Learn how to use the proper French word order to construct sentences and how to ask about the time and locations of all the events you'll need to (and will want to) attend in France
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| Introduction |
| Virginie: Bonjour à tous! |
| Eric: Eric here. Making The Most of Your Time in France. |
| Virginie: Hi, this is Virginie and I am here with Eric. How are you, Eric? |
| Eric: Very good, how are you? |
| Virginie: I am good. Thank you. So what are we going to see today? |
| Eric: In this lesson, we are going to be looking at how to say when things happen… |
| Virginie: Yes. |
| Eric: And where they happen? |
| Virginie: Yes. So Joe is with the manager, Madame Fonta and her assistant is giving him his schedule for the day. |
| Eric: Here is the long list of activities for the day. Let’s have a listen. |
| Dialogue |
| Directrice : Voici ma secrétaire, Mme Vannet. Elle a le planning d'aujourd'hui. |
| Assistante de direction : Bonjour. Je suis Valérie. Enchantée. |
| Joe : Enchanté. |
| Assistante de direction : Voilà le planning d'aujourd'hui - Vendredi 6 juin. Vous avez un meeting avec Mme Laforge de Paris Communication aux Champs-Elysées à 10h. À midi, vous déjeunez au Fouquet's avec Mme Gontran de Elle. Après ça vous avez une réunion avec M. Georges au siège de Canal Plus. Ensuite, vous allez visiter l'usine Confection Etoile. Enfin, vous avez le dîner de l'entreprise à l'Avenue à 20H30. |
| Joe : Ouh là là, c'est ce que j'appelle une journée chargée. |
| Directrice : Et elle commence dès maintenant. |
| Eric: One more time, a little more slowly. |
| Virginie: Encore une fois, plus lentement. |
| Directrice : Voici ma secrétaire, Mme Vannet. Elle a le planning d'aujourd'hui. |
| Assistante de direction : Bonjour. Je suis Valérie. Enchantée. |
| Joe : Enchanté. |
| Assistante de direction : Voilà le planning d'aujourd'hui - Vendredi 6 juin. Vous avez un meeting avec Mme Laforge de Paris Communication aux Champs-Elysées à 10h. À midi, vous déjeunez au Fouquet's avec Mme Gontran de Elle. Après ça vous avez une réunion avec M. Georges au siège de Canal Plus. Ensuite, vous allez visiter l'usine Confection Etoile. Enfin, vous avez le dîner de l'entreprise à l'Avenue à 20H30. |
| Joe : Ouh là là, c'est ce que j'appelle une journée chargée. |
| Directrice : Et elle commence dès maintenant. |
| Eric: One more time, with the translation. |
| Virginie: Encore une fois, avec la traduction. |
| Directrice : Voici ma secrétaire, Mme Vannet. Elle a le planning d'aujourd'hui. |
| Eric: This is my secretary, Mrs. Vannet. She has today's schedule. |
| Assistante de direction : Bonjour. Je suis Valérie. Enchantée. |
| Eric: Hello. I am Valerie. Nice to meet you. |
| Joe : Enchanté. |
| Eric: Nice to meet you. |
| Assistante de direction : Voilà le planning d'aujourd'hui - Vendredi 6 juin. Vous avez un meeting avec Mme Laforge de Paris Communication aux Champs-Elysées à 10h. À midi, vous déjeunez au Fouquet's avec Mme Gontran de Elle. Après ça vous avez une réunion avec M. Georges au siège de Canal Plus. Ensuite, vous allez visiter l'usine Confection Etoile. Enfin, vous avez le dîner de l'entreprise à l'Avenue à 20H30. |
| Eric: Here's today's schedule - Friday, June the sixth. You have a meeting with Mrs. Laforge of Paris Communication at the Champs-Elysées at ten o'clock. At noon, you have lunch at Fouquet's with Mrs. Gontran of Elle. After that, you will meet Mr. Georges at Canal Plus headquarters. Then, you will visit the Star Confection factory. Finally, you have the company dinner at L'Avenue at eight-thirty in the evening. |
| Joe : Ouh là là, c'est ce que j'appelle une journée chargée. |
| Eric: Wow, that is what I call a busy day. |
| Directrice : Et elle commence dès maintenant. |
| Eric: And it starts right now. |
| Post Conversation Banter |
| Virginie: So it looks like they are going to many places. They are going to Canal Plus. |
| Eric: That is a big company in France, right? |
| Virginie: Yes it is and it’s a TV channel. It’s a private TV channel. It’s not public. |
| Eric: Okay. So it’s sort of like cable or HBO, something like that? |
| Virginie: Uhoo yeah and they have several channels. They have Canal pour movies, Canal pour famille, Canal pour sports. |
| Eric: Wow! |
| Virginie: Yeah. |
| Eric: They make their own movies as well like they will finance films too. |
| Virginie: Yeah. They have – they have studios and they have – they are also a production company. They have good movies. |
