INTRODUCTION |
Brandon: Hi everyone, and welcome back to FrenchPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner Season 2 Lesson 25, Finding Your Way Around a French City! I’m Brandon! |
Yasmine: Bonjour. I'm Yasmine. |
Brandon: In this final lesson of the series, you’ll learn how to talk about directions in French. The conversation takes place in the street. |
Yasmine: It’s between Laura and Antoine. |
Brandon: The speakers are not friends, so they’ll be using formal French. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
DIALOGUE |
Laura: Excusez-moi, où est la gare la plus proche ? |
Antoine: C'est à coté. Tournez à gauche, puis dans deux rues, à droite. C'est près de la banque. |
Laura: D'accord, je tourne à gauche ici, puis dans deux rues, à droite. J'ai compris. Merci ! |
Brandon: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
Laura: Excusez-moi, où est la gare la plus proche ? |
Antoine: C'est à coté. Tournez à gauche, puis dans deux rues, à droite. C'est près de la banque. |
Laura: D'accord, je tourne à gauche ici, puis dans deux rues, à droite. J'ai compris. Merci ! |
Brandon: Listen to the conversation with an English translation. |
Laura: Excusez-moi, où est la gare la plus proche ? |
Brandon: Excuse me. Where is the train station? |
Antoine: C'est à coté. Tournez à gauche, puis dans deux rues, à droite. C'est près de la banque. |
Brandon: It’s close. Turn left here, then in two streets, turn right. It’s next to the bank. |
Laura: D'accord, je tourne à gauche ici, puis dans deux rues, à droite. J'ai compris. Merci ! |
Brandon: OK, turn left here, then in two streets, turn right. Got it. Thank you! |
POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
Brandon: The French street system seems pretty easy to understand. Each street has a name, often named after someone important or historical, and each house and building has a number. The odd numbers are usually on the left side of the road, facing the direction in which the numbers increase. |
Yasmine: And where additional buildings are inserted or subdivided, they are often suffixed with "bis" or "ter". |
Brandon: Do you ever get lost in France? It must be pretty easy to get around if every street has a name. |
Yasmine: It is! I have been lost a couple of times, but as I studied in a big city which has many big and famous streets, I just needed to ask someone, and they helped me to find where I was going. |
Brandon: Now it is much easier because you can also use Google maps before you go anywhere. |
Yasmine: That's the safest and best option in my opinion! |
Brandon: Here’s a useful expression to know on this topic. |
Yasmine: "numérotation des maisons" |
Brandon: "house numbering." |
VOCAB LIST |
Brandon: Now, let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word is.. |
Yasmine: s’excuser [natural native speed] |
Brandon: to apologise |
Yasmine: s’excuser [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Yasmine: s’excuser [natural native speed] |
Brandon: Next we have.. |
Yasmine: gare [natural native speed] |
Brandon: train station |
Yasmine: gare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Yasmine: gare [natural native speed] |
Brandon: Next we have.. |
Yasmine: proche [natural native speed] |
Brandon: close, near |
Yasmine: proche [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Yasmine: proche [natural native speed] |
Brandon: Next we have.. |
Yasmine: à côté [natural native speed] |
Brandon: nearby |
Yasmine: à côté [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Yasmine: à côté [natural native speed] |
Brandon: Next we have.. |
Yasmine: tourner [natural native speed] |
Brandon: to turn |
Yasmine: tourner [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Yasmine: tourner [natural native speed] |
Brandon: Next we have.. |
Yasmine: gauche [natural native speed] |
Brandon: left |
Yasmine: gauche [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Yasmine: gauche [natural native speed] |
Brandon: Next we have.. |
Yasmine: droite [natural native speed] |
Brandon: right |
Yasmine: droite [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Yasmine: droite [natural native speed] |
Brandon: Next we have.. |
Yasmine: banque [natural native speed] |
Brandon: bank |
Yasmine: banque [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Yasmine: banque [natural native speed] |
Brandon: Last we have.. |
Yasmine: rue [natural native speed] |
Brandon: street |
Yasmine: rue [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
Yasmine: rue [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: proche |
Brandon: meaning "Close, recent,” or “imminent." |
Yasmine: "Proche" is an adjective and has different meanings and different uses. |
Brandon: Can you give us an example? |
Yasmine: Le week-end est proche, |
Brandon: "the weekend is coming up." This word can be also used to talk about space, as in... |
