LEARN FRENCH BY PODCAST AUDIO PODCASTS FOR LEARNERS OF FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE Lesson 6 Discussing your interests 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
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! Today, Amélie? Nous allons parler des loisirs. Leisure-time activities. Our likes and dislikes, I suppose you could say. So, what are your interests? Quels sont tes centres d intérêt? Eh bien, j aime la lecture. Je pense qu il est important de lire. Cela permet d apprendre de nouvelles choses tout en se détendant. Now, just in case our listeners didn t catch all that first time round, let s hear it again Bien sûr! Bon, alors j aime la lecture. Je pense qu il est [ ] J aime la lecture. [ ] Now, today we ll be looking at some verbs which are central to talking about what interests us as well as the things that do quite the opposite! Right at the start, you said J aime la lecture. Now that verb is easy. It s a regular er verb. That is, its infinitive ends in er. Let s just make one point about pronunciation: it sounds like em, not aim. How will we say He likes surfing? Il aime surfer. Or, They like hiking in the mountains? Ils aiment les randonnées en montagne. Note that the plural form of the verb sounds exactly the same as the singular. Now, let s make one further point. We can put a second verb in its infinitive form directly afterwards to form all sorts of combinations. For example: Jane likes to swim Jane aime nager. Or, Jacques likes to tell jokes! Jacques aime plaisanter. Or, Adrienne and Zoë like to sing Adrienne et Zoë aiment chanter. aimer + infinitive aimer + infinitive Remember! We can create a wide range of possibilities with aimer, followed by the infinitive of another verb: j aime surfer elle aime lire nous aimons visiter des monuments ils aiment aller au cinéma. aimer j aime tu aimes il / elle / on aime nous aimons vous aimez ils / elles aiment
Note that, in each of these examples, the verb following aimer nager, plaisanter, chanter is in the infinitive. Tell us more about your leisure-time activities. Parlenous davantage de tes loisirs J apprécie également la musique, notamment les chanteurs de musique traditionnelle française comme Edith Piaf. J aime écouter de la musique mais aussi chanter! Au début, mes parents n aimaient pas trop parce que je chantais comme une casserole! Let s hear that once again J apprécie également la musique [ ] Now, you said J apprécie la musique. Let s talk for a moment about that verb apprécier a regular er verb. Other verbs like négocier, multiplier, nier are conjugated in the same way as apprécier. Let s hear a few examples. How do we say about two businessmen, for example They are negociating? Ils négocient. How do we say He is negociating? Il négocie. apprécier, (négocier, multiplier, nier) Watch it! two forms of the Present in English, but only one in French: remember that, in French, there s just one version of the Present tense. The following English sentences: How would we say talking about students doing arithmetic, for example They are multiplying numbers? Les élèves multiplient des chiffres. 1. They negociate [in general] and 2. They are negociating [right now] How would we say talking about the woman who is doing some calculations She is multiplying two numbers? Elle multiplie deux chiffres. Talking about my parents, how would I say They appreciate they like classical music? Ils apprécient la musique classique. are both rendered by: Ils négocient in French. So, to reiterate: there s just one Present tense in French. And finally, how would we say that He denies the facts? Il nie les faits. So, in summary, it s important to remember that, in the present tense, at least, the 3rd person singular and plural forms are pronounced the same, and the final e is silent, once again. On another point, you said that, initially, you weren t a very good singer! You had an interesting expression Oui. Je chantais comme une casserole! Je chantais : Remember! Here s an example of the Imperfect tense, used when you want to say that you used to do something, e.g. I used to be a lousy singer! comme une casserole that s funny! Normally of course, une casserole refers to a saucepan.
Ok. Let s move on. You have other interests, too Oui. Je m intéresse aussi à la peinture. J adore visiter des expositions à Paris ou bien des musées comme le Louvre ou le musée d Orsay! Je peins dès que j ai un moment de libre! Je me passionne également pour le jardinage, mais on ne peut pas dire que j ai la main verte! Let s hear this again Je m intéresse aussi à la peinture [ ] Je m intéresse aussi à la peinture [ ] Now, let s look at two expressions you used: Je m intéresse and Je me passionne (pour). These verbs are known as reflexive verbs. In the first person, we can hear the reflexive pronoun, me : je m intéresse. It was the same in the case of the expression Je m appelle, although we didn t mention it before. We really should remember these verbs: let s take a few examples to imprint them in our brains! How about: I m interested in sport? Je m intéresse au sport. I m interested in painting? Je m intéresse à la peinture. I m very interested in the cinema Je m intéresse beaucoup au cinéma. He s fascinated with computers and gadgets? Il se passionne pour l informatique et les gadgets. They re fascinated with gardening Ils se passionnent pour le jardinage. Ok, Amélie. Let s talk a little more about your interests. Est-ce que tu t intéresses au sport? Je ne m intéresse pas trop au sport, mais mon petit ami adore ça! Je pense que le foot, c est sa grande passion! En ce moment, il regarde tous les matchs de la Coupe du Monde de Football à la télé. On dirait un légume devant la télévision! Moi, je n aime pas du tout regarder des joueurs courir derrière un ballon, ça ne m intéresse pas du tout! C est à mourir d ennui! There are quite a few interesting expressions there. Let s hear that again Je ne m intéresse pas trop au sport [ ] Je ne m intéresse pas trop au sport [ ] s intéresser à, se passionner pour avoir la main verte expression literally, to have a green hand, that is to have green fingers (i.e. to be a good gardener) expressions.. On dirait (un légume) That is, You d say [he was a] couch potato. (In other words, one would describe him as a couch potato.) C est à mourir d ennui! That is, It s deadly boring!
