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LEARN
FRENCH
BY PODC AST
AUDIO PODCASTS
FOR LEARNERS
OF FRENCH
Lesson
21
AS A FOREIGN
LANGUAGE
“How was your
holiday?…”
[Part I]
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
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Lesson 21: Monday, September 4th, 2006
Level: intermediate. “How was your vacation?…”
• Commentallez-vous?/Commentvas-tu?
• Qu’est-ceque…! :[Whata…!]
• parier :[tobet]
• verbsrequiring“être”asauxiliaryinthepast
• sepasser :[tohappen]
• partir :[toleave]
• Pasétonnantque…[+subjunctive] :[It’snotsurprisingthat…!]
Hello, and welcome back to Learn French by Podcast.
My name is Hugh Nagle and with me is Amélie Verdier.
Bonjour Amélie !
Bonjour.
Note…
“Dis donc…”
This expression might be described as
a “sentence starter”. Literally, it means
Tell [me], therefore …”
In this lesson, lesson 21, we’re going to talk about
a vacation we’ve just had. To help you get the most
from the lesson, don’t forget to download the
accompanying Lesson Guide from our website at
www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com. The Guide contains
everything you’ll hear us discuss, as well as a lot more
besides.
dire [= to say / to tell]
je di s
tu di s
il / elle / on di t
nous dis ons
vous dit e s *
ils / elles dis ent
participe passé: dit
il a dit que … [= He said that …]
Let’s start with a dialogue.
Salut Xav !
Salut, comment vas-tu ?
Bien, et toi ?
Pas trop mal.
Dis donc , qu’est-ce que tu es bronzé ! Je parie que tu
rentres de vacances !
Gagné ! Je suis rentré hier soir. D’ailleurs la reprise
est diicile !
Tes vacances se sont bien passées ?
Oui, assez bien.
Où es-tu parti ?
En Espagne sur la Costa Brava, tout près de la
frontière entre la France et l’Espagne.
Près de l’Atlantique ?
Non, de l’autre côté, près de la Méditerranée.
Veinard ! Pas étonnant que tu sois si bronzé !
Détrompe-toi ! Il n’a pas fait beau ! Je dirais que le
temps était mitigé. Un jour beau temps, nuages et
vent le lendemain, sans oublier la pluie. En plus, il
ne faisait pas très chaud !
*Very frequently, the “vous” part
of the Present Tense has an “ –e z
ending. The verb “dire”, however, is a
notable exception.
Note…
“tu rentres…”
Here, it’s the Present Tense : “…
you’re returning …”
rentrer [= to return / to come home ]
je rentr e
tu rentr es
il / elle / on rentr e
nous rentr ons
vous rentr ez
ils / elles rentr ent
participe passé: rentré
Il est rentré [= He went home .]
Watch it! The verb “rentrer” requires
the auxiliary verb “être” in the
Passé Composé.
Now, in fact, this is just the irst part of a longer
conversation. In this lesson, we’ll focus on the irst part,
and in lesson 22, to be posted in a couple of days’ time,
we’ll take the second and inal part of the conversation.
Let’s hear that irst part once again.
Salut Xav !
Salut, comment vas-tu ?
Bien, et toi ?
Pas trop mal.
Dis donc, qu’est-ce que tu es bronzé ! Je parie que tu
rentres de vacances !
Gagné ! Je suis rentré hier soir. D’ailleurs la reprise
est diicile !
Tes vacances se sont bien passées ?
Oui, assez bien.
Où es-tu parti ?
En Espagne sur la Costa Brava, tout près de la
frontière entre la France et l’Espagne.
Près de l’Atlantique ?
Note…
“Gagné !”
Literally, this means “[You’ve] won! ” In
English, we might say “[Dead] right!
or “Right [irst time]!”
Where you see
this symbol…
Note…
“… près de”
… is “ close to ”. Add “ tout ” in front,
and we get “… very close to [the
border]”.
…it’syourturn
to repeat what
you’veheard.
Thenwe’ll
repeat once
more.
2
© Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.
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Lesson 21: Monday, September 4th, 2006
Level: intermediate. “How was your vacation?…”
• Commentallez-vous?/Commentvas-tu?
• Qu’est-ceque…! :[Whata…!]
• parier :[tobet]
• verbsrequiring“être”asauxiliaryinthepast
• sepasser :[tohappen]
• partir :[toleave]
• Pasétonnantque…[+subjunctive] :[It’snotsurprisingthat…!]
Non, de l’autre côté, près de la Méditerranée.
Veinard ! Pas étonnant que tu sois si bronzé !
Détrompe-toi ! Il n’a pas fait beau ! Je dirais que le
temps était mitigé. Un jour beau temps, nuages et
vent le lendemain, sans oublier la pluie. En plus, il
ne faisait pas très chaud !
Note!
“Pas étonnant que tu sois si bronzé ! [= “(It’s)
not surprising that you are so tanned!”]
“… que tu sois” : what’s that?! It’s the
Present Subjunctive of the verb “être”. It has
the same English equivalent as “tu es” (i.e. the
Present Indicative of the verb) and is required in
certain situations in French.
