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Lesson Introduction
Whether you are looking to buy some fresh légumes at the outdoor open market or you're more interested in going on a shopping binge down the Boulevard Haussmann, in today's podcast, learn the French lingo to find out what's the damage.
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billkaulitzlover says
May 27, 2008
haha ils disent toujours la même chose, "Pour vous c'est ...... euro/dollar/ etc ^^"
anna8 says
May 27, 2008
In the expansion section, "Ne touchez pas, s'il vous plait?" sounds like "Ne toussez pas s'il vous plait." That is, I can't hear a "ch" in "touchez" and the pitch sounds like a statement, rather than a question. Do I need a new ear trumpet?
christof says
May 27, 2008
Well Anna8, I have a good news and a bad news for you : the question mark was a typo (it's fixed now... thank you), but for the "touchez" pronunciation ... well .. do they sell ear trumpet on eBay ? ;-)
The French sound "ch" is really close to the English sound "sh".
anna8 says
May 27, 2008
Hey Christof, they sell everything on eBay! Merci!
franki says
May 27, 2008
Bon jour! Good lesson!!! mais j´ai une question a vous posser :est ce qu- il n´y aura pas des niveaux inter/upper-intermediate/advance? merci! :-)
rachelzhang says
May 28, 2008
Bonjour!
amaurylibeer says
May 28, 2008
Bonjour franki! Et merci. Les leçons des niveaux inter/upper-intermediate/advanced arrivent très, très bientôt. Promis!
Salut rachelzhang! Comment ça va?
amy321 says
May 31, 2008
Would there be any difference in pronunciation between: "Vous avez des champignons?" and "Vous savez des champignons?" Or do you just have to figure it out according to the context?
(OK, maybe it would be weird to ask someone if he knows some mushrooms. But I have to listen so carefully to catch the words people are saying in French that sometimes they're on to the next paragraph before I realize the translation in my mind would be out of context ...)
ericat says
May 31, 2008
Excellent question, amy321! There is a clear difference in sound between 'vous avez' and 'vous savez'
Vous avez = the sound in the middle is a 'z' sound (voozahvey)
Vous savez = the sound in the middle is a 'ss' sound (voo-ssahvey)
Normally the 's' at the end of the word 'vous' is silent. But if it is followed by a word that starts with a vowel, it is pronounced like a 'z'. In the case of 'vous savez', the 's' at the end of 'vous' is silent and it is actually the 's' at the beginning of 'savez' that is being pronounced.
You sound just like me when I was first learning to listen to French! I used to say all the time "By the time I finally translate in my head one or two sentences, I've missed the next two or three paragraphs." I was only really able to follow and keep up with the conversation when I started listening for gist. Read this posting I wrote about the subject and hopefully it will help.
http://frenchpod.com/community/conversations/post/16
sragon says
May 31, 2008
Amy321,
Like you, I am just a student, but I can help with this one:
In the first case ("Vous avez"), there is a 'z' sound between the two words: vou(z)-avez
In the second case ("Vous savez"), there is an 's' sound: vou-(s)avez
Likewise, the phrase "They have" ("Ils ont") is pronounced Il(z)-ont
And the phrase "They are" ("Ils sont") is pronounced Il-(s)ont
I hope this makes sense...
[Ah - question already answered!]
ericat says
May 31, 2008
That's correct, sragon! Thanks for giving more examples to point out that it is not just 'vous' that behaves this way, but also 'ils' (and 'elles'), as well.
darcey says
May 31, 2008
Merci beaucoup pour cette leçon!
Or should these be "cours" instead of "leçon"?
amy321 says
June 1, 2008
Thanks for the explanation and examples, sragon and erica. That helps a lot!
christela says
June 3, 2008
Hello, darcey! Glad you liked it! You can say "leçon" or "cours", both are correct.
Moi aussi j'aime cette leçon! Le dialogue me fait penser à l'ambiance des marchés de fruits et légumes frais...
Stand owners are usually really nice and friendly, and it's always a pleasure to go there and buy champignons, tomates, et autres légumes!
douddi says
June 27, 2008
thanks a lot.
mahjabeen says
July 23, 2008
merci beaucoup pour cette cours.
mahjabeen says
July 23, 2008
ericat says
July 23, 2008
Bonjour mahjabeen and thank you for the comments! We'll look into why it might not be working for you (Christophe is on the case!) and send you a message as soon as possible.
samiisaac2008 says
December 8, 2008
After asking about the price I want to say it's expensive or it's cheap in French.
