Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Eric: Hi everyone, I'm Eric.
Yasmine: And I'm Yasmine.
Eric: Talking About the Past.
Eric: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use a sentence pattern for talking about something in the past.
PATTERN
Eric: For example, "I went to the post office this morning."
Yasmine: Je suis allée à la poste ce matin.
Yasmine: [slow] Je suis allée à la poste ce matin.
Eric: The pattern for talking about something in the past has 3 elements. First, the pronoun, in this case "I."
Yasmine: Je.
Eric: Second, the verb conjugated in the first person singular, feminine and perfect tense. In this case, "I went."
Yasmine: suis allée.
Eric: Third, the complement, in this case "to the post office this morning."
Yasmine: à la poste ce matin.
Eric: Altogether, we have "I went to the post office this morning."
Yasmine: Je suis allée à la poste ce matin. [slow] Je suis allée à la poste ce matin. [normal] Je suis allée à la poste ce matin.
Eric: First you have a pronoun, then a verb conjugated in the perfect tense. The writing of the verb varies depending on if the speaker is a man or a woman. Finally you have the complement.
Yasmine: Je suis allée à la poste ce matin.
Eric: So remember, to talk about something that happened in the past, start with a pronoun, then a verb in the past tense, and then the thing you want to talk about.
Eric: Here's another example meaning, "I went to the beach." First, the pronoun, in this case "I."
Yasmine: Je.
Eric: Second, the verb conjugated in the first person singular, feminine and perfect tense. In this case, "I went."
Yasmine: suis allée.
Eric: Third, the complement, in this case "to the beach."
Yasmine: à la plage.
Eric: Altogether we have...
Yasmine: Je suis allée à la plage. [slow] Je suis allée à la plage. [normal] Je suis allée à la plage.
Eric: "I went to the beach."
[pause]
Yasmine: Je suis allée à la plage.
Eric: How do you say - "I went to the hairdresser's." To give you a hint, "to go to the hairdresser's" is...
Yasmine: aller chez le coiffeur. [slow] aller chez le coiffeur. [normal] aller chez le coiffeur.
Eric: "I went to the hairdresser's."
[pause]
Yasmine: Je suis allée chez le coiffeur. [slow] Je suis allée chez le coiffeur. [normal] Je suis allée chez le coiffeur.
[pause]
Yasmine: Je suis allée chez le coiffeur.
REVIEW
Eric: Let's review the sentences from this lesson. I’ll give you the English equivalent of the phrase, and you’re responsible for shouting it out loud in French. Here we go.
Eric: "I went to the post office this morning."
[pause]
Yasmine: Je suis allée à la poste ce matin.
[pause]
Yasmine: Je suis allée à la poste ce matin.
Eric: "I went to the beach."
[pause]
Yasmine: Je suis allée à la plage.
[pause]
Yasmine: Je suis allée à la plage.
Eric: "I went to the hairdresser's."
[pause]
Yasmine: Je suis allée chez le coiffeur.
[pause]
Yasmine: Je suis allée chez le coiffeur.

Outro

Eric: Okay. That's all for this lesson. You learned a pattern for talking about something in the past, as in...
Yasmine: Je suis allée à la poste ce matin.
Eric: meaning "I went to the post office this morning."
Eric: Thanks, everyone, see you next time!
Yasmine: A la prochaine!

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