Learn how to describe and compare actions using basic adverbs
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brandon: How Fast is Your French? Brandon here! |
| Yasmine: Bonjour. I'm Yasmine. |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you'll learn to describe and compare actions while using basic adverbs.This conversation takes place at a café. |
| Yasmine: This conversation is between Céline and Eric. |
| Brandon: The speakers are friends, so the speakers will be using informal French. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Eric: Il est bête? |
| Céline: Non il est très intelligent. |
| Eric: Hmm, pourquoi parle-t-il si lentement? |
| Céline: Il pense toujours très prudemment. |
| Eric: Donc il ne peut pas penser rapidement? |
| Céline: Tu parles trop vite. |
| Brandon: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Eric: Il est bête? |
| Céline: Non il est très intelligent. |
| Eric: Hmm, pourquoi parle-t-il si lentement? |
| Céline: Il pense toujours très prudemment. |
| Eric: Donc il ne peut pas penser rapidement? |
| Céline: Tu parles trop vite. |
| Brandon: Listen to the conversation with an English translation. |
| Eric: Il est bête? |
| Eric: Is he stupid? |
| Céline: Non il est très intelligent. |
| Céline: No, he's very intelligent. |
| Eric: Hmm, pourquoi parle-t-il si lentement? |
| Eric: Hmm, why does he speak so slowly? |
| Céline: Il pense toujours très prudemment. |
| Céline: He is always thinking carefully. |
| Eric: Donc il ne peut pas penser rapidement? |
| Eric: So he can't think quickly? |
| Céline: Tu parles trop vite. |
| Céline: You speak too quickly. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Brandon: Do French people really speak that fast? |
| Yasmine: French people may speak really fast, especially in the street or with their friends. |
| Brandon: I guess since it’s their native language they don’t even think about it! What can I do when French people speak too fast for me? |
| Yasmine: Just ask them politely to slow down, it's not a problem! |
| Brandon: Do you speak quickly? |
| Yasmine: As French is my first language, I don't realize whether I am really speaking that fast or not. |
| Brandon: I think everyone speaks quickly in their mother tongue. The more you progress in a language, the faster you speak! How would I ask someone to slow down? |
| Yasmine: Vous pouvez parler moins vite s’il vous plaît?, |
| Brandon: meaning "Could you slow down please?". Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Brandon: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary and phrases used in this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Yasmine: bête [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: stupid |
| Yasmine: bête [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: bête [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next we have.. |
| Yasmine: intelligent [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: clever, intelligent |
| Yasmine: intelligent [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: intelligent [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next we have.. |
| Yasmine: parler [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to speak, to talk |
| Yasmine: parler [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: parler [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next we have.. |
| Yasmine: lentement [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: slowly |
| Yasmine: lentement [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: lentement [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next we have.. |
| Yasmine: penser [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to think |
| Yasmine: penser [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: penser [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next we have.. |
| Yasmine: prudemment [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: carefully |
| Yasmine: prudemment [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: prudemment [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next we have.. |
| Yasmine: rapidement [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: quickly, fast |
| Yasmine: rapidement [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: rapidement [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: And the last word is.. |
| Yasmine: vite [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: quickly, fast |
| Yasmine: vite [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: vite [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Brandon: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Yasmine: prudemment |
| Brandon: meaning "carefully." |
| Yasmine: Prudemment is an adverb. |
| Brandon: An adverb is invariable and modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. It provides information about the words they modify, such as when, where, how, or how often. When can we use this phrase? |
