LEARN FRENCH BY PODCAST

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1 LEARN FRENCH BY PODCAST AUDIO PODCASTS FOR LEARNERS OF FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE Lesson 40 How am I going to explain it to him? 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! In this lesson lesson 40, we ll find out how to explain a difficult situation to someone. First, we ll start with a short role-play between Claire and Jean Ça n a pas l air d aller [= Things don t seem to be going well ] In this expression, ça which normally means that refers to things (in general). Ça is a very common form of Cela. aujourd hui [= today] Watch the spelling! Unusally, there s an apostrophe in the middle of the word. (aujourd hui derives from au jour de plus hui which comes from the Latin hodie [ in this day ]. In fact, aujourd hui is therefore a pleonasm! Je veux que Il suffit d Ça ne va plus [= Things aren t going (well) any ] Here s the verb vouloir used in the present vouloir to want / to wish je veux tu veux il / elle / on veut nous voulons vous voulez ils / elles veulent past participle : voulu Stéphanie a voulu faire un geste. [= Stéphanie wanted to make a gesture.] C est quelque chose que j ai toujours voulu faire. [= It s something I have always wanted to do.] This is a common and useful expression which means You only have to or All that is required is to. Consider the following examples. In each case, the expression Il suffit de is followed by an infinitive : Il suffit d ajouter un peu de sel. [= You only have to add a little salt. / All that is required is to add a little salt.] Il suffit d y passer quelques jours. Crois-moi, ça vaut le coup. [= You only / just have to spend a few days there. Believe me, it s worth it!] Il suffit d être clair pour qu ils comprennent. [You only have to be clear in order (for them) to understand.] Je ne sais pas trop. Here s the verb savoir used in the negative. The word trop, at the end, normally means too much. In this context, however, we have : I don t really know. savoir to know je sais tu sais il / elle / on sait nous savons vous savez ils / elles savent past participle : su Carole n a pas su répondre. [= Carole didn t know how to respond.] Remember first and foremost the expression Ça va! which means (Things are going) fine! The negative ne plus means no longer or not any more.

3 Let s hear that one more time First we heard that things didn t seem to be going well. The key expression is ne pas avoir l air d aller. Let s hear the expression from the dialogue : Ça n a pas l air d aller Ça n a pas l air d aller (ne pas) avoir l air d aller Qu est-ce qui? Don t be intimidated by the spelling of this question form. The pronunciation is easy it s sounds simply like kess - key. Je veux qu on se sépare Listen carefully! The reflexive pronoun se sometimes becomes very short in spoken exchanges. The reason for Claire s negative demeanour was because things weren t going well at all between herself and her boyfriend. Let s hear what she said : Entre Jean et moi, ça ne va plus du tout. Things aren t going well would simply be : Ça ne va pas Ça ne va pas Things aren t going well any more or any longer, would be : Ça ne va plus. Ça ne va plus. Ça ne va pas. Ça ne va plus. From a grammatical point of view, however, that reflexive pronoun has an important function: I want us to separate (from each other) Je veux qu on se dise la vérité I want us to tell (each other) the truth. [= How am I going to explain [it] to him?] and, Things aren t going well at all, any more is : The ne followed by plus conveys the meaning that things are no longer working. Let s hear that one more time Ça ne va plus du tout Claire wondered what, in general, was wrong. To ask someone what s wrong, we ll say : Qu est-ce qui ne vas pas? Qu est-ce qui ne vas pas? Qu est-ce qui ne va pas? Here s another example of the futur immédiat (or, le futur proche) which we also met in the last lesson : Claire said that the best solution was her and her boyfriend to break up. Amélie, how did she say that? Je veux qu on se sépare. There are two parts here : first, I want that s Je veux and then, that we break up : qu on se sépare. qu on se sépare. se séparer je vais [= How am I going to explain [it] to him?] lui is in indirect object pronoun and can, depending on the context, refer either to him or her. If something had to be explained to them, we would find : je vais leur expliquer (la situation).

4 Notice the reflexive form of the verb se séparer. Let s take another example : I want us to tell the truth to each other. Listen, again, to the verb dire, used reflexively : Je veux qu on se dise la vérité. Je veux qu on se dise la vérité. Claire wondered how she would explain the situation. Let s hear what she said : There are two objects in this question : a kind of invisible object that is, the problem the whole situation that isn t working any more and then the indirect object pronoun lui which means to him. Let s listen again se dire lui / leur The verb suffire (to suffice, to be enough) is invariable that is, it is not conjugated with the set of pronouns we associate with normal verbs je, tu, il, etc. It is preceded only by il. Remember the expression Ça suffit! also. It is what an exhausted mother might say to her child who is behaving badly : (That s) enough! Claire said simply : You only have to find the right words that is, the words appropriate to the situation : les mots justes. You only have to or All that s required is to is : and find the right words is : trouver les mots justes trouver les mots justes Amélie, we ve taken a close look at the dialogue. Let s hear it now once again, right through : Until next time A la prochaine. il suffit de les mots justes [= the right words.] The noun le mot is in the plural form here so we require that final s on the accompanying adjective justes. aujourd hui [= today] Remember, also: hier yesterday demain tomorrow

5 If you understood our lesson, then you should be able to translate Now it s your turn 1. What s wrong? Things don t seem to be going well 2. It s something they always wanted to do. 3. It s something my sister never wanted to do. [ne jamais] 4. You simply / only have to call Jean. 5. I don t know at all. [ du tout] 6. He is going to explain it to me. 7. She is not going to explain it to them. 8. I can t find the right words. 9. He always finds the right words. 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! air, avoir l ~ de... to seem, to appear ajouter... to add aujourd hui... today beaucoup... a lot, many chose (f)... thing clair... clear comment?... How? comprendre... to understand coup, ça vaut le ~!... It s worth it! croire... to believe expliquer... to explain juste... right, appropriate leur... them mot (m)... word passer... to spend [time] peu, un ~... a little pour que... so that qu est-ce que?... What? quelque chose... something répondre... to answer, to respond savoir... to know sel (m)... salt séparer, se ~... to separate, to break up suffire... to suffice, to be enough toujours... always trouver... to find vérite (f)... truth vouloir... to wish, to want y... there

LEARN FRENCH BY PODCAST

LEARN FRENCH BY PODCAST AUDIO PODCASTS FOR LEARNERS OF FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE Lesson 8 Making a suggestion Plus Publications Bramley Douglas Road Cork Ireland (t) 353-(0)21-4847444 (f) 353-(0)21-4847675