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TRANSCRIPT
Lesson
66
Plus PublicationsBramleyDouglas RoadCorkIreland(t) 353-(0)21-4847444(f) 353-(0)21-4847675(e) [email protected](i) www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com
LEARN FRENCHBY PODCASTAUDIO PODCASTSFOR LEARNERS OF FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
âHow are you?âŚâ
2 Š Plus Publications. All rights reserved.
Lesson 66Level : beginner. âHow are you ?âŚâ
⢠âCommentallez-vous?â: [âHow are you ?â]⢠âĂava?â: [âHow are you ?â]⢠â(Pas)trèsbien.â: [â(Not)verywell.â]⢠âIlfaitbeau.â: [âItâsfine.â]⢠tout,toute,tous,toutes: [all, every]
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Where you see thissymbolâŚ
âŚitâsyourturnto repeat what youâveheard.Thenweâllrepeat once more.
Hello, and welcome back to LFBP. My name is Hugh Nagle and with me is AmĂŠlie Verdier. Bonjour AmĂŠlie.
Bonjour !
Itâs been a while since weâve had a beginner lesson. In this short lesson, Lesson 66, weâll see how to ask how someone is and weâll hear a little about the weather, too. Letâs first listen to a short role-play between âŚ
Monsieur Vuillerot
⌠andMadame Domur
Monsieur Vuillerot Bonjour Madame Domur. Madame Domur Bonjour Monsieur Vuillerot.
Comment allez-vous ?Monsieur Vuillerot Très bien, merci. Et vous,
comment allez-vous ?Madame Domur Je vais bien. En plus, il fait beau,
alors, tout va bien.Monsieur Vuillerot Oui, câest vrai quâil ne pleut pas
aujourdâhui.(un tĂŠlĂŠphone portable sonne)Madame Domur Ah, excusez-moi, câest mon
portable. Allô ? Ah⌠Bonjour Marie ! Alors, comment ça va? ⌠Moi, ça va. Oui oui, toute la famille va bien. Attends, je ne peux pas te parler pour le moment, je te rappelle plus tard. Ok ? Allez, à plus tard !
Note Comment allez-vous ?
[â How are you ? (Literally, âHow are you going ?â)]
Before we can ask questions like âComment allez-vous ?â, we must familiarise ourselves fully with aller (to go). Study the present tense, below :
aller â to goje vaistu vasil / elle / on vanous allonsvous allezils / elles vont
past participle : allĂŠ
Note Comment allez-vous ?
[â How are you ? (Literally, âHow are you going ?â)]
Note En plus, il fait beau.
[= Furthermore, itâs fine.]
Listen carefully ! The âsâ on âplusâ is sometimes pronounced and is sometimes silent. In this case, the âsâ is pronounced.
Note En plus, il fait beau.
[= ⌠itâs fine.]
The verb faire often means âto doâ, âto makeâ, etc. In relation to the weather, however, it means : âItâs (fine, warm, cold, etc).
Note ⌠alors, tout va bien.
[= ⌠so, everything is going fine/well.]
Consider additional examples with alors :
Alors, tu trouve ça comment ? [So, how are you finding that ?]
Alors, quoi de neuf ? [So, whatâs new ?]
Alors, tu fais quoi ce week-end ? [So, whatâre you doing this weekend ?]
Note ⌠, tout va bien.
[= ⌠everything is going well.]
bon (= good) is an adjective. bien (= well) is an adverb :
Il joue bien. [= He plays well.]
Elle chante bien. [= She sings well.]
Note Câest vrai que il ne pleut pas aujourdâhui.
[= Itâs true that itâs not raining today.]
Š Plus Publications. All rights reserved. 3
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eLesson 66Level : beginner. âHow are you ?âŚâ
⢠âCommentallez-vous?â: [âHow are you ?â]⢠âĂava?â: [âHow are you ?â]⢠â(Pas)trèsbien.â: [â(Not)verywell.â]⢠âIlfaitbeau.â: [âItâsfine.â]⢠tout,toute,tous,toutes: [all, every]
Where you see thissymbolâŚ
âŚitâsyourturnto repeat what youâveheard.Thenweâllrepeat once more.
One more time, letâs hear this exchange.
Monsieur Vuillerot Bonjour Madame Domur. Madame Domur Bonjour Monsieur Vuillerot.
