¶ Welcome and Meeting Michelle
Bonjour! I'm glad to welcome you today to Act 3 of our play. I'm sure you, like all of Valérie's students, must have reviewed the flashcards studied the lessons on our website, and even did grammar exercise before you listened to the play. Très bien! We are ready to start. Today, Valérie meets with a student you haven't met yet. Her name is Michelle. She's at the same level as Jacques, and she has a boisterous personality as well. Michel's motivation to learn French? We'll discover it today.
Let's meet Michel. Enjoy the show. Prêt? Bonjour, Michel. Bonjour, Valérie. Vous n'êtes pas en retard ce matin. Non, non, je ne suis pas en retard. I came here early. I wanted to review last week's lesson. Félicitations, Michelle. Congratulations! A serious student? Merci. Vous avez des questions? Des questions? Oui. Des questions sur la leçon? Non. Non. Ça va, merci. J'ai a lot of questions about France, though. Ah bon? Oui. You see, Valérie...
My husband is about to retire and I'm trying to convince him to move there. There? La France. What a nice idea. Que bonne idée! Have you ever been to France? Oh oui, many, many times. We went there on our honeymoon about... Well, a long time ago. It was so romantic. Then we went for our 10-year anniversary. And then, oh, I guess that's it for me. But my husband has been there on business trips as well. I see. Is that why you want to learn French, Michelle? Exactly. Well, let me tell you.
I know. Does your husband like friends as much as you do? Il y a un petit problème with my husband. He's not really adventurous, you see. He likes staying in his comfort zone. Whenever he comes back from France, he complains that he can never get... A decent cup of coffee over there. Only espresso. Et vous? And you? Me? Je suis très, très adventurous. Je suis prête to try anything. Give me escargot, snails to eat, and I'll eat them as long as they're not cooked with butter.
I have to watch my weight. At my age, butter is the number one enemy. Bien. Bonne chance, Michelle. Merci. J'ai besoin de chance.
¶ Lesson Structure and Agreement
But je n'ai pas de doute that I can convince him. Parfait. Well, let's start today's lesson. Remember our agreement, Michel? Yes, yes. It's a very good agreement. We can talk about anything as long as we use the grammar examples of the lesson in our conversation. Exactly. And don't be shy switching back and forth between French and English. Great. It's a conversation after all.
We would not want to pause to look for the right word, would we? No, we wouldn't. Well, now, would you like to chat with me? Using... Être, avoir, il y a et il n'y a pas. Oui, j'ai une idée. J'ai un...
¶ Michelle's Dream of France
I forgot how to say dream. J'ai un rêve. Je ne suis pas prête. But... J'ai peur de changing everything as well. My husband says, Tu as tort, Michel. Tu n'as pas besoin d'aventure. Très bien, Michel. Continue. Il y a un beautiful country called France. There, il y a des cafés, des restaurants. Il n'y a pas de McDonald's. Well, in fact, il y a des McDonald's en France. Ah bon? Vous êtes sûre?
Il y a des McDonald's in France? Oui, je suis sûre. Je suis! Vous êtes choquée? Michelle? Shocked? Just a little. Well... C'est la vie. Il y a des McDonald's in France. The country of my... Rev.
¶ Introduction to -ER Verbs
Now, la leçon de grammaire. Vous êtes prête? Oui, je suis prête. irregular verbs. Avoir et être. Today we are practicing using the first major group of regular verbs in French. All verbs of the first group verb have the E-R ending in the infinitive. Parfait, Michelle! Let's see. To speak, parler, to like, aimer, demander, to ask, écouter, to listen, regarder, To watch. To live. Habite. H is silent. Just pretend it's not there. Habite. Habite.
To live. Travailler. To work. Bien. How would you say I live in France? en france c'est bien except what do you need to do when the verb starts with a vowel or a silent h oh oui I need to change the JE into J with a little thingy next to it. You mean the apostrophe, right? Oui. That's right. L'apostrophe. So, it's not je habite. It's j'habite. J'habite en France. Parfait! It's not je et j'ai un rêve. It's not je écoute.
¶ Practicing Verb Conjugations
It's... J'écoute. J'écoute, Valérie. Bien. Now, Michelle, je conjugue le verbe parler pour vous. Je parle. Tu parles. Il, elle parle. Nous parlons. Vous parlez. Il, elle parle. A few endings sound the same, but are written differently. Very differently. It's E, E-S, E. O-N-S, easy, E-N-T. Right, Michelle. Vous conjuguez aimer, to like. J'aime, tu aimes. Il, elle aime. Nous aimons. Vous aimez. Il, elle aime. Parfait! You didn't forget the illusion.
And you even did the liaison with nous, vous, il, and elle. Félicitations! Let's practice a few affirmative and negative sentences now. D'accord. je parle français il ne parle pas français je cherche l'aventure il Ne cherche pas l'aventure. Parfait! Continuez! J'aime escargot. Il n'aime pas escargot. Je déteste butter. Il aime butter. Il adore butter. Music classique. Ils écoutent music country. Vous êtes différents. Nous sommes très différents. We will practice more. Nous. Vous.
¶ Understanding Definite Articles
il and l a little later today one more thing Michelle in French we have to give the nouns an article Either definite or indefinite. Oh, the articles confuse me un peu, I have to say. Then, let's talk about them more. D'accord? D'accord. Let's practice with more common verbs of the first group. By the way, how many do you know, Michelle? About 10, I think. M.A. Détester, parler, écouter, regarder, étudier, demander, chercher, trouver, habiter. I think there's one more. To work? Oui!
