LEARN FRENCH BY PO POD D C A ST AUDIO PODCASTS FOR LEARNERS OF FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Lesson
11
Talking about the weather
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Lesson 11 Level: beginner. DISCUSSING THE WEATHER • • • • •
e u g o l a i D
il fait [beau / mauvais / chaud / froid] il fait 24 degrés Ça nous change de… M’en parle pas! on a eu…
Hello again from Learn French by Podcast. My name is Hugh Nagle and joining me in the studio today is Amélie Verdier – bonjour Amélie ! Bonjour !
Note! il risque d’y avoir…
This expression means There’s a risk of (there being) … In this context, it m eans “There’s a risk of thunder…”
… and Julien Gruet – bonjour Julien! Bonjour! Today’s short podcast will give us some vocabulary to discuss the weather. Let’s listen first to a short conversation… Bonjour ! Bonjour ! Il fait beau aujourd’hui ! Oui, il n’y a pas un seul nuage à l’horizon ! En plus il fait chaud ! Je pense qu’il fait au moins 24 degrés. C’est agréable ! Oui, mais s’il fait trop chaud, il risque d’y avoir de l’orage dans la soirée ! J’ai peur de l’orage ! Surtout lorsque qu’il y a beaucoup d’éclairs et du tonnerre ! En tout cas, ça nous change d’il y a une semaine ! Il faisait un temps de chien ! M’en parle pas ! Je pense qu’on a tout eu ! Grêle, pluie, vent ! Je déteste quand je dois sortir et qu’il pleut des cordes !
Remember! avoir peur de [= to be afraid]
j’ai | peur de l’orage nous avons | Note the use of the verb avoir in French. The expression really means to have fear of (something).
Remember! il y a
This expression can mean There is / are or, in this case, ago: Il y a une semaine = a week ago
Now, let’s hear all that once again… Bonjour ! Bonjour ! […]
Note! • pleuvoir comme vache qui pisse …
And one final time… Bonjour ! Bonjour ! […] When you described today’s weather, Julien, you said… Il fait beau. Il fait…, that’s the verb faire. We’d use this verb, too, if we said the weather was bad. In this case we’d say… Il fait mauvais.
Where you see this symbol… … it’s your turn to repeat what you’ve heard. Then we’ll repeat once more.
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faire [in relation to the weather]
The verb faire appeared again when you mentioned today’s temperature. You said… Il fait au moins 24 degrés.
Il pleut comme vache qui pisse! means It’s raining like… well, you can guess, can’t you? Similar in meaning – but less colourful – is the expression: Il pleut des cordes.
And, yet again, we heard the verb faire when you worried that it might get too hot. That expression was… S’il fait trop chaud…
pleuvoir [= to rain] il pleut ....................it’s raining il a plu .....................it rained il pleuvra ................it will rain
Now, to simplify things for a moment, and practice using this verb, the expression « It’s hot ! » is… Il fait chaud. Il fait chaud.
Note that pleuvoir is “an impersonal verb”: it’s used only in the 3rd person s ingular, that, is with the pronoun il.
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Lesson 11 Level: beginner. DISCUSSING THE WEATHER • • • • •
il fait [beau / mauvais / chaud / froid] il fait 24 degrés Ça nous change de… M’en parle pas! on a eu…
e u g o l a i D
It’s very hot is… Il fait très chaud. Il fait très chaud.
Remember! très ..........................very trop .........................too
And, it’s too hot is… Il fait trop chaud. Il fait trop chaud.
Remember! In the middle of winter, we might talk of the cold… Il fait froid. Il fait froid. It’s very cold… Il fait très froid. Il fait très froid.
In relation to… We say…
That’s the verb…
the weather
Il fait beau.
faire
objects
C’est chaud.
être
oneself*
J’ai chaud.
avoir
*In this conversation, we didn’t he ar “J’ai chaud/froid”. Remember, however, that “avoir” is used when we wish to say that we, ourselves, are hot/cold. We’ll meet this expression in future less ons.
And, it’s too cold… Il fait trop froid. Il fait trop froid. Now, we must point out that the use of the verb faire in these cases relates to the weather. On the other hand, if we’re talking about an object being hot, for example the cooker, in that case we use the verb être. We might warn a child who was about to approach a fire… « Attention au feu ! C’est chaud ! »
Remember! une semaine ..........a week un mois ...................a month un an* .....................a year
*”A year”can also be une année.
That’s “C’est chaud…” – the verb être. If we were to say « Your hands are cold », we’d hear… Tes mains sont froides.
As a general rule, une année is found in more specific contexts: • l’année scolaire (the school year) • depuis le début de l’année (since
We have the feminine plural form of the adjective – “… froides” – as we are describing someone’s hands and “la main” is feminine. So remember, « faire » for the weather, « être » for objects. Amélie, we heard you mention that there was a change from a week ago. You said… Ça nous change d’il y a une semaine. Let’s hear that once again… Ça nous change d’il y a une semaine. Ça nous change d’il y a une semaine.
