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Lesson Introduction
Paint smells, elevator music, cheap wine… headaches can come from many places. In today’s podcast, learn the French words you need to make others aware of your symptoms so that they stop bothering you and maybe even offer you an aspirin.
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tori340 says
May 11, 2008
excellent
excellent
excellent
excellent
excellent
excellent
excellent
excellent
amaurylibeer says
May 12, 2008
Many thanks Tori340!
Hope you will enjoy the next lessons as much.
frenchpoddy01 says
May 12, 2008
Sorry to correct you:
It must be:
s'il te plaît
mfalkoff says
May 12, 2008
Hey, kind of a silly question, but... any good tips for nasalizing vowels (as in "encore")? I don't think I'm doing too bad, but it's hard to get that French-y nasal sound.
ericat says
May 12, 2008
Au contraire, mfalkoff, that's a great question! Nasal vowels are often challenging at first when you're learning French, and it sounds like you're well on your way to mastering them. Two tips:
1. Say the vowel in your nose like you have a cold
2. Go to the page in the pronunciation guide that we have for nasal vowels: http://frenchpod.com/resources/pronunciation/section/2 . There you can get some targeted practice by listening to and repeating the sound files.
nuevacarpeta says
May 13, 2008
Is there any significance to the circonflexe? Does it lengthen the vowel, like in Welsh, or change the height, like in Portuguese? Is there a correlation between this diacritic mark and a dropped consonant - I've noticed it occurs in words like hopital or cote, like a remnant of the s.
anna8 says
May 13, 2008
Salut Frenchpod!
What's the difference, if any, between clé and clef? Do you pronounce them the same way? (The phrase roman à clef is rattling around somewhere in the recesses of my brain.)
jinfulei says
May 13, 2008
Nuevacarpeta:
If I remember correctly from my studies in college, the diacritic is in fact a remnant 's'. I consider this info 98% trustworthy and I hope I'm still correct in my recolections.
christof says
May 13, 2008
Jinfulei, Nuevacarpeta,
I would add another 2% to what Jinfulei wrote : in old French language, all the words that now have a '^' had an 's' instead. Let's take an example : "forêt" ... a couple of century ago was spelt "forest" ...
Hey this word looks familiar !!
Anna8,
Clé can be spelt in the 2 ways you mention (clé or clef) and there is no change in the meaning, or the pronunciation. The clé version is a new one, added maybe 20 years ago to simplify the spelling.
anna8 says
May 13, 2008
Uhf...how embarrassing! Twenty years ago, huh? Merci, Christof!
billkaulitzlover says
May 14, 2008
bulmer191 says
May 16, 2008
good one, i get headaches a lot
billkaulitzlover says
June 5, 2008
J'ai trouvée ces phrases:
J’ai besoin d’un médecin. (I need a doctor)
J’ai mal à l’etomac. (I have stomachache.).
C’est une emergence! (It’s an emergency!)
J’ai de la fièvre. (I have fever)
Je suis alergique à l’aspirine. (I’m allergic to aspirin.)
J’ai besoin d’aide! ( I need help!)
J’ai mal à la gorge. (My throat hurts)
J’ai besoin d’une ambulance. (I need an ambulance)
Je suis diabetique. (I’m diabetic.)
Il / Elle a une attaque cardiaque. (He / She is having a heart attack.)
Je suis enceinte. (I’m pregnant.)
billkaulitzlover says
June 5, 2008
More related phrases:
J'ai mal aux dents (My teeth hurt).
J'ai mal au ventre (I have a stomachache).
Je tousse (I cough) .
J'ai mal à l'oreille (I have an earache).
Je vomis (I throw up).
J'ai la grippe (I have the flu).
Je suis malade (I'm sick).
Je suis asthmatique (I'm asthmatic).
hadel says
June 26, 2008
how are you in this morning
dahu says
June 26, 2008
Je vais bien ce matin, je suis pas malade, j'ai pas mal aux dents.
(Thanks Eruworld! ;-) )
boucif says
July 19, 2008
Dear bilateral wonderful voice
But speeding and can not pick his Erica
nkechi says
July 28, 2008
wow.. cette lecon c,est formidable. J,appris nouvelle french gender.
Merci beaucoup a tous Erica et Amaury.
croft says
August 22, 2008
i think these french Pods, are really great,& its quite easy to speak, & learn. its quite cool.
ericat says
August 25, 2008
Merci, nkechi and croft, and bonne chance with your French studies!
penhui says
December 3, 2008
Is there any significance to the circonflexe?
