Learn the many different ways you can form questions using the French word that means "what" and "which"
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| Introduction |
| Virginie: Bonjour à tous! C’est Virginie. Je suis ici avec Eric. Hi everyone, this is Virginie and I am here with Eric. |
| Eric: Bonjour! Eric here. Make the most of your time – a must for travelers. Welcome. So what are we gonna be looking at today, Virginie? |
| Virginie: Today our focus is gonna be the question with quelle. |
| Eric: This is an important point. And it looks like in our dialogue, Joe is going on a tour to see all the must-see spots around France. |
| Virginie: Yeah, so he is asking the front desk of the travel agency about excursions and what his options are. Let’s listen to the dialog. |
| Dialogue |
| Agent de voyage : Bonjour. |
| Joe : Quelles excursions avez-vous ? |
| Agent de voyage : Nous avons une excursion pour la mi-journée dans Paris, et nous avons une excursion pour la journée à l'extérieur de Paris. |
| Joe : Quelle est la destination de l'excursion pour la journée ? |
| Agent de voyage : Le départ est à 9h et le retour est à 17h. Nous irons d'abord à Sancerre. Vous déjeunerez à 13h. Ensuite vous irez à Fontainebleau et enfin Versailles. |
| Joe : Le guide touristique parle français ? |
| Agent de voyage : Bien sûr. Elle parle anglais, français et espagnol. |
| Joe : Bon, très bien. Je vais prendre l'excursion pour la journée, s'il vous plaît. |
| Agent de voyage : Ca fait 150 euros s'il vous plaît. |
| Joe : Par carte, c'est possible ? |
| Agent de voyage : Bien sûr. |
| Joe : Tenez. |
| Agent de voyage : Une signature s'il vous plaît. (pause) Merci. Voici le reçu. Le départ est à 9h. Rendez-vous devant cet immeuble. |
| Joe : Merci. |
| Eric: One more time, a little more slowly. |
| Virginie: Encore une fois, plus lentement. |
| Agent de voyage : Bonjour. |
| Joe : Quelles excursions avez-vous ? |
| Agent de voyage : Nous avons une excursion pour la mi-journée dans Paris, et nous avons une excursion pour la journée à l'extérieur de Paris. |
| Joe : Quelle est la destination de l'excursion pour la journée ? |
| Agent de voyage : Le départ est à 9h et le retour est à 17h. Nous irons d'abord à Sancerre. Vous déjeunerez à 13h. Ensuite vous irez à Fontainebleau et enfin Versailles. |
| Joe : Le guide touristique parle français ? |
| Agent de voyage : Bien sûr. Elle parle anglais, français et espagnol. |
| Joe : Bon, très bien. Je vais prendre l'excursion pour la journée, s'il vous plaît. |
| Agent de voyage : Ca fait 150 euros s'il vous plaît. |
| Joe : Par carte, c'est possible ? |
| Agent de voyage : Bien sûr. |
| Joe : Tenez. |
| Agent de voyage : Une signature s'il vous plaît. (pause) Merci. Voici le reçu. Le départ est à 9h. Rendez-vous devant cet immeuble. |
| Joe : Merci. |
| Eric: One more time, with the translation. |
| Virginie: Encore une fois, avec la traduction. |
| Agent de voyage : Bonjour. |
| Eric: Hello. |
| Joe : Quelles excursions avez-vous ? |
| Eric: What tours do you have? |
| Agent de voyage : Nous avons une excursion pour la mi-journée dans Paris, et nous avons une excursion pour la journée à l'extérieur de Paris. |
| Eric: We have a half-day tour of Paris, and we have a full-day tour outside of Paris. |
| Joe : Quelle est la destination de l'excursion pour la journée ? |
| Eric: Where will the full-day tour go? |
| Agent de voyage : Le départ est à 9h et le retour est à 17h. Nous irons d'abord à Sancerre. Vous déjeunerez à 13h. Ensuite vous irez à Fontainebleau et enfin Versailles. |
| Eric: The full-day tour is from nine o'clock a.m. to five o'clock p.m. We will go to Sancerre first. You will eat lunch at one o'clock p.m. Then you will visit Fontainebleau and Versailles. |
| Joe : Le guide touristique parle français ? |
| Eric: The tour guide speaks French? |
| Agent de voyage : Bien sûr. Elle parle anglais, français et espagnol. |
| Eric: Of course. She can speak English, French, and Spanish. |
| Joe : Bon, très bien. Je vais prendre l'excursion pour la journée, s'il vous plaît. |
| Eric: Okay, great. The full-day tour please. |
| Agent de voyage : Ça fait 150 euros s'il vous plaît. |
| Eric: That will be one hundred and fifty euros, please. |
| Joe : Par carte, c'est possible ? |
| Eric: Is a credit card okay? |
| Agent de voyage : Bien sûr. |
| Eric: Of course. |
| Joe : Tenez. |
| Eric: Here you are. |
| Agent de voyage : Une signature s'il vous plaît. (pause) Merci. Voici le reçu. Le départ est à 9h. Rendez-vous devant cet immeuble. |
| Eric: Sign please. (pause) Here is your receipt. The tour starts at nine o'clock a.m. We meet in front of this building. |
| Joe : Merci. |
| Eric: Thank you. |
| Post Conversation Banter |
