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 (e) editor@learnfrenchbypodcast.com (i) www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com
Hi again, Amélie. Bonjour! Here, we ve got a short podcast which arises from a question put to us by Brady, in Los Angeles. The question he asks is : how do we say «I don t mind!», for example, where one person asks another «Would you like to eat Thai or Chinese tonight?» Now, when we were preparing a little dialogue to illustrate this situation, several other interesting phrases came up, too. So we re devoting a short lesson to Brady s question, and some other expressions. Listen to our short dialogue. Je suis fatiguée ce soir. Je n ai pas envie de faire la cuisine. Ça te dirait de manger au resto du coin? Tu veux manger quoi? Thai ou chinois? Bah, ça m est égal. T as qu à choisir! Bon, et bien, allons au chinois alors! fatigué [= tired] adjectives fatigué is the masculine singular form of the adjective. In this case, however, Amélie is talking about herself so we need the feminine singular form of the adjective. That is, we must add an e to the adjective. This additional, silent e, makes no difference to the pronunciation of the adjective but is important, however, in the written form. If Amélie and her sister were both tired, Amélie would say: Nous sommes fatiguées. In other words, the feminine plural ending would be required. Let s hear that once again Je suis fatiguée [ ] Note! And a final time Je suis fatiguée [ ] Now, to start with the answer to Brady s question, «I don t mind» or, «It s all the same to me» is Ça m est égal. Let s try another quick exchange : «Tu veux le rouge ou le bleu?» «Peu importe ça m est égal.» Let s hear that once again. «Tu veux le rouge ou le bleu?» «Peu importe ça m est égal.» Now, in our initial dialogue, we met some other useful expressions. When you said you didn t want to cook, you said Je n ai pas envie de faire la cuisine. Now that expression Je n ai pas envie de is extremely useful when talking about what you d like to do, or indeed, what you wouldn t like to do. Let s try some other examples : suppose you re watching some guys surfing. You say «I d like to try that» J ai très envie d essayer ça. On the subject of a political debate on TV, you might say Un débat politique?! Ça me donne envie de zapper. Ça m est égal! avoir envie de au chinois. That is, to the Chinese [restaurant]. The word restaurant is implied. vouloir [= to want, to wish] je veux tu veux il / elle / on veut nous voulons vous voulez ils / elles veulent Past participle: voulu essayer [= to try] j essaie tu essaies il / elle / on essaie nous essayons vous essayez ils / elles essaient Past participle: essayé
Then, when you proposed a couple of alternatives to me, regarding this evening s meal, you said Ça te dirait de manger au resto du coin? Ça te dirait de? That is, «Would you like to?» or «How would you feel about?» Let s hear that again : Ça te dirait de manger au resto du coin? Let s try another couple of examples. «(How) would you like to go and see a movie?» Ça te dirait d aller voir un film? «Would you like to go and have a drink?» Ça te dirait d aller prendre un pot?» Un pot a drink. So, the formula is easy : it s the expression Ça te dirait de, followed by the infinitive of another. Now, there s one more thing we should say : Amélie and I know each other, so we are using the informal «tu» form in French, rather than the more formal «vous» form which would be appropriate if we did not know each other, if we had only just met, for example. So, if you were using this formula with a French person you had only just met, you d say Ça vous dirait de? Ça te dirait de? prendre [= to take, to get, to have (food)] je prends tu prends il / elle / on prend nous prenons vous prenez ils / elles prennent past participle: pris And now, Amélie, how did you refer to «the local restaurant»? le resto du coin. le resto du coin. Let s point out two things here : «le resto» is a colloquial way of referring to le restaurant. It s used frequently among friends. Then there s the expression du coin which means local. «Le resto du coin», that is «the local restaurant» or «the restaurant down the road». Amélie, how would we refer to the locals, that is, the people living in the locality? That would be les gens du coin. When I answered you, I said: Ça m est égal. T as qu à choisir. «T as qu à choisir» literally means «You only have to choose», in other words, «it s up to you to decide». Note that, in quick spoken French, the 2nd person singular of the «avoir» «tu as» becomes very quick : «T as». Amélie, how might I say «Would you have some money?» «T as de l argent?» «Would you have a pen?» «T as un stylo?» du, de la, des conveying the idea of some [money], etc de l argent (m)...some money du sel (m)...some salt du sucre (m)...some sugar de la nourriture (f)..some food des poissons (m)...some fish In summary, du, de la, etc, convey the idea of some [money], or simply, money without specifying exactly how much [money].
When we re learning French, it s probably better to use the full unabbreviated form «tu as», but be aware that this sound is very common. And finally, Amélie, you said «Let s go to the Chinese then!» Remind us of how you said that : Allons au chinois alors. «Allons» «Let s go», that is the imperative form of the «aller». That imperative form in this case is easy : it s just the «nous» part of the but we re omitting the «nous». How would we say, «Let s eat!» Mangeons. Let s continue! Continuons! And, «Let s go!» Allons-y! the Imperative The Imperative imperative This is the form of the we use when we are ordering or directing someone to do something. The following are examples of the Imperative in English: Go! Leave! Let s decide! In French, the third example above is formed by taking the Nous part of the Present tense and simply omitting the nous : [Nous] allons [Nous] écoutons [Nous] continuons Ok, Amélie, we ll leave it there for now. To our listeners, don t forget that you ll find the content of our lesson in our PDF Guide, downloadable from our website at www. learnfrenchbypodcast.com. Until next time Note Allons-y! This is another example of the Imperative. Literally, Let s go there!
If you understood our lesson, then you should be ready for Vocab extra! Now it s your turn 1. He wants to try that. 2. That makes me want to eat. 3. Would you like to go [into] town? 4. Would you like to visit Claire? 5. Let s work! See the answers at http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/ftew_pages/answers.htm alors... so, then bien... good, well bleu... blue bon... good chinois... Chinese choisir... to choose cuisine, faire la ~... to cook débat (m)... debate peu importe... it doesn t matter quoi... what? rouge... red soir (m)... evening très... very zapper... to change channels Any questions? Submit them to us at http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/ftew_pages/question.htm Any comments? Submit them to us at http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/ftew_pages/feedback.htm