Lesson

17
Plus Publications
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Cork
Ireland
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LEARN
FRENCH
BY PODCAST
AUDIO PODCASTS
FOR LEARNERS
OF FRENCH
AS A FOREIGN
LANGUAGE
Shes not here
right now would
you like to leave a
message?
lappareil
2 Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.
Lesson 17: Thursday, August 3rd, 2006
Level: beginner. Shes not there right now, would you like to
leave a message?
(Cest) [Jacques] lappareil
Pourrais-je: pouvoir, au conditionnel + infnitive
l: here, there
des nouvelles, une nouvelle
appeler / rappeler
vers [six heures]
D
i
a
l
o
g
u
e
Where you see
this symbol
its your turn
to repeat what
youve heard.
Then well
repeat once
more.
Hello and welcome to LFBP. My name is Hugh Nagle and
with me is Amlie Verdier. Bonjour, Amlie!
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 were looking for isnt there. Lets hear, frst
of all, how the conversation might go
Bonjour !
Bonjour !
Amlie Verdier lappareil. Pourrais-je parler
Sophie, sil vous plat ?
Sophie nest pas l pour le moment. Voulez-vous
laisser un message ?
Non, ce nest pas la peine. Ctait juste pour lui
donner de mes nouvelles. Est-ce que je peux la
rappeler un peu plus tard ?
Oui. Je pense quelle va rentrer vers six heures.
Trs bien, merci beaucoup. Au revoir !
Au revoir !
Lets hear the conversation a second time
Bonjour !
Bonjour !
Amlie Verdier lappareil. Pourrais-je parler
Sophie, sil vous plat ?
Sophie nest pas l pour le moment. Voulez-vous
laisser un message ?
Non, ce nest pas la peine. Ctait juste pour lui
donner de mes nouvelles. Est-ce que je peux la
rappeler un peu plus tard ?
Oui. Je pense quelle va rentrer vers six heures.
Trs bien, merci beaucoup. Au revoir !
Au revoir !
And, one fnal time
Bonjour !
Bonjour !
Amlie Verdier lappareil. Pourrais-je parler
Sophie, sil vous plat ?
Sophie nest pas l pour le moment. Voulez-vous
laisser un message ?
Non, ce nest pas la peine. Ctait juste pour lui
donner de mes nouvelles. Est-ce que je peux la
rappeler un peu plus tard ?
Oui. Je pense quelle va rentrer vers six heures.
Trs bien, merci beaucoup. Au revoir !
Au revoir !
Now, commonly in French, rather than a formula like This
is Amlie Verdier, we say, literally, This is Amlie, at the
handset. We need to remember that expression. Its:
Amlie Verdier lappareil.
Amlie Verdier lappareil.
verb
vouloir [= to wish, to want]
je veux
tu veux
il / elle / on veut
nous voulons
vous voulez
ils / elles veulent
past participle: voulu
Voulez-vous? means Do you
want?An even softerpossibility
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]?
lais one of those direct object
pronouns we were talking about
above.
pouvoir:
May I?
pouvoir, au
conditionnel,
+ infnitif
l: there, here
Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved. 3
D
i
a
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g
u
e
Lesson 17: Thursday, August 3rd, 2006
Level: beginner. Shes not there right now, would you like to
leave a message?
(Cest) [Jacques] lappareil
Pourrais-je: pouvoir, au conditionnel + infnitive
l: here, there
des nouvelles, une nouvelle
appeler / rappeler
vers [six heures]
Where you see
this symbol
its your turn
to repeat what
youve heard.
Then well
repeat once
more.
Well require the conditional form of the verb pouvoir, to
ask if we could talk to the person were looking for. Well
say
Pourrais-je parler Sophie?
Pourrais-je parler 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 infnitive. Could I meet you at 10 oclock?
would be
Pourrais-je vous retrouver 10 heures?
Pourrais-je vous retrouver 10 heures?
And, to a friend, youd say
Pourrais-je te retrouver 10 heures?
Pourrais-je te retrouver 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, youd say
Pourrais-je te demander un service?
Pourrais-je te demander un service?
Now, we heard that Sophie wasnt there. The person at
the other end of the phone said
Elle nest pas l pour le moment
Elle nest pas l pour le moment
Thats slightly strange. The word l can often mean
there. For example, when I want to switch TV channels, I
might ask O est la tlcommande? You see the remote
on the table, and you say
Elle est l.
