Learn about the origins and usages of the French expressions, Zut and Mince
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Céline: Bonjour! Je m'appelle Céline. |
| Alex: Bonjour. Je m'appelle Alexandre. |
| Sam: Sam here. Guess. Hi, my name is Sam and I'm joined here by... |
| Alex: Céline. |
| Céline: Oui. Bonjour. Et Alex. Alors, qu’est-ce qui se passe aujourd’hui Sam? |
| Sam: Rien pourquoi? |
| Céline: Mais non, dans la leçon. |
| Sam: Ah, pardon. Daniel and Rémi are playing a guessing game. |
| Alex: Yes, and Sylvain will be Daniel. |
| Céline: And Christophe will be Rémi. Vous êtes prêts? |
| Alex: Oui on est prêts! |
| Sam: Let's go! |
| DIALOGUE |
| Christophe: Devine! C’est un objet que tu regardes. |
| Sylvain: Un ordinateur? |
| Christophe: Non, c’est un objet qui peut être écouté. |
| Sylvain: Heu, un disque vinyle? |
| Christophe: Non, c’est un objet qui est petit. |
| Sylvain: Zut, hmmmmm… un appareil photo digital? |
| Christophe: Non, c’est un objet que tu emportes. |
| Sylvain: Eurêka, je sais! C’est un ipod! |
| Sam: One more time, with the English. |
| Céline: Encore une fois, avec l’anglais. |
| Christophe: Devine! C’est un objet que tu regardes. |
| Sam: Guess! It’s something that you look at. |
| Sylvain: Un ordinateur? |
| Sam: A computer? |
| Christophe: Non, c’est un objet qui peut être écouté. |
| Sam: No, it’s something that can be listened to. |
| Sylvain: Heu, un disque vinyle? |
| Sam: Huh… a vinyl disc? |
| Christophe: Non, c’est un objet qui est petit. |
| Sam: No, it’s something small. |
| Sylvain: Zut, hmmmmm… un appareil photo digital? |
| Sam: Holy cow, hmmm… a digital camera? |
| Christophe: Non, c’est un objet que tu emportes. |
| Sam: No, it’s something that you carry away. |
| Sylvain: Eurêka, je sais! C’est un ipod! |
| Sam: Eureka, I know! It’s an iPod! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Sam: How do you say 'riddle' in French? |
| Alex: Une devinette. |
| Sam: Une devinette? |
| Céline: Une devinette. Ah je me rappelle quand j’étais petite, j’étais impatiente avant d’ouvrir un Carambar. A l’intérieur de l’emballage du Carambar il y avait toujours une devinette. |
| Sam: So, Céline, when you were seven or eight, you were really excited about opening a Carambar because there was a joke inside? |
| Céline: Oui! |
| Sam: Was it funny? |
| Céline: En fait quand tu as 7 ou 8 ans c’est drôle, mais après ce n’est plus drôle. C’est un humour d’enfants. |
| Sam: It's funny when you’re seven or eight years old, but after that it's not funny? |
| Céline: Exactement. Tu connais les Carambars Sam? |
| Sam: No, it sounds like candy or something. |
| Alex: Carambar is a chewy, caramel “bonbon” from France. Il y a beaucoup de parfums, par exemple, au Caramel, à l’orange, au citron... |
| Céline: … oui et pour les adultes, il existe un cocktail Vodka-Carambar. |
| Sam: Ah, so Alex, you're saying it's a chewy, caramel “bonbon” from France in several flavors like caramel, orange, lemon, And for adults, Céline, you said there's a cocktail, Vodka Carambar. |
| Céline: Oui. C'est très bon. |
| Sam: Did you have one this morning? |
| Céline: Do I look like I drank Vodka Carambar? |
| Sam: Maybe. |
| Céline: Ok. Mais attention Sam et Alex, l’abus d’alcool est dangereux pour la santé. |
| Alex: Et l’abus de Carambars est dangereux pour les dents! |
| Sam: Alcohol is dangerous for your health and this candy's bad for your teeth? Why? |
| Céline: Parce que tu peux avoir des caries. How do you say “carie”? |
| Sam: Cavity? Ah! This candy can give you cavities? |
| Céline: Oui. |
| Alex: Et ça colle aux dents . It sticks to your teeth. |
| Sam: No problem. You just have to floss afterwards. |
| Céline: Bon ça suffit les gars. On va réviser le vocabulaire. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Sam: Now let's look at some of the vocabulary and phrases from this wonderful lesson. The first item? Next? |
| Alex: Deviner |
| Sam: To guess. |
| Alex: Deviner. Deviner. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Céline: Objet |
| Sam: Object. |
| Céline: Objet. Objet. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Alex: Ordinateur |
| Sam: Computer. |
| Alex: Ordinateur. Ordinateur. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Céline: Disque |
| Sam: Disk. |
| Céline: Disque. Disque. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Alex: Qui. |
| Sam: Which or that. |
| Alex: Qui. Qui. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Céline: Que |
| Sam: Which or that. |
| Céline: Que. Que. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Alex: Zut |
| Sam: Shucks! or Holy cow! |
| Alex: Zut. Zut. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Céline: Mince |
| Sam: Shucks! or Holy cow! |
| Céline: Mince! Mince! |
| Sam: Next? |
| Alex: Appareil photo digital |
| Sam: Digital camera. |
| Alex: Appareil photo digital. Appareil photo digital. |
| Sam: And lastly? |
| Céline: Emporter |
| Sam: To bring. |
| Céline: Emporter. Emporter. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Sam: Now let's take a look at how some of these vocabulary words and phrases are used in the lesson. |
| Céline: First the verb “deviner”. In the dialogue, we saw “devine!”, means 'guess'. This is widely used to introduce a riddle. |
