Learn about dependent clauses
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Greg: Hello everyone, I’m Greg. Confessions of a Lovesick Frenchman. |
| Mailys: Bonjour tout le monde. I’m Mailys. In this lesson, we will learn how to form dependent clauses. |
| Greg: These are clauses that form the second part of a sentence and they often start with “because”, “when”, “that”, and so on. |
| Mailys: In this lesson, Jacques is writing in his diary to lay down his feelings. Since he is writing to himself, he is using informal French. |
| Greg: Let’s listen as he writes. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Cher journal, |
| Aujourd’hui, je t’écris parce que je suis triste. |
| Je suis triste parce que j’aime une femme magnifique et que je pense qu’elle ne m’aime pas. |
| Je l’appelle et je laisse des messages sur son répondeur, mais elle ne répond pas et elle ne me rappelle pas. |
| Quand on va au restaurant, qu’on prend un café ou qu’on fait un pique-nique, elle semble très heureuse d’être avec moi. |
| Mais depuis qu’elle sait que je suis concierge, elle ne me parle plus et elle ne me rappelle plus. |
| C’est pour ça que je suis triste. |
| Je ne sais pas quoi faire. |
| Je ne sais plus quoi faire. |
| Si tu as une idée brillante, merci de l’écrire sur la page suivante. |
| Greg: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Cher journal, |
| Aujourd’hui, je t’écris parce que je suis triste. |
| Je suis triste parce que j’aime une femme magnifique et que je pense qu’elle ne m’aime pas. |
| Je l’appelle et je laisse des messages sur son répondeur, mais elle ne répond pas et elle ne me rappelle pas. |
| Quand on va au restaurant, qu’on prend un café ou qu’on fait un pique-nique, elle semble très heureuse d’être avec moi. |
| Mais depuis qu’elle sait que je suis concierge, elle ne me parle plus et elle ne me rappelle plus. |
| C’est pour ça que je suis triste. |
| Je ne sais pas quoi faire. |
| Je ne sais plus quoi faire. |
| Si tu as une idée brillante, merci de l’écrire sur la page suivante. |
| Greg: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Cher journal, |
| Dear diary, |
| Aujourd’hui, je t’écris parce que je suis triste. |
| Today, I'm writing to you because I'm sad. |
| Je suis triste parce que j’aime une femme magnifique et que je pense qu’elle ne m’aime pas. |
| I'm sad because I love a wonderful woman, and I think she doesn't love me. |
| Je l’appelle et je laisse des messages sur son répondeur, mais elle ne répond pas et elle ne me rappelle pas. |
| I call her and leave messages on her answering machine, but she doesn't answer or call back. |
| Quand on va au restaurant, qu’on prend un café ou qu’on fait un pique-nique, elle semble très heureuse d’être avec moi. |
| When we go to a restaurant or go for coffee or for a picnic, she seems very happy to be with me. |
| Mais depuis qu’elle sait que je suis concierge, elle ne me parle plus et elle ne me rappelle plus. |
| But since she learned that I'm a janitor, she doesn't speak to me or call back anymore. |
| C’est pour ça que je suis triste. |
| That's why I'm sad. |
| Je ne sais pas quoi faire. |
| I don't know what to do. |
| Je ne sais plus quoi faire. |
| I don't know what to do anymore. |
| Si tu as une idée brillante, merci de l’écrire sur la page suivante. |
| If you have a brilliant idea, please write it on the next page. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Greg: I think writing your own journal is a really good way to improve your French language skills. |
| Mailys: It's best if you can write a little bit in French everyday, but even if it's every other day, just be consistent. |
| Greg: Whenever you try to say something and you're not sure about a word, look it up and write it down. |
| Mailys: If you can find a native speaker to correct your text, all the better. |
| Greg: But the important thing is that little by little, you will become familiar with all of the common words you use to talk about your daily life and you will feel increasingly comfortable in French. |
| Mailys: If you can't find the time to write, you can also do it out loud, or just whisper to yourself if you are in public. |
| Greg: Use these techniques and you'll be comfortable using French in no time! Ok, let’s take a look at the vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Greg: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Mailys: journal [natural native speed] |
| Greg: diary, newspaper |
| Mailys: journal [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: journal [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: écrire [natural native speed] |
| Greg: to write |
| Mailys: écrire [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: écrire [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: triste [natural native speed] |
| Greg: sad |
| Mailys: triste [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: triste [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: femme [natural native speed] |
| Greg: woman, wife |
| Mailys: femme [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: femme [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: répondre [natural native speed] |
| Greg: to answer, to reply |
| Mailys: répondre [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: répondre [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: aller [natural native speed] |
| Greg: to go |
| Mailys: aller [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: aller [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: prendre [natural native speed] |