| Eric: I’ve heard also in general making movies in France is often paid for by the state. If you are a young movie director, you may get some money from the government to make a film. |
| Virginie: Yes, absolutely. The government gives you money if you write grants, if you ask for it. Yeah, it’s a good system. |
| Eric: I guess that’s why there are so many French movies that come out these days. |
| Virginie: Yes, exactly. |
| Eric: Okay. Well. let’s take a look at the vocabulary. |
| Vocabulary and Phrases |
| Virginie: un/e secrétaire [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a secretary |
| Virginie: un/e secrétaire [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: un/e secrétaire [natural native speed]: Next: |
| Virginie: aujourd'hui [natural native speed] |
| Eric: today |
| Virginie: aujourd'hui [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: aujourd'hui [natural native speed]: Next: |
| Virginie: un planning [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a schedule |
| Virginie: un planning [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: un planning [natural native speed]: Next: |
| Virginie: une réunion [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a meeting |
| Virginie: une réunion [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: une réunion [natural native speed]: Next: |
| Virginie: dix heures [natural native speed] |
| Eric: ten o'clock |
| Virginie: dix heures [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: dix heures [natural native speed]: Next: |
| Virginie: à [natural native speed] |
| Eric: at or to |
| Virginie: à [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: à [natural native speed]: Next: |
| Virginie: midi [natural native speed] |
| Eric: noon |
| Virginie: midi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: midi [natural native speed]: Next: |
| Virginie: manger [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to eat |
| Virginie: manger [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: manger [natural native speed]: Next: |
| Virginie: un déjeuner [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a lunch |
| Virginie: un déjeuner [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: un déjeuner [natural native speed]: Next: |
| Virginie: avec [natural native speed] |
| Eric: with |
| Virginie: avec [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: avec [natural native speed]: Next: |
| Virginie: visiter [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to visit |
| Virginie: visiter [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: visiter [natural native speed]: Next: |
| Virginie: ensuite [natural native speed] |
| Eric: then |
| Virginie: ensuite [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: ensuite [natural native speed]: Next: |
| Virginie: une usine [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a factory |
| Virginie: une usine [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: une usine [natural native speed]: Next: |
| Virginie: vingt heures trente 20h30 [natural native speed] |
| Eric: 8:30 pm |
| Virginie: vingt heures trente 20h30 [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: vingt heures trente 20h30 [natural native speed]: Next: |
| Virginie: une entreprise [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a company, an enterprise |
| Virginie: une entreprise [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: une entreprise [natural native speed]: Next: |
| Virginie: maintenant [natural native speed] |
| Eric: now |
| Virginie: maintenant [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: maintenant [natural native speed] |
| Vocabulary and Phrase Usage |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Virginie: The first word/phrase we’ll look at is.... |
| Eric: I think the word "planning" is funny. Sounds English |
| Virginie: Yeah that's one of the multiple English sounding words in the French language |
| Eric: And planning means schedule, right? |
| Virginie: Yes and really that makes sense. to plan, to schedule.Un planning. don't forget the rough French accent. |
| Eric: What else do we have here? |
| virginie: Oh there's another English word here. un meeting |
| Eric: And that's a meeting? |
| Virginie: Bah oui. |
| Eric: OK. But you have the word une reunion too to say a meeting? |
| Virginie: Yes, but we got the English from the business English influence. so we say both. |
| Eric: And a meeting can also be a conference, right? |
| Virginie: Yes, for example, a political meeting with your supporters. |
| Eric: Sarkozy has a lot of meetings. |