| Alex: It is a form of the verb in -er. “Devine” is at the imperative form. |
| Sam: Ah, I see. |
| Céline: So you'd often find in grammar resource books, this word 'mood' or “mode” in French. It refers to the relationship of a verb with reality and intent. |
| Alex: There are four moods in French. 4 modes en français. They are the indicative, the subjunctive, the imperative, and the conditional. |
| Sam: The indicative provides a fact and describes reality. The subjunctive is the one which interprets facts as doubt, obligation, or emotion. The imperative is for orders, strong advice. Lastly, the conditional indicates a hypotheses or an eventuality. Interesting isn't it, guys? |
| Céline: Eh oui. |
| Alex: When analyzing a verb, you should always look at its tense (past, present, or future) and its mood to identify its conjugation. |
| Sam: With practice, this will make things a lot easier for you when dealing with tenses and conjugations together. |
| Céline: Exactement. Next is the word, “ordinateur”. It refers to the magnificent piece of technology that is the computer. |
| Sam: Magnificent? |
| Céline: Magnificent. Magnifique. |
| Sam: Magnifique! |
| Céline: Oui. |
| Alex: Let's mention it is a masculine noun. Un ordinateur. |
| Sam: Wow, thanks. The following word is “zut”. |
| Céline: Oui. “zut” is une onomatopée? |
| Sam: Onomatopoeia? |
| Céline: Oui! Voilà. Exactement. Je ne sais pas le dire en anglais. Et “mince”… On utilise “mince” pour éviter de dire “mer…”. You got it? |
| Sam: Yeah, so I think what you're saying, Céline, is “zut” and “mince” basically mean the same thing. |
| Céline: Oui. |
| Sam: But is “mince” a little stronger than “zut”, or exactly the same? Same feeling? |
| Céline: Same feeling. As I said, we usually say “mince” instead of the M-word in French. |
| Sam: Ah, the M-word. And we can't say that on the podcast. |
| Céline: No, no. We can't. No non. |
| Sam: So is used in place of a pejorative. |
| Céline: Tout à fait. |
| Sam: Oh, ok. I got you. |
| Céline: Voilà. Alex, un exemple? |
| Alex: Par exemple: Oh mince, j’ai oublié d’éteindre mon portable. Shucks! I forgot to turn off my cell. |
| Sam: How do you know that? |
| Alex: Because it's still vibrating in my pocket and tickling me. Then there is the word “appareil photo digital”. |
| Céline: Littéralement, “digital photographic device”. How weird when we translate word for word! Daily it is referred as “un appareil photo”. |
| Sam: So it's you referred to as “appareil photo”, and that's shorter and easier. |
| Céline: Exactement! |
| Sam: Oh, I got it. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Sam: Now we have another grammar point. |
| Alex: La vérité sort de la bouche de Sam. |
| Céline: Sam always speaks the truth. |
| Sam: Always and forever. |
| Alex: We're going to help you sound more native by showing you when and how to use the relative pronouns 'que' and 'qui'. |
| Céline: Oui. “Que” et “qui” vous permettront de construire des phrases un peu plus complexes. |
| Sam: What are their equivalents? |
| Alex: Both can be replaced in English by 'that' or 'which'. |
| Céline: 'Que' and 'qui' introduce additional information in a sentence. They link two ideas in one sentence. |
| Sam: Could you be so kind as to give us an example, please? |
| Alex: Par exemple, J’ai vu un film. Le film est ennuyeux. I saw a movie. It was a boring one. These are two simple sentences. |
| Céline: I can join them and only have one sentence. Par exemple: J’ai vu un film qui est ennuyeux. |
| Sam: What about 'que'? |
| Alex: 'Que' has the same function, but has a different use. |
| Céline: 'Qui' is used to add information about the subject and act as one, where as 'que' refers to the direct object. |
| Alex: In the previous example, we have two sentences with the same word, 'film'. “J’ai vu un film” and “Le film est ennuyeux”. To avoid saying 'film' twice in a row, we can use either 'que' or 'qui'. |
| Sam: How does that work? |
| Alex: In the first phrase, “j’ai vu un film”, “film” is the direct object. “Le film est ennuyeux”, it is the subject. |
| Céline: We want to mention 'film' only once and we know that 'qui' acts as the subject, so take the sentence where the word 'film' is the subject and replace it with 'qui'. |
| Sam: That is, “qui est ennuyeux”. |
| Alex: Then add this new phrase after the word 'film' from the other one and you will end up with “J’ai vu un film qui est ennuyeux”. |
| Sam: What would the phrase be with the word 'que'? |
| Céline: The steps are similar. Take the sentence where 'film' is the direct object, eliminate the word 'film' and place “que” at the beginning. Now you have “que j’ai vu”. Add this element after the word 'film' in the other phrase. |
| Alex: You will have: Le film que j’ai vu est ennuyeux. |
| Sam: Ok, I got you. Oh mon Dieu, c’est difficile. |
| Céline: Mais non Sam ce n’est pas difficile. C’est très facile. |
| Alex: Les grandes choses sont plus faciles qu’on ne le pense. |
| Céline: Oh ça c’est du Voltaire. |
| Alex: Ah bon je ne savais pas! |
| Céline: C’est terminé? |
Outro |
| Sam: Yeah. That's a good place to end today's lesson, so we'll stop there. See you again tomorrow. Salut. À demain. |
| Céline: Salut! |
| Alex: Au revoir! |
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