Learn the many uses of the French pronoun on (let's, we, you, they, someone, everyone)
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Sam: Who Will You Be Lucky Enough to Tour The French Countryside With? In this lesson, you’ll learn how to greet people. |
| Celine: The conversation is between Emile and Julie during the day. |
| Sam: The speakers are friends, therefore, they’ll be using informal French. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Tranquil Emile: Au fait, qu’est-ce que tu fais ce week-end ? |
| Pretty Julie: Heu, je ne sais pas. |
| Tranquil Emile: On peut faire la virée farfelue en 2CV à Paris. |
| Pretty Julie: Si tu veux. |
| Tranquil Emile: On se retrouve à huit heures place Vendôme. |
| Pretty Julie: D’accord ! |
| Sam: One more time, slowly. |
| Tranquil Emile: Au fait, qu’est-ce que tu fais ce week-end? |
| Pretty Julie: Heu, je ne sais pas. |
| Tranquil Emile: On peut faire la virée farfelue en 2CV à Paris. |
| Pretty Julie: Si tu veux. |
| Tranquil Emile: On se retrouve à huit heures place Vendôme. |
| Pretty Julie: D’accord! |
| Sam: Now with the English. |
| Tranquil Emile: Au fait, qu’est-ce que tu fais ce week-end ? |
| Sam: By the way, what are you doing on Friday? |
| Pretty Julie: Heu, je ne sais pas. |
| Sam: Hmmm, I don’t know. |
| Tranquil Emile: On peut faire la virée farfelue en 2CV à Paris. |
| Sam: We can go on a 2CV drive in Paris. |
| Pretty Julie: Si tu veux. |
| Sam: If you want. |
| Tranquil Emile: On se retrouve à huit heures place Vendôme. |
| Sam: Let’s meet at 8PM in the Vendôme square. |
| Pretty Julie: D’accord ! |
| Sam: Okay! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Sam: So you mentioned 2CV earlier. Is that a small car? |
| Celine: Yeah. It’s a small and old car, very famous in France. |
| Sam: And maybe it’s very cheap to fill the gas tank, right? |
| Celine: Yes. But I think people that don’t use this car anymore… |
| Sam: Maybe for American listeners remember the Pinto. It’s like a small car, maybe $5 to fill the gas tank. |
| Celine: Yeah, yeah. But yeah, it’s really French. Yeah. It’s so French. It was popular before. |
| Sam: Did you drive one in high school? |
| Celine: No. It’s older than me. I mean, I’ve never had a deux chevaux. |
| Sam: Or maybe they are still on the road or whatever and they still have… |
| Celine: Yes, but you hardly ever see one. |
| Sam: Oh, really? |
| Celine: Yeah. |
| Sam: Oh. |
| Celine: Some deux chevaux are collection cars. |
| Sam: Oh. |
| Celine: Yes. |
| Sam: That sounds like a good idea. Maybe I’ll buy a 2CV. |
| Celine: Deux chevaux? |
| Sam: Yeah. |
| Celine: Okay. Maybe. I think you should go to France. |
| Sam: Oh. |
| Celine: But we also have Renault. |
| Sam: Renault? |
| Celine: Renault. Famous, right? |
| Sam: Oh, yeah. I know. |
| Celine: Renault. Peugeot. |
| Sam: That’s French? I thought it was a British car. |
| Celine: Mon Dieu quel… |
| Sam: Oh. |
| Celine: But we like German cars now. French people, they like German cars. |
| Sam: They don’t like American cars like the Ford or Chevrolet? |
| Celine: No. We don’t have Chevrolet. |
| Sam: Why? |
| Celine: Because we like European or Japanese cars. |
| Sam: Oh. But you don’t like American car. |
| Celine: No, we don’t. |
| Sam: They’re good. |
| Celine: No, we don’t like. Okay. Let’s look at the vocab for this lesson. |
| Sam: Okay, since we’re both very driven people. Sorry, that was a bad joke. Driven. Drive. Okay. First item is… |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Celine: Deux chevaux . |
| Sam: Two horse power. |
| Celine: Deux chevaux [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Deux chevaux [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Next… |
| Celine: Se retrouver [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: To meet. |
| Celine: Se retrouver [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Se retrouver [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Next..: |
| Celine: Farfelu [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Eccentric. |
| Celine: Farfelu [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Farfelu [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Next… |
