Learn about using the French verbs venir and aller to express near the past or near future actions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Greg: Hello everyone, I’m Greg. Meeting The In-laws in France, Part 1. |
| Mailys: Bonjour tout le monde. This is Mailys. In this lesson, we will learn how to use ‘venir’ and ‘aller’ to express near past or near future actions. |
| Greg: Jacques is meeting Mireille’s parents for the first time because they are both invited for supper. |
| Mailys: Jacques will be using formal French when addressing Mireille’s parents, but all other speakers are using informal French. |
| Greg: This is the first of two parts. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Aline: Bonjour vous deux, entrez, entrez ! |
| Mireille: Salut maman ! Je te présente Jacques; Jacques voici ma mère, Aline. |
| Aline: Bonjour Jacques ! |
| Jacques: Enchanté de faire votre connaissance, madame. Je vous offre des chocolats. |
| Mireille: Ah, salut papa ! |
| Serge: Allô ma fille ! Alors, c’est qui ce garçon ? Tu nous présentes ? |
| Mireille: Ah, oui, c’est Jacques, mon nouveau copain. Jacques, c’est mon père, Serge. |
| Serge: Bonjour, mon garçon. Bienvenue chez nous. |
| Aline: C’est l’heure de passer à table, le dîner est prêt ! |
| Aline : Tu veux encore du bœuf, Jacques ? |
| Jacques : Ah oui, s’il-vous-plaît, c’est vraiment délicieux ! |
| Aline : Donne-moi ton assiette, je vais aller t’en chercher à la cuisine… Voilà ! |
| Jacques : Merci, madame. Ça sent si bon ! |
| Aline : Je te sers un peu de vin, Jacques ? |
| Jacques : Euh, non merci, je… je ne bois pas de vin. |
| Aline : Ah bon, tu ne sais pas ce que tu manques, c’est le vin de Serge. Et toi, Mireille ? |
| Mireille : Bien sûr, je ne dis jamais non au vin rouge de papa. |
| Serge : Je viens d’en faire 10 bouteilles et c’est mon meilleur jusqu’à maintenant, vous allez voir ! |
| Mireille, Aline et Serge : Santé ! |
| Greg: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Aline: Bonjour vous deux, entrez, entrez ! |
| Mireille: Salut maman ! Je te présente Jacques; Jacques voici ma mère, Aline. |
| Aline: Bonjour Jacques ! |
| Jacques: Enchanté de faire votre connaissance, madame. Je vous offre des chocolats. |
| Mireille: Ah, salut papa ! |
| Serge: Allô ma fille ! Alors, c’est qui ce garçon ? Tu nous présentes ? |
| Mireille: Ah, oui, c’est Jacques, mon nouveau copain. Jacques, c’est mon père, Serge. |
| Serge: Bonjour, mon garçon. Bienvenue chez nous. |
| Aline: C’est l’heure de passer à table, le dîner est prêt ! |
| Aline : Tu veux encore du bœuf, Jacques ? |
| Jacques : Ah oui, s’il-vous-plaît, c’est vraiment délicieux ! |
| Aline : Donne-moi ton assiette, je vais aller t’en chercher à la cuisine… Voilà ! |
| Jacques : Merci, madame. Ça sent si bon ! |
| Aline : Je te sers un peu de vin, Jacques ? |
| Jacques : Euh, non merci, je… je ne bois pas de vin. |
| Aline : Ah bon, tu ne sais pas ce que tu manques, c’est le vin de Serge. Et toi, Mireille ? |
| Mireille : Bien sûr, je ne dis jamais non au vin rouge de papa. |
| Serge : Je viens d’en faire 10 bouteilles et c’est mon meilleur jusqu’à maintenant, vous allez voir ! |
| Mireille, Aline et Serge : Santé ! |
| Greg: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Aline: Bonjour vous deux, entrez, entrez ! |
| Aline: Hello, you two, come in! |
| Mireille: Salut maman ! Je te présente Jacques; Jacques voici ma mère, Aline. |
| Mireille: Hi, Mom! This is Jacques; Jacques, this is my mom, Aline. |
| Aline: Bonjour Jacques ! |
| Aline: Hi, Jacques! |
| Jacques: Enchanté de faire votre connaissance, madame. Je vous offre des chocolats. |
| Jacques: It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am. Here are some chocolates. |
| Mireille: Ah, salut papa ! |
| Mireille: Oh, hi, Dad! |
| Serge: Allô ma fille ! Alors, c’est qui ce garçon ? Tu nous présentes ? |
| Serge: Hello, my girl! So, who is this boy? Won't you introduce us? |
| Mireille: Ah, oui, c’est Jacques, mon nouveau copain. Jacques, c’est mon père, Serge. |
| Mireille: Ah, yes, this is Jacques, my new boyfriend. Jacques, this is my dad, Serge. |
| Serge: Bonjour, mon garçon. Bienvenue chez nous. |
| Serge: Hello, son. Welcome to our house. |
| Aline: C’est l’heure de passer à table, le dîner est prêt ! |
| Aline: It's time to come to the table, dinner's ready! |
