Learn how to add nuance to your French speech
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Virginie: Bonjour à tous, this is Virginie, hello welcome to frenchpod101.com I'm here with JP. |
| JP: Salut tout le monde. The Fine French Line Between Playing Hard to Get and Getting Away. |
| Virginie: Hello again, aujourd’hui nous allons travailler avec un nouveau thème. |
| JP: What's our new theme that we're going to work with today? |
| Virginie: Well, nous allons parler d’amour aujourd’hui. |
| JP: So hot. |
| Virginie: Yes. |
| JP: Okay. |
| Virginie: And this is going to be the first lesson of five lessons about love. |
| JP: So, how can we even pretend to teach you French without talking about “l’amour” . |
| Virginie: Exactly, this is part of the curriculum for everybody. |
| JP: Today, we're going to learn how to nuance our speech in French. |
| Virginie: And how to say what you want to say with measure. |
| JP: Oh that's an art, the French people have got that to an art form right? they don't get to the point right away they're not that blunt. |
| Virginie: Oui, c’est peut-être vrai. |
| JP: See Virginie just said “C’est peut-être vrai”, “maybe that's true”. |
| Virginie: Maybe that's true yes it's because the world is not all black or white. |
| JP: Okay, so we're going to see that in the dialogue. It's going to take place on a bus and a man is talking to a woman, they don't know each other. |
| Virginie: And I think he's trying to hit on her, and she doesn't seem to like it. Okay, let's listen to this conversation, JP. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Lui : Vous avez l’air triste. |
| Elle: Peut-être. |
| Lui : Vous êtes d’ici ? |
| Elle : Ce n’est pas impossible. |
| Lui : Vous êtes bien mystérieuse. Je crois que vous me plaisez. |
| Elle : Je dois partir. |
| Lui : Déjà ? Nous avons à peine fait connaissance. C’est dommage. |
| Elle : Je ne sais pas. |
| Lui : Tu... je peux vous dire “tu” ? |
| Elle : Pourquoi pas. |
| Lui : Tu te promènes déjà dans mes rêves… |
| Elle : Vous exagérez. |
| Lui : Je suis sûr que nous allons nous croiser à nouveau… |
| Elle : Ça m’étonnerait. Au revoir. |
| Virginie: Encore une fois, avec des sous-titres. |
| JP: Once again, with English subtitles. |
| Lui : Vous avez l’air triste. |
| JP: You look sad. |
| Elle: Peut-être. |
| JP: Perhaps. |
| Lui : Vous êtes d’ici ? |
| JP: Are you from here? |
| Elle : Ce n’est pas impossible. |
| JP: It is not impossible. |
| Lui : Vous êtes bien mystérieuse. Je crois que vous me plaisez. |
| JP: You are mysterious. I think I like you. |
| Elle : Je dois partir. |
| JP: I must leave. |
| Lui : Déjà ? Nous avons à peine fait connaissance. C’est dommage. |
| JP: Already? We just met. It's a shame. |
| Elle : Je ne sais pas. |
| JP: I don't know. |
| Lui : Tu... je peux vous dire “tu” ? |
| JP: You...can I call you "tu?" |
| Elle : Pourquoi pas. |
| JP: Why not? |
| Lui : Tu te promènes déjà dans mes rêves… |
| JP: You are already walking in my dreams… |
| Elle : Vous exagérez. |
| JP: You're exaggerating. |
| Lui : Je suis sûr que nous allons nous croiser à nouveau… |
| JP: I'm sure we will meet again. |
| Elle : Ça m’étonnerait. Au revoir. |
| JP: It would surprise me. Bye. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| JP: Okay, that was dismal Virginie that was awful, that was a crash and burn situation. |
| Virginie: Oui, en français ça s’appelle “se prendre une claque”. |
| JP: Okay “to get slapped in the face” right? |
| Virginie: Right. |
| JP: “To receive a slap”. |
| Virginie: Exactly. |
| JP: So how would I say “he got shot down?” so “Il se prend une claque” |
| Virginie: “Il se prend une claque” or you can also say “Oh ! La claque !” |
| JP: Oh ! La claque ! |
| Virginie: Oh ! La claque ! |
| JP: Okay you can say “Oh ! La claque !” whenever you see someone getting rejected. |
| Virginie: That's like “oh what a slap” |
| JP: Well he was being a little forward anyway don't you think? |
| Virginie: Oui, surtout avec son “tu te promènes déjà dans mes rêves”. |
| JP: “You're already walking in my dreams.” |
| Virginie: And then he switches from the formal “vous” to the casual “tu” . |
| JP: Well she said he could. |
| Virginie: No she said “pourquoi pas”, “why not?” |
| JP: Okay, “pourquoi pas”, sounds like a yes to me. |
