Learn how to speak more natural French by using filler phrases
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 |
| Brandon: Borrowing a Book from the French Library! I’m Brandon! |
| Yasmine: Bonjour. I'm Yasmine. |
| Brandon: Yasmine, what are we going to learn in this lesson? |
| Yasmine: In this lesson, you'll learn to use transition words to sound more natural in conversation. |
| Brandon: This conversation takes place in an office |
| Yasmine: It’s between Lucie and Mathieu. |
| Brandon: The speakers are not friends, so they will be using formal French. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Lucie: Il n’y a aucun problème. |
| Mathieu: Huuumm vous êtes sûre? Merci. |
| Lucie: C’est bon. J’ai deux copies. Vous pouvez le garder. |
| Mathieu: Quoi ? C’est vraiment très gentil de votre part. |
| Brandon: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Lucie: Il n’y a aucun problème. |
| Mathieu: Huuumm vous êtes sûre? Merci. |
| Lucie: C’est bon. J’ai deux copies. Vous pouvez le garder. |
| Mathieu: Quoi ? C’est vraiment très gentil de votre part. |
| Brandon: Listen to the conversation with an English translation. |
| Lucie: Il n’y a aucun problème. |
| Lucie: It's really no problem. |
| Mathieu: Huuumm vous êtes sûre? Merci. |
| Mathieu: Ummm, are you sure? Thank you. |
| Lucie: C’est bon. J’ai deux copies. Vous pouvez le garder. |
| Lucie: It's okay. I have two copies. You can keep it. |
| Mathieu: Quoi ? C’est vraiment très gentil de votre part. |
| Mathieu: What? That's so kind of you. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Brandon: Yasmine, how often do French people lend things to each other? |
| Yasmine: Well, lending things to a friend, a colleague or an acquaintance is a regular thing in France. |
| Brandon: So it would be okay if I ask someone to lend me something? |
| Yasmine: Yes, it’s fine. |
| Brandon: It’s not impolite to borrow something from someone as long as it’s asked for nicely. Just make sure you thank the person and don’t damage what you borrowed! |
| Yasmine: Actually I tend to be forgetful, and so do my friends. But I don’t hesitate to ask them to give me the object back! I also keep a note where I write the owner's name on the lent object. This way I am sure not to forget. |
| Brandon: If I want to borrow something, how can I ask in French? |
| Yasmine: You can simply say Puis-je vous emprunter.. then the name of the item. |
| Brandon: So how would you say “Can I borrow your pen?” |
| Yasmine: It’s simple. “Your pen” in French is votre stylo, so you can say Puis-je vous emprunter votre stylo ? |
| Brandon: Good to know. let’s move onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Brandon: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary and phrases used in this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Yasmine: aucun [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “any” |
| Yasmine: aucun [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: aucun [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next we have.. |
| Yasmine: sûr [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “sure, certain” |
| Yasmine: sûr [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: sûr [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next we have.. |
| Yasmine: problème [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “problem” |
| Yasmine: problème [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: problème [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next we have.. |
| Yasmine: copie [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “copy” |
| Yasmine: copie [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: copie [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next we have.. |
| Yasmine: pouvoir [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “can” |
| Yasmine: pouvoir [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: pouvoir [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next we have.. |
| Yasmine: garder [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: “to keep” |
| Yasmine: garder [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: garder [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: Next we have.. |
| Yasmine: gentil [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: nice |
| Yasmine: gentil [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: gentil [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: The last word is.. |
| Yasmine: très [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: very |
| Yasmine: très [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yasmine: très [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Brandon: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Yasmine: être sûr |
| Brandon: meaning "to be sure." |
| Yasmine: être is a verb meaning "to be" and sûr is an adjective meaning "sure." |
| Brandon: Altogether, this means “to be sure.” When you use this phrase, you may have to use the subjunctive form depending on whether it’s being used affirmatively, negatively, or interrogatively. Can you give us some examples? |
| Yasmin: Sure. First we have.. Je suis sûr qu’il ment. |
| Brandon: meaning “I'm sure he's lying.” |
| Yasmine: Here I used the phrase Je suis sûr, which means “I’m sure.” |
| Brandon: Then how do you say “I’m not sure”? |
| Yasmine: You can say.. Je ne suis pas sûr. So you can say Je ne suis pas sûr qu'il mente. |
| Brandon: That would be “I'm not sure he's lying.” So what about “Are you sure?” |
| Yasmine: In French, it’s Es-tu sûr. |
| Brandon: So “Are you sure he's lying?” in French is.. ? |
| Yasmine: Es-tu sûr qu'il mente ? |
| Brandon: We don’t use this word when speaking formally, right? |
| Yasmine: Right. If you want to speak formally you should replace sûr with certain. |
| Brandon: It means “guaranteed.” So to say “I’m sure” in a formal situation, it’s.. |
| Yasmine: Je suis certain. |
| Brandon: But that’s the masculine form, right? |
| Yasmine: Yes. In the feminine form, it's certaine. Sûr also means guaranteed. |
| Brandon: And next we have.. |
| Yasmine: garder |
| Brandon: meaning "to keep.” It’s a regular verb. It has several different meanings- “to keep,” “to save,” “to take care of,” or “to look out for.” Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Yasmine: Tu me garderas une place au restaurant? |
| Brandon: "Will you save me a seat at the restaurant?" |
| Yasmine: You can conjugate the verb with garder plus a direct object. |
| Brandon: Because of its many meanings, it's a very common word you’ll hear in many conversations. |
| Yasmine: For example, Je garde mon chien en laisse, |
| Brandon: meaning "I'm keeping my dog on a leash." |
| Yasmine: You can also use a synonym of garder, conserver. For example, Je conserve des photos de tous mes voyages |
| Brandon: "I keep photos of all my trips." Listeners, be sure to check out the lesson notes to find more examples. Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use filler words and transition words to sound more natural in conversation. In the dialogue, we had one line using a filler word. |
| Yasmine: It was quoi? |
| Brandon: That’s right. Let’s start with that word. |
| Yasmine: French people often use quoi? in both formal and informal situations. |
| Brando: French people use it as filler word, and It gives the person speaking time to think about his or her words, or sometimes it’s used to express a consequence. |
| Yasmine: That’s right. The question word Quoi is used when it's followed by another word. For example.. Quoi? Tu es en retard? |
| Brandon: "What? You’re late?" You can also use it alone or after a preposition. |
| Yasmine: You use the strong form, quoi. |
| Brandon: can you give us an example? |
| Yasmine: Tu aimes quoi?!? |
| Brandon: "You like what?!?" There are other filler words too. If you’re in a more formal situation, you can use a different set of words to connect ideas. Here are some examples. |
| Yasmine: ainsi |
| Brandon: “therefore” |
| Yasmine: “toutefois” |
| Brandon: “however” |
| Yasmine: d'un autre côté |
| Brandon: “on the other hand.” Listeners, be sure to check the lesson notes for more examples! |
Outro |
| Brandon: All right, that's all we have for this lesson, Thank you for listening, everyone. See you next time! |
| Yasmine: À bientôt! |
Comments
Hide