LESSON TRANSCRIPT

Absolute Beginner S1 #1
Easy Self-Introductions in French

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INTRO

Virginie: Bonjour tout le monde! Hello everyone!

Eric: Eric here!

Virginie: Easy Self-Introductions in French. Hi, I'm Virginie, and thanks again for being here with us.

Eric: In this lesson, you will learn how to ask someone's name and tell your own name.

Virginie: And you will soon listen to a conversation. Where does it take place, Eric?

Eric: It takes place in a classroom at the Sorbonne.

Virginie: Oh, the Sorbonne,. Well, this will involve students I bet.

Eric: Right. The conversation is between Rob and Giulia, two students.

Virginie: Yeah, Rob, freshly arrived from the U.S. to study in France for a semester.

Eric: It's the first day of school, and Rob sits by Giulia, an Italian student.

Virginie: The speakers are young and soon to be friends, therefore they will be speaking informally.

Eric: Okay, let's listen to this conversation.

LESSON CONVERSATION

Rob : Bonjour.

Giulia : Salut !

Rob : Je suis Rob. Tu t'appelles ...?

Giulia : Je m'appelle Giulia.

Rob : Tu es française ?

Giulia : Non, je suis italienne.

Eric: One more time with the translation.

Rob : Bonjour.

Rob: Hello.

Giulia : Salut !

Giulia: Hi!

Rob : Je suis Rob. Tu t'appelles ...?

Rob: I'm Rob. Your name is...?

Giulia : Je m'appelle Giulia.

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Rob : Tu es française ?

Rob: Are you French?

Giulia : Non, je suis italienne.

Giulia: No, I'm Italian.

POST CONVERSATION BANTER

Virginie: So Rob and Giulia in our dialog meet for the first time.

Eric: Right, and since they are both young -- they're college students -- they use the informal you.

Virginie: Which in French is tu.

Eric: And that's spelled T-U. So what are the contexts for using tu are there in French?

Virginie: In general if you are among friends and family.

Eric: And to say hello, French people also tend to kiss, right?

Virginie: Yes, for example our two characters Rob and Giulia, next time they meet, they will kiss.

Eric: That's sort of a hello kiss. It's usually one kiss on each cheek.

Virginie: Yeah, and you don't need to be very good friends to do that.

Eric: So in what context can we give someone a kiss?

Virginie: Well, you give a kiss each time you meet a friend, and also the first time you meet a friend of a
friend.

Eric: And you will give a kiss to say bye too?

Virginie: Absolutely.

Eric: What if I don't feel comfortable kissing someone I don't know?

Virginie: Well, you can always offer your hand to shake, but the person in front of you might just say
"hey, let's kiss".

Eric: Wow, a little pushy. If I recall well, men usually don't kiss other men though?

Virginie: No, they only give hello kisses to women, and among men, they just shake hands.

Eric: Okay, we'll talk about French greeting habits more in our lessons to come.

VOCAB LIST

Virginie: So what's next Eric?

Eric: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.

Virginie: Bonjour [natural native speed].

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Virginie: Bonjour [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Bonjour [natural native speed].

Eric: bonjour The next one.

Virginie: Salut [natural native speed].

Eric: Hi or bye (informal)

Virginie: Salut [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Salut [natural native speed].

Eric: And next.

Virginie: Je / j' [natural native speed].

Eric: I.

Virginie: Je / j' [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Je / j' [natural native speed].

Eric: And next.

Virginie: Tu [natural native speed].

Eric: You (informal)

Virginie: Tu [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Tu [natural native speed].

Eric: So what do we have next, Virginie?

Virginie: S'appeler [natural native speed].

Eric: To be called.

Virginie: S'appeler [slowly - broken down by syllable]. S'appeler [natural native speed].

Eric: And next.

Virginie: être [natural native speed].

Eric: To be.

Virginie: être [slowly - broken down by syllable]. être [natural native speed].

Eric: être The next one.

Virginie: Non [natural native speed].

Eric: No.

Virginie: Non [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Non [natural native speed]

Eric: Okay, next.

Virginie: Français(e) [natural native speed].

Eric: French.

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Eric: And finally.

Virginie: Italienne [natural native speed].

Eric: Italian (female).

Virginie: Italienne [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Italienne [natural native speed].

KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES

Eric: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson.

Virginie: The first word we're going to look at is.

Eric: Bonjour. And that's hello.

Virginie: Yes, bonjour is said anytime during daytime.

Eric: So, how would we say hello at night?

Virginie: You need to say Bonsoir.

Eric: Bonsoir, B-O-N-S-O-I-R. Does it matter if I mix them up?

Virginie: Not really, people will understand that you're saying hello.

Eric: Now in our dialog, Giulia says salut to say hello to Rob.