Comment
allez-vous?
Amélie, the irst question you put to Xavier was :
Comment vas-tu ?
Comment vas-tu ?
Compare the Present Indicative below, and the
Present Subjunctive:
Indicative
You used the informal form of the question, as you know
Xavier well. But, we need to know the formal version,
too, for people we don’t know well. That’s :
Comment allez-vous ?
Comment allez-vous ?
Subjunctive
Je suis
… que je sois
Tu es
… que tu sois
Il / Elle / On est
… qu’il soit
Nous sommes
… que nous soyons
Of course, it’s the verb « aller » we’re using here.
Vous êtes
… que vous soyez
Ils / Elles sont
… qu’ils soient
You commented on Xavier’s colour – his sun-tan. You said :
Qu’est-ce que tu es bronzé !
Note that, efectively, the left-hand and right-
hand columns mean the same as each other in
English. However, in French, the Subjunctive is a
necessity in certain situations.
Qu’est-
ce que…!
[exclamation]
We have found « Qu’est-ce que… ? » previously when we
asked a question. « Qu’est-ce que c’est ? », for example,
is « What’s that ? » This expression can be used, also, as
part of an exclamation ! You’re comment to Xavier was
something like – « Hey ! What a tan you have ! » Let’s hear
it again…
Qu’est-ce que tu es bronzé !
Qu’est-ce que tu es bronzé !
An expression we learned in earlier lessons
was “Il faut…” . This is another example of
an expression which requires the verb which
follows to be in the Subjunctive form:
Il faut qu’ elle soit là à l’heure!”
[= “ It’s necessary that she’s there on time!”,
or, “She must be there on time!”]
parier
You were sure he must have just returned from a vacation.
In fact, you were willing to bet on that. You said…
Je parie que tu rentres de vacances !
Je parie que tu rentres de vacances !
Note…
“… sans oublier la pluie.”
That is, “… without forgetting the rain !”
We could use that expression in other situations. « I bet
that he goes there often ! » would be :
Je parie qu’ il s’y rend souvent.
Je parie qu’ il s’y rend souvent.
Note that, we’ll ind the ininitive of the verb following
“sans” (“without”).
Consider one more example:
“À mon avis, le véritable rôle d’un homme politique devrait
consister à prendre des décisions diiciles sans chercher à
être bien avec tout le monde.”
You’ve already igured out what it means, right? It’s: “…
without looking to be [on] good [terms] with everybody.”
Note…
… and so on.
“… il s’ y rend souvent.” [= … he goes there
often.]
Remember this important relexive verb : se rendre (à)
[= to go]. It’s the equivalent of “aller”.
Where you see
this symbol…
se rendre (à) [= to go]
je me rend s
tu te rend s
il / elle / on se rend
nous nous rend ons
vous vous rend ez
ils / elles se rend ent
participe passé: (je me suis) rendu
…it’syourturn
to repeat what
you’veheard.
Thenwe’ll
repeat once
more.
© Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.
3
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Lesson 21: Monday, September 4th, 2006
Level: intermediate. “How was your vacation?…”
• Commentallez-vous?/Commentvas-tu?
• Qu’est-ceque…! :[Whata…!]
• parier :[tobet]
• verbsrequiring“être”asauxiliaryinthepast
• sepasser :[tohappen]
• partir :[toleave]
• Pasétonnantque…[+subjunctive] :[It’snotsurprisingthat…!]
Xavier said that he had returned yesterday evening, or last
night. He said :
Je suis rentré hier soir.
Je suis rentré hier soir.
Thepassécomposéwith
“être”…
“Je suis rentré…”
verbs
requiring
“être” as
auxiliary
« Je suis rentré » – that’s the Passé Composé of the verb
« rentrer ». It requires the verb « être » as the auxiliary
verb. Let’s here some further examples : « You came
home » is :
Tu es rentré.
Tu es rentré.
“rentrer” is one of a set of verbs – sometimes called verbs of
motion – that requires “être” as the auxiliary verb in the
Passé Composé. (When we started out discussing the Passé
Composé, we spoke about “avoir” as the auxiliary verb.)
In fact, “verbs of motion” is not a very good description. After all, the
verbs “manger” (to eat), “couper” (to cut), “marcher” (to walk) are all
verbs which involve a degree of motion.
Apart from relexive verbs (those preceded by the relexive pronoun
“se”), the set of verbs we’re talking about here – of which
“rentrer” is one – involves the subject “leaving one place
and arriving at another” . (In the case of the verbs “naître” and
“mourir”, we are still “leaving one place and arriving in another”, in
the most extreme sense!)
The following list, which covers this set of verbs, is well
worth remembering:
aller
She came home…
Elle est rentrée.
Elle est rentrée.
We came home …
Nous sommes rentrés.
Nous sommes rentrés.
venir*
arriver
rester
partir
retourner
They came home…
Ils sont rentrés.
Ils sont rentrés.
entrer*
sortir
monter
tomber
descendre*
naître
mourir
*Note that derivatives of the verbs above – like “devenir”, “rentrer” and
“redescendre” – also require the auxiliary “être”.
