Learn the extremely versatile French verb faire
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Céline: Bonjour, je m'appelle Céline. |
| Alex:Bonjour, je m'appelle Alexandre. |
| Sam: Sam here. OMG. |
| Alex:What is O-M-G? |
| Sam: It means "Oh my god!" or some people say "Oh my gosh." Like when they're surprised. |
| Alex:Ok. Should it be O-M-D? |
| Céline: Ah! “Oh mon Dieu” in French. |
| Sam: Do you really say that? |
| Céline: What? |
| Sam: OMD? |
| Céline: No, we say “oh mon Dieu”. |
| Sam: Well, isn't that blasphemous? |
| Céline: If you're religious, but as Catholicism is losing popularity in France, it's widely used in everyday conversation, Sam. |
| Alex:C’est un peu triste, mais l’église catholique a beaucoup de choses à nous offrir. |
| Sam: That's a bit sad, because the Catholic Church has many things to offer. |
| Céline: Like what? |
| Alex:That's Sam's job. |
| Céline: Oh, D'accord. |
| Sam: Yeah, I always ask why. But anyway, OMD, that's Céline's catch phrase. Let's discover why and who was surprised in today's conversation. Julie and Bruno are talking about some incredible news. |
| Céline:I'll be Julie, and Alex will be Bruno. C'est parti. |
| Sam:Let’s go! |
| DIALOGUE |
| Céline: Tu as regardé le journal ? |
| Alex:Non ? |
| Céline:Quelqu’un a acheté la tour Eiffel ! |
| Alex:Oh mon Dieu c’est possible ? |
| Céline:Non, en fait un particulier a payé 280 000 euros pour un morceau d’escalier de la tour Eiffel. |
| Alex: 280 000 euros, bonjour les taxes et les impôts ! |
| Sam: One more time, with the English. |
| Céline: Encore une fois, avec l’anglais. |
| Céline: Tu as regardé le journal ? |
| Sam:Did you watch the news on TV? |
| Alex:Non ? |
| Sam:No. |
| CÉLINE: Quelqu’un a acheté la tour Eiffel ! |
| Sam:Someone bought the Eiffel Tower! |
| Alex:Oh mon Dieu, c’est possible ? |
| Sam:Oh my god, that's possible? |
| Céline:En fait un particulier a payé 280 000 euros pour un morceau d’escalier de la tour Eiffel. |
| Sam:No, in fact, an individual paid 280 thousand euros for a flight of stairs from the Eiffel tower. |
| Alex: 280 000 euros, bonjour les taxes et les impôts ! |
| Sam:280 thousand euros? Hello, taxes! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Sam:That sounds crazy! Buying the Eiffel Tower? |
| Céline:Oui. |
| Alex:Oui c’est complètement fou. Tu penses qu’on peut tout acheter? |
| Céline: Je ne sais pas. Sam, tu penses qu’on peut tout acheter? |
| Sam: Well, I think you can buy anything, but I think it's a little bit strange to buy things like the Eiffel Tower. |
| Céline: Je pense aussi oui. |
| Sam:Well, you know, in America you can buy anything. People buy the Brooklyn Bridge every day. |
| Céline: Ah bon? |
| Sam:Yeah, really! |
| Céline: N’importe quoi! |
| Sam: No, no. |
| Céline: Tu crois Alex? |
| Alex:Oui ben je ne sais pas qu’ils en font. |
| Sam: You think the people that do it are foolish? Why? Maybe it's cheap to buy. |
| Céline: Je ne sais pas. |
| Sam: Maybe you can put it on layaway. |
| Céline: We can put it what? |
| Sam: Do you know layaway? |
| Céline: No, je ne sais pas. |
| Sam: When you go shopping, you can pay a little bit the first time, then over time you can keep paying. |
| Céline: Ah! Crédit? |
| Sam: Well, for broke people, we call it layaway, because you can't take the item until you pay the total amount. |
| Céline: Ah, je comprends. Oui c’est quelque chose comme un crédit. |
| Sam: Hey, Alex. Going back to what you said, you think it's foolish to buy the Brooklyn Bridge? |
| Alex:C’est complètement fou à mon avis! |
| Sam: Pourquoi? |
| Alex:Personnellement, je n’en ai pas besoin. |
