Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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
Sam: I Disagree. So, hello, Alex.
Alex: Bonjour. Ça va?
Sam: Ça va. Et toi?
Alex: Très bien. Bonjour, Céline.
Céline: Bonjour, Alex. Bonjour, Sam.
Sam: Ça va?
Céline: Ça va bien.
Sam: Great! Let's get into today's conversation. But first, what's the backdrop for today's conversation?
Céline: Ok. This conversation is really difficult, so you really have to pay attention, right? Caro is talking about nanotechnology. So do you know what nanotechnology is?
Alex: Well, I just checked it yesterday before I came here to the studio this morning, so...
Céline: Oh.
Alex: Now, I know a little bit better, but...
Céline: Ok. Et toi, Sam? Tu sais ce que c’est la nanotechnologie?
Sam: I actually studied it in university.
Céline: Oh, d'accord.
Sam: No, I'm joking. I'll learn more about it during this lesson.
Céline: Ok.
Sam: As will all of us. C'est parti?
Céline: C'est parti.
Sam: Let's go!
DIALOGUE
Céline: Tu connais la nanotechnologie?
Alex: Heu non. Mais je sais que je préfère être une patate sur mon canapé à regarder la télé.
Céline: Ce sont les études et les procédés de fabrication au niveau atomique.
Alex: Ben, je pense que ça ne sert à rien pour moi.
Céline: Au contraire, je trouve que cette nouvelle technologie va être avantageuse. Les applications actuelles sont l’électronique et la médecine par exemple.
Alex: Ah oui, en tout cas moi, je crois que ce ne sera pas dans ma vie.
Sam: One more time, with the English.
Céline: Encore une fois avec l’anglais.
Céline: Tu connais la nanotechnologie?
Sam: Do you know about nanotechnology?
Alex: Heu non. Mais je sais que je préfère être une patate sur mon canapé à regarder la télé.
Sam: Huh no. But I know that I prefer to be a couch potato watching TV.
Céline: Ce sont les études et les procédés de fabrication au niveau atomique.
Sam: It’s the study and process of fabrication on the atomic level.
Alex: Bah, je pense que ça ne sert à rien pour moi.
Sam: Huh, I think that it’s not worth it for me.
Céline: Au contraire, je trouve que cette nouvelle technologie va être avantageuse. Les applications actuelles sont l’électronique et la médecine par exemple.
Sam: On the contrary, I think that this new technology is going to be advantageous. The applications are electronics and medicine.
Alex: Ah oui, en tout cas moi, je crois que ce ne sera pas dans ma vie.
Sam: Ah yeah, in any case I think that it’s not going to be in my lifetime.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Sam: So, this lesson talks about nanotechnology. Do you guys have a favorite science field?
Céline: En fait moi j’étais abonnée pendant très longtemps à “Science et Vie Junior”.
Alex: Oh là là!
Céline: Tu connais “Science et Vie Junior”?
Alex: Non.
Céline: C’est un magazine.
Sam: Ah. Science Vision.
Céline: Science… et vie…
Sam: Life Science Magazine?
Céline: Life and Science.
Sam: Life and Science?
Céline: For...
Alex: Juniors.
Céline: Juniors.
Sam: Oh!
Céline: Yes.
Sam: Kind of like, I want to say National Geographic, but that's a little bit different. That's more ecology.
Céline: No, it's different. It's about science and life and questions about many things.
Alex: And I think it's written in a simple language.
Sam: How about chemistry? Did you guys enjoy chemistry during your student days?
Céline: Yes, but I forgot.
Alex: Moi aussi.
Sam: You don't remember the titration lab with the eye dropper? Drop, drop, until it gets a very specific color?
Céline: It's not that I'm old, but I forgot.
Sam: Or maybe you skipped that class.
Céline: No, I didn't. I never skipped classes.
Alex: I did when I go to the bar. You know, drop, drop, drop.
Céline: Ok. Let's get into the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Sam: Ok. The first item is?
Céline: Servir.
Sam: To contribute.
Céline: Servir. Servir.
Sam: Next?
Alex: Penser.
Sam: To think.
Alex: Penser. Penser.
Sam: Next?
Céline: Atomique.
Sam: Atomic.
Céline: Atomique. Atomique.
Sam: Next?
Alex: Niveau.
Sam: Level.
Alex: Niveau. Niveau.
Sam: Next?
Céline: Fabrication.
Sam: Manufacture.
Céline: Fabrication. fabrication.
Sam: Next?
Alex: Procédé.
Sam: Process.
Alex: Procédé. Procédé.
