Learn all about the French masculine articles that mean "the" and "a"
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Intro |
|---|
| Virginie: Hello Everyone! Bonjour tout le monde! |
| Eric: [*] How to Mind Your Manners in a French Cinema. Hi, my name is Eric, and I am joined here by? |
| Virginie: Virginie. |
| Eric: What are we going to be looking in, in this lesson? |
| Virginie: Today, you will learn about the definite and indefinite masculine articles. |
| Eric: Okay. And where does this conversation take place? |
| Virginie: In a movie theater where a Jean-Pierre Jeunet movie is playing. |
| Eric: And are our two friends Rob and Giullia are our speakers? |
| Virginie: Giulia doesn't know about this director, so she asks Rob about him. |
| Eric: And these two speakers are friends, they are going to be speaking informal French. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
| Giulia: Tu aimes Jean-Pierre Jeunet? |
| Rob: C’est qui? |
| Giulia: C’est un réalisateur français. C’est le réalisateur d’Amélie. |
| Rob: Ah, oui! C'est un bon film. |
| Giulia: J'aime bien Amélie. |
| Eric: One more time with the translation. |
| Giulia: Tu aimes Jean-Pierre Jeunet? |
| Virginie: Do you like Jean-Pierre Jeunet? |
| Rob: C’est qui? |
| Eric: Who is that? |
| Giulia: C’est un réalisateur français. C’est le réalisateur d’Amélie. |
| Virginie: He is a movie director. He’s the movie director of ""Amélie."" |
| Rob: Ah, oui! C'est un bon film. |
| Eric: Oh, yes! It's a good movie. |
| Giulia: J'aime bien Amélie. |
| Virginie: I like Amélie. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Okay. Do you think Rob and Giulia are in an art house movie theatre? |
| Virginie: Probably. |
| Eric: There are a lot of these theatres in Paris. |
| Virginie: Yes. And Eric, do you know what you can't do in these movie theatres in France? |
| Eric: No I don't know. Talk on my cell? |
| Virginie: Of course you can't! But there is something else. |
| Eric: What is it? |
| Virginie: You can't drink or eat. |
| Eric: Is it forbidden? |
| Virginie: Yes. |
| Eric: And why? |
| Virginie: Well French people believe that a movie is more enjoyable without all those mouth noises. |
| Eric: I remember going to some art cinemas and seeing the people wait for the entire credits to go down to the screen. |
| Virginie: Exactly, yes. It's to protect the quality of what you are watching. |
| Eric: It sounds like they really take it seriously. |
| Virginie: Yes. And it's a great way to enjoy your movie like Amelie. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Okay. So, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Virginie: Aimer [natural native speed] |
| Eric: To like or to love. |
| Virginie: Aimer [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Aimer [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Virginie: Un réalisateur [slowly - broken down by syllable]. |
| Eric: A movie director. |
| Virginie: Un réalisateur [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Un réalisateur [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Virginie: Ah, oui! [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Oh, okay! |
| Virginie: Ah, oui! [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Ah, oui! [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And then. |
| Virginie: Le [natural native speed] |
| Eric: The (masculine). |
| Virginie: Le [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Le [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Virginie: Un [natural native speed] |
| Eric: A or an (masculine). |
| Virginie: Un [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Un [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Then. |
| Virginie: J'aime bien [natural native speed] |
| Eric: I like. |
| Virginie: J'aime bien [slowly - broken down by syllable]. J'aime bien [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And finally. |
| Virginie: Bon [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Good. |
| Virginie: Bon [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Bon [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Okay. So let's take a closer look at the vocabulary in this lesson. |
| Virginie: Yes. The first phrase is.... |
| Eric: This is one of my common phrases in French J'aime bien. |
| Virginie: Right, which means I like. |
| Eric: In our dialog, Giulia says J'aime (stress the word) bien Amelie. |
| Virginie: Yes. And Bien is spelled BIEN and it means literally well, or good. |
| Eric: Right. So here, she's saying, ""I like the movie, Amelie."" And if I like a person, I can say, ""je t'aime bien."" |
| Virginie: Right. Je is I, t' is you, and aime bien is still like. |
| Eric: Literally ""I you like you."" |
| Virginie: Right, I like you! Do you like me, Eric? |
| Eric: Oui, je t'aime bien, Virginie. |
| Virginie: Merci. |
| Eric: This can slightly confusing. What if I say je t'aime to someone? |
| Virginie: Oh, you mean je t'aime without the bien after? |
| Eric: Exactly. |
| Virginie: That means I love you. |
| Eric: Okay so pay attention, if you use the word ""aimer"" without saying aime bien, you are basically declaring your love. |
| Virginie: Right. Be careful. |
| Eric: Okay. Some grammar now! |
| Virginie: Yay! |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: The focus of this lesson is on the masculine articles. |
| Virginie: Remember there are two genders in French. |
| Eric: Masculine and feminine. |