| Sam: So you think, personally, it's not a necessity to buy something like the Brooklyn Bridge. Well, in this case it is a bit foolish, because you're just wasting your money buying something like that. Yeah, things like that could also be a scam. Somebody could say, "Do you want to buy a piece of the Brooklyn Bridge?" If you give them cash, you don't know where it will end up. |
| Alex:Yeah, sure. It's like buying stars or planets, you know? You're paying for... |
| Sam: In English, there's a special proverb. "A fool and his money are soon parted." |
| Alex:Oui, qu’est-ce que ça veut dire? |
| Sam: Because if you're foolish with your money, you won't have it very long. Now, let's look at the vocab and phrases from this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Sam: First item? |
| Céline: Regarder. |
| Sam: To watch. |
| Céline: Regarder. Regarder. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Alex:Acheter. |
| Sam: To buy. |
| Alex:Acheter. Acheter. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Céline: Tour. |
| Sam: Tower. |
| Céline: Tour. Tour. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Alex:Possible. |
| Sam: Possible. |
| Alex:Possible. Possible. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Céline: En fait. |
| Sam: In fact. |
| Céline: En fait. En fait. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Alex:Particulier. |
| Sam: Individual. |
| Alex:Particulier. Particulier. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Céline: Payer. |
| Sam: To pay. |
| Céline: Payer. Payer. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Alex:Morceau. |
| Céline: Piece. |
| Alex:Morceau. Morceau. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Céline: Escaliers. |
| Sam: Stairs. |
| Céline: Escaliers. Escaliers. |
| Sam: Next. |
| Alex:Le journal. |
| Sam: Newspaper or television news. |
| Alex:Le journal. Le journal. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Sam: Now let's take a look at the vocabulary and phrases from this lesson. |
| Alex:“Regarder” is the first one. |
| Céline: It means to watch or look at. As for “to see” the verb is “voir”. |
| Sam: Voir is more of a passive action than “regarder”. |
| Céline: Yeah. So after we have one of the girls' favorite “passe-temps”, past time, “acheter”. |
| Alex:Oh! To buy things. Sure. Go “faire du lèche-vitrines” can be enjoyable. |
| Sam: Do what? |
| Céline: Du “lèche-vitrines”. Basically, it's window shopping, except “lèche” means “lick”. |
| Sam: No comment. That sounds...anyway. |
| Céline: French women love to lick the shop windows. |
| Alex:Oh, it's getting wild. Slow your respective roles. Well, anyway, there are certain phrases like “en fait”, meaning “indeed” or “in fact”. |
| Céline: Not to be mixed up with “au fait”, which is “by the way” to change the topic. |
| Sam: En fait. Indeed or in fact. Au fait. By the way. |
| Alex:Très bien. Very good, Sam. |
| Céline: So I remember one of my American friends... |
| Sam: American friends? Both of them? What? You really have American friends? I don't believe you. You're just saying that for the podcast. |
| Céline: N’importe quoi. I do have American friends. |
| Sam: Two? |
| Céline: Yes, I do. I do. And don't cut me off in the middle of my story. So my American friend from the United States of America asked me some day, "Why do you, when you speak English, always say “in fact”?" So it's just because French people use in fact, a lot. En fait je crois que je vais rentrer. |
| Sam: In fact, I'm tired. In fact, I'm going home. |
| Céline: N’est-ce pas Alex? |
| Alex:Oui, en fait, c’est vrai, hein? |
| Sam: That's right, Alex! In fact, it is. |
| Céline: Yes. Next word is “particulier”. |
| Sam: Oh, does that mean particular? |
