Dialogue

Vocabulary

Learn New Words FAST with this Lesson’s Vocab Review List

Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Notes

Unlock In-Depth Explanations & Exclusive Takeaways with Printable Lesson Notes

Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Brandon: Going on a Weekend Hike in France! I’m Brandon!
Yasmine: Bonjour. I'm Yasmine.
Brandon: In this lesson you’ll learn how to ask permission in French. The conversation takes place in an office.
Yasmine: It’s between Léa and Théo.
Brandon: The speakers are friends, so they’ll be using informal French. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Théo: Es-tu occupé ce week-end?
Léa: Je vais à la montagne. Pourquoi?
Théo: Un vieil ami du lycée vient me rendre visite.
Léa : Est-ce que je peux le rencontrer la semaine prochaine?
Théo : Bien sûr, un repas lundi soir ça te va?
Léa : Oui, je suis libre!
Brandon: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
Théo: Es-tu occupé ce week-end?
Léa: Je vais à la montagne. Pourquoi?
Théo: Un vieil ami du lycée vient me rendre visite.
Léa : Est-ce que je peux le rencontrer la semaine prochaine?
Théo : Bien sûr, un repas lundi soir ça te va?
Léa : Oui, je suis libre!
Brandon: Listen to the conversation with an English translation.
Théo: Es-tu occupé ce week-end?
Théo: Are you busy this weekend?
Léa: Je vais à la montagne. Pourquoi?
Léa: I'm going to the mountains. Why?
Théo: Un vieil ami du lycée vient me rendre visite.
Théo: An old friend from high school is visiting.
Léa : Est-ce que je peux le rencontrer la semaine prochaine?
Léa: May I meet him next week?
Théo : Bien sûr, un repas lundi soir ça te va?
Théo: Sure, how about dinner Monday evening?
Léa : Oui, je suis libre!
Léa: Yes, I'm free!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Brandon: Yasmine, what kinds of things do French people do on the weekends?
Yasmine: Well, many of them go shopping, especially for Courses alimentaires.
Brandon: Which is “grocery shopping."
Yasmine: And some people like to spend time with their family or friends.
Brandon: What kind of activities do they usually do together? Do they go to the park or watch a movie?
Yasmine: Yes, or they just meet up in a cafe.
Brandon: I guess they still have to do the usual weekend chores too, like cleaning the apartment and filling up the fridge.
Yasmine: Yep. When I'm done with things like that, I enjoy spending time with my sister or my friends. I go running with them in the park, or we meet at our favorite bar to have a beer.
Brandon: That sounds nice! Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Brandon: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.The first word is..
Yasmine: occupé [natural native speed]
Brandon: busy
Yasmine: occupé [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Yasmine: occupé [natural native speed]
Brandon: Next we have..
Yasmine: montagne [natural native speed]
Brandon: mountain
Yasmine: montagne [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Yasmine: montagne [natural native speed]
Brandon: Next we have..
Yasmine: pourquoi [natural native speed]
Brandon: why
Yasmine: pourquoi [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Yasmine: pourquoi [natural native speed]
Brandon: Next we have..
Yasmine: rendre visite [natural native speed]
Brandon: to pay a visit to
Yasmine: rendre visite [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Yasmine: rendre visite [natural native speed]
Brandon: Next we have..
Yasmine: rencontrer [natural native speed]
Brandon: to meet
Yasmine: rencontrer [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Yasmine: rencontrer [natural native speed]
Brandon: Next we have..
Yasmine: semaine [natural native speed]
Brandon: week
Yasmine: semaine [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Yasmine: semaine [natural native speed]
Brandon: Next we have..
Yasmine: repas [natural native speed]
Brandon: meal
Yasmine: repas [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Yasmine: repas [natural native speed]
Brandon: Last we have..
Yasmine: libre [natural native speed]
Brandon: free
Yasmine: libre [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Yasmine: libre [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 phrase is..
Yasmine: rendre visite
Brandon: which means "to pay a visit to." Yasmine, can you break this down?
Yasmine: Sure. The verb rendre literally means "to return." Visite is a noun.
Brandon: It’s a word with several meanings, including “visit,” “tour,” and “viewing.” How can you use this phrase?
Yasmine: The conjugation of the verb is rendre + visite + à + the name of the person you are visiting.
Brandon: You’ll notice that à is a very important preposition and it’s required after many verbs that need an indirect object .
Yasmine: You only use rendre visite when you’re visiting people.
Brandon: Can you give us an example?
Yasmine: Sure. Je vais rendre visite à Julie
Brandon: meaning "I'm visiting Julie." Since this is a formal phrase, how would you say it informally?
Yasmine: You can say aller voir, which is the most general French term.
Brandon: It literally means “to go to see.” Can you give us an example?
Yasmine: Nous allons voir mes parents,
Brandon: meaning "We are going to see my parents." Okay, next we have..
Yasmine: bien sûr
Brandon: meaning "of course," or literally, "very sure." You use it in formal and informal language.
Yasmine: Bien sûr is a very common expression.
Brandon: It’s often used as a response to a question or statement. Can you give us an example?
Yasmine: Let’s say someone asks you Tu viens à ma fête d'anniversaire ce soir,
Brandon: meaning.. “Are you coming to my birthday party tonight?”.
Yasmine: Then you can respond.. Bien sûr,
Brandon: which means “Of course!" It’s also used to link clauses.
Yasmine: For example, Je veux saluer, bien sûr, tous les invités de notre conférence
Brandon: meaning "I would also like to greet all the guests at our conference, of course." So Yasmine, how can you respond more formally to a question or request?
Yasmine: You can say bien entendu which is a synonym of bien sûr. For example, if someone says Avez vous amené le dossier ,
Brandon: "Did you bring the file?”
Yasmine: Then, you can answer.. Bien entendu ,
Brandon: "Of course."
Yasmine: Bien sûr can be followed by que oui to sound stronger, or que non to mean "of course not."
Brandon: Okay, now onto the grammar.

Lesson focus

Brandon: In this lesson, you'll learn how to ask permission in French. How would you do this politely?
Yasmine: You can use the pattern est-ce que je peux... + infinitive verb.
Brandon: Can you give us an example using the pattern?
Yasmine: Of course! Est-ce que je peux venir m'assoir à côté de toi?
Brandon: This translates as "May I sit down next to you?"
Yasmine: Let’s break this down. Est-ce que is the polite way to start a question. Next is Je which means "I" , peux is the conjugated form of pouvoir meaning "can", and next is venir.
Brandon: That means “to come” and it’s then followed by the conjugated verb meaning “to sit,”
Yasmine: which is.. s'assoir. Next is à côté de meaning "next to” or “beside," and finally toi,
Brandon: meaning "you." But this phrase can’t be used for informal situations, right?
Yasmine: That’s right. For informal situations, you drop the Est-ce que when asking.
Brandon: So how would you say the previous example informally?
Yasmine: Je peux m'assoir à côté de toi ?
Brandon: Okay, so let’s say we are planning for a trip this summer, so what would we say if we want to rent a car?
Yasmine: You can say Est-ce que nous pouvons louer une voiture, meaning “Can we rent a car?”
Brandon: Great, Ok, for more information on this lesson be sure to check the lesson notes.

Outro

Brandon: Well, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye!
Yasmine: À bientôt!

Comments

Hide