| Virginie: Everything you name in French is either masculine or feminine. |
| Eric: And when you name something you will need to use an article. |
| Virginie: For the masculine, you will use either un (spell) or le (spell). |
| Eric: Okay. So let's go back to our dialog and see how Rob and Giulia use un and le. |
| Virginie: Giulia is talking about Jean-Pierre Jeunet. |
| Eric: And Jean Pierre Jeunet is a French movie director. |
| Virginie: Yes and she says ""c'est un realisateur francais. |
| Eric: Which means… |
| Virginie: It is a French movie director. So here she uses un. And un is the masculine singular indefinite article. |
| Eric: Okay. So why is this called an indefinite article? |
| Virginie: Because you will use it when talking about something general. |
| Eric: So, Giulia says UN realisateur. |
| Virginie: Yes, because Jean Pierre Jeunet is one movie director among others. |
| Eric: Exactly and here is a tip, if you can add the words ""among others"" after your noun… |
| Virginie: That means you need to use an indefinite article. |
| Eric: Un realisateur among others. |
| Virginie: Just one in the multitude of movie directors. |
| Eric: Okay. Another example? |
| Virginie: Yes. For example, Je suis un professeur |
| Eric: I am a teacher, among others. UN professeur. |
| Virginie: Now the other masculine singular article is LE. |
| Eric: And that's the definite article. |
| Virginie: Right and it's used to name things in a specific context this time. |
| Eric: Let's take an example from our dialog. |
| Virginie: Giulia says ""c'est le realisateur dAmelie"" He's the director of Amelie."" |
| Eric: And she uses le because she specifies which director she's talking about. |
| Virginie: Yes she defines him as unique. He is the director of Amelie. |
| Eric: He's the only one who made that movie. |
| Virginie: Right. And LE is also used to name concepts and generic categories. |
| Eric: Exactly. Like the concept ""time"" that's also qualified with a LE |
| Virginie: Right, le temps, time. |
| Eric: Or the category ""sport."" |
| Virginie: Le sport. It includes all the sports. |
| Eric: So there's a slight different here where in English, these are mass nouns which we described just as sports or time. In French we use a definite article to talk about them. |
| Virginie: Yes. |
| Eric: So it's like the thing about the sport or the time. |
| Virginie: And finally le can be used to name something that has already been mentioned in a conversation. |
| Eric: Right, so if you want to say, ""Do you remember the museum we went to last week"" you would say LE musee. |
| Virginie: Right, because both of the people involved in the conversation know which museum it is. |
| Eric: Le musee, the museum we saw last week. |
Outro |
| Eric: Great. Okay, that just about does it for today. Thank you very much for joining us today. |
| Virginie: Salut! Have a good day. |
| Eric: Take care, bye. |
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Comments
HideDo you know another French director?
Bonjour SLCSKM,
Merci à toi pour ton gentil commentaire !
Belle journée,
Marion
Team FrenchPod101.com
Merci pour ces grandes leçons !
Hello Munashe,
Thanks for taking the time to post.👍
We're glad to have you here! ❤️
Please let us know if any questions arise throughout your studies.
Sincerely,
Ali
Team FrenchPod101.com
😎😎😎
Bonjour Norah,
Merci pour ton commentaire !
Belle journée,
Marion
Team FrenchPod101.com
Je t'aime bien.
Bonjour Jenny,
C'est dommage, beaucoup sont très doués !
Bonne journée,
Marion
Team FrenchPod101.com
Je ne connais pas de réalisateur français.
Bonjour Lars,
That's a good tip indeed! Most French nouns that end with "e" are usually feminine.
Don't forget to use an article before country names though (first comment): J'habite LA Norvège, j'aime LA France. 😉
Bonne journée
Marion
Team FrenchPod101.com
I heard some tip that the way to know countries masculine and feminine definitions is to see if they end with "E". Usually countries that ends with E is considered feminine. Like
la Norvège
la France
In compared to
le Japon
le Danemark
J'habite Norvege. J'aime France
Bonjour Tyler,
Merci pour ton gentil commentaire !
Bonne journée,
Marion
Team FrenchPod101.com
J’adore cette leçon!
Salut BARBARA J LEE,
Thank you so much for your positive message! 😇❤️️
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
We wish you good luck with your language studies.
Bonne journée,
Levente
Team FrenchPod101.com
I've already listened to nearly 30 lessons while driving to work but am working my way through the lessons while being able to read along. It really is helpful to do it that way. I appreciate how well formatted your lessons are. I understand the grammar rules and conjugations better while visually reading along rather than only listening.
Merci beaucoup!
Bonjour Win,
Merci beaucoup pour votre commentaire ! 🙂
There are many famous French directors.
If you want, you can discover their work by watching French movies. It could also be a very good way to improve your French skills.
Bonne journée,
Tatiana
Team FrenchPod101
Bonjour! Je ne connais pas réalisateurs francais, je connais réalisateurs americains
Bonjour PvpMonster,
Thank you for the comment!
Bonne journée,
Marion
Team FrenchPod101.com
ty
Bonjour Special,
Attention, il faut dire : "je ne connais pas de réalisateur français" OU "je ne connais aucun réalisateur français", ne mélange pas les deux ! ;-)
Bonne journée,
Marion
Team FrenchPod101