Jacques, nous avons de bonnes nouvelles pour vous, vous avez l’emploi! Vous pouvez commencer demain à 8 heures pile? |
| Jacques Si je peux commencer demain?! Bien sûr! Je vais être à l’heure, évidemment. Merci et à demain! |
| Greg: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Homme Pour terminer, pourquoi pensez-vous être la personne parfaite pour ce poste de gérant? |
| Jacques Je suis responsable, j’aime travailler, j’aime les gens et je cherche toujours de nouveaux défis. |
| Femme Très bien, merci. Veuillez attendre quelques minutes, s’il-vous-plaît. |
| (…) |
| Homme Qu’est-ce que vous pensez de Jacques? |
| Femme J’adore ses réponses originales à nos questions difficiles; il semble être la bonne personne, surtout pour notre magasin du centre-ville. |
| Homme Je suis d’accord avec vous. Alors, on le prend? |
| Femme Oui. Demandez-lui s’il peut commencer demain. |
| (…) |
| Homme Jacques, nous avons de bonnes nouvelles pour vous, vous avez l’emploi! Vous pouvez commencer demain à 8 heures pile? |
| Jacques Si je peux commencer demain?! Bien sûr! Je vais être à l’heure, évidemment. Merci et à demain! |
| Greg: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Homme Pour terminer, pourquoi pensez-vous être la personne parfaite pour ce poste de gérant? |
| Greg:In closing, why do you think you are the perfect person for this manager position? |
| Jacques Je suis responsable, j’aime travailler, j’aime les gens et je cherche toujours de nouveaux défis. |
| Greg:I’m responsible, I like to work, I like people and I’m always looking for new challenges. |
| Femme Très bien, merci. Veuillez attendre quelques minutes, s’il-vous-plaît. |
| Greg:Very well, thanks. Please wait a few minutes. |
| (…) |
| Greg(…) |
| Homme Qu’est-ce que vous pensez de Jacques? |
| Greg:What do you think about Jacques? |
| Femme J’adore ses réponses originales à nos questions difficiles; il semble être la bonne personne, surtout pour notre magasin du centre-ville. |
| Greg:I love his original answers to our difficult questions; he seems to be the right person, especially for our downtown store. |
| Homme Je suis d’accord avec vous. Alors, on le prend? |
| Greg:I agree with you. So, we’re taking him? |
| Femme Oui. Demandez-lui s’il peut commencer demain. |
| Greg:Yes. Ask him if he can start tomorrow. |
| (…) |
| Greg(…) |
| Homme Jacques, nous avons de bonnes nouvelles pour vous, vous avez l’emploi! Vous pouvez commencer demain à 8 heures pile? |
| Greg:Jacques, we have good news for you, you got the job! Can you start tomorrow at 8 o’clock sharp? |
| Jacques Si je peux commencer demain?! Bien sûr! Je vais être à l’heure, évidemment. Merci et à demain! |
| Greg:If I can start tomorrow?! Of course! I’ll be on time, obviously. Thank you and see you tomorrow! |
| Post Conversation Banter |
| Greg:So Mailys, preparing for an interview can be a scary task, and not everyone can be as cool as Jacques. |
| Mailys:Yeah, I think preparing for a fake French interview can be a great way to practice your language skills and to use what you’ve learned so far. |
| Greg:Let’s go over some questions you’re likely to hear in a French interview. |
| Mailys:Pourquoi cherchez-vous un emploi? |
| Greg:Why are you looking for a job? |
| Mailys:Pourquoi voulez-vous travailler chez nous? |
| Greg:Why do you want to work with us? |
| Mailys:Quelles sont vos qualités les plus importantes pour ce poste? |
| Greg:What are your most important qualities for this position? |
| Mailys:I’d say they’re more or less the same kinds of questions you’d hear in an English interview. |
| Greg:Yes, I think so! |
| Mailys:Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| Vocabulary and Phrases |
| Greg:Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Mailys:terminer [natural native speed] |
| Greg:to end |
| Mailys:terminer [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys:terminer [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys:poste [natural native speed] |
| Greg:position |
| Mailys:poste [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys:poste [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys:gérant [natural native speed] |
| Greg:manager |
| Mailys:gérant [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys:gérant [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys:défi [natural native speed] |
| Greg:challenge |
| Mailys:défi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys:défi [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys:veuillez + infinitive verb [natural native speed] |
| Greg:please... + verb |
| Mailys:veuillez + infinitive verb [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys:veuillez + infinitive verb [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys:surtout [natural native speed] |
| Greg:especially |
| Mailys:surtout [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys:surtout [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys:nouvelles [natural native speed] |
| Greg:news |
| Mailys:nouvelles [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys:nouvelles [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys:commencer [natural native speed] |