Comment allez-vous ?Monsieur Vuillerot Très bien, merci. Et vous,
comment allez-vous ?Madame Domur Je vais bien. En plus, il fait beau,
alors, tout va bien.Monsieur Vuillerot Oui, câest vrai quâil ne pleut
pas aujourdâhui.(un tĂŠlĂŠphone portable sonne)Madame Domur Ah, excusez-moi, câest mon
portable. Allô ? Ah⌠Bonjour Marie ! Alors, comment ça va? ⌠Moi, ça va. Oui oui, toute la famille va bien. Attends, je ne peux pas te parler pour le moment, je te rappelle plus tard. Ok ? Allez, à plus tard !
Note ⌠il ne pleut pas
[= it isnât raining]
The verb pleuvoir (= to rain) is invariable. That is, it does not have a full conjugation like other verbs. We find only the âilâŚâ part of the verb.
Note ⌠mon portable.
[= my mobile.]
Note that we may also hear âmon tĂŠlĂŠphone portableâ. More often than not, however, we find the shorter form.
Note AllĂ´ ?âŚ
[= Hello ?âŚ]
AllĂ´ is used when saying âHelloâ on the telephone, rather than in general.
Note Toute la famille va bien.
[= All [members of] the family are well.]
Note that the singular form of the verb aller is used in French, in combination with the singular noun la famille.
Note Attends !
[= Wait !]
This is the Imperative (command) form of attendre (= to wait).
jâattendstu attendsil / elle / on attendnous attendonsvous attendezils / elles attendent
past participle : attendu
Note
Je ne peux pas te | donner des suggestions | dire que ⌠[= say to you that âŚ] | rĂŠpondre ⌠[= answer you]
Note Je te rappelle âŚ
[= Iâll call you back (later).]
appeler â to calljâappelletu appellesil / elle / on appellenous appelonsvous appelezils / elle appellent
Watch it! There is just one âlâ in the 1st and 2nd person plural.
Note Je te rappelle âŚ
[= Iâll call you back (later).]
The verb appeler means âto callâ. If we add an ârâ to the beginning of the verb, we get rappeler which means âto call (someone) againâ or âcall (someone) backâ.
Note, also, in this context the Present tense in French is used to convey the Future in English : I will call you back (at some point in the future).
Je te rappelle Ă huit heures du soir. [= Iâll call you back at 8 p.m.]
Je te rappelle demain. [= Iâll call you back tomorrow.]
âComment allez-vous ?â
âĂa va ?â
â(Pas) très bien.â
4 Š Plus Publications. All rights reserved.
Lesson 66Level : beginner. âHow are you ?âŚâ
⢠âCommentallez-vous?â: [âHow are you ?â]⢠âĂava?â: [âHow are you ?â]⢠â(Pas)trèsbien.â: [â(Not)verywell.â]⢠âIlfaitbeau.â: [âItâsfine.â]⢠tout,toute,tous,toutes: [all, every]
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Where you see thissymbolâŚ
âŚitâsyourturnto repeat what youâveheard.Thenweâllrepeat once more.
Now, a basic â but essential â expression is âHow are you?â That isâŚ
Comment allez-vous? Comment allez-vous?
Thatâs the formal form of the question we might use if addressing a neighbour we donât know that well, for example. If, on the other hand, we were addressing a friend â someone we did know well â we could ask :
Comment vas-tu?Comment vas-tu?
Or, simplyâŚĂa va?Ăa va?
Finally, if we were asking about someone else â a mutual friend called Jacques, for example, we would ask :
Et Jacques, il va bien?âŚEt Jacques, il va bien?âŚ
Supposing the doctor was asking a woman about her daughter, his question might be :
Et votre fille, Jacqueline, comment va-t-elle?Et votre fille, Jacqueline, comment va-t-elle?
So, letâs remember these expressions. They rely heavily on the verb âallerâ which literally means âto goâ.
In response to these questions, various answers are possible. AmĂŠlie, if you are very well, you would say :
Très bien, merci.Très bien, merci.
On the other hand, if things arenât going so well, you might say :
Je ne vais pas trop bien.Je ne vais pas trop bien.
⌠or, simply :Pas trop bien.Pas trop bien.
