Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Gabriella: Bonjour, chers auditeurs! Je m'appelle Gabriella. Bienvenue à Lower Intermediate French, Season 2, Lesson 10 - A Revolutionary French Lesson!
Jeremy: Moi, c'est Jeremy.
Gabriella: Let's get started. Quel est le sujet de la leçon d'aujourd'hui ?
Jeremy: In this lesson, you’ll learn something big, the simple past! We'll listen to a lesson about the French revolution.
Gabriella: Wow! Ok, donc c'est du français formel?
Jeremy: Oui, et c’est Charlène qui est le professeur.
Gariella: Okay, let’s listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Charlène: Pendant la Révolution, ce fut la naissance des symboles de la République française.
Les révolutionnaires et les députés de l'Assemblée Nationale firent de Marianne, du bonnet phrygien et de la cocarde bleu-blanc-rouge les plus célèbres d'entre eux.
Ce sont les artistes qui permirent de les immortaliser à travers la peinture, comme le célèbre « La Liberté guidant le Peuple » de Delacroix où Marianne est représentée.
Quant au bonnet et à la cocarde, on les retrouve surtout dans les gravures.
Gabriella: Now let's hear it with the English translation.
Charlène: Pendant la Révolution, ce fut la naissance des symboles de la République française.
Charlene: During the Revolution-that was when the symbols of the French Republic were born.
Les révolutionnaires et les députés de l'Assemblée Nationale firent de Marianne, du bonnet phrygien et de la cocarde bleu-blanc-rouge les plus célèbres d'entre eux.
The revolutionaries and the members of Parliament turned the Marianne, the Phrygian cap, and the blue, white, and red cockade into the most famous of them.
Ce sont les artistes qui permirent de les immortaliser à travers la peinture, comme le célèbre « La Liberté guidant le Peuple » de Delacroix où Marianne est représentée.
They were immortalized by artists through paintings, such as the famous "Liberty Leading the People" by Delacroix, where Marianne is depicted.
Quant au bonnet et à la cocarde, on les retrouve surtout dans les gravures.
As for the Phrygian cap and the cockade, they are mainly represented in etchings.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Gabriella: J’aime beaucoup l’histoire de France! Are there many symbols of the Republic?
Jeremy: Oui,il y en a huit! Le drapeau, l’hymne national, Marianne, et la devise sont les plus connus.
Gabriella: Ok, so what are the others?
Jeremy: The National Holiday, on July the 14th, where the French celebrate the Fête de la Fédération, which was held first in 1790.
Gabriella: I heard about the rooster too.
Jeremy: Oui, le coq est un des symboles de la France. It comes from ancient France, when they were still the Gaulish.
Gabriella: I don’t know the last two ones.
Jeremy: Les faisceaux et le sceau? Peu de Français les connaissent.
Gabriella: Ok, I see. What are they?
Jeremy: The fasces are not an official symbol, but they are used everywhere to represent the Republic. And the seal is a Justice symbol, since it was used historically to sign official documents.
Gabriella: How interesting!
VOCAB LIST
Gabriella: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.
Gabriella: The first word we shall see is...
Jeremy: Révolution française [natural native speed]
Gabriella: French Revolution
Jeremy: Révolution française [slowly - broken down by syllable] Révolution française [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Jeremy: symbole [natural native speed]
Gabriella: symbol
Jeremy: symbole [slowly - broken down by syllable] symbole [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Jeremy: révolutionnaire [natural native speed]
Gabriella: revolutionary
Jeremy: révolutionnaire [slowly - broken down by syllable] révolutionnaire [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Jeremy: député [natural native speed]
Gabriella: deputy
Jeremy: député [slowly - broken down by syllable] député [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Jeremy: bonnet phrygien [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Phrygian cap
Jeremy: bonnet phrygien [slowly - broken down by syllable] bonnet phrygien [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Jeremy: cocarde [natural native speed]
Gabriella: cockade
