Learn how to talk about quantities
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Jason: Go Shopping at a Traditional French Market. C’est Jason. Jason here! |
| Ingrid: Bonjour à tous, Ingrid here! |
| Jason: In this lesson, you’re going to learn how to talk about quantities. |
| Ingrid: By learning the usage of “plus de” and “moins de” that are equivalents of “more” and “less” in English. You will also learn how to say “as much as” which is translated as “autant de” in French. |
| Jason: After this lesson, you will be able to say “I’d like more of this” or “I have less of that” or “There is as much as”. |
| Ingrid: And you will see that if you have listened to previous lesson on comparisons and superlatives, this lesson will seem very easy! |
| Jason: I think it is, as today’s expressions are quite similar. What about our conversation Ingrid? |
| Ingrid: It will take place in a traditional French market and the dialog will be between Marie and a vegetable merchant. |
| Jason: Which form of French are they using in this case? |
| Ingrid: They will use formal French as one is a merchant and the other is a client. |
| Jason: Okay, so listen carefully to the dialog! |
| DIALOGUE |
| 1st time: natural native speed: |
| (In a traditional French market) |
| Marie: Pouvez-vous me mettre plus de haricots verts s'il vous-plait? The merchant: Oui ma petite dame, mais ça fera plus de 2kg! Marie: Pas de problème, j'ai pris plus d'argent pour faire le marché aujourd'hui! The merchant: Il vous faudra plus de temps pour écosser tout ça! Marie: Oui, mais comme je travaille moins en ce moment, j'ai plus de temps pour faire la cuisine! |
| (1 time slowly) |
| (In a traditional French market) |
| Marie: Pouvez-vous me mettre plus de haricots verts s'il vous-plait? The merchant: Oui ma petite dame, mais ça fera plus de 2kg! Marie: Pas de problème, j'ai pris plus d'argent pour faire le marché aujourd'hui! The merchant: Il vous faudra plus de temps pour écosser tout ça! Marie: Oui, mais comme je travaille moins en ce moment, j'ai plus de temps pour faire la cuisine! |
| (1 time natural native speed with the translation) |
| Marie: Pouvez-vous me mettre plus de haricots verts s'il vous-plait? |
| Can you put more French beans please? |
| The merchant: Oui ma petite dame, mais ça fera plus de 2kg! |
| Of course my dear! But it’s going to weigh more than 2kg then! |
| Marie: Pas de problème, j'ai pris plus d'argent pour faire le marché aujourd'hui! |
| No problem, I have brought more money to do my shopping today |
| The merchant: Il vous faudra plus de temps pour écosser tout ça! |
| And it will take time to shell all this! |
| Marie: Oui, mais comme je travaille moins en ce moment, j'ai plus de temps pour faire la cuisine! |
| I know, but as I’m working less at the moment, I have more time to cook! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Ingrid: This is a typical conversation you could have in a French market! |
| Jason: I’m sure the atmosphere in this kind of market must be very pleasant and friendly! |
| Ingrid: You’re right, I think markets are always the best place to really observe a country's style. |
| Jason: And what about French traditional markets? Where do you think it’s better to go then? |
| Ingrid: I think that markets in southern France, for example in the Provence area near Avignon or Aix en Provence, are the most idyllic ones during summer. You have everything there; food specialties, local crafts and many holiday accessories. |
| Jason: And are there other places in France? |
| Ingrid: Yes, if you are looking for a totally different style you can go to the Christmas market of Strasbourg, which is extremely famous. This one is located in North-east France. |
| Jason: And what can you buy there? |
| Ingrid: This one specializes in Christmas decorations so that you can have hand-made ornaments and also special Christmas cakes called “pain d’épices”. |
| Jason: And Ingrid, I’m sure you know some tips about markets in France? |
| Ingrid: Yes, I can give you one piece of advice if you want to buy things at low prices. You can go there just before the end, around noon, when merchants are starting to close their stands, it’s the best timing to get bargain prices! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Okay, so now, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first expression we shall see is: |
| Mettre[natural native speed] |
| Meaning “to put” |
| Mettre [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mettre [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Haricots verts [natural native speed] |
| Meaning “French beans” |
| Haricots verts [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Haricots verts [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Ma petite dame [natural native speed] |
| Meaning “My dear” |
| Ma petite dame [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ma petite dame [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Pas de problème [natural native speed] |
| Meaning “No problem” |
| Pas de problème [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Pas de problème [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Ecosser [natural native speed] |
| Meaning “to shell” |
| Ecosser [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Ecosser é [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Faire la cuisine [natural native speed] |
