Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Gabriella: Bonjour tout le monde ! Je m'appelle Gabriella. A Very Dark French Joke!
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 how to make pronominal verbs agree with their reflexive object in gender and number. The conversation is between Vincent and Philipp, an American co-worker.
Gabriella Ok, donc c'est une conversation formelle ?
Jeremy: Oui, et Vincent va devoir expliquer l’humour français à Philipp...
Gabriella: Oulà ! Ok, let’s listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Collègue: ...Et là, il lui répond "Si le chat n'est plus sur Mamie, c'est qu'elle est froide!"
(Rires de tout le monde)
Philippe : Mais ce n'est pas drôle, c'est horrible ! Pourquoi vous riez ?
Vincent : Ah, c'est l'humour français. On aime beaucoup l'humour noir, ou même se moquer des gens. Ce n'est pas méchant, dans le fond.
Philippe : Je ne comprends pas, vous vous moquez, mais pas méchamment ?
Vincent : C'est ça ! Comme tout le monde le fait, c'est normal. Il y a des humoristes français célèbres qui étaient très bons - Coluche, Desproges... Et des acteurs aussi, comme Jean Dujardin, qui est connu en France pour son "Brice de Nice."..
Philippe : Je trouve les blagues françaises pas très amusantes quand même....
Gabriella: Now let's hear it with the English translation.
Collègue: ...Et là, il lui répond "Si le chat n'est plus sur Mamie, c'est qu'elle est froide!"
Colleague: ...And here, he answered to him, "If the cat is not on Granny anymore, it means that she's cold!"
(Rires de tout le monde)
(Everybody starts laughing)
Philippe : Mais ce n'est pas drôle, c'est horrible ! Pourquoi vous riez ?
Philippe: But it's not funny, it's horrible! Why are you all laughing?
Vincent : Ah, c'est l'humour français. On aime beaucoup l'humour noir, ou même se moquer des gens. Ce n'est pas méchant, dans le fond.
Vincent: Ah, that's the French sense of humor. We love dark humor, or even making fun of people. In fact, there's nothing mean about it.
Philippe : Je ne comprends pas, vous vous moquez, mais pas méchamment ?
Philippe: I don't understand. You're making fun of each other, but not maliciously?
Vincent : C'est ça ! Comme tout le monde le fait, c'est normal. Il y a des humoristes français célèbres qui étaient très bons - Coluche, Desproges... Et des acteurs aussi, comme Jean Dujardin, qui est connu en France pour son "Brice de Nice."..
Vincent: That's it! Because everybody does it, it's normal. There are many good French humorists-Coluche, Desproges...and some actors as well, like Jean Dujardin, who became famous in France thanks to his "Brice de Nice."
Philippe : Je trouve les blagues françaises pas très amusantes quand même....
Philippe: I don't find French jokes particularly funny though...
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Gabriella: It’s a weird joke!
Jeremy: Oui, mais peut-être une des plus connues en France!
Gabriella: I often hear people complaining about French humor.
Jeremy: Les Français aiment beaucoup l’humour noir. There are some French humorists known for their dark humor.
Gabriella: Who are they?
Jeremy: The most famous is probably Pierre Desproges. He managed to make people laugh about death, war, and many atrocities because of his perfect command of French.
Gabriella: En effet, c’est assez sombre...
Jeremy: He used to say “you may laugh about everything, but not with everyone”, though.
Gabriella: Easy to understand! That’s wise.
Jeremy: He was a wise man, really smart. By the way, to be ironic and to appreciate dark humor is a sign of good education in France!
Gabriella: How come! Vraiment?
Jeremy: Oui, car il faut beaucoup de culture générale pour faire de l’humour noir et le comprendre.
Gabriella: D’accord, j’ai compris.
VOCAB LIST
Gabriella: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.
Gabriella: The first word we shall see is...
Jeremy: froid [natural native speed]
Gabriella: cold
Jeremy: froid [slowly - broken down by syllable] froid [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Jeremy: drôle [natural native speed]
Gabriella: funny
Jeremy: drôle [slowly - broken down by syllable] drôle [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Jeremy: humour noir [natural native speed]
Gabriella: dark humor
Jeremy: humour noir [slowly - broken down by syllable] humour noir [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Jeremy: se moquer [natural native speed]
Gabriella: to make fun
