LEARN FRENCH BY PODCAST

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1 LEARN FRENCH BY PODCAST AUDIO PODCASTS FOR LEARNERS OF FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE Lesson 66 How are you? Plus Publications Bramley Douglas Road Cork Ireland (t) 353-(0) (f) 353-(0) (e) editor@learnfrenchbypodcast.com (i)

2 Hello, and welcome back to LFBP. My name is Hugh Nagle and with me is Amélie Verdier. Bonjour Amélie. Bonjour! It s been a while since we ve had a beginner lesson. In this short lesson, Lesson 66, we ll see how to ask how someone is and we ll hear a little about the weather, too. Let s first listen to a short role-play between Monsieur Vuillerot and Madame Domur Monsieur Vuillerot Bonjour Madame Domur. Madame Domur Bonjour Monsieur Vuillerot. Monsieur Vuillerot Très bien, merci. Et vous, comment allez-vous? Madame Domur Je vais bien. En plus, il fait beau, alors, tout va bien. Monsieur Vuillerot Oui, c est vrai qu il ne pleut pas aujourd hui. (un téléphone portable sonne) Madame Domur Ah, excusez-moi, c est mon portable. Allô? Ah Bonjour Marie! Alors, comment ça va? Moi, ça va. Oui oui, toute la famille va bien. Attends, je ne peux pas te parler pour le moment, je te rappelle plus tard. Ok? Allez, à plus tard! [ How are you? (Literally, How are you going? )] Before we can ask questions like Comment allezvous?, we must familiarise ourselves fully with aller (to go). Study the present tense, below : aller to go je vais tu vas il / elle / on va nous allons vous allez ils / elles vont past participle : allé [ How are you? (Literally, How are you going? )] [= Furthermore, it s fine.] alors, tout va bien. [= so, everything is going fine/well.] Consider additional examples with alors : Alors, tu trouve ça comment? [So, how are you finding that?] Alors, quoi de neuf? [So, what s new?] Alors, tu fais quoi ce weekend? [So, what re you doing this weekend?], tout va bien. [= everything is going well.] bon (= good) is an adjective. bien (= well) is an adverb : Il joue bien. [= He plays well.] Elle chante bien. [= She sings well.] C est vrai que il ne pleut pas aujourd hui. [= It s true that it s not raining today.] Listen carefully! The s on plus is sometimes pronounced and is sometimes silent. In this case, the s is pronounced. [= it s fine.] The verb faire often means to do, to make, etc. In relation to the weather, however, it means : It s (fine, warm, cold, etc). 2 Plus Publications. All rights reserved.

3 One more time, let s hear this exchange. Monsieur Vuillerot Bonjour Madame Domur. Madame Domur Bonjour Monsieur Vuillerot. Monsieur Vuillerot Très bien, merci. Et vous, comment allez-vous? Madame Domur Je vais bien. En plus, il fait beau, alors, tout va bien. Monsieur Vuillerot Oui, c est vrai qu il ne pleut pas aujourd hui. (un téléphone portable sonne) Madame Domur Ah, excusez-moi, c est mon portable. Allô? Ah Bonjour Marie! Alors, comment ça va? Moi, ça va. Oui oui, toute la famille va bien. Attends, je ne peux pas te parler pour le moment, je te rappelle plus tard. Ok? Allez, à plus tard! il ne pleut pas [= it isn t raining] The verb pleuvoir (= to rain) is invariable. That is, it does not have a full conjugation like other verbs. We find only the il part of the verb. mon portable. [= my mobile.] that we may also hear mon téléphone portable. More often than not, however, we find the shorter form. Allô? [= Hello? ] Allô is used when saying Hello on the telephone, rather than in general. Je ne peux pas te donner des suggestions dire que [= say to you that ] répondre [= answer you] Toute la famille va bien. [= All [members of] the family are well.] that the singular form of the verb aller is used in French, in combination with the singular noun la famille. Je te rappelle [= I ll call you back (later).] The verb appeler means to call. If we add an r to the beginning of the verb, we get rappeler which means to call (someone) again or call (someone) back., also, in this context the Present tense in French is used to convey the Future in English : I will call you back (at some point in the future). Je te rappelle à huit heures du soir. [= I ll call you back at 8 p.m.] Je te rappelle demain. [= I ll call you back tomorrow.] Je te rappelle [= I ll call you back (later).] appeler to call j appelle tu appelles il / elle / on appelle nous appelons vous appelez ils / elle appellent Watch it! There is just one l in the 1st and 2nd person plural. Attends! [= Wait!] This is the Imperative (command) form of attendre (= to wait). j attends tu attends il / elle / on attend nous attendons vous attendez ils / elles attendent past participle : attendu Plus Publications. All rights reserved. 3

4 Now, a basic but essential expression is How are you? That is Comment allez-vous? Comment allez-vous? That s the formal form of the question we might use if addressing a neighbour we don t know that well, for example. If, on the other hand, we were addressing a friend someone we did know well we could ask : Comment vas-tu? Comment vas-tu? Or, simply Ça va? Ça va? Comment allez-vous? Ça va? Ça va? [ How are you?] The cedilla accent (l accent cédille) is important and ensures that before the vowels a, o and u the ç is pronounced like the English s, rather than as a k. comment va-t-elle? [= how is she?] Finally, if we were asking about someone else a mutual friend called Jacques, for example, we would ask : Et Jacques, il va bien? Et Jacques, il va bien? The function of the -t- is to facilitate pronunciation and prevent a collision of two vowels. The same applies to the il part of the verb : Et Daniel, comment va-t-il? Supposing the doctor was asking a woman about her daughter, his question might be : Et votre fille, Jacqueline, comment va-t-elle? Et votre fille, Jacqueline, comment va-t-elle? So, let s remember these expressions. They rely heavily on the verb aller which literally means to go. In response to these questions, various answers are possible. Amélie, if you are very well, you would say : Très bien, merci. Très bien, merci. On the other hand, if things aren t going so well, you might say : Je ne vais pas trop bien. Je ne vais pas trop bien. (Pas) très bien. votre fille [= your daughter] Depending on the context, une fille is : 1. a girl, or 2. a daughter. Listen carefully to the pronunciation! The double-l in une fille sounds like the y in the English word yes. or, simply : Pas trop bien. Pas trop bien. Here we have pas trop bien. That s not too well. Not very well, would be Pas très bien. Pas très bien. 4 Plus Publications. All rights reserved.