| Celine: Virée [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Drive, ride, go out for fun. |
| Celine: Virée [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Virée [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Next… |
| Celine: Savoir [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: To know. |
| Celine: Savoir [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Savoir [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Next… |
| Celine: D'accord [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Okay. Agree. |
| Celine: D'accord [slowly - broken down by syllable]. D'accord [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Next… |
| Celine: Si tu veux. [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: If you want. |
| Celine: Si tu veux. [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Si tu veux. [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Next… |
| Celine: Je ne sais pas. [natural native speed] |
| Sam: I don't know. |
| Celine: Je ne sais pas. [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Je ne sais pas. [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: The next phrase is… |
| Celine: Au fait. |
| Sam: By the way. |
| Celine: Au fait. Au fait. |
| Sam: So now let’s start our vocabulary and phrase usage section. |
| Celine: Bonne idée. Let’s begin with the expression “au fait.” |
| Sam: What does it mean? |
| Celine: It is “by the way”. It is commonly said to change subject or start a topic out of the blue. Au fait Sam. |
| Sam: “By the way… |
| Celine: Je vais au cinéma demain soir. |
| Sam: …I’m going to the cinema tomorrow night.” Can I come? |
| Celine: Bien sûr. |
| Sam: What is the next word? |
| Celine: Ah bravo Sam. Next word is virée. It is a feminine noun. Three words come to my mind: fun, friends, and free. |
| Sam: Oh, I like that. What is it? |
| Celine: It’s a short trip to have fun. It can also be bar hopping or to the park or anyway but not too far from where you live. |
| Sam: For example? |
| Celine: For example, if I want to go shopping with my friend, I call them and I say “on va faire une virée shopping?”. |
| Sam: Let’s go shopping. |
| Celine: Voilà. |
| Sam: For fun, of course. |
| Celine: Always for fun. |
| Sam: Of course, especially when you’re using the credit card. |
| Celine: Oui. Faire une virée à la campagne. |
| Sam: Let’s go to the country side. |
| Celine: Oui. |
| Sam: Now? |
| Celine: Yes, now. No, after the lesson. |
| Sam: Okay. Okay. |
| Celine: Okay. Next word is farfelu. |
| Sam: It’s an adjective. |
| Celine: It’s an adjective, farfelu. Maybe it’s hard to pronounce. |
| Sam: Farfelu. |
| Celine: Farfelu. |
| Sam: Farfelu. |
| Celine: No. It’s really difficult. Sam, you should practice. You should go to the premium learning center and you will find the vocab list with all the words in this lesson with their accompanying audio files. |
| Sam: Okay. I’ll go to FrenchPod101.com and I’ll try those lovely materials we have to practice my pronunciation and listening. But how about our next phrase, on se retrouve? |
| Celine: Yes. But do you know what farfelu means? |
| Sam: It means “eccentric” or “original”? |
| Celine: oui c’est ça. |
| Sam: Can a person be farfelu? |
| Celine: Yes. It could be your goofy cousin or uncle as there is at least one in each family. |
| Sam: Yeah. I’ll have to agree with you there. |
| Celine: How about the next phrase, |
| Sam: How about the next phrase, “on se retrouve”? |
| Celine: This is a verb with a reciprocal action. The two or more subjects are acting on each other. Here, they are getting together and, therefore, meeting each other. |
| Sam: Oh, I see. It’s part of the phenomenal verbs. |
| Celine: oui parfaitement. |
| Sam: The pronoun on, how does it work? You took the words right out of my mouth. |
| Celine: on is the informal “we” or people in general. It is the third person singular and as such, requires the same verb as the singular il and elle. |
| Sam: Great! I understand perfectly now. |
| Celine: bravo. |
| Sam: So, shall we move on to the grammar? |
| Celine: oui. |
| Sam: Okay. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Celine: So Sam, today, we are talking about the verbs vouloir and pouvoir. |
| Sam: Okay. Can you tell me more? |
