Learn how to make mandatory requests of others in French or explain to others what you believe to be their obligations using the French phrase Il faut
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
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.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Sam: Hello and welcome back to FrenchPod101.com. Today we have Lesson 19, Season 2 – “About a clumsy hostess” and I’m joined here by? |
| Céline: Céline. |
| Sam: Tell us about today’s lesson. |
| Céline: So, today’s lesson we are at Alexandra’s dinner party and she serves some wine to Philippe, but she doesn’t seem to be the perfect waitress. |
| Sam: Oh, no! Where does this conversation take place? |
| Céline: At Alexandra’s place. |
| Sam: And I think it’s between Alexandra and Philippe, again? |
| Céline: Yes, but the focus of this lesson is to talk about obligations and mandatory instructions. |
| Sam: Okay. So shall we start? |
| Céline: Let’s start. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Woman: Oh non… les taches de vin. Il faut faire attention! |
| Woman: Pardon… il faut du sel! |
| Woman: Non! Il faut être adroit. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Sam: Do you know anyone who’s really clumsy? |
| Céline: Me. |
| Sam: Really? |
| Céline: Yes. |
| Sam: I don’t think so. |
| Céline: Ah bon? Oh. |
| Sam: Why would you say you’re clumsy? |
| Céline: Because, I’m not “adroite”. |
| Sam: “Agile”? Or... |
| Céline: Yeah, I’m not. |
| Sam: So, in English we have an expression called – something about having two left feet. Do you have a similar expression in French? |
| Céline: Yes. |
| Sam: What’s that? |
| Céline: Etre gauche. |
| Sam: “To be left”? |
| Céline: Yes, “To be left.” For example: Je suis gauche. |
| Sam: “You’re left.” |
| Céline: Yeah, I’m left. |
| Sam: Not right? |
| Céline: I’m left. |
| Sam: It was a joke. Left, not right. |
| Céline: I know. So, why don’t we check the vocabulary for today’s lesson? |
| Sam: Sounds good. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Sam: The first item is? |
| Céline: Non. |
| Sam: “No”. |
| Céline: Non. Non. |
| Sam: Next. |
| Céline: Les taches. |
| Sam: “Stains”. |
| Céline: Les taches. Les taches. |
| Sam: Next. |
| Céline: Il faut. |
| Sam: “It’s necessary that”. |
| Céline: Il faut. Il faut. |
| Sam: Next. |
| Céline: Attention. |
| Sam: “Attention”. |
| Céline: Attention. Attention. |
| Sam: Next. |
| Céline: Faire attention. |
| Sam: “To pay attention”. |
| Céline: Faire attention. Faire attention. |
| Sam: Next. |
| Céline: Sel. |
| Sam: “Salt”. |
| Céline: Sel. Sel. |
| Sam: Next. |
| Céline: Adroit. |
| Sam: “Dexterous” or “agile”. |
| Céline: Adroit. Adroit. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Sam: Now, let’s have a quick look at the usage for these items from this lesson. |
| Céline: The first item is “les taches”. |
| Sam: “Stains”, no good. |
| Céline: Yeah, no good. “tache” is a feminine noun. Une tache. Apparently in the dialogue, Alexandra stained Philippe’s pants, maybe. |
| Sam: He doesn’t seem too happy, either. |
| Céline: Yes. He’s not nice actually. Philippe est une tache. |
| Sam: “Philippe’s a stain”? |
| Céline: Non. Philippe is a jerk. “Une tache” in French it’s “a jerk”. A nice expression, right? |
| Sam: Sure is. |
| Céline: But anyway, it’s easy to remove a red wine stain. You should use white one or salt. Du sel. |
| Sam: Some salt, really? |
| Céline: Yes. Du sel. |
| Sam: Do French people like salty food? |
| Céline: Well, not really. But, some of us like le sucré-salé. |
| Sam: “Sweet and sour”? How do you say “salty” in French? |
| Céline: Salé. C’est trop salé. “It’s too salty.” Sam, have you ever tried the “sel de Guérande”? Salt from Guérande or “Fleur de Sel”? |
| Sam: No, is it good? |
| Céline: Oui, très bon! Really good. You just sprinkle it on food just before serving. C’est délicieux. “It’s delicious.” Mais il faut faire attention. |
| Sam: “It’s necessary to be careful”? We have to be careful? |
| Céline: Oui. Faire attention. Also, to pay attention. Fais attention à ce que je dis Sam. |
| Sam: “Pay attention to what I’m saying”? |
| Céline: Oui, and lastly we have the word “adroit”. |
| Sam: “Dexterous, skillful, agile”? |
| Céline: Yeah. In our situation, it’s the feminine form. Adroite. Seems like Alexandra is not adroite. But you know, “adroit” can also mean “intelligent” or “inventive” like in: Céline a un esprit adroit. |
| Sam: “Céline is smart?” Wow. |
| Céline: Sylvain est adroit au tir à l’arc. |
| Sam: “Sylvain is skillful at archery”. And how about Sylvain is not skillful? |