5 : Thursday In our original exchange, Madame Domur said she was very well. In particular, she said : and then, the weather is beautiful, so all is well. Let s hear, once again, what she said. First we heard : So, in relation to the weather, it s beautiful or it s fine is simply il fait beau. And then, all is well is : Tout va bien. Tout va bien. All or everything is tout tout That s the masculine form of this word. A little later in the dialogue, we heard : Toute la famille va bien Toute la famille va bien That s All the family are well. In this case, we hear : toute toute Il fait beau. tout / toute Il fait beau. [= It s fine.] Study the following weather-related expressions, too, also based on the verb faire : Il fait mauvais. [= (the opposite of il fait beau ) The weather is bad.] Il fait chaud.* [= It s hot.] Il fait froid.* [= It s cold.] * that these expressions apply to the weather. They are not used when describing objects that are hot or cold. Nor are they used when describing one s own physical state. Tout va bien. [= Everything / all is (going) well.] That s the feminine form of the adjective because we are talking about all the family and la famille la famille is a feminine word. In fact, there are four variants of tout, depending on the gender (that is, masculine or feminine) and number (that is, singular or plural) of the noun to which it refers. Consider additional examples below : avec tout le sucre [m] qu on trouve dans les aliments de nos jours. [= with all the sugar that one finds in food nowadays.] devant toute la classe [f]. [= in front of the whole class.] Ma mère va à la messe tous les matins [m pl]. [= My mother goes to mass every morning.] Tu vois toutes les cochonneries [f pl] qu elle avale? [= Do you see all the junk that she eats?] Plus Publications. All rights reserved. 5

6 In this lesson we ve concentrated on how to ask how someone is. But there are other interesting expressions and vocabulary, too. You can find that information in the accompanying Lesson Guide, available from our website at Amélie, let s listen to this dialogue one last time to reinforce everything we ve heard today. Monsieur Vuillerot Bonjour Madame Domur. Madame Domur Bonjour Monsieur Vuillerot. Monsieur Vuillerot Très bien, merci. Et vous, comment allez-vous? Madame Domur Je vais bien. En plus, il fait beau, alors, tout va bien. Monsieur Vuillerot Oui, c est vrai qu il ne pleut pas aujourd hui. (un téléphone portable sonne) Madame Domur Ah, excusez-moi, c est mon portable. Allô? Ah Bonjour Marie! Alors, comment ça va? Moi, ça va. Oui oui, toute la famille va bien. Attends, je ne peux pas te parler pour le moment, je te rappelle plus tard. Ok? Allez, à plus tard! Allez, à plus tard! [ Ok then, until (I talk to you) later!] Grammatically speaking, Allez is the Imperative (command) form of the verb aller. Literally, it is the form of the verb we will use when ordering someone to Go! However, Allez is very frequently used when wrapping up a conversation in which case it equates to the English Ok, then or Right, then. Of course, we ll hear it around us at a football match, too, where French supporters will vociferously encourage their players with shouts of Allez! Allez! Je ne peux pas [= I can t ] That s it for now. Until next time A la prochaine. This is the 1st person singular of the Present tense of pouvoir (= to be able). Study the full conjugation of the verb, below : pouvoir to be able je peux tu peux il / elle / on peut nous pouvons vous pouvez ils / elles peuvent past participle : pu, à plus tard! [, until (I talk to you) later!] Consider the following, also : À ce soir! [= Until (I talk to you / see you) this evening!] À demain! [= Until (I talk to you / see you) tomorrow!] 6 Plus Publications. All rights reserved.

7 If you understood our lesson, then you should be able to translate Now it s your turn 1. And Claire how is she? 2. Yes they re well. [Suppose you re talking about David and Diane.] 3. He can t talk to you for the moment. 4. They can t talk to you for the moment. 5. It s warm today. 6. It s raining. 7. He ll call you back later. 8. They ll call you back later. See how you have fared in the exercise above by clicking on the graphic. ( that we wait a few days after a lesson has been released before posting the answers to exercises on our website.) Vocab extra! bonjour...hello aller...to go comment?...how? vous...you très...very bien...well merci...thank you plus, en ~...furthermore alors...so, then tout...all, everything vrai...true c est...it s oui...yes pleuvoir...to rain aujourd hui...today portable (m)...mobile (phone) sonner...to ring mon...my allô...hello [on telephone] famille (f)...family attendre...to wait pouvoir...to be able parler...to speak, to talk pour...for moment (m)...moment rappeler...to call again tard...late plus...more prochaine, à la ~...until next time jouer...to play trouver...to find quoi...what neuf [adj]...new chanter...to sing répondre...to answer chaud...hot froid...cold sucre (m)...sugar aliment (m)...item of food jour, de nos ~s...nowadays devant...in front of classe (f)...class messe (f)...mass matin (m)...morning cochonneries (f pl)..junk (food) avaler...to swallow voir...to see Plus Publications. All rights reserved. 7