| Aline: Tu veux encore du bœuf, Jacques ? |
| Aline: Do you want more beef, Jacques? |
| Jacques: Ah oui, s’il-vous-plaît, c’est vraiment délicieux ! |
| Jacques: Oh yes, please, it's really delicious! |
| Aline: Donne-moi ton assiette, je vais aller t’en chercher à la cuisine… Voilà ! |
| Aline: Give me your plate, I'll go get you some in the kitchen… Here you go! |
| Jacques: Merci, madame. Ça sent si bon ! |
| Jacques: Thank you, ma'am. It smells so nice! |
| Aline: Je te sers un peu de vin, Jacques ? |
| Aline: Shall I pour you some wine, Jacques? |
| Jacques: Euh, non merci, je… je ne bois pas de vin. |
| Jacques: Hmm, no thanks, I… I don't drink wine. |
| Aline: Ah bon, tu ne sais pas ce que tu manques, c’est le vin de Serge. Et toi, Mireille ? |
| Aline: Oh, you don't know what you're missing, it's Serge's wine. How about you, Mireille? |
| Mireille: Bien sûr, je ne dis jamais non au vin rouge de papa. |
| Mireille: Of course, I never say no to Dad's red wine. |
| Serge: Je viens d’en faire 10 bouteilles et c’est mon meilleur jusqu’à maintenant, vous allez voir ! |
| Serge: I just made ten bottles, and it's my best so far, you'll see! |
| Mireille, Aline et Serge: Santé ! |
| Mireille and Aline: Cheers! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Greg: Mireille's mother offered her guests beef. You may have noticed that the French word for beef was very similar - ‘bœuf’. The reason is that the names of many types of meat originally come from French. |
| Mailys: “Beef” is from ‘bœuf.’ “Veal” is from ‘veau’ and “pork” is from ‘porc’. In French, ‘bœuf’ is both the meat and the animal because we don't use different words for the meat and the animal it comes from. |
| Greg: By the way, how can we compliment our host if we are invited for a meal? |
| Mailys: The most simple phrase you can use, which applies to virtually everything, is ‘c'est délicieux’, meaning “it's delicious”, or ‘c'est vraiment délicieux’. |
| Greg: You can also praise the cook's skills by saying ‘vous êtes une excellente cuisinière’ meaning “you're an excellent cook” -- if the cook is a man, you can say ‘vous êtes un excellent cuisinier’. |
| Mailys: After the meal, you can also say ‘le repas était vraiment délicieux’ meaning “the meal was really delicious”. Now let’s move on to the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Greg: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Mailys: nouveau (m) [natural native speed] |
| Greg: new (masculine) |
| Mailys: nouveau (m) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: nouveau (m) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: nouvelle (f) [natural native speed] |
| Greg: new (feminine) |
| Mailys: nouvelle (f) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: nouvelle (f) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: copain [natural native speed] |
| Greg: male friend, boyfriend |
| Mailys: copain [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: copain [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: passer à [natural native speed] |
| Greg: to move over to, switch over to |
| Mailys: passer à [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: passer à [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: aller chercher [natural native speed] |
| Greg: to go get, to pick up |
| Mailys: aller chercher [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: aller chercher [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: sentir [natural native speed] |
| Greg: to feel, to smell |
| Mailys: sentir [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: sentir [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: manquer [natural native speed] |
| Greg: to miss, to lack |
| Mailys: manquer [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: manquer [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: jamais [natural native speed] |
| Greg: never |
| Mailys: jamais [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: jamais [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: jusqu’à [natural native speed] |
| Greg: until, up to |
| Mailys: jusqu’à [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: jusqu’à [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: boire [natural native speed] |
| Greg: to drink |
