Learn how to state what you need and want
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| Introduction |
| Virginie: Bonjour tout le monde! Hello. |
| Eric: Hello, Bonjour! Eric here. You Paid What? The Best Places To Shop in France. |
| Virginie: Hi, Virginie here. I am with Eric. |
| Eric: Virginie, how are you today? |
| Virginie: I am good Eric. How are you? |
| Eric: I am great. |
| Virginie: Okay good. So what are we going to see in this lesson? |
| Eric: Well, in this lesson, we are going to be learning how to say more and less. |
| Virginie: And by the end of this lesson, you will also be able to say what you want. |
| Eric: Joe is going to be heading to the market to do a little bit of shopping for some good local food. |
| Virginie: So he goes to an open-air market. |
| Eric: So let’s have a listen to the dialogue. |
| Dialogue |
| Vendeur 1 : Le beau poisson ! Qui veut mon poisson ? |
| Vendeur 2 : Elle est belle, la salade, elle est belle !!! |
| Joe : Excusez-moi, qu'est-ce que c'est, ça ? |
| Vendeur 1 : Du lapin à la moutarde. |
| Joe : Qu'est-ce qu'il y a dedans ? |
| Vendeur 1 : Du lapin, de la moutarde, et de la crème fraîche. |
| Joe : Combien ça coûte ? |
| Vendeur 1 : Cinq euros la pièce, quinze euros les cinq. |
| Joe : Et ça, qu'est-ce que c'est ? |
| Vendeur 1 : Des blocs de chèvres. Trois euros la pièce. |
| Joe : Je vais prendre un de chaque. |
| Vendeur 1 : Voilà, ça fait huit euros. |
| Joe : Voilà cinq cent euros. |
| Vendeur 1 : Vous avez un billet plus petit ? |
| Joe : Non, désolé. |
| Vendeur 1 : Voilà votre monnaie. |
| Joe : Merci. |
| Eric: One more time, a little more slowly. |
| Virginie: Encore une fois, plus lentement. |
| Vendeur 1 : Le beau poisson ! Qui veut mon poisson ? |
| Vendeur 2 : Elle est belle, la salade, elle est belle !!! |
| Joe : Excusez-moi, qu'est-ce que c'est, ça ? |
| Vendeur 1 : Du lapin à la moutarde. |
| Joe : Qu'est-ce qu'il y a dedans ? |
| Vendeur 1 : Du lapin, de la moutarde, et de la crème fraîche. |
| Joe : Combien ça coûte ? |
| Vendeur 1 : Cinq euros la pièce, quinze euros les cinq. |
| Joe : Et ça, qu'est-ce que c'est ? |
| Vendeur 1 : Des blocs de chèvres. Trois euros la pièce. |
| Joe : Je vais prendre un de chaque. |
| Vendeur 1 : Voilà, ça fait huit euros. |
| Joe : Voilà cinq cent euros. |
| Vendeur 1 : Vous avez un billet plus petit ? |
| Joe : Non, désolé. |
| Vendeur 1 : Voilà votre monnaie. |
| Joe : Merci. |
| Eric: One more time, with the translation. |
| Virginie: Encore une fois, avec la traduction. |
| Vendeur 1 : Le beau poisson ! Qui veut mon poisson ? |
| : Nice fish here! Who wants my fish? |
| Vendeur 2 : Elle est belle, la salade, elle est belle !!! |
| : Beautiful salad! The salad is beautiful!! |
| Joe : Excusez-moi, qu'est-ce que c'est, ça ? |
| : Excuse me, what is this? |
| Vendeur 1 : Du lapin à la moutarde. |
| : Rabbit with mustard. |
| Joe : Qu'est-ce qu'il y a dedans ? |
| : What's in it? |
| Vendeur 1 : Du lapin, de la moutarde, et de la crème fraîche. |
| : Rabbit, mustard, and heavy cream. |
| Joe : Combien ça coûte ? |
| : How much does it cost? |
| Vendeur 1 : Cinq euros la pièce, quinze euros les cinq. |
| : Five euros each. Fifteen euros for five. |
| Joe : Et ça, qu'est-ce que c'est ? |
| : And this, what is this? |
| Vendeur 1 : Des blocs de chèvres. Trois euros la pièce. |
| : Goat cheese blocks. Three euros each. |
| Joe : Je vais prendre un de chaque. |
| : I'll take one of each. |
| Vendeur 1 : Voilà, ça fait huit euros. |
| : Here you are. That's eight euros. |
| Joe : Voilà cinq cent euros. |
| : Here are five hundred euros. |
| Vendeur 1 : Vous avez un billet plus petit ? |
| : Do you have a smaller bill? |
| Joe : Non, désolé. |
| : No, sorry. |
| Vendeur 1 : Voilà votre monnaie. |
| : Here is your change. |
| Joe : Merci. |
| : Thank you. |
| Post Conversation Banter |
| Eric: Wow, people are screaming. |
| Virginie: Yes, that’s the way it goes on French open-air markets. It screams all over the place. It’s very friendly too. |
| Eric: That’s great. Did you have like one where you grew up or something like that? |
| Virginie: Oh yeah in my little village, yes we had a market every Thursday morning I believe, yeah. |
| Eric: Well, wow! |
| Virginie: With cheese and lot of other things. It was really good. |
| Eric: It sounds pretty awesome. |
| Virginie: Yes. What you can get in French open-air markets is obviously fresh food and vegetables and cheese and also meat, whatever you can eat, you can find it. |
| Eric: Amazing, okay. What about large cities? Do they have different types of markets, different styles or something like that? |
| Virginie: It’s a little different but it’s still the same atmosphere, I guess. I guess in Paris, for instance, it’s more crowded. So it’s a little more stressful, but if you go to any village in France, it’s very laid-back and relaxed and, you know, people know each other. So you just stop at the cheese person and you start talking about your mama, et cetera, et cetera. |
