Learn how properly to discuss your comings and goings using the French verbs, aller, venir, and arriver
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Céline: Bonjour c’est Céline! |
| Christophe: Et moi c’est Christophe! |
| Sam: Sam here. Come and Leave. Hello, my name is Sam, or you can call me Mr. America. |
| Céline: Et moi, je suis Céline. So, what's today's conversation? |
| Sam: Today's conversation takes place during the afternoon between Whiz Alice and Clever Robert. Alice is going to the supermarket and she'd like to know if Robert would like to join her. Shall we start? |
| Céline: Oui! |
| Christophe: Let's go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Céline: Je vais au supermarché. Tu viens avec moi? |
| Sylvain: J’en viens. Je viens juste d’y aller. |
| Céline: Ah, tu viens d’arriver à la maison? |
| Sylvain: Oui, il y a 5 minutes. |
| Céline: Oh je comprends. Alors je pars. |
| Sam: One more time with the English. |
| Céline: Encore une fois avec l’anglais. |
| Céline: Je vais au supermarché. Tu viens avec moi? |
| Sam: I’m going to the supermarket. Are you coming with me? |
| Sylvain: J’en viens. Je viens juste d’y aller. |
| Sam: I just came from there. |
| Céline: Ah, tu viens d’arriver à la maison? |
| Sam: Ah you just got back? |
| Sylvain: Oui, il y a 5 minutes. |
| Sam: Yes, five minutes ago. |
| Céline: Oh je comprends. Alors je pars. |
| Sam: Oh I understand. Then I’ll leave. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Christophe: J’ai une question pour vous en ce qui concerne les supermarchés, Sam et Céline. Est-ce que vous faites souvent les courses? |
| Céline: Moi je fais tout le temps les courses. Tous les jours. Ben comme la plupart des Français. |
| Christophe: Tous les jours? |
| Céline: Ben y a toujours quelque chose à acheter. |
| Sam: Can I ask you guys a question? |
| Christophe: Oui, bien sûr! |
| Céline: Oui! |
| Sam: So in France, when you have a family, for example, the man and the woman, who buys the food? Who cooks? Is it 50/50? Case by case? |
| Christophe: Moi je pense qu’on se partage les tâches. |
| Céline: Yeah, it's 50/50. |
| Sam: 50/50? |
| Christophe: Par exemple, une semaine c’est toi qui vas faire les courses, et une autre semaine… Mmm... ça marche pas tout le temps. |
| Céline: Oh ben attends c’est super carré ça! Ben ça dépend. |
| Sam: La même chose aux Etats-Unis. |
| Céline: Ah bon? |
| Christophe: Ah bon? |
| Sam: Pas vraiment. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Céline: Ok. |
| Sam: Now let's look at some of the vocabulary and phrases from this lesson. The first item is? |
| Christophe: au |
| Sam: 'At' or 'to' followed by a masculine noun. |
| Christophe: au. au. |
| Sam: The next item is? |
| Céline: à la |
| Christophe: 'At' or 'to' followed by a feminine noun. |
| Céline: à la. à la. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Christophe: juste |
| Sam: Just or fair. |
| Christophe: juste. juste. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Céline: aller |
| Sam: To go. |
| Céline: aller. aller. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Christophe: venir |
| Sam: To come. |
| Christophe: venir. venir. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Céline: arriver |
| Sam: To arrive. |
| Céline: arriver. arriver. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Christophe: maison |
| Sam: House. |
| Christophe: maison. maison. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Céline: il y a |
| Sam: Ago. |
| Céline: il y a. il y a. |
| Sam: Next. |
| Christophe: alors |
| Sam: Then. |
| Christophe: alors. alors. |
| Sam: And last word. |
| Céline: supermarché |
| Sam: Supermarket or grocery store. |
| Céline: supermarché. supermarché. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Sam: Now let's look at the usage of some of the vocabulary and words from this lesson. What's our first word? |
| Céline: Le premier mot est “juste”. It has two grammatical functions. |
| Christophe: On les utilise comme adverbe dans notre dialogue. |
| Céline: Oui. Par exemple, Robert dit: Je viens juste d’y aller. Here “juste” modifies the fact that Robert went to the supermarket. The adverb “juste” slightly changes the word meaning by adding that going to the supermarket happened a few minutes ago. Ok, un autre exemple, je viens juste d’arriver. |
| Sam: Is there another usage for “juste”? |
| Christophe: Oui. Bien sûr. Il peut aussi être utilisé en tant qu’adjectif pour décrire… |
| Céline: Fairness. |
| Christophe: Yes, to describe fairness. Par exemple: Le juge est juste. |
| Sam: 'The judge is just' or 'the judge is fair'. |
| Christophe: Oui exactement. Et donc vous pouvez former la négation en disant: Le juge n’est pas juste. |
| Sam: 'The judge isn't fair'. That's some great insight into the word “juste”. |
| Céline: Donc le prochain mot est “arriver”. |
| Christophe: Oui. It is a verb of motion focusing on destination. |
| Sam: It's primarily used to mean 'arrive'. You can also say “j’arrive!”, 'I'm coming!'. |
| Céline: And if it's followed by the preposition “à”, it expresses to succeed as in: Il est arrivé à communiquer . |
| Sam: He succeeded in communicating. |
