Learn how to share your name and get another person's name
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.
Intro |
|---|
| Virginie: Bonjour tout le monde! Hello everyone! |
| Eric: Eric here! |
| Virginie: Easy Self-Introductions in French. Hi, I'm Virginie, and thanks again for being here with us. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you will learn how to ask someone's name and tell your own name. |
| Virginie: And you will soon listen to a conversation. Where does it take place, Eric? |
| Eric: It takes place in a classroom at the Sorbonne. |
| Virginie: Oh, the Sorbonne,. Well, this will involve students I bet. |
| Eric: Right. The conversation is between Rob and Giulia, two students. |
| Virginie: Yeah, Rob, freshly arrived from the U.S. to study in France for a semester. |
| Eric: It's the first day of school, and Rob sits by Giulia, an Italian student. |
| Virginie: The speakers are young and soon to be friends, therefore they will be speaking informally. |
| Eric: Okay, let's listen to this conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
| Rob : Bonjour. |
| Giulia : Salut ! |
| Rob : Je suis Rob. Tu t'appelles ...? |
| Giulia : Je m'appelle Giulia. |
| Rob : Tu es française ? |
| Giulia : Non, je suis italienne. |
| Eric: One more time with the translation. |
| Rob : Bonjour. |
| Rob: Hello. |
| Giulia : Salut ! |
| Giulia: Hi! |
| Rob : Je suis Rob. Tu t'appelles ...? |
| Rob: I'm Rob. Your name is...? |
| Giulia : Je m'appelle Giulia. |
| Giulia: My name is Giulia. |
| Rob : Tu es française ? |
| Rob: Are you French? |
| Giulia : Non, je suis italienne. |
| Giulia: No, I'm Italian. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Virginie: So Rob and Giulia in our dialog meet for the first time. |
| Eric: Right, and since they are both young -- they're college students -- they use the informal you. |
| Virginie: Which in French is tu. |
| Eric: And that's spelled T-U. So what are the contexts for using tu are there in French? |
| Virginie: In general if you are among friends and family. |
| Eric: And to say hello, French people also tend to kiss, right? |
| Virginie: Yes, for example our two characters Rob and Giulia, next time they meet, they will kiss. |
| Eric: That's sort of a hello kiss. It's usually one kiss on each cheek. |
| Virginie: Yeah, and you don't need to be very good friends to do that. |
| Eric: So in what context can we give someone a kiss? |
| Virginie: Well, you give a kiss each time you meet a friend, and also the first time you meet a friend of a friend. |
| Eric: And you will give a kiss to say bye too? |
| Virginie: Absolutely. |
| Eric: What if I don't feel comfortable kissing someone I don't know? |
| Virginie: Well, you can always offer your hand to shake, but the person in front of you might just say "hey, let's kiss". |
| Eric: Wow, a little pushy. If I recall well, men usually don't kiss other men though? |
| Virginie: No, they only give hello kisses to women, and among men, they just shake hands. |
| Eric: Okay, we'll talk about French greeting habits more in our lessons to come. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Virginie: So what's next Eric? |
| Eric: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Virginie: Bonjour [natural native speed]. |
| Eric: Hello. |
| Virginie: Bonjour [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Bonjour [natural native speed]. |
| Eric: bonjour The next one. |
| Virginie: Salut [natural native speed]. |
| Eric: Hi or bye (informal) |
| Virginie: Salut [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Salut [natural native speed]. |
| Eric: And next. |
| Virginie: Je / j' [natural native speed]. |
| Eric: I. |
| Virginie: Je / j' [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Je / j' [natural native speed]. |
| Eric: And next. |
| Virginie: Tu [natural native speed]. |
| Eric: You (informal) |
| Virginie: Tu [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Tu [natural native speed]. |
| Eric: So what do we have next, Virginie? |
| Virginie: S'appeler [natural native speed]. |
| Eric: To be called. |
| Virginie: S'appeler [slowly - broken down by syllable]. S'appeler [natural native speed]. |
| Eric: And next. |
| Virginie: être [natural native speed]. |
| Eric: To be. |
| Virginie: être [slowly - broken down by syllable]. être [natural native speed]. |
| Eric: être The next one. |
| Virginie: Non [natural native speed]. |
| Eric: No. |
| Virginie: Non [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Non [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Okay, next. |
| Virginie: Français(e) [natural native speed]. |
| Eric: French. |
| Virginie: Français(e) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Français(e) [natural native speed]. |
| Eric: And finally. |
| Virginie: Italienne [natural native speed]. |
| Eric: Italian (female). |
| Virginie: Italienne [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Italienne [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Virginie: The first word we're going to look at is. |
| Eric: Bonjour. And that's hello. |
| Virginie: Yes, bonjour is said anytime during daytime. |
| Eric: So, how would we say hello at night? |
| Virginie: You need to say Bonsoir. |
| Eric: Bonsoir, B-O-N-S-O-I-R. Does it matter if I mix them up? |