| Mailys: boire [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: boire [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Greg: Let’s take a closer look at some of this lesson's vocabulary. |
| Mailys: ‘Aller chercher’ means “to go get” or “pick up something or someone”. |
| Greg: It's a verb phrase made up of the ‘aller’ meaning “to go”, and ‘chercher’, meaning “to look for”, although its meaning has nothing to do with looking for. |
| Mailys: You can also use ‘venir chercher,’ meaning “to come get something or someone”. |
| Mailys: Il va chercher du café à 8 heures tous les matins. |
| Greg: He goes to get coffee at 8 every morning. |
| Mailys: Papa, peux-tu venir me chercher? |
| Greg: Daddy, can you come pick me up? |
| Greg: ‘Sentir’ means “to smell or feel something”. Listen to the irregular conjugation, then listen to the examples. |
| je sens |
| tu sens |
| il sent |
| nous sentons |
| vous sentez |
| ils sentent |
| Mailys: Ça sent le bon pain. |
| Greg: It smells like nice bread. |
| Mailys: Je sens le vent dans mes cheveux. |
| Greg: I feel the wind in my hair. |
| Greg: When the meaning refers to how the subject feels, the verb is reflexive ‘se sentir’. |
| Mailys: Je me sens très bien aujourd'hui. |
| Greg: I feel very good today. |
| Mailys: Si tu te sens malade, va à la maison. |
| Greg: If you feel sick, go home. |
| Greg: ‘Boire’ means “to drink” and it's an irregular verb. Here is the conjugation. |
| je bois |
| tu bois |
| il boit |
| nous buvons |
| vous buvez |
| ils boivent |
| Mailys: Il boit trop de bière. |
| Greg: He drinks too much beer. |
| Greg: ‘Jusqu'à’ means “until”. |
| Mailys: Since French doesn't distinguish between “at” and “to”, we often use ‘jusqu'à’ instead of ‘à’. |
| Greg: Note that the preposition ‘à’ will change to ‘au’, a-u, in the masculine and ‘aux’, a-u-x, in the plural. |
| Mailys: Je vais marcher jusqu'au parc, puis prendre le bus. |
| Greg: I will walk to the park, then take the bus. |
| Mailys: D'ici jusqu'au parc, c'est deux kilomètres. |
| Greg: “From here to the park, it's 2 kilometres.” Ok, now let’s move on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Mailys: The focus of this lesson is using ‘venir’ and ‘aller’ to express near past and near future actions. |
| Greg: To express that someone just did something, you can use the construction ‘venir de’ + infinitive verb. |
| Mailys: Even though ‘venir’ is conjugated in the present tense, it still refers to something that was just done in the very near past. |
| Mailys: Elle vient d'arriver chez elle. |
| Greg: She just arrived home. |
| Mailys: Le voisin vient d'acheter une voiture. |
| Greg: The neighbor just bought a car. |
| Mailys: Non merci, je viens juste de manger. |
| Greg: No thanks, I just ate. |
| Greg: It's important to remember to use the preposition ‘de’. |
| Mailys: If you say ‘je viens manger’ instead of ‘je viens de manger’, it means “I'm coming to eat.” |
| Greg: Compare the following pairs of sentences- |
| Mailys: Nous venons étudier dans le parc. |
| Greg: We come to study in the park. |
| Mailys: Nous venons d'étudier dans le parc. |
| Greg: We just studied in the park. |
| Mailys: Elle vient faire un film dans notre ville. |
| Greg: She's coming to make a movie in our city. |
| Mailys: Elle vient de faire un film dans notre ville. |
| Greg: She just made a movie in our city. |
| Greg: To express an event occurring in the near future, you can use the construction ‘aller +’ infinitive verb. |
| Mailys: This is very similar to the English construction “going to”. |
| Mailys: Nous allons manger dans 15 minutes. |
| Greg: We are going to eat in 15 minutes. |
| Mailys: Le film va commencer très bientôt. |
| Greg: The movie will start very soon. |
| Greg: You can also use this structure in the negative. |
| Mailys: Si je le vois, je ne vais pas lui parler. |
| Greg: If I see him, I won't talk to him. |
| Mailys: Il ne va pas m'aider, c'est sûr. |
| Greg: He won't help me for sure. |
Outro |
| Greg: And that’s it for this lesson! Join us for lesson 22, the second part of this lesson's dialogue, to find out how Jacques' meeting with Mireille's parents is going to end! |
| Mailys: I hope it goes well for him. It must be stressful! À bientôt! |
| Greg: See you soon! |
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