LEARN FRENCH BY PODCAST

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Lesson

Talking about friends and family

Plus Publications Bramley Douglas Road Cork Ireland (t) 353-(0)21-4847444 (f) 353-(0)21-4847675 (e) editor@learnfrenchbypodcast.com (i) www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com

Lesson 02: Wednesday, June 14th, 2006 Level: beginner.

the verbs avoir, passer and lire saying how you get on with people speaking about things in general talking about playing instruments adjectives ending in if

Dialogue

Hello once again, and welcome to Learn French by Podcast. My name is Hugh Nagle and here with me is Amlie Verdier. Welcome back, Amlie! Bonjour! Today were going to talk about friends and family. To get started, Amlie, lets hear a little about your own friends and family. Well hear what you have to say 3 times, as usual, right? Bien sr! On y va! Jai une soeur. Ma soeur sappelle Aurlia et elle a dix-huit ans. Elle habite avec mes parents dans le sud de la France. Elle passe, cette anne, son baccalaurat. Je mentends bien avec elle. Elle est trs littraire, elle aime la musique et la lecture. Excellent. Now, youre going to tell us a little more later, but lets deal with this part first. Lets hear that a second time Jai une soeur. [] Ok. And a final time Jai une soeur. [] Ok. Lets look at a couple of things. First you said you had a sister Jai une soeur. Jai thats the first person, present tense of the verbe avoir. I have a brother would be Jai un frre. I have a boyfriend Jai un petit ami. He has a girlfriend Il a une petite amie. une petite amie lets here the difference again between those two: un petit ami. une petite amie Now, your sister, again, her name is Elle sappelle Aurlia. Elle sappelle. Now, in our first lesson we met the expression Je mappelle. This time, we have Elle sappelle Her name is. Of course, his name is Il sappelle Ok. Lets remember all three of these: Je mappelle,

Remember!
le baccalaurat
This is the final exam in French secondary schools. By students, it is almost invariably referred to simply as le bac.

le brevet
This exam takes place at the end of Junior High School.

The verb avoir to have

Verb!
avoir [to have]
Jai.............................I have tu as..........................you have il a.............................he has elle a..........................she has on a...........................one has nous avons................we have vous avez...................you have ils ont........................they have elles ont.....................they have

sappeler

Remember!
his name is / her name is
il sappelle.................his name is elle sappelle..............her name is



Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.

Lesson 02: Wednesday, June 14th, 2006 Level: beginner.

the verbs avoir, passer and lire saying how you get on with people speaking about things in general talking about playing instruments adjectives ending in if

Dialogue

Il sappelle and Elle sappelle Then you said how old Aurlia was Oui. Elle a dix-huit ans. Elle a. Thats the verb avoir, which we must use when talking about age, right? Your uncle how old is he? Mon oncle? Il a cinquante ans. And your aunt Ma tante? Elle a quarante-neuf ans. Ok, then. We must remember this: its the verb avoir when were talking about someones age. Moving on Aurlia, o habite-elle? Elle habite dans le sud de la France. Dans le sud de la France, In the south. Now, in the north is? Dans le nord And the west? Dans louest And the east? Dans lest. Lets hear those one more time In the south? Dans le sud In the north Dans le nord In the west Dans louest And, in the east Dans lest Now, on the subject of Aurlias exams cette anne, elle passe son baccalaurat, nest-ce pas? Cest exact. Elle passe ses examens en juin. The verb passer now that could be confusing. It has several meanings but, in relation to exams, it means to sit, right? Not to pass! How would you say My cousin is sitting his law exams? Mon cousin passe ses examens de droit. And Carole is sitting her Junior High School exams? Well, in France, we refer to those as Le Brevet, so we would say Elle passe son Brevet.

avoir when saying how old someone is

Watch it!
We said avoir is the verb to have
Jai un frre............... I have a brother. Elle a un chien.......... She has a dog.

But this verb is also used when talking of someones age:

north, south, east, west

Elle a quarante ans...She is 40. Paul a quinze ans.....Paul is 15.

passer to sit (an exam)

passer
In relation to exams, this verb means to sit:
Elle passe ses examens en juin. [She sits (or is sitting) her exams in June.]

Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.

Lesson 02: Wednesday, June 14th, 2006 Level: beginner.

the verbs avoir, passer and lire saying how you get on with people speaking about things in general talking about playing instruments adjectives ending in if

Dialogue

Now, you said you get on well with your sister Oui, je mentends bien avec elle. Lets hear that one more time Je mentends bien avec elle. You could use this expression in relation to your father, too, right? You would say Je mentends bien avec lui. avec lui with him. Once again? Je mentends bien avec lui. Now in the case of your sisters, or your brothers, or your parents, if it were the case that you get on well with them all, you would say: Je mentends bien avec eux. And one more time? Je mentends bien avec eux. avec eux with them. So, to summarise, we have avec elle, avec lui and avec eux. with her, with him, with them. Now, you spoke about the things your sister likes Oui. Elle aime la musique et la lecture. Elle aime thats the verb aimer to like. Now we must remember to use the article le, la or les when were talking about things in general. Things we like doing, activities that interest us. We would also have Jaime le thtre, and so on. Lets try a few more. How would we say She adores chocolate!? Elle adore le chocolat! le chocolat the article is there again. How about My brother loves football? Mon frre adore le foot. Pascale loves reading? Pascale adore la lecture. Once again, la lecture, with the article la accompanying the noun lecture.

sentendre avec to get on well with

verb: sentendre avec

This verb means to get on with [someone]
Je mentends bien avec Philippe.