Here we have âpas trop bienâ. Thatâs ânot too wellâ. âNot very wellâ, would beâŚ
Pas très bien.Pas très bien.
Note Ăa va ?
[â How are you ?]
The cedilla accent (lâaccent cĂŠdille) is important and ensures that â before the vowels a, o and u â the âçâ is pronounced like the English âsâ, rather than as a âkâ.
Note ⌠votre fille
[= ⌠your daughter]
Depending on the context, une fille is :1. a girl, or2. a daughter.
Listen carefully to the pronunciation ! The double-l in une fille sounds like the âyâ in the English word âyesâ.
Note ⌠comment va-t-elle ?
[= ⌠how is she ?]
The function of the -t- is to facilitate pronunciation and prevent a âcollisionâ of two vowels. The same applies to the âilâŚâ part of the verb :
Et Daniel, comment va-t-il ?
Note
âIl fait beau.â
tout / toute
Š Plus Publications. All rights reserved. 5
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eLesson 66 : ThursdayLevel : beginner. âHow are you ?âŚâ
⢠âCommentallez-vous?â: [âHow are you ?â]⢠âĂava?â: [âHow are you ?â]⢠â(Pas)trèsbien.â: [â(Not)verywell.â]⢠âIlfaitbeau.â: [âItâsfine.â]⢠tout,toute,tous,toutes: [all, every]
Where you see thissymbolâŚ
âŚitâsyourturnto repeat what youâveheard.Thenweâllrepeat once more.
In our original exchange, Madame Domur said she was very well. In particular, she said : â⌠and then, the weather is beautiful, so all is wellâ. Letâs hear, once again, what she said. First we heard :
En plus, il fait beau.En plus, il fait beau.
So, in relation to the weather, âitâs beautifulâ or âitâs fineâ is simply âil fait beauâ. And then, âall is wellâ is :
Tout va bien.Tout va bien.
âAllâ or âeverythingâ is âŚtouttout
Thatâs the masculine form of this word. A little later in the dialogue, we heard :
Toute la famille va bienToute la famille va bien
Thatâs âAll the family are wellâ. In this case, we hear :toutetoute
Thatâs the feminine form of the adjective because we are talking about all the family and âŚ
la famillela famille
⌠is a feminine word.
Note Tout va bien.
[= Everything / all is (going) well.]
In fact, there are four variants of tout, depending on the gender (that is, masculine or feminine) and number (that is, singular or plural) of the noun to which it refers. Consider additional examples below :
⌠avec tout le sucre [m] quâon trouve dans les aliments de nos jours. [= ⌠with all the sugar that one finds in food nowadays.]
⌠devant toute la classe [f]. [= ⌠in front of the whole class.]
Ma mère va à la messe tous les matins [m pl]. [= My mother goes to mass every morning.]
Tu vois toutes les cochonneries [f pl] quâelle avale ? [= Do you see all the junk that she eats ?]
Note Il fait beau.
[= Itâs fine.]
Study the following weather-related expressions, too, also based on the verb faire :
Il fait mauvais. [= (the opposite of âil fait beauâ) The weather is bad.]
Il fait chaud.* [= Itâs hot.]
Il fait froid.* [= Itâs cold.]
* Note that these expressions apply to the weather. They are not used when describing objects that are hot or cold. Nor are they used when describing oneâs own physical state.
6 Š Plus Publications. All rights reserved.
Lesson 66Level : beginner. âHow are you ?âŚâ
⢠âCommentallez-vous?â: [âHow are you ?â]⢠âĂava?â: [âHow are you ?â]⢠â(Pas)trèsbien.â: [â(Not)verywell.â]⢠âIlfaitbeau.â: [âItâsfine.â]⢠tout,toute,tous,toutes: [all, every]
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Where you see thissymbolâŚ
âŚitâsyourturnto repeat what youâveheard.Thenweâllrepeat once more.
In this lesson weâve concentrated on how to ask how someone is. But there are other interesting expressions and vocabulary, too. You can find that information in the accompanying Lesson Guide, available from our website at www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com. AmĂŠlie, letâs listen to this dialogue one last time to reinforce everything weâve heard today.
Monsieur Vuillerot Bonjour Madame Domur. Madame Domur Bonjour Monsieur Vuillerot.
