Faites attention! C'est la grève. There's a strike.

Transcription

1 > Faites attention! l'impératif un moment... C'est la grève. There's a strike. En ce moment, il y a la grève à la SNCF (la Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer). Quelle pagaille! C'est impossible de voyager. Surtout en direction de Paris. Presque tous les trains de banlieue sont supprimés. At the moment, there is a strike at the SNCF (the French national railway company). What a mess! It's impossible to travel. Above all in the Paris direction. Nearly all the suburban trains are cancelled. Je ne sais absolument pas quoi faire. J'ai un rendez-vous extrêmement important à Paris. Je demande au bureau de renseignements: I just don't know what to do. I have an extremely important meeting at Paris. I ask at the information desk: - Est-ce que vous avez des informations? Do you have any information?

2 - Pas pour le moment, non, nous sommes désolés. Not for the moment, no, we're sorry. Qu'est-ce qu'il faut faire? Est-ce qu'il faut que j'annule mon voyage? What is to be done? Is it necessary to cancel my trip? Une employée me parle aimablement. Elle me conseille au mieux: An employee speaks to me kindly. She advises me as best as she can: - Non, il ne faut rien annuler du tout. Allez sur le quai et attendez! Un train est annoncé. Prenez-le. Votre billet est valable de toute façon, non? No, it's not necessary to cancel anything. Go to the platform and wait. A train has been announced. Take it. Your ticket is valid at any rate, isn't it? Je la remercie et je vais sur le quai. Effectivement, un TGV arrive presque immédiatement. Un haut-parleur crie: «Attention, éloignez-vous de la bordure du quai, le TGV n 103 entre en gare». I thank her and I go onto the platform. Indeed a TGV arrives almost immediately. A loudspeaker blares: 'Attention, move back from the edge of the platform, the TGV n 103 is entering the station.' J'ai de la chance dans mon malheur. Je vais à Paris et si je ne peux pas revenir ce soir, alors à moi Paris by night! À quelque chose malheur est bon, non?* I have a stroke of luck in my misfortune. I am going to Paris and if I can't get back this evening, then it's Paris by night for me! Misfortune is good for something, isn't it? *a proverb le vocabulaire féminin la bordure the edge, the border la chance luck la direction the direction (the management) la gare the station la grève the strike la pagaille the mess la vitesse the speed

3 masculin le bureau the office un haut-parleur a loudspeaker le malheur the misfortune le quai the platform un rendez-vous a meeting un renseignement information le voyage the voyage, the journey un TGV - un train à grande vitesse a high speed train verbes et adverbes aimablement kindly annuler to cancel crier to shout, to blare demander quelque chose to ask for something effectivement effectively, indeed s'éloigner de to distance yourself from, to keep back from faire to do, to make presque almost supprimer to cancel surtout above all voyager to travel 1) L'impératif The imperative - l'impératif - is the mode you use when you want to give orders or instructions. For example, someone knocks on your door. You shout out: Entrez! Enter! That's an imperative. Mélangez la farine avec le beurre. Mix the flour with the butter. is also an imperative. Because orders and instructions, by their nature, are addressed directly to someone, there is no imperative in the first person singular («je») nor in the third person singular or plural («il, elle, ils, elles»).

4 So what are we left with? First let's look at verbs in Group One - regular verbs with the infinitive ending in er. To make a Group One verb imperative you need to drop the subject pronoun: tu, nous or vous. And in the tu form, you need to lose the s at the end of the verb as well. l'impératif Present indicative Tu entres. You enter. Nous entrons. We enter. Vous entrez. You enter. Imperative Entre! Enter! Entrons! Let's enter! Entrez! Enter! Here are some other examples: demander Demande! Demandons! Demandez! to ask Ask! Let's ask! Ask! supprimer Supprime! Supprimons! Supprimez! to cancel Cancel! Let's cancel! Cancel! With verbs from Group Two, verbs with an infinitive -ir and a nous form -iss, you create the imperative simply by dropping the subject pronoun. l'impératif Present indicative Tu finis. You finish. Nous finissons. We finish. Vous finissez. You finish. Imperative Finis! Finish! Finissons! Let's finish! Finissez! Finish! choisir Choisis! Choisissons! Choisissez! to choose Choose! Let's choose! Choose! It's the same principle for Group Three (irregular verbs). Just drop the tu, nous and vous from

5 the present indicative. So we have: prendre Prends! Prenons! Prenez! to take Take! Let's take! Take! faire Fais! Faisons! Faites! to do, make Do! Let's do! Do! You can also form imperatives in the negative by adding ne and pas. Ne prends pas mes documents. Don't take my documents. Ne fais pas attention à mon collègue, il est de mauvaise humeur aujourd'hui. Don't pay attention to my colleague, he's in a bad mood today. Reflexive verbs are a bit special when it comes to the imperative. In the affirmative, the reflexive pronoun comes after the verb. And in that position, we need to use the emphatic form of the pronoun. In practical terms, that means te becomes toi. So for example, with se promener - 'to go for a walk': Or from our text, s'éloigner: Tu te promènes. Promène-toi librement! Walk freely around! Vous vous promenez. Promenez-vous! Go for a walk! Éloignez-vous de la bordure du quai! Distance yourself from the side of the platform! In the negative, the reflexive pronoun stays before the verb. And in that position, the te remains te: Ne te promène pas sans prendre ton parapluie, le temps n'est pas sûr aujourd'hui! Don't go for a walk without your umbrella, the weather's uncertain today! Another imperative you hear quite often, especially as a child, comes from the verb se taire to keep quiet:

6 Tais-toi! Keep quiet! Taisez-vous! Keep quiet! 2) Un moment... Le moment means 'a moment' or 'a little time': Je suis heureux de pouvoir passer un petit moment avec toi, c'est si rare! I am happy to be able to spend a little time with you, it's so rare! En ce moment means 'at the moment': En ce moment je suis surchargé de travail, il faut mettre la comptabilité en ordre avant la fin du mois. I'm overwhelmed with work at the moment, I have to put my accounts in order before the end of the month. Pour le moment means 'for the moment': Les employés ne peuvent pas nous donner de réponse pour le moment, demain peut-être, ou peut-être la semaine prochaine. The employees can't give us a reply for the moment, tomorrow maybe, or maybe next week.