LEARN FRENCH BY PODCAST AUDIO PODCASTS FOR LEARNERS OF FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE Lesson 42 I m starving! When can we sit at the table? 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, and welcome back to LFBP. My name is Hugh Nagle and with me is Amélie Verdier. Bonjour Amélie. Bonjour! In this lesson, lesson 42, we ll see how to ask Shall we be eating soon? and how to say I m starving. Let s start with a quick exchange [= Are we eating soon? ] On, here, refers to Amélie and Xavier it s a casual form of nous, in this context. In other situations, this pronoun could mean people or they when they refers to people in general. Consider, for example: A quelle heure est-ce qu on mange chez eux? [= (At) what time do they eat at their place?] Notice, once again, that the Present le Présent can represent two situations in English. Consider the example below: On mange du pain. [= (1) People eat bread. or = (2) People are eating bread.] je meurs de faim Literally, I am dying of hunger, but used commonly as the equivalent of I m starving! Je peux prendre? [= May I take?], once again, this powerful combination of pouvoir, followed by infinitive. Consider some further examples: un morceau de pain [= a piece of bread], also, that this noun can be used in a musical context: Carole m a offert une belle compilation de morceaux de jazz! mourir to die je meurs tu meurs il / elle / on meurt nous mourons vous mourez ils / elles meurent past participle : mort* 1. Je peux t appeler plus tard? [= May I call you later?] 2. Il peut nous suivre jusqu à [= He can follow us as far as ] 3. Nous pouvons vous montrer que [= We can show you that ] that each of these examples includes an object pronoun, too. This pronoun precedes the infinitive in each case. the plural form of the noun in this second example: un morceau a des morceaux Some other nouns with similar plural endings are: un animal a des animaux un taureau a des taureaux un oiseau a des oiseaux l eau a les eaux de Babylone * that mourir requires the auxiliary verb être in the passé composé: ex. François Mitterand est mort en 1995 à l âge de soixante-dix-neuf ans. (See Lesson 21, in particular, for more information on verbs which require the auxiliary verb être in the past.) Alors, quand est-ce qu on? [= So, when are we?] 2 Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.
And once again In this dialogue, we hear two examples of the pronoun on used to mean we. We hear On mange On passe Remember, the pronoun on can mean we, one or people, depending on the situation. Now, to illustrate just how hungry he was, we heard Xavier say: Je meurs de faim Je meurs de faim Je meurs. That s the verb mourir, to die. Of course, in this case, it s simply a figurative expression. But we will hear the verb used literally, also. For example Tous les jours des centaines de personnes meurent dans des accidents de la route. Tous les jours des centaines de personnes meurent dans des accidents de la route. sers-toi! [= Serve yourself!] This is the imperative form (the command form) of the verb servir servir to serve je sers tu sers il / elle / on sert nous servons vous servez ils / elles servent past participle: servi [ex. Ils nous ont servi un petit pain au chocolat.] Servir can be used in relation to serving food, to serve as a volunteer, for one s country, serving badly in a game of tennis, etc. on mourir On passe à table [= literally, we go to the table, that is, we will go and sit at the table.] passer has many equivalents in English: Il passe ses examens en juin. [He s taking his exams in June.] Ils vont passer une commande aujourd hui. [They re going to place an order today.] Elle passe chez Paul ce soir. [She s going to call to Paul this evening.] Il passe des jours entiers devant son écran. [He spends entire days in front of his screen.] Il passe son temps à lire. [He spends his time reading.] vingt minutes Listen carefully to the pronunciation! It s the same as the sound for wine : boire un bon vin blanc en attendant [= while waiting] The present participle (le participe présent) has a distinctive ant ending in French and will often be preceded by en. Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved. 3
Xavier wondered when it would be time to go and sit at the table. Let s listen out for the expression passer à table Quand est-ce Quand est-ce You responded to Xavier s question, saying To convey the meaning between now and the end of a certain period of time, we simply use the expression d ici. So, between now and the end of the year, that would be D ici la fin de l année. D ici la fin de l année. Within a few years will be D ici quelques années. D ici quelques années. passer à table d ici and, within a short period of time is simply: D ici peu. D ici peu. Just to take the edge off his hunger, Xavier wanted to have a little bread while waiting While waiting that s what s called the present participle let s listen for the expression en attendant pouvoir + infinitive J ai la dalle is the equivalent of: J ai très faim. [= I m very hungry] Amélie, we ve heard some interesting expressions in this short lesson. To our listeners, to see if you ve absorbed everything, go ahead and take the text on the final page of the accompanying Lesson Guide, available from our website at www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com. To finish, let s hear the exchange once again, right through. Amélie, that s it for today. Until next time A la prochaine! D accord! [= Ok!] Listen out, too, for the expression se mettre d accord sur which means to agree on. Les deux équipes se sont mis d accord sur [= The two teams agreed on ] 4 Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.
If you understood our lesson, then you should be able to translate Now it s your turn 1. Are we leaving soon? [partir] 2. Are we starting soon? [commencer] 3. They re arriving within a half hour. 4. May I visit you tomorrow? [rendre visite / passer chez quelqu un] 5. May I open it? [ouvrir] 6. He can explain the situation. [expliquer] 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! âge (m)...age alors...so, then appeler...to call attendre...to wait belle...beautiful bientôt...soon blanc...white boire...to drink commande (f)...order compilation (f)...compilation d accord...ok dalle, avoir la ~...to be very hungry devant...in front of eau (f)...water écran (m)...screen entier...whole, entire équipe (f)...team examen (m)...exam jour (m)...day juin...june jusqu à...as far as lire...to read manger...to eat montrer...to show morceau (m)...piece, bit mourir...to die offrir...to offer, to give oiseau (m)...bird pain (m)...bread pourquoi?...why? quand...when servir...to serve soir (m)...evening soixante-dix-neuf...seventy-nine suivre...to follow tard, plus ~...later taureau (m)...bull temps (m)...time trop...too vin (m)...wine Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved. 5