Sam: Next?
Céline: Etudes.
Sam: Studies.
Céline: Etudes. Etudes.
Sam: Next?
Alex: Canapé.
Sam: Couch.
Alex: Canapé. Canapé.
Sam: Next?
Céline: Patate.
Sam: Potato.
Céline: Patate. Patate.
Sam: Next?
Alex: Nanotechnologie.
Sam: Nanotechnology.
Alex: Nanotechnologie. Nanotechnologie.
Sam: Next?
Céline: Vie.
Sam: Life.
Céline: Vie. Vie.
Sam: Next?
Alex: Croire.
Sam: To believe.
Alex: Croire. Croire.
Sam: Next?
Céline: Cas.
Sam: Case.
Céline: Cas. Cas.
Sam: Next?
Alex: Médecine.
Sam: Medicine.
Alex: Médecine. Médecine.
Sam: Next?
Céline: Electronique.
Sam: Electronic.
Céline: Electronique. Electronique.
Sam: Next?
Alex: Actuel.
Sam: Current.
Alex: Actuel. Actuel.
Sam: Next?
Céline: Applications.
Sam: Applications.
Céline: Applications. Applications.
Sam: Next?
Alex: Avantageuse.
Sam: Advantageous.
Alex: Avantageuse. Avantageuse.
Sam: Next?
Céline: Nouvelle.
Sam: New.
Céline: Nouvelle. Nouvelle.
Sam: Next?
Alex: Trouver.
Sam: To find.
Alex: Trouver. Trouver.
Sam: Next?
Céline: Contraire.
Sam: Opposite.
Céline: Contraire. Contraire.
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Céline: Il y a beaucoup de vocabulaire aujourd’hui hein Sam?
Sam: There's a lot of vocabulary today.
Céline: Oui.
Sam: But that will help enrich our listeners' learning process, I think.
Céline: Tout à fait.
Alex: N’est-ce pas.
Céline: Donc, pourquoi on ne regarderait pas de plus près certains mots du vocabulaire?
Alex: ah oui. Lesquels?
Céline: Ok. “Penser”, 'to think.'
Alex: Je pense, donc je suis.
Sam: I think, therefore, I am.
Céline: Yeah, In French we use a lot, “je pense que…”
Sam: I think that.
Céline: Yeah, so when we want to give our opinion: “moi je pense que c’est comme ça.”
Sam: Is that like a subjunctive tense?
Céline: Non. C’est le présent de l’indicatif.
Sam: For example?
Céline: Je pense que tu devrais arrêter de fumer. C’est l’indicatif.
Sam: I think I should stop smoking.
Céline: I think you should stop smoking.
Sam: Oh, ok.
Céline: So next word is “atomique”.
Sam: Atomic.
Céline: Oui.
Alex: Par exemple: la bombe atomique.
Sam: An atomic bomb.
Céline: Yeah, but what are you talking about? A bomb or a woman?
Alex: I'm talking about a bomb.
Sam: Une bombe sexuelle?
Alex: Which means she's...
Céline: She's really hot. Ah! An interesting verb, “croire”, 'to believe'.
Alex: Par exemple: Je crois en Dieu.
Sam: I believe in God.
Céline: Oui, ou je crois en moi.
Alex: Aussi. Et moi je crois en toi.
Céline: Ok, I think we need to some translation here!
Alex: Par exemple?
Céline: Je crois en moi.
Sam: I believe in me.
Alex: Et moi, je crois en toi Céline.
Sam: And me, I believe in you too, Céline.
Céline: Voilà!
Alex: Voilà!
Sam: That's really beautiful.
Céline: C’est magique.
Sam: It's very magical.
Céline: Ok. Next we have “canapé”. So in the conversation, Lazy Zachary says: Je préfère rester sur mon canapé.
Sam: I prefer to stay in my bed.
Céline: Oui. Comme une patate.
Sam: Like a potato.
Céline: Yeah, but actually, in France we don't say like a potato. You call it potato couch, right?
Sam: Couch potato.
Céline: Couch potato! Yeah, but in France, we don't say that. Right, Alex?
Alex: Oui, c’est rare, je pense que c’est rare.
Céline: No, no. We don't say. We don't use potato.
Sam: You don't have like a word for couch potato? Somebody that watches football all day on Saturday or Sunday?
Céline: But we don't have like couch potato. We have like...
Alex: … rester comme une plante devant la télé.
Céline: Ouais voilà.
Sam: So your translation is more like, "You stay planted in front of the TV."
Céline: Yeah, like a plant.
Sam: A potato's a plant!
Céline: It's a green plant.
Sam: But it's brown.
Céline: No, but we talk about green plant. Ok. Next we have “vie”, life. La vie est belle.
Sam: Life is beautiful, isn't it?
Alex: La vie est dure aussi.
Sam: Life is also difficult.
Céline: C’est pour cela qu’il faut la rendre plus belle.
Alex: Comment le faire Céline? Apprends-moi!
Céline: So I said that life is beautiful.
Sam: It is beautiful!
Céline: And Alex said life is hard.
Sam: Life is hard. So life is beautiful; life is hard. So that's why you have to make it beautiful.
Céline: Why don't we jump into the grammar and decide to study?
Sam: Ok. Let's go.