| Virginie: Not really, people will understand that you're saying hello. |
| Eric: Now in our dialog, Giulia says salut to say hello to Rob. |
| Virginie: Yeah, and that's spelled S-A-L-U-T. Salut is casual. |
| Eric: So that's used among friends? |
| Virginie: Yes, among friends, relatives, and friends of your friends, and young people. |
| Eric: And you can say salut to say goodbye too? |
| Virginie: Yes, like, I'm leaving now, salut! |
| Eric: Now at the end of the dialog, Giulia says, Je suis Italienne. |
| Virginie: Which is "I am Italian". |
| Eric: So to say your nationality, you just need to say "I am", je suis and then just add on your nationality. |
| Virginie: Yes, while we're at it, let's take a look at some French. |
| Eric: Well, why don't we start with American? |
| Virginie: Of course. |
| Eric: How would I say that? |
| Virginie: Americain, Americain. |
| Eric: And that's the masculine version, right? But, would it be different for women? |
| Virginie: Yes, absolutely. French language has genders. |
| Eric: Right, masculine and feminine. |
| Virginie: Yes, just two genders. And French adjectives agree to the gender. And nationalities are adjectives. |
| Eric: So if that's neat, you were going to say you're American, how would you say it? |
| Virginie: I would say, Je suis Americaine. |
| Eric: Repeat the whole version one more time. |
| Virginie: Americain, this is male. Americaine, this is female. |
| Eric: Can you hear the difference? Let's try one other nationality and see if we can hear the difference. |
| Virginie: Sure. |
| Eric: Chinese. |
| Virginie: Okay, Chinese for men is Chinois. Why don't you say, I am Chinese, Eric? |
| Eric: Je suis Chinois. |
| Virginie: And for female, it will be Chinoise. To say, I am Chinese, I would say, Je suis Chinoise. |
| Eric: So if it's Chinois or. |
| Virginie: Chinoise. |
| Eric: And then finally, what about French in French? |
| Virginie: Oh, that's important, right? |
| Eric: That is. |
| Virginie: Why don't we start with the male? |
| Eric: Je suis Français. |
| Virginie: And for me, it would be, Je suis Française. |
| Eric: And don't forget the cedille when you write that down. |
| Virginie: Yes, you know, the cedille is the little hook underneath the letter c. Well, you can check the lessons notes to figure that out. |
| Eric: And that makes your c sound like s. |
| Virginie: Exactly. I think that's enough vocabulary for now. |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: Well, the focus of this lesson is on how to ask and tell your name. |
| Virginie: In the dialog, Rob says, Je suis Rob. |
| Eric: And that means I am Rob. |
| Virginie: Then he asks Giulia, "Tu t'appelles?" |
| Eric: He's asking "Your name is?" You've got to watch your intonation here. You literally are saying, "you call yourself?" |
| Virginie: To which Giulia answers, Je m'appelle Giulia. |
| Eric: My name is Giulia, or literally, I call myself Giulia. |
| Virginie: Let's focus on je m'appelle and tu t'appelles for today. |
| Eric: Okay. And what verb is this, Virginie? |
| Virginie: It's the verb s'appeler. |
| Eric: S apostrophe A-P-P-E-L-E-R. Note the s apostrophe is in the infinitive. |
| Virginie: Now in order to say my name, I will say, using the verb s'appeler, Je m'appelle. |
| Eric: And je is I. |
| Virginie: And see how the s apostrophe of the infinitive became a m apostrophe, m'appelle. |
| Eric: The m apostrophe stands for "myself", I call myself. |
| Virginie: So je, "I" ,m apostrophe, myself, and appelle, "call". Je m'appelle. |
| Eric: So these are reflexive verbs. The verb is following and changing based on the subject. |
| Virginie: Exactly. |
| Eric: So see how the m relates to the subject je, but it won't be the same for tu. The verb changes slightly for the subject. So if it's a you, we will say. |
| Virginie: Tu t'appelles, your name is. |
| Eric: Tu t'appelles. So now you have in your French bank my name is, your name is. What about his or her name is? |
| Virginie: "His name is" is Il s'appelle. And "her name is" elle s'appelle. |
| Eric: Il is I-L, is he. And you’re doing the s apostrophe, Il s'appelle. |
| Virginie: Yeah, and elle, she, is spelled E-L-L-E, elle s'appelle. |
| Eric: Okay, so for a quick recap, I would say, je m'appelle Eric. |
| Virginie: Tu t'appelles Eric. |
| Eric: Il s'appelle Rob. |
| Virginie: Elle s'appelle Giulia. |
| Eric: So now how do we ask someone's name, Virginie? |
| Virginie: Well, Rob in the dialog said, "Tu t'appelles?" |
| Eric: Listen to how Virginie's intonation goes up at the end of the question. |
| Virginie: Yes, and that means, you call yourself? |
| Eric: You can also add the word comment at the beginning or at the end of your question. |
| Virginie: And that would be, comment tu t'appelles? Or Tu t'appelles comment? |
| Eric: And literally, comment means how. |
| Virginie: Right. |
| Eric: Again, today we focused on the informal way of asking and saying your name. |
| Virginie: But for those who are curious about the formal way, don't worry, we'll cover it later on in another lesson. |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, great. Well that just about does it for today. Au revoir! |
| Virginie: Au revoir! |
Easily master this lesson’s grammar points with in-depth explanations and examples. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Comments
Hide