| Eric: What other kind of like open-air markets like free markets in France? |
| Virginie: Yes, there is actually one in Paris that’s pretty famous. It’s at the porte de Saint-Ouen and it’s called the Marché de Saint-Ouen, Marché aux puces, flea market. |
| Eric: What can you find there? |
| Virginie: Well, you can find everything, stolen bicycles mostly. |
| Eric: That seems like a useful item. |
| Virginie: And then you can find antiques. There are a lot of antique little, like, booth, yeah. |
| Eric: Antiques, yeah. |
| Virginie: Yeah antiques. Then, you can find old books. |
| Eric: Well, that sounds more interesting than stolen bicycles to me. |
| Virginie: Yeah it is and you can also find vinyl. |
| Eric: Vinyl records? |
| Virginie: Vinyl records, yes. |
| Eric: Great, great. |
| Virginie: It’s pretty nice. It’s very, very crowded too. |
| Eric: Right. |
| Virginie: Every weekend, I think, I believe it’s every Sunday. That’s in Paris, but in Bordeaux which is you know big wine city, you will have wine markets all over the place. |
| Eric: You see you can go to an open-air wine market? |
| Virginie: Yeah. |
| Eric: That sounds great. |
| Virginie: It is great, and in Marseille, you have a lot of fish markets because it’s by the sea. |
| Eric: Right, a big port, so… |
| Virginie: Yeah. |
| Eric: It makes sense. All right, so let’s look into little of the vocabulary now. |
| Vocab List |
| un poisson [natural native speed] |
| a fish |
| un poisson [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| un poisson [natural native speed] |
| une salade [natural native speed] |
| a salad |
| une salade [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| une salade [natural native speed] |
| la moutarde [natural native speed] |
| mustard |
| la moutarde [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| la moutarde [natural native speed] |
| la crème fraîche [natural native speed] |
| heavy cream |
| la crème fraîche [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| la crème fraîche [natural native speed] |
| le lapin [natural native speed] |
| rabbit (food) |
| le lapin [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| le lapin [natural native speed] |
| le chèvre (cheese) [natural native speed] |
| goat cheese |
| le chèvre (cheese) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| le chèvre (cheese) [natural native speed] |
| beau [natural native speed] |
| beautiful |
| beau [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| beau [natural native speed] |
| belle [natural native speed] |
| beautiful |
| belle [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| belle [natural native speed] |
| chaque [natural native speed] |
| each |
| chaque [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| chaque [natural native speed] |
| plus [natural native speed] |
| more (comparison form -er) |
| plus [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| plus [natural native speed] |
| Eh bien... [natural native speed] |
| well... |
| Eh bien... [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Eh bien... [natural native speed] |
| qui [natural native speed] |
| who |
| qui [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| qui [natural native speed] |
| Vocab and Phrase Usage |
| Eric: OK here we have the word "chevre" with two different meanings. |
| Virginie: Yes. If it's feminine "la chevre", it means the goat, |
| Eric: The animal. |
| Virginie: Oui. but if it's masculine, le chevre, it means "goat cheese". |
| Eric: Yes and that's what we have in our dialogue. Le chevre, goat cheese. |
| Virginie: Now what Joe buys is un bloc de chevre, which is like a goat cheese "bloc” |
| Eric: Description of what it is. |
| Virginie: I'm sure it must be fresh cheese, as we talked about earlier. |
| Eric: Hmm delicious. What 's next Virginie? |
| Virginie: Ok, let's talk about something else than food. the word "eh bien" for example |
| Eric: Eh bien is well. |
| Virginie: Yes and it's used like Well when at the beginning of a sentence. |
| Eric: For example. Let's say you're asked to do something and you're answering "well, it's complicated." |
| Virginie: In French, it will be "eh bien, c'est compliqué" |
| Eric: So it's just an interjection to start a sentence. |
| Virginie: Yes. A little bit like euh (we saw that a few lessons ago), only less hesitating, more affirmative. |
| Eric: Ah ok. French language has all these little words that sneak in all the time |
| Virginie: I know, we have a lot of them. You usually don't learn them at school, but you will certainly hear them a lot when talking to French people. |
| Eric: OK now let's look at the phrase "un de chaque". |
| Virginie: Oui. Joe says "je vais prendre un de chaque" |
