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Lesson Introduction
When you have to use the restroom, there's no time to waste on trying to find the language you need for directions or to have to interpret the answer. In today's podcast, you'll learn the French way to ask where the facilities are, as well as the directions to get there that they'll probably give you in France.
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estibalitz says
May 12, 2008
Bonjour!
Actuellement les toilettes sont au troiséme `etage. J'aime ces toilletes parce que elles sont tres propre.
davett says
May 12, 2008
clean toliets are always nice
yanming says
May 12, 2008
Bonjour,
Je suis un grand amateur de chinesepod et un nouvel amateur de spanishpod :)
(I am a big fan of chinesepod and a new fan of spanishpod)
J'aimerais souhaiter un bon succès au nouveau venu: frenchpod!
(I would like to wish all the best to the newcomer: frenchpod!)
À bientôt!
cobre says
May 12, 2008
Thank you, thank you
esti, liliana and JP are trying to ruin my rrrrs
in 1975, every day is sat next to a small sign on the wall.
I cannot remember the words exactly, and my dictionary has gone missing.
perhaps we can puzzle out the half remembered words.
Preraize de lasie le wc dans l´état de propité que vous souhaitez trouvé en entrée
Please leave the bathroom in the state that you would like to find it when entering.
and if I didn´t Esmé would have my head. . .
Buen Chans pora Frenchpod
user42858 says
May 12, 2008
I am so happy you now have french pod! I just completed my 1st year of college french and now have a perfect way to reinforce it all summer. plus I am taking spanish this summer as well: YOu guys are my 'iTutors' now I have to get back to chinese pod, but that's the language I have to do on my own: NOT easy.
Congrats and thanks again
P.S. How about 'Latin Pod' ?
ooka says
May 12, 2008
Hi Cobre, I think the correct words are :
Prière de laisser les wc dans l'état de propreté que vous souhaitez trouver en entrant.
Bonne chance à Frenchpod !
princepazzazz says
May 13, 2008
Thanks French Pod! these first few lessons were great, i'm looking forward to the elementry and intermidiate levels as well.
user23777 says
May 13, 2008
should "plait" in "s'il vous plait" have a circonflexe over the "i" or not?
My ancient schoolboy French memories are confusing me.
amaurylibeer says
May 13, 2008
Salut user23777,
It is not compulsory anymore to have a circonflexe over the "i" of "plait" (since 1990) so both ways to write it are correct.
jackiejjang says
May 13, 2008
Merci Beaucoup et Bonne Chance à Frenchpod !
frenchpoddy01 says
May 13, 2008
Hi! Vocab items like
les toilettes
l'étage
les escaliers
are of no value. Are toilette, étage, escalier masculine or feminine?
This should be improved!
oolung says
May 13, 2008
I love lessons on asking where's the toilet. This is THE most essential question in any language! You certainly don't want to have to use sign language when the crucial moment is coming...
mei9 says
May 13, 2008
BONSOIR:
JE SUIS TRES CONTENT,TO LISTEN TO FRENCH POD:)))))))))))))))
nuevacarpeta says
May 13, 2008
Speaking of Rs - how does one articulate a French R (the one that's not silent, obviously ;-) ) ? It's not alveolar, at least it doesn't sound that way to me, but there seems to be slight trill. I'm sure there are varieties depeding on region, but what is the most common/standard pronunciation?
lilywhytelegs says
May 13, 2008
frenchpoddy makes a good point. It would be useful to indicate whether words are masculine or feminine where it is not evident.
chillosk says
May 13, 2008
"sont" is used for plural, oui? what if i wanted to ask where something (that was one singluar) was, what verb will i use?
hedos says
May 13, 2008
Hello chillosk,
It depends on the subjet. The verb "être" takes very many forms depending on the tense and the personal pronoun or subject used. Here are some examples :
"Où sont les toilettes?"
"Où est la salle de bain?"
The word "salle de bain" is another way to talk about the bathroom, and it literally means "bath room". It is singular and feminine, which is why we use "est".
"Où suis-je?" (Where am I?)
"Où es-tu?" (Where are you?)
"Où est-il?" (Where is he?)
azoox says
May 13, 2008
J'adore toute la famille .pod en espagnol, chinois et puis en français. J'adore aussi les toilettes propres. La mienne l'est toujours, mais celles dans des endroits publics... bon, ça c'est autre chose :-) Je vais continuer à suivre la section française et francophone avec plaisir! Piotr
cobre says
May 13, 2008
ooka,
Thank you.
amaurylibeer says
May 13, 2008
Yes, perfect sentence Ooka. Bravo!
With public bathrooms, it's good to remind people!
billkaulitzlover says
May 14, 2008
Avec ce podcast est la meilleure manière d'apprendre le français vite et bien.
Cornelia says
May 15, 2008
Actually it is quite logic that you have to go up one floor for "premier étage": just consider the ground floor as floor no. zéro...
It is labelled as "0" in some elevators, also in Germany.
elee8888cn says
May 15, 2008
Arhhhhh...... Better make a note of that now!
Thanks for the tip ;-)
will1010 says
May 15, 2008
Evidently "ground floor" references vary even within the English language. I ran into some Scottish girls in an elevator in Cyprus (where ground floor is "zero") one time who were referring to it as "naught!" (Which was a completely foreign word to my American ears!)
