Learn how to tell someone what you don't know and what you do know
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| Introduction |
| Virginie: Bonjour à tous! |
| Eric: Bonjour! Eric here. Tame Talking On The Big Bad Telephone in French with these Tips. |
| Virginie: Hi, this is Virginie here. Hi Eric, how are you? |
| Eric: I am doing well. |
| Virginie: What are we going to learn today? |
| Eric: Well, in this lesson, we will learn how to say I don’t know. |
| Virginie: Joy is late to meeting his friend. So he is going to call Frank on his cell phone. |
| Eric: Let’s listen. |
| Dialogue |
| Franck : Allô ? |
| Joe : Bonjour Frank, c'est Joe. |
| Franck : Joe, où es-tu ? |
| Joe : Je sais pas. |
| Franck : On ne te voit pas. |
| Joe : Et je ne vous vois pas. Vous êtes où ? |
| Franck : On est devant le parc. |
| Joe : Euh...devant le parc ? |
| Franck : OK...qu'est-ce que tu vois ? |
| Joe: Je vois un grand panneau "Zara". Et l'Arc de Triomphe. Et un MacDonald. |
| Franck : Je vois où tu es. Tu es sur les Champs-Elysées. Attends là-bas. On arrive. |
| Joe : Merci, désolé. |
| Franck: Pas de problème. Bouge pas ! |
| (Cinq minutes plus tard) |
| Franck : Te voilà ! |
| Joe : Encore désolé. |
| Eric: One more time, a little more slowly. |
| Virginie: Encore une fois, plus lentement. |
| Franck : Allô ? |
| Joe : Bonjour Frank, c'est Joe. |
| Franck : Joe, où es-tu ? |
| Joe : Je sais pas. |
| Franck : On ne te voit pas. |
| Joe : Et je ne vous vois pas. Vous êtes où ? |
| Franck : On est devant le parc. |
| Joe : Euh...devant le parc ? |
| Franck : OK...qu'est-ce que tu vois ? |
| Joe: Je vois un grand panneau "Zara". Et l'Arc de Triomphe. Et un MacDonald. |
| Franck : Je vois où tu es. Tu es sur les Champs-Elysées. Attends là-bas. On arrive. |
| Joe : Merci, désolé. |
| Franck: Pas de problème. Bouge pas ! |
| (Cinq minutes plus tard) |
| Franck : Te voilà ! |
| Joe : Encore désolé. |
| Eric: One more time, with the translation. |
| Virginie: Encore une fois, avec la traduction. |
| Franck : Allô ? |
| Eric: Hello? |
| Joe : Bonjour Frank, c'est Joe. |
| Eric: Hello, Frank, it's Joe. |
| Franck : Joe, où es-tu ? |
| Eric: Joe, where are you? |
| Joe : Je sais pas. |
| Eric: I don't know. |
| Franck : On ne te voit pas. |
| Eric: We don't see you. |
| Joe : Et je ne vous vois pas. Vous êtes où ? |
| Eric: And I don't see you. Where are you guys? |
| Franck : On est devant le parc. |
| Eric: We are in front of the park. |
| Joe : Euh...devant le parc ? |
| Eric: Uh...in front of the park? |
| Franck : OK...qu'est-ce que tu vois ? |
| Eric: Okay...what do you see? |
| Joe: Je vois un grand panneau "Zara". Et l'Arc de Triomphe. Et un MacDonald. |
| Eric: I see a big "Zara" billboard. And the Arc of Triumph. And a McDonald's. |
| Franck : Je vois où tu es. Tu es sur les Champs-Elysées. Attends là-bas. On arrive. |
| Eric: I see where you are. You are on the Champs-Elysées. Wait there. We're coming. |
| Joe : Merci, désolé. |
| Eric: Thank you, sorry. |
| Franck: Pas de problème. Bouge pas ! |
| Eric: No problem. Don't move! |
| Franck : Te voilà ! |
| Eric: There you are! |
| Joe : Encore désolé. |
| Eric: Sorry, again. |
| Post Conversation Banter |
| Virginie: Okay. So if you go to France, you will notice that not a lot of people are talking on their cell phone very loudly in public places. |
| Eric: Really? |
| Virginie: It’s true but people will talk on their cell phones obviously but they try to be quiet and discrete. |
| Eric: It sounds very polite. |
| Virginie: It is very polite. Otherwise, you might be yelled at by someone else, so… |
| Eric: Really? |
| Virginie: Yeah. For example, on the bus, on the train and also and most importantly in restaurants. |
| Eric: Oh yes. |
| Virginie: You know, it’s not very polite to give a call at the restaurant. Well, for example, in France, there is a restaurant that banned cell phones from their main room. People are not allowed to give calls. |
