LEARN FRENCH BY PODCAST

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1 LEARN FRENCH BY PODCAST AUDIO PODCASTS FOR LEARNERS OF FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE Lesson 4 A problem at the airport! Plus Publications Bramley Douglas Road Cork Ireland (t) 353-(0) (f) 353-(0) (e) editor@learnfrenchbypodcast.com (i)

2 Hello once again, and welcome to Learn French by Podcast. My name is Hugh Nagle and here with me is Amélie Verdier. Welcome back, Amélie! Bonjour! Our first few lessons have been aimed at beginners or at least those with only a little French. Today, though, we re going to target Intermediate listeners. Amélie, we ll be talking about l arrivée de mon oncle à l aéroport de Paris Charles de Gaulle. That is, your uncle s arrival in France, from Germany. So, when he arrived, what happened, exactly? Qu est-ce qui s est passé au juste? Bon, alors mon oncle travaille dans une entreprise pharmaceutique à Berlin. Le mois dernier il a dû partir en voyage d affaires à Paris. Le vol s est bien passé, j espère? Oui, oui. Quelques turbulences au décollage mais rien de grave. Après l atterrissage, il a cherché où est-ce que l on récupère les bagages. Mais l aéroport de CDG est très grand et il y a beaucoup de tapis à bagages! Il a regardé les panneaux et les écrans d information, mais il ne comprenait pas ce qui était écrit. Ok. Let s listen again to this first part of the story. Mon oncle travaille [ ] And one final, time Mon oncle travaille [ ] Now, let s talk about the expression il a dû partir That means, he had to leave. In French, we have the verb devoir, combined with the infinitive of a second verb. Let s hear another few examples. He had to revise il a dû réviser. He had to take the train : il a dû prendre le train. He had to sign a contract il a dû signer un contrat. section 1 il a dû + infinitive Remember! he looked at (the signs) This past tense le passé composé relies heavily on the verb avoir : j ai...i have tu as...you have il/elle/on a...he/she/one has nous avons...we have vous avez...you have ils/elles ont...they have Remember that the French don t say I ate : they say I have eaten il a regardé = he has looked at 2 Plus Publications, All rights reserved.

3 Now, Amélie, we should remind our listeners that il a dû is an example of le passé composé. That is, the past tense. Now, this past tense consists of the auxiliary verb, avoir: in this case, that s il a followed by the past participle of the verb devoir, that s dû. Ila dû. As we explained, we can now put the infinitive of any verb after this. Now, if this sounds a little complicated, don t forget that you can find all this information in our PDF Guides, downloadable from Amélie, let s continue with our story. Your uncle, like many people, he had difficulties getting around Charles de Gaulle airport. What did he do next? Ton oncle, qu a-t-il fait? Il a demandé à une femme à côté de lui où est-ce qu il devait aller. 2 section dû = past participle of devoir. Remember the accent circonflexe on the letter û. Without that accent, we have a different word altogether! Qu a répondu la femme? Elle lui a dit : «Le vol en provenance de Berlin? C est le tapis numéro 3. Pour y aller, c est très facile. Vous allez tout droit, au bout de ce couloir, vous tournez à droite. Là, vous passez le contrôle de police. Ensuite vous tournez à gauche et vous allez voir les tapis à bagages.» Et alors? Il a trouvé? Le tapis à bagages, oui. Mais pas sa valise! Let s hear this second section of the story once again. Let s see if our listeners can understand the directions given to get to the baggage reclaim. Ton oncle, qu a-t-il fait? Il a demandé à une femme [ ] Now, let s pause for a moment to discuss the expression, Pour y aller, c est facile. Y is an important word which has several meanings, in fact. Often, it means there. Notice that it comes in front of the verb: Pour y aller to go there. How would we say, for example, We sometimes eat there? Nous y mangeons parfois. And, They do their shopping there? Ils y font les courses. y = there. y Remember that it comes in front of the verb. Plus Publications, All rights reserved. 3

