Learn how to ask yes or no questions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Greg: Hello everyone, I’m Greg. Talking about Relationships in France. |
| Mailys: Bonjour à vous tous. This is Mailys. In this lesson, we will learn how to ask yes or no questions with ‘est-ce que.’ |
| Greg: Jacques is at home talking with his friend Marcel, whom we first met in lesson 1 and who wants to know everything about Mireille. |
| Mailys: They are using informal French because they are good friends. |
| Greg: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Marcel: Alors Jacques, parle-moi de cette jolie fille ! |
| Jacques: Elle s’appelle Mireille et… |
| Marcel: Est-ce qu’elle est gentille ? Est-ce qu’elle est intéressante ? |
| Jacques: Oui, elle est bien gentille et plutôt intéressante. |
| Marcel: Est-ce que c’est sérieux entre vous deux ? |
| Jacques: Je ne sais pas, mais je pense que je l’aime. |
| Marcel: Oh ! Il l’aime! Et elle, est-ce qu’elle t’aime aussi ? |
| Jacques: Je ne sais pas, mais j’espère que oui. |
| Marcel: Est-ce que tu la revois bientôt ? |
| Jacques: Je la vois dimanche, nous faisons un pique-nique dans un parc. |
| Greg: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Marcel: Alors Jacques, parle-moi de cette jolie fille ! |
| Jacques: Elle s’appelle Mireille et… |
| Marcel: Est-ce qu’elle est gentille ? Est-ce qu’elle est intéressante ? |
| Jacques: Oui, elle est bien gentille et plutôt intéressante. |
| Marcel: Est-ce que c’est sérieux entre vous deux ? |
| Jacques: Je ne sais pas, mais je pense que je l’aime. |
| Marcel: Oh ! Il l’aime! Et elle, est-ce qu’elle t’aime aussi ? |
| Jacques: Je ne sais pas, mais j’espère que oui. |
| Marcel: Est-ce que tu la revois bientôt ? |
| Jacques: Je la vois dimanche, nous faisons un pique-nique dans un parc. |
| Greg: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Marcel: Alors Jacques, parle-moi de cette jolie fille ! |
| Marcel: So, Jacques, tell me about this cute girl! |
| Jacques: Elle s’appelle Mireille et… |
| Jacques: She's called Mireille and… |
| Marcel: Est-ce qu’elle est gentille ? Est-ce qu’elle est intéressante ? |
| Marcel: Is she nice? Is she interesting? |
| Jacques: Oui, elle est bien gentille et plutôt intéressante. |
| Jacques: Yes, she is quite nice and rather interesting. |
| Marcel: Est-ce que c’est sérieux entre vous deux ? |
| Marcel: Is it serious between you two? |
| Jacques: Je ne sais pas, mais je pense que je l’aime. |
| Jacques: I don't know, but I think I love her. |
| Marcel: Oh ! Il l’aime! Et elle, est-ce qu’elle t’aime aussi ? |
| Marcel: Oh! He loves her! And does she also love you? |
| Jacques: Je ne sais pas, mais j’espère que oui. |
| Jacques: I don't know, but I hope so. |
| Marcel: Est-ce que tu la revois bientôt ? |
| Marcel: Are you seeing her again soon? |
| Jacques: Je la vois dimanche, nous faisons un pique-nique dans un parc. |
| Jacques: I'm seeing her Sunday; we're having a picnic in a park |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Greg: In the dialogue, Jacques and Marcel are meeting in a coffee shop, but did you know that one of the first coffee houses, or cafés, in Paris was opened in 1686 by an Italian man? |
| Mailys: That’s right! |
| Greg: He’s also referred to as the Father of Italian Gelato since he refined and helped popularize this dessert. |
| Mailys: The café he opened is called Le Café Procope and it’s still open today. |
| Greg: It’s the oldest restaurant in Paris that is still in operation, and probably the oldest café in the world. |
| Mailys: You can visit it today on rue de l'Ancienne Comédie, in the 6th Arrondissement. Among the many famous people who have visited the café, we have La Fontaine, Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin, Napoleon Bonaparte, Balzac, Victor Hugo and Verlaine. |
