Learn how to prepare you for repeating or clarifying what you or others have said
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Sam: Welcome back for another exciting lesson, Céline. |
| Céline: Bonjour Sam! |
| Sam: Bonjour, ça va? |
| Céline: Ca va très bien! |
| Sam: You’re great, and so am I! So, we have a conversation today and it takes place between? |
| Céline: Alex et Céline! |
| Sam: Where? |
| Céline: Over the phone. |
| Sam: And what’s the focus of today’s lesson? |
| Céline: Well, first, do you remember the previous lesson? |
| Sam: Of course. |
| Céline: Yeah. We were planning on meeting on Saturday night, so this is a follow up. |
| Sam: Sounds great, let’s start. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Woman: Allô? |
| Woman: Allô Céline? C’est Alex. Sam dit “Ok pour samedi”. |
| Woman: Génial! Tu dis “samedi” aussi? |
| Woman: Oui. |
| Woman: Ok, donc je dis “ok pour samedi à minuit!”. |
| Sam: One more time, with the English. |
| Céline: Encore, une fois, avec l’anglais. |
| Woman: Allô? |
| Male: “Hello?” |
| Woman: Allô Céline? C’est Alex. Sam dit “Ok pour samedi”. |
| Male: “Hello, Céline, it’s Alex. Sam says okay for Saturday.” |
| Woman: Génial! Tu dis samedi aussi? |
| Male: “Great! You say Saturday too?” |
| Woman: Oui. |
| Male: “Yes.” |
| Woman: Ok, donc je dis “ok pour samedi à minuit!”. |
| Male: “Okay, so I say okay for Saturday at midnight.” |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Sam: Hey, Céline, in France do you make weekend plans in advance or it’s something more spontaneous? |
| Céline: I think it’s more spontaneous. |
| Sam: Oh, wow. |
| Céline: Yeah, it’s better. |
| Sam: So, you just call your friend and say “Hey! Let’s go out tonight.” |
| Céline: Yeah, you can call them just one hour before and... |
| Sam: ...sounds good to me. And I’m just they’ve already got an outfit chosen just in case. |
| Céline: Of course. |
| Sam: Great, so do I. |
| Céline: But, you know, students in France usually go out on Thursday. |
| Sam: Oh, Thursday is a big bar night? |
| Céline: Yes, exactement. And then of course Friday and Saturday. Saturday is everybody. |
| Sam: All you can drink? |
| Céline: No. |
| Sam: No? |
| Céline: No. |
| Sam: You have to pay for each drink? |
| Céline: Oui. But usually, if you drink a lot, if you drink two glasses the barman offers you another one. |
| Sam: For free? |
| Céline: Of course. |
| Sam: Oh, so the barman hooks you up sometime. |
| Céline: Oui. |
| Sam: Sounds good. |
| Céline: Very good. |
| Sam: So, of course, when we go on Friday night, some of us like to go to clubs. Maybe in Paris and in other parts of France they’re also popular. But what time do you go to the club? |
| Céline: Usually it’s late. We go to the bar or the pub before and maybe club like around two? |
| Sam: Okay. That’s pretty reasonable. |
| Céline: But, you know, in cities like Toulouse we usually go to many clubs the same night. |
| Sam: Oh, kind like club hopping. |
| Céline: Exactement. |
| Sam: One more question, too. For example, if you want to go home at three o’clock or four o’clock, before everyone else, is it possible to catch the subway or a taxi? |
| Céline: In Paris, no. You have busses. |
| Sam: But you can’t get home. |
| Céline: But we never get home, right? We go to after’s. |
| Sam: The after party. |
| Céline: The after party. |
| Sam: That’s where it really starts. |
| Céline: Exactement. |