| Virginie: Okay, c’est vrai, I'm old-fashioned, but I kind of like the way even lovers would say “vous” to each other in French back in the days. |
| JP: That was when society were more aristocratic right? |
| Virginie: Oui, c’est ça. but also you know until the 50's it would be so. I think my Grandma back when she met her husband, she would say, “vous” then even when they were married. |
| JP: Really? |
| Virginie: Maybe my great Grandma. Oui donc ce monsieur il est un peu rapide, saying “tu”. |
| JP: Okay he's saying it a little too soon. Oh Virginie you're so uptight. Alright let's move to the vocabulary section. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Virginie: vous me plaisez [natural native speed] |
| JP: I like you |
| Virginie: vous me plaisez [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: vous me plaisez [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: faire connaissance [natural native speed] |
| JP: to get to know each other |
| Virginie: faire connaissance [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: faire connaissance [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: se promener [natural native speed] |
| JP: to take a walk |
| Virginie: se promener [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: se promener [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: se croiser [natural native speed] |
| JP: to run into each other, to see each other |
| Virginie: se croiser [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: se croiser [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: exagérer [natural native speed] |
| JP: to exaggerate, to abuse |
| Virginie: exagérer [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: exagérer [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: avoir l'air [natural native speed] |
| JP: to seem, to look, to sound |
| Virginie: avoir l'air [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: avoir l'air [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: mystérieux, mystérieuse [natural native speed] |
| JP: mysterious |
| Virginie: mystérieux, mystérieuse [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: mystérieux, mystérieuse [natural native speed] |
| Virginie: à peine [natural native speed] |
| JP: barely, hardly |
| Virginie: à peine [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Virginie: à peine [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| JP: Okay, let's take a closer look. What are we going to look at first? |
| Virginie: “Vous me plaisez” |
| JP: So this is something very nice to hear it means “I like you” right? “vous me plaisez”. |
| Virginie: Be careful because usually it's used in a romantic context. |
| JP: Okay, so when you like someone as in “I like you.” |
| Virginie: C’est le verbe “plaire”. |
| JP: “Plaire” means “to be pleasant” or “to give pleasure.” Literally when you say “vous me plaisez”, what you're really saying is “you are being pleasant to me, you're pleasant to me” alright and that's the way you say I like you. That works very differently than English right? Because in English I'm the subject and I'm doing something to you, I'm liking you and in French it's you having an effect on me. So just to be clear how would I say “you like me” |
| Virginie: Well “you like me” would be “je vous plais” . |
| JP: “Je vous plais”, that's “you like me” as in “I'm being pleasant to you”. |
| Virginie: Yeah it's sort of reversed okay so “je vous plais” is “you like me” and “vous me plaisez” is “ I like you”. |
| JP: Okay, what's next? |
| Virginie: “À peine”. |
| JP: “À peine” so “hardly” or “barely” or “just”. |
| Virginie: Oui. Dans le dialogue, il dit “nous avons à peine fait connaissance”. |
| JP: Okay, “ We just met” you know or “We hardly just met” just like the rest of the French adverbs “à peine” comes right after the conjugated verb. Alright so let's get an example, Virginie keeps touching my arm so I want to say “Virginie quit touching my arm, I barely know you” or “I hardly know you” |
| Virginie: I'm shocked. |
| JP: Stop touching my arm. |
| Virginie: I am not touching your arm,but yes that's a good example. |
| JP: Okay. |
| Virginie: JP would say in this case “Arrête de toucher mon bras Virginie, je te connais à peine”. |
| JP: “Je te connais à peine”. Okay so there you see that “à peine” coming right after the conjugated verb “connais”. |
| Virginie: Exactly. |