| Greg: Listeners, make sure you visit when you go to Paris! Now, let’s move 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: gentil [natural native speed] |
| Greg: nice |
| Mailys: gentil [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: gentil [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: plutôt [natural native speed] |
| Greg: rather |
| Mailys: plutôt [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: plutôt [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: intéressant [natural native speed] |
| Greg: interesting |
| Mailys: intéressant [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: intéressant [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: sérieux [natural native speed] |
| Greg: serious |
| Mailys: sérieux [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: sérieux [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: entre [natural native speed] |
| Greg: between |
| Mailys: entre [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: entre [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: savoir [natural native speed] |
| Greg: to know |
| Mailys: savoir [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: savoir [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: espérer [natural native speed] |
| Greg: to hope |
| Mailys: espérer [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: espérer [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: dimanche [natural native speed] |
| Greg: Sunday |
| Mailys: dimanche [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: dimanche [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: pique-nique [natural native speed] |
| Greg: picnic |
| Mailys: pique-nique [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: pique-nique [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Mailys: voir / revoir [natural native speed] |
| Greg: to see / to see again |
| Mailys: voir / revoir [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mailys: voir / revoir [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. Let’s start with the verb ‘savoir’, “to know”. Here is the conjugation... |
| Mailys: je sais |
| Greg: tu sais |
| Mailys: il sait |
| Greg: nous savons |
| Mailys: vous savez |
| Greg: ils savent |
| Greg: So you can use ‘savoir’ to say “I know” |
| Mailys: je sais |
| Greg: or “I don’t know” |
| Mailys: je ne sais pas |
| Greg: We also use ‘savoir’ with a complete clause introduced by ‘que’, “that”. |
| Mailys: Je sais qu'elle est ici |
| Greg: I know that she is here. |
| Mailys: Je sais que tu parles chinois. |
| Greg: I know that you speak Chinese. |
| Greg: Let’s now look at the verb ‘voir’ meaning “to see” and ‘revoir’, “to see again”. Here is the conjugation for ‘voir’. To conjugate ‘revoir’, simply add ‘re-’ to ‘voir’. |
| Mailys: je vois |
| Greg: tu vois |
| Mailys: il voit |
| Greg: nous voyons |
| Mailys: vous voyez |
| Greg: ils voient |
| Greg: Here are a few examples... |
| Mailys: Marcel voit Jacques dans un café dimanche. |
| Greg: Marcel is seeing Jacques in a café Sunday. |
| Mailys: Ah, je vois! |
| Greg: Ah, I see! |
| Mailys: Est-ce que tu vois la fille là-bas? |
| Greg: Do you see the girl over there? |
| Mailys: ‘Revoir’ means “to see again”. It’s used in ‘au revoir’, meaning “see you again” or “goodbye”. |
| Greg: ‘Re-’ is a commonly used prefix meaning “again” or “back”. In the dialogue, Marcel asks Jacques... |
| Mailys: ‘Est-ce que tu la revois bientôt?’ “Are you seeing her again soon?” |
| Greg: Let’s now look at days of the week. In this lesson’s dialogue, we introduced the word ‘dimanche,’ meaning “Sunday”. Notice how it starts with ‘di-’. You’ll see that all other days end in ‘-di’. |
| Mailys: Dimanche |
| Greg: Sunday |
| Mailys: Lundi |
| Greg: Monday |
| Mailys: Mardi |
| Greg: Tuesday |
| Mailys: Mercredi |
| Greg: Wednesday |
| Mailys: Jeudi |
| Greg: Thursday |
| Mailys: Vendredi |
| Greg: Friday |
| Mailys: Samedi |