4 Now, on another topic, when giving directions, the person said Allez tout droit Then Tournez à droite And then Passez le contrôle And finally Tournez à gauche We have several important verbs which relate to giving and receiving directions: aller, tourner, passer. It s important to remember, too when someone in the street is giving us directions, for example we ll hear the formal, command form of the verb, in other words the imperative. In the case of regular, er verbs like tourner and passer, we ll hear the distinctive ez ending. For turn left, we d hear Tournez à gauche directions l imperatif The imperative is the form of the verb which is used when someone is ordering you to do something. In the case of a large number of verbs which end in er, the imperative has a distinctive ez ending. While, in the case of Go past the information desk, we would have Passez le bureau d informations Let s move on to the next part of our story. When your uncle couldn t find his suitcase, what happened next? Que s est-il passé ensuite? Il a attendu pendant une heure et quand il a vu qu il n y avait plus de bagages, il a compris que son bagage n était pas arrivé. section3 Qu est-ce qu il a fait? Et bien, il a cherché où était le bureau des réclamations. Cette fois-ci, ça n a pas été difficile! Il est toujours situé près des tapis à bagages. Ce qui a été plus dur, c était de remplir toutes les formalités! Let s hear this again. Que s est-il passé ensuite? Il a attendu [ ] 4 Plus Publications, All rights reserved.

5 Now, earlier we said that il a dû was an example of le passé composé, that is the past tense. We have several other examples here: il a attendu il a vu il a compris il a cherché We know that il a is the auxiliary verb, avoir. The problem is, though, remembering all these past participles: attendu vu compris cherché We must remember, when we meet a new verb, we must learn the infinitive that is, the form of the verb we find in the dictionary and the past participle. We ll need to know this past participle to speak and write about events in the past. Now, to finish our story, your uncle found himself at an information desk. Qu est-ce qu ils lui ont demandé exactement? Tout d abord, le numéro de vol et sa carte d embarquement. Puis le billet d avion, ou au moins le reçu. Il a dû également fournir le coupon de sa valise perdue. Et ensuite? Ensuite, la personne a tenté, grâce à un ordinateur, de localiser le bagage. Heureusement pour mon oncle, sa valise était en fait restée à Berlin. Il a donné ses coordonnées, c està-dire l adresse de l hôtel, son numéro de chambre et son numéro de téléphone, pour que la compagnie le prévienne de l arrivée de son bagage. Il était assez énervé! Let s hear that section one more time. Qu est-ce qu ils lui ont demandé exactement? Tout d abord [ ] Once again, we have further examples of le passé composé. How did you say that the person tried to find his luggage? La personne a tenté de localiser La personne a tenté de The person tried to. Then you said that He gave his details : Oui. Il a donné ses coordonnées past participles section4 Remember! Past participles are essential when working in the past tense. Consider these sentences in English: He has stated many times that She has spoken to him about it They have played badly twice in succession. The bold words are past participles: when learning French verbs, make sure to learn the past participles, too. Remember! infinitive... past participle tenter... tenté donner... donné jurer... juré It s easy to figure out the past participle of regular verbs which end in er. The ending of the participle will simply be: é. The pronunciation of infinitive and past participle is the same in the case of such verbs. la personne la personne (= person) is an unusual noun in French. It is feminine, even if we are talking about a male! La personne qui répond (= The person who is answering ) could, in fact, be a man named Pierre! Plus Publications, All rights reserved. 5

