LFBP5

LEARN FRENCH BY PODCAST AUDIO PODCASTS FOR LEARNERS OF FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Lesson

5

The French alphabet

Plus Publications Bramley Douglas Road Cork Ireland (t) 353-(0)21-4847444 (f) 353-(0)21-4847675 (e) [email protected] (i) www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com

Lesson 05: Thursday, June 22nd, 2006 Level: beginner.

Dialogue

• the French alphabet • pronunciation

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’s lesson is another beginner lesson. But, in fact, it’s an important lesson for all learners of French from beginner to advanced. We’re going to take a look at the French alphabet and talk about pronunciation, too. So, let’s get started. First, Amélie, let’s hear the alphabet once through. I’ll repeat each letter after you. On y va! Bien sûr! A – B – C – D – E – F – G – H – I – J – K – L – M – N – O – P – Q – R – S – T – U – V – W – X – Y – Z. Ok. Now, let’s hear all that once again but, this time, Amélie, I’ll be stopping you at certain points to highlight some points of pronunciation. A – B – C – D… Let’s stop here for a moment. Let’s make a point about the French “D”. Amélie, let’s spell the French name, “David”. D – A – V – I – D. And, the surname “Durand” … D – U – R – A – N – D. If we listen closely, we’ll notice that the French “D” is not like the English “D”. It’s a softer sound. In French, the tip of the tongue touches the lower teeth when we’re making the “D” sound. In English, that doesn’t happen: there’s no contact with the lower teeth. Let’s hear it once again… D. Now, on a brief tangent, this is the same sound, in fact, as the indefinite plural article “des”, which is used when referring to “some” items, that is, a number of things which cannot be clearly quantified, for example: • des maisons • des stylos • des joueurs Ok. Let’s move on… E. Let’s stop here, too. This is a key sound in French. We find it, for example, in the words… le, me, te, se, que. Remember that sound. Now, we’ll also encounter accented forms of the letter “e” frequently. Let’s spell the French word for “a sword” – “une épée”: E (accent aigu) – P – E (accent aigu) – E.

By the way... “des”, the indefinite plural article The what? This is the plural form of the English “a” (or “an”). In fact, the French word “des” has no exact English equivalent. Sometimes it is translated loosely into the English word “some”. Consider the following sentences: There are pencils Il y a des crayons on the table. sur la table. One sees houses on the horizon.

On voit des maisons à l’horizon.

Notice that we’re talking about an inexact number of pencils and houses: we know there are some of each, but we’re not quite sure exactly how many. In this kind of situation, French requires the indefinite plural article “des”.

© Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.


Dialogue


Note that, when spelling words, you need to say the letter, followed by the type of accent it takes, if any. Let’s try another name, “Lefèvre”: L – E – F – E (accent grave) – V – R – E. Ok, let’s continue. F – G… Let’s pause here. “G” is potentially confusing for an English speaker trying to learn French, as it is pronounced… G. Let’s spell some words containing the letter “G”. As we’re now in the middle of “La Coupe du monde” – the World Cup – let’s try a couple of French footballer’s names. How about… William “Gallas”: G – A – L – L – A – S. And one more… Willy “Sagnol”: S – A – G – N – O – L. So, let’s remember this sound carefully: “G”. Once again, remember that it’s pronounced… G. Let’s continue… H–I–… Let’s stop here. Note the pronunciation of the English letter “I”. In French, it becomes… I. Remember: that’s “ee” – not “ih”! Let’s hear some French words which contain this “ee” sound. The word “he”, for example: il. A “gold mine”: Une mine d’or. A “vine”: Une vigne.

Remember! The “–ih” sound that we hear in the English words “shin”, “pig”, “bit”, doesn’t exist in French. In French, the letter “i” is pronounced “ee” in words like: il (he), vide (empty) and la pile (battery). It is pronounced “ah” in words like: le vin (wine) and malin (clever).

“Empty”: vide. “A battery”: Une pile. “Please!” S’il vous plaît.



