Learn how to ask yes/no questions and wh- questions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Sylvain: Bonjour je m’appelle Sylvain! |
| Céline: Et moi c’est Céline! |
| Sam: Sam here! Why Would You Bring That Here? In this lesson, you’ll learn how to formulate yes/no questions and questions with Qu’est-ce que. |
| Sylvain: The conversation is between Aurélie and Daniel. They are at Daniel’s place where he shows here his uncommon pet. |
| Sam: The speakers know each, therefore, they’ll be speaking informally. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Sweety Aurélie: Qu’est-ce que c’est ? Est-ce que c’est ton animal de compagnie ? |
| Pimple Daniel: Oui, c’est ça ! |
| Sweety Aurélie: Incroyable ! Est-ce qu’il vit dans la baignoire ? |
| Pimple Daniel: Oui, c’est ça ! |
| Sweety Aurélie: C’est une anguille ? |
| Pimple Daniel: Ouais, mon père l’a trouvée. |
| English Host: Now, let’s try that again slowly. |
| Sweety Aurélie: Qu’est-ce que c’est ? Est-ce que c’est ton animal de compagnie ? |
| Pimple Daniel: Oui, c’est ça ! |
| Sweety Aurélie: Incroyable ! Est-ce qu’il vit dans la baignoire? |
| Pimple Daniel: Oui, c’est ça ! |
| Sweety Aurélie: C’est une anguille ? |
| Pimple Daniel: Ouais, mon père l’a trouvée. |
| Sweety Aurélie: Qu’est-ce que c’est ? Est-ce que c’est ton animal de compagnie? What is it? Is that your pet?” |
| Pimple Daniel: Oui, c’est ça! “Yes, it is!” |
| Sweety Aurélie: Incroyable ! Est-ce qu’il vit dans la baignoire? “Incredible! Does he live in the bathtub?” |
| Pimple Daniel: Oui, c’est ça! “Yes, it is.” |
| Sweety Aurélie: C’est une anguille? “Is this an eel?” |
| Pimple Daniel: Ouais, mon père l’a trouvée. “Yeah, my father found it.” |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Céline: So the most common pet in France is dog, right? |
| Sylvain: For sure. And cat. |
| Céline: And fish. |
| Sylvain: Fish? |
| Sam: Yes. Dogs, cat, and fish. |
| Céline: Dogs, cats, and fish. Yeah. |
| Sam: Easy pets to take care of. |
| Céline: Exactement. C’est vrai. |
| Sam: You said dogs are a popular pet in France. What kind of dog? |
| Sylvain: caniche non? |
| Céline: Ah les caniches! |
| Sam: Is a caniche big or small? |
| Céline: Oh, really small. |
| Sylvain: But there is the Royal Canin... |
| Céline: Ah non! |
| Sylvain: C’est pas grave… |
| Céline: Teckel? |
| Sylvain: Non non non tu sais le caniche royal... |
| Céline: Chihuahua? |
| Sylvain: un caniche royal… |
| Sam: A Chihuahua? Oh, a Chihuahua. They’re really small. |
| Céline: Yes. They’re cute. Also rabbits sometimes. But we usually eat rabbit. |
| Sam: Yeah, yeah. It taste like chicken. |
| Céline: Oh, no, better than chicken. |
| Sylvain: better than chicken. |
| Sam: I had a rabbit a few years back, it tastes like chicken to me. Are there any unusual pets? |
| Sylvain: Y a pas de crocodiles, trop, à Paris. |
| Céline: Snakes, maybe. |
| Sam: Snakes aren’t so unusual, are they? |
| Sylvain: des araignées aussi. |
| Céline: For me, yes? |
| Sam: Why? |
| Céline: Can you just stop asking why? |
| Sam: No. I don’t always ask. |
| Céline: And I’m sure that you don’t mean it. I mean, you just say why to say something. |
| Sam: But I really mean it this time. Why? |
| Céline: I don’t know. |
| Sam: Snakes are easy to take care of. Some of them are friendly. |
| Céline: Do you have a pet? |
| Sam: no I don’t. |
| Sylvain: Me, too, I don’t. |
| Céline: How do you say “pet” in French, Sylvain? |
| Sylvain: Euh… Animal de compagnie? |
| Céline: Exactement. Animal de compagnie. |
| Sam: Like an animal of companionship? |
| Céline: Yeah. |
| Sam: That’s nice translation. |
| Sylvain: Animal of companionship. |
| Sam: You know, some people have unusual pets. |
| Céline: Like what? |
| Sam: A bear. |
| Sylvain: That’s not a pet; that’s a danger. |
| Céline: That’s not a pet. |
| Sam: Really? |
| Céline: Ben bien sûr que non. |
| Sam: I have a bear. |
| Céline: Okay. That’s terrible joke. |
| Sylvain: I think there’s some… |
| Céline: Teddy bear, right? |
| Sam: Maybe. |
| Céline: I’m sorry. Ok, It was joke. Okay, let’s laugh. |
| Sylvain: Riez, c’est un ami. Bon. |
| Sam: a Teddy Bear. |
| Céline: He’s just laughing as a friend. |
| Sylvain: That’s cute joke also. |
| Céline: In this conversation, the pet was eel. |
| Sam: An eel? |
| Céline: Uh-hmm. |
| Sam: Eel is tasty. |
| Céline: Really tasty. I love it. |
| Sylvain: with shoyu sauce yeah. |
| Céline: so be careful. It’s anguille. |
| Sylvain: Anguille. |
| Céline: Anguille. An! |
| Sam: An? |
| Céline: guille. |
| Sam: guille. |
| Céline: Uh-uh. Une Anguille. |
| Sam: Anguille. |
| Sylvain: Une anguille. |
| Sam: Une anguille? |
| Céline: une anguille. |
| Sam: Une anguille. I still have a strong Delaware accent. |
| Sylvain: A Delaware thing. |
| Céline: It’s fine, don’t worry. |
| Sam: In the story, Daniel had a pet eel but the pet eel lived in the bathtub. Now if it lives in bathtub, how does he take a bath? |
| Céline: With the eel. |
| Sylvain: With eel. Or he doesn’t have lots of friends because he doesn’t take a bath for weeks. |
| Sam: Oh, no. |
| Céline: Oh, no. Or maybe he has two bathrooms. |
| Sam: Or maybe he has a bathroom and a half. |
