Learn about French personal pronouns such as "I, me, you, us, and we"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Sam: “How to French kiss your best friend?” |
| Sylvain: Wow, is that a hot lesson? |
| Céline: Bonjour Sylvain. |
| Sylvain: Bonjour Céline. |
| Céline: Bonjour Sam. |
| Sam: Bonjour Céline, ça va? |
| Céline: Oui! |
| Sam: So, that’s great. I’m glad to have you guys back. So, what’s the focus of this lesson? |
| Céline: We’re going to talk about personal pronouns in French. |
| Sam: Okay. Where does the conversation take place? |
| Sylvain: The conversation takes place in…, Céline? |
| Céline: The living room? |
| Sylvain: Not in the room? |
| Céline: In the living room. |
| Sylvain: Oh, sorry. |
| Céline: Okay. And it’s between Julie and Eric. |
| Sylvain: Who will do the Eric part? |
| Céline: Sylvain. |
| Sylvain: Yes! |
| Sam: And I think, Céline, you can be Julie. |
| Céline: Tout à fait! Exactly. |
| Sam: Exactly. On y va! |
| Sylvain: Let’s go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Céline: Eric? |
| Sylvain: Oui? |
| Céline: Catherine… Elle t’aime… |
| Sylvain: Hein? Mais moi, je t’aime! |
| Céline: Tu m’aimes? Moi aussi je t’aime!!! |
| Sylvain: Nous nous aimons! |
| Sam: Now, one time slowly. |
| Céline: Eric? |
| Sylvain: Oui? |
| Céline: Catherine… Elle t’aime… |
| Sylvain: Hein? Mais moi, je t’aime! |
| Céline: Tu m’aimes? Moi aussi je t’aime!!! |
| Sylvain: Nous nous aimons! |
| Sam: And now, with the English. |
| Céline: Eric? |
| Sam: “Eric!” |
| Sylvain: Oui? |
| Sam: “Yes?” |
| Céline: Catherine… Elle t’aime… |
| Sam: “Catherine, she loves you.” |
| Sylvain: Hein? Mais moi, je t’aime! |
| Sam: “Huh? But I love you.” |
| Céline: Tu m’aimes? Moi aussi je t’aime!!! |
| Sam: “You love me? I love you, too.” |
| Sylvain: Nous nous aimons! |
| Sam: “We love each other.” |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Céline: That was quite a kiss, guys. |
| Sylvain: It was. |
| Sam: Yeah, I agree. Was it a French kiss? |
| Sylvain: French kiss? Good question. |
| Céline: I suppose so. What else could have been? |
| Sam: Nothing else but a French kiss, right? |
| Céline: Exactly. Pour nous, c’est une évidence. For French people, it’s so obvious. Quand on aime, on s’embrasse à pleine bouche. When we love, we kiss full on the lips. |
| Sylvain: The origin of the French kiss is unclear. |
| Sam: That’s quite interesting, but do you French people mention the “French kiss”? |
| Céline: No, we just say kiss. “French kiss” comes from abroad, right? |
| Sylvain: Yes. We don’t say “French kiss” in France. We just say “kiss”. |
| Sam: Oh, I understand. So far our listeners, if anyone out there knows the origin of the French kiss, post us a comment and leave us your answer. |
| Sylvain: Or even more adventurous, make us a French text about your first French kiss. |
| Sam: That’s a good idea, also. |
| Sylvain: Yes. Nice experience to read, also. |
| Céline: Okay, guys, stop dreaming. Let’s get into the vocab for this lesson. |
| Sam: Okay. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Sam: The first item is? |
| Céline: Aimer. |
| Sam: “To love.” |
| Céline: Aimer. Aimer. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Sylvain: Elle. |
| Sam: “She.” |
| Sylvain: Elle. Elle. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Céline: Je. |
| Sam: “I.” |
| Céline: Je. Je. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Sylvain: Nous. |
| Sam: “We.” |
| Sylvain: Nous. Nous. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Céline: Tu. |
| Sam: “You”, informal. |
| Céline: Tu. Tu. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Sam: Now, let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of these items from our lesson. |
| Céline: The first phrase we’ll look at is... |
| Sylvain: Elle t’aime. |
| Sam: “She loves you.” |
| Sylvain: In this situation, Julie tells Eric about her friend, Sylvie, loving him. |
| Céline: The verb used is “to love”, its match is “to love”. Non-conjugated verb as “to love” or “aimer” ending with the letters ”er” are called infinitive verbs. |
| Sam: That’s boring! |
| Céline: Okay, maybe. But this is important to known as all infinitive verbs ending in ”er” are regular and are grouped in the first verb group. |