S'il vous plait.
amaurylibeer says
December 8, 2008
Salut samiisaac2008 et bienvenue à FrenchPod,
When French people want to say that something is expensive, we say : "C'est cher" and to say it is cheap, we normally use the negative form "Ce n'est pas cher".
Hope this helps.
sirglenn says
January 5, 2009
i love this lesson, was so easy to repeat and understand. merci amaury & erica
amaurylibeer says
January 6, 2009
De rien sirglenn,
We are really happy that you enjoyed this lesson.
Good luck with your French studies.
brovyno says
January 6, 2009
bonjour a`tous
I just want to confirm if we can use ces`t trop fort to say that its expensive, I heard that somewhere else please confirm.
Merci beacoup.
J`aime cette lecon, merci.
amaurylibeer says
January 6, 2009
Salut brovyno,
No, you cannot use "c'est fort" to say "that's expensive". French people say : "c'est cher".
Many thanks for your comment.
brovyno says
January 7, 2009
Merci beacoup Amaury
I have learnt something new ''c'est cher''
merci
yasirodriguez says
February 6, 2009
bonjour!
I am a Filipina, here in the Philippines and new in this site... and I really want to learn your language...it sounds very interesting to me... somebody help me and just a simple French translated to English... thank you very much!
amaurylibeer says
February 7, 2009
Bonjour yasirodriguez and welcome to FrenchPod.
jasminecutie says
February 8, 2009
How do I know which "it" to use when i'm refering to something.....when do I use "Il" and when do I use "ca"
april08 says
April 8, 2009
Bonjour Erica ! Bonjour Amaury !
I am a real newbie in French and at your site and have heard just few lessons. All of them are great !!! And you are great as well !!! You give us not just a knowledge and useful tips but good mood and looots of fun !!! Amazing !!! :)
Merci beaucoup !
And Amaury's french accent is so charming :))
amaurylibeer says
April 8, 2009
Merci beaucoup april08.
Your comment is really, really encouraging.
Good luck with your French studies.
nuttapa says
April 15, 2009
ิิิ้่bonjour , I have information to learn france language it very useful for me .I just live about 1 month in france. thank you very much
merci
amaurylibeer says
April 19, 2009
Salut nuttapa et bienvenue à FrenchPod!
Où habites-tu en France?
Merci pour ton commentaire.
ronymyamar says
November 7, 2009
salut a tous
je suis un nouveau venu..cette lecon très facile pour chqaue personne,merci bequcoup pour votre effort
a bientot
amaurylibeer says
November 10, 2009
Salut ronymyamar,
Bienvenue à FrenchPod et bonne chance avec tes études du français.
Je vais corriger ton commentaire :
salut à tous
je suis un nouveau venu... cette leçon est très facile (pour chaque personne), merci beaucoup pour votre effort
à bientôt
Très bon commentaire.
ronymyamar says
November 11, 2009
bonjour à tout le monde
merci beaucoup pour votre concerner,j'ai un problème que je peux lire facile,mais quand vous entendez quelqu'un parler français, je ne comprends pas.
qu'est ce que je fais ?
à bientot
amaurylibeer says
November 13, 2009
Salut ronymyamar,
D'abord, si tu es d'accord, quelques corrections concernant ton message (first, if you agree, a few corrections regarding your message) :
Bonjour à tout le monde,
Merci beaucoup pour votre intérêt. J'ai un problème : je peux lire facilement le français, mais quand j'entends quelqu'un parler français, je ne comprends pas.
Qu'est-ce que je fais ? / Que dois-je faire? / Qu'est-ce que vous me conseillez de faire?
à bientôt
Il est vrai que beaucoup de personnes pensent que le français parlé est compliqué car les francophones parlent trop vite et n'articulent pas assez (it's true that many people think that spoken French is complicated because French speakers speak too fast and don't articulate enough).
Je te conseille d'abord de bien écouter toutes les leçons 'newbie' car nous y donnons beaucoup de conseils très utiles (I would advise you first to listen to all the 'newbie' lessons as we give a lot a very useful tips).
e.g. : In spoken French, you hear more often 'Je sais pas' (which is not grammatically correct) than 'Je ne sais pas'. French speakers just omit the 'ne'.
I would advise you as well to listen carefully when we repeat the dialog three times as it goes faster and faster.
My last advice would be to watch as many French movies as you can in the original version, first with the English subtitles, then with French subtitles and then without subtitles at all.
Try to have a look at that great post from Erica as well (and all the comments from the users). I think it's very helpful :
http://frenchpod.com/community/conversations/post/16