Elle est l.
In other words, Its there! But, to come back to our
telephone conversation, the person at the other end said
Shes not here
Elle nest pas l.
Elle nest pas l.
So, in fact, l can mean both thereand here,
depending on the situation.
Note
Pourrais-je
means Could I. Its the verb pouvoir(to be
able) in the Conditional Mood.
|a6|cat|e
je jeax
ta jeax
|| / e||e / ea jeat
aea. jea.eas
.ea. jea.et
||. / e||e. jea.eat
j+.t j+rt|c|j|e. pa
Cea6|t|eaa|
je jearra|s
ta jearra|s
|| / e||e / ea jearra|t
aea. jearr|eas
.ea. jearr|et
||. / e||e. jearra|eat
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, 2006
Level: beginner. Shes not there right now, would you like to
leave a message?
(Cest) [Jacques] lappareil
Pourrais-je: pouvoir, au conditionnel + infnitive
l: here, there
des nouvelles, une nouvelle
appeler / rappeler
vers [six heures]
D
i
a
l
o
g
u
e
Where you see
this symbol
its your turn
to repeat what
youve heard.
Then well
repeat once
more.
When you were asked if youd like to leave a message, you
said it wasnt necessary, that you merely wanted to tell her
your news. How did you say that again?
Ctait juste pour lui donner de mes nouvelles.
Ctait 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 youve heard something interesting and you cant wait
to tell someone, youll say
Ecoute! Jai une nouvelle
Ecoute! Jai une nouvelle
Now, when Sophie wasnt there, you asked if you could
call her back. You said
Je peux la rappeler plus tard ?
Je peux la rappeler plus tard ?
Thats, can I call her back later. Now if it was Joseph you
were looking for, that formula would change. Instead,
wed have
Je peux le rappeler plus tard.
Je peux le rappeler plus tard.
Lets also note that the verb rappeler is a derivative of
the verb appeler, to call. Im going to call Jack is
Je vais appeler Jack
Je vais appeler Jack
And, Im going to call Jack again is
Je vais rappeler Jack
Je vais rappeler Jack
Rather than the question form, you might simply say, Im
going to call him back in the evening. That would be
the Immediate Future. Wed 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 oclock. We heard
Elle va rentrer vers six heures.
Elle va rentrer vers six heures.
So, around 10 oclock would be
vers 10 heures
vers 10 heures
verb
Ecoute!
couter [= to listen]
jcoute
tu coutes
il / elle / on coute
nous coutons
vous coutez
ils / elles coutent
past participle: cout
Note that, in this situation, we have
the Imperative (command) form:
Ecoute!
Were really saying you listen!, that is,
tu coutes
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
Ecouteor coute.
verb
aller [= to go]
je vais
tu vas
il / elle / on va
nous allons
vous allez
ils / elles vont
past participle: all
In this situation, its another example
of the Immediate Future, that is, a
combination of aller + infnitive
to convey the meaning of what were
going to do.
Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved. 5
D
i
a
l
o
g
u
e
Lesson 17: Thursday, August 3rd, 2006
Level: beginner. Shes not there right now, would you like to
leave a message?
(Cest) [Jacques] lappareil
Pourrais-je: pouvoir, au conditionnel + infnitive
l: here, there
des nouvelles, une nouvelle
appeler / rappeler
vers [six heures]
and, around midnight, will be
vers minuit
vers minuit
Ok, Amlie. Weve 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 oclock?
4. Could they come at 8 oclock?
5. Theyre not here right now.
6. May I call him back later?
7. May he call her back later?
8. Hes going to call her back around 6 oclock.
See the answers at http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/FTEW_pages/answers.htm
N
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Vocab extra!
appareil (m) ............ device,
machine
appeler .................... to call
beaucoup ................ a lot
bien, trs ~ ............. very good
bonjour ................... hello
ctait ...................... it was
ce ............................ this
donner .................... to give
heures, six ~ ........... six oclock
juste ........................ just, simply
l ............................. there, here
moment, pour le ~.. 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
tlcommande (f ) ... remote control
vers ......................... around
click!
click!
click!