| Eric: Great. So Joe is doing some excursions outside of Paris. One of the very famous ones is Claud Monet’s house in Normandy and his gardens. |
| Virginie: Yeah. And you get to know the villages of Vernon and Giverny, and what you do during this excursion is you ride a bike. |
| Eric: So I guess it’s kind of like a scenic relaxing nature acquaint. |
| Virginie: Yeah, very champetre. Champetre means from the countryside or in the countryside. It’s very champetre. |
| Eric: Have you ever done this, Virginie? |
| Virginie: No I haven’t, but I’ve heard about it and by the way it’s in Normandy, which is an awesome region, it’s so beautiful over there. |
| Eric: Really? I have never been. What is Normandy like? |
| Virginie: It’s very green, it’s very humid and rainy, but when the weather's nice it’s very, very good. |
| Eric: What other voyages or trips could there be that Joe would be interested in? |
| Virginie: If he wants to go far from Paris he could go to Champagne, the famous wine region. It’s very nice you basically visit all the vineyards and it’s beautiful and you drink champagne. |
| Eric: That sounds pretty amazing, like a vacation. So you go and you tour champagne vineyards and drink champagne? |
| Virginie: Yeah, you meet with the producers and the wine producers. |
| Eric: It sounds luxurious. |
| Virginie: A lot of tasting. Sounds what? |
| Eric: Luxurious. |
| Virginie: Luxurious, yes. It’s luxueux. You know, if Joe wanted to go very far from Paris, he could go to Lourdes. Do you know Lourdes? It’s pretty famous. |
| Eric: Lourdes? I think it’s basically famous because of the mystical appearance of Mother Mary to this young girl. |
| Virginie: Exactly. It’s a huge place for pilgrimage. |
| Eric: Where exactly is this in France? |
| Virginie: It’s in the Pyrenees, the Southern Mountains. |
| Eric: So the Pyrenees’s Mountains. |
| Virginie: And there you have a cave which is called the cave of Massabielle, and you go for your pilgrimage and you get to the fountain and the fountain is supposed to heal the disease. So if you are sick you get to Lourdes, you are get in the cave and you jump in the fountain and wow, you are all healed. Joe, in our dialogue, is going to the Fontainebleau Forrest. |
| Eric: The Fontainebleau Forrest. This was the royal forest I think back in… |
| Virginie: Yes, they used to hunt there. It’s little south from Paris and it’s huge and it’s also very nice and beautiful. You will find a lot of paintings from Delacroix or other painters of the Fontainebleau with Louis the 14th. |
| Eric: Yes, Fontainebleau. I ate in a restaurant there once, in the middle of the forest. |
| Virginie: A restaurant in the middle of the forest? |
| Eric: It was spooky. |
| Virginie: Ok. Let’s take a look at our vocabulary. What do you think? |
| Vocab List |
| Virginie: une excursion [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a tour |
| Virginie: une excursion [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: une excursion [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: pour [natural native speed] |
| Eric: for |
| Virginie: pour [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: pour [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: la mi-journée [natural native speed] |
| Eric: half a day, half the day |
| Virginie: la mi-journée [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: la mi-journée [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: dans [natural native speed] |
| Eric: in |
| Virginie: dans [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: dans [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: une journée [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a day |
| Virginie: une journée [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: une journée [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: à l'extérieur de [natural native speed] |
| Eric: outside |
| Virginie: à l'extérieur de [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: à l'extérieur de [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: une destination [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a destination |
| Virginie: une destination [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: une destination [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: le départ [natural native speed] |
| Eric: departure |
| Virginie: le départ [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: le départ [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: d'abord [natural native speed] |
| Eric: first |
| Virginie: d'abord [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: d'abord [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: déjeuner [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to have lunch |
