Learn how to say "I don't understand," a phrase that will certainly prove useful as you are exploring through the French-speaking world
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| INTRODUCTION |
| The phrase, "I don't understand," is going to be very useful. Because most of the time, maybe even almost 100% of the time, you won't understand. While there are similarities between English and French, in the beginning, there will likely be an adjustment period during which your ears get used to French. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| So, in French, "I don’t understand," is Je ne comprends pas. Je ne comprends pas. |
| Let's break it down by syllable: Je ne com-prends pas. |
| Now, let's hear it once again, Je ne comprends pas. |
| The first word, Je, means "I." |
| Let's break this word down and hear it one more time, Je, and je. |
| This is followed by Ne, which in French is put before a verb to make it negative, similar to "don't" in English. Ne. Ne, and ne. |
| So, to recap here, we have Je nu. Literally, this means "I don't." |
| Let's take a look at the next word, Comprends, which means understand. |
| Comprends, and comprends. |
| This is followed by Pas, which along with Ne, completes the negation of the verb. |
| Pas. Pas. Pas. |
| So, altogether, we have Je ne comprends pas. Literally, this means "I don't understand." |
| To be extra polite, excuse yourself before saying Je ne comprends pas. |
| To do this, say Excusez-moi, which we learned earlier. |
| This makes, Excusez-mois. Je ne comprends pas. |
| Apologizing for not speaking the language gives that extra consideration that the locals will appreciate. |
Outro |
|---|
| Okay. To close out today's lesson, we'd like for you to practice what we've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you're responsible for saying it out loud in French. You'll have just a few seconds before I give you the answer. So, bonne chance. That means "good luck" in French. Okay. Here we go. |
| "I don't understand." |
| Je ne comprends pas. |
| Je ne comprends pas. |
| Je ne comprends pas. |
| This is the end of today's lesson. See you soon. À bientôt! |
Comments
HideIn what situation were you when you could not understand the person you were speaking with?
Bonjour Munashe,
Pas de problème !
Belle journée,
Marion
Team FrenchPod101.com
Bonjour merci beaucoup
Bonjour Lori et merci pour votre message.
Tout à fait, c'est une bonne technique ! 😄 lol
Bonne journée et à bientôt !
Marie Alice
Team FrenchPod101.com
Je parle et comprends le français assez bien (intermédiaire). J'utilise ces leçons pour réviser et renforcer ma grammaire. Les leçons sont très utiles pour perfectionner ma grammaire. Je vous remercie !
Donc si un homme français me drague (je suis marié), je peux dire "je ne comprends pas, je ne parle pas français" LOL😆
Je vais faire de mon mieux de profiter de FrenchPod101. I am going to make an effort to make good use of FrenchPod101. Merci!
Bonjour Gloria et merci pour cette anecdote !
Cela me fait très plaisir de lire cela ! C'est bien, continuez comme ça !! :thumbsup:
J'espère que vous allez bien.
A bientôt
Marie Alice
Team FrenchPod101.com
I spend time reviewing these very short lessons from time to time to because I need to be able to understand the French language and that is very difficult for me.
A woman born in Germany was behind me at the market. I decided to use my GermanPod101 German with her, asking how she was doing? She understood me perfectly and answered back. Then I told her I was also studying French with FrenchPod101. So she decided to say something to me in French to test me out.
Wow! I understood her. I was overjoyed. Elle a parlé de la construction de la maison. (She was talking about the construction of the house.)
Merci beaucoup, FrenchPod101.
Bonjour Gloria,
Thank you so much Gloria for your beautiful testimonial !! :smile:
So inspiring ! :thumbsup:
And you will feel the same about french soon !
Bonne journée !
Marie Alice
Team FrenchPod101.com
Many years ago I took college Spanish. I did well on my exams, could read and write Spanish well. But I did not understand the spoken word.
Then I moved to Mexico. I couldn't understand anyone. They talked too fast. But I could put what I wanted to say on paper.
My good husband understood my problem and signed me up for SpanishPod101. I started out with Absolute Beginner. Today, because of SpanishPod101, I can understand, for the most part, what others are saying. I feel so good about my accomplishment in understanding Spanish.
By the way, I was having so much fun with SpanishPod101, that I signed up for GermanPod101 and FrenchPod101. It's a lot of work doing three languages but I can say I am definitely having fun.
Hmmm yes foreign accents can be a barrier too!
And you, have you experienced such communication difficulties?
I thought I would have a more difficult time understanding the native speakers in Mexico when I was there, but the absolute worst was someone who spoke English! A friend from Surrey in England had such a decided brogue that I couldn't understand anything he said. I had to ask him to slow down. I couldn't understand English! :lol:
Oui, men are from Venus and women are form Mars.... oh oh I think I made a mistake. Lol! :razz: Oh, well change and diversity is a good thing! :cool:
Je ne comprends pas du tout les femmes... ( I don't understand women at all! :roll:)
Quand je ne comprends pas quelqu'un, je rigole... (When i don't understand someone, I'm laughing...)
hahahaha Bouks hahahaha, mais les hommes disent la même chose sur nous.:lol:
Pfff....c'est les hommes que je ne comprend pas :roll: :lol: (Sheesh...it's men that I don't understand!)
Actually I have always had a lot of trouble understanding the "accent du soleil" -- the accent of the people in Marseille and surrounding areas. It's happy-sounding and interesting...but *je ne comprend pas*. Even after all this time. They speak so fast and there's such a twang to it. My husband has absorbed it and he likes to speak it just for fun. Sometimes I'll accidentally say a word with the accent and he busts out laughing (Il s'éclate de rire). But I'm a Standard Classroom French girl, through and through. Let's have a culture class on France's "southern drawl" sometime!