Comment allez-vous ?Monsieur Vuillerot Très bien, merci. Et vous,
comment allez-vous ?Madame Domur Je vais bien. En plus, il fait beau,
alors, tout va bien.Monsieur Vuillerot Oui, câest vrai quâil ne pleut
pas aujourdâhui.(un tĂŠlĂŠphone portable sonne)Madame Domur Ah, excusez-moi, câest mon
portable. Allô ? Ah⌠Bonjour Marie ! Alors, comment ça va? ⌠Moi, ça va. Oui oui, toute la famille va bien. Attends, je ne peux pas te parler pour le moment, je te rappelle plus tard. Ok ? Allez, à plus tard !
Thatâs it for now. Until next timeâŚA la prochaine.
Note Allez, Ă plus tard !
[â Ok then, until (I talk to you) later !]
Grammatically speaking, Allez is the Imperative (command) form of the verb aller. Literally, it is the form of the verb we will use when ordering someone to ⌠âGo!â
However, Allez is very frequently used when âwrapping upâ a conversation in which case it equates to the English âOk, thenâŚâ or âRight, then âŚâ.
Of course, weâll hear it around us at a football match, too, where French supporters will vociferously encourage their players with shouts of âAllez! Allez!âŚâ
Note âŚ, Ă plus tard !
[â âŚ, until (I talk to you) later !]
Consider the following, also : Ă ce soir !
[= Until (I talk to you / see you) this evening !]
Ă demain ! [= Until (I talk to you / see you) tomorrow !]
Note Je ne peux pas âŚ
[= I canât âŚ]
This is the 1st person singular of the Present tense of pouvoir (= to be able). Study the full conjugation of the verb, below :
pouvoir â to be ableje peuxtu peuxil / elle / on peutnous pouvonsvous pouvezils / elles peuvent
past participle : pu
Š Plus Publications. All rights reserved. 7
Dia
logu
eLesson 66Level : beginner. âHow are you ?âŚâ
⢠âCommentallez-vous?â: [âHow are you ?â]⢠âĂava?â: [âHow are you ?â]⢠â(Pas)trèsbien.â: [â(Not)verywell.â]⢠âIlfaitbeau.â: [âItâsfine.â]⢠tout,toute,tous,toutes: [all, every]
Ifyouunderstoodourlesson,thenyoushouldbeabletotranslateâŚ
1. And Claire⌠how is she?2. Yes⌠theyâre well. [Suppose youâre talking about David and Diane.]3. He canât talk to you for the moment.4. They canât talk to you for the moment.5. Itâs warm today.6. Itâs raining.7. Heâll call you back later.8. Theyâll call you back later.
See how you have fared in the exercise above by clicking on the graphic. (Note that we wait a few days after a lesson has been released before posting the answers to exercises on our website.)
Now
itâs
your
turn
âŚ
Vocab extra !⢠bonjour ..................hello⢠aller .......................to go⢠commentâŚ? ........howâŚ?⢠vous .......................you⢠très ........................very⢠bien .......................well⢠merci .....................thank you⢠plus,en~ ..............furthermore⢠alors .......................so, then⢠tout ........................all, everything⢠vrai ........................true⢠câest .......................itâs⢠oui .........................yes⢠pleuvoir .................to rain⢠aujourdâhui ............today⢠portable(m) ..........mobile (phone)⢠sonner ...................to ring⢠mon .......................my⢠allĂ´ ........................hello [on
telephone]⢠famille(f) ..............family⢠attendre .................to wait⢠pouvoir ..................to be able⢠parler .....................to speak, to
talk⢠pour .......................for⢠moment(m) ..........moment⢠rappeler .................to call again⢠tard ........................late⢠plus ........................more⢠prochaine,à la~ ...until next time⢠jouer ......................to play⢠trouver ...................to find⢠quoi .......................what⢠neuf[adj] ...............new⢠chanter ..................to sing⢠rÊpondre ................to answer⢠chaud .....................hot⢠froid .......................cold⢠sucre(m) ...............sugar⢠aliment(m) ...........item of food⢠jour,denos~s .......nowadays⢠devant ...................in front of⢠classe(f) ................class⢠messe(f) ...............mass⢠matin(m) ..............morning⢠cochonneries(fpl) .junk (food)⢠avaler .....................to swallow⢠voir ........................to see