Jeremy: cocarde [slowly - broken down by syllable] cocarde [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Jeremy: artiste [natural native speed]
Gabriella: artist
Jeremy: artiste [slowly - broken down by syllable] artiste [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Jeremy: immortaliser [natural native speed]
Gabriella: to immortalize
Jeremy: immortaliser [slowly - broken down by syllable] immortaliser [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Jeremy: représenter [natural native speed]
Gabriella: to depict
Jeremy: représenter [slowly - broken down by syllable] représenter [natural native speed]
Gabriella: And last...
Jeremy: gravure [natural native speed]
Gabriella: etching
Jeremy: gravure [slowly - broken down by syllable] gravure [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Gabriella: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. Jeremy, what’s the first word?
Jeremy: Our first word is révolutionnaire. which means “revolutionary”. This word has two meaning in French, but ultimately, they're the same. It’s describing someone who is a part of a revolution or fight against political power for their rights.
Gabriella: Je vois, mais en France, c’est surtout utilisé en Histoire?
Jeremy: Oui, c’est ça!
Gabriella: Ok, got it! What is a gravure?
Jeremy: In the dialog, it stands for “etching”, but it can be translated as "engraving” or "woodcut," depending on the material.
Gabriella: Je vois, et le verbe est “graver”.
Jeremy: Yes, this one is used too for graver un CD, meaning “to burn a CD”
Gabriella: Ok, that sounds logical. You engrave data on the CD.
Jeremy: Exactly!
Gabriella: And what’s the last word?
Jeremy: Artiste, which is “artist” in English.
Gabriella: C’est très simple!
Jeremy: Yes, but it also stands for “performer” and “craftsman”, especially if they are masters. As in Les artistes de cirque sont habitués à travailler dur.
Gabriella: "Circus performers are used to hard work."
Jeremy: Ok, now onto the grammar.
GRAMMAR POINT
Gabriella: In this lesson, you’ll learn about the simple past tense in French. Jeremy, when is it used?
Jeremy: In two contexts only. First, it's used in literature, instead of the compound past.
Gabriella: What’s the other one?
Jeremy: In daily life, it’s used to talk about something that used to be going on in the past and has finished in the present.
Gabriella: Donc le passé simple sert pour parler de durée!
Jeremy: C’est exactement ça.
Gabriella: Let’s hear an example.
Jeremy: A famous one is... Ils se marièrent et eurent beaucoup d’enfants.
Gabriella: "They married and lived happily every after." It’s a fairytale ending!
Jeremy: Yes, and since it’s literature, it’s the simple past!
Gabriella: Ok, compris! Et pour la vie de tous les jours?
Jeremy: Elle fit le tour de l’immeuble en quelques minutes.
Gabriella: "She did the tour of the building within a few minutes."
Jeremy: Right. Note that usually, people would prefer the passé composé.
Gabriella: C’est vrai que je n’ai jamais entendu de Français parler au passé simple.
Jeremy: It’s because it’s a bit hard to conjugate it, in my opinion.
Gabriella: Tell me more about this.
Jeremy: There are four conjugations, which are conjugations for the first group, then the verbs with a stem ending in ‘-i’, the ones ending in “-u” and finally the ones ending in “-in”.
Gabriella: You can find the details in the lesson notes.
Jeremy: Let’s see a conjugation, le verbe “être”.
Gabriella: The first three are Je fus, tu fus, and il or elle fut.
Jeremy: And the last ones are Nous fûmes, vous fûtes, and ils or elles furent.
Gabriella: Another one?
Jeremy: The verb aller, "to go," which is from the first group.
Gabriella: J’allai, tu allas, il or elle alla…
Jeremy: Nous allâmes, vous allâtes, ils or elles allèrent.
Gabriella: C’est un peu difficile…
Jeremy: A little bit difficult, so you should practice it as much as you can, by writing little stories for example.
Gabriella: Ok, compris!
Jeremy: With practice, you'll get it very quickly.
Gabriella: Donc, n’hésitez pas à pratiquer dans les commentaires!
Jeremy: Bonne chance, et à la prochaine!

Outro

Jeremy: Okay, that’s all for this lesson.
Gabriella: Thank you for listening everyone, and we’ll see you next time.
Jeremy: Salut!

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