| Sam: Okay. So, the part we’ve all been waiting for. Let’s take a look at the vocab and phrases from this wonderful lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Sam: The first item is? |
| Céline: Aussi. |
| Sam: “Also” or “too”. |
| Céline: Aussi. Aussi. |
| Sam: Next. |
| Céline: Dire. |
| Sam: “To say”. |
| Céline: Dire. Dire. |
| Sam: Next. |
| Céline: A minuit. |
| Sam: “At midnight”. |
| Céline: A minuit. A minuit. |
| Sam: Next. |
| Céline: Samedi. |
| Sam: “Saturday”. |
| Céline: Samedi. Samedi. |
| Sam: Next. |
| Céline: Allô. |
| Sam: “Hello”. |
| Céline: Allô. Allô. |
| Sam: Next. |
| Céline: Génial. |
| Sam: “Great”. |
| Céline: Génial. Génial. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Sam: Okay, now let’s have a closer look at some of the items from this lesson. The first item is? |
| Céline: Allô. |
| Sam: “Hello.” |
| Céline: We usually say “allô” when we answer the phone. |
| Sam: Okay, so ring-ring-ring ? “Allô?” |
| Céline: Yes. And some French make fun and they say: à l’huile. |
| Sam: What does that mean? |
| Céline: Because “allô” sounds like “with water” so “à l’huile”, “with oil”. But, it’s a terrible joke, don’t do that. |
| Sam: That’s pretty funny, I think. |
| Céline: You think so? I don’t think so. It’s a terrible joke. |
| Sam: A l’huile. |
| Céline: A l’huile. |
| Sam: A l’huile. Is it a French word or is taken from the lovely language of English? |
| Céline: It’s taken from the lovely British English. |
| Sam: Oh, so it’s taken from English. Okay. |
| Céline: Yeah exactement. So, yeah. It comes from “Hallow”, “h”, “a”, “l” ,”l” ,”o” ,”w”? And that was the “les marins”. |
| Sam: So when the sailors hollow at each other, it sounds like “Hallow”. |
| Céline: Exactement. |
| Sam: I never knew that. Hallow, hello, okay. |
| Céline: Okay. Voilà. Mais c’est “allô”. |
| Sam: Allô. Silent “h”. |
| Céline: There’s no “h”. “A”, “l”, “l”, “o”, in French. With the “h”, it’s English. |
| Sam: So of course we need to take the “h” off. |
| Céline: Tout à fait. |
| Sam: Okay. |
| Céline: So the next word is the verb “dire”. |
| Sam: “To say”. |
| Céline: So it’s same as English. You use this word to report someone’s speech. In the dialogue, you can hear “Sam dit ok pour samedi”: “Sam says, it’s okay for Saturday.” You remember we were planning a night out? |
| Sam: That’s right. But it’s kind of – it’s the same thing, actually, in English. He said that, she said that. |
| Céline: In that case it’s the past tense. |
| Sam: Yeah. |
| Céline: Yeah, but I’m not using the past tense. “Sam dit…” : “Sam says okay.” Yes. |
| Sam: Thank you, awesome! Great. |
| Céline: That’s our next word, actually. |
| Sam: Oh really? |
| Céline: Yes. |
| Sam: What a nice lead in. |
| Céline: C’est vrai hein? |
| Sam: Great. |
| Céline: So “awesome” is really American, right? What would be the British English equivalent? |
| Sam: The British English equivalent? Lovely, fantastic? |
| Céline: Tout à fait. You know, in French we have many words like that. So “génial”? |
| Sam: “Nice” or “great”. In English we have a lot of slang words to express how great or cool something is. You can say “wicked”, “rad”, “cool”. Do you have any similar slang or casual French you could use, to express the same thing? |
| Céline: Of course. We say, for example: C’est terrible. |
| Sam: “It’s terrible.” |
| Céline: Yes. So, “c’est terrible” has a double sense, but it depends on the – what you are talking about and the intonation, of course. |
| Sam: Oh, like “That’s bad!” like “It’s cool.” |
| Céline: Voilà. C’est le top. |