| Sam: So, it helps when using verbs while speaking or writing in French. |
| Céline: Exactement. Exactly. The next phrase is? |
| Sylvain: Je t’aime. Here, Eric wants to get things right and declare his love for Julie. |
| Sam: I understand. He’s pretty direct and there’s no confusion about who is in love with. |
| Céline: You can hear the sound “t” in front of or conjugated verb for “love”. The “t” sound refers to “you”, Julie, the person Eric’s talking to. |
| Sam: I know that our listeners are asking themselves about nuances of love. So, can you explain to us quickly what are these nuances and how to declare one’s love for somebody? |
| Sylvain: Well, for romantic relationship, you should say “Je t’aime”. |
| Céline: Je t’aime. |
| Sam: “I love you.” |
| Céline: You can also say “Je suis amoureuse de toi”. |
| Sam: “I’m in love with you.” |
| Sylvain: Je suis amoureux de toi. |
| Sam: “I’m in love with you.” The first one was said by a female to a male, and the second one would be said by a male to a female. And following there is… |
| Sylvain: “Tu m’aimes?” meaning “You love me?” With this intonation, everyone can understand that Julie is happily surprised asking for confirmation. |
| Céline: The “m” sounds refers to “me”, in other words, here, it’s Julie. |
| Sylvain: Finally, Eric, in his excitement of discovering that they love each other, says “nous nous aimons” to her. |
| Sam: Meaning, “We love each other.” What a happy ending! |
| Céline: Yeah. See, in this sentence you cannot use twice “nous”, literally “we” in English. The second “nous” is translated in English as “each other” because here the fact of loving is mutual between Julie and Eric. |
| Sam: That’s a good way to lead into the grammar. So, shall we look at some grammar? |
| Sylvain: Let’s go! |
| Sam: Okay. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Céline: You will find today’s grammar topic in each full phrases of our dialogue. |
| Sam: Okay. |
| Céline: So, the first sentence is “Je t’aime”. |
| Sylvain: “I love you.” |
| Céline: “Je” refers to my own wonderful and happy person. |
| Sam: So “je” means “I”. |
| Sylvain: Yes. |
| Sam: Okay. |
| Sylvain: “Te” refers to the person you’re speaking to. |
| Sam: Okay. |
| Céline: Actually, the first sentence in the dialogue is “Elle t’aime”. |
| Sylvain: “Elle” refers to some he’s not in the vicinity, “she”. |
| Sam: Okay. |
| Sylvain: Then, what’s refer to “t’”? |
| Sam: Usually it’s “te”, T-E, but in this sentence it’s T apostrophe. |
| Céline: Tout à fait. Exactly. |
| Sylvain: Exactly. Why? |
| Sam: Because, the conjugated verb begins with a vowel. |
| Sylvain: You’re right. |
| Sam: And you can have two vowels together. |
| Sylvain: Yes. |
| Céline: Okay, the second phrase is “Je t’aime”, that we decorticated and discussed it previously. What phrase comes after, Sylvain? |
| Sylvain: It’s the question asked by Julie to mark. |
| Sam: If you followed the story, you can deduce the “tu” is the informal version of “you” referring to the single person you’re talking to. |
| Sylvain: That’s right. Last, we have “nous nous aimons” said by Eric. |
| Céline: This might sound weird to your ears as the pronoun “nous” is repeated twice. |
| Sam: I know that the first “nous”, N-O-U-S, means or referring to the person speaking the phrase, and one or more people referred to previously in any conversation. |
| Céline: Exactly. So, in English that would be “we, we love”, literally. |
| Sam: So, for our listeners, an easy way to remember that, for example, “Nous nous aimons”. We have a sentence “Nous aimons”, but in the middle we have another “nous”, which refers to “each other”. |
| Sylvain: Right. |
| Sam: It’s like a sandwich! |
| Sylvain: Nice. |
| Céline: That just about does it for today? |
| Sam: Yes. Nous nous aimons. We like each other. |
| Céline: Of course we do! |
| Sylvain: Nous nous aimons. |
Outro |
| Sam: But, we should wrap up for today’s lesson. Until the next time… |
| Sylvain: Waiting for your post! |
| Céline: Merci à bientôt! |
| Sam: Salut! |
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Comments
HideHave you already witness two of your friends falling in love for each other? Were they shy to let you know about it?