| Greg:to start, to begin |
| Mailys:commencer [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys:commencer [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys:à l’heure [natural native speed] |
| Greg:on time |
| Mailys:à l’heure [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys:à l’heure [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys:évidemment [natural native speed] |
| Greg:obviously |
| Mailys:évidemment [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys:évidemment [natural native speed] |
| Vocabulary and Phrase Usage |
| Greg:Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson.. |
| Greg:‘Veuillez’ is the imperative form of the verb ‘vouloir’ which means “to want”. |
| Mailys:It's used when making a polite request and is roughly equivalent to "please do something". |
| Mailys:Veuillez placer les livres sur la tablette. |
| Greg:Please place the books on the shelf. |
| Mailys:En cas d'urgence, veuillez téléphoner à ce numéro. |
| Greg:In case of an emergency, please call this number. |
| Greg:Next we have ‘Surtout’, which means “especially” or “mostly”. It usually comes after the verb. |
| Mailys:Nous aimons bien visiter la Tour Eiffel, mais moi, j'aime surtout les restaurants de Paris. |
| Greg:We like to visit the Eiffel Tower, but I especially like Paris' restaurants. |
| Mailys:Il travaille surtout le soir. |
| Greg:He works mostly in the evening. |
| Greg:‘Surtout’ can also have a few other similar meanings. |
| Mailys:Ne regarde surtout pas! |
| Greg:Don't look, no matter what! |
| Mailys:Surtout, n'oublie pas ton parapluie! |
| Greg:Most of all, don't forget your umbrella! |
| Greg:Next is À l'heure, which means on time. |
| Mailys:Here are some examples. Le nouvel employé arrive toujours à l'heure. |
| Greg:The new employee always arrives on time. |
| Mailys:Mais où il est, lui?! Il est jamais à l'heure! |
| Greg:Where is he?! He's never on time! |
| Greg:Note that if something is done before a deadline, we use ‘à temps’ instead. |
| Mailys:Vous devez remettre vos devoirs à temps. |
| Greg:You must hand in your homework on time. |
| Mailys:Le train part dans 2 minutes? Ouf! Je suis à temps! |
| Greg:The train leaves in 2 minutes? Phew! I'm on time. |
| Greg:Ok, and with that, now let’s move on to the grammar. |
| Grammar Point |
| Mailys:The focus of this lesson is to review the plural. |
| Greg:We will review what we've introduced about the plural in the course of the previous lessons. |
| Mailys:We will also explain some irregularities, especially with the preposition ‘de’. |
| Greg:Most nouns simply take an ‘-s’ in the plural. This includes all nouns ending in a vowel or in a consonant, except for ‘s’, ‘x’ or ‘z’. This final ‘-s’ is always silent. |
| Mailys:Examples of words that take an ‘s’ in the plural are - ‘fille’, ‘garçon’, ‘biscuit’ and ‘café’. |
| Greg:If the noun ends in ‘s’, ‘x’ or ‘z’, then no ‘s’ is added and the noun stays the same. |
| Mailys:For instance - ‘fois’, ‘héros’ and ‘amoureux’. |
| Greg:Some nouns have an irregular, but predictable plural form. |
| Mailys:For instance, words ending in ‘-al’, a-l, or ‘-ail’, a-i-l, become ‘-aux,’ a-u-x, in the plural. For example- |
| Mailys:journal... |
| Greg:“newspaper” becomes |
| Mailys:journaux. |
| Mailys:travail |
| Greg:“work” becomes... |
| Mailys:travaux |
| Greg:A small number of nouns have a completely irregular plural. |
| Mailys:For instance, ‘œil’ becomes ‘yeux’, meaning “eyes”. |
| Greg:Adjectives also takes an ‘-s’ in the plural. The exceptions are roughly the same as with nouns - adjectives ending in ‘s’ or ‘x’ do not change. |
| Mailys:For instance, the following words don't change - ‘délicieux’, ‘heureux’, ‘vieux’ and ‘gros’. |
| Greg:Adjectives ending in ‘-al’, a-l, change to ‘-aux’, a-u-x, and those in ‘-eau’, e-a-u, take an ‘x’. |
| Mailys:so “original” becomes ‘originaux’ and ‘nouveau’ takes an ‘x’. |
| Greg:Note that this only applies to the masculine forms. |
| Mailys:If the feminine form ends in ‘-e’, then it just takes an ‘-s’. |
| Greg:An article, a noun and an adjective always agree in number and gender. |
| Mailys:This means they will all be singular or plural, or masculine or feminine, depending on the noun. In ‘Les biscuits délicieux’... |
| Greg:The delicious cookies |
| Mailys:The article, the noun and the adjective are all masculine plural. In ‘La grande fille’... |
| A.The tall girl |
| Mailys:All words are feminine singular. |
| Greg:The plural of the indefinite article ‘un’ is ‘des’ |
| Mailys:un enfant, des enfants |
| Greg:but when ‘des’ is followed by an adjective, it becomes ‘de’. |
| Mailys:Un grand enfant |
| Greg:A tall child becomes |
| Mailys:De grands enfants |
| Greg:Tall children |
| Mailys:Une petite maison |
| Greg:A small house becomes |
| Mailys:De petites maisons |
| Greg:Small houses |
| Greg:Okay, and that’s it for this lesson! Join us for lesson 25 for the grand finale of our series of dialogues between Jacques and Mireille! |
| Mailys:I want to know how it ends! Au revoir et à bientôt! |
| Greg:See you soon! |
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