Jeremy: se moquer [slowly - broken down by syllable] se moquer [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Jeremy: méchant [natural native speed]
Gabriella: bad, mean
Jeremy: méchant [slowly - broken down by syllable] méchant [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Jeremy: humoriste [natural native speed]
Gabriella: humorist
Jeremy: humoriste [slowly - broken down by syllable] humoriste [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Jeremy: amusant [natural native speed]
Gabriella: funny
Jeremy: amusant [slowly - broken down by syllable] amusant [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Jeremy: quand même [natural native speed]
Gabriella: though, all the same
Jeremy: quand même [slowly - broken down by syllable] quand même [natural native speed]
Gabriella: Next
Jeremy: comprendre [natural native speed]
Gabriella: to understand
Jeremy: comprendre [slowly - broken down by syllable] comprendre [natural native speed]
Gabriella: And last...
Jeremy: blague [natural native speed]
Gabriella: joke
Jeremy: blague [slowly - broken down by syllable] blague [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Gabriella: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. Alors, quels mots apprenons-nous aujourd'hui?
Jeremy: Le premier mot est l’expression “quand même”. At the beginning of a sentence, it stands for “even though”.
Gabriella: Ok, do you have an example ?
Jeremy: Quand même elle aurait échoué, elle aurait pu continuer ses études.
Gabriella: "Even though she failed, she should go on with her studies." I assume there is another meaning?
Jeremy: At the end of the sentence, it stands for “though” or “anyway”. Peu importe ce qu’elle aurait pu faire, elle a échoué quand même.
Gabriella: "No matter what she would've done, she failed anyway." Ok, what’s our second word?
Jeremy: Se moquer.
Gabriella: "To make fun of," "to laugh at." It’s a pronominal verb, right?
Jeremy: Oui, c’est un verbe pronominal. It can also mean “to ignore”. Je me moque des limitations de vitesse.
Gabriella: "I don’t care about speed limits." And what about moquer?
Jeremy: It translates as “to mock”. It's slightly different and mainly used in literature and formal French.
Gabriella: Ok! And the last word is…
Jeremy: Humoriste, which is the same in English.
Gabriella: A humorist is someone who does one man shows…
Jeremy: Oui, mais il peut aussi être écrivain, chanteur…
Gabriella: Oh, ok, so it’s someone that tells stories in order to make people laugh.
Jeremy: Exactement! Cet humoriste raconte beaucoup de situations comiques.
Gabriella: "This humorist describes a lot of comical situations." Great! Let’s move on to the Grammar now!
GRAMMAR POINT
Jeremy: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to make pronominal verbs agree with their reflexive object in gender and number.
Gabriella: Sounds hard…
Jeremy: Pas du tout, c’est plutôt simple, en fait ! We'll see one of the most common conjugations - the compound past.
Gabriella: Ok, how is the sentence formed?
Jeremy: First, the subject, then the reflexive pronoun, then the verb être associated with the past participle. For example, I can say Je me suis couché.
Gabriella: "I went to bed." But if I say that, as a female, I would add an “e” at couchée
Jeremy: C’est exactement ça ! But if the pronoun isn't, or doesn't, refer to a direct object, one need not make the participle agree with it in gender or number.
Gabriella: Mmmh, est-ce que tu as un exemple ?
Jeremy: Elle s’est lavée.
Gabriella: "She washed herself."
Jeremy: There is an “e” in lavée, because the subject and the object is a girl.
Gabriella: Ok, and if she’s not the object?
Jeremy: Elle s’est lavé les cheveux.
Gabriella: "She washed her hair." There’s no extra “e” in lavé this time.
Jeremy: Because the object is cheveux, the "hair".
Gabriella: Ok, je vois. Do you have any tip to make it easier?
Jeremy: Bien sûr ! Il faut se demander “qui” ou “quoi” - Elle lave qui? Elle lave quoi ?
Gabriella: Ok, so if the answer is the same as the subject, it does agree in gender and number. If not, it doesn't.
Jeremy: C’est parfait. Voilà un exemple - Les enfants se sont moqués du petit garçon dans la cour.
Gabriella: "The children made fun of the little boy in the playground."
Jeremy: Ce n’est pas très compliqué, cela demande juste un peu d’entraînement.
Gabriella: Chers auditeurs, n’hésitez pas à pratiquer dans les commentaires!

Outro

Jeremy: Bonne chance, et à la prochaine!
Gabriella: Remember to check the lesson notes, and we’ll see you next time. Salut!

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