Now, you said that you were not too interested. How did you say that, again? Je ne m intéresse pas trop au sport. So, I m not too interested in reading, would be? Je ne m intéresse pas trop à la lecture. Now, we have au sport but à la lecture. Let s remember that this happens because of the gender masculine or feminine of the activity that we re discussing. If we re talking about something masculine le cinéma or le sport, for example we ll have Je ne m intéresse pas au sport. au, à la, aux Note! Remember the word order in the case of reflexive verbs used in the negative: Je ne m intéresse pas The reflexive me or m, where it meets a vowel remains stuck to the verb (intéresser, in this case). The ne and pas then come before and after this combination. On the other hand, if it s a feminine activity la lecture, for example it will be Je ne m intéresse pas à la lecture. Finally, if we have a plural noun des activités sportives, for example we ll have aux Il s intéresse aux activités sportives. Now, we mentioned the World Cup. There s an interesting point here, too. The round object that the footballers kick around the field is called le ballon. ballon (m) balle (f) On the other hand, in Wimbledon, the tennis players strike la balle. In French, you have a different word for ball in each of these sports. Moving on a little, you said before that your sister was keen on sport. Tu nous as dit que ta sœur était sportive. Quel genre de sport fait-elle? Alors, oui, en effet, ma sœur est très sportive. Elle fait beaucoup de sport. Elle aime beaucoup, enfin, elle adore faire de l escalade. Elle s entraîne trois fois par semaine : le lundi, le mercredi et le vendredi Elle apprécie également la marche à pied. Elle fait souvent des randonnées avec maman le dimanche. enfin Note! Elle aime beaucoup, enfin, elle adore = She really likes, in fact, she loves Let s hear that one more time Ma sœur est très sportive. [ ] Ma sœur est très sportive. [ ]
There s a key verb here: it s the verb faire which is essential when talking about all sorts of activities. To take part in a lot of sport is faire beaucoup de sport. To do or participate in judo is: faire du judo. To go climbing? faire de l escalade. Let s try a few concrete examples: I go climbing : Je fais de l escalade. We go climbing : Nous faisons de l escalade. faire [+ activities] They go hiking on Sundays. Ils font des randonnées le dimanche. So, let s be sure to remember the conjugation of the verb faire. Don t forget, it s all there for you in the PDF Guide which accompanies this lesson. Now, we ve already met Elle s appelle and Elle s intéresse. Once again, we meet another of these reflexive verbs here: elle s entraîne she trains. Now, Amélie, remind us of what I train would be: Je m entraîne We train Nous nous entraînons The second nous here refers to ourselves. It s a reflexive verb because we are training ourselves, one might say. Once again, you ll find the full conjugation of this reflexive verb in the PDF Guide. Now, in French, on Sundays or on Mondays is simple, right? We simply say: le lundi. That is, we put the definite article le before the day of the week. Without the article, we ll be talking about a specific Monday, for example: Lundi, je vais chez Marie. which means: On Monday, [that is, next Monday] I m going to Marie s. reflexive verbs lundi, le lundi verb faire [= to do, to make, to take part in [sport]] je fais tu fais il / elle / on fait nous faisons vous faites ils / elles font verb s entraîner [to train] je m entraîne tu t entraînes il / elle / on s entraîne nous nous entraînons vous vous entraînez ils s entraînent Remember! lundi... Monday mardi... Tuesday mercredi... Wednesday jeudi... Thursday vendredi... Friday samedi... Saturday dimanche... Sunday In French, the days of the week are spelled with a small letter when they appear within a sentence.
Ok, Amélie, 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 www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com. 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 Now it s your turn Any questions? 1. We like reading. 2. They like going to the cinema. 3. Hélène is not interested in sport. 4. Jack and Jim are fascinated with information technology [l informatique]. 5. They go climbing on Saturdays. 6. He trains twice a week. 7. We train often. 8. She doesn t train. See the answers at http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/ftew_pages/answers.htm Submit them to us at http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/ftew_pages/question.htm Vocab extra! apprendre... to learn aussi... also, too avec... with bien, eh ~... well bien, ou ~... or indeed chiffre (m)... number chose (f)... thing comme... like, as courir... to run début, au ~... at the beginning derrière... behind, after dès que... as soon as détendre, se ~... to relax également... also, too ennui (m)... boredom exposition (f)... exhibition fois (f)... time, occasion grand... big jardinage (m)... gardening joueur (m)... player libre, de ~... free loisir (m)... hobby maman... mum, mom marche, ~ à pied... walking moment, en ce ~... at the moment mourir... to die musée (m)... museum notamment... notably, mainly nouveau, nouvelle. new [adj.] parce que... because penser... to think permettre... to allow randonnée (f)... hike semaine (f)... week souvent... often Any comments? Submit them to us at http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/ftew_pages/feedback.htm