| Yasmine: To talk about how something is done. |
| Brandon: But what if we want to talk about a person and not their behavior? We can’t use it then, right? |
| Yasmine: Right. You need to use the adjective prudent meaning careful. Il est prudent dans sa consommation d'énergie. |
| Brandon: That means “He is careful about energy consumption.” |
| Yasmine: A synonym for prudemment is avec précaution. Appliquer avec précaution. |
| Brandon: “Apply with caution.” You can find many more examples in the lesson notes! Okay, next we have.. |
| Yasmine: rapidement, |
| Brandon: meaning "quickly." |
| Yasmine: Rapidement is an adverb of manner which explains how something happens. |
| Brandon: The majority of French adverbs of manner end in |
| Yasmine -ment. |
| Brandon These adverbs are formed based on French adjectives. |
| Yasmine: Rapidement comes from rapide meaning “quick” or “fast.” |
| Brandon: If you want to talk about a person and not their behavior, you can’t use... |
| Yasmine: rapidement. In that case you can use the adjective rapide. Le guépard est un animal rapide. |
| Brandon: “The cheetah is a pretty quick animal.” Can you give us another example? |
| Yasmine: Sure! Chaque matin je me prépare rapidement avant d'aller au lycée. |
| Brandon: "I get myself ready quickly every morning before going to high school." |
| Yasmine: Vite is an adverb equivalent in meaning to rapidement. |
| Brandon: Check the lesson notes for more examples! Okay, next we have.. |
| Yasmine: parfois, |
| Brandon: meaning "Sometimes."Adverbs of frequency are usually placed after the verb, but this is an exception. It’s normally placed at the beginning of the sentence. |
| Yasmine: Like in Parfois j'aime me promener au bord du lac. |
| Brandon: “Sometimes I like to take a walk around the lake.”It may also be place in the middle. |
| Yasmine: For example, Il faut parfois faire des choix difficiles. |
| Brandon: “Sometimes you have to make difficult choices.” What other phrases can we use? |
| Yasmine: "Quelquefois" is a synonym of "parfois" and is more common in the French language. |
| Brandon: Can you give us an example? |
| Yasmine: Sure! Mon frère m'appelle quelquefois durant l'année |
| Brandon: “My brother calls me sometimes during the year.” |
| Yasmine: Parfois is related to une fois because of its meaning. It's about occasional frequency. These two words mean sometimes, and one time respectively. |
| Brandon: Okay, let’s move on to the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Brandon: In this lesson, you'll learn about French adverbs |
| Yasmine: In the dialogue, we had Donc il ne peut pas penser rapidement? |
| Brandon: meaning “So he can't think quickly?” Let’s look at how to make these kinds of adverbs. |
| Yasmine: Rapidement is made up of the feminine form of the adjective rapide and "-ment." |
| Brandon: It’s equivalent to the "-ly." ending you see on some English adverbs. This is the most common way to form adverbs in French. |
| Yasmine: You can form most French adverbs with the ending -ment, as in correctement, |
| Brandon: "Correctly” |
| Yasmine: Rapidement |
| Brandon: “Quickly" |
| Yasmine: Dangereusement |
| Brandon: “Dangerously.” Most adverbs follow this pattern. Let’s check a few examples.How about saying “only” in French? |
| Yasmine: The masculine adjective is seul, and the feminine is seule. Therefore the adverb is seulement. |
| Brandon: What about “exactly?” |
| Yasmine: It’s the same pattern. Exact, exacte, and the adverb exactement. |
| Brandon: Listeners, Check the lesson notes for more examples, but where should we place the adverb? |
| Yasmine: You generally place an adverb after the verb in a sentence. |
| Brandon: When the adverb modifies an adjective or another adverb,you’ll usually place the adverb before it. The pattern is subject, verb, adverb. |
| Yasmine: For example, Il travaille efficacement. |
| Brandon: “He works efficiently.” If you’re including an adjective, it will go after the adverb. |
| Yasmine: For example, Elle est vraiment occupée. |
| Brandon: Which means “She is really busy.” You’ll find many more sample sentences in the notes! If you are doing a comparison with adverbs, there are also ways to express a greater degree, a lesser degree, and an equal degree. |
| Yasmine: They are plus que, moins que, and aussi que. For example, plus prudemment. |
| Brandon: “More carefully.” |
| Yasmine: moins prudemment |
| Brandon: “Less carefully.” |
| Yasmine: aussi prudemment |
| Brandon: “as carefully.” Can you show us how to use a comparison in a sentence? |
| Yasmine: Sure! Il conduit plus prudemment que moi. |
| Brandon: That means “He is driving more carefully than me.” |
Outro |
| Brandon: Okay, that’s it for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone. See you next time! |
| Yasmine: À bientôt! |
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