| Meaning “To cook” |
| Faire la cuisine [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Faire la cuisine [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 one is a verb, which is? |
| Ingrid: It is “mettre” which means “to put” |
| Jason: Could you say it again slowly for our listeners? |
| Ingrid: (Slowly) « mettre » |
| Jason: And now at natural speed |
| Ingrid: (Natural speed) « mettre » |
| Jason: Can you give us some examples with this verb? |
| Ingrid: In our conversation we had “Pouvez-vous me mettre plus de haricots verts s’il vous plait?” which means “Can you put more French beans please?” Here, “to put” implies the meaning of “to put into the bag”. |
| Jason: Do you have other examples? |
| Ingrid: Yes so if you say “Je mets plus d’eau dans les fleurs” it would mean « I put more water in the flowers » |
| Jason: But be careful verb “mettre” has many other meanings, it can also mean “to spread”, “to apply” or to “insert”. |
| Ingrid: Yes so the next word is “haricots-verts” which means “French beans.” This is a typical French vegetable. |
| Jason: And what is next? |
| Ingrid: Next is « ma petite dame » which literally means « My little lady » but it’s in fact a friendly way to call a woman. |
| Jason: And in which situations might someone call you that? |
| Ingrid: The expression « ma petite dame » is only used by merchants that are used to seeing you every week in the market. Contrary to its approximate English translation “My dear,” which is quite classy, “ma petite dame” sounds much more familiar and informal. |
| Jason: Got it! And what about the next expression? |
| Ingrid: Next is “pas de problème”. This is also an informal expression often used to say « no problem » or « it’s okay, it doesn’t matter ». Of course, you can't use it in every case and have to keep it for informal conversations with friends and family. |
| Jason: Could you give us some other examples with this expression? |
| Ingrid: If someone is asking you a favor, for example, you can answer with “Pas de problem.”,For example, if someone asks “Peux-tu me prêter un peu d’argent?” you can answer with “Pas de problème, combien il te faut?” which together mean « Can you lend me some money ? » , « Yes no problem, how much do you need ? » |
| Jason: Great, this is very useful! What about the next verb? |
| Ingrid: The next verb is very specific. It is “écosser” which means “to shell”. You only use this in cooking situations, when you have to shell beans, for example. |
| Jason: Okay I see, and what is our last expression? |
| Ingrid: It is “Faire la cuisine” which means “To cook”. If you break down this expression it would be “to do the cook” but in English, the word “cuisine” has many meanings, it can designate the food, as in “Cuisine française” which is “French food” but also the place to cook as in “La cuisine est sale” that means “the kitchen is dirty”. |
| Jason: Interesting, I didn’t know that! So here, you have to be careful about the context! |
| Ingrid: Yes, the context is always important! |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Jason: So our grammar in this lesson is how to talk about quantities and to ask for more or less, is that right? |
| Ingrid: Yes thanks it is, in fact it will be the continuation of the previous lesson focused on comparatives. Today, we are going to learn the expression “plus de”, “moins de” and “autant de” that will allow you to ask for more or less. |
| Jason: Great, so what is our first point? |
| Ingrid: The first expression will be how to say “more or less of something” as in “Pouvez-vous me donner plus de haricots verts s’il vous plait?” Here Marie is asking for “more French beans” |
| Jason: So what is the pattern to ask for more? |
| Ingrid: It is “plus de + noun” as in “ Je voudrais plus de champagne je vous prie » that is a polite way to ask for more Champagne. |
| Jason: So “plus de + noun” allows you to ask for more things, isn't that right? |
| Ingrid: Yes it is and if ever you want to say “less” instead, it is the same pattern and you just have to replace the word “plus” with “moins” as in “Il y a moins d’eau dans la baignoire” which means “There is less water in the bath”. |
| Jason: Okay, so this remains simple! And what if you are talking about time? |
| Ingrid: Talking about time is the same because time is also something not easy to count as it’s a concept. So the same, if you want to say “I need more time” you can say “J’ai besoin de plus de temps” here again you have the “plus de” pattern. |
| Jason: I see and what about less time? Is it still very logical? |
| Ingrid: Yes it is! You can say “J’ai moins de temps aujourd’hui” which means “I have less time today” |
| Jason: This is really easy to understand. But Ingrid: I was wondering, what is the expression we use to say “as much as” ? |
| Ingrid: To say that you will have to use the pattern “autant de”, just as in “Il y a autant de désordre qu’hier ici” which means, “There is as much mess as yesterday here”. |
| Jason: Is this is the same with time considerations? |
| Ingrid: You will also use « autant de » as in « Pourquoi as-tu mis autant de temps?” meaning « Why did it take so long /so much time ? » |
Outro |
| Jason: Okay, that’s all for today. See you, everyone, à bientôt! |
| Ingrid: See you everyone, à bientôt! |
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