Learn about French personal pronouns such as "I, me, you, us, and we"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Sam: “How to French kiss your best friend?” |
| Sylvain: Wow, is that a hot lesson? |
| Céline: Bonjour Sylvain. |
| Sylvain: Bonjour Céline. |
| Céline: Bonjour Sam. |
| Sam: Bonjour Céline, ça va? |
| Céline: Oui! |
| Sam: So, that’s great. I’m glad to have you guys back. So, what’s the focus of this lesson? |
| Céline: We’re going to talk about personal pronouns in French. |
| Sam: Okay. Where does the conversation take place? |
| Sylvain: The conversation takes place in…, Céline? |
| Céline: The living room? |
| Sylvain: Not in the room? |
| Céline: In the living room. |
| Sylvain: Oh, sorry. |
| Céline: Okay. And it’s between Julie and Eric. |
| Sylvain: Who will do the Eric part? |
| Céline: Sylvain. |
| Sylvain: Yes! |
| Sam: And I think, Céline, you can be Julie. |
| Céline: Tout à fait! Exactly. |
| Sam: Exactly. On y va! |
| Sylvain: Let’s go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Céline: Eric? |
| Sylvain: Oui? |
| Céline: Catherine… Elle t’aime… |
| Sylvain: Hein? Mais moi, je t’aime! |
| Céline: Tu m’aimes? Moi aussi je t’aime!!! |
| Sylvain: Nous nous aimons! |
| Sam: Now, one time slowly. |
| Céline: Eric? |
| Sylvain: Oui? |
| Céline: Catherine… Elle t’aime… |
| Sylvain: Hein? Mais moi, je t’aime! |
| Céline: Tu m’aimes? Moi aussi je t’aime!!! |
| Sylvain: Nous nous aimons! |
| Sam: And now, with the English. |
| Céline: Eric? |
| Sam: “Eric!” |
| Sylvain: Oui? |
| Sam: “Yes?” |
| Céline: Catherine… Elle t’aime… |
| Sam: “Catherine, she loves you.” |
| Sylvain: Hein? Mais moi, je t’aime! |
| Sam: “Huh? But I love you.” |
| Céline: Tu m’aimes? Moi aussi je t’aime!!! |
| Sam: “You love me? I love you, too.” |
| Sylvain: Nous nous aimons! |
| Sam: “We love each other.” |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Céline: That was quite a kiss, guys. |
| Sylvain: It was. |
| Sam: Yeah, I agree. Was it a French kiss? |
| Sylvain: French kiss? Good question. |
| Céline: I suppose so. What else could have been? |
| Sam: Nothing else but a French kiss, right? |
| Céline: Exactly. Pour nous, c’est une évidence. For French people, it’s so obvious. Quand on aime, on s’embrasse à pleine bouche. When we love, we kiss full on the lips. |
| Sylvain: The origin of the French kiss is unclear. |
| Sam: That’s quite interesting, but do you French people mention the “French kiss”? |
| Céline: No, we just say kiss. “French kiss” comes from abroad, right? |
| Sylvain: Yes. We don’t say “French kiss” in France. We just say “kiss”. |
| Sam: Oh, I understand. So far our listeners, if anyone out there knows the origin of the French kiss, post us a comment and leave us your answer. |
| Sylvain: Or even more adventurous, make us a French text about your first French kiss. |
| Sam: That’s a good idea, also. |
| Sylvain: Yes. Nice experience to read, also. |
| Céline: Okay, guys, stop dreaming. Let’s get into the vocab for this lesson. |
| Sam: Okay. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Sam: The first item is? |
| Céline: Aimer. |
| Sam: “To love.” |
| Céline: Aimer. Aimer. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Sylvain: Elle. |
| Sam: “She.” |
| Sylvain: Elle. Elle. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Céline: Je. |
| Sam: “I.” |
| Céline: Je. Je. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Sylvain: Nous. |
| Sam: “We.” |
| Sylvain: Nous. Nous. |
| Sam: Next? |
| Céline: Tu. |
| Sam: “You”, informal. |
| Céline: Tu. Tu. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Sam: Now, let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of these items from our lesson. |
| Céline: The first phrase we’ll look at is... |
| Sylvain: Elle t’aime. |
| Sam: “She loves you.” |
| Sylvain: In this situation, Julie tells Eric about her friend, Sylvie, loving him. |
| Céline: The verb used is “to love”, its match is “to love”. Non-conjugated verb as “to love” or “aimer” ending with the letters ”er” are called infinitive verbs. |
| Sam: That’s boring! |
| Céline: Okay, maybe. But this is important to known as all infinitive verbs ending in ”er” are regular and are grouped in the first verb group. |