Here are the other parts of the verb:

Je mentends tu tentends il sentend elle sentend on sentend nous nous entendons vous vous entendez ils sentendent elles sentendent

This is called a reflexive verb. Well be studying these more closely later.

speaking about things in general

general

things in

You need to include a definite article (le, la, les) when talking about things in general.
Jaime le sport...........I like sport. Elle aime la danse.....She likes dancing.

verb: aimer
This verb means to like
Jaime. ......................I like tu aimes....................you like il aime.......................he likes elle aime...................she likes on aime.....................one likes nous aimons.............we like vous aimez................you like ils aiment. ................they like elles aiment. ............they like

Note!
There is a large group of verbs in French which end in er. Youve already met a few: habiter, passer, aimer. They all have the bold endings (above) in common.



Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.

Lesson 02: Wednesday, June 14th, 2006 Level: beginner.

the verbs avoir, passer and lire saying how you get on with people speaking about things in general talking about playing instruments adjectives ending in if

Dialogue

Excellent. Now you are going to tell us a little more about Aurlia Allez-y! Elle lit beaucoup et elle joue du saxophone et de la guitare. Elle est aussi sportive: elle fait de lescalade. Lets hear all that a second time Elle lit [] And a final time Elle lit [] Ta soeur, Aurlia, elle lit beaucoup, nest-ce pas? Oui, elle lit beaucoup. Et toi? Moi aussi, je lis beaucoup. Je lis thats the verb lire to read. In the singular, we have a simple sound: Je lis, tu lis, il lit. In the plural, its different. If we were talking about several people, wed say Ils lisent Now, Aurlia is musical, right? Oui. Elle joue du saxophone et de la guitare. Du saxophone? De la guitare? Now, what about these words in front of those instruments? Well, you know that nouns are either masculine or feminine in French. When were talking about playing instruments, if the instrument were talking about is masculine, we say du. If its feminine, we say de la. Amlie, how should we say Paul plays the piano? Paul joue du piano. du piano because piano is masculine. Pascale plays the flute? Pascale joue de la flte. de la flte because flte is feminine. Jeanne plays the clarinet? Jeanne joue de la clarinette. de la clarinette because clarinette is, again, feminine. Now we should mention instruments which begin with a vowel or a mute h. How about Eric plays the harmonica? Eric joue de lharmonica. de lharmonica. Ok, once again, we see that this h is effectively redundant. It is not pronounced.

the verb lire

lire
This is the verb to read
Je lis..........................I read tu lis..........................you read il lit............................he reads elle lit........................she reads on lit..........................one reads nous lisons.................we read vous lisez...................you read ils lisent.....................they read elles lisent.................they read

jouer de + instrument

Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.

Lesson 02: Wednesday, June 14th, 2006 Level: beginner.

the verbs avoir, passer and lire saying how you get on with people speaking about things in general talking about playing instruments adjectives ending in if

Dialogue

Not only is your sister musical, but shes also a sports enthusiast. Oui. Elle est sportive. Elle fait de lescalade. sportif keen on sport. We find a number of adjectives which end in if in French. In the feminine, they change to ive, right? So, we get sportif, and sportive Then theres actif, and active Nocif, which means harmful or noxious, would become nocive nocive, that is, if we were talking about a feminine item a chemical, or something which was unhealthy or whatever. Now, you said Aurlia lives with your parents Oui, elle vit chez mes parents. chez. Thats a very important word. It means (to) someones place or, to a particular place, without mentioning the exact location. How would we say My mother is going to the doctor? Ma mre va chez le docteur. chez le docteur to the doctors (place), if you like. Are you coming to my place? Est-ce que tu viens chez moi? And one more time? Est-ce que tu viens chez moi? chez moi to my place. Im going to Pauls place Je vais chez Paul. chez Paul. Ok, weve covered a lot today. Dont forget that you can find all of this information in the accompanying PDF Guide, available from our website at learnfrenchbypodcast.com. In our next lesson, Amlie, were going to talk about le monde du travail That is, the world of work. Until next time A la prochaine!

adjectives ending in if

adjectives
Adjectives which end in if in the masculine form normally change to ive in the feminine:
masculin.................. fminin actif...........................active sportif........................sportive nocif..........................nocive

chez

chez
chez means someones place
Je vais chez Paul. Elle va chez le docteur.

verb!
aller [to go]
Je vais........................I go tu vas.........................you go il va............................he goes elle va........................she goes on va.........................one goes nous allons................we go vous allez...................you (pl.) go ils vont.......................they go elles vont...................they go



Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.

Lesson 02: Wednesday, June 14th, 2006 Level: beginner.

the verbs avoir, passer and lire saying how you get on with people speaking about things in general talking about playing instruments adjectives ending in if

Dialogue
If you understood our lesson, then you should be ready for the following

Vocab extra!
anne (f)................year beaucoup...............a lot, many bien sr!.................certainly! Cest........................thats ce, cette..................this droit (m).................law escalade (f)............(rock) climbing examen (m)...........exam faire........................to do frre (m).................brother jouer.......................to play lecture (f)...............reading littraire.................literary moi.........................me mon, ma, mes........my monde (m).............world o...........................where soeur (f).................sister travail (m)..............work venir.......................to come

Now its your turn

1. They have a sister. [Suppose that you are talking about Philippe and Marc.] 2. Karl has a girlfriend. 3. Diane has a boyfriend. 4. We live in the north of France. 5. He sits his exams in June. 6. He gets on well with them. 7. We like chocolat. 8. They like sport. [Suppose that youre talking about your brothers.] 9. I play the piano. 10. He reads. 11. Im going to Maries (place).

click!
See the answers at http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/FTEW_pages/answers.htm

Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.