Learn about the French pronoun y
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Greg: Hello everyone, I’m Greg. Meeting The French In-laws, Part 2. |
| Mailys: Bonjour tout le monde. This is Mailys. In this lesson, we will learn about the pronoun ‘y’, which means “there”. |
| Greg: Jacques is meeting Mireille’s parents for the first time because they’ve both been invited for supper. Jacques will be using formal French when addressing Mireille’s parents, but all other speakers are using informal French. This is the second part of the dialogue. At the end of the first part, everyone was trying out Mireille's father's home-made wine. |
| Mailys: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Mireille, Aline et Serge: Santé ! |
| Mireille: Ah, oui, c'est vraiment ton meilleur cette année ! |
| Aline: Il est bien meilleur que celui du marché ! |
| Serge: Tu peux en prendre une bouteille si tu veux ! |
| Jacques: Eheum... Je suis désolé, mais je dois y aller... |
| Mireille: Tu pars avant le dessert de maman !? |
| Jacques: Je suis vraiment désolé, mais il est déjà tard et je travaille très, très tôt demain matin, alors... |
| Mireille: Ah non, tu vas rester encore un peu, quand même... |
| Serge: Laisse-le Mireille, il a raison. Le travail, c'est important ! Et il dit qu'il doit y être très tôt; nous comprenons très bien, Jacques ! |
| Aline: Qu'est-ce que tu fais comme travail ? |
| Jacques: Eh bien, euh... j'ai beaucoup de responsabilités, euh... je travaille de longues heures et ... et des centaines de personnes ont besoin de moi chaque jour. |
| Aline: Ah ben dis donc, tu as l'air de faire un travail très important ! |
| Mireille: Il est concierge, maman. |
| Aline: Ah... je vois... |
| Greg: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Mireille, Aline et Serge: Santé ! |
| Mireille: Ah, oui, c'est vraiment ton meilleur cette année ! |
| Aline: Il est bien meilleur que celui du marché ! |
| Serge: Tu peux en prendre une bouteille si tu veux ! |
| Jacques: Eheum... Je suis désolé, mais je dois y aller... |
| Mireille: Tu pars avant le dessert de maman !? |
| Jacques: Je suis vraiment désolé, mais il est déjà tard et je travaille très, très tôt demain matin, alors... |
| Mireille: Ah non, tu vas rester encore un peu, quand même... |
| Serge: Laisse-le Mireille, il a raison. Le travail, c'est important ! Et il dit qu'il doit y être très tôt; nous comprenons très bien, Jacques ! |
| Aline: Qu'est-ce que tu fais comme travail ? |
| Jacques: Eh bien, euh... j'ai beaucoup de responsabilités, euh... je travaille de longues heures et ... et des centaines de personnes ont besoin de moi chaque jour. |
| Aline: Ah ben dis donc, tu as l'air de faire un travail très important ! |
| Mireille: Il est concierge, maman. |
| Aline: Ah... je vois... |
| Greg: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Mireille, Aline et Serge: Santé ! |
| Mireille, Aline, and Serge: Cheers! |
| Mireille: Ah, oui, c'est vraiment ton meilleur cette année ! |
| Mireille: Oh, yes, it really is your best one this year! |
| Aline: Il est bien meilleur que celui du marché ! |
| Aline: It's much better than the one from the market! |
| Serge: Tu peux en prendre une bouteille si tu veux ! |
| Serge: You can have a bottle if you want! |
| Jacques: Eheum... Je suis désolé, mais je dois y aller... |
| Jacques: Ahem... I'm sorry, but I have to go... |
| Mireille: Tu pars avant le dessert de maman !? |
| Mireille: You're leaving before mom's dessert? |
| Jacques: Je suis vraiment désolé, mais il est déjà tard et je travaille très, très tôt demain matin, alors... |
| Jacques: I'm really sorry, but it's already quite late, and I work very, very early tomorrow morning, so... |
| Mireille: Ah non, tu vas rester encore un peu, quand même... |
| Mireille: Oh no, you'll stay a bit longer, won't you... |
| Serge: Laisse-le Mireille, il a raison. Le travail, c'est important ! Et il dit qu'il doit y être très tôt; nous comprenons très bien, Jacques ! |
| Serge: Let him be, Mireille. He's right, work is important! And he says he has to be there very early; we understand very well, Jacques! |