| Virginie: Oui, Sarkozy a beaucoup de meetings. |
| Eric: This lesson doesn't have any phrases. So let's take a look at some other words. |
| Virginie: What about the word "maintenant"? That's a common word to use. |
| Eric: Yes and maintenant is "now.” |
| Virginie: c'est maintenant ou jamais!!! |
| Eric: It's now or never? What are you talking about, Virginie? |
| Virginie: I don't know I was just thinking out loud. (singing) It's now or never... |
| Eric: OK. What about after? |
| Virginie: Apres. |
| Eric: There you go, after in French is apres. |
| Virginie: So remember, maintenant is "now;” and apres is “after or afterward.” |
| Eric: And jamais is “never” |
| Virginie: So if you want to say “It’s not or never,” you’ll say c'est maintenant ou jamais. |
| Eric: So I noticed the secretary in the dialogue actually says all these little adverbs. |
| Virginie: she also says "ensuite", |
| Eric: And that's then. |
| Virginie: She says "ensuite vous allez visiter etc" |
| Eric: Yes, ensuite can be placed either at the beginning or at the end of the sentence. |
| Virginie: You can say, ensuite, on mange. Then, we eat. Or, on mange, ensuite. We eat, then. |
| Eric: OK time out. Grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Virginie: So our focus in this lesson is for you to outline a schedule. |
| Eric: Right, how to say what you will do, at what time, and with who. |
| Virginie: In our dialogue, The secretary, Madame Vannet, she uses several ways to give Joe his planning. |
| Eric: Let's start with the first way. Vous avez un meeting avec Mme Laforge de Paris Communication aux Champs-Elysées à 10h. |
| Virginie: Right, that’s a long sentence. What does it mean? |
| Eric: It means "You have a meeting with Mrs. Laforge of Paris Communication at the Champs-Elysées at ten o'clock." |
| Virginie: Let's take a look at the first chunk. |
| Eric: In the first part she tells him what they are going to do. |
| Virginie: Yes, she says Vous avez un meeting, "you have a meeting” |
| Eric: Right, she’s kinda outlining the activity. |
| Virginie: And then, she says with whom they're going to have a meeting. |
| Eric: And there she’s gonna use the little word avec, “with.” |
| Virginie: So she said Vous avez un meeting avec Mme Laforge. |
| Eric: Add another preposition is coming in, de, “of” Paris Communication. The company of Paris Communication. |
| Virginie: Right and the last chunk is where they're gonna have the meeting. |
| Eric: Aux Champs-Elysées, the street or location |
| Virginie: On the Champs-Elysées. |
| Eric: And then finally, the time |
| Virginie: à 10h. |
| Eric: at ten o'clock. What’s the next part of the schedule, then? |
| Virginie: Then she says, "À midi, vous déjeunez au Fouquet's avec Mme Gontran de Elle" |
| Eric: and that's "At noon, you have lunch at Fouquet's with Mrs. Gontran of Elle" |
| Virginie: So she starts this time, with the time. She says, "À midi.” |
| Eric: So the time, that’s "at noon,” that can you go at the beginning or the end of the sentence, really doesn't matter. |
| Virginie: Yes, it doesn't matter, and did you notice, Eric, how to say at what time things happen? She just says the preposition à, and then she says the time; à 10h, at 10, and then à midi, at noon. Okay, let's go ahead and look at the rest of the sentence. |
| Eric: Vous déjeunez au Fouquet's, she says, you’re eating lunch at, the name of the restaurant, which is Fouquet’s, in this case. And she’s putting the preposition au for Fouquet’s. |
| Virginie: Yes, so she says, vous déjeunez au Fouquet's, you’re having lunch at Fouquet's. Notice that déjeuner is a verb, and that means !to have lunch”, déjeuner. |
| Eric: And you’ll see our friend, avec, again; avec Mme Gontran, with Ms. Gontran. Of Elle, de elle. |
| Virginie: de elle, so again, of is de here, just like in the last sentence. So in French, when you outline a schedule you can structure your sentence pretty much anywhere you want. |
| Eric: Exact we just wanted to show you, highlight the prepositions you’ll be using, such as avec “with,” the person you’ll be meeting, or meeting with. À, which can be, at which location you’ll be meeting, or at which location you’ll be talking to someone. And finally, the time, which also gonna take à, à midi, or à 10h, at 10 o’clock. |
| Virginie: Yes, exactly! Okay, I think that's it for our grammar point today. |
Outro |
| Eric: Ok, thanks for listening! |
| Virginie: Thank you! Merci ! |
| Eric: Au revoir! |
| Virginie: Au revoir! |
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