Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Sam: I have two friends here with me today. I think they're friends.
Céline: Oh, mon dieu! Oui moi c’est Céline. Et je suis ton amie Sam.
Sam: Really?
Céline: Oui je suis ton amie.
Sam: Most of the time.
Alex : Voilà, et moi c’est Alexandre.
Sam: Ok.
Céline: Qui est toujours notre ami!
Sam: Ok. Céline and Alex, they say they're my friends all the time, but we'll see. Ok. What's the focus of today's lesson, guys? Can somebody tell me?
Céline: This conversation takes place at Denzel Snipes’ home, where he makes sure of his tabloid reputation with his personal assistant.
Sam: Denzel Snipes will be played by?
Alex : Alex.
Sam: And his personal assistant will be?
Céline: Céline!
Alex : The conversation will be informal.
Sam: Ok. C'est parti.
Céline: C'est parti!
Alex : On y va!
DIALOGUE
Alex: Tu as lu les nouvelles?
Céline: Oui, voici les titres des journaux. Dans le Paris Fame, “L’épopée de Denzel Snipes”; dans France Aujourd’hui, “Sortie du Film avec Denzel Snipes”.
Alex: Plutôt positif.
Céline: Dans l’Express de l’Hexagone, Denzel Snipes en admiration et accro de Bono.
Alex: C’est vrai, U2, c’est mon groupe préféré, et Bono, quel artiste acharné!
Sam: Now, with the English.
Alex: Tu as lu les nouvelles?
Sam: Did you read the news?
Céline: Oui, voici les titres des journaux. Dans le Paris Fame, “L’épopée de Denzel Snipes”; dans France Aujourd’hui, “Sortie du Film avec Denzel Snipes”.
Sam: Yes, here is one headline; In Paris Fame, Denzel Snipes’ Saga, in France Today, the Release of the Movie with Denzel Snipes.
Alex: Plutôt positif.
Sam: Rather positive.
Céline: Dans l’Express de l’Hexagone, Denzel Snipes en admiration et accro de Bono.
Sam: In the Hexagon Express, Denzel Snipes in Admiration and Hooked on Bono.
Alex: C’est vrai, U2, c’est mon groupe préféré, et Bono, quel artiste acharné!
Sam: It’s true; U2 is my favorite group and Bono… what a great artist!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Sam: I have a question, guys. You know, in America, they have tabloids near the supermarket checkout counter, but in France do you have the same thing? Are they interesting?
Céline: Tout à fait. Nous avons plein plein plein de magazines people. Mais la plupart du temps, les Français n’osent pas, ils ont honte de dire qu’ils aiment lire ça, mais ils adorent lire ça.
Sam: Oh, so they're very popular in France, huh?
Alex : Voilà.
Sam: So some French people say they don't like the tabloids but deep down they really do.
Céline: Oui.
Sam: And they buy it at the supermarket checkout counter.
Céline: Oui. Alors ou on achète au supermarché ou dans une presse, ou on le lit chez le dentiste, chez le médecin.
Sam: Oh, so they buy it at various places like bookstores and they also read at the doctor's or dentist's office.
Céline: Oui.
Alex : Voilà.
Céline: Alors c’est parti pour le vocabulaire!
Sam: Let's look at some vocabulary!
VOCAB LIST
Sam: The first word is?
Céline: Accroché à.
Sam: Hooked on.
Céline: Accroché à. Accroché à.
Sam: Next?
Alex : Admiration.
Sam: Admiration.
Alex : Admiration. Admiration.
Sam: Next?
Céline: Positif.
Sam: Positive, masculine.
Céline: Positif. Positif.
Sam: Next?
Alex : Plutôt.
Sam: Rather or instead.
Alex : Plutôt. Plutôt.
Sam: Next?
Céline: Epopée.
Sam: Saga or epic.
Céline: Epopée. Epopée.
Sam: Next?
Alex : Titres.
Sam: Titles or headlines.
Alex : Titres. Titres.
Sam: Next?
Céline: Nouvelles.
Sam: News.
Céline: Nouvelles. Nouvelles.
Sam: Next?
Alex : Acharné.
Sam: Fierce.
Alex : Acharné. Acharné.
Sam: Next?
Céline: Artiste.
Sam: Artist.
Céline: Artiste. Artiste.
Sam: Next?
Alex : Lu.
Sam: Read, past participle of “lire”.
Alex : Lu. Lu.
Sam: Next?
Céline: Sortie.
Sam: Release or exit.
Céline: Sortie. Sortie.
Sam: Next?
Alex : Film.
Sam: Movie.
Alex : Film. Film.
Sam: Next?
Céline: Groupe.
Sam: Group.
Céline: Groupe. Groupe.
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Sam: Ok, nice work. Now let's get into the usage of some of the words. The first of the bunch is “lu”.
Alex : Miam! Comme les “P’tits LU”.
Sam: Les “P’tits LU” c’est quoi?
Céline: Ce sont des gâteaux, des cookies under the brand LU by Danone.
Alex : Not any more. They got bought by our cousins, the Americans.
Sam: Ok. After that interesting insight, what does “lu” really mean?
Alex : Oh, it is the past participle of the verb “lire”.
Céline: To read. Why don't we give an example with “lu”. Alex, qu’est-ce que tu as fait hier soir?
Sam: Alex, what did you do last night?
Alex : J’ai lu Harry Potter.
Sam: I read Harry Potter.
Céline: Parfait. Next word is “épopée”.
Sam: I see in the PDF it's translated as 'saga'.
Céline: Not to be too much of a nerd about it and highly precise, “épopée” is a feminine noun referring to a series of unexpected or “évènements héroïques”.
Sam: So, in the dialogue, it's intended to be used satirically.
Alex : Well, it seems so.
Céline: Je pense aussi oui.
Sam: Ok. Next word, 'sortie'.
Alex : Well, 'sortie' is commonly found on signs to indicate an emergency, for example.
Céline: Oui Alex, la sortie peut être utilisée dans plusieurs contextes.
Sam: So 'la sortie' can be used in many contexts. For example?
Alex : Par exemple, une sortie entre amis, referring to going out with friends.
Céline: Yes, or “une sortie d’argent”, related to expenses or in the marketing field, “la sortie d’un produit”.
Sam: As in the release or launch of a brand or product.
Alex : And I heard it a lot when I was younger in, “privé de sortie”, meaning being grounded.
Céline: Je me demande quelles mauvaises choses tu as fait pour être privé de sortie.
Sam: I wonder what bad things you did to be forbidden to go out.
Alex : Better not to know.
Céline: Oh mon dieu. Ok.
Alex : Ok, after we have “accro”. It comes from the verb “accrocher”.
Céline: Accrocher, qui veut dire: to hang or hook on.
Sam: So “être accroché” is used figuratively here.
Alex : Tout à fait. “Etre accro” expresses a relative dependence from passion to addiction.
Sam: An example, maybe?
Céline: Je suis accro au chocolat. I'm hooked on chocolate.
Alex : Moi je suis accro à la musique tectonique. I'm a fan of tectonic music.
Céline: Tu es un fan de la tectonique? Et toi Sam est-ce que tu es un fan de la tectonique?
Sam: Oui.
Céline: Oh, ok.
Sam: To conclude this wonderful vocabulary usage, we have...
Alex : Acharné, an adjective indicating high-energy behavior.
Céline: It means to pursue excessively an activity or political movement or anything else you can imagine.
Sam: As in our dream to buy a chain of islands in the artificial island project called 'The World' in Dubai.
Alex : Is that true? C’est vrai?
Sam: Of course!
Céline: Ah oui moi je rêverais d’acheter une île à Dubai.
Sam: You have the same dream to buy an island in Dubai. That's fantastic, but we should move on to our grammar.

