Learn how to talk about something in the past
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, I'm Eric. |
| Yasmine: And I'm Yasmine. |
| Eric: And welcome to Must-Know French Sentence Structures, Season 1, Lesson 14. 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: You can find more vocab or phrases that go with this sentence pattern in the lesson notes. So please be sure to check them out on FrenchPod101.com. Thanks, everyone, see you next time! |
| Yasmine: A la prochaine! |
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