6 In a few moments, in the final section, we ll also hear: He swore (he wouldn t take that airline again) Mon oncle a juré So, we have three further past participles here: tenté, donné, juré. In fact, these three are easy ones because they come from regular verbs, ending in er. The past participle for this kind of verb has an é as its ending. Now, there s another expression we should look at: it s the expression pour que which is technically called a conjunction as it links two parts of a sentence. You said he provided his details so that they could let him know when his luggage arrived. How did you say that, again? Il a donné ses coordonnées pour que la compagnie aérienne le prévienne Pour que that s the key expression. Let s take one more example: Peux-tu m appeler pour que je sache que tu es bien arrivée? pour que je sache so that I ll know you arrived safely. Now, let s take the final section of our story. Did everything turn out ok for your uncle? Tout s est donc bien fini? Plus ou moins! La valise est arrivée le lendemain matin, mais elle était très abîmée! La poignée était cassée, il y avait une grosse tache d huile sur un côté et un trou sur l autre côté. Mon oncle a juré de ne plus jamais reprendre cette compagnie aérienne! And, one more time Tout s est donc bien fini? Plus ou moins! [ ] So, your uncle got his suitcase back, but not quite in the same condition as it originally was. Amélie, how did you say It was damaged? Elle était abîmée. Elle était abîmée It was damaged. The imperfect tense of the verb être. How did you say the handle was broken? La poignée était cassée. How did you say there was a big oil stain on one side? Il y avait une grosse tache d huile sur le côté. Il y avait That s the Imperfect form of the expression pour que section5 pour que means so that or in order that. This link expression technically called a conjunction is followed by a special form of the verb called the subjunctive. We ll study the subjunctive in greater detail later. 6 Plus Publications, All rights reserved.

7 Vocab extra! Lesson 04: Tuesday, June 20th, 2006 Il y a. These are just a few examples of the imperfect tense which is used when describing something in the past. We ll be discussing this tense in greater detail later. Once again, there s a lot of material to digest in this lesson. To our listeners, don t forget to download our accompanying PDF Guide from our website at Finally, if you re enjoying our podcasts, why not send us some feedback? To do that, you can click the link on the last page of our PDF Guide or visit our website. We look forward to hearing from you. So, Amélie, until next time! A la prochaine! If you understood our lesson, then you should be ready for the following Now it s your turn 1. I looked at the signs. 2. I had to take the train. 3. Pierre and Philippe had to sign a contract. 4. Caroline sings there. [to sing = chanter] 5. Go right. Then go left. [then = ensuite] 6. I waited for two hours. 7. We saw John. 8. We gave our details. [our = nos] See the answers at Do you have a question? Submit it to us at abîmé...damaged aller...to go alors...so après...after arrivée (f)...arrival attendre...to wait for atterrissage (m)...landing avion (m)...airplane billet (m)...ticket bout, au ~ de...at the end of ça...that carte (f)...card cassé...broken ce, cette...this chambre (f)...bedroom chercher...to look for comprendre...to understand contrat (m)...contract contrôle (m)...check(point) coordonnées (f pl).details couloir (m)...corridor courses (f pl)...shopping décollage (m)...take-off dernier...last devoir...to have to droit, tout ~...straight on droite, à ~...(on/to the) right écran (m)...screen écrire...to write embarquement...embarcation énervé...annoyed ensuite...then espérer...to hope fois (f)...time fournir...to provide grâce à...thanks to heure (f)...hour heureusement...thankfully huile (f)...oil lendemain matin..following morning mais...but mois (m)...month panneau (m)...sign par...by partir...to leave pendant...during, for perdu...lost pharmaceutique...pharmaceutical poignée (f)...handle, grip prendre...to take, to get prévenir...to warn, to notify provenance, en ~ de. from puis...then réclamation (f)...claim reçu (m)...receipt récupérer...to collect regarder...to look at remplir...to fill (out/in) rester...to stay, to remain réviser...to revise rien de grave...nothing serious signer...to sign situé...situated sortir...to go out tâche (f)...stain tapis (m)...conveyor, carpet tenter...to try toujours...always, still trou (m)...hole valise (f)...suitcase vol (m)...flight voyage (m) d affaires...business trip Plus Publications, All rights reserved. 7

LEARN FRENCH BY PODCAST

LEARN FRENCH BY PODCAST AUDIO PODCASTS FOR LEARNERS OF FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE Lesson 23 Sorry, I can t make it tonight Plus Publications Bramley Douglas Road Cork Ireland (t) 353-(0)21-4847444 (f)