| Christophe: Par exemple, dans le dialogue, on a la phrase: Tu viens d’arriver à la maison? |
| Sam: You just got home? |
| Céline: C’est ça. And aother example: Tom est grand. Il arrive à mes épaules. Tom is tall. He comes up to my shoulders. It means 'to reach'. |
| Sam: It means to reach, attain, get to or be at a certain level. It can be used figuratively and literally. |
| Céline: Wow, Sam. You're French really improved. |
| Sam: I hope so. |
| Céline: Oui. |
| Christophe: Grâce à nous. |
| Céline: So after there's the sentence “il y a”. |
| Christophe: Ce groupe de mots a différents usages. |
| Sam: Par exemple? |
| Christophe: One is enumerating. For example... |
| Céline: Il y a, there is. Il y a, there are. Same. So it's easy, right? |
| Sam: Very easy. |
| Christophe: Can you give me an example, Sam? For training? |
| Sam: An example? Il y a des jolies filles comme Céline. |
| Céline: Mais vous êtes trop mignons hein, aujourd’hui, hein. Qu’est-ce qui se passe? |
| Sam: There are lots of cute ladies like Céline. |
| Céline: Yeah, in the dialogue, Robert said: Il y a 5 minutes. |
| Sam: There are five minutes. |
| Céline: But in that case, it's not 'there are five minutes.' Five minutes ago. |
| Sam: Ah, that's tricky. |
| Céline: Eh oui. |
| Sam: What if I want to say, for example, I'm taking a test and I look at my watch. "There's five minutes left!"? |
| Céline: Oh, that's totally different. Il me reste 5 minutes. |
| Sam: Oh. |
| Céline: Because 'left' is rester. |
| Sam: Oh, I got it. That's not so difficult. I can remember that. |
| Céline: So “il y a” is just 'there is', 'there are' or 'ago'. |
| Sam: Easy grammar rule. It's a piece of cake. |
| Céline: Oui c’est très facile. |
| Sam: Christophe, how about “alors”? |
| Christophe: “Alors” is commonly used as 'so' or 'then'. It expresses an effect or cause without much stress. Its other English cousin would be 'well' or 'in that case'. |
| Céline: In the dialogue, Alice says: Alors je pars. "Well, I'm leaving." |
| Sam: Interesting. |
| Céline: Oui. |
| Sam: We say the same thing in English, too. Well then, I'm leaving. |
| Christophe: Oui c’est vrai, c’est la même chose. |
| Céline: So another example, Sam. Christophe et moi nous allons au cinéma. Alors tu viens? |
| Sam: Si vous allez voir Indiana Jones, alors je viens. |
| Christophe: Very good, Sam! |
| Sam: Merci beaucoup. So the question was, "Would you like to come to the movies with us?" The response was, "Well, if you're going to see Indiana Jones, I'll come." |
| Céline: Ok. So what's left? |
| Sam: So guys, before we go to the cinema, we need to finish the lesson. Let's move on to the grammar? |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Céline: So, Sam, did you notice any new structure or word in the dialogue? |
| Sam: Yes. “J’en viens”. And, I didn't catch that. What does “en” mean? |
| Christophe: En. |
| Sam: En. What does “en” mean? |
| Christophe: En, like “y” , is a preposition. They indicate places in the dialogue. The preposition “y”, as in previously, refers to a destination or things after verbs followed by the preposition “à”. |
| Céline: “En” is used to avoid repetition in three situations. The first one is to replace a location or place preceded by “de”. |
| Sam: What does “en” refer to in the dialogue? |
| Christophe: It refers to the point of origin of Robert's trip. In other words, the supermarket where he just came from. |
| Sam: Ah! I get it. I get it. |
| Céline: Par exemple: Je viens de la boulangerie. |
| Sam: You just came from the boulangerie. |
| Céline: The second use of “en” est purement grammatical. |
| Sam: The next example refers to quantity with the verb followed by a direct object composed of an indefinite article as “un, une, des”, or a partitive article as “du”, or “d’ ”, “de la”, translated as 'some' or 'any' in English, plus a noun. I think we should practice that. |
| Christophe: Très bonne idée. |
| Sam: Hey, what if I said,: Je vois de la bière. I could also say “j’en bois”. I drink some beer. I drink some. |
| Christophe: Très bon exemple. |
| Céline: Oui. Or with the indefinite article: Tu as des billets de concert. Tu en as. |
| Sam: Ah! So you said, “tu as des billets de concert”. I have some concert tickets. And you said, “tu en as”. I have some. I got it. The second usage of “en”, I think I can explain that. It's used to replace the indirect object of a verb followed by the preposition “de”. Here, the preposition “de” is part of the verb, as in “parler de”, 'talk about', or “se souvenir de”, 'to remember'. The indirect object indicates a thing or concept. |
| Céline: Par exemple? |
| Christophe: Je me souviens de mon enfance. Je m’en souviens. |
| Sam: I remember my childhood. I remember it. So is “en” always placed before the verb? |
| Céline: Oui. Toujours. Always and forever and ever. |
| Sam: Oh, I got it. That's a nice way to wrap things up, huh? Now we can go to the movies. |
| Céline: Oui! |
| Christophe: Ouais! |
Outro |
| Sam: That's it for today's lesson. Venez nous voir. See you next time! |
| Céline: Merci, Sam. Et merci, Christophe. |
| Christophe: Au revoir! Merci, Céline. Merci, Sam. |
| Sam: Merci, guys. See you next time. |
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