| Céline: What is a half? |
| Sam: You have a bathroom on the toilet. |
| Sylvain: You take the bath in the toilet? |
| Sam: No. He could put the eel in the sink and he could use the bathtub and he had a bathroom. |
| Céline: But maybe he takes bath with the eel. |
| Sam: Maybe. |
| Céline: But I don’t want to picture that. |
| Sylvain: What are you thinking about? |
| Céline: Nothing. |
| Sylvain: Sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry. |
| Céline: So Sam? |
| Sam: Let’s take a look at some vocabulary words and phrases. Our first item is… |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Sylvain: Qu'est-ce que c'est ? [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: What is it? |
| Sylvain: Qu'est-ce que c'est ? [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Qu'est-ce que c'est ? [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Next. |
| Céline: Est-ce que c'est? [natural native speed] |
| Sam: Is it? |
| Céline: Est-ce que c'est? [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Est-ce que c'est? [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Next… |
| Sylvain: C'est ça. [natural native speed] |
| Sam: That's it |
| Sylvain: C'est ça. [slowly - broken down by syllable]. C'est ça. [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Next… |
| Céline: Incroyable [natural native speed] |
| Sam: Incredible. |
| Céline: Incroyable [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Incroyable [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Next… |
| Sylvain: Dans [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: In. |
| Sylvain : Dans [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Dans [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Next… |
| Sylvain: Baignoire [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Bathtub |
| Sylvain: Baignoire [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Baignoire [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Next… |
| Sylvain: ouais. |
| Sam: Yeah. |
| Sylvain: ouais. [slowly - broken down by syllable] ouais. [natural native speed] |
| Sam: Next. |
| Sylvain: Père [natural native speed] |
| Sam: Father |
| Sylvain : Père [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Père [natural native speed]. |
| Sam: Next… |
| Sylvain: Trouver [natural native speed] |
| Sam: Found. |
| Sylvain: Trouver [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Trouver [natural native speed]. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Sylvain: Time to explain your grammaire point. |
| Céline: Asking questions in French. |
| Sam: Didn’t we mention them in the previous lesson? |
| Céline: Tu as raison Sam. You’re right. But today, we are going to tell you how to form them. |
| Sam: Great. So if I remember well, there are two categories. |
| Sylvain: yes, les questions ouvertes et les questions fermées. |
| Sam: Open and closed questions. |
| Céline: The closed ones can only be answered with “yes” or “no”. |
| Sam: For example, Sylvain? |
| Sylvain: Est-ce que tu es prêt? |
| Céline: Are you ready? |
| Sylvain: The start is with “est-ce que”, but they are two other ways to formulate them. |
| Sam: I’ll use the same question. Are you ready? Tu es prêt? Es-tu prêt?. Let’s see these structures in action. For example, in French there are two ways to ask “are you ready?” Tu es prêt? or Es-tu prêt?. You see two different structures in these two different examples. Now, let’s clearly illustrate how they’re used. Are you ready? |
| Céline: Tu es prêt Sylvain? |
| Sylvain: Toujours! |
| Sam: Are you ready? Always! |
| Céline: Es-tu prêt Sam? |
| Sam: Oui bien sûr. |
| Sylvain: Tu es prêt, Céline? |
| Céline: Non je ne suis pas prêt, je suis prête! |
| Sylvain: aïe aïe aïe aïe, jolie faute! |
| Sam: Okay. But hey, guys, maybe we can get into that later, but I think our focus now is “tu es” or “es-tu”, the two different structures. |
| Céline: Exactly. And est-ce que is optional. |
| Sam: Oh, wow! I was just about to ask that question. |
| Céline: Oh pardon excuse-moi. |
| Sam: That’s okay. |
| Sylvain: Sam, did you notice something about the sentence “Es-tu prêt”? |
| Sam: So that sentence was interesting because the pronoun followed the verb conjugation. I believe that’s called inversion, right guys? |
| Sylvain: inversement. |
| Céline: Exactement. |
| Sam: In the normal sentence, we would have subject-verb but in this sentence, they’re reversed. You have verb conjugation and subject. |
| Sylvain: That’s right. |
| Céline: Parfait. |
| Sylvain: Oh, thank you. |
| Sam: Next lesson, we’ll study its various forms corresponding to the language formality. |
| Céline: D’accord. |
| Sam: Okay. |
| Céline: Sam est-ce que tu as faim? |
| Sam: oui j’ai faim! |
| Sylvain: moi aussi. |
| Céline: Tu as faim? |
| Sylvain: ah toujours. |
| Céline: Okay. On va manger? |
| Sam: Mais nous devons travailler premièrement. We have to work first. |
| Céline: Okay. |
| Sylvain: No. |
| Sam: We can eat later. |
| Céline: D’accord. |
Outro |
| Sam: That’s it for today’s lesson. Thank you. See you. Bye-bye. |
| Céline: Merci, au revoir! |
| Sylvain: A bientôt! |
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