Virginie: Yeah, and that's spelled S-A-L-U-T. Salut is casual.

Eric: So that's used among friends?

Virginie: Yes, among friends, relatives, and friends of your friends, and young people.

Eric: And you can say salut to say goodbye too?

Virginie: Yes, like, I'm leaving now, salut!

Eric: Now at the end of the dialog, Giulia says, Je suis Italienne.

Virginie: Which is "I am Italian".

Eric: So to say your nationality, you just need to say "I am", je suis and then just add on your nationality.

Virginie: Yes, while we're at it, let's take a look at some French.

Eric: Well, why don't we start with American?

Virginie: Of course.

Eric: How would I say that?

Virginie: Americain, Americain.

Eric: And that's the masculine version, right? But, would it be different for women?

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Eric: Right, masculine and feminine.

Virginie: Yes, just two genders. And French adjectives agree to the gender. And nationalities are
adjectives.

Eric: So if that's neat, you were going to say you're American, how would you say it?

Virginie: I would say, Je suis Americaine.

Eric: Repeat the whole version one more time.

Virginie: Americain, this is male. Americaine, this is female.

Eric: Can you hear the difference? Let's try one other nationality and see if we can hear the difference.

Virginie: Sure.

Eric: Chinese.

Virginie: Okay, Chinese for men is Chinois. Why don't you say, I am Chinese, Eric?

Eric: Je suis Chinois.

Virginie: And for female, it will be Chinoise. To say, I am Chinese, I would say, Je suis Chinoise.

Eric: So if it's Chinois or.

Virginie: Chinoise.

Eric: And then finally, what about French in French?

Virginie: Oh, that's important, right?

Eric: That is.

Virginie: Why don't we start with the male?

Eric: Je suis Français.

Virginie: And for me, it would be, Je suis Française.

Eric: And don't forget the cedille when you write that down.

Virginie: Yes, you know, the cedille is the little hook underneath the letter c. Well, you can check the
lessons notes to figure that out.

Eric: And that makes your c sound like s.

Virginie: Exactly. I think that's enough vocabulary for now.

LESSON FOCUS

Eric: Well, the focus of this lesson is on how to ask and tell your name.

Virginie: In the dialog, Rob says, Je suis Rob.

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Virginie: Then he asks Giulia, "Tu t'appelles?"

Eric: He's asking "Your name is?" You've got to watch your intonation here. You literally are saying, "you
call yourself?"

Virginie: To which Giulia answers, Je m'appelle Giulia.

Eric: My name is Giulia, or literally, I call myself Giulia.

Virginie: Let's focus on je m'appelle and tu t'appelles for today.

Eric: Okay. And what verb is this, Virginie?

Virginie: It's the verb s'appeler.

Eric: S apostrophe A-P-P-E-L-E-R. Note the s apostrophe is in the infinitive.

Virginie: Now in order to say my name, I will say, using the verb s'appeler, Je m'appelle.

Eric: And je is I.

Virginie: And see how the s apostrophe of the infinitive became a m apostrophe, m'appelle.

Eric: The m apostrophe stands for "myself", I call myself.

Virginie: So je, "I" ,m apostrophe, myself, and appelle, "call". Je m'appelle.

Eric: So these are reflexive verbs. The verb is following and changing based on the subject.

Virginie: Exactly.

Eric: So see how the m relates to the subject je, but it won't be the same for tu. The verb changes slightly
for the subject. So if it's a you, we will say.

Virginie: Tu t'appelles, your name is.

Eric: Tu t'appelles. So now you have in your French bank my name is, your name is. What about his or her
name is?

Virginie: "His name is" is Il s'appelle. And "her name is" elle s'appelle.

Eric: Il is I-L, is he. And you’re doing the s apostrophe, Il s'appelle.

Virginie: Yeah, and elle, she, is spelled E-L-L-E, elle s'appelle.

Eric: Okay, so for a quick recap, I would say, je m'appelle Eric.

Virginie: Tu t'appelles Eric.

Eric: Il s'appelle Rob.

Virginie: Elle s'appelle Giulia.

Eric: So now how do we ask someone's name, Virginie?

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Eric: Listen to how Virginie's intonation goes up at the end of the question.

Virginie: Yes, and that means, you call yourself?

Eric: You can also add the word comment at the beginning or at the end of your question.

Virginie: And that would be, comment tu t'appelles? Or Tu t'appelles comment?

Eric: And literally, comment means how.

Virginie: Right.

Eric: Again, today we focused on the informal way of asking and saying your name.

Virginie: But for those who are curious about the formal way, don't worry, we'll cover it later on in
another lesson.

OUTRO

Eric: Okay, great. Well that just about does it for today. Au revoir!

Virginie: Au revoir!

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