Though there is a variety of strategies you could use to help you
remember this list of verbs, in the arrangement above, the verbs are
set out logically.
Still with us? Ok, then. Let’s see one of these verbs “in action” in the
Passé Composé. Before we continue, we need to be aware that, in
the case of the verbs above, the past participle must agree in
number and gender with the subject of the sentence .
Let’s take a look…
aller [= to go]
Je suis allé(e)
tu es allé(e)
il est allé
elle est allée
nous sommes allé(e)s
vous êtes allé(e)(s)
ils sont allés
elles sont allées
la reprise
Xavier mentioned that getting back to normal, getting
back to work, was diicult, after the vacation. That was…
D’ailleurs, la reprise est diicile…
D’ailleurs, la reprise est diicile …
La reprise du travail.
Sometimes, in spoken French, we just eliminate « … du
travail », and we just simply hear :
… la reprise.
Now, we must make our listeners aware that, in fact, there
is no exact equivalent for this word in English. It means
getting back to work after a break.
La reprise.
se passer
You asked if Xavier’s vacation had gone well. The key verb,
in this situation, is « se passer ». It’s a relexive verb and,
consequently, requires the auxiliary verb « être ». Let’s
hear your question again…
Tes vacances se sont bien passées ?
Tes vacances se sont bien passées ?
Whoa! What about all those endings in brackets?! How do they
work? Though, in fact, the pronunciation of each of the past
participles above is the same, the endings are diferent,
according to the subject of the sentence – whoever that may
be. Before we write down one of these, we must make a quick
mental check and consider who the subject is. Depending on the
Where you see
this symbol…
…it’syourturn
to repeat what
you’veheard.
Thenwe’ll
repeat once
more.
(continued on page 4…)
4
© Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.
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Lesson 21: Monday, September 4th, 2006
Level: intermediate. “How was your vacation?…”
• Commentallez-vous?/Commentvas-tu?
• Qu’est-ceque…! :[Whata…!]
• parier :[tobet]
• verbsrequiring“être”asauxiliaryinthepast
• sepasser :[tohappen]
• partir :[toleave]
• Pasétonnantque…[+subjunctive] :[It’snotsurprisingthat…!]
… « se sont bien passés ? » – that is, « … went well ?»
Now « a vacation » is a plural in French : « … les
vacances ». So we heard the plural form of the verb. Let’s
hear « se passer » in some other situations. « Did the
evening go well ? »
La soirée s’est bien passée ?
La soirée s’est bien passée ?
Thepassécomposéwith
“être”…
(continued from page 3…)
situation, the endings in brackets, above, will – or will not – be
required.
Let’s consider the “nous” part of the verb, above. Let’s suppose
John was talking about himself and his brother, Jake. In that
case, we’d have:
Nous sommes allé s [au supermarché].
In other words, the past participle – allé s – would have a
masculine, plural ending (as we’re talking about John and Jake).
On the other hand, if Hélène was talking about herself and her
mother going on a trip into town, we’d have:
Nous sommes allé es en ville.
That’s the feminine, plural ending .
We could ask : « How was your day ? », or, « Did your day
go well ? »
Ta journée s’est bien passée ?
Ta journée s’est bien passée ?
Did your exam go well ? or « How did you get on in your
exam ? »
Ton examen s’est bien passé ?
Ton examen s’est bien passé ?
What about the “vous” part? Well, we could be addressing:
(a) one man we did not know well , or
(b) one woman we did not know well , or
(c) a “ mixed ” group of people, or
(d) a group of girls .
So, let’s remember that verb, « se passer », when we’re
asking about how something went.
partir
You asked Xavier where he had been, in other words,
where he went on holiday. Your question was :
Où es-tu parti ?
Où es-tu parti ?
In each of these cases, the past participle would require a diferent
ending, that is (a) masculine singular, (b) feminine singular,
(c) masculine plural and (d) feminine plural , respectively
If you’ve absorbed all this, well done! We’ll come back to this again
many times.
Again, just like the verb « rentrer » before, the verb
« partir » – to leave, or to go on holiday – requires the
auxiliary verb « être » in the past. « Where did she go on
holiday ? » would be :
Où est-elle partie ?
Où est-elle partie ?
Note…
“… la soirée s’ est bien passé e ?”
We might also hear the verb « aller » :
Où est-elle allée ?
Où est-elle allée ?
Already in this lesson, we’ve gone
into some detail regarding the passé
composé with auxiliary “être”.
We’re hearing quite a few variations here, all of
which might be diicult to remember. Don’t forget,
however, that all of this information can be found in
the Lesson Guide, downloadable from our site at www.
learnfrenchbypodcast.com.
Let’s not get too bogged down now:
after all, entire books have been
written on the French Passé Composé
alone!
For now, let’s just also be aware
that agreement is required in
the case of relexive verbs likes
“se passer”. The reasons for those
agreements, however, difer slightly
from what we’ve been discussing
on page 3.
Let’s continue.
Where you see
this symbol…
…it’syourturn
to repeat what
you’veheard.
Thenwe’ll
repeat once
more.
© Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.
5
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