learn french by podcast › pdf_samples › lfbp_017.pdflesson17 plus publications bramley douglas...

Lesson

17

Plus PublicationsBramleyDouglas RoadCorkIreland(t) 353-(0)21-4847444(f) 353-(0)21-4847675(e) [email protected](i) www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com

LEARN FRENCHBY PODCASTAUDIO PODCASTSFOR LEARNERS OF FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

“She’s not here right now – would you like to leave a

message?…”

“… à l’appareil”

2 © Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.

Lesson 17: Thursday, August 3rd, 2006Level: beginner. “She’s not there right now, would you like to leave a message?…”

• “(C’est)[Jacques]àl’appareil…”• “Pourrais-je…”:pouvoir,auconditionnel+infinitive• “là”:here,there• desnouvelles,unenouvelle• appeler/rappeler• vers[sixheures]

Dia

logu

e

Where you see this symbol…

… it’s your turn torepeatwhatyou’ve heard. Then we’ll repeatoncemore.

Hello and welcome to LFBP. My name is Hugh Nagle and with me is Amélie Verdier. Bonjour, Amélie!

Bonjour!

Today we have a very short lesson, but a practical one, nonetheless. We have to make a phonecall but, when we do, the person we’re looking for isn’t there. Let’s hear, first of all, how the conversation might go…

Bonjour !Bonjour !

Amélie Verdier à l’appareil. Pourrais-je parler à Sophie, s’il vous plaît ?

Sophie n’est pas là pour le moment. Voulez-vous laisser un message ?

Non, ce n’est pas la peine. C’était juste pour lui donner de mes nouvelles. Est-ce que je peux la rappeler un peu plus tard ?

Oui. Je pense qu’elle va rentrer vers six heures.Très bien, merci beaucoup. Au revoir !

Au revoir !

Let’s hear the conversation a second time…Bonjour !

Bonjour !Amélie Verdier à l’appareil. Pourrais-je parler à Sophie, s’il vous plaît ?




Au revoir !

And, one final time…Bonjour !

Bonjour !Amélie Verdier à l’appareil. Pourrais-je parler à Sophie, s’il vous plaît ?




Au revoir !

Now, commonly in French, rather than a formula like “This is Amélie Verdier…”, we say, literally, “This is Amélie, at the handset…”. We need to remember that expression. It’s:

Amélie Verdier à l’appareil. Amélie Verdier à l’appareil.

verbvouloir [= to wish, to want]je veuxtu veuxil / elle / on veutnous voulonsvous voulezils / elles veulent

past participle: voulu

“Voulez-vous…?” means “Do you want…?” An even “softer” possibility would be the Conditional form: “Voudriez-vous…?” [= Would you like to…?]

Note… “… pour lui donner…”

means, literally, “… to give [to] him my news.” “lui” is an indirect object pronoun. Note that, depending on the situation, “lui” (as an indirect object pronoun) can also mean “… (to) her”.

In fact, there are two objects in this sentence: the indirect object is “him”, while the direct object is the news which will be conveyed.Study the table below which covers many – but not all – of the possibilities:

direct object pronouns

indirect object pronouns

le [= him, it] lui [= (to) him, (to) her]

la [= her, it] leur [= (to) them]

les [= them]

note“Est-ce que je peux la rappeler?” means “May I call her again [later]?”

“la” is one of those direct object pronouns we were talking about above.

pouvoir: “May I…?”

pouvoir, au conditionnel, + infinitif

“là”: there, here

© Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved. 3

Dia

logu

eLesson 17: Thursday, August 3rd, 2006Level: beginner. “She’s not there right now, would you like to leave a message?…”




We’ll require the conditional form of the verb pouvoir, to ask if we could talk to the person we’re looking for. We’ll say…

Pourrais-je parler à Sophie? Pourrais-je parler à Sophie?

“Pourrais-je…”. Here, to create the question form, we have the inversion of the verb and the pronoun: “Pourrais-je…”. Alternatively, we could say…

Est-ce que je pourrais… Est-ce que je pourrais…

Once again, we can follow the verb “pouvoir” with almost any infinitive. “Could I meet you at 10 o’clock?” would be …

Pourrais-je vous retrouver à 10 heures? Pourrais-je vous retrouver à 10 heures?

And, to a friend, you’d say…Pourrais-je te retrouver à 10 heures? Pourrais-je te retrouver à 10 heures?

“Could I ask a favour…?” would be…Pourrais-je vous demander un service?… Pourrais-je vous demander un service?…

And, to your friend, you’d say…Pourrais-je te demander un service?… Pourrais-je te demander un service?…

Now, we heard that Sophie wasn’t there. The person at the other end of the phone said…

Elle n’est pas là pour le moment… Elle n’est pas là pour le moment…

That’s slightly strange. The word “là” can often mean “there”. For example, when I want to switch TV channels, I might ask “Où est la télécommande?” You see the remote on the table, and you say…

Elle est là. Elle est là.

In other words, “It’s there!” But, to come back to our telephone conversation, the person at the other end said “She’s not here…”

Elle n’est pas là. Elle n’est pas là.