| Sam: “It’s the top”? If you say that it means it’s tops or top on, one of my Australian friends uses that quite a bit. |
| Céline: So, that was slang, but in formal French you could say: formidable. |
| Sam: “It’s formidable.” |
| Céline: Merveilleux. |
| Sam: “Marvelous.” |
| Céline: Sensationnel. |
| Sam: “Sensational.” |
| Céline: Voilà. |
| Sam: Comme moi, like me. |
| Céline: Tout à fait Sam. Tu es sensationnel. |
| Sam: Oh, thank you. |
| Céline: You’re sensational. Yes and like me, too. |
| Sam: Maybe. |
| Céline: Oh mon Dieu. So, next is: “à minuit”. |
| Sam: “At midnight”. That’s an interesting time, isn’t it? |
| Céline: Tout à fait. |
| Sam: Is that the best time to go out? |
| Céline: Yeah, it’s the best time, I think. To go to the bar, not to the club. |
| Sam: I think I’d go to the club around two or two thirty. |
| Céline: Yeah, so “à minuit”, “midnight”. |
| Sam: Okay, let’s move onto the... |
| Céline: … grammaire! |
| Sam: Okay. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Sam: Reported speech, I think is saying what someone else said? |
| Céline: Tout à fait, and using the present tense not the past tense. |
| Sam: Okay. |
| Céline: So, for example, you say something. |
| Sam: “I’m going to have ice-cream this afternoon.” |
| Céline: Okay, in French that would be: Je vais manger une glace cet après-midi. |
| Sam: Okay. |
| Céline: So, if I want to report your speech to somebody: Je vais manger une glace cet après-midi. |
| Sam: “I’m going to have some ice-cream this afternoon.” |
| Céline: If I want to report your speech to Alex, I would say “Sam dit: Il va manger une glace cet après-midi”. So, if I want to report your speech to Alex, for example, I would say “Sam dit: je vais manger une glace cet après-midi.”. It’s very easy, you just add “he says”, “she says”. Of course, you have to learn your conjugation in French. |
| Sam: And of course with the verb “dire”. Remember our trick? The supersonic train. The verb “dire”, “d”, “i”, “r”, “e”, you take of the “re”, “je dis”, “tu dis”, “il, elle, on dit”. And remember listeners, for “je dis” and “tu dis” the spelling is “d”, “i”, “s”. For the third person singular, you change the “s” to a “t”. Quite simple. |
| Céline: Tout à fait. Very simple. |
| Sam: So, shall we hear some examples from the story? |
| Céline: Tout à fait. Exactly. So, Alex calls me back to report what you said. So, he tells me, “il dit: Sam dit ok pour samedi”, “Sam says okay for Saturday.” |
| Sam: Okay. |
| Céline: And after that, I ask Alex: Tu dis samedi aussi? |
| Sam: “You say Saturday also?” |
| Céline: Exactement, and then I said, “je dis ok pour samedi à minuit”. |
| Sam: “I say okay for Saturday at midnight.” |
| Céline: So, it’s very, very easy. You just take the phrase and you put “je dis”, “tu dis”, “il, elle, on dit”. |
| Sam: So basically, to use reported speech you conjugate the verb “dire” and you use the exact phrase. |
| Céline: Tout à fait, and if you write down, don’t forget to put the – |
| Sam: - Quotation marks! |
| Céline: Exactement. |
| Sam: Okay. |
| Céline: Les guillemets, in French. |
| Sam: Quotation marks, they’re important. |
| Céline: Oui. |
Outro |
| Sam: So, anything else for today? |
| Céline: I think it’s everything. |
| Sam: So you say that’s everything? |
| Céline: Yes. |
| Sam: So thank you listeners once again and we’ll see you for the next lesson. |
| Céline: Exactement Sam. Merci beaucoup, à bientôt! |
| Sam: Bye-bye! |
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