Learn how to use the French verb avoir, which means "to have"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Greg: Hi everyone, I’m Greg. Making a Reservation at a French Restaurant. |
| Mailys: Bonjour à tous. This is Mailys. In this lesson, we will learn the verb “to have”. |
| Greg: Jacques has invited Mireille to a restaurant. |
| Mailys: ...and now he is calling to book a table. |
| Greg: Since he is talking to a stranger on the phone, he will be using formal French. |
| Mailys: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Restaurant: Oui allô, Restaurant Chez Marcello. |
| Jacques: Allô ! J’aimerais réserver une table pour deux, pour 19 h 30 ce soir. |
| Restaurant: Je suis désolé, c’est impossible, monsieur. Mais nous avons une table à 18 heures. |
| Jacques: À 18 heures ! C’est beaucoup trop tôt! Vous avez une table pour 19 heures ? |
| Restaurant: Non, mais j’ai une table à 18 h 30. |
| Jacques: Bon, d’accord pour 18 h 30. |
| Restaurant: Quel est votre nom, monsieur ? |
| Jacques: Je m’appelle Jacques. |
| Restaurant: Alors je réserve une table pour deux à 18 h 30 pour Monsieur Jacques. À ce soir ! |
| Greg: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Restaurant: Oui allô, Restaurant Chez Marcello. |
| Jacques: Allô ! J’aimerais réserver une table pour deux, pour 19 h 30 ce soir. |
| Restaurant: Je suis désolé, c’est impossible, monsieur. Mais nous avons une table à 18 heures. |
| Jacques: À 18 heures ! C’est beaucoup trop tôt! Vous avez une table pour 19 heures ? |
| Restaurant: Non, mais j’ai une table à 18 h 30. |
| Jacques: Bon, d’accord pour 18 h 30. |
| Restaurant: Quel est votre nom, monsieur ? |
| Jacques: Je m’appelle Jacques. |
| Restaurant: Alors je réserve une table pour deux à 18 h 30 pour Monsieur Jacques. À ce soir ! |
| Greg: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Restaurant: Oui allô, Restaurant Chez Marcello. |
| Restaurant: Hello, Marcello's Restaurant. |
| Jacques: Allô ! J’aimerais réserver une table pour deux, pour 19 h 30 ce soir. |
| Jacques: Hello! I would like to book a table for two, for seven-thirty tonight. |
| Restaurant: Je suis désolé, c’est impossible, monsieur. Mais nous avons une table à 18 heures. |
| Restaurant: I'm sorry, that's impossible, sir. But we have a table at six o'clock. |
| Jacques: À 18 heures ! C’est beaucoup trop tôt! Vous avez une table pour 19 heures ? |
| Jacques: At six o'clock! That's way too early! Do you have a table at seven? |
| Restaurant: Non, mais j’ai une table à 18 h 30. |
| Restaurant: No, but I have a table at six-thirty. |
| Jacques: Bon, d’accord pour 18 h 30. |
| Jacques: Well, okay for six-thirty. |
| Restaurant: Quel est votre nom, monsieur ? |
| Restaurant: What's your name, sir? |
| Jacques: Je m’appelle Jacques. |
| Jacques: My name is Jacques. |
| Restaurant: Alors je réserve une table pour deux à 18 h 30 pour Monsieur Jacques. À ce soir ! |
| Restaurant: So I'll book a table for two at six-thirty for Mr. Jacques. See you tonight! |
| Jacques: Merci, au revoir. |
| Jacques: Thanks, bye. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Greg: So Mailys, when people answer the phone in French, do they usually say ‘oui?’, ‘allô?’ or ‘bonjour?’ |
| Mailys: They sometimes use a combination of these words, like ‘oui, allô?’ or ‘oui, bonjour?’ |
| Greg: The other speaker will usually say ‘allô’ or ‘bonjour’ in reply, then ask for the person they want to speak to in this way... |
| Mailys: Est-ce que je pourrais parler à Monsieur Leroux, s'il-vous-plaît? |
| Greg: May I speak to Mister/Mrs. Leroux? |
| Mailys: Then you can answer ‘Oui, un instant, s'il-vous-plaît.’ |
| Greg: This means “Yes, one moment, please.” Alternatively, you can ask if the person is there... |
| Mailys: Est-ce que Madame Leroux est là? |