Yasmine: ...Ma maison est proche de la tienne, |
Brandon: "My house is near yours," or about relations with others. |
Yasmine: As in "Ce sont des amis très proches", |
Brandon: Which means "They are close friends." When would you not use this expression? |
Yasmine: When you talk about being near someone, it's better to use "près". |
Brandon: That’s a synonym with almost the same meaning. Can you give us an example? |
Yasmine: Je suis tout près de toi . |
Brandon: "I am very near you." |
Yasmine: "Proche" is also a noun meaning “close family member” or “close relative.” For example, "J'invite mes proches à mon anniversaire". |
Brandon: "I invite my close relatives to my birthday party.” Okay, next we have... |
Yasmine: Tourner |
Brandon: meaning "to turn" |
Yasmine: "Tourner" is a regular verb. |
Brandon: When can you use this verb? |
Yasmine: You can use "tourner" to speak about direction, for example, "tourner à droite". |
Brandon: "turn right." |
Yasmine: Or to talk about actions, as in "tourner les pages d'un livre". |
Brandon: "to turn the pages of a book." I think you can also use it to talk about drinks that can go bad, like milk or wine. |
Yasmine: That’s right! Ce lait a tourné il n'est plus bon! |
Brandon: Which means "This milk went sour, it's not good anymore!" Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus
|
Brandon: In this lesson, you'll learn how to talk about directions and indicate location in French. |
Yasmine: In the dialogue, we had "Excusez-moi, où est la gare la plus proche?".. |
Brandon: meaning "Excuse me. Where is the nearest train station?" . Let’s learn more about how you can ask for directions if you are looking for a place or a building. |
Yasmine: Firstly, you need to make sure you use the polite "vous - form" to ask for directions from a stranger. |
Brandon: How do we get someone’s attention so they can help us? |
Yasmine: You can start by saying "pardon monsieur" or "pardon madame". |
Brandon: That means “Excuse me, sir,” or “Excuse me, miss.” You can also just say “Excuse me,” or “I’m sorry.” |
Yasmine: That’s right - "excusez-moi" is fine. To ask where something is, you can say "où est ...?" or "où se trouve ...?". "Se trouver" is a reflexive verb. |
Brandon: It means "to be found." Can you give us an example? |
Yasmine: Pardon monsieur, où se trouve la bibliothèque? |
Brandon: "Pardon me, sir, where is the library?". What other phrases can you use? |
Yasmine: You can also use "je cherche"... |
Brandon: "I'm looking for," |
Yasmine: or "savez-vous où est X?" |
Brandon: "Do you know where X is?". |
Yasmine: For example, "Excusez-moi, je cherche le marché". |
Brandon: "Excuse me, I'm looking for the market." |
Yasmine: Or, "Pardon, est-ce que vous savez où se trouve le cinéma?" |
Brandon: Which means "Pardon me, do you know where the movie theater is?". But what if someone asks you for directions? How do you tell them where to go? |
Yasmine: To say “go straight,” you say "continuez tout droit". "Until" or "up to" is "jusqu'à". |
Brandon: How would you use it in a complete sentence? |
Yasmine: Continuez tout droit jusqu'au marché. |
Brandon: Which means "Keep going straight all the way to the market." But not everyone will just need to go straight! How can we say “turn left” or “turn right?” |
Yasmine: Say "tournez à gauche" for “turn left” or "tournez à droite" for “turn right”. For example, "Au marché, tournez à gauche." |
Brandon: "At the market, turn left." Got it. How about some more specific directions, like talking about where something is in relation to where they are, like a building? |
Yasmine: "Devant" means "in front of." "En face de" is "across the street from." For example, "Le café est devant le marché". |
Brandon: Let’s hear an example with these elements together. |
Yasmine: Est-ce que vous connaissez la place du marché? Le café est près de la place. |
Brandon: “Do you know the marketplace? The coffee shop is near there.” French uses different words and expressions to provide directions, so there isn't a specific grammatical term to refer to them. |
Yasmine: We generally call them "indicateurs de direction". |
Brandon: Which means "location indicators." |
Yasmine: They can be adverbs of place, such as "là" or "là-bas", |
Brandon: “there” or “over there,” |
Yasmine: or prepositions of place such as "devant", |
Brandon: Which means “in front of.” Listeners, for more examples and explanations, please check the lesson notes. |
Outro
|
Brandon: Well, that’s all for this lesson and this series. We hope you enjoyed it and found it useful. If you have any questions or comments, please leave us a post at FrenchPod101.com. |
Yasmine: We’re happy to help! |
Brandon: In the meantime, thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you in another series. Bye! |
Yasmine: À bientôt! |
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