It changes what should be a hard "c" (the "k" sound) into a soft "c" (the "s" sound). Like "ça," would be pronounced "ka" without the circonflexe.
I think.
Also, re: headaches. I'm a "weekend migraineur," which means that when I'm stressed, I'm fine. Once the stress is off, though . . . .
amaurylibeer says
December 5, 2008
Bonjour penhuizc,
The sign you refer to is called in French "la cédille" ("l'accent circonflexe" is the sign that you can find on the vowels â, ê, î, ô and û).
Your explanation is perfect. I would just add that you can only have the 'ç' in front of the vowels a, o and u because 'c' in front of e and i is always pronounced like the 's' sound.
mohsenn says
November 29, 2009
merci beaucoup à tous
mon frèr prend une gélophine quand il a mal à la tête et elle a effet rapidement. et moi, quand j'ai mal aux dents je prend de la même. je pense qu'elle n'a pas d'effet secondaire ou sa effet secondaire est plus moins que les autres medicament.
heuresment en ce moment je n'ai pas ni mal à la tête ni mal aux dents. et j"espire que tout le mond sois comme moi.
amaurylibeer says
Salut mohsen, Voici la correction de ton commentaire: Mon frère prend une gélophine quand il a mal à la tête et elle agit rapidement. Et moi, quand j'ai mal aux dents, je prends la même chose. Je pense qu'elle n'a pas d'effets secondaires ou ses effets secondaires sont moins forts que les autres médicaments. Heureusement, en ce moment je n'ai ni mal à la tête ni mal aux dents. Et j'espère que tout le monde est comme moi / Et j'espère que c'est la même chose pour tout le monde. C'est quoi une gélophine mohsen, c'est une sorte d'aspirine?December 1, 2009
samiziko says
December 2, 2009
Que voulez-vous faire quand vous avez mal à la tête?
Is it right? What is your answer?
Merci
mohsenn says
December 2, 2009
bonjour amaury
merci beaucoup pour la correction
i didn't know exactly how should i write Gelofen in french or english so i wrote like it's pronunced. but it's something like Ibuprofen but in shape of capsule that looks comme la gellée.
en iran, on prend ce Gelofen et mon frère le prend comme bonbon. on dis que ce médicament n'a pas de perte.
amaurylibeer says
Salut samiziko, Your sentence "Que voulez-vous faire quand vous avez mal à la tête?" is correct grammatically. But French people would more often say : "Qu'est-ce que vous faites quand vous avez mal à la tête?" And the answer could be : "Je me repose." (I have a rest) / "Je prends des médicaments" (I take medicines) / "Je prends une aspirine" (I take an aspirin) / "Je prends de la vitamin C" (I take vitamin C) / "J'essaie de dormir" (I try to sleep) / ...December 3, 2009
amaurylibeer says
De rien mohsen, It looks 'comme de la gelée'... Pas très appétissant (not very appetizing). J'espère que le goût est bon (I hope that the taste is good). Je ne prends pas souvent de médicaments. Quand je suis malade, je me repose et je bois beaucoup de jus de fruits (I don't often take medicines. When I'm sick, I have a rest and I drink a lot of fruit juices). Concernant ta dernièrte phrase (regarding your last sentence) : En Iran, on prend ce Gelofen et mon frère le prend comme un bonbon. On dit que ce médicament n'a pas d'effets secondaires. I'm not sure that I really understood what you meant by 'perte' mohsen...December 3, 2009
amaurylibeer says
We do apologize that we have a problem with the comments on this lesson at the moment guys. That's why my comments appear with no space in between sentences, or no part underlined nor in bold print. We're trying to fix this. Nous sommes désolés.December 3, 2009
samiziko says
December 4, 2009
Quand j'ai mal à la tête, je prends une aspirine.
Merci amaurylibeer pour ton commentaire.
mohsenn says
December 6, 2009
bonjour amauri
i meant "harm" when i said "perte" in french.
je veux dire que ce medicament n'a pas de 'harm". i don't know exatly what is the synonym of "harm" in french. i think it must be "mal".
amaurylibeer says
Salut mohsen, Ok, like in the expression 'to do harm':'faire du mal', 'faire du tort'. Oui, the noun 'harm' on its own means 'mal'. So, "On dit que ce médicament ne fait pas de mal / ne fait pas de tort."December 7, 2009