Learn how to express your preferences and choices
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Jason: Are You Addicted to French Shoes? C’est Jason. Jason here! |
| Ingrid: Bonjour à tous, Ingrid here! |
| Jason: In this lesson, you’re going to learn how to express your preferences and choices. |
| Ingrid: By learning the usage of verbs “préférer” (to prefer) and “choisir” (to choose) which are main tools to do it. |
| Jason: After this lesson, you will be able to say things like "I choose this", or "I prefer that” or also “This is my favorite” in French. |
| Ingrid: And you will see that this is very easy to learn! |
| Jason: So Ingrid, what is in today’s conversation? |
| Ingrid: This conversation is between Marie and Sophie who are two friends choosing shoes in a store with a sales assistant. Marie and Sophie will speak informal French to each other but formal French with the employee. |
| Jason: Okay, so let’s listen to the conversation! |
| DIALOGUE |
| 1st time: natural native speed: |
| (In a shoes stores) |
| Marie: Tu vas choisir quelle paire de chaussures? Karine: Je ne sais pas, tu préfères les rouges ou les noires? Marie: Je préfère les rouges! Karine: Bon, alors je prends les rouges! Sales-assistant: Ca y est, vous avez choisi? Lesquelles préférez-vous? Karine: Je choisis les rouges, c'est décidé! |
| (1 time slowly) |
| (In a shoes stores) |
| Marie: Tu vas choisir quelle paire de chaussures? Karine: Je ne sais pas, tu préfères les rouges ou les noires? Marie: Je préfère les rouges! Karine: Bon, alors je prends les rouges! Sales-assistant : Ca y est, vous avez choisi? Lesquelles préférez-vous? |
| Karine: Je choisis les rouges, c'est décidé! |
| (1 time natural native speed with the translation) |
| (In a shoes stores) |
| Marie: Tu vas choisir quelle paire de chaussures? Which shoes are you going to choose? |
| Karine: Je ne sais pas, tu préfères les rouges ou les noires? |
| I don’t know, which ones do you prefer: the red or the black ones? |
| Marie: Je préfère les rouges! |
| I prefer the red ones! |
| Karine: Bon, alors je prends les rouges! |
| Well then, I will take the red ones! |
| Sales-assistant : Ca y est, vous avez choisi? Lesquelles préférez-vous ? |
| Is it okay? Have you made your choice? Which one do you prefer? |
| Karine: Je choisis les rouges, c'est décidé! |
| I choose the red ones! It’s decided! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Jason: It’s so hard for girls to choose shoes indeed! |
| Ingrid: Yes but I think it is especially hard for French women who are shoes addicts and who would like to have every shoe in the world! |
| Jason: Yes you are right; it is a well-known fact that French women are very attached to their shoes! |
| Ingrid: Did you know that French women had an average of 9 pairs of shoes and that they buy at least 6 pairs each year? These are highest figures just after Italian girls! |
| Jason: It’s true that when you think about French women, you often imagine them being very elegant. |
| Ingrid: Yes and even if not every single woman in France is elegant, a major part of life for working women, especially in Paris, is wearing trendy shoes every day. |
| Jason: But why shoes are so important to them? |
| Ingrid: I guess it’s maybe because shoes really change their appearance. For example, women with high heeled shoes may feel more confident. By the way, did you know that elegant shoes are mandatory for some jobs in France? |
| Jason: Really? Which jobs, for example? |
| Ingrid: Many sales assistants, secretaries or receptionists are asked to wear elegant and trendy shoes to look feminine. |
| Jason: And do you think it is an effort for French women to do so? |
| Ingrid: In fact, I don’t think it is, as we often see women walking with very uncomfortable and unstable shoes just to be trendy on weekends. So I guess they prefer it over being unfashionable! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Okay, so now, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first expression we shall see is: |
| Choisir [natural native speed] |
| Meaning “To choose” |
| Choisir [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Choisir [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Une paire des chaussures [natural native speed] |
| Meaning “a pair of shoes” |
| Une paire des chaussures [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Une paire des chaussures [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Préférer [natural native speed] |
| Meaning “To prefer” |
| Préférer [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Préférer [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Bon, alors [natural native speed] |
| Meaning “Well, then” |
| Bon, alors [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Bon, alors [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Les rouges / les noires [natural native speed] |
| Meaning “The red ones, the black ones” |
| Les rouges / les noires [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Les rouges / les noires [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Ca y est? [natural native speed] |
| Meaning “Is it okay?” |
| Ca y est? [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ca y est ? [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Jason: The first verb is? |
| Ingrid: “Choisir” which means “to choose”. |
| Jason: Could you say it again slowly for our listeners? |
| Ingrid: (Slowly) « Choisir » |
