Learn how to talk about prices
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brandon: Grabbing a Bargain in France! I’m Brandon! |
| Yasmine: Bonjour. I'm Yasmine. |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you'll learn how to talk about prices in French. The conversation takes place in a store. |
| Yasmine: It’s between Benjamin and Nathalie. |
| Brandon: The speakers are friends, so they’ll be using informal French. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Nathalie : J'aime ce T-shirt rouge mais il est très cher. Il coûte 60€. |
| Benjamin : Tu aimes celui en bleu ? |
| Nathalie : Oui mais il est très cher également. |
| Benjamin : Non, il est soldé. Moitié prix. Il coûte seulement 30€. |
| Brandon: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Nathalie : J'aime ce T-shirt rouge mais il est très cher. Il coûte 60€. |
| Benjamin : Tu aimes celui en bleu ? |
| Nathalie : Oui mais il est très cher également. |
| Benjamin : Non, il est soldé. Moitié prix. Il coûte seulement 30€. |
| Brandon: Listen to the conversation with an English translation. |
| Nathalie : J'aime ce T-shirt rouge mais il est très cher. Il coûte 60€. |
| Brandon: I like this red shirt but it’s very expensive. It is 60€. |
| Benjamin : Tu aimes celui en bleu ? |
| Brandon: Do you like this blue one? |
| Nathalie : Oui mais il est très cher également. |
| Brandon: Yes, but it’s expensive, too. |
| Benjamin : Non, il est soldé. Moitié prix. Il coûte seulement 30€. |
| Brandon: No, it’s on sale. Half price. It’s only 30€. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Brandon: French has some interesting idioms using the verb “to cost.” |
| Yasmine: Yes. “To cost” is coûte. One phrase is Ca coute bonbon. |
| Brandon: Literally this means “it costs a candy,” but don’t be fooled by the translation. It means something is very expensive, like the kind of present you’d buy to please your parents, or something you can’t afford. |
| Yasmine: Right, the French expression coûter bonbon means "costly." I think there are many similar English idioms, right? |
| Brandon: yea, We say things like "it costs an arm and a leg," or "it costs a pretty penny." |
| Yasmine: This French idiom is quite informal, so make sure to use it appropriately. |
| Brandon: Are there any other French idioms to express how expensive something is? |
| Yasmine: Ça coûte les yeux de la tête. |
| Branson: Literally, "It costs the eyes of the head." |
| Yasmine: Ça coûte la prunelle des yeux. |
| Brandon: "It costs the pupil of the eyes." |
| Yasmine: Ça coûte la peau des fesses. |
| Brandon: "It costs the skin of the buttocks." Do you use these expressions to call something expensive? |
| Yasmine: I personally use ça coûte la peau du cul, but only when I am around friends or family because it’s really casual! Cul is a synonym of fesses, but less formal. |
| Brandon: Sounds like an expression young people would use a lot. Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Brandon: The first word is.. |
| Yasmine: aimer [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to love |
| Yasmine: aimer [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: aimer [natural native speed] |
| Brandon:Next we have.. |
| Yasmine: rouge [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: red |
| Yasmine: rouge [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: rouge [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next we have.. |
| Yasmine: cher [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: expensive |
| Yasmine: cher [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: cher [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next we have.. |
| Yasmine: coûter [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to cost |
| Yasmine: coûter [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: coûter [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next we have.. |
| Yasmine: bleu [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: blue |
| Yasmine: bleu [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: bleu [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next we have.. |
| Yasmine: soldé [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: on sale |
| Yasmine: soldé [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: soldé [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next we have.. |
| Yasmine: prix [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: price |
| Yasmine: prix [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: prix [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Last we have.. |
| Yasmine: seulement [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: only |
| Yasmine: seulement [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: seulement [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: moitié prix |
| Brandon: meaning "half-price." |
| Yasmine: A moitié prix is a phrase. A means "at", moitié means "half" and prix means "price." |
| Brandon: You can use it to describe an object on sale, and it’s common in both formal and informal language. |
| Yasmine: For example, Cette télévision est à moitié prix |
| Brandon "this TV is half-price." Anything else to know about this expression? |
| Yasmine: A moitié prix always implies a lower price. |
| Brandon: You can’t use it when you’re talking about higher prices. |
| Yasmine: In those cases another phrase, plus cher, is more appropriate. For example, J'ai paye cet article 2 fois plus cher sur Internet qu'en magasin ! |
| Brandon: "I paid twice what it would cost in a store when I bought this thing on the internet." |
| Yasmine: Moitié also has a romantic meaning, which is “partner, other half.” |
| Brandon: Can you give us an example? |
| Yasmine: Ma copine est ma moitié |
| Brandon: "My girlfriend is my other half." Okay, next we have.. |
| Yasmine: également |
| Brandon: Which means “equally,” “also,” “too,” or “as well.” |
| Yasmine: également is a comparative adverb and is related to the verb égaler, meaning “equal.” |
| Brandon: Comparative adverbs let you make comparisons between two or more things. |
| Yasmine: In this case, également says that two things are equal. |
| Brandon: You also use it to say "me too" or "also." Can you give us an example? |
| Yasmine: Je pars également en vacances demain |
| Brandon: "I'm also going on vacation tomorrow." When would we not use this phrase? |
| Yasmine: In some cases, également may be too formal. Aussi is a synonym and is used in informal language. |
| Brandon: Can you give us an example? |
| Yasmine: Sure! Je pars aussi en vacances demain, |
| Brandon: "I'm going on vacation tomorrow, too." Listeners, for more examples, please check the lesson notes. Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Brandon: In this lesson, you'll learn how to talk about prices in French. |
| Yasmine: In the dialogue, we had.. Il est soldé. Moitié prix. Il coûte seulement 30€. |
| Brandon: meaning “It’s on sale. Half price. It’s only 30€." What’s the key phrase for prices? |
| Yasmine: Il coûte. |
| Brandon: Meaning "It costs.." How do you say prices in French? |
| Yasmine: In French, you can simply give the price of an item after saying "[Pronoun] + coûte". For example, you can say Il coûte 30€. |
| Brandon: That means “'It costs thirty Euro.” |
| Yasmine: You can also use the pronoun Ça instead. |
| Brandon: Another really important thing to know is counting. You’ll need to know numbers for handling everyday situations, and if you happen to meet someone intriguing, you’ll want to exchange personal information such as age, address, and phone numbers. So let’s practice counting from 1 to 10. |
| Yasmine: un |
| Brandon: one |
| Yasmine: deux |
| Brandon: two |
| Yasmine: trois |
| Brandon: three |
| Yasmine: quatre |
| Brandon: four |
| Yasmine: cinq |
| Brandon: five |
| Yasmine: six |
| Brandon: six |
| Yasmine: sept |
| Brandon: seven |
| Yasmine: huit |
| Brandon: eight |
| Yasmine: neuf |
| Brandon: nine |
| Yasmine: dix |
| Brandon: “ten.” Okay, what if there’s a decimal? |
| Yasmine: When the price has a decimal point, you can read it as number-euro-number. For example, Un euro dix. |
| Brandon: Thats equivalent to “1 euro and 10 cents.” Please note that you always need to use the word euro when stating a price. You can’t omit it like you would with "dollar" when giving a price with a decimal in English. |
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! |
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