Learn French By Podcast, Lesson 66

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)21-4847444 (f) 353-(0)21-4847675 (e) [email protected] (i) www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com

Lesson 66 : Thursday, June 21st, 2007 Level : beginner. “How are you ?…”

Dialogue

• • • • •

“Comment allez-vous ?“ : [“How are you ?“] “Ça va ?“ : [“How are you ?“] “(Pas) très bien.“ : [“(Not) very well.”] “Il fait beau.” : [“It’s fine.”] tout, toute, tous, toutes : [all, every]

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 Madame Domur

Bonjour Madame Domur. Bonjour Monsieur Vuillerot. Comment allez-vous ? 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 !

Note Comment allez-vous ? [≈ 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

Note Comment allez-vous ? [≈ How are you ? (Literally, ‘How are you going ?’)] *OWFSTJPO
PG

TVCKFDU

BOE

WFSC
 w

BMMF[



WPVT
*OWFSUJOH
UIF
TVCKFDU
BOE
WFSC
HJWFT
UIF
*OUFSSPHBUJWF
RVFTUJPO
GPSN
%POU
GPSHFU

UIFSFT
B
IZQIFO
UPP

Note Note Note … alors, tout va bien. [= … so, everything is going fine/well.]

Where you see this symbol …  … it’s your turn to repeat what you’ve heard. Then we’ll repeat once more.

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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.]

Note

En plus, il fait beau. [= Furthermore, it’s fine.] Listen carefully ! The ‘s’ on ‘plus’ is sometimes pronounced and is sometimes silent. In this case, the ‘s’ is pronounced.

Note En plus, il fait beau. [= … 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).

C’est vrai que il ne pleut pas aujourd’hui. [= It’s true that it’s not raining today.]

© Plus Publications, 2007. All rights reserved.

Lesson 66 : Thursday, June 21st, 2007 Level : beginner. “How are you ?…” “Comment allez-vous ?“ : [“How are you ?“] “Ça va ?“ : [“How are you ?“] “(Pas) très bien.“ : [“(Not) very well.”] “Il fait beau.” : [“It’s fine.”] tout, toute, tous, toutes : [all, every]

Dialogue

• • • • •

One more time, let’s hear this exchange.

Note

Monsieur Vuillerot Madame Domur

Bonjour Madame Domur. Bonjour Monsieur Vuillerot. Comment allez-vous ? 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.

Note … mon portable. [= my mobile.] Note that we may also hear ‘mon téléphone portable’. More often than not, however, we find the shorter form.

Note Allô ?… [= Hello ?…]

Note

Allô is used when saying ‘Hello’ on the telephone, rather than in general.

+F
OF
QFVY
QBT


UF

QBSMFS

Note

*
DBOU


UBML


UP
ZPV

Toute la famille va bien. [= All [members of] the family are well.]

8F
DPVME
SFQMBDF
AQBSMFS
XJUI
PUIFS
JOñOJUJWFT
UP
DSFBUF
B
SBOHF
PG
QPTTJCJMJUJFT

Note that the singular form of the verb aller is used in French, in combination with the singular noun la famille.

Je ne peux pas te | donner des suggestions | dire que … [= say to you that …] | répondre … [= answer you]

Note 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’. Where you see this symbol …  … it’s your turn to repeat what you’ve heard. Then we’ll repeat once more.

Note, 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.]

© Plus Publications, 2007. All rights reserved.

Note 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.

Note 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

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Lesson 66 : Thursday, June 21st, 2007 Level : beginner. “How are you ?…”

Dialogue

• • • • •

“Comment allez-vous ?“ : [“How are you ?“] “Ça va ?“ : [“How are you ?“] “(Pas) très bien.“ : [“(Not) very well.”] “Il fait beau.” : [“It’s fine.”] tout, toute, tous, toutes : [all, every]

Now, a basic – but essential – expression is “How are you?” “Comment allez-vous ?” That is… Comment allez-vous? Comment allez-vous?

 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’.

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?

Note

“Ça va ?”

Note  … 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. … 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. Where you see this symbol …  … it’s your turn to repeat what you’ve heard. Then we’ll repeat once more.

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Note “(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’.

Note 5P
DSFBUF
UIF

OFHBUJWF
 +F

OF

WBJT

QBT

USPQ
CJFO <
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XFMM> <WFSC
BMMFS> 5IF
OFHBUJWF
JO
'SFODI
JT
DSFBUFE
CZ
AXSBQQJOH
OF
BOE
QBT
BSPVOE
UIF
WFSC

© Plus Publications, 2007. All rights reserved.

Lesson 66 : Thursday, June 21st, 2007 Level : beginner. “How are you ?…” “Comment allez-vous ?“ : [“How are you ?“] “Ça va ?“ : [“How are you ?“] “(Pas) très bien.“ : [“(Not) very well.”] “Il fait beau.” : [“It’s fine.”] tout, toute, tous, toutes : [all, every]

Dialogue

• • • • •

“Il fait beau.” 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 : En plus, il fait beau. En plus, il fait beau. 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 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.

tout / toute

Note  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.] * Note 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.

Note  Tout va bien. [= Everything / all is (going) well.] 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 ?]

Where you see this symbol …  … it’s your turn to repeat what you’ve heard. Then we’ll repeat once more.

© Plus Publications, 2007. All rights reserved.

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Lesson 66 : Thursday, June 21st, 2007 Level : beginner. “How are you ?…”

Dialogue

• • • • •

“Comment allez-vous ?“ : [“How are you ?“] “Ça va ?“ : [“How are you ?“] “(Pas) très bien.“ : [“(Not) very well.”] “Il fait beau.” : [“It’s fine.”] tout, toute, tous, toutes : [all, every]

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 www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com. Amélie, let’s listen to this dialogue one last time to reinforce everything we’ve heard today. Monsieur Vuillerot Madame Domur

Bonjour Madame Domur. Bonjour Monsieur Vuillerot. Comment allez-vous ? 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 ! That’s it for now. Until next time… A la prochaine.

Note  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!…”

Note  Je ne peux pas … [= I can’t …] 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

Note  …, à plus tard ! [≈ …, until (I talk to you) later !] Where you see this symbol …  … it’s your turn to repeat what you’ve heard. Then we’ll repeat once more.

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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 !]

© Plus Publications, 2007. All rights reserved.

Lesson 66 : Thursday, June 21st, 2007 Level : beginner. “How are you ?…” “Comment allez-vous ?“ : [“How are you ?“] “Ça va ?“ : [“How are you ?“] “(Pas) très bien.“ : [“(Not) very well.”] “Il fait beau.” : [“It’s fine.”] tout, toute, tous, toutes : [all, every]

Dialogue

• • • • •

Vocab extra  !

Now it’s your turn …

If you understood our lesson, then you should be able to translate …

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

And Claire… how is she? Yes… they’re well. [Suppose you’re talking about David and Diane.] He can’t talk to you for the moment. They can’t talk to you for the moment. It’s warm today. It’s raining. He’ll call you back later. They’ll call you back later. See how you have fared in the exercise above by clicking on the graphic. (Note that we wait a few days after a lesson has been released before posting the answers to exercises on our website.)

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© Plus Publications, 2007. All rights reserved.

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• 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

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