| Aline: Qu'est-ce que tu fais comme travail ? |
| Aline: What kind of work do you do? |
| Jacques: Eh bien, euh... j'ai beaucoup de responsabilités, euh... je travaille de longues heures et ... et des centaines de personnes ont besoin de moi chaque jour. |
| Jacques: Well, hmm... I have a lot of responsibilities, I work long hours and...and hundreds of people need me every day. |
| Aline: Ah ben dis donc, tu as l'air de faire un travail très important ! |
| Aline: Well, you seem to have a very important job! |
| Mireille: Il est concierge, maman. |
| Mireille: He's a janitor, mom. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Greg: Jacques was trying to convince Mireille's parents that he had an important job, but did you know that the average work week in France is 35 hours and that full-time workers are guaranteed 5 full weeks of holidays per year? This is impressive compared to the 2 weeks workers in many countries receive. |
| Mailys: And it's not uncommon for people to have 6 or even 8 weeks of holidays. |
| Greg: Since their health care and education are mostly free, the French seem to care more about their holidays than about money. Still, the workforce is productive and qualified, which is why many countries, including the US, continue to invest in the French economy. |
| Mailys: Listener, how many weeks of holidays do workers get in your country? Leave us a comment! Ok, now let’s go 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: année [natural native speed] |
| Greg: year |
| Mailys: année [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: année [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: demain [natural native speed] |
| Greg: tomorrow |
| Mailys: demain [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: demain [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: matin [natural native speed] |
| Greg: morning |
| Mailys: matin [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: matin [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: rester [natural native speed] |
| Greg: to stay |
| Mailys: rester [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: rester [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: quand même [natural native speed] |
| Greg: anyway |
| Mailys: quand même [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: quand même [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: centaine [natural native speed] |
| Greg: about a hundred, hundredsome |
| Mailys: centaine [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: centaine [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: personne [natural native speed] |
| Greg: person |
| Mailys: personne [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: personne [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: chaque [natural native speed] |
| Greg: each |
| Mailys: chaque [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: chaque [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: jour [natural native speed] |
| Greg: day |
| Mailys: jour [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: jour [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. What’s first? |
| Mailys: ‘Quand même’ means “anyway”, “still” or “all the same”. |
| Greg: There is no exact English equivalent, so please look at the following examples and listen to the lesson for the proper intonation. |
| Mailys: Je ne comprends pas bien l'anglais, mais je veux quand même voir le film. |
| Greg: I don't understand English very well, but I want to see the movie anyway. |
| Mailys: Tu vas rester un peu, quand même... |
| Greg: You'll be staying a bit, right? |
| Mailys: Ce n'est pas excellent, mais c'est quand même bien. |
| Greg: It's not excellent, but it's still alright. |
| Greg: Next we have ‘Rester’ which means “to stay”. It can also mean “to remain” or "... is left". |
| Mailys: Reste ici, je vais chercher la voiture. |
| Greg: Stay here, I'll get the car. |
| Mailys: Il reste 3 livres; tu en veux un? |