Lesson focus

Céline: Time to go on and start the core of our lesson today, the grammar point.
Alex: The differences and similarities between the verbs “connaître” and “savoir”.
Sam: That is one of my dilemmas, you know? When to use these two verbs.
Céline: Yes. I encounter many people with the same problem. Let's look at these two verbs more in depth.
Alex: Ok. If you remember our dialogue, the verb “connaître” appears in the first line.
Céline: Tu connais la nanotechnologie?
Alex: In this context, “connaître” expresses 'to be familiar with'.
Sam: Interesting.
Céline: It is also employed when speaking of being familiar with a person.
Sam: For example?
Alex: Je connais ton voisin. C’est le collègue de mon cousin.
Sam: I know your neighbor. He's my cousin's colleague. Ok.
Céline: So the last use of “connaître”, which might be surprising, is meet for the first time. Par exemple: J’ai connu mon fiancé il y a 5 ans.
Alex: I met my fiancé five years ago.
Sam: Wow. A bit more complex than we would say it in English.
Céline: Eh oui c’est vrai. I think so. Some French people struggle to learn English, too.
Alex: Anyway, let's look at “savoir”. So “savoir” is used in three different ways. First, when talking about knowing a fact, as in the dialogue. Then, knowing something by heart, and finally knowing how to do something.
Céline: So let's illustrate the last two definitions. Je sais le discours par coeur.
Sam: I know the speech by heart.
Alex: Je sais parler 31 langues étrangères.
Céline: Quoi? 31 langues étrangères?
Alex: Bien sûr que c’est pas vrai mais bon…
Céline: Oh! "I can speak 31 foreign languages," he said.
Sam: Wow!
Alex: Elle est jalouse, c’est pour ça.
Céline: I'm not jealous. So, Sam, did you get the difference between “connaître” et “savoir”?
Sam: Yes. I think one good way to sum it up is to say that “savoir” means to know facts or things. “Connaître” is to know people or to be familiar with people.
Alex: Voilà. Tu as tout compris.

Outro

Céline: Bravo, Sam. So this is the end.
Sam: See you!
Alex: Ok. Au revoir.
Céline: À bientôt!

Grammar

French Grammar Made Easy - Unlock This Lesson’s Grammar Guide

Easily master this lesson’s grammar points with in-depth explanations and examples. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Comments

Hide