Lesson focus

Céline: So we are going to give the best tip of all.
Sam: I enjoy it when you make my life easier.
Céline: You should, as we are going to tell you how to differentiate most of the words' gender by their forms and spelling.
Sam: Great! What is it?
Alex : Well, you've certainly heard of prefixes and suffixes, haven't you?
Sam: It's vague in my memory. Pre as in before?
Céline: Tout à fait. “Préfixes” are part of the beginning of a word interchangeable with a distinct meaning that modifies the meaning of the whole word itself.
Sam: Par exemple?
Céline: Avec les verbes par exemple. Le préfixe “re” indicates a repetition with “venir” et “revenir”.
Sam: To come and come back.
Alex : And suffixes are identical but are placed at the end of the word.
Céline: Par exemple, with an adjective, “lent”.
Sam: Slow.
Céline: You get the adverb by adding “-ement”.
Sam: Lentement, slowly. Ah!
Céline: Bravo!
Sam: But where's your tip for word gender in all that talking?
Alex : Patience mon ami. Here it comes!
Céline: All, every, and each noun ending with the suffix “-isme”, “-age”,”-ment” is masculine.
Alex : And each and every noun ending with the suffixes “-ce”,”-oire” “-ion”, “-ée”, “-ique”, “-té”, “ie”, are feminine.
Sam: Cool! Does it really work with all nouns?
Céline: Non. We didn't promise this tip for all of them, but most of them.
Alex : Oui mais il y a des exceptions. There are some exceptions. You can memorize them from the grammar bank in the learning center of this lesson.
Céline: Let's demonstrate the rule and give you some homework. Just a small exercise.
Sam: J’écoute. I'm listening.
Alex : Ok. Pay attention to the following sentence and try to figure each noun gender. You will find the sentence in this lesson's comment. Ready? Ma mémoire c’est une passoire.
Céline: Je ne me souviens que du passage d’un personnage dans l’histoire.
Alex : So, be sure to stop by and give us your answer in the forum, which nouns are feminine and which ones are masculine. Good luck to you! Bon courage!

Outro

Sam: Great, guys! Now, let's move on to...
Céline: To the wrap up.
Sam: We're finished already! C’est dommage!
Sam: But that's just about it for today. So, thank you, and until next time!
Céline: A la prochaine!
Alex : Thank you to all of you! Au revoir!
Sam: Au revoir.

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