| Celine: First of all, I have to say that they are really common. Vouloir means “to want” and pouvoir means “can.” |
| Sam: Okay. Sounds good. |
| Celine: So both verbs are semi-auxiliaries because they can be used in conjunction with other verbs. |
| Sam: Can you give us some examples, please? |
| Celine: Yes. But before giving you examples, we talked about the verb vouloir and pouvoir. Vouloir expresses a strong desire. Je veux. |
| Sam: “I want.” |
| Celine: Pouvoir expresses the ability. Je peux peindre. |
| Sam: “I can paint.” |
| Celine: Or the possibility, je peux t’aider. |
| Sam: “I can”… |
| Celine: …help you. |
| Sam: “I can help you.” |
| Celine: You don’t want my help. |
| Sam: Maybe. |
| Celine: So in the dialogue, Emile says on peut faire la virée farfelue en 2CV à Paris. |
| Sam: “Can we take a drive in the countryside?” Or in English we would say, “Can we go for a drive in the countryside”? But the direct translation is “Can we take a drive in the countryside?” |
| Celine: Tout à fait Sam. Now with vouloir. |
| Sam: Okay. |
| Celine: So Julie said si tu veux. |
| Sam: “If you want.” |
| Celine: Voilà. |
| Sam: So for example, you know vouloir means “to want” or “to have a strong desire.” For example, another verb manger means “to eat”, if you wanted to eat ice cream, you would say je veux manger la glace. |
| Celine: Je veux manger une glace. |
| Sam: “I want to eat some ice cream.” Je veux manger une glace. |
| Celine:Tout à fait. So the phrases is expressing a strong desire. |
| Sam: Just remember, it’s “I want” and then something behind that. |
| Celine: Exactement, un semi-auxiliaire. |
| Sam: Yes. For the other conjugations, check out the PDF at FrenchPod101.com. |
| Celine: But I have to say something else. |
| Sam: Okay. |
| Celine: vouloir is also used in the expression je veux bien “to be willing”. |
| Sam: Okay. So for example, if I asked you, Celine, est-ce que tu peux...? |
| Celine: Tu veux… vouloir, we are still with vouloir. |
| Sam: Vouloir. |
| Celine: Est-ce que tu veux. But remember, je veux means “I want.” right? It’s not so polite. You should use je voudrais. |
| Sam: Je voudrais. |
| Celine: Voilà! Okay. You remember, that’s good. Je voudrais. |
| Sam: “I would like.” |
| Celine: “I would like.” It’s always better. |
| Sam: Yes. It’s more polite than saying “I want”. Same as in English. |
| Celine: I think so. Now with pouvoir. |
| Sam: “To be able to.” |
| Celine: Par exemple, question, qu’est-ce que tu peux faire? |
| Sam: “What can I do?” Je peux… je peux enseigner. |
| Celine: Ah tu peux enseigner? Ah mais c’est parce que tu es professeur. |
| Sam: Peut-être? |
| Celine: Ah, you’re a teacher. Okay. So this is an ability. And also, another example with the possibility, je peux t’aider à apprendre le français. |
| Sam: “I can help you learn French.” |
| Celine: Tout à fait. |
| Sam: Great! Let’s start! We already started. Okay. |
| Celine: Yes. And this is not the end. With pouvoir, it can also express permission. For example, Sam, je peux partir. |
| Sam: “Can I leave?” Okay. |
| Celine: Okay, but not yet. Right. |
| Sam: Yeah. We have to finish the lesson. |
| Celine: Yes. I think so. |
| Sam: Of course. So as you remember maybe from your French lesson, pouvoir and vouloir had the same conjugation, okay? Remember, je, tu, il, elle and the plural of il and elle have the same first three letters and the nous form and vous have the same first two letters. It’s like a boot. So, when you’re conjugating the verbs, take your pencil and make a boots but leave the nous form and vous form. If this is too difficult, just check out the PDF and you have the conjugations there. |
| Celine: Bravo Sam. Okay. C’est un bon moyen mémo-technique. |
Outro |
| Sam: I think that’s a good place to end it. |
| Celine: Yeah, I think so. |
| Sam: Okay. So for all you listeners. |
| Celine: Okay. You were... I think so. Yes. |
| Sam: Come one. Verbs are exciting and fun! |
| Celine: Non, non. I don’t like grammar. |
| Sam: I love grammar and I’m sure our listeners do too. |
| Celine: Okay. |
| Sam: Until next time. |
| Celine: Merci Sam. |
| Sam: Thank you. Bye-bye. |
| Celine: A bientôt. |
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