So, in fact, “là” can mean both “there”and “here”, depending on the situation.

Note… “Pourrais-je …”

means “Could I…”. It’s the verb “pouvoir” (to be able) in the Conditional Mood.

Here, the subject “je” and verb “pourrais” are inverted to create the interrogative (question) form: “Pourrais-je…?”

When inversion occurs, a hyphen is placed between verb and subject.

object pronouns: le, la

des nouvelles, une nouvelle

“vers…”

appeler / rappeler

4 © Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.

Lesson 17: Thursday, August 3rd, 2006Level: beginner. “She’s not there right now, would you like to leave a message?…”


Dia

logu

e



When you were asked if you’d like to leave a message, you said it wasn’t necessary, that you merely wanted to tell her your news. How did you say that again?

C’était juste pour lui donner de mes nouvelles. C’était juste pour lui donner de mes nouvelles.

“mes nouvelles” is “my news”. Now, “an item of news” or “something interesting” to tell you is…

une nouvelle une nouvelle

If you’ve heard something interesting and you can’t wait to tell someone, you’ll say…

Ecoute! J’ai une nouvelle… Ecoute! J’ai une nouvelle…

Now, when Sophie wasn’t there, you asked if you could call her back. You said…

Je peux la rappeler plus tard ? Je peux la rappeler plus tard ?

That’s, can I call her back later. Now if it was Joseph you were looking for, that formula would change. Instead, we’d have…

Je peux le rappeler plus tard. Je peux le rappeler plus tard.

Let’s also note that the verb “rappeler” is a derivative of the verb “appeler”, to call. “I’m going to call Jack” is…

Je vais appeler Jack… Je vais appeler Jack…

And, “I’m going to call Jack again…” is…Je vais rappeler Jack… Je vais rappeler Jack…

Rather than the question form, you might simply say, “I’m going to call him back in the evening”. That would be the Immediate Future. We’d have…

Je vais le rappeler ce soir. Je vais le rappeler ce soir.

To come back to the original conversation, the person on the other end of the phone said Sophie would be back around six o’clock. We heard…

Elle va rentrer vers six heures. Elle va rentrer vers six heures.

So, “… around 10 o’clock” would be…… vers 10 heures … vers 10 heures

verb “Ecoute!”

écouter [= to listen]j’écoutetu écoutesil / elle / on écoutenous écoutonsvous écoutezils / elles écoutent

past participle: écouté

Note that, in this situation, we have the Imperative (command) form: “Ecoute!”

We’re really saying “you listen!”, that is, “tu écoutes…”In the Imperative, we drop the pronoun “tu”. Furthermore, the “s” is dropped in the case of regular “–er” verbs.

Why no accent on “Ecoute…”?If an accented letter occurs at the beginning of a sentence, the accent is not required. Occasionally it is included, but is not necessary. In this case we might see either “Ecoute…” or “Écoute…”.

verballer [= to go]je vaistu vasil / elle / on vanous allonsvous allezils / elles vont

past participle: allé

In this situation, it’s another example of the Immediate Future, that is, a combination of aller + infinitive to convey the meaning of what we’re going to do.

© Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved. 5

Dia

logu

eLesson 17: Thursday, August 3rd, 2006Level: beginner. “She’s not there right now, would you like to leave a message?…”


… and, “around midnight”, will be…… vers minuit … vers minuit

Ok, Amélie. We’ve picked up quite a few useful expressions here, today. Until next time!

A la prochaine!

If you understood our lesson, then you should be able to translate…

1. [Hello.] Mike, here! [at the beginning of a phone conversation]

2. May I speak to Joe?

3. Could we meet you at three o’clock?

4. Could they come at 8 o’clock?

5. They’re not here right now.

6. May I call him back later?

7. May he call her back later?

8. He’s going to call her back around 6 o’clock.

See the answers at http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/FTEW_pages/answers.htm

Now

it’s

your

turn

…

Anyquestions?…

Submit them to us at http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/FTEW_pages/question.htm

Anycomments?…

Submit them to us at http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/FTEW_pages/feedback.htm

Vocabextra!• appareil(m) ............ device,

machine• appeler .................... to call• beaucoup ................ a lot• bien,très~ ............. very good• bonjour ................... hello• c’était ...................... it was…• ce ............................ this• donner .................... to give• heures,six~ ........... six o’clock• juste ........................ just, simply• là ............................. there, here• moment,pourle~.. for the

moment, right now• nouvelle(f) ............. item of news• parler ...................... to speak, to talk• peu,un~ ................ a little• rappeler................... to call again• rentrer ..................... to come back,

to return• revoir,au~ ............. goodbye• soir(m) ................... evening• tard,plus~ ............. later• télécommande(f) ... remote control• vers ......................... around

http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/FTEW_pages/answers.htm

http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/FTEW_pages/question.htm

http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/FTEW_pages/feedback.htm

http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/FTEW_pages/answers.htm

http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/FTEW_pages/question.htm

http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/FTEW_pages/feedback.htm

learn french by podcast › pdf_samples › lfbp_017.pdflesson17 plus publications bramley douglas...

Documents