Where you see this symbol… … it’s your turn to repeat what you’ve heard. Then we’ll repeat once more.
Literally, « It changes us… » though, in English, we simply say « It has changed … ». Amélie, « There’s been a change since a month ago… » would be… Ça nous change d’il y a un mois. Ça nous change d’il y a un mois.
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the start of the year)
Ça nous change de… Ça Ça is an abbreviation of the word Cela
(= “That…”). Cela can be quite emphatic, as in the
following examples: • Cela ne fait aucun doute.
[= There’s no doubt about that.] • Cela nous rassure.
[= That reassures us.]
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Lesson 11 Level: beginner. DISCUSSING THE WEATHER • • • • •
e u g o l a i D
il fait [beau / mauvais / chaud / froid] il fait 24 degrés Ça nous change de… M’en parle pas! on a eu…
… and, from a year ago… Ça nous change d’il y a un an. Ça nous change d’il y a un an. Not only in relation to the weather, but in a wide variety of contexts, we would use the expression « Don’t talk to me ! » or « Don’t mention that ! ». In French, we have the expression… M’en parle pas !
imperative The Imperative
negative imperative
In this situation (on the left), what we are really saying is: “Don’t [you] talk to me about that!” “Ne m’en parle pas!”comes from the
In fact, this negative imperative is Ne m’en parle pas ! but remember, in quick, spoken French, the initial « Ne… » tends not to be heard. Let’s hear that once more… [Ne] m’en parle pas! [Ne] m’en parle pas! You said we had had [a bit of] everything recently – hail, rain, wind. How did you say that again?… Je pense qu’on a tout eu. That is, « I think we’ve had everything. » The easiest way of remembering this expression is simply to learn the sound of the pattern. Let’s hear it again : the first part is… Je pense … … followed by : … qu’on a tout eu. … qu’on a tout eu – “… that we have had everything”. « On a… » – that’s the auxiliary verb « avoir », followed by “… eu”, the past participle of the verb « avoir » ! In other words, « We have had… ». Let’s put this expression to work : “We have had thunder.” On a eu du tonnerre. On a eu du tonnerre. “We have had lightning.” On a eu des éclairs. On a eu des éclairs.
This is the form of the verb we use when we are ordering or directing someone to do something.
2nd person singular of the verb “parler” , a regular “–er”verb. In the case of “–er” verbs, the “s” of the 2nd person singular is dropped in the imperative:
avoir, au passé composé
Tu parles Parle! (No “s”in the imperative form.) a
verb avoir [= to have]
j’ai tu as il / elle / on a nous avons vous avez ils / elles ont past participle: eu
Note! The pronoun “ on”means one, people, we, depending on the context. Here, we could also have: • Nous avons eu des éclairs.
“We have had rain.” On a eu de la pluie. On a eu de la pluie. Where you see this symbol… … it’s your turn to repeat what you’ve heard. Then we’ll repeat once more.
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And… unrelated to the weather : « We have had visitors » or simply : « We had visitors… » would be… On a eu des invités. On a eu des invités.
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Lesson 11 Level: beginner. DISCUSSING THE WEATHER • • • • •
il fait [beau / mauvais / chaud / froid] il fait 24 degrés Ça nous change de… M’en parle pas! on a eu…
e u g o l a i D
Amélie and Julien, we’ve covered a lot of ground today: we’ve seen several uses of the verb faire, we know how to describe objects as being hot or cold, we can direct people not to do something and finally, we’ve used the verb “avoir” in the past. Until next time ! A la prochaine.
If you understood our lesson, then you should be ready for…
… n r u t r u o y s ’ t i w o N
1. It’s cold today.
Vocab extra!
… filmé d’une façon […]
2. It’s hot today. 3. It’s cold. [In this case, you’re talking about the surface of something, i.e. la surface.]
• • • • •
agréable ..................pleasant aujourd’hui..............today beaucoup ................a lot, many cas, en tout ~ ..........in any case détester ...................to detest, to
hate • devoir ......................to have to • éclair (m) .................(flash of)
lightning
4. We’ve had a surprise! [une surprise] 5. I’ve had a disrupted afternoon. [un après-midi perturbé]
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mignon, mignonne
See the answers at http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/FTEW_pages/answers.htm
rain • pluie (f) ...................rain • quand......................when • seul .........................single, lone • soirée (f) .................evening • sortir .......................to go out • surtout ....................especially • tonnerre (m)............thunder • très ..........................very • trop .........................too • vache (f).................. cow • vent (m) ..................wind
Any questions?… Submit them to us at http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/FTEW_pages/question.htm
• grêle (f) ...................hail • horizon, à l’~ .......... on the horizon • invité (m) ................guest • lorsque ....................when • moins, au ~.............at least • nuage (m) ...............cloud • orage (m) ................storm • penser .....................to think • peur (f)....................fear • peur, avoir ~ de....... to be afraid of • pisser(!) ...................to piss(!) • pleuvoir des cordes ..to lash with
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