| Greg: Is Mrs. Leroux there? |
| Mailys: The conversation usually ends with ‘au revoir’, or more informally, with ‘salut’. |
| Greg: 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: restaurant [natural native speed] |
| Greg: restaurant |
| Mailys: restaurant [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: restaurant [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: chez [natural native speed] |
| Greg: at someone’s house |
| Mailys: chez [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: chez [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: j’aimerais + inf. [natural native speed] |
| Greg: I would like |
| Mailys: j’aimerais + inf. [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: j’aimerais + inf. [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: réserver [natural native speed] |
| Greg: to book, to reserve |
| Mailys: réserver [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: réserver [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: table [natural native speed] |
| Greg: table |
| Mailys: table [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: table [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: désolé(e) [natural native speed] |
| Greg: sorry |
| Mailys: désolé(e) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: désolé(e) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: impossible [natural native speed] |
| Greg: impossible |
| Mailys: impossible [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: impossible [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: avoir [natural native speed] |
| Greg: to have |
| Mailys: avoir [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: avoir [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: votre [natural native speed] |
| Greg: your |
| Mailys: votre [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: votre [natural native speed] |
| Last: |
| Mailys: bon [natural native speed] |
| Greg: good |
| Mailys: bon [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: bon [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. |
| Mailys: Let’s start with ‘chez.’ ‘Chez’ is a preposition that doesn’t have an exact English equivalent. |
| Greg: It’s something like “in the house of”. It’s like [someone]‘s or someone’s place/house. |
| Mailys: For instance, ‘chez Jacques’ means “at Jacques’ place.” |
| Greg: We also use this with restaurants' and stores' names, especially when the name of the establishment contains a person’s name. |
| Mailys: In the dialogue, ‘Chez Marcello’ is “Marcello’s.” |
| Greg: It can also be used with some professions. |
| Mailys: ‘Chez le dentiste,’ is “at” or “to the dentist’s office.” Here are more examples... |
| Mailys: Chez Marcello |
| Greg: Marcello’s |
| Mailys: Chez le dentiste |
| Greg: At the dentist’s office |
| Mailys: Chez moi |
| Greg: At my place/at home |
| Mailys: Chez Jacques |
| Greg: At Jacques’ place |
| Greg: Now let’s look at the expression meaning “I would like” |
| Mailys: j’aimerais |
| Greg: This verb tense is called the conditional. It's a more advanced tense, but for now, you’ll find this expression to be very useful for making requests. |
| Mailys: Just add a verb in the infinitive and you can ask for almost anything. |
| Greg: Here are some examples. |
| Greg: J’aimerais avoir un café. |
| Mailys: I’d like to have a coffee. |
| Greg: J’aimerais réserver une table. |
| Mailys: I’d like to book a table. |
| Greg: J’aimerais manger. |
| Mailys: I’d like to eat. |
| Mailys: and to be polite, add “please” at the end. |
| Greg: s’il-vous-plaît |
| Mailys: The adjective ‘bon’ means “good”. |
| Greg: The feminine version is ‘bonne’. Let’s look at some examples |
| Mailys: Elle aime les bons restaurants. |
| Greg: She likes good restaurants. |