| Greg: to take |
| Mailys: prendre [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: prendre [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: heureux [natural native speed] |
| Greg: happy |
| Mailys: heureux [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: heureux [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: ne ... plus [natural native speed] |
| Greg: not ... anymore |
| Mailys: ne ... plus [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: ne ... plus [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: suivant [natural native speed] |
| Greg: next, following |
| Mailys: suivant [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: suivant [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Greg: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. First, let’s take a moment to look at the four new irregular verbs presented in this lesson. Let's start with a very common verb - ‘aller’, which means “to go”. Listen to the conjugation for all six persons. And remember to check the lesson notes for the correct spelling. |
| Mailys |
| je vais |
| tu vas |
| il va |
| nous allons |
| vous allez |
| ils vont |
| Greg: So ‘aller’ is a very useful verb because it can also be used to express future when you add an infinitive verb. For example... |
| Mailys: Je vais manger |
| Greg: I'm going to eat. |
| Mailys: Elle va m'écrire |
| Greg: She's going to write to me. Let's now look at another very common verb, ‘prendre’ which means “to take”. |
| Mailys: je prends |
| Mailys: tu prends |
| Mailys: il prend |
| Mailys: nous prenons |
| Mailys: vous prenez |
| Mailys: ils prennent |
| Greg: If you start looking for similarities and patterns in the conjugation of irregular verbs, you will find them much easier to learn. |
| Mailys: You can make up your own observations, it doesn't have to be scientific. The point is to look for patterns that will make the various forms easier to retain. |
| Greg: See if you can find some patterns in these next two verbs. Here is the conjugation for ‘écrire’ which means “to write" |
| Mailys: |
| j'écris |
| tu écris |
| il écrit |
| nous écrivons |
| vous écrivez |
| ils écrivent |
| Greg: And here is the conjugation for ‘répondre’ which means “to answer” |
| Mailys: |
| je réponds |
| tu réponds |
| il répond |
| nous répondons |
| vous répondez |
| ils répondent |
| Greg: So you might have noticed that for ‘écrire’ and ‘répondre’, all singular forms sound the same. And then, to make the plural ‘ils’ form, a single consonant sound is added -- ‘v’ for ‘écrire’ and ‘d’ for ‘répondre’. |
| Mailys: You can then make the ‘nous’ and ‘vous’ form by adding ‘-ons’ (o-n-s) and ‘-ez’ (e-z) after that consonant. Irregular doesn't have to mean complicated! |
| Greg: Remember to check the lesson notes to find the correct written forms, and listen to this lesson as many times as you need to memorize the conjugation of these verbs and make sure you say them out loud to practice! |
| Mailys: Ok, let’s go to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Mailys: The focus of this lesson is dependent clauses. |
| Greg: Dependent clauses allow you to create more complex sentences that contain several verbs. |
| Mailys: They add information to the main clause and are usually introduced by words like ‘parce que’, “because”, ‘quand’, “when”, ‘que’, “that”, or ‘où’, “where”. |
| Greg: In French, the dependent clause is introduced right after the main clause and no comma is used. Here are some examples using the connector words we have learned so far - |
| Mailys: Elle est toujours fatiguée parce qu'elle travaille dur. |
| Greg: She is always tired because she works hard. |
| Mailys: J'aime aller au parc quand il fait chaud. |
| Greg: I like to go the park when it's hot. |
| Mailys: Nous savons qu'il écrit un journal. |
| Greg: We know that he is writing a diary. |
| Mailys: Savez-vous où ils habitent? |
| Greg: Do you know where they live? |
| Greg: These kinds of clauses are simple to build and allow you to make much more sophisticated sentences. So take advantage of them! |
| Greg: In lesson 6, we learned that ‘ne (verb)...pas’ means “not”. |
| Mailys: ‘Ne’ comes before the verb, and ‘pas’ comes right after. |
| Greg: However, other words can replace ‘pas’ in this kind of structure. |
| Mailys: In this lesson, Jacques writes ‘elle ne me parle plus’, which means “she doesn't talk to me anymore”. Next up, ‘ne (verb)... plus’ means “not (verb)... anymore”. |
| Greg: Here are some examples. |
| Mailys: Vous ne travaillez plus ici? |
| Greg: You don't work here anymore? |
| Mailys: Il ne mange plus de viande depuis 5 ans. |
| Greg: He stopped eating meat 5 years ago. |
| Greg: Another example is ‘Ne (verb)... rien’ which means “nothing” or “not (verb)... anything.” |
| Mailys: Je ne cherche rien. |
| Greg: I'm not looking for anything. |
| Greg: And finally, ‘Ne (verb)... jamais’ means “never” or “not (verb)... ever.” |
| Mailys: Elle ne mange jamais de biscuits. |
| Greg: She never eats cookies. |
| Mailys: Ils ne vont jamais au parc. |
| Greg: They never go to the park. |
Outro |
| Greg: And that’s it for this lesson! Join us for the next to find out why Mireille isn't returning Jacques' calls! |
| Mailys: Hmm, I wonder if it's over between them or if she'll call him back! We'll find out soon! À bientôt! |
| Greg: See you soon! |
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