| Céline: Sylvain est maladroit. You just add “mal” to “adroit”, “maladroit”, or in casual French, like we said, you can say “gauche” meaning “left.” Sylvain est gauche. |
| Sam: “Sylvain is not agile”. Interesting. Now let’s have a look at the grammar form this lesson. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Céline: Today we will learn how to tell obligations or what is necessary to do. Like in “Il faut faire attention”. “Il faut être adroit.” The grammar construction is very easy. “Il faut” plus verb at infinitive plus complement, as in: Il faut manger des légumes. |
| Sam: “It’s necessary to eat vegetables.” |
| Céline: So, “faut” is from the verb “falloir”, it’s an impersonal verb, so, it does not conjugate for different subjects. We use “il”, when it’s followed by a noun “falloir” means “to need”. The structure can be broken down as follow: “Il faut” plus “du” or “de l’” or de la” or “des”, for example: Il faut du sucre. |
| Sam: “Sugar is necessary.” |
| Céline: So, use “du”, with a masculine noun, like wine. Il faut du vin. |
| Sam: “Wine is necessary.” |
| Céline: Use “de l’” with a noun starting with a vowel. Like: Il faut de l’amour dans un couple. |
| Sam: “In a couple we need love.” Or “In a couple, love is necessary.” |
| Céline: Use “de la” plus feminine noun as in: Il faut de la patience. |
| Sam: “We need patience.” |
| Céline: And finally, “des” plus plural nouns like: Il faut des projets ambitieux. |
| Sam: “We need ambitious projects.” I agree with that. |
| Céline: Want to listen to some more examples? |
| Sam: Sure. |
| Céline: Il faut lire en français. |
| Sam: “It’s necessary to read in French.” |
| Céline: If you want to learn French. |
| Sam: Of course. |
| Céline: Il faut être courtois. |
| Sam: “It’s necessary to be courteous.” |
| Céline: Il faut comprendre le français. |
| Sam: “It’s necessary to understand French.” |
| Céline: It’s very necessary, don’t you think? |
| Sam: Of course I do. |
| Céline: Il faut respecter les consignes. |
| Sam: “It’s necessary to respect the regulations.” |
| Céline: Do you respect them? |
| Sam: Always. |
| Céline: Menteur. “Liar.” |
| Sam: Maybe. |
| Céline: Anyway. To travel in France and Europe, il faut des euros. |
| Sam: “Euros are necessary.” |
| Céline: So Sam, did you understand the use of “il faut”? |
Outro |
| Sam: Of course. And maybe it’s necessary that we end today’s lesson. |
| Céline: I think it’s necessary. |
| Sam: Unfortunately, it is. So for our listeners, don’t forget. Go to FrenchPod101.com. Leave us a question, comment or any feedback. We look forward to hearing from you. See you next time, au revoir. |
| Céline: Au revoir! |
13 Comments
HideWhat do you need to do in your daily life ?
Hi George,
Thank you for posting.
We are sorry for the inconvenience caused. I asked our audio editor to re-upload the files.
Let us know if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Lena
Team FrenchPod101.com
Looks like the line by line audio is down on this one too.
Bonjour Olawunmi,
Merci pour ton commentaire ! 😄
Belle journée,
Marion
Team FrenchPod101
Il faut de l'argent
Really glad you covered the expression “il faut” because I see it a lot.
By the way, in the example for “sel” above, the English translation is slightly incorrect. It should be “pass me the salt” instead of “pass on the salt.”
Merci beaucoup!
Bonjour Gloria !
Les deux phrases sont correctes et vous pouvez les utiliser sans problème !
Merci et à bientôt !
Marie Alice
Team FrenchPod101.com
La question: Que dois-je faire dans la vie quotidienne? “J'ai besoin de boire beaucoup d'eau.” ou “Il faut boire beaucoup d'eau.”
(The question: What do I need to do in my daily life? “I need to drink lots of water.” or “it's necessary to drink lots of water.”)
Hi Sandra,
Thank you for posting!
We appreciate your feedback. Please, find the Line by Line transcription in the Lesson Materials.
You are right Alexandra's and Phillipe's voice is really similar :sweat_smile:
Next lessons include the dialogue with the translation, so no worries. :grin:
We will give you time to reach the next level :wink:
Let us know if you have questions.
Sincerely,
Laura
Team FrenchPod101.com
So how come the dialogs are now read by one person and they are no longer broken down or repeated/translated? It is a bit hard to understand since the person is speaking Really fast and the fact that there is only one voice makes it a bit hard to tell the two characters apart. Not complaining (I can follow along with the line by line dialog), just wondering why the sudden change. Maybe it is just a strategy to get us newbies ready for the beginner level? :)
C'est bien vrai l'ignorance est notre pire ennemi.
Qu'en pensez-vous cher(e)s auditeurs ?