Also I think I read in a French grammar book one time that it is impolite to refer to "les toilettes" in the singular... another interesting bit of trivia.
lilywhytelegs says
May 15, 2008
will1010 - interesting comment about referring "les toilettes" in singular. I was wondering about that as I recalled learning, "Où est la toilette?" when I studied French in primary school. Maybe this is a Canadian French thing?
mhm007 says
June 27, 2008
merci pour tous
debrazza says
June 30, 2008
what is the difference between "par la" and "la bas" if you are saying "over there"?
amaurylibeer says
June 30, 2008
Salut debrazza,
That's a good question as they both mean "over there". It is better to use "là-bas" when you are pointing out and "par là" when you mean "that way".
For example :
Les toilettes sont là-bas, à côté de la cuisine. (The bathroom is over there, next to the kitchen.)
Les toilettes sont par là, tu dois passer par la cuisine. (The bathroom is over there, you need to pass by the kitchen.)
amaurylibeer says
June 30, 2008
Bonjour mhm007,
Bienvenue sur FrenchPod.
"Merci pour tout" (for everything) or "Merci à tous" (to everyone).
Merci à toi.
debrazza says
July 1, 2008
Merci Amaury,
Ca c'est un peu dificil. Je doit ecouter les deux en conversation pour mieux comprendre.
J'ai dit toujours la-bas, alors maintenant je doit apprendre un nouveau mot.
croft says
July 28, 2008
i think these pharise are very helpful to me. even if i don't speak the lanuguage, so well. which is quite cool. you guys are great.
amaurylibeer says
July 28, 2008
Salut croft,
Merci beaucoup. We really hope these lessons will help you to make progress in your French learning. If you have any query, don't hesitate to ask us.
dechok says
January 31, 2009
Salut tout le monde!
Je suis nouveau membre de frenchpod et Je suis Tibetan vivant à Paris, Pour moi apprendre le Francais c'est vraiment important. et depuis long temps j'ai chercher des cours comme ceux-ci, et finallement Je trouve Frenchpod(Je suis très content). Merci pour tout et je vous souhaite une bonne journée et bonne santé!
TASHI DELEK (Best Wish and Good Luck)
christela says
January 31, 2009
Salut dechok!
Bienvenue sur Frenchpod.com! Toute l'équipe espère vraiment que Frenchpod pourra t'aider dans ton apprentissage du français! Merci beaucoup!
Et Tashi Delek à toi aussi! : )
quitopame says
February 7, 2009
gracias a todos
mi lengua materna es spanish pero estoy aprendiendo con este maravilloso curso
merci
amaurylibeer says
February 7, 2009
Bienvenue à Frenchpod quitopame et merci beaucoup pour ce gentil commentaire.
blueschaeffer says
February 15, 2009
Merci pour une lecon tres importante. Mes fils et filles l'ecoute au jour d'hui et apprennent une phrase ou deux.
formerchurchwarden says
July 2, 2009
Hi,
Will1010 made a good point last year about 'les toilettes' - polite - compared to 'la toilette' - not so polite. Is that because 'les toilettes' is the place, and 'la toilette' the deed?
Rather like Amaury's story about receiving a menu, my own experience when I asked in Hamburg "wo sind die Toiletten?", was to be told the time was 12.30! I'd better keep practicing aloud...
Thanks for a useful lesson.
David
amaurylibeer says
July 2, 2009
De rien David, merci pour ce commentaire.
You're right. 'Les toilettes' and 'la toilette' are two different things (and it's not correct to say 'la toilette' when you mean 'les toilettes').
'La toilette' can mean different things in French : the most frequent one means the action of washing oneself.
Really laughed at your story, and I'm happy I'm not the only one it happened to ;; ))
maaku says
August 1, 2009
There seems to be a problem with the first dialogue sentence for this lesson--hitting the play button doesn't do anything. I've looked at the source code for the page and it appears that the mp3 isn't setup correctly.
maryhuffstuff103 says
August 2, 2009
Le lecon metero etait superb! J'ai appris beaucoup! J'attend avec impatience faire mon prochain lecon!
( Je regrette que je ne sais pas comment trouver les accents francais a mon nouveau l'ordinateur - un MAC - Saivez - vous m'aider trouver les accents?)
madamewright says
August 3, 2009
J'ai un MAC aussi. Utilisez la clef "(alt) option" pour faire les accents:
è = "option" + "`" + "e"
é = "option" + "e" + "e"
ë = "option" + "u" + "e"
â = "option" + "i" + "a"
œ = "option" + "q"
ç = "option" + "c"
(hold the "option" key while you type the accent key; release, then type the letter you want the accent over)
Bonne chance!
mohsenn says
December 9, 2009
merci beaucoup amaury
j'ai compri mantenant les differences entre les toilettes et la toilette et par là et là bas.
amaurylibeer says
December 9, 2009
De rien mohsen,
Je suis content que cette leçon t'ait aidé.
Deux petites choses concernant ton commentaire:
"J'ai compris maintenant les différences entre les toilettes et la toilette et par là et là-bas.
edoreld says
December 19, 2009
C'était une leçon magnifique.
Merci beaucoup et à la prochaine!
amaurylibeer says
December 24, 2009
Merci à toi pour ce commentaire edoreld.
Joyeux Noël.
samiziko says
December 27, 2009
Maintenant, je suis confuse. Où sont les toilettes, s'il vous plaît??
Merci
amaurylibeer says
December 30, 2009
Tu es perdu Sami, tu ne comprends pas (you're confused, you don't understand)?
Pourtant, c'est bien la bonne question que tu viens de poser (it's the right question that you've just asked though): "Où sont les toilettes, s`il vous plaît?"
"Je suis confus/confuse" means in French "I'm ashamed", "I'm really sorry"