LFBP6

(1)

Lesson

6

Plus Publications

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FRENCH

BY PODCAST

AUDIO PODCASTS

FOR LEARNERS

OF FRENCH

AS A FOREIGN

LANGUAGE

Discussing your

interests

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aimer +

infinitive

D

ialogue

Hello once again, and welcome to Learn French by Podcast. My name is Hugh Nagle and here with me is Amélie Verdier. Welcome back, Amélie!

Bonjour!

Today, Amélie?…

Nous allons parler des loisirs.

“Leisure-time activities”. Our likes and dislikes, I suppose you could say. So, what are your interests? Quels sont tes centres d’intérêt?

Eh bien, j’aime la lecture. Je pense qu’il est important de lire. Cela permet d’apprendre de nouvelles choses tout en se détendant.

Now, just in case our listeners didn’t catch all that first time ‘round, let’s hear it again…

Bien sûr! Bon, alors… j’aime la lecture. Je pense qu’il est […]

And one final time…

J’aime la lecture. […]

Now, today we’ll be looking at some verbs which are central to talking about what interests us – as well as the things that do quite the opposite! Right at the start, you said…

J’aime la lecture.

Now that verb is easy. It’s a regular –er verb. That is, its infinitiveends in –er. Let’s just make one point about pronunciation: it sounds like “em”, not “aim”. How will we say “Helikessurfing…”?

Il aime surfer.

Or, “Theylikehiking in the mountains…”?

Ils aiment les randonnées en montagne.

Note that the plural form of the verb sounds exactly the same as the singular.

Now, let’s make one further point. We can put a second verb – in its infinitive form – directly afterwards to form all sorts of combinations. For example: “Jane likes to swim”…

Jane aime nager.

Or, “Jacques likes to tell jokes!”…

Jacques aime plaisanter.

Or, “Adrienne and Zoë like to sing”…

Adrienne et Zoë aiment chanter.

Remember!

aimer + infinitive

We can create a wide range of possibilities with aimer, followed by the infinitive of another verb: • j’aime surfer • elle aime lire

• nous aimons visiter des monuments • ils aiment aller au cinéma.

aimer j’aime tu aimes il / elle / on aime nous aimons vous aimez ils / elles aiment

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apprécier,

(négocier,

multiplier, nier)

D

ialogue

Note that, in each of these examples, the verb following aimer– nager, plaisanter, chanter – is in theinfinitive.

Tell us more about your leisure-time activities. Parle-nous davantage de tes loisirs…

J’apprécie également la musique, notamment les chanteurs de musique traditionnelle française comme Edith Piaf. J’aime écouter de la musique mais aussi chanter ! Au début, mes parents n’aimaient pas trop parce que je chantais comme une casserole !

Let’s hear that once again…

J’apprécie également la musique […]

Now, you said “J’apprécie la musique”. Let’s talk for a moment about that verb apprécier– a regular –er verb. Other verbs like négocier, multiplier, nier – are conjugated in the same way as apprécier. Let’s hear a few examples. How do we say – about two businessmen, for example – “They are negociating…”?

Ils négocient.

How do we say “He is negociating…”?

Il négocie.

How would we say – talking about students doing arithmetic, for example – “Theyaremultiplying numbers…”?

Les élèves multiplient des chiffres.

How would we say – talking about the woman who is doing some calculations – “Sheismultiplyingtwo numbers…”?

Elle multiplie deux chiffres.

Talking about my parents, how would I say “They appreciate– they like – classical music…”?

Ils apprécient la musique classique.

And finally, how would we say that “He denies the facts…”?

Il nie les faits.

So, in summary, it’s important to remember that, inthe presenttense,atleast,therdpersonsingularand pluralformsarepronouncedthesame, and the final “e” is silent, once again.

On another point, you said that, initially, you weren’t a very good singer! You had an interesting expression…

Oui. Je chantais comme une casserole!

“… comme une casserole” – that’s funny! Normally of course, “une casserole” refers to a saucepan.

Watch it!

two forms of the Present in English, but only one in French:

remember that, in French, there’s just one version of the Present tense. The following English sentences: 1. “They negociate…” [in general] and…

2. “They are negociating…” [right

now]

are both rendered by: “Ils négocient…” in French.