| Eric: Wow, which restaurant is that? Is it a famous restaurant? |
| Virginie: No, it’s not. It’s just a local restaurant somewhere in Paris. |
| Eric: Oh, okay. |
| Virginie: Yeah. So now, you can’t call and you can’t smoke in France. Don’t you think it’s annoying when someone is speaking very loud on his cell phone, you don’t want to hear the conversation really. |
| Eric: It’s true. They sometimes can be speaking like twice the volume of a normal conversation. |
| Virginie: Yes because people have the feeling the other person doesn’t hear them very well. They are on the phone, so. |
| Eric: Exactly. |
| Virginie: You know, that’s just life. Okay. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary. |
| Vocab List |
| Virginie: voir [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to see |
| Virginie: voir [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: voir [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: devant [natural native speed] |
| Eric: in front of |
| Virginie: devant [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: devant [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: un parc [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a park |
| Virginie: un parc [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: un parc [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: grand(e) [natural native speed] |
| Eric: big, large, tall |
| Virginie: grand(e) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: grand(e) [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: un panneau [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a billboard |
| Virginie: un panneau [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: un panneau [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: attendre [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to wait |
| Virginie: attendre [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: attendre [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: là-bas [natural native speed] |
| Eric: there, over there |
| Virginie: là-bas [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: là-bas [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: arriver [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to arrive, to happen |
| Virginie: arriver [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: arriver [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: Allô [natural native speed] |
| Eric: hello (on the phone) |
| Virginie: Allô [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: Allô [natural native speed] |
| Vocab and Phrase Usage |
| Virginie: What are you going to look at today? |
| Eric: Let's start with allo? |
| Virginie: Allo is hello when answering the phone |
| Eric: Is that the only way to answer the phone? |
| Virginie: Yes pretty much. Of course you could say "allo bonjour" but it's really not common. That would be “Hello, good morning.” |
| Eric: So, let's say I'm calling right now no the phone. |
| Virginie: Well, go ahead. |
| Eric: Ok i'm calling you, it's ringing |
| Virginie: OK I'm answering. Allo? |
| Eric: Allo, Virginie? C'est Eric. |
| Virginie: Great. So what Eric just said is "hello, Virginie? It's Eric. |
| Eric: Or you could say, what joe says in the dialogue. |
| Virginie: joe says "Bonjour Frank! C'est Joe! |
| Eric: Ok that's pretty straightforward. |
| Virginie: Now let's see this word devant... |
| Eric: When Joe asks Frank where they are, Frank says "on est devant le parc" |
| Virginie: We are in front of the parc |
| Eric: Pretty straightforward too. |
| Virginie: Yes you probably recognized "on" from our last lesson |
| Eric: That means we |
| Virginie: And remember with on the verb is conjugated like with he and she and it |
| Eric: So it is "on est" |
| Virginie: We are. Then we have devant le parc |
| Eric: And that's in front of the parc |
| Virginie: the new word here is devant. |