| Sam: So, it helps when using verbs while speaking or writing in French. |
| Céline: Exactement. Exactly. The next phrase is? |
| Sylvain: Je t’aime. Here, Eric wants to get things right and declare his love for Julie. |
| Sam: I understand. He’s pretty direct and there’s no confusion about who is in love with. |
| Céline: You can hear the sound “t” in front of or conjugated verb for “love”. The “t” sound refers to “you”, Julie, the person Eric’s talking to. |
| Sam: I know that our listeners are asking themselves about nuances of love. So, can you explain to us quickly what are these nuances and how to declare one’s love for somebody? |
| Sylvain: Well, for romantic relationship, you should say “Je t’aime”. |
| Céline: Je t’aime. |
| Sam: “I love you.” |
| Céline: You can also say “Je suis amoureuse de toi”. |
| Sam: “I’m in love with you.” |
| Sylvain: Je suis amoureux de toi. |
| Sam: “I’m in love with you.” The first one was said by a female to a male, and the second one would be said by a male to a female. And following there is… |
| Sylvain: “Tu m’aimes?” meaning “You love me?” With this intonation, everyone can understand that Julie is happily surprised asking for confirmation. |
| Céline: The “m” sounds refers to “me”, in other words, here, it’s Julie. |
| Sylvain: Finally, Eric, in his excitement of discovering that they love each other, says “nous nous aimons” to her. |
| Sam: Meaning, “We love each other.” What a happy ending! |
| Céline: Yeah. See, in this sentence you cannot use twice “nous”, literally “we” in English. The second “nous” is translated in English as “each other” because here the fact of loving is mutual between Julie and Eric. |
| Sam: That’s a good way to lead into the grammar. So, shall we look at some grammar? |
| Sylvain: Let’s go! |
| Sam: Okay. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Céline: You will find today’s grammar topic in each full phrases of our dialogue. |
| Sam: Okay. |
| Céline: So, the first sentence is “Je t’aime”. |
| Sylvain: “I love you.” |
| Céline: “Je” refers to my own wonderful and happy person. |
| Sam: So “je” means “I”. |
| Sylvain: Yes. |
| Sam: Okay. |
| Sylvain: “Te” refers to the person you’re speaking to. |
| Sam: Okay. |
| Céline: Actually, the first sentence in the dialogue is “Elle t’aime”. |
| Sylvain: “Elle” refers to some he’s not in the vicinity, “she”. |
| Sam: Okay. |
| Sylvain: Then, what’s refer to “t’”? |
| Sam: Usually it’s “te”, T-E, but in this sentence it’s T apostrophe. |
| Céline: Tout à fait. Exactly. |
| Sylvain: Exactly. Why? |
| Sam: Because, the conjugated verb begins with a vowel. |
| Sylvain: You’re right. |
| Sam: And you can have two vowels together. |
| Sylvain: Yes. |
| Céline: Okay, the second phrase is “Je t’aime”, that we decorticated and discussed it previously. What phrase comes after, Sylvain? |
| Sylvain: It’s the question asked by Julie to mark. |
| Sam: If you followed the story, you can deduce the “tu” is the informal version of “you” referring to the single person you’re talking to. |
| Sylvain: That’s right. Last, we have “nous nous aimons” said by Eric. |
| Céline: This might sound weird to your ears as the pronoun “nous” is repeated twice. |
| Sam: I know that the first “nous”, N-O-U-S, means or referring to the person speaking the phrase, and one or more people referred to previously in any conversation. |
| Céline: Exactly. So, in English that would be “we, we love”, literally. |
| Sam: So, for our listeners, an easy way to remember that, for example, “Nous nous aimons”. We have a sentence “Nous aimons”, but in the middle we have another “nous”, which refers to “each other”. |
| Sylvain: Right. |
| Sam: It’s like a sandwich! |
| Sylvain: Nice. |
| Céline: That just about does it for today? |
| Sam: Yes. Nous nous aimons. We like each other. |
| Céline: Of course we do! |
| Sylvain: Nous nous aimons. |
Outro |
| Sam: But, we should wrap up for today’s lesson. Until the next time… |
| Sylvain: Waiting for your post! |
| Céline: Merci à bientôt! |
| Sam: Salut! |
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