| Alex:Non, non, non. Pas du tout. Not at all. This is a dangerous “faux amis”. |
| Sam: A dangerous fake friend? |
| Alex:This is a French expression. |
| Céline: Yeah, it looks like “particular”, but “particulier” means “individual”. |
| Sam: Can you explain “particulier”? |
| Alex:You'll find it in the ad section of a magazine or a newspaper. Particulier à particulier. |
| Céline: So if you want to buy something from M. or Mme Martin, that's where you would look. |
| Sam: It's a good way to find good deals. How about le journal? |
| Céline: Le journal refers to the newspaper or the TV news. |
| Alex:For example, je regarde le journal. Je lis le journal. |
| Sam: Which means, "I watch the news," or "I'm watching the news." , Je lis le journal: "I'm reading the newspaper" or "I read the newspaper." |
| Alex:Voilà. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Sam: Now let's get into some grammar. Can we look at...? |
| Alex:You mean the past tense? It is called, le passé composé, in French. |
| Céline: Hang on! I hope you remember your auxiliary verbs, “être” et “avoir”, because “être” et “avoir” are used in this tense. |
| Sam: How do you form the passé composé? |
| Céline: Count your blessings. Today we will only explain the passé composé with “avoir”. |
| Alex:“Le passé composé” has two elements. First, the auxiliary verb, “avoir”, followed by the past participle of the main verb. |
| Sam: An example, please? |
| Céline: Alex a brûlé le repas hier. |
| Sam: Alex burnt the meal yesterday. |
| Alex:Ce n’est pas vrai. It's not true. |
| Céline: Si c’est vrai. |
| Sam: I think so, but it's too late, I guess. Sorry. |
| Céline: So where was I? Ah! Le passé composé with “avoir” and the past participle. In the phrase, il a brûlé le repas, the main verb is brûler, ending with -er in the infinitive form from the first verb group. |
| Alex:To form the past participle of the first group verbs, eliminate -er and add “é” with the “accent aigu”. |
| Sam: What about “avoir”? |
| Céline: Well, the auxiliary is formed as in the “présent de l’indicatif”. |
| Sam: Ah, ok. |
| Alex:To sum things up, conjugate “avoir” in the present with the corresponding past participle. Don't forget the “accent aigu” over the “e” in the past participle. |
| Sam: Ah. Je comprends. Céline, puis-je poser une question? |
| Céline: Bien sûr! |
| Sam: Qu’est-ce que tu as fait hier? |
| Céline: J’ai mangé le repas brûlé d’Alex. |
| Sam: Ate Alex's burnt meal? |
| Céline: Oui. |
| Alex:Alors aujourd’hui c’est pour ma pomme hein. |
| Céline: Exactement. Et toi Sam, qu’est-ce que tu as fait hier? |
| Sam: J’ai oublié. |
| Céline: Tu étais... soûl? |
| Sam: J’ai mangé le repas d’Alex. |
| Céline: Toi aussi? |
| Sam: Oui, oui, oui. |
| Céline: But I asked “tu étais soûl?” |
| Sam: Oh. Oui, oui. Bien sûr. Yes. I'm a little bit drunk. No not really. But anyway, as you noticed, in the “passé composé” with Céline, I used “tu as”. If you're talking to someone older or someone you're not familiar with, please use “vous avez”. For example, “qu’est-ce que tu as fait hier?”, that's ok with a friend or in a casual situation. If you're talking to an older person or someone you don't know or a group of people, please ask “qu’est-ce que vous avez hier?”. |
| Céline: Qu’est-ce que vous avez fait hier? |
| Sam: Oh désolé. Qu’est-ce que vous avez fait hier? What did you do yesterday? In the “passé composé”, of course. |
| Céline: Bravo Sam. |
Outro |
| Sam: Merci beaucoup. Hey, I think that's a wrap for today. Thanks, guys! |
| Céline: Merci beaucoup! |
| Alex:Merci à tous! Au revoir! A la prochaine! |
| Céline:Merci à tous! A bientôt! |
| Alex:A bientôt! |
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