| Virginie: déjeuner [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: déjeuner [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: ensuite [natural native speed] |
| Eric: then |
| Virginie: ensuite [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: ensuite [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: un(e) guide touristique [natural native speed] |
| Eric: a tour guide |
| Virginie: un(e) guide touristique [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: un(e) guide touristique [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: l'anglais [natural native speed] |
| Eric: English language |
| Virginie: l'anglais [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: l'anglais [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: l'espagnol [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Spanish language |
| Virginie: l'espagnol [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: l'espagnol [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: possible [natural native speed] |
| Eric: possible, okay |
| Virginie: possible [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: possible [natural native speed] |
| Vocab and Phrase Usage |
| Eric: Okay great. So let’s have a little closer look at some of this vocabulary. |
| Virginie: First of all, we can take a look at the words par carte. Joe in the dialogue says, par carte, c'est possible? |
| Eric: Par carte would mean by a credit card. |
| Virginie: So what Joe says is, can I pay with credit card? Is the credit card okay. Par carte, c'est possible? |
| Eric: And the way he is saying c'est possible, it’s basically saying is it possible or is it okay. |
| Virginie: Yeah it’s very easy, c'est possible. |
| Eric: The other option if you are not going to pay, par carte, how else could you pay? |
| Virginie: Well, you can pay by par chèque. |
| Eric: By check. |
| Virginie: Par chèque. |
| Eric: Or en liquide, which is in cash, by cash. |
| Virginie: En liquide, like a liquid, you know. |
| Eric: Your liquid…. |
| Virginie: That’s a good way of remembering it. |
| Eric: Your account has been liquidated. |
| Virginie: Exactly. So you can either pay par carte, or par chèque, or en liquide |
| Eric: What about this phrase d'abord, what does that mean? |
| Virginie: Oh, d'abord means first. |
| Eric: First. Okay, so that’s going to probably either start a sentence, d'abord first, we…. |
| Virginie: Yeah, just like in the dialogue. |
| Eric: Or you can say d'abord after the verb. For example, nous allons d'abord, “we go first.” |
| Virginie: For example if you want to say, nous allons d'abord au cinéma. |
| Eric: “First we go to the movies.” In English, I guess we usually put first at the beginning of the sentence but in French, it’s a little more free. |
| Virginie: Yeah you can put it either at the beginning or after the verb. |
| Eric: You had a funny little child talk example you were telling me… |
| Virginie: Yes. You know that’s something I used to say a lot when I was a child because you will hear it in children’s mouths a lot in France. When a kid is reprimanded, he is going to get defensive right and he is going to say, d’abord, j'ai rien fait! |
| Eric: First of all, I didn’t do anything. |
| Virginie: Right. D'abord, j'ai rien fait! The kid will tend to start a sentence with d’abord “first of all,” j'ai rien fait “I didn’t do anything”. Another way of using d’abord is in the phrase tout d'abord. |
| Eric: First of all. |
| Virginie: Tout meaning all. So, tout d'abord, “first of all.” |
| Eric: Great. What is our next example? |
| Virginie: Well, our next word is une journée. |
| Eric: Right and that’s “a day”. You were telling me there is a little difference between un jour, which is also “a day,” and une journée. |
| Virginie: Yes. You are going to say une journée when you talk about a day, and in during day, a day that lasts, like, tout la journée, “the entire day,” it lasts. |
| Eric: So it’s more of a different relationship with time, you are explaining something is going on throughout the whole day or something like that? |
| Virginie: Right exactly. |
| Eric: Okay. |
| Virginie: As opposed to un jour. Un jour, we will use it when you want to say, un jour, j'aurai l'argent. |
| Eric: One day… |
| Virginie: One day, I will have money. In this case, it’s punctual, it’s more like a date, and if you want to express dates, you are going to use un jour, but if you talk about this one day that lasts, it’s une journée. |
| Eric: If I say bonne journée, for example, that’s saying have a nice day. We are talking about enjoy your entire day. |
| Virginie: bonne journée, the day that’s coming up. |
| Eric: The present day. |
| Virginie: Yeah. |
| Eric: What’s an example of the other use of le jour? |
