Learn how to use French prepositions of place to indicate different places
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Sam: Hi, my name is Sam, and I'm joined here by... |
| Céline: Céline. |
| Alex: Et Alexandre. Bonjour! |
| Céline: Bonjour, Alexandre. |
| Sam: Bonjour, Céline. Bonjour, Sam. |
| Céline: Bonjour, Sam. |
| Sam: Bonjour, mes amis. |
| Céline: Oui. Alors aujourd’hui la conversation Sam? |
| Sam: So today's conversation takes place between two people, Pretty Julie and Mr. See-Heeho. Mr. See-Heeho is inquiring about a report. |
| Céline: Exactement. C'est parti? |
| Sam: Let's go! |
| Alex: On y va! |
| DIALOGUE |
| Céline: Il est tard. Je dois rentrer à la maison. |
| Sylvain: Vous revenez tôt demain pour le compte-rendu annuel? |
| Céline: Heu, je reviens au bureau demain avec le dossier. |
| Sylvain: Veuillez revenir avant huit heures et n’hésitez pas à rentrer dans mon bureau pour me le donner. |
| Sam: One more time with the English. |
| Céline: Encore une fois avec l’anglais. |
| Céline: Il est tard. Je dois rentrer à la maison. |
| Sam: It’s late. I have to go home. |
| Sylvain: Vous revenez tôt demain pour le compte-rendu annuel? |
| Sam: Will you come back early for the yearly report? |
| Céline: Heu, je reviens au bureau demain avec le dossier. |
| Sam: I’m going to go back to the office in the morning with the file. |
| Sylvain: Veuillez revenir avant huit heures et n’hésitez pas à rentrer dans mon bureau pour me le donner. |
| Sam: I hope you return it before 8am. And don’t hesitate to come in my office and give it to me. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Sam: So guys, have you ever worked in an office before? |
| Céline: Oui! |
| Alex: Oui, j’ai travaillé dans un bureau de traduction. |
| Sam: You worked in a translation company? In an office? |
| Alex: Dans un bureau oui. |
| Sam: And you, Céline? |
| Céline: Moi aussi. |
| Sam: You also? Did you get fired? No, I'm joking. |
| Céline: N’importe quoi! |
| Sam: So anyway, in the office, in France, is the boss or CEO really strict? |
| Alex: Ca dépend hein, ça dépend des gens. |
| Sam: Depends on the person? |
| Céline: Yeah, it depends. Le problème en France, c’est les problèmes des deadlines. |
| Sam: Deadlines are a problem in France? |
| Céline: Oui. Oui. Oui. Parce que les Français sont beaucoup plus lents, ils aiment beaucoup discuter... |
| Alex: … boire un café, fumer une cigarette… |
| Céline: Oui, boire un café. Voilà, exactement. |
| Sam: So things get long-winded and you don't get to the deadline sometimes? |
| Céline: Oui, parfois. Ce n’est pas du tout le style américain. |
| Sam: Well, you know in America-- That's interesting you say that. In America, if we have a deadline, for example, next Friday, if we're a week or so late, sometimes it's ok. |
| Céline: Ah bon? |
| Sam: Yeah. I think, offices in America can be really relaxed, you know. |
| Céline: Mais je crois que la particularité des Français, c’est qu’ils aiment beaucoup discuter. |
| Sam: There's a lot of discussion during dealings in French offices. |
| Céline: Oui beaucoup beaucoup. Et après ça part pour le déjeuner. |
| Sam: So you discuss it over dinner and lunch and keep talking. Nothing gets done. |
| Céline: Voilà c’est... |
| Alex: Et ça n’en finit pas. |
| Céline: C’est plus plaisant. |
| Sam: It's more pleasant. To eat and to... |
| Céline: Oui, non mais c’est très important en France. On aime beaucoup parler de tout, surtout de culture française. |
| Sam: So when you're talking about business, it kind of veers off into other things. |
| Céline: Yes. |
| Sam: Poetry or how refined someone is. |
| Céline: Voilà. Exactement. |
| Alex: La pensée de l’autre. |
| Céline: La pensée de l’autre. |
| Sam: The thoughts of others. That sounds really interesting. |
| Céline: Devant un bon petit verre de vin. |
| Alex: Mais pas au travail quand même! |
| Sam: Yeah. So, one more question. |
| Céline: Oui. |
| Sam: Imagine you're a CEO. Would you be a strict CEO or a lenient CEO? |
| Alex: Euh, moi je ne suis pas quelqu’un qui est strict, hein. Voilà donc je serais incapable d’être strict. |
| Céline: Moi je pense que je serais stricte. |
| Sam: Très stricte? Très stricte! |
| Céline: Stricte. |
| Sam: Pourquoi? |
| Céline: Parce que je ne suis pas du tout organisée. |
| Sam: So you want things to always be organized because you're organized. |
| Céline: No, I'm not organized, but I want others to be organized for me. |
| Sam: Why don't you be organized? |
| Céline: Eh bien je ne sais pas, mais je pense que la bonne idée ce serait d’aller voir le vocabulaire! |
| Sam: That's good! Let's go to the vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Sam: Now let's take a look at some of the vocabulary and phrases from this lovely lesson. The first item is? |
| Alex: Tard. |
| Sam: Late. |
| Alex: Tard. Tard. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Céline: Rentrer. |
| Sam: To go home. |
| Céline: Rentrer. Rentrer. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Alex: Revenir. |
| Sam: To come back or to return. |
| Alex: Revenir. Revenir. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Céline: Retourner. |
| Sam: To return. |
| Céline: Retourner. Retourner. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Alex: Tôt. |
| Sam: Early. |
| Alex: Tôt. Tôt. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Céline: Demain. |