Bonjour Suresh,
"It's not easy" would be "ce n'est pas facile" and "it's not difficult at all" would be "ce n'est pas du tout difficile" 😉.
Bonne journée
Marion
Team FrenchPod101.com
Sorry one more question: How do we say "It's not difficult at all".... "C'est ne pas du tout difficile"? Thanks again.
I have a question here: How do you say "It's not easy"? C'est ne facile pas? or C'est ne pas facile? Many thanks.
Bonjour Abubakar,
Thank you for your lovely comment! 😄
Bonne journée
Marion
Team FrenchPod101.com
I love you and I love the method of your teaching, I wish I could speak French very well because it one of my great goal in my life seriously, and by your help I can do so.
I also want to get free lifetime account to get access to all of your lessons in French pod 101.com (the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn and master French in short time)👍👍👍👍👍
Thanks a lot , have a greatest life 🙏🙏🙏
It really helpful and great.I can't thank you enough for teaching us but thanks a lot, have a great life😄
Hi George,
Thank you for your comment.
The Line by Line audio works on our end. Would you be so kind as to send us a screenshot of what error you see on your end?
To this email address: contactus@FrenchPod101.com
If you have any questions, please let us know.
Cheers,
Lena
Team FrenchPod101.com
Line by Line audio is not functioning on the website.
Bonjour Pam,
"I like you" would be "je t'aime bien".
"J'aime" on its own translates to "I like" and calls for a complément. J'aime les pommes, j'aime le printemps, etc.
Hope this helps! :-)
Bonne journée,
Marion
Team FrenchPod101.com
If I want to say ' I like you', would it just be " j'aime bien" or "je t'aime bien"
Bonjour Amy,
It's actually a very complex question, so please see this link for a complete answer:
https://french.stackexchange.com/questions/30000/why-dont-we-say-jaime-toi-instead-of-je-taime
Bonne journée,
Marion
Team FrenchPod101.com
Bonjour!
Are you able to explain why it is said as Je t'aime rather than J'aime tu/toi? Or Je m'aimes, rather than J'aime moi?
Many thanks!
Bonjour Chanse,
I'm glad you like Lya! 😄
Belle journée,
Marion
Team FrenchPod101
Salut Maria,
Thank you so much for your kind message! 😇❤️️
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Good luck with your language studies.
Bonne journée,
Levente
Team FrenchPod101.com
I wished I learned this lesson before my class in Alliance Français. I would have understood the context much better back then 😁
Bonjour Mike,
The outro is the concluding section of the podcast/lesson!
Bonne journée,
Marion
Team FrenchPod101
What is "outro"?
Bonjour Carey, Shyraley et Angèle,
Merci pour vos commentaires ! I'm going to contribute a little to this conversation.
I'd say we (French people) don't really mind PDA, as long as you don't push it too far. For example, french kissing in public is a little too much in my opinion, and I'd say most French people would agree with me. Quick kisses are totally fine, though, just like holding hands, hugging, etc.
Bonjour Alejandro,
You're right, saying "nous nous aimons bien" would be more correct here, I'm guessing the podcasters just didn't want to complicate things by adding this nuance here. 😉
Bonne journée,
Marion
When Sam says:
Yes. Nous nous aimons. We like each other.
I shouldn't be: Yes. Nous nous aimons bien. We like each other.
Because they are friends and they do not love each other, they like each other.
Wiki est une excellente source d'info. Cést tout fait exacte !
If I tell you "On s'embrasse ?" It would nmean on the cheeks as a sign of friendship.