| Greg: Saturday |
| Greg: All days of the week are masculine, and in French, the week always starts on Sunday. And don’t forget -- in French, the words for the days of the week or for the months don’t use a capital letter! |
| Mailys: Now let’s go to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Greg: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to make yes or no questions using ‘est-ce que.’ |
| Mailys: We learned before that you can ask simple yes or no questions in French by raising the intonation at the end. |
| Greg: However, the proper way to ask a yes or no question is to put ‘est-ce que’ before the subject-verb structure. If the subject starts with a vowel, ‘que’ will become qu’ … which is q-u plus an apostrophe. |
| Mailys: The answer to this kind of question will have to be yes or no. Here are some examples |
| Mailys: Est-ce qu’elle est gentille? (“is she nice?”) === Oui, elle est très gentille. (Yes, she’s very nice.) |
| Mailys: Est-ce que tu sais? (“do you know?”) === Oui, je sais! (Yes, I know!) |
| Mailys: Est-ce que la pizza est bonne? (“is the pizza good?”) === Non, elle n’est pas bonne. (No, the pizza is not good.) |
| Greg: In order to avoid repeating a noun when we answer a question, we use pronouns. You already know subject pronouns ‘il/ils’ and ‘elle/elles’. |
| Mailys: In this lesson, we will look at the object pronouns ‘le’, ‘la’ and ‘les’. They are easy to remember because they look the same as the articles ‘le’, ‘la’, ‘les’. |
| Greg: To answer ‘est-ce que tu vois l’océan?’, meaning [Can you see the ocean?] you can say ‘oui, je vois l’ocean’, but it's a little repetitive. |
| Mailys: to avoid repeating ‘l’ocean, you can replace it with the pronoun ‘le’ and place it immediately before the verb -- ‘oui, je le vois’ |
| Greg: “yes, I see it” |
| Mailys: non, je ne le vois pas, |
| Greg: means “no I don’t see it.” |
| Mailys: Je le vois, je ne le vois pas. which means “I see it, I don’t see it” |
| Greg: In the next examples, I will ask a question and Mailys: will answer both yes and no, using object pronouns. |
| Greg: Est-ce que tu regardes le film? (Are you watching the movie?) |
| Mailys: Oui, je le regarde (yes, I’m watching it) / Non, je ne le regarde pas. (No, Im not watching it) |
| Greg: Est-ce que le garçon recommande les spaghettis? (Does the waiter recommend the spagetti?) |
| Mailys: Oui, il les recommande (Yes, he recommends it) / Non, il ne les recommande pas. (No, he doesn’t recommend it.) |
| Greg: When the noun is feminine, ‘la’ is used.(quand le nom est feminin, on utilise « la » |
| Mailys: Est-ce que vous mangez la pizza? (Do you eat the pizza?) |
| Greg: Oui, nous la mangeons. (Yes, we eat it) / Non, nous ne la mangeons pas.(No, we don’t eat it) |
| Greg: When the verb starts with a vowel, ‘le’ and ‘la’ become l’, l plus an apostrophe. ‘Est-ce que tu aimes le café?’ Do you like the coffee?) |
| Mailys: Oui, je l’aime / Non, je ne l’aime pas. (Yes, I like it) |
| Greg: Est-ce qu’il aime Mireille?(Does he like Mireille?) |
| Mailys: Oui, il l’aime (Yes, he likes her) / Non, il ne l’aime pas.(No , he doesn't like her) |
| Greg: Finally, in the plural, we use ‘les’. If the verb starts with a vowel, there will be a liaison. ‘Est-ce que tu aimes les biscuits?’ Do you like the cookies? ) |
| Mailys: Oui, je les aime beaucoup (Yes, I like them a lot)/ Non, je ne les aime pas.(No, I don’t like them.) |
| Greg: Est-ce que Jacques voit souvent Marcel et Mireille?(Does Jacques see Marcel and Mireille often?) |
| Mailys: Oui, il les voit souvent. (Yes, he sees them often) / Non, il ne les voit pas souvent.(No, he doesn’t see them often.) |
Outro |
| Greg: Ok, that’s it for this lesson! Join us for lesson 9 to find out more about Jacques and Mireille’s picnic date! |
| Mailys: So it’s a date for us too! À bientôt! |
| Greg: See you soon! |
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