| JP: How about “She hardly eats anything”. |
| Virginie: “Elle mange à peine”. |
| JP: Okay you see it again “à peine” comes right after the conjugated verb which is “manger”, “elle mange à peine”. |
| Virginie: Oui. |
| JP: What's the last one Virginie? The last vocab word. |
| Virginie: C’est le verbe “exagérer” |
| JP: Virginie, t'exagères ! Tu parles trop ! “you talk too much, you're exaggerating” |
| Virginie: We should actually ask our listeners, who do you think speaks the most. |
| JP: Oh mais tu exagères, tu exagères Virginie ! |
| Virginie: C’est toi qui exagères. |
| JP: J’exagère ? |
| Virginie: Tu exagères. |
| JP: Okay, what a conversation. |
| Virginie: Okay, I think you got the verb here, “exagérer”. |
| JP: “To exaggerate” Okay, and we're going to see how French people master the art of eloquence. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Virginie: Ok, maintenant un peu de grammaire. |
| JP : Ok, and we are going to see how the French people master the art of “eloquence”. |
| Virginie : L’art de la modération, l’art de l’éloquence. |
| JP: “Moderation” so there are several things that we see here in this dialog. |
| Virginie: Let's see first how she tries to turn him off. |
| JP: Okay, curb his enthusiasm right? |
| Virginie: Right. |
| JP: Kind of let him down easy, what did she say? |
| Virginie: D’abord elle dit “peut-être” when he asks if she's sad. |
| JP: So that's not an answer at all right? And if you say, “Are you sad?” you're expecting a yes or no answer. |
| Virginie: Oui. |
| JP: “Peut-être” is like a “maybe” right? |
| Virginie: Exactly. |
| JP: “Perhaps I'm sad”, “maybe”. |
| Virginie: Exactly, yeah, elle est méfiante, she's wary of that man. |
| JP: So then he asks, “Are you from around here?” and she replies- ? |
| Virginie: “Ce n’est pas impossible”. |
| JP: Which also means “maybe” right? |
| Virginie: Yeah. |
| JP: But it's a little bit more sophisticated a little more wordy? |
| Virginie: Well it's just like the English it's, “it is not impossible”. |
| JP: “It's not impossible” so it's possible, it's possible that she's from here. So he knows nothing, so he still has no information. |
| Virginie: That's good for her because he thinks she's mystérieuse, you know. |
| JP: Ah, les Françaises... |
| Virginie: Yeah. |
| JP: So he asks if he can call her “tu” right? |
| Virginie: And she answers “pourquoi pas” ? |
| JP: “No why not?”. |
| Virginie: She's being vague again. |
| JP: Really because that means “yes” to me. |
| Virginie: Oh yeah. |
| JP: “pourquoi pas”, “why not?” “oh okay why not?” |
| Virginie: “Why not”, “pourquoi pas”.. |
| JP: Okay. |
| Virginie: It's not a firm yes. |
| JP: It's not? Virginie, tu veux un million de dollars ? |
| Virginie: Pourquoi pas ? yeah actually that is yes. |
| JP: It is. “Do you want a million dollars?” “why not?” means yes. The last thing she says to let him know she's probably not interested is the last line- |
| Virginie: “Ça m’étonnerait”. |
| JP: “I doubt it, that would stun me” |
| Virginie: Exactly. |
| JP: “I would be very surprised.” |
| Virginie: She's being less and less vague actually, she's trying to get away. |
| JP: So she uses the verb “étonner” ? |
| Virginie: “Étonner”. |
| JP: To surprise. |
| Virginie: And she uses it at the conditionnel. |
| JP: “That would surprise me”. |
| Virginie: “Ça m’étonnerait”, now you say “ça m’étonnerait” in French whenever you doubt something. |
| JP: So Virginie, tu parles chinois? Can you speak Chinese? “Ça m’étonnerait !”. |
| Virginie: Aha oh no actually I don't speak Chinese. Mais je suis sûre que JP here speaks Chinese. |
| JP: You think I speak Chinese? Peut-être. |
| Virginie: Oui je suis sûre. |
| JP: The dude also says “je suis sûr” in the dialog right? |
| Virginie: Exactement. |
| JP: “I'm sure” |
| Virginie: Yeah again a very easy one “je suis sûr”. Et je crois que c’est la fin de la leçon. |
| JP: Tu crois ? |
| Virginie: Oui. |
| JP: Tu es sûre ? |
| Virginie: Oui, je suis sûre. So now you have all the tools to be vague in French. |
| JP: Awesome, you learn how to speak this language precisely and then when you're at the more advanced level you can cloud it up a little bit. |
| Virginie: Exactly. |
| JP: Okay. |
Outro |
| JP: Alright folks that's it for today, au revoir ! |
| Virginie: Au revoir, merci ! |
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