I have a hard time remembering that one. I don't know why. Tra... Tra... Travailler. Great. Let's try to remember l'élision as well as la liaison. when we conjugate what about definite articles ils sont difficult non ils ne sont pas difficiles il y a There is, there are, il y a, le, il y a, la. Il y a, le. And sometimes, le and... La can become... Oui, they become L with the... I forgot what it's called again. L'apostrophe. The apostrophe.
Bien! When do we use l'apostrophe? When the noun starts with a vowel, like in l'ansette. Let's make sentences with plural personal pronouns. Nous and vous. Okay. Bien. You did the liaison with vous. Let's determine the noun français. It's masculine. Il déteste le français. Elle étudie le français. Très bien! Let me show a little trick now.
¶ Using 'Aime' and 'Avoir Besoin'
to make more complex sentences you could say j'aime followed by a verb in the infinitive neat gem Étudiez le français. J'aime écouter le français. J'aime habiter in France. France. Je préfère habiter en France. Vous n'aimez pas... Habiter aux États-Unis, Michelle? Oui, well, j'aime habiter aux États-Unis un peu, but je préfère. La France. Pourquoi? Why? Nous travaillons a lot here. Nous travaillons beaucoup. Oui, nous...
Americans, nous travaillons beaucoup. Les Français travaillent beaucoup aussi, as well. Ah bon? Oui, oui. Vous n'aimez pas travailler? Oui, j'aime travailler, but je ne travaille pas. Pourquoi? I don't need to work. You know how to say that in French. With avoir besoin de followed by the infinitive. Hang on. J'ai besoin de... Non. Je n'ai pas... Besoin de travailler. My husband travaille beaucoup. Il travaille for tout. Il aime travailler? Oui, il aime travailler. I think so anyway.
Aiment travailler et ont besoin de travailler. Ah! Et les femmes? Les femmes, elles aiment travailler. Maybe. If they need to. Interesting perspective on men. Et les femmes? Elles aiment étudier. Elle aime to read, lire. Oui, lire. Elle aime lire magazine. Oh, you need an article in front of magazine. It's masculine. Bien. Elle aime indépendance. Good, but don't forget the article in front of the noun. En français, indépendance.
Okay, so independence starts with a vowel. So I need the L, the L apostrophe. Parfait. Elle aime l'indépendance. Oui? Oui. Les femmes aiment l'indépendance. Nous aimons l'indépendance. Vive l'indépendance!
¶ Mastering 'Voilà' and 'Voici'
Vous êtes prête pour l'expression, Michel? Oui, je suis prête, Valérie. Parfait. The expression of today is voilà and voici. I know voila. I say it all the time. Here is my new hat. Voila. We went for a walk. And voila. It started raining. This is how most English speakers use voilà. But it's a much broader expression in French, as I explained in the lesson on the website. Oh yes! I studied the lesson. Very good. Let's practice. Voila and voici then. D'accord? D'accord. Voici Valérie.
Because you're close to me, right? Bien, continuez. Voici la classe de français. And voilà mon... Professeur, voici mon livre. Excellent, Michel. Voici une photo de la France. On the wall. Oui. Voilà Paris. J'aime Paris beaucoup. Vous aimez la photo? Oui, il y a the Eiffel Tower. Il y a la Tour Eiffel. Okay, voilà la Tour Eiffel. Voilà my favorite museum in the world, Versailles. Actually, this is...
Le Louvre. J'aime le Louvre as well. Voilà le Louvre. Où est Versailles on the picture? Voilà Versailles. Non, non. Voilà Versailles. Parfait. J'aime l'atmosphère de Paris. Vous aimez l'atmosphère de Paris? L'atmosphère. Amazing! I was speaking French without knowing it. Yes, you were. A lot of English words come from French, so they sound a lot alike. So, you probably know more French than you think. Le français n'est pas difficile. I just need to convince my husband of that. Oh, voilà!
The Champs-Elysées. Oui, les Champs-Elysées. Il y a des cafés, des restaurants. People strolling, enjoying themselves. You see, no one seems to be working. Il ne travaille pas. Vous avez raison. It seems that way. But it's a picture for tourists, Michelle. Les touristes ne travaillent pas. Regardez. Oui. Le serveur travaille. Anyway, j'aime l'atmosphère de Paris. Let's use voilà and voici alternatively now.
Voilà la tour Eiffel. Voici le Louvre. Voilà Versailles. Et voici les Champs-Élysées. Parfait! Paris est magnifique. Et voilà pourquoi vous aimez Paris. Voilà pourquoi j'ai besoin d'habiter à Paris. Michelle? L'élision. In front of the silent H in habiter. Voilà pourquoi j'ai besoin d'habiter à Paris.
¶ Episode Wrap-up and Summary
Right here by the Champs-Élysées. Bonne chance. Good luck. Excellent travail today, Michel. Good job. And this is all for today. Au revoir, Michelle. Au revoir, Valérie. Merci beaucoup. Voilà, c'est la fin de l'acte 3. This is the end of act 3. Now you know Michel, who dreams, or rather is determined, to retire in France. with her husband. My friends, take time to listen to the dialogues and study the grammar lessons. We also have plenty of exercises to help test yourself
and work on your pronunciation. Also, learn your verbs. There are no shortcuts for verbs in French. We are looking forward to our next act. Until next time! À bientôt.