| Mailys: Ils ont une très bonne table. |
| Greg: They have a very good table. |
| Mailys: Alors, les biscuits sont bons? |
| Greg: So, are the cookies good? |
| Mailys: La cuisine italienne est très bonne. |
| Greg: Italian cuisine is very good. Ok, with that, let’s move on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Greg: The focus of this lesson is the verb “to have” in French, which is.... |
| Mailys: ‘avoir.’ ‘Avoir’ is a very common and irregular verb, just like ‘être’. The present tense conjugation is as follows... |
| Greg: J’ai |
| Mailys: Tu as |
| Greg: Il a |
| Mailys: Nous avons |
| Greg: Vous avez |
| Mailys: Ils ont |
| Greg: Notice that the verb sounds the same with ‘tu’ and ‘il’, even though they are spelled differently. |
| Mailys: tu as, il a. |
| Greg: I want to mention that the letter ‘a’ in French never sounds like the English “a”, |
| Mailys: that's really important. Be careful not to confuse ‘tu as’ and ‘il a’ with ‘tu es’, “you are”, and ‘il est’ meaning “he is”. |
| Greg: As for the plural ‘ils’ and ‘elles’, a liaison ‘z’ is inserted before ‘ont’, |
| Mailys: ils ont. |
| Greg: and don’t get confused with ‘ils sont’ meaing “they are”, which has an ‘s’ sound instead of the ‘z’. |
| Mailys: ‘ils ont’, “they have”, ‘ils sont’, “they are”. This sound is the only way to distinguish them. |
| Greg: Spelling-wise, you might have noticed that the preposition ‘à’ as in ‘à 19 heures’, “at 7 pm”, is pronounced the same as the ‘a’ in ‘il a’, but it’s written with an accent grave so they can be told apart. |
| Mailys: Let’s look at some examples |
| Mailys: Jacques a une invitation pour Mireille. |
| Greg: Jacques has an invitation for Mireille. |
| Mailys: Vous avez une table pour deux? |
| Greg: Do you have a table for two? |
| Mailys: Ils ont deux heures. |
| Greg: They have two hours. |
| Greg: In previous lessons, we learned the numbers up to 20. Let’s continue up to 49. |
| Mailys: It's much easier to remember numbers if you understand how to make them than if you try to learn them one by one. |
| Greg: Let's first look at numbers 20 to 29. |
| Mailys: vingt |
| Greg: 20 |
| Mailys: vingt et un |
| Greg: 21 |
| Mailys: vingt-deux |
| Greg: 22 |
| Mailys: vingt-trois |
| Greg: 23 |
| Mailys: vingt-quatre |
| Greg: 24 |
| Mailys: vingt-cinq |
| Greg: 25 |
| Mailys: vingt-six |
| Greg: 26 |
| Mailys: vingt-sept |
| Greg: 27 |
| Mailys: vingt-huit |
| Greg: 28 |
| Mailys: vingt-neuf |
| Greg: 29 |
| Greg: Number 21 uses ‘et un’. For other numbers, ‘et’ is not used. We use ‘vingt’ followed by the second digit. |
| Mailys: The last ‘t’ in ‘vingt’ is only silent with number 20, ‘vingt’. |
| Greg: With this pattern in mind, listen to the numbers 30 to 39. |
| Mailys: trente |
| Greg: 30 |
| Mailys: trente et un |
| Greg: 31 |
| Mailys: trente-deux |
| Greg: 32 |
| Mailys: trente-trois |
| Greg: 33 |
| Mailys: trente-quatre |
| Greg: 34 |
| Mailys: trente-cinq |
| Greg: 35 |
| Mailys: trente-six |
| Greg: 36 |
| Mailys: trente-sept |
| Greg: 37 |
| Mailys: trente-huit |
| Greg: 38 |
| Mailys: trente-neuf |
| Greg: 39 |
| Greg: And now let’s go through 40 to 49. |
| Mailys: quarante |
| Greg: 40 |
| Mailys: quarante et un |
| Greg: 41 |
| Mailys: quarante-deux |
| Greg: 42 |
| Mailys: quarante-trois |
| Greg: 43 |
| Mailys: quarante-quatre |
| Greg: 44 |
| Mailys: quarante-cinq |
| Greg: 45 |
| Mailys: quarante-six |
| Greg: 46 |
| Mailys: quarante-sept |
| Greg: 47 |
| Mailys: quarante-huit |
| Greg: 48 |
| Mailys: quarante-neuf |
| Greg: 49 |
Outro |
| Greg: Ok, that’s it for this lesson! Thanks for listening, and join us for lesson 6 to find out how Jacques and Mireille’s dinner date will go! |
| Mailys: À bientôt! |
| Greg: See you soon! |
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