| Eric: I am going to take one of each |
| Virginie: By the way did you identify the future tense here? |
| Eric: Ah oui, "je vais prendre", I'm going to take. |
| Virginie: OK now the second part of Joe's sentence is "un de chaque.” |
| Eric: One of each. |
| Virginie: We have "un" |
| Eric: That's one. Un here is the number one, not the article |
| Virginie: Oui. Then we have de |
| Eric: And that's of. |
| Virginie: And finally we have chaque |
| Eric: Which is literally "each." |
| Virginie: Again, that's one of each. |
| Eric: Very useful when shopping. |
| Virginie: Now, chaque also means every. |
| Eric: Oui. for example… |
| Virginie: En France, chaque region a un president. |
| Eric: In France, every region has a president. Is that true? |
| Virginie: Yes it's the president de region, the region president. |
| Eric: So remember, chaque can is both every and each. |
| Virginie: OUi. Now our market seller says something that is not in our vocab list. |
| Eric: Yes, she says "5 euros la piece" |
| Virginie: And that means "five euros each" |
| Eric: So we know cinq euro, five euros. |
| Virginie: And it is followed by "la piece", |
| Eric: Literally, "the piece", but really meaning "each. |
| Virginie: So she's saying that each rabbit with mustard is five euros. |
| Eric: Now this is specific to the market, right? |
| Virginie: Yes, you will say la piece when talking about vegetables, that you can buy by the unit, like cucumbers or cabbage. |
| Eric: And you will hear it on the market, too, when referring to something you can buy by the unit. |
| Virginie: Again, it's Cinq euros la piece. |
| Eric: The word la piece means so many different things in French1 |
| Virginie: Oh yes. But for now, we'll just stick to la piece meaning each. |
| Eric: OK. let's do some grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Virginie: The focus of this lesson is comparing with more and less. |
| Eric: Plus et moins. |
| Virginie: Plus and moins, yes. |
| Eric: let's look at our dialogue |
| Virginie: Joe hands the seller a 500 euro bill. |
| Eric: Ahaha, that's big! |
| Virginie: Yes, especially at the market, where you usually deal with small change. |
| Eric: So our seller is kind of annoyed. |
| Virginie: I think so. In any case, she says "vous avez un billet plus petit?" |
| Eric: Do you have a smaller bill? |
| Virginie: the word we look at here is smaller. |
| Eric: In French, it's plus petit. |
| Virginie: It's the adverb "plus" |
| Eric: And that's more |
| Virginie: and then the adjective you are comparing, here petit, small |
| Eric: Again, plus petit. |
| Virginie: and you will always use that same structure to say more with an adjective. |
| Eric: What is "taller" |
| Virginie: Plus grand. |
| Eric: OK now. what if I want to say "I am taller than Virginie? |
| Virginie: Je suis plus grand que Virginie. |
| Eric: Oh I see, you add "que" after the adjective. |
| Virginie: Oui. Plus grand que is taller than. |
| Eric: OK. |
| Virginie: Now let's see how to say "less" with an adjective. |
| Eric: This is not in our dialogue, but we need to talk about it. |
| Virginie: Oui. which adjective are we using eric? |
| Eric: Let's continue with grand, tall. |
| Virginie: OK this time I will have to say I am less tall than Eric. |
| Eric: Go ahead |
| Virginie: Je suis moins grande qu'Eric. |
| Eric: So here our adverb of comparison is "moins" |
| Virginie: Moins grande qu'eric. So, two things you need to know here |
| Eric: First since Virginie was speaking, grand became feminine, grande |
| Virginie: And then since Eric's name starts with a vowel, the "e" of "que" dropped in Front of Eric |
| Eric: So, once again |
| Virginie: (slowly) je suis moins grande qu'eric. |
| Eric: So, to recap |
| Virginie: I am taller than Virginie. |
| Eric: Je suis plus grand que Virginie. And I am less tall than Eric |
| Virginie. Je suis moins grande qu'eric. |
| Eric: OK. Now remember in a previous lesson we promised you would get the entire conjugation of the verb vouloir, to want |
| Virginie: Oui c'est vrai. Well, eh bien, you can find the whole conjugation in the lesson notes! |
| Eric: Great! Now in our dialogue, the seller is yelling "qui veut mon poisson" |
| Virginie: And that's "who wants my fish!!" |
| Eric: Last time we saw that to express a wish, you could use the verb vouloir followed by an infinitive |
| Virginie: As in je veux manger, remember? |
| Eric: I want to eat. |
| Virginie: Now you can have your verb vouloir followed by a noun, too. |
| Eric: Just like in our dialogue, qui veut mon poisson. Or, Je veux un chat. |
| Virginie: I want a cat. |
Outro |
| Virginie: Ok, I think we're done for this lesson, Eric. |
| Eric: Thank you for listening! |
| Virginie: Thank you! Merci beaucoup ! Au Revoir ! |
| Eric: Au Revoir ! |
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