| Greg: There are three books left; you want one? |
| Greg: ‘Chaque’ means “each” or “every”. It must be followed by a noun. |
| Mailys: Pendant l'été, je lis un livre chaque jour. |
| Greg: During the summer, I read a book every day. |
| Greg: If each is used without a noun, such as in expressions like "one each" or "each of you", then the form ‘chacun’ or ‘chacune’ must be used instead. |
| Mailys: J'ai un biscuit pour chacun de vous. |
| Greg: I have a cookie for each of you. |
| Mailys: Elle nous offre un biscuit chacun. |
| Greg: She's offering us one cookie each. |
| Greg: The adjectives ‘important’ and ‘long’ are introduced in this lesson and this offers a good opportunity to revisit the pronunciation of adjectives ending in a consonant. |
| Mailys: Remember that in the masculine form, the last consonant -- ‘t’ in ‘important’ or ‘g’ in ‘long’ -- are silent. |
| Greg: However, in the feminine form, a silent ‘e’ is added in the writing, and the consonant before it is pronounced. |
| Mailys: So we get ‘importante’ and ‘longue’. |
| Greg: Note that ‘long’ becomes ‘longue’ in the feminine (‘u’ is added to keep the hard g sound). Ok, now let’s go to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Mailys: The focus of this lesson is the pronoun ‘y.’ |
| Greg: After learning about direct and indirect object pronouns, we learned about ‘en’, which replaces noun phrases introduced by the preposition ‘de’. |
| Mailys: There is now only one pronoun left to learn - ‘y’. You already saw this word in the expression ‘il y a’ meaning “there is”. |
| Greg: ‘Y’ is used to replaced a noun phrase introduced by the preposition ‘à’. |
| Mailys: Ils ont des amis à Paris |
| Greg: “They have friends in Paris” becomes |
| Mailys: Ils y ont des amis |
| Greg: They have friends there |
| Mailys: Allez-vous souvent au café? |
| Greg: “Do you often go to the café?” becomes |
| Mailys: Y allez-vous souvent? |
| Greg: Do you often go there? |
| Greg: Since ‘y’ is considered a vowel in French, elision occurs before it. |
| Mailys: Je travaille à la pâtisserie le soir |
| Greg: “I work at the pastry shop evenings” becomes |
| Mailys: J'y travaille le soir |
| Greg: I work there evenings |
| Greg: Liaison also occurs. |
| Mailys: Nous allons au parc |
| Greg: “We are going to the park” becomes |
| Mailys: Nous y allons |
| Greg: We are going there |
| Mailys: Vous regardez un film au cinéma |
| Greg: “You are watching a movie at the theater” becomes |
| Mailys: Vous y regardez un film |
| Greg: You are watching a movie there |
| Greg: The pronoun ‘y’ is also used to replace a noun phrase that's a location, even when it isn't introduced by ‘à’. |
| Mailys: Il travaille beaucoup dans son bureau |
| Greg: “He works a lot in his office” becomes |
| Mailys: Il y travaille beaucoup |
| Greg: He works there a lot |
| Mailys: Ils mangent souvent sur la terrasse |
| Greg: “They often eat on the terrace” becomes |
| Mailys: Ils y mangent souvent |
| Greg: They often eat there. |
| Greg: We've mentioned before that the requirements of French verbs often differ from those of English verbs. ‘Aller’ is one such verb - it always requires a noun phrase starting with ‘à’, or the pronoun ‘y’. Look at the following examples- |
| Mailys: Allons au parc |
| Greg: “Let's go to the park” becomes |
| Mailys: Allons-y |
| Greg: Let's go |
| Mailys: Quand vas-tu au restaurant? J'y vais ce soir |
| Greg: When are you going to the restaurant? I'm going tonight. |
| Greg: Note that ‘y’ cannot refer to a person. If a noun phrase starts with ‘à’ and introduces a person, you will need to use indirect object pronouns, as explained in lesson 15. |
| Mailys: Il offre un café à son amie |
| Greg: “He offers coffee to his friend” becomes |
| Mailys: Il lui offre un café |
| Greg: He offers her coffee |
Outro |
| Greg: And that’s it for this lesson! Join us for lesson 23 to find out what Mireille's parents thought of Jacques! |
| Mailys: Uh oh... I hope it's good! À bientôt! |
| Greg: See you soon! |
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