| Sam: Tomorrow. |
| Céline: Demain. Demain. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Alex: Compte-rendu. |
| Sam: Report. |
| Alex: Compte-rendu. Compte-rendu. |
| Sam: Next. |
| Céline: Annuel. |
| Sam: Yearly. |
| Céline: Annuel. Annuel. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Alex: Bureau. |
| Sam: Office. |
| Alex: Bureau. Bureau. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Céline: Hésiter. |
| Sam: To hesitate. |
| Céline: Hésiter. Hésiter. |
| Sam: And lastly? |
| Alex: Avant. |
| Sam: Before. |
| Alex: Avant. Avant. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Sam: Hey guys, I have a surprise for you. |
| Céline: Quelle surprise? |
| Sam: We're going to look at the vocabulary usage for some of the items from our lesson. |
| Céline: Fantastique! |
| Sam: Quelle surprise! |
| Céline: Ok. |
| Sam: First of all, let's look at the word “compte-rendu”. |
| Alex: This is a hyphen compound noun meaning 'report'. |
| Sam: Widely used in business to know what's going on. |
| Céline: And make sure people “ne se tournent pas les pouces”. |
| Alex: It is an expression meaning, not having anything to do that you just twiddle your thumbs. Next word is 'annuel', the adjective related to frequency. |
| Sam: Meaning 'annually' or 'yearly'. |
| Céline: Ending in -el, add -le for its feminine form. 'Annuel', 'annuelle'. |
| Sam: An example, please! |
| Alex: Bien sûr! La fête annuelle. The yearly celebration. Et on dit aussi “mensuel”, which is monthly, “hebdomadaire”, which is weekly “journalier”, which is daily. But for the newspaper, we also say “quotidien”. We don't say “journalier”. |
| Sam: Ok. One thing, is that an early celebration or a yearly celebration? |
| Céline: No, yearly. Every year. |
| Sam: Ah, ok. Next, let's look at the word 'bureau'. |
| Alex: Bureau. It indicates the office and the desk as well. |
| Céline: Oui. On dit “un bureau”. |
| Sam: Ah. So it's masculine. Ok, what's next? |
| Alex: Maintenant, on a le mot “tôt” which is used as an adjective or adverb. |
| Céline: It makes me think of “ce n’est pas trop tôt!”. |
| Sam: Never heard of it. |
| Alex: It is used ironically when you expect something to happen or someone to give you a favor, but not in any timely manner. |
| Sam: Any equivalence in English? |
| Céline: So maybe, you American friends, you said, "It's about time." |
| Alex: Bon maintenant on va passer à la grammaire. |
| Céline: Allez la grammaire vite. |
| Sam: It's about time! |
| Céline: Oui. It's about time for the grammar. |
| Sam: Yeah, that's pretty funny. Get it. It's about time... |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Céline: So, today we're going to look over three verbs which are often mixed up. |
| Alex: They are “revenir”, “retourner”, et “rentrer”. |
| Sam: Don't they all mean return or come back? |
| Alex: This would be a fine explanation at the beginner or newbie level, however, at the intermediate, we have to go into deeper definitions. |
| Sam: Ok. Interesting. So, explain them for me please. |
| Céline: Ok, well, let's start with “rentrer”. |
| Alex: This verb always refer to go home. |
| Sam: Okey-dokey. |
| Alex: “Revenir” focuses as well on the itinerary, but with an additional twist of coming back where the subject is, was, or will be. |
| Sam: I'm not feeling you. |
| Céline: Je reviens demain vous voir. I'm coming back tomorrow to see you. Here, the verb describes the fact of coming back to where he is now with the purpose of seeing the person he's speaking with. |
| Alex: The verb “retourner”. This one indicates a place to come back to, where the speaker is not presently. |
| Sam: What? How is that possible? |
| Alex: Well, here you might get it with this example. Let's say you went to Africa ten years ago and you want to go back. |
| Céline: You would say: Je voudrais retourner en Afrique. I'd like to return to Africa. Oui mais où en Afrique? |
| Alex: Ben par exemple au Chad. |
| Sam: In Chad? |
| Céline: So, tu comprends? |
| Sam: I understand, yeah. It's about time you explained. |
| Céline: Voilà. |
| Sam: Ok. I'm sure you guys will understand really well after we recap things. Number one. Let's break it down. “Rentrer” means to go home. |
| Céline: Je rentre chez moi. |
| Sam: I'm returning home. “Revenir” means to go and come back. For example, if you go to the toilet and come back. |
| Alex: Je reviens dans 5 minutes. |
| Sam: That means, "I'll be back in five minutes." |
| Alex: Exactly. |
| Sam: And our last one focuses on going back to somewhere you've been before, but maybe a few years ago. |
| Céline: La semaine prochaine, je retourne en Espagne. |
| Sam: Next week, I'm returning to Spain. |
| Céline: Voilà! |
| Sam: “Retourner” means you've been there and lived there and are going back. “Revenir” means you're going somewhere and coming back, and “rentrer” means you're going home. Those are the three Rs, rentrer, revenir, and retourner. If you have any questions, please feel free to post a question in our forum or leave a comment. |
Outro |
| Céline: Oui. C’est pas vrai Alex? |
| Alex: Oui tout à fait! |
| Céline: Eh ben voilà! |
| Alex: Ou vous pouvez appeler Céline sur son portable. Elle va le laisser sur un PDF. |
| Sam: See you next time. Bye-bye! |
| Céline: Merci! À bientôt! |
| Alex: Au revoir! |
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