| Virginie: You would say, for example, dimanche est une bonne jour pour se reposer, Sunday is a good day to rest. |
| Eric: We are not talking about Sunday that is today, and we are not hashing our plans for the present. We are talking more in the abstract. |
| Virginie: It’s more like a day in the frame of time. It’s date. |
| Eric: A day like any other. |
| Virginie: Un jour. |
| Eric: So I think we wanted to also get le depart and le retour. |
| Virginie: Yeah and that’s very easy. Le depart is “the departure”. |
| Eric: Sounds like it in English. |
| Virginie: Yes exactly and le retour is… |
| Eric: The return or the way back. |
| Virginie: Yeah, in the dialogue, the travel agent tells Joe, le départ est à… and le retour est à… and she is giving him the times. |
| Eric: Departure is at 5 o’clock and the return is at 10 o’clock for example. |
| Virginie: But now how would you say a round-trip? |
| Eric: Aller-retour. |
| Virginie: That’s very different from English right? Round-trip. Aller “go,” retour “come back.” |
| Eric: And if we want to say a one way trip, we would just say aller simple. |
| Virginie: Exactly, one way, aller simple, a simple… |
| Eric: A simple going. |
| Virginie: Yeah, remember that. It will be very, very handy when you go to France. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Virginie: So let’s talk about our grammar focus. Umm it is the question with quel(les). |
| Eric: And quel is posing a more complex question. It’s not just a yes or no question. What’s the name for this type of question? |
| Virginie: It’s called a partial question, yes, because quel is basically in English “which”. So you are going to have to choose between different items. For example, Quel acteur tu aimes? “Which actor do you like”. You have to pick between all these actors. |
| Eric: So it’s a little bit more complicated than if you would just ask, do you like an actor, then you would just say yes or you would say no. |
| Virginie: Let’s see how to construct your sentence, your question with quel, because there are several ah ways of doing it. The first way to construct your question is going to be quel, so your question will always start with quel, and then you are going to put your noun. For example, quel acteur “which actor,” and then you are going to reverse your subject and your verb aimes-tu, do you like. Quel acteur aimes-tu? Which actor… |
| Eric: Which actor do you like? |
| Virginie: Yeah. Do you have another example for this same construction, Eric? |
| Eric: Yeah basically you can form these questions in several ways. So you can say instead of quel acteur aimes-tu, instead of reversing the verb and the subject, you can leave the subject and the verb in the normal order. So you can say quel acteur tu aimes? |
| Virginie: Which actor do you like. It means exactly the same. |
| Eric: And in English, I think we only can say which actor do you like, but French is a little more flexible here. |
| Virginie: We have a lot of different ways of asking the same question in French. Well, now that we’ve seen the construction of the questions, now, we can see how to spell quel, because quel is going to be agreeing in gender and number to the noun, you know everything in French basically agrees to the gender and the number. |
| Eric: In our dialogue, we have quelles excursions. The word excursions is feminine and it’s plural in this case. So quelles is going to reflect that as well. It’s going to be feminine and plural. |
| Virginie: Yes, and the feminine plural form of quelles is quelles. Quelles excursions. If you want to use quel with excursion in the singular form, it’s still feminine but it’s singular. It’s going to be quellle, and it’s going to be just feminine. So quelle. Quelle excursion, which excursion, singular. |
| Eric: If we want to look at the masculine, for example, quel acteur est-ce que tu aimes? |
| Virginie: Which actor do you like? |
| Eric: We would say quel acteur, quel. |
| Virginie: Yeah that’s masculine singular. And now and that’s the last one, we promise. If it’s a masculine noun and it’s plural like several actors… |
| Eric: Then it would be quels acteurs, and that would be quels. |
| Virginie: And we need a little recap here, I think. Feminine plural, Eric? |
| Eric: Quelles excursions. Quelles is spelled quelles. |
| Virginie: Feminine singular is going to be quelle excursion, and it’s spelled quelle. |
| Eric: And then if we want to say masculine singular, it would be quel acteur, for example, quel. And masculine plural? |
| Virginie: Quels acteurs, and it’s going to be quels. All right, I think we are done with our grammar point here. |
Outro |
| Eric: Thank you very much for listening, everyone. |
| Virginie: Thank you everyone, bye, au revoir! |
| Eric: Tchao! |
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