| Eric: And that's in front of. |
| Virginie: devant is very easy to use. |
| Eric: Yes you just make it followed by the thing you are in front of. |
| Virginie: Here it's le parc, th epark. |
| Eric: Can we hear the whole sentence once again Virginie? |
| Virginie: Oui bien sur. On est devant le parc. |
| Eric: What if they in front of the movie theatre? |
| Virginie: Then Frank would say: On est devant le cinema. Le cinema is the movie theater in French. |
| Eric: What if I am in front of the movie theatre? |
| Virginie: All by yourself? |
| Eric: Yeah, I go to the movies by myself. |
| Virginie: Then you would say "je suis devant le cinema. |
| Eric: OK, the exact same structure. |
| Virginie: Oui. |
| Eric: To finish with the vocabulary, let's talk about la-bas. |
| Virginie: La-bas is over there, or there |
| Eric: Yes Frank tells Joe, attends la-bas, wait there |
| Virginie: It's an easy to use as well. |
| Eric: Yes for example, I am over there. |
| Virginie: Je suis la-bas! |
| Eric: So what is "here" |
| Virginie: Here is "ici" (spell) |
| Eric: Je suis ici. |
| Virginie: Oui Eric, tu es ici, you;re here. |
| Eric: OK, let's talk about grammar now. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Virginie: In this lesson, we're going to see how to say you know or don't know something. |
| Eric: Let's start with I know. Then we'll look at "I don't know" |
| Virginie: I know in French is "Je sais" |
| Eric: the infinitive to know is "savoir" |
| Virginie: And that's an irregular verb!! |
| Eric: But don't worry. For now you don't need the whole conjugation |
| Virginie: For now, "je sais" is enough. |
| Eric: Now I don't know is je sais with..remember, the verb squeezed between ne and pas |
| Virginie: Je - ne- sais- pas. |
| Eric: Je ne sais pas. A very useful phrase when traveling abroad! |
| Virginie: Oh yes. |
| Eric: Now there is another verb that means to know in French.. |
| Virginie: Yes and it's connaitre |
| Eric: And how do I know whether I should use connaitre or savoir |
| Virginie: It's grammatical. |
| Eric: Great. |
| Virginie: You love grammar, don't you Eric? |
| Eric: I do. so when do I use connaitre |
| Virginie: You will use connaitre when it's followed by a noun or a proper noun |
| Eric: As in "I know this cheese? |
| Virginie: Yes. Je connais ce fromage. |
| Eric: I know this cheese. |
| Virginie: OK that was easy. |
| Eric: And how do I use verb savoir? |
| Virginie: savoir is used when it's followed by a verb, by que, by comment, ... |
| Eric: So basically whenever it's NOT followed by a JUST a noun. |
| Virginie: Exactly. Oui. For example...followed by que |
| Eric: Let's say, I know that you are there |
| Virginie: Je sais que tu es la-bas |
| Eric: Remember "que" is "that" and la-bas is "there" |
| Virginie: Or, followed by a verb, je sais parler francais |
| Eric: I know how to speak French. Literally, I know to speak French. |
| Virginie: If you remember here is that connaitre is the one followed by a noun, then savoir followed by anything else. |
| Eric: Easy!!! |
| Virginie: Ok now before we go. Remember the imperative from the previous lesson |
| Eric: YEs it was with the verb laisser, to let or to leave |
| Virginie: well we have a new imperative verb here. |
| Eric: Yes in the sentence "attends la-bas" |
| Virginie: And that's “wait over there,” or “wait there.” |
| Eric: To wait in French is attendre. |
| Virginie: Yes and to say to your friend "wait", you'll just say attends ! |
| Eric: Very useful if you need to run after your girlfriend. |
| Virginie: Ahah. Attends Julie reviens!!! |
| Eric: OK. But just so you know, we are going to have a lesson about the imperative form in lesson 23. |
Outro |
| Virginie: Yes, I think we're done for this lesson, Eric. |
| Eric: Sounds great! Thank you for listening! |
| Virginie: Thank you all, and have a great day. Bye-bye! |
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