| Jason: And now at natural speed |
| Ingrid: (Natural speed) « Choisir » |
| Jason: Can you give us some examples with this verb? |
| Ingrid: In our conversation we have “Vous avez choisi?” which means “Have you made your choice?” also “Je choisis les rouges” meaning “I choose the red ones”. |
| Jason: Okay, and the next word is? |
| Ingrid: “Une paire de chaussure” that means “a pair of shoes”. This is quite close to English. |
| Jason: Okay this is quite easy to remember. What about the next verb? |
| Ingrid: It is “préférer” which means “to prefer” and it has exactly the same meaning as in English. |
| Jason: Can you repeat this expression please? |
| Ingrid: (Slowly) « préférer» |
| Jason: And now at natural speed |
| Ingrid: (Natural speed) « préférer » |
| Jason: Can you use this in an example please? |
| Ingrid: Yes, so for example you can say “Je préfére les chaussures rouges” if you want to say that you prefer red shoes. Or if you want to ask to someone “Which one do you prefer?”, you will say “Lequel préfères-tu?” |
| Jason: Interesting! And what is the next expression? |
| Ingrid: Next is the casual expression “Ca y est” that means “Is that okay” or “Have you made your choice?” when asking if a person has took a decision. |
| Jason: Great! And the next expression is also very casual in French, what is it? |
| Ingrid: It is “Bon, alors” that is a way to punctuate a sentence by saying “Well, then” or “Well so” depending on the context. You can say for example “Bon alors tu es prêt?” that means “Well are you ready then?” implying you are a bit of a hurry. |
| Jason: And how was it used in our conversation? |
| Ingrid: It was “Bon, alors je prends les rouges” which means “Well then I take the red ones!” In this context “Bon, alors” is a way to introduce your decision, which is a firm decision. |
| Jason: Okay so our next and last expression is? |
| Ingrid: “Les rouges” or “les noires” that respectively means “The red ones” or “the black ones”. This is a way to qualify things; here we are talking about shoes just by saying their color. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Jason: So in this lesson, our grammar is how to use French verbs and expressions to express your preference and choices. |
| Ingrid: Yes thanks to verbs “préférer”, “choisir” (to choose) and also words like “préféré” and “favori,” you will be able to say in French "I choose this", or "I prefer that” or also “This is my favorite” |
| Jason: Great, so what is our first point? |
| Ingrid: The first important verb is “préférer” which means “to prefer”. You can use like you do in English to talk about you preferences, such as in “Je préfère les rouges” which means “I prefer red ones,” talking about shoes. |
| Jason: This is quite simple in fact, you just add the thing you prefer after the verb “préférer” and that’s all? |
| Ingrid: Exactly, it is just the verb “préférer” conjugated + the thing you prefer. Of course, you can use this pattern for each person as in “Nous préférons les chaussures à talon” that is “We prefer heeled shoes”. |
| Jason: And can you put another kind of word after the verb “préférer”? |
| Ingrid: Yes, for example, you can put a verb in the infinitive form, as in “Préférez-vous rester ou partir?” which means “Do you prefer to stay or to go?” |
| Jason: So here again it is simple, it is the verb “préférer” + infinitive verb, is that right? |
| Ingrid: Yes it is, very basic and easy to use. |
| Jason: So the next word is the one for “to choose” isn’t it? |
| Ingrid: Yes it is “choisir” and this is the verb to use when you are talking about a decision you made, as in “Je choisis les rouges” which means “I choose red ones” but which also implies that you are buying this color. |
| Jason: So what is the big difference with the 1st verb “préférer”? Can you explain to listeners? |
| Ingrid: The main difference is that it’s better to use “choisir” when your choice implies an action, for example, when you are buying something. This is contrary to “préférer,” which is only explaining about your preferred thing, while “choisir” is saying you are going to do or take this, as in “J’ai choisi ce candidat” which literally means “I chose this candidates”. Here you also mean you will vote for him. |
| Jason: The nuance is quite interesting! And what about the last words we would like to share with our listeners? |
| Ingrid: The two last ones are “préféré” and “favori” which both mean “favorite” in English. These are very convenient, for example you can say “C’est mon film préféré” which means “This is my favorite movie” |
| Jason: And what about the synonym “favori”? |
| Ingrid: Yes it is the same meaning but “favori” will sound a bit more formal. That’s all. |
| Jason: Okay so if you want to say “My favorite color is blue” what will you say? |
| Ingrid: You will say “Ma couleur préférée est le bleu.” Note that “préféré” and “favori” are used here as adjectives so they have to agree with the thing you prefer. |
| Jason: So listeners, these are some very useful basics to express your preferences. Please have a look to the lesson notes to get more details about them! |
| Ingrid: Yes and you will also find more information on the different patterns you can use with all the expressions we’ve just seen! |
Outro |
| Jason: Yes and stay tuned for next lesson! See you soon, à bientôt! |
| Ingrid: A bientôt everybody! |
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