So, to reiterate: there’s just one Present tense in French.

Remember!

“Je chantais…”:

Here’s an example of the Imperfect

tense, used when you want to say

that you used to do something, e.g. I used to be a lousy singer!

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s’intéresser à,

se passionner

pour

D

ialogue

Ok. Let’s move on. You have other interests, too…

Oui. Je m’intéresse aussi à la peinture. J’adore visiter des expositions à Paris ou bien des musées comme le Louvre ou le musée d’Orsay ! Je peins dès que j’ai un moment de libre !

Je me passionne également pour le jardinage, mais on ne peut pas dire que j’ai la main verte !

Let’s hear this again…

Je m’intéresse aussi à la peinture […]

Now, let’s look at two expressions you used: Je

m’intéresse… and Jemepassionne(pour). These verbs are known as reflexiveverbs. In the first person, we can hear thereflexivepronoun,“me”: jem’intéresse. It was the same in the case of the expression Jem’appelle…, although we didn’t mention it before.

We really should remember these verbs: let’s take a few examples to imprint them in our brains! How about: “I’minterestedinsport”?

Je m’intéresse au sport.

“I’minterestedinpainting…”?

Je m’intéresse à la peinture.

“I’mveryinterestedinthe cinema…”

Je m’intéresse beaucoup au cinéma.

“He’sfascinatedwithcomputers and gadgets…”?

Il se passionne pour l’informatique et les gadgets.

“They’refascinatedwithgardening…”

Ils se passionnent pour le jardinage.

Ok, Amélie. Let’s talk a little more about your interests. Est-ce que tu t’intéresses au sport ?

Je ne m’intéresse pas trop au sport, mais mon petit ami adore ça ! Je pense que le foot, c’est sa grande passion ! En ce moment, il regarde tous les matchs de la Coupe du Monde de Football à la télé. On dirait un légume devant la télévision ! Moi, je n’aime pas du tout regarder des joueurs courir derrière un ballon, ça ne m’intéresse pas du tout ! C’est à mourir d’ennui !

There are quite a few interesting expressions there. Let’s hear that again…

Je ne m’intéresse pas trop au sport […]

expression

avoir la main verte

literally, “to have a green hand”, that is “to have green fingers” (i.e. to be a good gardener)

expressions..

“On dirait (un légume)…”

That is, “You’d say [he was a] couch potato…”. (In other words, one would describe him as a couch potato.)

“C’est à mourir d’ennui!”

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au, à la, aux

ballon (m)

balle (f)

D

ialogue

Now, you said that you were “… not too interested”. How did you say that, again?…

Je ne m’intéresse pas trop au sport.

So, “I’m not too interested in reading…”, would be?…

Je ne m’intéresse pas trop à la lecture.

Now, we have “… ausport” but “… àla lecture”. Let’s remember that this happens because of the gender – masculine or feminine – of the activity that we’re discussing. If we’re talking about something masculine – lecinémaor lesport, for example – we’ll have…

Je ne m’intéresse pas au sport.

On the other hand, if it’s a feminine activity – lalecture, for example – it will be…

Je ne m’intéresse pas à la lecture.

Finally, if we have apluralnoun– desactivités sportives, for example – we’ll have “aux”…

Il s’intéresse aux activités sportives.

Now, we mentioned the World Cup. There’s an interesting point here, too. The round object that the footballers kick around the field is called…

le ballon.

On the other hand, in Wimbledon, the tennis players strike…

la balle.

In French, you have a different word for “ball” in each of these sports.

Moving on a little, you said before that your sister was keen on sport. Tu nous as dit que ta sœur était sportive. Quel genre de sport fait-elle ?

Alors, oui, en effet, ma sœur est très sportive. Elle fait beaucoup de sport. Elle aime beaucoup, enfin, elle adore faire de l’escalade. Elle s’entraîne trois fois par semaine : le lundi, le mercredi et le vendredi Elle apprécie également la marche à pied. Elle fait souvent des randonnées avec maman le dimanche.

Let’s hear that one more time…

Ma sœur est très sportive. […]

Note!

enfin…

Elle aime beaucoup, enfin, elle adore …

= She really likes, in fact, she loves …

Note!