Dialogue


“S’il vous plaît”. Let’s make the point that the “–ih” vowel sound we hear in the English words “pit”, “thin”, “quick”, “dim” doesn’t exist in French. Let’s continue. J–… Stop! Here’s another potentially confusing one, especially for native English speakers. Amélie, what is the acronym used in relation to “les Jeux olympiques” – the Olympic Games? Les J. O. Once again?… Les J. O. Now, how do we spell the boy’s name, “Jacques”? J – A – C – Q – U – E – S. How about the girl’s name, “Jeanne”? J – E – A – N – N – E. Let’s remember the pronunication of this letter, once again, in French… J. Now, let’s keep going. K – L – M – N – O – P – Q… Let’s pause here for a moment. Spell for us, Amélie, the word “que”… Q – U – E. How about “qui”?… Q – U – I. And, “la musique”: M – U – S – I – Q – U – E. And, the French word for “tail”… “la queue”, c’est-à-dire: Q – U – E – U – E. That’s a mouthful! Let’s remember that narrow “u” sound in the letter “Q”. That’s a difficult sound for learners of French and requires some practice.



Dialogue


Good. We’re nearly there: what’s next? R–… We must stop here, for sure. “R”, again, is a difficult sound, created at the back of the throat. Let’s mention that railway system, once again, which hooks up with the métro in Paris: C’est “le R – E – R”. Let’s spell another few words containing “R”. How about “fox”? le renard: R – E – N – A – R – D. And, the adjective “rare”, spelled the same in English but pronounced differently: c’est “rare”. R – A – R – E. Good. Let’s continue. S–T–… Let’s stop here, again, to make another point about pronunciation. The letter … T … is a softer sound than the corresponding letter in English. Like the letter “D”, there’s contact between the tongue and the lower teeth. Let’s hear it once again: T.

Remember! Regarding “d” and “t” in French… They are softer sounds than the English equivalents. In French, there’s a gentle contact between the tongue and the lower teeth.

Let’s spell some words: how about the French word for “all”: C’est “tout”, c’est-à-dire, T – O – U – T. How about “la lettre”: L – E – T – T – R – E. So, remember that the “T” sound is a softer sound than we might expect. What’s next, Amélie? U… Again, a difficult sound for learners. Remember, it’s a narrow sound, almost as if we were shaping our lips and about to start whistling. Let’s hear it again: U. Let’s spell a few words: how about the past participle of the verb “voir”, which means “seen”. C’est “vu”, c’est-à-dire, V – U. What about the past participle of the verb “vouloir”, which means “wished”… C’est “voulu”, c’est-à-dire, V – O – U – L – U.



Dialogue


Ok. Let’s continue. V – W… Let’s just point out, about the letter “W”, that it’s a relatively unusual letter in French. We find it sometimes in words borrowed from English like, “the weekend”… c’est “le week-end”, c’est-à-dire, “W – E – E – K (tiret) – E – N – D”. Let’s point out, too, about this particular word, that there’s a hyphen – un tiret – in the French version. Let’s hear that once more… “W – E – E – K (tiret) – E – N – D”. Ok. Let’s continue. X… Again, an unusual letter. Amélie, what are “x-rays”, en français?… On les appelle “des rayons X”: c’est-à-dire, R – A – Y – O – N – S — X. And finally, we have the letter … Z. It’s a letter we’ll meet in the verb we use for switching TV channels, right? C’est exact. C’est le verbe “zapper”. Un verbe régulier en “–er”. Z – A – P – P – E – R. Amélie, we’ve looked closely at “l’alphabet français” today and we’ve also included some words to spell in the exercise at the end of our PDF Guide. To our listeners, don’t forget to download this file from www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com. If you have any questions, you can put them to use via email at [email protected] or, alternatively, via our website.

Verb… “zapper”, a regular “–er” verb. je zappe tu zappes il / elle / zappe nous zappons vous zappez ils / elles zappent

So, Amélie, until next time! A la prochaine!



Dialogue


Now it’s your turn…

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

Vocab extra!

1. Spell your own surname, out loud, in French. 2. Spell your friend’s first name, out loud. 3. Spell the word “Voltaire” in this street address: “7 rue Voltaire”. 4. Spell, aloud, each of the names you see at our answers page. (There are 5, in total). [Click the link below to go to our website’s answers page.]

• c’est-à-dire.............that is • crayon (m)..............pencil • jeu (m)...................game • joueur (m)..............player • on y va!...................Let’s begin! • que.........................that, which • rayon (m)...............ray • sûr, bien ~..............certainly • tiret (m).................hyphen • voir.........................to see • vouloir....................to wish

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

Any questions?… Submit them to us at http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/FTEW_pages/question.htm click!

Any comments?… Submit them to us at http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/FTEW_pages/feedback.htm click!


LFBP5

Recommend Documents