Remember the word order in the case of “reflexive” verbs used in the negative:

Je ne m’intéresse pas… The reflexive me – or m’, where it meets a vowel – remains “stuck” to the verb (intéresser, in this case). The ne and pas then come before and after this combination.

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faire

[+ activities]

“reflexive”

verbs

lundi,

le lundi

_Remember!

lundi ...Monday mardi ...Tuesday mercredi ...Wednesday jeudi ...Thursday vendredi ...Friday samedi...Saturday dimanche ...Sunday In French, the days of the week are spelled with a small letter when they appear within a sentence.

D

ialogue

There’s a key verb here: it’s the verb faire which is essential when talking about all sorts of activities. “To takepartina lot of sport…” is…

faire beaucoup de sport.

“Todo–orparticipatein – judo…” is:

faire du judo.

“Togo climbing”?…

faire de l’escalade.

Let’s try a few concrete examples: “I go climbing…”:

Je fais de l’escalade.

“We go climbing”:

Nous faisons de l’escalade.

“They go hiking on Sundays.”

Ils font des randonnées le dimanche.

So, let’s be sure to remember the conjugation of the verb faire. Don’t forget, it’s all there for you in the PDF Guide which accompanies this lesson.

Now, we’ve already met “Elle s’appelle…” and “Elle s’intéresse…”. Once again, we meet another of these reflexive verbs here: “elles’entraîne…” – “she trains”. Now, Amélie, remind us of what “I train…” would be:

Je m’entraîne…

“We train…”

Nous nous entraînons…

The second “nous” here refers to ourselves. It’s a reflexive verb because we are training “ourselves”, one might say. Once again, you’ll find the full conjugation of this reflexive verb in the PDF Guide.

Now, in French, “… on Sundays” or “… on Mondays” is simple, right? We simply say:

le lundi.

That is, we put the definite article “le” before the day of the week. Without the article, we’ll be talking about a specific Monday, for example:

Lundi, je vais chez Marie.

… which means: “OnMonday, [that is, next Monday] I’m going to Marie’s.”

verb

faire [= to do, to make, to take part in [sport]] je fais tu fais il / elle / on fait nous faisons vous faites ils / elles font

verb

s’entraîner [to train]

je m’entraîne tu t’entraînes il / elle / on s’entraîne nous nous entraînons vous vous entraînez ils s’entraînent

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D

ialogue

Ok, Amélie, once again, there’s a lot of material to digest in this lesson. To our listeners, don’t forget to download our accompanying PDF Guide from our website at www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com.

Finally, if you’re enjoying our podcasts, why not send us some feedback? To do that, you can click the link on the last page of our PDF Guide or visit our website. We look forward to hearing from you.

So, Amélie, until next time!

A la prochaine!

If you understood our lesson, then you should be ready for…

1. We like reading.

2. They like going to the cinema. 3. Hélène is not interested in sport.

4. Jack and Jim are fascinated with information technology [l’informatique]. 5. They go climbing on Saturdays.

6. He trains twice a week. 7. We train often. 8. She doesn’t train.

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

No

w it

’s y

our turn…

Any questions?…

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

Any comments?…

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

Vocab extra!

• apprendre ...to learn • aussi ...also, too • avec ...with • bien, eh ~ ...well… • bien, ou ~ ...or indeed • chiffre (m) ...number • chose (f) ...thing • comme ...like, as • courir ...to run • début, au ~ ...at the beginning • derrière ...behind, after • dès que...as soon as • détendre, se ~ ...to relax • également ...also, too • ennui (m) ...boredom • exposition (f) ...exhibition • fois (f) ...time, occasion • grand ...big • jardinage (m) ...gardening • joueur (m) ...player • libre, de ~ ...free • loisir (m)...hobby • maman...mum, mom • marche, ~ à pied ...walking • moment, en ce ~ ..at the moment • mourir ...to die • musée (m) ...museum • notamment ...notably, mainly • nouveau, nouvelle .new [adj.] • parce que ...because • penser ...to think • permettre ...to allow • randonnée (f) ...hike • semaine (f) ...week • souvent ...often click! click! click!